The Bluest Eye Analysis Essay - 1420 Words

In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison strongly ties the contents of her novel to its structure and style through the presentation of chapter titles, dialogue, and the use of changing narrators. These structural assets highlight details and themes of the novel while eliciting strong responses and interpretations from readers. The structure of the novel also allows for creative and powerful presentations of information. Morrison is clever in her style, forcing readers to think deeply about the novel’s heavy content without using the structure to allow for vagueness. Morrison uses dialogue to reveal vital information throughout the text, adding shock value to details presented. Toward the end of the novel, one of the most shocking and important†¦show more content†¦This can be seen toward the end of the novel, on page 199, where, in a conversation between Pecola and a figure of her thoughts, Morrison reveals that Pecola may have been raped twice. â€Å"You said he tried to do it to you when you were sleeping on the couch. ‘See there! You don’t even know what you’re talking about. It was when I was washing dishes,’† reads the exchange. These lines also tell the reader that even with this information, Pecola is still internally unsure of what happened herself. Through internal dialogue, her personal insecurities are projected. Dialogue is key in presenting major ideas in the novel. Morrison’s use of two different narrators through the story also goes hand-in-hand with the novel’s contents. Th roughout The Bluest Eye, Morrison uses an older Claudia MacTeer and a third-person omniscient narrator effectively in telling parts of the story. Claudia’s narration of the events provides a limited view of the story, as she can only relay what she knows and experienced. This can be seen through simple dialogue between Claudia and Frieda on page 101, where the girls discuss how a person can be â€Å"ruined† based on information fed to them by their mother. This makes Claudia’s narration somewhat unreliable, but her point of view still allows the reader to interpret more about the content and character presented. This is vital to the story, as she inserts her own opinions and reflections on the heavy topicsShow MoreRelatedThe Development Of Girls1172 Words   |  5 Pagessuch as housework, cooking, and raising children. This inequality between men and women and the roles girls feel required to play impact their individuality. This essay will explore how the fact ors of racism, sexism and classism intertwine and contour girls’ characteristics using an analysis of The House on Mango Street, The Bluest Eye and Bastard out of Carolina. I argue that society’s idea of perfection and the pressures to fit into stereotypes negatively impacts young girls’ identities becauseRead MoreToni Morrison s Beloved And The Bluest Eye2300 Words   |  10 PagesAuthor/Work Literary Analysis Paper Toni Morrison s Beloved and The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison is known for her use of poetic language. In many of her writings Morrison captures the pursuit of African Americans identities(Parnell). Considering Morrison never experienced the horrific tragedies she writes about, she is a witness to many identities that were destroyed by society depiction of them. The themes that Toni Morrison illustrates in her works Beloved and The Bluest Eye demonstrates how ToniRead More Compare racial and cultural struggles in Alice Walker’s The Color2850 Words   |  12 PagesColor Purple as well as Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. In African-American texts, blacks are seen as struggling with the patriarchal worlds they live in order to achieve a sense of Self and Identity. The texts I have chosen illustrate the hazards of Western religion, Rape, Patriarchal Dominance and Colonial notions of white supremacy; an intend to show how the protagonists of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple as well as Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, cope with or crumble due to these issuesRead MoreThe And Their Many Variations Essay1124 Words   |  5 Pagesconversations and societal change. Their practices of consciousness raising, education, sharing of experience and encompassing community well-being are fundamental in understanding how individual experiences are inextricably linked together. My op-ed essay Growing Up Rural: Insights into the Rural Trump Vote, is a combination of personal experience and a call to action for others like to me be a catalyst for change. When we consider Womanism, Chicana Feminism, The Third World Women’s Alliance, NOW orRead MoreThe Bluest Eye Essay1889 Words   |  8 Pageseasy bridge to cross and the road to recovery is never an easy route. In the â€Å"Bluest Eye† written by Toni Morrison, it tells a story in the narrative of Claudia MacTeer. She tells the story of childhood memories about what happened to Pecola through seasons and the influential characters and events that shape Pecola s life. Pecola was an adolescent who felt her black beauty wasn’t enough and dreamed of having blue eyes. In the story, she was raped by her drunk father when she was eleven years oldRead MoreThe Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison1760 Words   |  8 Pagesknowing whether to doubt herself or listen to her screaming thoughts. in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, we meet Claudia, a young girl growing up in a puzzling environment. Claudia is growing up in an era where society’s ideology has been carved out by a single group—White America. Beauty is one of the aspects that is forged by this group. Claudia is aware of what society tells her: beautiful is blue eyes and blond hair, and it is not dynamic. Her awareness takes her on a muddled journey, where sheRead More A Comparison of Christian Symbols in Song of Solomon, Sula, and Beloved2397 Words   |  10 Pagesitself: religion and spirituality. Religious structure is built upon dogma, rituals, history, and tradition; spirituality exists as the unchanging foundation to that religious structure. Carolyn Mitchell explains both concepts most clearly in her essay titled, Biblical Revisions in Beloved: Religion is the worship of God; spirit is God; spirituality is the individual manifestation of God in everyday life and experience. Spirituality creates an authentic relationship to one’s own life, callingRead MoreThe Effects of Scientific Racism on Black Women Essay5776 Words   |  24 PagesThe Effects of Scientific Racism on Black Women Scientific racism has been used to oppress, enslave and to justify torture. In my essay I will explore how scientific racism has been used to detriment the health of women of colour. Throughout history women of colour have been experimented upon, sexualized and reproductively abused with scientific racism as justification or the underlying premise for the thought behind this abuse. I will explore this idea using examples throughout various periods

The Holocaust A Blood Shed Horrific Time - 1632 Words

The Holocaust was a blood shed horrific time for almost everyone in Europe. German children were taught in the German way; the jews were evil no good people. Innocent people died for 12 years, some mentally ill, some prisoners of war, others taken wrong because they werent perfect in the German eye/ Hitlers eye. The Holocaust was well known for the 6 million Jews that died for no reason, but not only did Jews die in the Holocaust. Polan people died prisoners of war died Roman people died catholic priest died, yes the Holocaust is known for the 6 million Jews that lost their lives and were murdered but there were many others that died as well. Many others think it was just an extreme extermination no it started with a ladder a Ladder of†¦show more content†¦In the beginning, one of the earlier rungs of the ladder of prejudice is discrimination. First, Jews from Reich, Germany were first blamed and criticized for the things they did. Then the Jewish became second class citizen s, but they were still a loud in Germany. After that they were forced to leave Germany. Finally it was decided that the jews were to be exterminated entirely from europe. (Lace 13) First they were sent to ghettos but that was just until they got the death camps set up but even Jewish men and women worked at setting up the places that would soon become their death place. Ghettos were districts (often enclosed) that the Jews had to live in. The population For the Jewish grew in the ghettos and they had lived under Very horrible , miserable conditions. there were three types of ghettos: open ghettos, closed ghettos, and destruction ghettos.There were at least 1000 ghettos located in German-occupied and annexed Poland and the Soviet Union alone. Most of the ghettos were located in the outskirts of cities and towns but, only the major ghettos were located in the cities; Lodz, Krakow, Bialystok, Lvov, Lublin, Kovno, Czestochowa, and Minks. The Jews were Ordered to wear identification bad ges or arm bands. They had to work forced labor, German authorities did not hesitate to kill the jewish not carry out the work forced labor. German SS and police gathered up and took small minority of Jews from the ghettos to labor-camps and

Trifles monologue Essay Example For Students

Trifles monologue Essay A monologue from the play by Susan Glaspell NOTE: This monologue is reprinted from Trifles. Susan Glaspell. New York: Frank Shay, 1916. HALE: Harry and I had started to town with a load of potatoes. We came along the road from my place and as I got here I said, I\m going to see if I can\t get John Wright to go in with me on a party telephone.\ I spoke to Wright about it once before and he put me off, saying folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was peace and quiet—I guess you know about how much he talked himself; but I thought maybe if I went to the house and talked about it before his wife, though I said to Harry that I didn\t know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John— I didn\t hear or see anything; I knocked at the door, and still it was all quiet inside. I knew they must be up, it was past eight o\clock. So I knocked again, and I thought I heard somebody say, \Come in.\ I wasn\t sure, I\m not sure yet, but I opened the door—this door (indicating the door) and there in that rocker—(pointing to it) sat Mrs Wright. (They all look at the rocker.) She was rockin\ ba ck and forth. She had her apron in her hand and was kind of—pleating it. She looked queer, as if she didn\t know what she was going to do next. And kind of done up. I said, \How do, Mrs Wrightit\s cold, ain\t it?\ And she said, \Is it?\—and went on kind of pleating at her apron. Well, I was surprised; she didn\t ask me to come up to the stove, or to set down, but just sat there, not even looking at me, so I said, \I want to see John.\ And then she—laughed. I guess you would call it a laugh. I thought of Harry and the team outside, so I said a little sharp: \Can\t I see John?\ \No\, she says, kind o\ dull like. \Ain\t he home?\ says I. \Yes\, says she, \he\s home\. \Then why can\t I see him?\ I asked her, out of patience. \\Cause he\s dead\, says she. \Dead?\ says I. She just nodded her head, not getting a bit excited, but rockin\ back and forth. \Why—where is he?\ says I, not knowing what to say. She just pointed upstairs—like that (himself pointin g to the room above) I got up, with the idea of going up there. I walked from there to here—then I says, \Why, what did he die of?\ \He died of a rope round his neck\, says she, and just went on pleatin\ at her apron. Well, I went out and called Harry. I thought I might—need help. We went upstairs and there he was lyin\— Well, my first thought was to get that rope off. It looked (stops, his face twitches) but Harry, he went up to him, and he said, \No, he\s dead all right, and we\d better not touch anything.\ So we went back down stairs. She was still sitting that same way. \Has anybody been notified?\ I asked. \No\, says she unconcerned. \Who did this, Mrs Wright?\ said Harry. He said it business-like—and she stopped pleatin\ of her apron. \I don\t know\, she says. \You don\t know?\ says Harry. \No\, says she. \Weren\t you sleepin\ in the bed with him?\ says Harry. \Yes\, says she, \but I was on the inside\. \Somebody slipped a rope round his neck and strangled him and you didn\t wake up?\ says Harry. \I didn\t wake up\, she said after him. We must \a looked as if we didn\t see how that could be, for after a minute she said, \I sleep sound\. Harry was going to ask her more questions but I said maybe we ought to let her tell her story first to the coroner, or the sheriff, so Harry went fast as he could to Rivers\ place, where there\s a telephone. She moved from that chair to this one over here (pointing to a small chair in the corner) and just sat there with her hands held together and looking down. I got a feeling that I ought to make some conversation, so I said I had come in to see if John wanted to put in a telephone, and at that she started to laugh, and then she stopped and looked at me—scared I dunno, maybe it wasn\t scared. I wouldn\t like to say it was. Soon Harry got back, and then Dr Lloyd came, and you, Mr Peters, and so I guess that\s all I know that you don\t. .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998 , .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998 .postImageUrl , .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998 , .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998:hover , .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998:visited , .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998:active { border:0!important; } .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998:active , .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998 .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u92459d5ffc74ef1577300b5e0107f998:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell Essay

Marketing FMCG to Rural Consumer Essay Sample free essay sample

With the population of over 1. 2 billion and huge district. India maintains an one-year economic growing rate of over 6. 5 % since 1998. In this fast developing market. India enhances specific features in many facets: the consumer penchant. selling channel. market liquidness. distributers and mills. and so on. Therefore. decision makers have to do determinations and schemes matching to this circumstance. I. General Background Undertaking overview As the India’s largest consumer goods company based in Mumbai. Maharashtra. every bit good as the subdivision of world’s largest FMCG company. Hindustan Unilever Limited ( HUL ) has a singular public presentation through these old ages. In the fiscal twelvemonth 2011-2012. HUL receives the new gross of 22. 115 nucleuss. and the net income of 2. 2691 nucleuss. Till now. two out of three Indians use HUL. doing the trade names a portion of mundane life. Unilever has ever held the house belief that the private sector can lend to societal development by making win-win solutions to societal challenges through advanced schemes that meet both concern and societal aims. We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing FMCG to Rural Consumer Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It was this doctrine that prompted Hindustan Unilever to make Project Shakti. a alone micro-enterprise enterprise that is both a accelerator for rural wealth creative activity and a successful concern operation: Hindustan Lever’s Project to perforate the rural market for FMCG goods. About 12. 000 adult females enterprisers had been appointed. covering about 50. 000 small towns in partnership with about 300 NGO’s. Selling analysis HUL’s growing in India was greatly linked to political periods in recent history. From 1947 to late 1980s. due to the restricted political ordinance. the India economic system was to a great extent characterized by the â€Å"License Raj† . Any sort of capital investing had to allow by the authorities. In that instance. it was difficult for HUL joined the market. Get downing at early 1990s. transnational companies were attracted by the economic liberalisation and new investing environment in India. Import limitations were released ; trade barriers were shielded. which consequences in a favourable market for HUL. But competitions are fierce at the same clip. Therefore. HUL seek to research a scheme that sharply expand its market by broaden the merchandise classs and lower the monetary values. For the production subdivision. HUL’s FMCG merchandises were by and large organized into four subdivisions. including: Detergent. Personal merchandise. Beverage. and Food. For the selling subdivision. hapless connectivity among small towns and widely scattered consumers are chief jobs since over 70 % population of India resides in small towns. The landscape in India exceeds over 3000 kilometer in north to south and 2900km in E to west and the entire coastline length of 6. 000 kilometer. particularly the chief metropoliss are far apart. Large population in the huge district means a great challenge to HUL. By carry oning the undertaking Shakti. it foremost reached the rural new markets. Shakti set the distribution system in such a low urbanisation state and improved it at the same clip. even without the direct retail mercantile establishment channel concluding client can be reached. It helped to a more individualized services and flexible distribution system. Retailers are given precedences to their mark clients in their web. in add-on. credits in the regular trading period. In this instance. clients are willing to accept this concern manner and going trueness to the trade name. The organisation Structure in Shakti was distributed by geographic A ; merchandise classs: Regional director ( RM ) ; General gross revenues director ( GSM ) ; Area gross revenues director ( ASM ) ; Gross saless officers ( SOs ) ; Territory gross revenues in-charge ( TSI ) . Because there are civilization and instruction differences in different parts. it may take to a great challenge for the disposal system. No anterior instances may follow with in this particular undertaking. however. enterprisers are afraid to put because of the past failures and difficult to carry on. Influential companies are non interested in rural countries because low income population makes no net income. Directors have to constructing assurance and autonomy among Shakti Entrepreneurs. More human resources are needed to develop people going enterprisers and keep the distribution system. Without the aid from the authorities support. it is difficult to travel frontward. The undertaking faced the complicated state of affairs. In the scheme determination doing procedure. HUL need to develop economically feasible and efficient distribution channels in small towns while make it profitable and sustainable at the same clip. Motivation and Role of Business HUL put a societal impact on rural India by spread outing the distribution web all over the state. The undertaking enhances the support by provide rural India with entree to information and societal communicating. In this manner. HUL takes the corporate societal duty in the procedure of developing the market and making a self-sufficient concern theoretical account. It helps to entree markets beyond the range of traditional distribution manner. II. Current state of affairs Contribution to HUL’s underside line Undertaking Shakti contributes to HUL’s underside line in several ways. It grasps unapproachable rural consumer section. earns single societal acknowledgment. physiques trade name publicity and do gross revenues addition. Besides it improves the corporate image. For illustration. Undertaking Shakti is unleashing the potency of rural India. making impact and altering lives. In the twelvemonth 2011-2012. one of the cardinal pushs was coverage enlargement in the rural markets. The Shakti web has been leveraged to inscribe 30. 000 Shaktimaan who distribute in 100. 000 new small towns. The Company has added a million shops over the last two old ages to its coverage. therefore duplicating its direct coverage and trebling its rural coverage. Shakti is aimed at heightening the coverage even further to enable the company make every bit much as 90 % of the rural population. The company has now built a clear distribution advantage with a direct range of more than 2 million mercantile establishments. By the terminal of March 2012. the Shakti web has been leveraged to inscribe 30. 000 Shaktimaan who distribute in 100. 000 new small towns and the Shakti plan had spread to 500. 000 mercantile establishments. adding another dimension to the Company’s distribution and lending to trebling the rural footmark. Launched in 2000. by late 2007 some 46. 000 Shakti enterprisers had been appointed and trained. covering 100. 000 small towns in 15 provinces and making over three million families in rural India. Already a multi-million dollar concern. by 2010 it represented a important portion of Hindustan Unilever’s overall concern and generated an one-year combined income for Shakti enterprisers of over $ 25 million a twelvemonth. Economic value The undertaking is taking at constructing more shops. distributing faster and making larger. Coverage enlargement was a cardinal thrust country in 2011. edifice on the enlargement undertook a twelvemonth before. Over the last two old ages. Undertaking Shakti has added one million new shops. duplicating the coverage and taking HUL merchandises and services to some of the remotest corners. There are now 30. 000 Shaktimaans across India. Shakti Amma will go on to drive home-to-home gross revenues in their small town and Shaktimaan will cover little retail mercantile establishments in environing small towns. And eventually assist increase the market portion and the gross. Social value Enhancing Supports Undertaking Shakti. the enterprise to construct and back up a web of adult females enterprisers in little small towns was strengthened in 2010-2011 and work forces from Shakti families were given a bike to cover a bunch of small towns in their locality. This plan aid develop a batch more work chances for the local people so that make their live a better life. Undertaking Shakti is enabling households to populate with self-respect and in better wellness A ; hygiene. instruction of the kids and an overall improvement in life criterions. It creates a win-win partnership between HUL and the rural consumers for common benefit and growing. Authorization of adult females Undertaking Shakti is assisting conveying prosperity and dignity. It helps adult females in rural India set up little concerns as direct-to-consumer retail merchants. The scheme equips adult females with concern accomplishments and a manner out of poorness. And besides it creates a important new distribution channel for Unilever merchandises in the big and aggressive planetary market of low-spending consumers. It has proved to be a great success for adult females in India and for Hindustan Unilever. A recent survey showed that Shakti adult females are more confident about socialising. more likely to play the lead function in public activities. and bask higher acknowledgment and societal position among local people. For the 1000s of adult females who have become Shakti enterprisers. this enterprise has changed their lives non merely in a manner that they earn incomes by selling soaps and shampoos. It besides has brought them self-esteem. a sense of authorization and a topographic poin t in society. III. Opportunities and challenges The HUL has delivered a robust concern public presentation. which has been consistent and competitory through the twelvemonth. The Gross Gross saless have doubled in the twelvemonth 2012 comparison to the gross revenues in 2002. No uncertainty that Shakti is responsible for duplicating the gross revenues over these old ages. But things are non traveling through that well at first. There are some jobs which made the inaugural hard to get down. First of all. it is highly difficult to convert the rural people to fall in the Shakti Project. since they hadn’t even heard of HUL before. and it is a challenge for the enterprisers to get down their concern at foremost. because they are supposed less educated and don’t have much thought of gross revenues. Second. an understanding must be reached with authorities and NGOs to do certain the Undertaking will run without any problem caused by part disposal. And holding so many enterprisers. HUL must guarantee the stock list supply and distribution. which would turn out to be complicated. Last but non least. the Undertaking must do net income part to HUL. or at least stop up with a interruption even. otherwise it won’t be converting to the officers to get down the Project Shakti. To work out the jobs above. the suggestions are:1. Put adequate investing in the publicity of both the Shakti Project and the merchandise of HLL to give rural people sufficient assurance fall ining into the undertaking. 2. Negotiate with authorities and NGOs to hold positive policies on Shakti Project. and present the policy to the rural potency enterprisers. therefore they feel safer to fall in. 3. Train some staff to train the enterprisers at foremost. every bit long as the first group of enterprisers become mature and professional. offer them opportunities to go a manager with extra wages. they understand both how to get down with the concern and how to do other followings understand easy. Besides. they cost less than the formal manager staffs. 4. Construct a well-established stock list system for the Shakti Project. do certain the enterprisers have adequate supplies when they are running good. 5. Since it is a market to instead hapless consumers. cut down the assortment of mercha ndise and stick to low monetary value. low terminal merchandise. lower the cost by utilizing 3rd party workers. and avoid utilizing hi-tech publicity methods. By utilizing some methods above. we believe the challenges the Shakti Project faced would be reduced. But there is still one issue remains: Would the undertaking contribute to the HUL’s net income? And will HUL go on this undertaking if it is non profitable? It depends on the estimation of the market potency it has in rural India countries. No affair the undertaking makes net income. it decidedly broaden the market HUL has in India greatly in rural countries. Therefore if the economic system of India. particularly the rural country of India continues to develop. it is a immense advantage to hold the trade name consciousness built in progress. and that is what Shakti Project aims at. But if things are non making good in India. go oning in the Shakti Project will stop up with useless investing. Harmonizing to the current state of affairs and the one-year study of HUL. there is a great potency in the rural country of India. So it’s wise for HLL to go on the undertaking whether it is profitable at the present. On the whole. Undertaking is Shakti is a good illustration of advanced and sustainable concern.

Free Essays on Society;s View Of Mental Illness

, society is uncomfortable talking about or accepting mental illness. People constantly turn the other way or refuse to learn about or get to know a person if they have a mental disorder. First of all, we must ask ourselves: What is crazy? Cuomo and Ronacher (1998) say that people are called mentally healthy when they like their behaviour and that people are considered mentally unhealthy if their behaviour is â€Å"unacceptable† or if they don’t like the way that the person acts. Both the common person and psychiatrists judge or diagnose mental illness this way. Macdonald (2003) says that most of the time with mental illness, there is no medical proof, no evidence that there is anything wrong with you. Macdonald has Psychosis and low-grade Schizophrenia. He says that when he was diagnosed with these diseases, he had CAT scans and blood tests, among many other tests, but in actually being diagnosed, all that doctors can do is ask a series of questions to the patient and make a guess based on the responses that they get. Basically, you are diagnosed by opinion and not by actual medicine. He sometimes wonders if there is no suck thing as crazy, mayb e some people are different than others, maybe some people see or hear things that other people do not hear, but what they see could possibly be real, just doctors and society refuse to believe that it is real so these disorders have been d... Free Essays on Society;s View Of Mental Illness Free Essays on Society;s View Of Mental Illness Society’s View On Mental Illness Dictionary.com defines â€Å"Mental Illness† as: â€Å"Any of various conditions characterized by impairment of an individual's normal cognitive, emotional, or behavioural functioning, and caused by social, psychological, biochemical, genetic, or other factors, such as infection or head trauma.† This definition seems normal enough, seems scientific; but if it is so scientific, if it is common to have a mental illness, then why does society have an â€Å"ostrich in the sand† view on mental illness? In other words, society is uncomfortable talking about or accepting mental illness. People constantly turn the other way or refuse to learn about or get to know a person if they have a mental disorder. First of all, we must ask ourselves: What is crazy? Cuomo and Ronacher (1998) say that people are called mentally healthy when they like their behaviour and that people are considered mentally unhealthy if their behaviour is â€Å"unacceptable† or if they don’t like the way that the person acts. Both the common person and psychiatrists judge or diagnose mental illness this way. Macdonald (2003) says that most of the time with mental illness, there is no medical proof, no evidence that there is anything wrong with you. Macdonald has Psychosis and low-grade Schizophrenia. He says that when he was diagnosed with these diseases, he had CAT scans and blood tests, among many other tests, but in actually being diagnosed, all that doctors can do is ask a series of questions to the patient and make a guess based on the responses that they get. Basically, you are diagnosed by opinion and not by actual medicine. He sometimes wonders if there is no suck thing as crazy, mayb e some people are different than others, maybe some people see or hear things that other people do not hear, but what they see could possibly be real, just doctors and society refuse to believe that it is real so these disorders have been d...

The language of lying - Noah Zandan Essays - Human Behavior

The language of lying - Noah Zandan Essays - Human Behavior "Sorry, my phone died." "It's nothing. I'm fine." "These allegations are completely unfounded." "The company was not aware of any wrongdoing." "I love you." We hear anywhere from 10 to 200 lies a day, and we spent much of our history coming up with ways to detect them, from medieval torture devices to polygraphs, blood-pressure and breathing monitors, voice-stress analyzers, eye trackers, infrared brain scanners, and even the 400-pound electroencephalogram. But although such tools have worked under certain circumstances, most can be fooled with enough preparation, and none are considered reliable enough to even be admissible in court. But, what if the problem is not with the techniques, but the underlying assumption that lying spurs physiological changes? What if we took a more direct approach, using communication science to analyze the lies themselves? On a psychological level, we lie partly to paint a better picture of ourselves, connecting our fantasies to the person we wish we we re rather than the person we are. But while our brain is busy dreaming, it's letting plenty of signals slip by. Our conscious mind only controls about 5% of our cognitive function, including communication, while the other 95% occurs beyond our awareness. And according to the literature on reality monitoring, stories based on imagined experiences are qualitatively different from those based on real experiences. This suggests that creating a false story about a personal topic takes work and results in a different pattern of language use. A technology known as linguistic text analysis has helped to identify four such common patterns in the subconscious language of deception. First, liars reference themselves less, when making deceptive statements. They write or talk more about others, often using the third person to distance and disassociate themselves from their lie, which sounds more false: "Absolutely no party took place at this house," or "I didn't host a party here." Second, liars tend to be more negative, because on a subconscious level, they feel guilty about lying. For example, a liar might say something like, "Sorry, my stupid phone battery died. I hate that thing." Third, liars typically explain events in simple terms since our brains struggle to build a complex lie. Judgment and evaluation are complex things for our brains to compute. As a US President once famously insisted: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." And finally, even though liars keep descriptions simple, they tend to use longer a nd more convoluted sentence structure, inserting unnecessary words and irrelevant but factual sounding details in order to pad the lie. Another President confronted with a scandal proclaimed: "I can say, categorically, that this investigation indicates that no one on the White House staff, no one in this administration presently employed was involved in this very bizarre incident." Let's apply linguistic analysis to some famous examples. Take seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. When comparing a 2005 interview, in which he had denied taking performance-enhancing drugs to a 2013 interview, in which he admitted it, his use of personal pronouns increased by nearly 3/4. Note the contrast between the following two quotes. First: "Okay, you know, a guy in a French, in a Parisian laboratory opens up your sample, you know, Jean-Francis so-and-so, and he tests it. And then you get a phone call from a newspaper that says: We found you to be positive six times for EPO." Second: "I lost myself in all of that. I'm sure there would be other people that couldn't handle it, but I certainly couldn't handle it, and I was used to controlling everything in my life. I controlled every outcome in my life." In his denial, Armstrong described a hypothetical situation focused on someone else, removing himself from the situation entirely. In his admission, he owns his state ments, delving into his personal emotions and motivations. But the use of personal pronouns is just one indicator of deception. Let's look at another example from former Senator and US Presidential candidate John Edwards: "I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of the baby. I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to, or supported payments of any kind to the

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 116

Case Study Example In addition, it strengthens during international turmoil (Balcerowicz, & World Bank Group, 2015). Unfavorable foreign exchange movements cause significant appreciation in Swiss franc against the Euro as well as other main currencies thereby challengingly affecting Swiss managers, employees, and firms (Butcher, 2011). According to the perspective of Swiss importing firms, the unfavorable exchange rate movements normally cause the prices of exports to increase thus weakening the customer demand. It makes the Swiss products to be more expensive abroad thus creating a negative impacts on their demand and this directly affects the sales revenue of companies (Horcher, 2013). On the other hand, unfavorable exchange rate movements greatly affect employees in terms of job loss and pay cuts. Low sales volume and profits due to low customer demand prompts firms to seek ways to survive and adapt by adjusting wages. Finally, it may force the managers to move their production to the euro zone in case they fail to cut wages and this also could cause more job losses at Mopac in Switzerland (Balcerowicz, & World Bank Group, 2015). I would have to move the production or the company to the euro zone because it is cheaper to produce in the region due to the weaker currency. Secondly I would have to cut wages to make the products cheaper thereby raising customer demand which in turn increases the sales volume and profits (Horcher, 2013). Thirdly, I would have to employ cross-border workers and pay them in Euros in order to cope with the appreciating Swiss franc. Finally, I would engage in simple currency diversification or currency hedging just like other large companies (Butcher, 2011). I would gladly accept Euros because it is weaker than the Swiss franc. The four options will greatly assist us in coping with the spike in Swiss franc (Balcerowicz, & World Bank Group,

Masculinity as a Prerequisite of Traditional American Heroism Essay

Masculinity as a Prerequisite of Traditional American Heroism - Essay Example Considering the traditional American view of heroism, as brought forth by the novel ‘The Big Sleep’ by Raymond Chandler and the film ‘The Maltese Falcon’ directed by John Huston, masculinity is a prerequisite. In the early way of thinking, male characters were seen to intervene on the behalf of the feminine ones (Cohen 1). This view has been portrayed in several early documented resources. Looking at Raymond Chandler’s novel, ‘The Big Sleep’, General Sternwood makes an intervention for her two daughters, Carmen and Vivian. Sternwood seeks the help of a private investigator, Philip Marlowe to intervene in an attempted blackmail against Carmen by Arthur Geiger, a bookseller (Chandler 10). He is further tasked with the responsibility of establishing about the whereabouts of Rusty Regan, Vivian’s husband who has since disappeared. The heroic characters in the entire incidence are masculine individuals. The case presents a situation whereby the feminine are not considered heroic. This presents a situation whereby the chances of having an ultimate masculine hero to be too high while their counterparts with very slim chances. The main role in the traditional setting of movies has shown a predictable pattern of masculine heroes. ‘The Maltese Falcon’, is a movie that reve als an iconic private investigator, Sam Spade dealing with three complicated individuals, all these people are working to obtain the Maltese falcon. The man is expressed as witty and capable of finding solutions. Despite losing his co-investigator, Spade gets to the length of conducting his independent investigations. Spade is systematic in his conduct and ends up unearthing several truths about the incidences surrounding the deaths of Arthur and Thursby. He successfully confronts law enforcers. The police question him concerning the murder of Archer and Thursby. These murders occur on the day when Miss Ruth Wonderly was meant to meet Thursby, while Archer had accepted to follow her in an effort to get her sister who had gone missing. The Falcon is a highly coveted treasure and attracts interests from different persons. Spade finds himself at the centre stage of all this despite the incidences surrounded by murder and suspicion. Spade was suspected by Archer’s wife to have ki lled him in order to inherit her, but he got out of the loop. Joel Cairo enticed him with $5,000 fee to find the falcon, he further pointed spade his gun as a threat so that he could look for it in the office. Spade was not cowed, he knocked Cairo down and when he was in his right mind he considered hiring Spade. His masculine power is shown when the movie shows him bringing Cairo down, this sends a message that the ultimate hero is a person with unmatched muscle power. Throughout the film, Spade appears bold, unshaken and cunning. He is a man whose heroism has been expressed by the treatment he gives to other characters and the prowess he depicts in handling every incidence. Masculine characters in the Chandler’s novel depict some higher level of accomplishment. Marlowe is a man capable of engaging in investigations reliably. He is able to track the behind the scenes pornographic activities in Geiger’s bookshop. In this scene, it appears the source of the blackmail is the involvement of Carmen in pornographic activities. This incidence shows a situation where feminine characters are used for the benefit of the masculine ones. In the bookstore, the role of a

Managing oganisational relationships Essay Example for Free

Managing oganisational relationships Essay Introduction No Organisation can hope to keep up with the fast pace of change of the world today without enthusiastically embracing change within itself. [www.thecommonwealth.org 2005] The above statement is very powerful, but one I strongly agree with, because changes are taking place everyday and if managers dont respond to these changes then the business is most likely to suffer. Managers may have little ability to prevent change, but awareness that change is coming can make it easier to deal with. If an organisation is prepared to handle an event, then many problems can be prevented or solved without difficulty. Management versus Leadership There is a continuing controversy about the differences between management and leadership. I think its obvious that a person can be a leader without being a manager and vice-versa. According to the management theorist Mary Follett: Management is the art of getting things done through people [M.Follett 1989] However, the idea that a Manager only manages people I think is over-simplified. This is because managers hold many responsibilities. I have outlined below the role of a manger: Decision Maker Are held responsible for results Have conflicting goals to achieve Need to Plan and Budget Work with and through people organise staff. Whereas, leadership is; the ability of an individual to influence, motivate and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organisation. [House et al., 1999] From the above statement I can gather that the role of a leader is to mainly to: Communicate Motivate and, Encourage employees Leadership is a managerial activity where employees work together towards achieving company goals. The difference between managers and leadership is that managers are elected to supervise the work of other people in the organisation and carry out formal duties. While, leaders influence the behaviour or actions of others. Managers value stability, order and efficiency. Meanwhile, leaders value flexibility, innovation and adaptation. Managers are concerned more about how things get done and try to get people to perform better. Whereas, leaders are concerned with what things mean to people and try to get people to agree about the most important things to be done. As you can see there are many differences between management and leadership. I believe leaders are more effective than managers, as they influence workers to achieve company targets and their leadership approach is usually very effective. At Morrisons the leadership style is very effective as the leader has many good characteristics. I have outlined these below; * Good communication skills * Is decisive * Good at delegation These characteristics help employees feel more valued as they know what is going on in the company and so try harder for the company to achieve targets. There are many approaches leaders can emphasise on: Trait approach Behaviour approach Power-Influence approach Situational approach Integrative approach There are strengths and weaknesses to each of these approaches and the approach used highly depends on the nature of the organisation and the situation they are in. I would say that at Laurens cake factory, the managers implements a behavioural approach. They are very authoritarian where they focus on power, decision making and hold authority with the leader. The management style they hold is Task Management. This is when they: * Focus on production * Expect schedules to be met * Problems arise from other peoples mistakes I dont believe, that this approach is very effective because employers dont involve employees in decision-making and dont provide opportunity for training and development. I think this would make staff feel less valued and not part of a team so, will not motivate them to perform better to achieve targets. Performance Management performance management includes activities to ensure that goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner. [www.managementhelp.org 2005] Performance management can focus on performance of an organisation, a department, processes to build a product or service, employees etc. Performance management reminds us that training, strong commitment and working hard alone are not results. The major contribution of performance management is its focus on achieving results. Performance management redirects our efforts away from business and gets managers to think towards effectiveness. Recently, organisations have been faced with challenges of increasing competition from businesses across the world. This means that all businesses must choose effective strategies to remain competitive. Employees must commit to these to ensure strategies are implemented effectively. This situation has put more focus on effectiveness, to achieve results. All of the results across the organisation must continue to be aligned to achieve the overall result for the organisation to survive and thrive. It is only then that organisations can really tell if they are performing. Culture of an Organisation Every organisation has its own unique culture, based on values of the top management who direct the organisation. However, over time individuals attempt to change the culture of their organisations to fit their own preferences or changing marketplace conditions. This culture then influences the decision-making processes and effects styles of management. Mullins defines the culture of an organisation as: a collection of traditions, values, policies, beliefs and attitudes that constitute a pervasive context for everything we do and think in an organisation. [Mullins 2002] A key role for culture is to differentiate the organisation from others and provide sense of identity for its members. At Accordia the culture is very democratic as the manager delegates responsibilities on others. It is also creative and innovative because they are always open to new ideas. They build their culture around quality based upon commitment to the company as a whole. Cross Culture As a business becomes more global the need to understand cultural differences is critical to success. [M. BERGER 1996] Berger highlights the importance of cultures. I think it is essential to understand the basics of good cross-cultural relationships, because when people do things differently, they are not necessarily wrong they just dont follow this in their culture. I have drawn out a table below giving an example of how UK and France have different styles of conducting meetings: UK France Purpose of meetings is to agree actions and make decisions Acceptable to astray from agenda in discussions Stick to agenda, deviate only if new priorities emerge Purpose of meetings is to give input to decisions, not necessarily to make decisions Time conscious Dont challenge the Big Boss Defined follow-up actions are generally agreed The key decision-maker may not be at meeting People are expected to attend on time and stay through out the entire meeting Not time-conscious people come and go during meetings, there can be side discussions. Figure 1 [M. Berger 1996] As you can see there are many cultural differences. The UK and France have completely opposite managing styles. From respect and understanding people can find ways to work together based on mutual strengths. I think cultural values affect attitudes and behaviours around the world and we need to examine how one can adapt their skills to the cultural approach in which they find themselves in. Flexible Working Flexible working is the term used to describe the ability to employ people when and where required in the interests of everybody. [R. Pettinger 2002] There has been a huge movement towards flexible working over the years and Neatly Hurstfield found that: Employers were making increasing demands on all employees to become more flexible, both in working hours and in functional flexibility. [Hurstfield 1995] Flexible working involves the creation of work patterns and arrangements which are based on the need to maximise organisational output, customer and client satisfaction and staff expertise and effectiveness. I found out that there are many approaches to flexible workforce Atkinson was one of them, where he produced the flexible firm model in 1984. Diagram flexible firm I believe that this model has more relevance today because when we look at the retail sectors every employee is flexible. For example; At Woolworths they have their core managers who work contracted hours. And then all the other employees are part time workers with high flexibility hours. I think they take advantage of the functional flexibility, where they recruit more staff and create short-term contracts when sales are likely to be high, eg) Christmas. This maximises flexibility as they are getting workers in only when needed. I think the flexible firm model shows that the environment is more competitive and the need for cost effectiveness is important. I think Atkinson was well ahead of his time and predicted accurately. I consider the greatest emphasis was based on the flexibility in part time working as many retailers implement this model. Psychological Contract The term Psychological contract is; the perceptions of the two parties, employee and employer, of what their mutual obligations are towards each other. [www.adelphi-associates.co.uk] It is the psychological contract that effectively tells employees what they are required to do in order to meet their side of the agreement, and what they can expect from their job. There has been conflict in employees not commiting to their contract, but due to the changes occuring recently, employees have been persuaded to taking the contract more seriously. I have listed the changes below: The nature of jobs more employees are on part time and temporary contracts, so, functional flexibility is more popular Organisations have downsized and delayered so individual employees are carrying out more tasks. Markets, technology and products are constantly changing customers are becoming more demanding. So, quality and service standards need to be of high standards Traditional organisational structures are becoming more inflexible so, new methods of managing are required. The effect of these changes is that the ability of the business to add value, rests on employees, where they are seen as the key business drivers. Organisations that wish to succeed have to get the most out of their resources. In order to do this, employers have to know what employees expect from their work. This is where the psychological contract is used as a framework for monitoring employee attitudes. Since 1990s employees have low job security due to the impact of globalisation. This has completely changed the traditional contracts where there is no job for life. The new contract mainly focusses on fair pay and treatment and also opportunities for training and development notion of continuous learning. On this analysis, employers can no longer offer job security and this has underminded the basis of employee commitment. Conclusion To conclude, I have found out that change within an organisation is inevitable and managers need to respond to these changes for their business to remain successful. The trend towards globalisation is accelerating as foreign competition intensifies. This leads to a change in managerial responsibilities where managers must be able to understand and communicate with people from different cultures. Cultural diversity is increasing within the workforce where managers require the understanding of values, beliefs and attitudes of people from different cultures. I believe it is necessary for managers to have the understanding of building mutual relationships and have respect for diversity so they can work together without difficulties. Flexible working has also become very popular, where employers are constantly seeking flexible staff. This is so they can fully utilise their resources effectively. Organisations are familiar with the notion of high-quality staff willing to work when required. This is due to the fact that the staff, expertise and resources have to be engaged when customers and clients demand. The psychological contract enables employers to look at the welfare of employees. eg) what employees want: fair pay, continuous learning, opportunity for training and development etc. Overall, I have found out that the nature of organisations are changing with the times and both employees and employers are benefiting from these particular changes. Also, these changes have a huge impact on Managerial theories today. References Books: STREDWICK. J. (2005). An Introduction to Human Resource Management. Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann: Oxford. PETTINGER. R. (2002). Managing the Flexible Workforce. Capstone Publishing: Oxford. BERGER. M. (1996). Cross-Cultural Team Building, McGraw-Hill: London. BJERKE. B. (2001). Business Leadership and Culture. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham. MARTIN. G, KEATING. M. (2004). Managing Cross-Cultural Business Relations. Blackwell: London. MILES. R. (1975). Theories of Management: Implications for Organisation Behaviour and Development. McGraw-Hill: Oxford. WATERS. M. (1995).Globalization. Routledge: London. STREDWICK. J, ELLIS. S. (1998). Flexible Working Practices. Institue of Personnel Development: Wiltshire. YULK. G. (2002). Leadership In Organisations. Prentice Hall: New Jersey. ATCHINSON. T. (1978). Management Today. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: New Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: New York. Web Sites: (2005). Culture of Organisations. [online]. Available at: URL:http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/learn/business/aim/culture [Accessed on 20/1/2006]. (2003). Employee Peformance Management. [online]. Available at: URL:http://www.managementhelp.org [Accessed on 20/1/2006]. (2005). Psychological Contract. [online]. Available at: URL:http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/psycntrct/ [Accessed on 21/1/2006]. (2005). Academic leadership: Online Journal. [online]. Available at: URL:http://www.academicleadership.org/ [Accessed on 27/1/2006].

The Heat Death Of The Universe Essay -- essays research papers fc

Little Worlds   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In today's busy world, many people get so caught up in their own ambience that they overlook all the other things out there. Some people seem treat their surroundings as if it were their own 'little world';, creating tunnel vision to the array of the actual real world and all the things that occur in it. Pamela Zoline addresses this and many other issues in the short story, 'The Heat Death of the Universe';. This piece reports the abstract, somewhat crazy thoughts, of the world from an ordinary housewife to the reader. At first, these thoughts appear to be coming from a severely confused and mentally unstable person, with no point what so ever. Contrary to the evidence stated in the text, 'Sarah Boyle is a vivacious and intelligent young wife...proud of her growing family which keeps her busy and happy around the house'; (192), the reader can see that the main character, Sarah Boyle, is quite unsatisfied with her place in life. This unhappiness stems from a wasted education, causing the apathetic housewife to resort to ceaseless contemplation, which shapes the life she has created for herself and the home she is trapped in.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The fact that Sarah Boyle was well-educated is pointed out clearly in the first few paragraphs, 'Sarah Boyle is a vivacious and intelligent young wife and mother, educated at a fine Eastern college'; (192). This fact can be also be easily deduced by the reader after observing the knowledge Sarah presents and the vocabulary she exhibits, such as 'ONTOLOGY: That branch of metaphysics which concerns itself with the problems of the nature of existence or being'; (191) and 'ENTROPY: A quantity introduced in the first place to facilitate the calculations, and to give clear expressions to the results of thermodynamics'; (193). Clearly, such words are not ones that would be regarded as common knowledge or everyday conversation topics. The terms used by Sarah throughout the story lead the reader to regard her as some type of advanced science major. In addition to the vocabulary usage, the manner in which her mind functions and the habits she displays also guides the reader to the same assumption. Sarah demonstrates scientific thinking methods constantly; always making lists, noticing irrelevant and abstract things, counting and lettering objects, constantly pondering ideas... ...es a thermodynamically closed system, and if this were true it would mean that a time just finally come when the Universe 'unwinds'; itself, no energy being available for use'; (200). Sarah applies this theory in her housekeeping techniques, thinking that the more organized she is, the less disorder she creates. Therefore, she is not contributing to entropy in her own Universe, her house. Keeping entropy at a constant therefore would not contribute to the 'heat death of the Universe';. Evidently, this abstract thinking is indicating some mental problems. At the end of the short story, Sarah displays a mental breakdown, combining all the unexplainable ideas that float though her mind in a physical and mental explosion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout this short story, Pamela Zoline effectively addresses many relevant issues in today's society. Through a common housewife, Sarah Boyle, the reader can observe the daily trauma and feeling of worthlessness that one may experience at what it can result in. WORKS CITED Zoline, Pamela. 'The Heat Death of the Universe';. Writing As Revision. Ed. Beth Alvarado and Barbara Cully. Needham Heights: Simon and Schuster, 1998. 191-200.

Lars and His Psychosocial Development in Life

I will use Erikson's Psychosocial Theory of Human Development and Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems theory to explain the key issues experienced by Lars and his psychosocial development in life. Lars is a socially awkward young man who dislikes any form of physical contact. He lives alone in his deceased parent's garage apartment. Lars' life starts to get interesting when a new employee (Margo) starts to express interest in him. One day, Lars told his brother Gus and sister-in-law, Karin that he met Bianca (a sex doll Lars ordered) and would like to invite her to their place for a meal. Lars treated Bianca like his girlfriend. Gus and Karin were overwhelmed and wanted Lars to see Dagmar, a town doctor and a psychologist. They convinced Lars that Bianca has low blood pressure and to bring her in for weekly treatments, creating an opportunity for Dagmar to see Lars. Dagmar told Gus and Karin that in order for Lars to benefit, the community got to be involved and accept Bianca. This acceptance of their relationship allowed healing to occur for Lars (Elliott, 2002). Based on Erikson's Psychosocial Theory of Human Development, Stage 1 (Trust vs Mistrust), the lack of dependable family members during Lars' childhood resulted in Lars developing a sense of mistrust and insecurity. This resulted in him putting his feelings into Bianca, a sex doll, who is inanimate and not able to hurt him. Based on stage 2 of Erikson's theory (Autonomy vs Shame ; Doubt), children start to gain more personal control and independence. Failure to do so creates a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt. Due to the pressure people around Lars finding him a girlfriend, Lars' imagination created Bianca. He is in control of the development and outcome of their relationship. The society that Lars was in was supportive and assuring. Thus, it helped Lars to gain autonomy and will in surviving the real world (with Bianca) by himself. There is also a scene where Lars brought Bianca to Cindy's birthday party and tried to connect with others through dancing, relating to Stage 3 of Erikson's Theory (Initiative and Guilt). Lars tried to explore his own character by trying to mingle on his own. Lars also became distressed when mentioned that Karin is nearing the end of her pregnancy. Dagmar reassured Lars that Karin's baby will be fine even as his experience is otherwise. This is reflective of Stage 4 of Erikson's theory (Industry vs Inferiority), where Lars felt inferior in not having a mum like other children do. In Stage 5 (Identity vs Role Confusion), one starts self-discovery, especially in their sexual identity. Lars asked Gus about the concept of masculinity. This helped Lars when he became aware of his attraction towards Bianca. His attraction to Margo has now reached the point where he feels compelled to tell her that he could never cheat on Bianca. Margo assures him that she is not asking him to cheat on Bianca. However, she states genuinely how much she wishes she could find a man with his characteristics for herself. In the final scene of the movie, Lars' healing is almost completed, when Bianca â€Å"dies†. Before Lars kills off Bianca, he presses a kiss to her lips, something he would not do before. This shows that the child's mind-set Lars once had, now psychologically matches that of his age. Lars has shown physical intimacy towards the doll. He not only overcome his fear of touch but using the doll the way it's originally intended to be. Lars further proves to be more in touch with an adult psychological being when he asks Margo to go for a walk, just the two of them, after the funeral. With the help of Bianca, Lars was able to grow and heal, and form relationships with other human beings. This is being seen in Erikson's theory sixth stage of intimacy vs isolation. In Bronfenbrenner's Bio-Ecological Theory, there are five (Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem, and Chronosystem) levels in an environment affecting the child. Microsystem refers to the immediate environment we are in touch with after birth (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). In Lars' case, there is a lack of interactions with immediate family members. Thus, he depended on the safety of his relationship with Bianca to slowly become at ease with people, exhibiting the creativity characteristic in clients who are innately self-healing (Bohart ; Tallman, 1999). Moving deeper into the model, Mesosystem is closely linked with the Microsystem. Lars was able to escape his delusional thoughts through interactions with his surroundings (church members, Dagmar, Margo). The indirect influence in his Exosystem (moving deeper) where his large neighborhood and family members play a part in helping him. With an entire community supporting Lars' construction of reality, the community becomes like a kingsley Hall (Barnes ; Berke, 2002) where everyone normalizes the experiences of one another. In treating Bianca as a real person, Lars is able to deal with issues that occur as the relationship develops. This is being seen through the Macrosystem in his beliefs and values influencing Lars deeply and even â€Å"cured† his illness indirectly. The last stage of chronosystem comes in play includes how his neighborhood addressed the situation and the societal norms on mental health and having them being so positive, it influences Lars in his development growth As time progresses, Lars is able to connect better with others. In summary, Lars created a perfect partner for himself that makes connections with others and himself indirectly. It requires also others who are willing to enter his world. Without this, Lars would have been labeled psychotic and given drugs. When the unreal Bianca is treated by everyone as real, Lars is able to emerge as a real person. What to ponder would be if Lars does not have a supportive community will he be cured and to what extent his denial and delusion will be left.

Is Fanfiction a Legitimate Activity for Fans? Essay

Robin Hobb (2005) defined fanfiction as the written work of fans and readers who use the author’s original characters in their own fiction without any form of consent. As an author who is against fanfiction, she wrote a full length essay to describe this genre of writing as a foul approach to the craft. On the other hand, a blogger named Justin responded to the different items Hobb listed. In this light, many have said that writing fanfiction is not a legitimate activity for fans, much less legal. As Hobb illustrated in her essay, fanfiction is definitely a genre of literature that should be heavily discouraged. Her arguments aimed to justify that legal actions should be taken upon this seemingly intellectual theft. In contrast, Justin’s arguments aimed to legitimize this form of writing, and point that fanfiction is not illegal. To illustrate the premises, the terms legal and legitimate should be defined. The online dictionary wrote that legal refers to an act recognized and permitted by law. In relation to fanfiction, there are no laws that allow writers to create fanfiction. Subsequently, there are no laws either that bans this activity. When writing fanfiction, writers are explicitly asked to write disclaimers to declare and clarify that they do not have any sort of rights over the characters by the original authors. Legitimate activities are those that are in accordance to law. The online dictionary listed that it questions the authenticity of the object or act. Fanfiction is not entirely an authentic artwork since the characters used in the stories are borrowed from someone else. However, since these rights have been wavered in the form of disclaimers, the other elements of fiction are in the hands of ‘fans and readers’, legitimizing their intellectual property over their fanfiction. The following paragraphs will present the arguments of Hobb and the responses by Justin. These are aimed to exemplify if fanfiction is truly a legal and legitimate activity for fans. How each side argues around the motion, however, does not result to a fact. This means that this is merely a deliberation between two writers regarding this issue. First, fanfiction writers compose using the author’s elements in the story: characters, settings and general plot without consent, as Hobb said in the same essay. Here, the author was trying to imply that the writers are stealing intellectual property. Justin responded to this by saying that once published materials are shared to its audience, these people become engaged and take part in its success or downfall. He also questioned why those movie tie ins are more acceptable and not categorized as fanfiction when only sponsorship sets it apart. Just because money is involved doesn’t mean that fanfiction writers are practicing intellectual theft and productions battling for movie tie ins are very welcomed. The blogger further expressed that when they sue fanfiction writers, it is as if they are suing children for drawing the many Disney characters. In this set of arguments, the legality of fanfiction is given priority. Financial affairs are usually tied with legal actions. Here, it has been said that fanfiction writers do not earn through writing this genre. These writers create stories to satisfy curiosities and fantasies that were intrigued by reading or watching an original artwork. Any writer would say that they write for entertainment first, and money maybe later. Second, Hobb implied that there is no good coming out of writing fanfiction. It does not violate any copyright law, and writers do not earn from it. Justin responded to this by stating that fanfiction creates more than possibilities along the original story lines. It allows fan communities to have a stronger bond. More importantly, it gives way to a broader creative opportunity to express themselves as writers. Many writers create stories not to earn, but simply to experience the joy of writing, something many known authors went through even before the start of their careers. By writing fanfiction, people discover other writers who have the same interests. It promotes relationships among fans, and not just their creativity. Third, Hobb said that it lowers the ratings of their works. Fanfiction is a form of identity theft. Justin immediately responded to this by saying that fanfiction can be a form of literary criticism, and that when she despises these forms of fiction, she is taking these criticisms as personal judgments. Furthermore, the author of the blog added that fanfiction widens the readers of the works of these authors, especially when the fanfiction has been well written. Hobb continued that those who read fanfiction about Harry Potter might get the wrong idea about the context of the series; Justin said that majority of those who read Harry Potter fanfiction are most likely those who have read or seen the works J. K. Rowling has authored. Fourth, the author said that fanfiction writers who create stories based from her work is in a way claiming her work, and cannot be right from any angle. Justin reacted that these writers are her readers, and that they are those who will be saying if her works have been successful or not, if she is a great writer or not. That is how the industry of writing is. One is not a successful writer if his reader was not happy about his story. Moreover, Justin added that reading is half the joy because all texts have different interpretations. Hobb can never ascertain that her readers will all have the same idea after reading her works. Everybody have different mind sets and different backgrounds, which can strongly affect how they read and understand a story. Furthermore, authors should feel privileged and honored that their works gained fanfictions because it goes to show that their stories deeply touched the hearts and minds of these people that they respond in such a creative avenue. Fanfiction writers do not tell authors that they made a mistake, and that their works are ugly. In fact, they have become inspired; they just have different interpretations. Fifth, Hobb said â€Å"the intent of the author is ignored. † The original context was changed: relationships, death, ending, and plot. Justin further emphasized that it was how the fan writers perceived their works. Nothing was written to spite the author. More importantly, nothing was written to â€Å"close† loose ends in the story. It is more of widening the possibilities in the story; the ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ the audience have encountered during the course of the story. The works of the many authors are deeply loved and fully appreciated, knowing the time and effort they must have exerted to finish the novel or series of. Fanfiction writers are not holding any claim on it. Sixth, Hobb was told that fanfiction is an appropriate avenue to become a better writer. She responded by saying that if this was the truth, then karaoke creates singers and coloring books create artists. Justin just called her â€Å"ludicrous†. Among her arguments, this is by far the weakest. Of course, these are the avenues to discover talent. How else would you know if a child would be a painter if you won’t give coloring books, a musician without instruments, or a writer without books? Talent cannot be discovered without initiating its search. Seventh, to counter this, Hobb said that fanfiction is not a means to become a writer. By completely changing many aspects of the original context, this pretense of creating stories is not a good practice of writing. Justin responded to this by presenting examples like Max Ernest, Duchamps and Basquiat, Public Enemy, DJ Shadow and Negativeland, whose masterpieces must be considered as theft of intellectual property and be imprisoned. The original ideas of the authors are not stolen. They are, in way, taken into the next level. Eight, Hobb always emphasized that the original idea belongs to its creator, as Justin pointed out. However, not all plots are invented. Ideas are usually similar. They are only altered slightly, and it would seem different. In such a craft, ideas are not always new, but what matters is how it was approached and written. It usually boils down to the same theme. Critiques question craftsmanship and not the main idea alone. These points highlight that Hobb’s arguments against fanfiction are very weak and does not fully justify fanfiction as an illegal activity for fans. Plagiarism was not committed since fanfiction writers give full credit to the original authors. Moreover, these writers do not create fanfiction to earn, but simply to write and relate with other writers of the same interests. They write for growth and not selfish reasons. Hobb failed to give light to her legal and legitimate stand against fanfiction since her arguments mainly concerned personal rants and close minded opinions. This paper initially stated that the points brought out in this paper cannot fully stand on either affirmative or opposition. However, based on the given text, this paper concludes that fanfiction is a legitimate activity for fans. Works Cited Justin. November 9, 2005. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2. 5 Malaysia License. 27 December 2007 .

Killer Charles Ng - A Master of Legal Manipulation

Killer Charles Ng - A Master of Legal Manipulation (Continued From Profile of Sadistic Killer Charles Ng) Ng Changes His Identity to Mike Komoto As investigators uncovered the grisly crime scene at the bunker, Charles Ng was on the run. Investigators learned from Leonard Lakes ex-wife, Claralyn Balasz, that Ng contacted her shortly after running from the lumberyard. She met with him and agreed to drive him to his apartment for clothing and to pick up a paycheck. She said he was carrying a gun, ammunition, two fake I.D.s in the name of Mike Komoto and that she let him off at the San Francisco airport, but did not know where he was going. Busted On Shoplifting In Canada Ngs movement was traced from San Francisco to Chicago to Detroit and then into Canada. The investigation uncovered enough evidence to charge Ng with 12 counts of murder. Ng managed to avoid authorities for over a month, but his poor shoplifting abilities landed him in jail in Calvary after he fought with the arresting police and shot one of them in the hand. Ng was in a Canadian jail, charged with robbery, attempted robbery, possession of a firearm and attempted murder. U.S. authorities became aware of Ngs arrest, but because Canada had abolished the death penalty, extradition of Ng to the U.S. was refused. U.S. authorities were permitted to interview Ng in Canada at which time Ng blamed Lake for most of the killings at the bunker but admitted to being involved in the disposal of the bodies. His trial for the robbery and assault charges in Canada resulted in a sentence of four-and-a-half years, which he spent learning about U.S. laws. Cartoons Drawn By Ng Tell All Ng also entertained himself by drawing cartoons depicting murder scenes, some that contained details of killings that replicated those that went on at Wilseyville that only someone involved in the murders would have known. One other factor that sealed little doubt of Ngs involvement in the pairs killing spree was one witness who Ng had left for dead, but survived. The witness identified Ng as the man who attempted to kill him, rather than Lake. Ng Is Extradited To The U.S. After a six-year battle between the U.S. Justice Department and Canada, Charles Ng was extradited to the U.S. on Sept. 26, 1991, to face trial on 12 murder charges. Ng, familiar with American laws, worked relentlessly to delay his trial. Ultimately, Ngs case became one of the most costly cases in U.S. history, costing taxpayers an estimated $6.6 million for the extradition efforts alone. Ng Begins To Play With The U.S. Legal System When Ng reached the U.S. he and his team of lawyers began to manipulate the legal system with endless delay tactics that included formal complaints about receiving bad food and bad treatment. Ng also filed a $1 million malpractice suit against lawyers he had dismissed at various times during his pre-trial hearings. Ng also wanted his trial to be moved to Orange County, a motion that would be presented to California Supreme Court at least five times before it was upheld. Ngs Trial Finally Begins In October 1998, after 13 years of various delays and $10 million in costs, the trial of Charles Chitat Ng began. His defense team presented Ng as being an unwilling participant and was forced to take part in Lakes sadistic murder spree. Because of the videos presented by the prosecutors showing Ng forcing two women to engage in sex after threatening them with knives, the defense admitted that Ng merely participate in the sexual offenses. Ng insisted on taking the stand, which allowed prosecutors to submit more evidence that helped define Ngs role in all aspects of the ghoulish crimes that went on in the bunker, including murder. One significant piece of evidence presented were pictures of Ng standing in his cell with the telling cartoons he had sketched of the victims hanging on the wall behind him. A Fast Decision From The Jury After years of delays, several tons of paperwork, millions of dollars, and many of the victims loved ones deceased, the trial of Charles Ng ended. The jury deliberated for a few hours and returned with a verdict of guilty of the murder of six men, three women, and two babies. The jury recommended the death penalty, a sentence that trial Judge Ryan imposed. The List of Known Victims Other pieces of bone found on the property indicated that over 25 other people were killed by Lake and Ng. Investigators suspect that many were homeless and recruited to the property to help build the bunker, then killed. Kathleen Allen and her boyfriend, Michael Carroll.Investigators believe that Kathleen was lured to the cabin when Lake told her that Michael had been shot. Kathleen was one of the two women who appeared on the video as Lake and Ng mentally and physically tortured her, eventually raping and killing her. Michael was a suspected drug dealer who at one time was a cellmate of Ngs at Leavenworth.Brenda OConnor, Lonnie Bond and baby Lonnie Jr.Brenda and her common-law husband, Lonnie, were next door neighbors of  Leonard  Lake. Brenda was shown on the video begging for knowledge of her babys welfare while the two taunted her and threatened her and the life of her baby if she failed to cooperate with their sexual demands. It is believed that at the time the video was made, Lonnie and Lonnie Jr. had already been killed.Harvey Dubs, Deborah Dubs and baby Sean Dubs.It is believed that the family was murdered after Lake answered an advertisement for camera equipment that Harvey was selling.R obin Scott Stapley Randy JohnsonCharles The Fat Man Gunnar - Leonard Lakes best man.Donald Lake - Leonards brother.Paul Cosner - The owner of the Honda. Charles Ng sits on death row at San Quentin prison in California. He advertises himself online as a dolphin caught inside a tuna net. He continues to appeal his death sentence and it may take several years for his sentence to be carried out. Return to Profile of Charles Ng Source:Justice Denied - The Ng Case bu Joseph Harrington and Robert BurgerJourney into Darkness by John E. Douglas

The Tiananmen Square Massacre - Background and Causes

The Tiananmen Square Massacre - Background and Causes Most people in the western world remember the Tiananmen Square Massacre this way: 1) Students protest for democracy in Beijing, China, in June of 1989. 2) Chinese government sends troops and tanks to Tiananmen Square. 3) Student protesters are brutally massacred. In essence, this is a fairly accurate depiction of what happened around Tiananmen Square, but the situation was much longer-lasting and more chaotic than this outline suggests. The protests actually started in April of 1989, as public demonstrations of mourning for former Communist Party Secretary General Hu Yaobang. A high government officials funeral seems like an unlikely spark for pro-democracy demonstrations and chaos. Nonetheless, by the time the Tiananmen Square Protests and Massacre were over less than two months later, 250 to 7,000 people lay dead. What really happened that spring in Beijing? Background to Tiananmen By the 1980s, the leaders of Chinas Communist Party knew that classical Maoism had failed. Mao Zedongs policy of rapid industrialization and collectivization of land, the Great Leap Forward, had killed tens of millions of people by starvation. The country then descended into the terror and anarchy of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), an orgy of violence and destruction that saw teenaged Red Guards humiliate, torture, murder and sometimes even cannibalize hundreds of thousands or millions of their compatriots. Irreplaceable cultural heirlooms were destroyed; traditional Chinese arts and religion were all but extinguished. Chinas leadership knew that they had to make changes in order to remain in power, but what reforms should they make? The Communist Party leaders split between those who advocated drastic reforms, including a move toward capitalist economic policies and greater personal freedoms for Chinese citizens, versus those who favored careful tinkering with the command economy and continued strict control of the population. Meanwhile, with the leadership unsure of which direction to take, the Chinese people hovered in a no-mans land between fear of the authoritarian state, and the desire to speak out for reform. The government-instigated tragedies of the previous two decades left them hungry for change, but aware that the iron fist of Beijings leadership was always ready to smash down opposition. Chinas people waited to see which way the wind would blow. The Spark - Memorial for Hu Yaobang Hu Yaobang was a reformist, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1980 to 1987. He advocated rehabilitation of people persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, greater autonomy for Tibet, rapprochement with Japan, and social and economic reform. As a result, he was forced out of office by the hardliners in January of 1987 and made to offer humiliating public self-criticisms for his allegedly bourgeois ideas. One of the charges leveled against Hu was that he had encouraged (or at least allowed) widespread student protests in late 1986. As General Secretary, he refused to crack down on such protests, believing that dissent by the intelligentsia should be tolerated by the Communist government. Hu Yaobang died of a heart attack not long after his ouster and disgrace, on April 15, 1989. Official media made just brief mention of Hus death, and the government at first did not plan to give him a state funeral. In reaction, university students from across Beijing marched on Tiananmen Square, shouting acceptable, government-approved slogans, and calling for the rehabilitation of Hus reputation. Bowing to this pressure, the government decided to accord Hu a state funeral after all. However, government officials on April 19 refused to receive a delegation of student petitioners, who patiently waited to speak with someone for three days at the Great Hall of the People. This would prove to be the governments first big mistake. Hus subdued memorial service took place on April 22 and was greeted by huge student demonstrations involving about 100,000 people. Hardliners within the government were extremely uneasy about the protests, but General Secretary Zhao Ziyang believed that the students would disperse once the funeral ceremonies were over. Zhao was so confident that he took a week-long trip to North Korea for a summit meeting. The students, however, were enraged that the government had refused to receive their petition, and emboldened by the meek reaction to their protests. After all, the Party had refrained from cracking down on them thus far, and had even caved in to their demands for a proper funeral for Hu Yaobang. They continued to protest, and their slogans strayed further and further from the approved texts. Events Begin to Spin Out of Control With Zhao Ziyang out of the country, hardliners in the government such as Li Peng took the opportunity to bend the ear of the powerful leader of the Party Elders, Deng Xiaoping. Deng was known as a reformer himself, supportive of market reforms and greater openness, but the hardliners exaggerated the threat posed by the students. Li Peng even told Deng that the protesters were hostile to him personally, and were calling for his ouster and the downfall of the Communist government. (This accusation was a fabrication.) Clearly worried, Deng Xiaoping decided to denounce the demonstrations in an editorial published in the April 26th Peoples Daily. He called the protests dongluan (meaning turmoil or rioting) by a tiny minority. These highly emotive terms were associated with the atrocities of the Cultural Revolution. Rather than tamping down the students fervor, Dengs editorial further inflamed it. The government had just made its second grave mistake. Not unreasonably, the students felt that they could not end the protest if it was labeled dongluan, for fear that they would be prosecuted. Some 50,000 of them continued to press the case that patriotism motivated them, not hooliganism. Until the government stepped back from that characterization, the students could not leave Tiananmen Square. But the government too was trapped by the editorial. Deng Xiaoping had staked his reputation, and that of the government, on getting the students to back down. Who would blink first? Showdown, Zhao Ziyang vs. Li Peng General Secretary Zhao returned from North Korea to find China transfixed by the crisis. He still felt that the students were no real threat to the government, though, and sought to defuse the situation, urging Deng Xiaoping to recant the inflammatory editorial. Li Peng, however, argued that to step back now would be a fatal show of weakness by the Party leadership. Meanwhile, students from other cities poured into Beijing to join the protests. More ominously for the government, other groups also joined in: housewives, workers, doctors, and even sailors from the Chinese Navy! The protests also spread to other cities - Shanghai, Urumqi, Xian, Tianjin... almost 250 in all. By May 4, the number of protesters in Beijing had topped 100,000 again. On May 13, the students took their next fateful step. They announced a hunger strike, with the goal of getting the government to retract the April 26 editorial. Over a thousand students took part in the hunger strike, which engendered wide-spread sympathy for them among the general populace. The government met in an emergency Standing Committee session the following day. Zhao urged his fellow leaders to accede to the students demand and withdraw the editorial. Li Peng urged a  crackdown. The Standing Committee was deadlocked, so the decision was passed to Deng Xiaoping. The next morning, he announced that he was placing Beijing under martial law. Zhao was fired and placed under house arrest; hard-liner Jiang Zemin succeeded him as General  Secretary; and  fire-brand Li Peng was placed in control of the military forces in Beijing. In the midst of the turmoil, Soviet Premier and fellow reformer  Mikhail Gorbachev  arrived in China for talks with Zhao on May 16. Due to Gorbachevs presence, a large contingent of foreign journalists and photographers also descended on the tense Chinese capital. Their reports fueled international concern and calls for restraint, as well as sympathetic protests in Hong Kong,  Taiwan, and ex-patriot Chinese communities in Western nations. This international outcry  placed even more  pressure on the Chinese Communist Party leadership. Early in the morning on May 19, the deposed Zhao made an extraordinary appearance in Tiananmen Square. Speaking through a bullhorn, he told the protesters: Students, we came too late. We are sorry. You talk about us, criticize us, it is all necessary. The reason that I came here is not to ask you to forgive us. All I want to say is that students are getting very weak, it is the 7th day since you went on hunger strike, you cant continue like this... You are still young, there are still many days yet to come, you must live  healthily, and see the day when China accomplishes the four modernizations. You are not like us, we are already old, it doesnt matter to us  anymore. It was the last time he was ever seen in public. Perhaps in response to Zhaos appeal, during the last week of May tensions eased a bit, and many of the student protesters from Beijing grew weary of the protest and left the square. However, reinforcements from the provinces continued to pour into the city. Hard-line student leaders called for the protest to continue until June 20, when a meeting of the National Peoples Congress was scheduled to take place. On May 30, the students set up a large sculpture called the Goddess of Democracy in Tiananmen Square. Modeled after the Statue of Liberty, it became one of the enduring symbols of the protest. Hearing the calls for a prolonged protest, on June 2 the Communist Party Elders met with the remaining members of the Politburo Standing Committee. They agreed to bring in the  Peoples Liberation Army  (PLA) to clear the protesters out of Tiananmen Square by force. The Tiananmen Square Massacre The morning of June 3, 1989, the 27th and 28th divisions of the Peoples Liberation Army moved into Tiananmen Square on foot and in tanks, firing tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. They had been ordered not to shoot the protesters; indeed, most of them did not carry firearms. The leadership selected these divisions because they were from distant provinces; local PLA troops were considered untrustworthy as potential supporters of the protests. Not only the student  protesters but also tens of thousands of workers and ordinary citizens of Beijing joined together to repel the Army. They used burned-out buses to create barricades, threw rocks and bricks at the soldiers, and even burned some tank crews alive inside their tanks. Thus, the first casualties of the Tiananmen Square Incident were actually soldiers. The student protest leadership now faced a difficult decision. Should they evacuate the Square before further blood could be shed, or hold their ground? In the end, many of them decided to remain. That night, around 10:30 pm, the PLA returned to the area around Tiananmen with rifles, bayonets fixed. The tanks rumbled down the street, firing indiscriminately. Students shouted Why are you killing us? to the soldiers, many of whom were about the same age as the protesters. Rickshaw drivers and bicyclists darted through the melee, rescuing the wounded and taking them to hospitals. In the chaos, a number of non-protesters were killed as well. Contrary to popular belief, the bulk of the violence took place in the neighborhoods all around Tiananmen Square, rather than in the Square itself. Throughout the night of June 3 and early hours of June 4, the troops beat, bayoneted, and shot protesters. Tanks drove straight into crowds, crushing people and bicycles under their treads. By 6 a.m. on June 4th, 1989, the streets around Tiananmen Square had been cleared. Tank Man or the Unknown Rebel The city lapsed into shock during June 4, with just the occasional volley of gunfire breaking the stillness. Parents of missing students pushed their way to the protest area, seeking their sons and daughters, only to be warned off and then shot in the back as they fled from the soldiers. Doctors and ambulance drivers who tried to enter the area to help the wounded were also shot down in cold blood by the PLA. Beijing seemed utterly subdued the morning of June 5. However, as foreign journalists and photographers, including  Jeff Widener  of the AP, watched from their hotel balconies as a column of tanks trundled up Changan Avenue (the Avenue of Eternal Peace), an amazing thing happened. A young man in a white shirt and black pants, with shopping bags in each hand, stepped out into the street and stopped the tanks. The lead tank tried to swerve around him, but he jumped in front of it again. Everyone watched in horrified fascination, afraid that the tank driver would lose patience and drive over the man. At one point, the man even climbed up onto the tank and spoke to the soldiers inside, reportedly asking them, Why are you here? You have caused nothing but misery. After several minutes of this defiant dance, two more men rushed up to the  Tank Man  and hustled him away. His fate is unknown. However,  still  images and video of his brave act were captured by the  Western  press members  nearby and smuggled out for the world to see. Widener and several other photographers hid the film in the tanks of their hotel toilets, to save it from searches by the Chinese security forces. Ironically, the story and the image of the Tank Mans act of defiance had the greatest immediate effect thousands of miles away, in Eastern Europe. Inspired in part by his courageous example, people across the Soviet bloc poured into the streets. In 1990, beginning with the Baltic states, the republics of the Soviet Empire began to break away. The USSR collapsed. Nobody knows how many people died in the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The official Chinese government figure is 241, but this is almost certainly a drastic undercount. Between soldiers, protesters and civilians, it seems likely that anywhere from 800 to 4,000 people were killed. The Chinese Red Cross initially put the toll at 2,600, based on counts from local hospitals, but then quickly retracted that statement under intense government pressure. Some witnesses also stated that the PLA carted away many bodies; they would not have been included in a hospital count. The Aftermath of Tiananmen 1989 The protesters who survived the Tiananmen Square Incident met a variety of fates. Some, particularly the student leaders, were given relatively light jail terms (less than 10 years). Many of the professors and other professionals who joined in were simply  blacklisted, unable to find jobs. A large number of the workers and provincial people were executed; exact figures, as usual, are unknown. Chinese journalists who had published reports sympathetic to the protesters also found themselves purged and unemployed. Some of the most famous were sentenced to multi-year prison terms. As for the Chinese government, June 4,  1989  was a watershed moment. Reformists within the Communist Party of China were stripped of power and reassigned to ceremonial roles. Former Premier Zhao Ziyang was never  rehabilitated and spent his final 15 years under house arrest. Shanghais mayor, Jiang Zemin, who had moved quickly to quell protests in that city, replaced Zhao as the Partys General Secretary. Since that time, political agitation has been extremely muted in China. The government and the majority of citizens alike have focused on economic reform and prosperity, rather than political reform. Because the Tiananmen Square Massacre is a taboo subject, most Chinese under the age of 25 have never even heard about it.  Websites  that mention the June 4 Incident are blocked in China. Even decades later, the people and the government of China have not dealt with this momentous and tragic incident. The memory of the Tiananmen Square Massacre festers under the surface of everyday life for those old enough to recall it. Someday, the Chinese government will have to face this piece of its history. For a very powerful and disturbing take on the Tiananmen Square Massacre, see the PBS Frontline special The Tank Man, available to view online. Sources Roger V. Des Forges, Ning Luo, Yen-bo Wu.  Chinese Democracy and the Crisis of 1989: Chinese and American Reflections, (New York: SUNY Press, 1993) PBS, Frontline: The Tank Man, April 11, 2006. U.S. National Security Briefing Book. Tiananmen Square, 1989: The Declassified History, posted by George Washington University. Zhang Liang.  The Tiananmen Papers: The Chinese Leaderships Decision to Use Force Against Their Own People - In Their Own Words, ed. Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link, (New York: Public Affairs, 2001)

Authentic Assessment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Authentic Assessment - Case Study Example This customer-centric approach has led them to a huge success in the consumer goods market. Since last decade, P&G has adopted this strategy to focus on fulfilling the needs of consumers. For this they have come up with innovative products and services that helped people improve their living standards. P&G no more believes in providing expensive products and serving the higher economy classes, they have been strongly focusing on the BOP markets from last many years. Innovation has definitely been the key to success for this company. From realizing the need to have hygienic diapers for children to creating cheaper razor blades for the lower income group to producing greener products; they have innovated and served the market. As mentioned in the case, the company's value and sense of purpose is: "Invoke the heart and care about human needs, the strategy seems to say, and the money will follow." Bob McDonald wants to take this even further. He believes that caring about human needs com e first and cash inflow will definitely follow. The first step is to care about the human needs and improving their lives. Previously, the customer-centric approach was just being practiced in a few parts of the world, and in fewer segments. Bob wants P&G to exist as the leading FMCG in every part of the world, touching lives of various consumers belonging to different demographical areas, and having different lifestyle. He also wants to bring newer products to make the lives of consumers better and serving them completely. With globalization, technological innovations, and international competitions; there is a huge need to innovate and fulfill the needs to consumers in every way possible. Bob has the same vision. He wants to identify the needs of consumers, and fulfill these needs by providing products and services that give them superior value. With this vision and purpose, there is a strong need to change and evolve the culture. P&G's culture varies from country to country. Alth ough the company has a strong culture, there are always improvements required. For their business to grow and to touch more lives in the world there is a need to have very strong core values embedded in everywhere it operates. These core values would ensure that every employee of P&G, whether s/he is in USA or China or Africa or any other part of the world, knows these core values by heart and live by them. Great companies always change their culture according to the needs. No company has the perfect corporate culture. Therefore there is a need to evolve, improve and get better. There are some traditional and conventional practices that still take place in many parts of P&G. These practices need to be forgone and they have to adopt new ways according to the changing times. Things like cultivating diversity, flexible working hours' time, creating leadership and bringing innovation in every aspect of their business are very important for their cultural change. 2) Evaluates whether the current culture is attracting, retaining and motivating the employees who offer the needed knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) in order to achieve the goals of the organization. Employees are no doubt the greatest assets of the company. They provide the knowledge, skills and abilities to the company's products and services in order to excel. In order to enable them to work even smarter, a company has to provide an environment where they feel comfortable and which