Osamu Dazai Essay

Osamu Dazai was one of Japanese novelist and considered one of the most important storytellers of postwar Japan. While known primarily as a novelist, Dazai also earned recognition for his numerous short stories, including â€Å"Omoide† (â€Å"Memories†), â€Å"Sarugashima† (â€Å"Monkey Island†), and â€Å"Ha† (â€Å"Leaves†), which were published in Bannen, his first collection of short stories. Like most of his longer fiction, Dazai’s short stories are autobiographical and reflect a troubled life marred by alcoholism, drug addiction, and several suicide attempts. Nevertheless, Dazai’s fiction showcases his artistic imagination and unique confessional narrative technique. Dazai was born the youngest of ten children in Kanagi, a small town in northern Japan, to one of the wealthiest families in the region. While Dazai’s later years were turbulent, he grew up a sensitive child in comfortable surroundings. Later in his life , however, his wealthy background led to self-consciousness, contributing to a nagging sense of isolation that is an undercurrent throughout his fiction. Dazai underwent his apprenticeship in writing during the 1920s while attending secondary schools in Aomori and Hirosaki and published many of his early stories in magazines founded and run by aspiring young authors. By the time he attended Hirosaki Higher School, however, Dazai began to live the unconventional lifestyle that brought him much fame. Despite his widely recognized talent, however, alcoholism, drug addiction, affairs with geishas, suicide attempts, and frequent psychological traumas plagued him the rest of his life. In 1930, Dazai enrolled in the Department of French Literature at Tokyo University, but by the end of his first year, he ceased attending classes. Instead, Dazai became involved with left-wing politics, caroused, and renewed his relationship with a geisha he met while attending Hirosaki Higher School. His family disapproved of this relationship, leading to one of Dazai’s suicide attempts. He attempted to take his own life on at least three other occasions and finally succeeded in a double suicide with a young war widow in 1948. This episode, among several instances of double suicide in Dazai’s fiction, is retold in his widely acclaimed novel, No Longer Human. Dazai’s highly autobiographical fiction first garnered popular and critical attention after the publication of his first collection, Bannen (The Final Years). The first and most significant of these stories is â€Å"Omoide† (â€Å"Memories†). With its highly personal tone, â€Å"Memories† reveals a common narrative technique in Dazai’s writing. Revealing his childhood and adolescent traumas, as well as his need for companionship and love, Dazai’s first-person narrative attracts the reader’s sympathy while raising doubts about the authenticity of the narration beca use of exaggerated rhetoric. â€Å"Gangu† (â€Å"Toys†), another tale in Bannen, illustrates Dazai’s playfulness. In this tale, the narrator — after briefly relating his financial troubles — details his plans to concoct a tale recounting the memories of an infant. While these and other early pieces exemplify the personal tone of much of Dazai’s work, another group of tales shows his talent for imaginative storytelling. Two tales — â€Å"Gyofukuki,† translated as â€Å"Metamorphosis,† and â€Å"Sarugashima,† translated as â€Å"Monkey Island† — provide good examples of this. In place of the Dazai like protagonist present throughout most of his other short fiction; â€Å"Metamorphosis† is about a peasant girl who, on the verge of puberty, takes on the appearance and identity of a fish. â€Å"Monkey Island† presents two humanoid monkeys as its protagonists. In astonishment, one of the monkeys soon realizes they are the objects of attention, rather than the spectators, of the humans walking through the zoo. In his final years, he composed a series of stories that evince his interest in domestic issues, as titles such as â€Å"Villon’s Wife,† â€Å"Father,† and â€Å"Family Happiness†Ã¢â‚¬â€suggest. As critics have remarked, the stories of these collections are among the few works of artistic value produced by a Japanese author under the strict government censorship during World War II. While famous in Japan and avidly read — especially by the younger generation — Dazai has not achieved the international stature of Japanese writers such as Natsume Sseki, Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, and End Shusaku. This is partly due to problems with translating Dazai’s highly personal style. Yet Dazai has earned himself a position in modern Japanese letters more or less comparable to that of an F. Scott Fitzgerald, as opposed to a William Faulkner, in modern American literature. Donald Keene, Dazai’s principal English translator, has described him as a Japanese writer â€Å"who emerged at the end of World War II as the literary voice of his time.† While Dazai’s body of work is sometimes criticized for its narrow scope, many critics maintain that h is fiction contains some of the most beautiful prose in modern Japanese literature. Dazai became celebrated for two short novels, The Setting Sun and No Longer Human, both translated into English. I read both of them back when I was reading all the Japanese fiction I could get my hands on, but did not care for either, and have not read either again. The Setting Sun was published in 1947, and is set in those years shortly after the end of the war. It was a very popular novel, and the title came to represent Japanese of the upper classes who had fallen because of the war and American occupation. But Dazai was already well known for personal characteristics reflected in the major characters as well–nihilism, drunken dissipation, despair (a kind of model for our hippie generation)–so, although the central character is a young woman, Kazuko, the novel is read as strongly autobiographical. This is true for No Longer Human, too, which is perhaps even more autobiographical, and, as Donald Keene describes it, is â€Å"an attack on the habits and traditions of Japanese society, but above all †¦ a record of his alienation from society.† (1063) I was not attracted to the narcissistic qualities in these two novels, or to the fact that Dazai, after having failed in two previous love suicides (in which the women succeeded) succeeded in a love suicide June 13, 1948 (he and the woman drowned in the Tamagawa Reservoir). I just didn’t much like him or his characters–never used those novels in courses I taught. But I did use one of his short stories, Villon’s Wife, several times, because it was in the anthology I most frequently used in the survey course of Japanese Literature, Donald Keene’s Modern Japanese Literature, and I actually came to like that story very much (sort of like Oe’s The Catch, the exception that proves the rule). The husband in the story may be the closest self-portrait of all, and the most despicable, in his drunken dissipation, unfaithfulness, and unforgivable treatment of his wife, but the story is told by the wife, who, in her attempts to accommodate herself to all of this comes through as an attractive and courageous character–and you realize that even Dazai, in his more sober moments perhaps, must have appreciated her virtues. Anyway, that’s the one I recommend–then, if you want to read either, or both, of the novels, you will be reading fiction that was very popular in Japan in the decade after the end of the war, and may, indeed, reflect some of the values in flux in that traumatic time, particularly for young Japanese who would have seen themselves as having lost everything. I will be comparing Akutagawa to Edgar Allan Poe next month for their short lives and some of the qualities of their fiction, and it is easy to compare Dazai to Akutagawa (1892-1927), as well . Akutagawa was more of Tanizaki’s generation, but died in his late 30s, as a suicide, as Dazai did. But, I am happy to say, I am very fond of Akutagawa–a highly disciplined literary artist. (MAIN BODY) â€Å"NO LONGER HUMAN† This book, by Osamu Dazai, is an example of the Japanese genre of shishosetsu, a kind of autobiographical fiction. It’s different from what we think of as autobiography, in that the purpose is not so much to tell a story – there is no real emplotment, beginning, middle, end in the traditional (or Aristotelian) sense, but rather, the text is a sort of rambling exploration of the self. Style is de-prioritized, sincerity and immediacy are tantamount. There is no constrained form, but rather, an attempt to establish a direct link between author and reader, to explain a particular perspective. The book is largely autobiographical, based on events from Dazai’s own life. He was a literary rock star, but a deeply miserable guy, attempting suicide several times before finally succeeding. There’s actually a monument at the spot where he killed himself (along with his mistress), and apparently people gather there on the anniversary of his death every year. In any case, the book itself is interesting. It makes me want to learn Japanese, for starters, because no matter how great the translator, there’s no getting around the fact that the grammatical structure of Japanese is completely different from that of English, most importantly, for this book perhaps, in that it is entirely possible, and even common, to construct a sentence in Japanese with no subject. Apparently the entire book is written in this form, which would be particularly appropriate to the work itself. Though I wonder if the Japanese reader would really think of this as particularly artful, given that it’s apparently a standard thing to them. But I guess that’s a question for psycho-linguists to answer. The book is the related story of a very unhappy guy who is essentially chronicling his downward spiral. Though it’s hard to say if it’s really a downward spiral – though he does pinpoint a moment at which he ceased to be human, itâ €™s not entirely clear that he was ever really human (by his own definition) to begin with. One question is what it means, in his eyes, to be human. There is a clear parallel to Notes from the Underground (Dazai was big into Dostoevsky, and the main character refers to Crime and Punishment), in that both are notes from deeply unhappy men who are convinced of their own uniqueness, but there are definitely differences. Dostoevsky’s character is raging against rationality, and the way in which it dehumanizes people, so in a sense, though he calls himself a mouse, etc, he could be seen as claiming that he is really the only human. Dazai’s character, Yozo, sees himself as inhuman, mainly, it seems, because he lacks certain basic human traits. He claims, for instance, that he has never felt hungry. However, there is also a certain issue of domination at play – he is unable to say no to anyone, to turn down anything. In this sense, one could say that he is entirely determined by the outside world. Despite the fact that he has an inner life, he keeps it hidden from the outside world. In fact, his behavior is entirely, he claims, an act, he â€Å"plays the clown† for the amusement of others, refusing to let his own feelings show. But I’m not certain if this is really the case. For instance, he wants to be an artist, and actually disobeys his father in order to pursue his artistic career, and confesses to the other authority figure in his life, Flatfish, that he wants to make art. So it seems as though the masking process is incomplete in this case, and at times he does behave authentically. I wonder if the same could be said for the Underground Man? I think that it’s slightly different in his case, in that the construction of the Underground Man is such that he can’t behave authentically, because he has no stable self. Yozo, on the other hand, certainly has an inner life, it’s just a rather empty one. He doesn’t seem to have any real will of his own, or rather, the will that he does have is purely towards self-destruction – he can get booze and drugs, and drink himself into a stupor, without any difficulties. But then again, he also seems to have a brief lull of happiness, directly following his marriage. But even there, it’s hard to say if he’s happy. Maybe it’s most accurate to say that he is so constructed as to be incapable of happiness? Hmmm. There’s more thinking to be done here. Unfortunately, I seem to like each Dazai Osamu (1909-1948) book less than the previous one. No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku, 1948) is more epigrammatic that The Setting Sun (Shayo, 1947), but perhaps I am too old for it (as I was once too young to read Proust) to be much moved for the plaint of a creature too delicate for the world. I can’t muster sociological interest in it as social history of the 30s either, since dissipitation is basically timeless (though the preferred means vary). I read the epilogue differently from translator and longtime Columbia professor Donald Keene: as showing the notebook’s writer was successful at mimicking good nature, not that his widow is right and the writer wrong. (â€Å"In the way that most men fail to see their own cruelty, Yozo had not noticed his gentleness and capacity for love†-p. 9; really? a capacity for love? and gentleness? or solipsism mixed with diffidence?) I am not so sure that Keene was right that the Japanese â€Å"are certainly much more like Americans than they are like their ancestors of one hundred years ago. As far as literature is concerned, the break with the Japanese past is almost complete† (p. 7), though this is more credible now than it was six decades ago. Dazai seems very traditionally Japanese to me in many ways, a descendant of Sei Shà ´nagon both in wit and to some degree in aesthetics (Dazai is still plenty delicate and fairly indirect, even about what she would have considered vulgar and even sordid matters, very regretful and very perishable). Would Keene have been moved to translate Dazai, if there was nothing of the Japanese tradition that Keene venerates in Dazai? Let alone, recall translating Dazai â€Å"as if I were writing a book of my own,† an experience he only otherwise had with Kenkà ´Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Essays in Idleness (On Familiar Terms, p. 189). I like Keene’s characterization of Yozo as a man â€Å"who is orphaned from his fellows by their refusal to take him seriously† (p. 8, see p. 139), which in turn is a result of his desperate clowni ng. Of course, this resonates with my experience of people not believing I could possibly be serious when I am, and feeling I’m not like other people, incapable of â€Å"getting by.† And â€Å"unusual or extravagant things tempt me† (p. 23). It is interesting that someone who felt himself different from an early age and for whom â€Å"it would be no exaggeration to say that my only playmates while I was growing up were girls† (48) became a diffident lady-killer rather than a homosexual. Ã…Å'ba cannot forget his abuse by a female servant when he was young. In high school, he played the buffoon. At university, he finds bad influence from Horiki and leads a life of debauchery (nonstop smoking, alcohol abuse, promiscuity), culminating in a double suicide (it cannot seriously be billed a â€Å"love suicide†) in which the married woman drowns and he survives. After being expelled from the university, Ã…Å'ba is â€Å"clan and sober† for a time in a relationship with an innocent young woman, but Horki shows up and leads Ã…Å'ba back into temptation, now adding morphine to alcohol abuse and being incarcerated in a mental asylum, where he is numb rather than violent. As for being zombified by Japan’s defeat, Dazai seems to me to have been as self-destructive and intellectually nihilistic while the Japanese Empire was rising as in the general anomie after Emperor Hirohito renounced divinity and the US occupied the archipelago. (Imamura’s â€Å"Pigs and Battleships† show some of this social breakdown and women who were better at surviving it than the men.) The original publication sold more than six million copies in Japan, more than any Japanese novel other than Kokoro (1914) by SÃ… seki Natsume. A manga version was published in 2009, the centenary of Dasai’s birth, and also filmed. (CONCLUSION) Attending Meiji Gakuin University from the age 15 to 19, Toson gradually became aware of literature under the influence of unconventional traditions of the school. Toson literature is even said to originate during his days at the university. Toson joined Bungakukai, a literary group, and as a romantic poet, published a collection of poems including Wakanashu. Later, Toson turned a novelist and published Hakai (â€Å"The Broken Commandment†) and Haru (â€Å"Spring†), and is thus regarded as a prominent naturalist novelist. His other works include, Ie (â€Å"Family†), considered to have achieved the highest level in Japanese Naturalism literature, Shinsei (â€Å"New life†), a confession of his own incestuous relationship with his niece, Yoakemae (â€Å"Before the Dawn†), a historical novel modeled on the life of his father. Altbough he began his serialization of Tohonomon (â€Å"The Gate of the East†) in 1943, he died of a stroke at his own hom e in Oiso, Kanagawa prefecture on 22nd of August. (BIBLIOGRAPHY LIST) Dazai, Osamu, and Donald Keene. No Longer Human. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1981. Print. Lyons, Phyllis I., and Osamu Dazai. The Saga of Dazai Osamu: a Critical Study with Translations. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1985. Print. Hachimaki, Emi. â€Å"ä º ºÃ©â€"“å ¤ ±Ã¦   ¼.† é â€™Ã§ © ºÃ¦â€"‡å º «Ã£â‚¬â‚¬Aozora Bunko. Aozora, 1 Jan. 1999. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. . (REFERENCE) http://kirjasto.sci.fi/dazai.htm http://www.jlit.net/authors_works/dazai_osamu.html http://wlc.drake.edu/wordpress/japanese/2010/02/28/osamu-dazai%E3%80%80%E5%A4%AA%E5%AE%B0%E6%B2%BB%EF%BC%89/

How does Steinbeck present Crooks in the extract? Essay

Assignment Title: How does Steinbeck present Crooks in the extract? What is the importance of crooks in the novel as a whole? Of Mice and Men is a powerful and moving portrayal of two men striving to understand their own unique place in the world. Drifters in search of work, George and his simple-minded friend Lennie have nothing in the world except each other – and a dream. A dream that one day they will have some land of their own. Eventually they find work on a ranch, but their hopes are doomed, as Lennie – struggling against extreme cruelty, misunderstanding and feelings of jealousy – becomes a victim of his own strength. Of Mice and Men does many things which include: tackling universal themes, friendship and a shared vision, and giving a voice to America’s lonely and dispossessed; and in this essay about this poignant novel I will explain how ‘Crooks’ a key character in this book is presented, and also show his importance to the novel as a whole. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ Crooks is a black man and is disfigured because of his crooked back. Because of these two things, he is treated as a second-class citizen. We can see that he is treated this way by looking at this extract: â€Å"Crooks, the negro stable buck, had his bunk in the harness-room; a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn. On one side of the little room there was a square four paned window, and on the other, a narrow plank door leading into the barn. Crooks’ bunk was a long box filled with straw, on which his blankets were flung.† From this extract, we are told many things about crooks. Firstly, in the opening sentence of the extract, we are told that crooks is a â€Å"negro stable buck†. We know straight away that he is different because of the fact that his colour was mentioned; none of the other characters in the book were described by the colour of their skin, showing that crooks has been separated from them based upon his colour. Crooks has his own bunk in the harness room, where the tacking for the horses is kept. The idea of the harness room is important because Crooks, like the rest of the characters, are literally in harness to the job on the ranch. They work like the animals until they have outlived their usefulness. Crooks, more than the rest, is seen as animal-like because of the colour of his skin. His living space is also second-class to the bunkhouse. We can see this because the room is said to be no more than â€Å"a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn†. This shows that his living space is very small and not meant for a person to live in. The room that he lives in is of poor quality, â€Å"a narrow plank door† and the fact that his room has a door, which leads onto the barn further prove that he is being treated like an animal. His room is ill equipped for living in â€Å"Crooks had his apple box over his bunk, and in it a range of medicine bottles, both for himself and the horses†. This show that he has been deprived of a simple human necessity; storage. Even though Crooks is a more permanent worker, he has to resort to an apple box to put his possessions in. In addition, Crooks keeps the medicine for the horses with as well has keeping his own medicines in the same box. He sees himself s other people see him; equal to animals. By looking at Crook’s personal belongings, we can get a greater insight into what sort of person he is. In Of mice and men, the possessions in his room are said to â€Å"scattered about the floor† because â€Å"being a stable buck and a cripple, he was more permanent than other men, and he had accumulated more possessions than he could carry on his back†. From this, we get a keys fact : One ,Crooks is different from other people because unlike the migrant workers, whose job can only last for a season and are dependant on crops, Crook’s job is dependant on the horses, which are needed all year round. This makes him less likely to have to look for work elsewhere; the ranch is more dependant on him than the migrant workers. Two, because his belongings are strewn on the floor, you can begin to assume he does not have many visitors. The next paragraph tells us in detail of Crook’s possessions, among which are â€Å"a tattered dictionary and a â€Å"mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905†. The books indicate that he has been well educated, as many people in the 1930’s were illiterate. Both the dictionary and the civil code book are said to be severely worn, and this indicates he takes a great in interest in knowing his rights. He has read these books so carefully so as to be treated fairly and equally as possible, and even though the book is several years old, he has to make do with what he’s been given. Crooks is a proud man, and does not mix easily with the other ranch hands: â€Å"He kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs†. Memories from the past could be the reason behind this; Crooks used to be welcomed by his white friends when he was younger on his dad’s farm, but he soon became aware of racial prejudice when he became a teenager. He understands that he is not wanted on the ranch, and he also used to express the men’s the racial hatred when they â€Å"go after† him when they fight. We can tell that crooks is not well nourished :†his lean face lined with deep black wrinkles†, but if we read on we also know that he is in pain â€Å"pain-tightened lips†. The cause of his pain seems to be his back injuries. Steinbeck describes how he is rubbing his spine with liniment when Lennie goes to see him. â€Å"In one hand he held a bottle of liniment, with the other the rubbed his spine. Now and then he poured a few drops of the liniment into his pink-palmed hand and reached up under his shirt to rub again. He flexed his muscles against his back and shivered.† As readers, we empathise with Crooks because he is not treated equally with dignity, and we know from this that Steinbeck believes in equality and fairness. The other men are not cruel to him, but he is aware of their racism and resents it: â€Å"They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black.† A key moment in Steinbeck novel is when Lennie goes to see Crooks. It’s appropriate that when we see him in his own environment of the harness room he is defensive of his environment, telling Lennie that if he is not allowed in the white men’s area, then they are not allowed in his. But unlike the rest of the ranch workers, Lennie sees no reason why he should not visit Crooks’ room. Lennie’s childlike mind does not recognize the idea of racial segregation, so seeing Crooks’ light on, he decides to call in. We soon learn that the other men never visit Crooks. Although he grumbles at first about Lennie being there, he soon invites him to sit down and talk. For once, Crooks feels important and he talks freely to Lennie about his life on the ranch. We learn that Crooks was not â€Å"a southern negro†. When he says this to Lennie it is to show he has status, he was not a slave from the south; he was born and treated as a child equally â€Å"The white kids come to play at our place ,an’ sometimes I went to play with them, and some of the was pretty nice† We notice how Crooks begins to pour out his personal feelings to Lennie because he believes that Lennie doesn’t really understand him, and because, â€Å"A guy can talk to you and be sure you won’t go blabbin†. He justifies his speaking to Lennie by saying â€Å"This is just a nigger talking†¦So it mean nothing see?† It is just after this point that we come to understand just how lonely Crooks is, his need for socialisation and his deprivation. â€Å"I seen it over an over an over- a guy talking to another guy and it don’t make no difference if he don’t hear or understand. The thing is they’re talking or they’re settin or they’re settin and still not talking. It make no difference, no difference.† We can see what Crook’s main need is – companionship. Just to be able to talk to someone- even if they’re not listening is all he wants. Because of this deprivation its seems as though he tries to make the most of having an audience by cruelly teases Lennie, suggesting that George will never come back. â€Å"S’pose George don’t come back no more. S’pose he took a powder and just ain’t coming back. What’ll you do then?† Crooks is envious of Lennie and George’s relationship- they have everything that Lennie wants; a companionship. He repeats this question to Lennie several times, trying to see how strong George and Lennie’s bond is only to have Lennie reply: â€Å"He won’t do it† â€Å"George wouldn’t do nothing like that. I been with George a long time. He’ll come back tonight†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Crooks, delighted by this reply continues to bombard Lennie with the same question. This however, is too much for Lennie compute; we know Crooks has gone too far , by asking this same question repeatedly Lennie can only think that something has happened to George. He relies on George so much- Lennie is only the animal part of their relationship; George is the mentally alert aspect. Lennie is shown to react in an animal-like manner: † Lennie’s eyes centered and grew quiet and mad†. It is at this point we know that Lennie’s strength is overtaking him, and this scene gives an idea of what is to come in the future. There are several similarities between Crooks and Lennie. They are both outsiders ;neither Crooks nor Lennie were invited to town that night. They both have great difficulty socialising with people, Lennie because he is not mentally able to, Crooks because of his colour. Another similarity is, no matter what, we know that both of them will never fulfil their dreams. Like all of the characters in the film, their dreams are unrealistic. Crooks is important in the play because like all the other characters he is isolated and lonely and he, at first, laughs at Lennie’s dream. This feeling of disbelief and scorn makes the reader feel that maybe George and Lennie’s dream is really only nonsense, as Crooks tells Lennie: â€Å"Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody never gets no land. It’s just in their head .† Crooks sums up the dream and reality of migrant workers- they dream of independence, to be owned by no-one and have no-one to answer to but themselves ; but no-one ever realises their dream. This is an important part of the novel, because Steinbeck has used this point to sum up the rest of the book; none of the characters will realise their dreams. Now it is Crooks turn to invite another person into is bunk; it is at this point that Candy enters in this chapter. It is difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure because now, he has found another person who is willing to talk to him, and possibly treat him equally. Although the author doesn’t explicitly tell us that he is enjoying talking to the two men, it is clear that he longs for a more sociable and humane existence. Candy too brings up the idea that Lennie was talking about earlier : â€Å"I got it figured out. We can make some money on those rabbits if we go about it right.† Crooks says again that their dream is impossible. Candy however, refuses to believe this and goes over in detail their dream. This is the turning point for Crooks, because Candy’s determination and the amount of belief he shows in this dream is enough for Crooks to begin to think that the dream could be possible, and even though he understands that Lennie’s dream is impossible, he becomes captivated by the dream. He too is swept away by the dream of living off the â€Å"fat of the land†. † If you†¦guys would want a hand to work for nothing-just his keep, why I’d come an’ lend a hand. I ain’t so crippled I can’t work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to.† The three men are disturbed by the arrival of Curley’s wife. She too has been left behind. She seeks out company but the men sense trouble and are unfriendly towards her. When she turns on Crooks, making thinly veiled threats and calling him a â€Å"nigger†, it reminds him of his low status on the ranch. Her words bring him back down to earth and make him realize that the dream is useless: he will never be treated as an equal. The ending of Chapter Four contrasts bleakly with the earlier optimism and enthusiasm of the three men, before the arrival of Curley’s wife. Perhaps the author intends the reader at this point to share Crooks’ cynicism about the dream and realize that it will come to nothing. All of the characters have expectations that are sometimes called the ‘Great American Dream’. This refers to the idea that people saw America as a ‘land of opportunity’ where ambitious people could fulfil their dreams. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck seems to be giving us ‘clues’ to tell us that things will go wrong and George and Lennie will never get the life they desire. The reality for people like Crooks, Candy, Lennie and George is summed up in a single line of the poem To a mouse ;from which the title of this poignant novel is taken : â€Å"The best-laid schemes o mice an men, Gang aft agley† (English: â€Å"Often go awry†).

John Kerry on Syria Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

John Kerry on Syria - Assignment Example Having a weapon does not equate to automatic use and we did not even know if Assad has full control of them because there may be generals under him who would surreptitiously use it without Assad knowing. A. And we know what they did next. I personally called the Foreign Minister of Syria and I said to him, â€Å"If, as you say, your nation has nothing to hide, then let the United Nations in immediately and give the inspectors the unfettered access so they have the opportunity to tell your story.† Instead, for four days they shelled the neighborhood in order to destroy evidence, bombarding block after block at a rate four times higher than they had over the previous 10 days. And when the UN inspectors finally gained access, that access, as we now know, was restricted and controlled. B. Syria has chemical weapons and they are hiding it. When they were asked by UN for an inspection, they bombed it to destroy its evidence. They bombed it because their bombing rate was four time higher than the previous 10 days. C. This argument is unsound because Kerry immediately assumed that Syria is hiding its chemical weapons and that they are bent on hiding it so as to bomb it after UN advised for inspection. The certainty that they intend to hide their chemical weapons due to the increased rate of bombing is unsound. Increased rate of bombing can be caused by a multitude of factors and not just to hide it. It is also illogical to bomb their chemical weapons to hide them. Why not move and keep it somewhere else where no one can trace it? A. In all of these things that I have listed, in all of these things that we know, all of them, the American intelligence community has high confidence, high confidence. This is common sense. This is evidence. These are facts. C. The argument is just flatly wrong. What the American intelligence community is

Product design overview Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Role of IT Managers in Organizations Term Paper

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International Trade Operations - Latvia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Guillermo Furniture Store Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Guillermo Furniture Store - Essay Example Changing cost relationship and behaviour of customers in the fast transforming format of society have become critical elements for making decisions by the managers. In the recent times, the emerging new environment of high competition from overseas businesses has significantly challenged the successful running of Guillermo’s Furniture Store in Sonora, Mexico. The advent of overseas businesses with their hi-tech gadgets and low cost goods has hugely impacted Guillermo’s business. It has not only suffered financial loss but the low cost furniture from its competitors has also resulted in loss of customers who increasingly prefer the new stores as it meets their requirements for inexpensive furniture. The low cost furniture of the competitor has necessitated priority decision making by the manager of Guillermo so it could compete effectively against them. Another important issue that influences managerial decision making is the increasing higher cost of labor which has eme rged as a result of large influx of people due to the development of nation’s headquarter in the neighborhood. The development in and around Sonora with new international airport, inexpensive housing etc., has made it highly attractive for myriad businesses and tourists.

Pre-Research ( Alhilal Saudi Football club ) Essay

Pre-Research ( Alhilal Saudi Football club ) - Essay Example Ever since its launch fifty-seven years ago, the club has excelled in Saudi Arabia and Asia to win fifty-five official championships. These include seven Arabian Gulf Championships, six Asian championships and forty national championships. As mentioned earlier, Al-Hilal has been very successful in Saudi Arabia and the Asian continent, therefore, earning the nickname Al-Zaeem, meaning ‘The Boss’ (FIFA, 2014). In recent years, its dominance in the Asian continent has dwindled down Al-Hilal club but it remains one of the most successful football club in the continent. The International Federation of Football History and Statistics named Al-Hilal FC as the Asian Football Club of the past century (Wikipedia, 2014). Al Hilal FC’s home games are played at the King Fahd International Stadium, which was built in 1987 and has a capacity of sixty seven thousand fans. Some of the key people in the management and coaching include Abdulrahman bin Musaad who is the chairperson, Sami Al-Jaber as the manager and Cosmin Olaroiu as the team coach (Al Hilal Saudi Club, 2014). The club has signed some of the best football players like Thiago Neves, Christian Wilhelmsson, and Osama Hawsawi among others. In the past, the club had signed some football legends such as Roberto Rivelino, Mohamed Al-Deayea, and Yousuf Al-Thunayan among others (Wikipedia, 2014). Throughout the years, the club has displayed great football and teamwork; therefore, receiving recognition through the numerous tournaments that it has won. Al-Hilal FC lifted its first trophy in in 1961 when it won the King’s Cup tournament. In 1964, the team was able to overpower its main rivals, Al-Ittihad through penalties to recapture the King’s cup. Many people had started to see the great potential in the team and this attracted a huge following. The club did not disappoint when the Saudi Premier League was started in 1976, as it emerged the first winners (FIFA, 2014). Up to

Compare the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about love Essay Example for Free

Compare the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about love Essay Compare the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about Love, in your response you should write about at least two of Larkin’s poems Larkin’s general view on love and marriage is that both are a liability. This is seen throughout many poems including ‘Self’s the man’ where Larkin talks about a man being held back and worked to death by his wife. Abse’s views are somewhat contrary to Larkin’s. He has a much softer approach when talking about love and feels that it connects himself with his family, as seen in his poems ‘Postcard to his wife’ and ‘The Malham Bird’ where he expresses his love for his wife. Love as a theme is present in many of Larkin’s poems and ‘Self’s the man’ illustrates his stereotypical outlook on marriage and love. In the first stanza Larkin directly compares himself to his made up character of Arnold, who represents all the lower class men in a marriage. The first two lines ‘Oh, no one can deny/ That Arnold is less selfish than I’ have a humorous tone in with the use of a rhyming couplet, Larkin is patronising the reader. In the next line he writes how Arnold married a woman to ‘stop her getting away’. In comparison, the poem ‘The Malham Bird’ Abse writes of love in a different way ‘in love, you a Gentile’. His soft tone creates a slower pace to the poem which shows his love for his late wife. On the other hand Larkin doesn’t use the word love and he uses a faster matter-of-fact tone. Larkin is often viewed as sexist but here he could be seen as saying that women don’t get a chance to live their lives how they want to because men marry them ‘Now she’s there all day’. In the second stanza Larkin continues to paint women in a poor light ‘And the money he gets for wasting his life on work/ She takes as her perk’. The first line uses enjambment which makes the poem sound like a list of moans. She appears to be greedy by taking his money. Larkin displays an air of snobbery about the lower classes hard labour jobs. He describes the woman as interfering and domineering. Larkin then uses colloquial language to make fun of the lower classes and how they speak ‘To pay for the kiddies’ clobber and the drier/ and the electric fire’. He does not rate family life very highly. Larkin states that the roles have reversed in the third stanza. Arnold told his wife to marry him and she did and now she is telling him to work, to do the chores etc ‘Planning to have a read at the evening paper/ It’s Put a screw in this wall-‘. The fourth stanza uses colloquial language again and the fifth and uses a sarcastic and patronising tone. Larkin does not look upon  marriage favourably. Moving into the sixth stanza, the poet claims that Arnold, too, was just â€Å"out for his own ends† and â€Å"if it was such a mistake / He still did it for his own sake / Playing his own game.† He concludes that â€Å"he and I are the same† and both are selfish, but he is better â€Å"At knowing what I can stand / Without them sending a van†. The â€Å"van† is a mental institute’s mode of transportation, suggesting that Arnold is going mad in his situation. Much of this poem is unsympathetic towards Arnold’s situation. However at the end Larkin reveals an uncertainty. Suddenly the poet is faced with the reality of his own situation ‘But wait, not do fast/ Is there such a contrast?’ Has he realised the loneliness in his own life because he was too selfish to share. Another poem which presents love as a theme is ‘Talking in Bed’. In this poem Larkin describes a couple in a failing relationship because they are isolated and find it difficult to communicate. Themarital bed is used as a symbol for marriage; a haven for spouses to come together. The bed should be the place where a couple feel united, but in this poem, the bed makes the couples detachment from one another glaringly obvious. The word lying has an ambiguous meaning in this poem; on one hand it means that the couple in assuming a horizontal position together, and on the other hand, it appears there is some fabrication between them. Goes back so far also presents some ambiguity: first, the couple have been lying together in their bed for years which is an indication of a lengthy marriage; and second, they have been living a lie for many years. The couple are clearly unhappy with their marriage. This was a time when separation and divorce was frowned upon but couples stayed together unhappily because it was the right thing to do. There was a sense of accountability within the marriage contract and it was difficult for women in particular to walk away from their husbands. The second stanza describes the turmoil of their marriage metaphorically by using nature. The awful silence is deafening and an indication of the tense, nervous atmosphere between the two, worsening as they continue to remain silent. The out side is a reflection of the couple inside; the tension heightens between them, and is never relieved. The wind is turbulent, scattering the clouds across the sky. Builds and disperses could be a metaphor for an argument; the environment is fraught and situations cannot be resolved. Clouds have both a dark and threatening aspect, and can be difficult to see through. Metaphorically speaking, a clear sky would represent a marriage at peace, but in this case the clouds suggest a marriage at war with itself; these wars could potentially harm the marriage, so the clouds hide them, if you cant see something then it doesnt exist. Dark towns can be used to describe a number of different things: faults, disagreements, difficulties, isolation and pain. The contrast of their marriage to the tumultuous winds are a stark reminder of what their future holds. They have to try and work things out to arrive at an amicable solution. It is not understood why their marriage has failed; why at this unique distance (lying side-by-side) that they feel so isolated from each other. The husband cannot understand why communication between him and his wife have broken down. Words are not forthcoming and he is at a loss as to how the marriage appears to be irretrievable. Was he ever really in love with his wife? Did he ever feel a softness towards her? ‘It becomes mor e difficult to find/ Words at once true and kind’. He wonders if their marriage was based on a lie or was it inevitably going to fail. Dannie Abse’s approach to love is different in comparison to Larkin; Abse sees love as something to be treasured between him and his family. Where Larkin views love with a touch of cynicism, Abse’s poems demonstrate a purity and an equality. In The Malham Bird it did not matter that the couple are from different backgrounds ‘you a Gentile and I a Jew!’ Their relationship may have been unacceptable for the times but their love was all that mattered. The poem is littered with fond memories of when the couple first met ‘Dear wife, remember our first illicit/holiday, the rented room, the hidden beach’. Theirs was a romantic love. Abse’s couple are happy in contrast to the couples portrayed by Larkin in the above poems. Their shared history is full of warmth and mutual admiration. Where Larkin’s poems view love as a hindrance and something a man can do without, Abse firmly believes you need love above all else. In Postcard to his Wife, Abse’s portrayal is of a husband (himself) desperately missing his wife in her absence. He longs for them to spend the day together. He wishes she would ‘Make excuses’ so that she would be home with him. He loves her and enjoys her pre sence the opposite of Larkin’s idea of relationships. Abse feels there is a void in his life when his wife is not around and cannot bear the heartache. The contrast between Larkin and Abse’s views on love and relationships are polar opposites.

The Life of Martin Guerre Essay Example for Free

The Life of Martin Guerre Essay 1) Much of the first page is taken up with descriptions of the country. What does it communicate? Descriptions of the land and country in which the characters live sets the scene and the time period of the story. On the first page, we are given images of isolation due to the heavy winter that buried [the land] under whiteness. This gives us a view into the feudalist lifestyles of the peasants in the mountains, and the leisure they enjoyed despite their hard work. 2) Why is the marriage of Bertrande de Rols and Martin Guerre the first scene in this novel? The marriage of Bertrande de Rols and Martin Guerre is the main focus of the entire story, which is the reason why the book begins in such a way. The story later goes back and explains the relationship between the two families and how their arranged marriage came about, but the initial focus is on the marriage itself in its infancy. 3) What does the reader learn of the families involved in the wedding in the first pages? The reader learns that the families Guerre and de Rols are both rich and prosperous peasant families living in the village of Artigues. The families had been rivals for generations, ever since there was a misunderstanding between the great-grandfathers of the young couple. However, the birth and betrothal of Martin and Bertrande, who were born a very short time apart,  marked the end of the families quarrels. 4) Why is Martin so accepting when he is punished by his father? Martin knows his place in the family. One day he will grow up to take his fathers position at the head of the table as the cap dhostal. He understands that if he has no obedience for [his] father, [his] son will have none for [him]. He must learn to obey his father and learn from him in every way, so that he will be capable of filling his shoes when his father is gone. Otherwise, the family will be left in ruin [and] despair. In a sense, Martin is expected to become his father, which we later find out is not his wish at all. 5) Why cant Bertrande stay contentedly with Arnaud, a man who gives her pleasure, supports her family and is a good farmer? Despite the fact that Arnaud was the man for whom [Bertrande] felta great and joyous passion, she couldnt stay contentedly with him. She was a very strong catholic who could not accept the shadow of sin and danger which accompanied [Arnaud], even though he made her happier than Martin ever could or would have. 6) Why is nobody prepared to support and believe Bertrande? If Bertrande were to win the case against Arnaud, the only person the victory would benefit is herself. She would have peace of mind in the fact that she was right, and she would have a chance at absolution from her sins. However, she would be going against the common good. Everyone else in her family realises that the outcome of the case will determine the familys fate in generations to come, and for this reason would have [her] still deceived. Her sister-in-law pleads with her to drop the charges, otherwise the family shall never be happy again [and] the farm will never prosper again. 7) Why do you think Arnaud du Tilh refuses to leave Bertrande when she gives him warning of her conviction? When Arnaud came to the Guerre household in the guise of Martin Guerre, he had originallyintended to stay only long enough to pick up a little silver or gold. However, he ended up getting more than he bargained for. He fell in love with Bertrande, which prohibited him from deserting her to years of pain. To leave at this time would also look like an admission of guilt. Arnaud had found himself stuck in the situation, and had no choice but to sit tight and hope that he was not found guilty. 8) Why might Bertrande feel unsure about prosecuting the new Martin? Bertrande, like Arnaud, was in a lose-lose situation. Her love for Arnaud was as strong as his love for her, and he did not appear a monster to her. However, to stay with him would be to commit a sin most black, going against her beliefs and principles. On the other hand, prosecuting him would destroy everything that made her happy Arnaud, her family and the farm. This caused her to be unsure about what course of action to take. CHAPTER TWO: Rieux 9) What is the significance of Bertrandes confusion about the sun? Bertrandes confusion about the sun reflects her strength of mind. Everything seemed strangeshe had never before left the parish of Artigues. The first time Bertrande left Artigues and stayed in her aunts house, the sun seemed to shine through western windows in the morning. In actual fact the windows were facing east and the sun shone as normal; the only difference was Bertrandes confused perception due to her being in a foreign place. The next time she stays in the house is when she is older and stronger, and she [marvels] that she had ever felt confused about the direction. 10) Why does Arnaud smile when he hears Bertrandes response to his death sentence? Arnaud really did love Bertrande and cared for her deeply, ordering all things he could imagine to increase her comfort when she was ill. When he hears her outcry in spite of the sentence just passed upon him, his face [is] brightwith joy. In view of what has happened, this is a powerful quote from which we finally gain some insight into Arnauds character. This man has been sentenced to death, yet all he cares about is the fact that Bertrande does indeed have feelings for him and love him as he loves her. CHAPTER THREE: Toulouse 11) Read Bertrandes conversation with the priest. Why does he try to convince Bertrande to withdraw charges against Arnaud du Tilh? The priest, having considered the entire situation closely, believes the consequences would be far less if Bertrande withdrew the accusation against Arnaud. He has had much to do with Arnaud, and suspects himself that he is not the true Martin Guerre. However, he valued him more than he valued the raw, impatientthoughtlessselfish Martin Guerre who ran away and was willing to accept the new Martin who he says simply spent eight years in a hard school. 12) What do you think of the idea that Bertrande is motivated to proceed with the appeal out of anger at those who have oppressed her? Can this idea be supported by the text? In an era where women were indeed oppressed in a male-dominated society, it is understandable that a woman like Bertrande would have feelings of anger towards her oppressors. It is certain that she feels anger and a kind of hatred towards Arnaud, saying that [she] has not demanded his death, but now [she] must demand it. It is possible that Arnaud is copping the brunt of all of her hardships that came about after Martin left her. Although this idea is feasible, Bertrande has several other reasons for pursuing justice. By falling in love with Arnaud, he has damned [her] soul. Because she believes that this is a mortal sin, she wants to be  ridof his presence by any means necessary. It is also her biggest flaw, her incapability to deny the truth, that she must pursue it to the end. 13) On her journey to Toulouse, Bertrande recalls that in her mind she travelled this journey with Martin when he first left home. Why does Martins memory motivate her to pursue this course against Arnaud du Tilh? Even though Martin never treated Bertrande as well as Arnaud did, he still represented for her what is morally right because she was committed to him through marriage. In this sense, the memory of Martin brings back the memory of a simple life, free of lies and conspiracy, where her happiness came from knowing she was doing the right thing. 14) During the trial, why is the uncles description of Arnaud so damning? Carbon Bareau describes Arnaud in a way that everyone can identify with. He says that he has a way of stealing the heart, which is exactly what he did when he first came to the Guerre household. The priest valued him, the children loved him, and so did Bertrande. Carbon Bareau also says that he has no respect for the laws, which gave people an explanation of his anger when he was refused the money entrusted to Pierre Guerre. 15) After the trial, loneliness and solitude are again Bertrandes fate. She receives little support from her family, her church, the court or the waiting crowds. In this context, what does solitary justice mean? Bertrande has found justice in the outcome of the trial; however she is the only one who will benefit from it. She has lost everyone she loves for the sake of a truth, to free [herself] from a deceit which was consuming and killing [her]. Bertrande was doomed to live an unhappy, solitary life, whatever she did. If she dropped the accusation, she would be unhappy because of her sins. Because she followed it through, she lost everything. CHAPTER FOUR: Afterword 16) What effect does the information about the original trial report have on your understanding of The Wife of Martin Guerre? The original trial report made me realise that The Wife of Martin Guerre is based on real events in history, therefore making the events in the story seem more feasible. 17) Is it wise, or desirable or even possible to represent this story accurately? Janet Lewis says that the story which I offer here differs somewhat from the [real] story, because no verdict or decision was actually reached. If this had have been the case in The Wife of Martin Guerre, we would not be left with the sense of irony and moral injustice that created the vital messages we take from the story. THEMES: The nature of deception 1) Why does her family continue to believe the impostor is Martin after Bertrandes accusations? Because of the success of the Feudal/patriarchal society Bertrandes family have happily lived in for generations, they would not change a cobblestone. They choose to disbelieve Bertrande, for it is only the truth for [her], not for [them]. By doing this, they choose to keep their happiness and prosperity without feeling any guilt. 2) The family wants Bertrande to pretend that Arnaud is her husband to maintain the happiness he has brought them. What does this suggest about deception? The situation presented in the novel may suggest that deception is not entirely black-and-white, as it is often perceived to be. Although Arnaud is doing the wrong thing by impersonating Martin and intruding on the lives of the Guerre family, he proves himself to be a kinder, gentler, more  passionate man than the true Martin ever was. Even though Arnauds deception is wrong, many good things come out of it. 3) How is it possible for Bertrande to be deceived into mistaking Arnaud du Tilh for her husband? Because Bertrande was so unhappy in Martins absence, her defences against Arnauds way of stealing the heart were weak. She just wanted to be happy again, and Arnaud took advantage of all the emotion tightly tied in check for so many years. It is also possible that she accepted Arnaud in order to spite the real Martin for being cruel to her. 4) Do you think the novel suggests that deception might at times be justified? The novel suggests that deception, although generally being a bad thing, can sometimes have positive outcomes. It also strongly enforces that however justified deception may be, the truth cannot be hidden forever. Bertrande tried to deny the truth early on because the new Martin made her happy, but this came back to haunt her when her suspicion turned to certainty and she knew she was committing a huge sin. If everybody had have decided to accept Arnaud as Martin and live the white lie, business on the farm would have gone on as usual. However, Bertrande could not, with a clear conscience, justify going against her beliefs and becoming the wife of Arnaud du Tilh. 5) Are those who believe Arnaud wilfully blind, or are they actually completely innocent of his deceit? There are many reasons why many people rejected the notion that Arnaud was not the real Martin Guerre. Most of Bertrandes family believed that Bertrande had gone mad as a result of Martins long absence, followed by his sudden return. Others thought that she had a greed of authority and of money, saying that it was all a plan to destroy Martin and possess the farm. Even if Bertrandes family did know that Arnaud was an impostor, they wouldnt have kicked up a fuss about it. Their main concern was the wellbeing of the farm and their happy lifestyle, and would not jeopardise that by siding with Bertrande. THEMES: Social institutions and the individual 6) RELIGION: What is the priests motivation in encouraging Bertrande to go against the rules of her religion by staying with a man she believes is not her husband? When the priest urges Bertrande to withdraw the charges before it is too late, he knows that this will be going against her religious morals. He is justified in saying this though, because he believes Bertrande is in danger of sinning far more greatly than if she stayed with Arnaud. If she sends a good and worthy man to his death to achieve vengeance, the priest is afraid that she will harm not only [herself], but all who love [her], 7) MARRIAGE: Why does Bertrande not have the same freedom as Martin to reject the institutions that govern her? Bertrande lives in sixteenth century France, in an era where the patriarchal system was dominant. Women were expected to be virtuous and faithful to their husbands, and did not have the freedom, rights and opportunities that the men had. 8) THE LEGAL SYSTEM: Is Bertrande wrong to trust that the law will deliver the truth? It was always a risky endeavour for Bertrande to try and prosecute Arnaud du Tilh. In a time where women were not supposed to be individuals, it is surprising that she was given any credibility by the judges at all. In the end, however, the law did deliver the truth. Bertrandes fault was that she relied on it to solve all her problems. This was not possible, as legal  justice and moral justice are two very different things. 9) WOMEN AND POWER: Explore the role of each woman in the text and discuss the impact of their lack of autonomy and power on their lives. Bertrande did not show the characteristics typically seen in women of her time. She displayed very strong and individual qualities, but her gender did not allow her to express herself, which she needed to do. Being a woman trapped her in her situation with Arnaud, because she was expected by everyone else to be the faithful wife to both Martin and his impersonator. Madame Guerre was in the same position as Bertrande. As the wife of the cap dhostal, she was expected to support her husband in every way she could. We see evidence of the impact of her lack of power when Martin receives his punishment from his father: Madame Guerre caught her breath but made no outcry. She was opposed to this harsh punishment and wanted to comfort her son, but she knew that she could not argue with the head of the house. She, too, often had to make sacrifices for the common good. Martins sisters were treated equally to every other woman in the house. They were given duties that they were expected to carry out, and had no choice in the matter. In the novel, we are not even given the sisters names, which shows how unimportant they were as individuals. 10) INDIVIDUAL ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Does the family fulfil its responsibilities to Bertrande, just as she tries to fulfil her responsibilities in return? The family didnt have any responsibilities towards Bertrande in the first place. Everything that everyone did was to serve the family as a whole, and so they gave Bertrande no support in her quest for truth and justice because it was detrimental to the family. They were not interested in pursuing a truth that none of [them] believed. THEMES: Justice 11) LEGAL JUSTICE: Arnaud du Tilh is convicted of multiple crimes but Martin Guerre is convicted of none. Is this just? Martin Guerre should have received equal punishment to Arnaud, because his abandonment was the very cause of all the problems in the first place. He gave his permission for Arnaud to impersonate him. While Martin was off abandoning his family and his responsibility, Arnaud was in his place earning the respect many say that he deserved more than Martin did anyway. 12) MORAL JUSTICE: Do you think that Bertrandes position suggests that moral justice is not achieved? In the official court document, there is a phrase that says, But I would willingly ask you if this Monsieur Martin Guerre who was so harsh towards his wife, did not deserve a punishment as severe as that of Arnaut Tillier, for having been by his absence the cause of this wrongdoing? One would think that Bertrandes victory would finally give her freedom and credibility. However, she is given the opposite bitter, solitary justice. Nobody really cares that she was right, and they do not try to stop her when she leaves. If moral justice had been achieved, Bertrande would not have ended up in the position she did.

Human Resources and Strategic Planning at KFC

Human Resources and Strategic Planning at KFC Introduction: In this assignment I select the KFC I am in view of myself as HR higher manager. KFC is the globally reputed fast food chain; it has the variety of branches in the world. The HR department is one of the greatest in the world. They not only give quality of products and services but also working on staff training and development programs. For success of companies, largely planned objectives and complete Human Resource plan play the very important role. We obvious illustrate that the purpose of HR possessions is entirely understand and chains the disturbing way of the company. The maintaining of complete human resource planning in additional definite planned goals linked the advertising, financial records, monetary, prepared and tools, in the human resource management common services branch. In main, the human resource strategy must desire to detain the public factor of what a company are the expectancy to reach in the average to extensive phrase. 1:Understand how the HR plan supports the strategic objectives: What is strategic planning? Strategic planning is an organization instrument, phase. While through any organization instrument, it is second-hand for one reason single: to assist an association does an improved job to center of attention its power, to make certain to facilitate member of the association are operational on the way to the similar achievements, to review and regulate the companies way in reply to a shifting atmosphere. In small, intended arrangement is a restricted attempt to generate elementary decision and events that form and direct what an association is, what it does, and why it does it, with a meeting point on the future. What is the difference between strategic planning and long-range planning? While a lot of use these conditions interchangeably, strategic planning and long-range planning be different in their importance on the unspecified atmosphere. Long-range planning is normally careful to suggest the growth of a plan for accomplish an objective or set of objective over a phase of more than a few days, with the supposition that present information about future circumstances is adequately dependable to make sure the plans dependability over the period of its completion. In the behind fifties and early on sixties, for instance, the US. Financial system was comparatively steady and not at all unsurprising, and, hence, long arrangement was together stylish and helpful. On the extra hand, tactical arrangements assume that an organisation must be quick to respond to a powerful, varying atmosphere (not the steadier atmosphere unspecified for long-range planning). What is a strategic plan? In tactical development it is dangerous to officially think how our business will achieve its aim. The reply to this problem is a planning. Here is a diversity of official meaning for policy, but each person basically has the same opinion that a planning is the reply to the problem, how? Strategy is only a set of events that allow an association to attain consequences. Planning is a method of compare our organisations strength with the varying atmosphere in arrange to obtain a thought of how most excellent to whole or provide customer desires. Basically, there are three dissimilar category of planning: governmental, programmatic, and purposeful. The differentiation between the groupings is the meeting point of the planning Strategic capability: In the company group of procedures, capabilities or ability they build a lengthy useful advantages. When a company workers understand faster that organisation is running effectively, as evaluate to contest employees their applying marketable information. The company are not competent to continuously developing, classifying, creating, place into performing, assess, and expand knowledge will not be competent to fight successfully. So the ability of the organisation to seems available ability and gets our hand on innovative ones forms its largely suitable to ready for action profit. These parts of writing bring in information to fast look into workout this potential. 1.2:analyses how the HR planning impact on the strategic plan: Peoples are most important asset of any organisation. Many organisations are using this phrase important role that employee plays in organisation success. In the organisation the hr manager active in various human resource management actions, and in big organisation that have a HRM department. Human resource management is the important strategic tool for any organisation. Forecasting demand: In the organisation the impotent factor of human resource planning is predicting the figure and types of people, compulsory to get collectively decision making aims. For the reason that it is an open structure that we stay in, a combination of administrative issues, as well as prepared for action plan, ability, arrangement, and production can force the demand for employees. For example, process of advanced machinery is commonly accompanied by fewer requirements for low-skilled workers and extra demand for information lobar force. Forecasting Supply: The organisation has forecast its upcoming needs for workers, it then goes on to the subsequently investigate that is from everywhere can it fulfilled its wants. It therefore requirements to decide if there are enough figures and types of workers and how many are qualified for the reasonable position. Supply examination thus, involves arrangement for procurement: who, from where, how and when of staffing. It scans the inside and outside surroundings for the best-fit applicant for the positions in enquiry. Job analysis : In the company the job analysis is the process to assembling the responsibility of each day situation which is known equally to single employees. Job specification: A work requirement condition, the smallest ability that an individual must go beyond to perform a certain work fruitfully. It classifies the information, ability, and feelings wanted to do the work successfully. Together the work explanation and requirement are vital documents when HR executive start staffing and selecting. 2: Understand the legal and organisational frame works for the employment of staff: Define recruitment: In the organisation the procedure of searching and arranging to apply for vacancy is called recruitment. The staffing of fresh worker is depends on company requirement. The employment procedures inform us how many workers will be need to satisfying the corporation require. Objectives of recruitment: The key purpose of staffing of the candidates is; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ List of purpose of the company can be assessment.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ For exchange HR, it gives different chances.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The recruitment improves the production. It gives the information workers or employees will be necessary in the organisation according to the requirements. Methods of recruitment/sources: For the searchings of talent workers and moving them to applying for the vacancy is a recruiting procedure. Following are the methods of organisation are use for recruitment for choosing the peoples in company. These procedures are 1: Internal sources 2: External sources Methods of recruitment: Now we can talk about inside staffing resources; Internal resources: 1. Promotion :-In the organisation workers are promote from one area to another area with many advantage 2. Departmental exam:-This process is use by government division to choose workforce for superior level of position. 3. Transfer :-. In the organisation workers are move from one sector to another sect according to their skill and practice. 4. Retirement :-Many company call back workers who have already retire from the company. 5. Internal advertisement :-In this process vacancies are announce in the notice board. Employees, who are concerned, are request to apply for the post. 6. Employee recommendation :-In this procedure workers are ask to suggest peoples for jobs. External resources: 1. Management consultant :-Management advisor helps the organisation by providing them with administrative personnel. 2. Employment agencies:-In the organisation they give a agreement to service organization. The HR administration will make all the arrangement. 3. News paper advertisement :-In the organisation announcement for the new vacancy in trade journals, national and local news papers; all requirement are mention. 4. Internet advertisement :- It is a rule of the company to use the internet for employment. 5. Walk in interview :-Another method of staffing is walk in interview method. Advantages of internal recruitment: An important benefit of inside staffing are follows; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The procedure gives easier to the company to keep the time. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Requirement for separate opening program is not necessary. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ This procedure enhances the worker skill. Disadvantages of internal recruitment In the organisation difficulty of inside staffing are follows; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ In this procedure we are not possible to acquire fresh skill peoples. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ There is probability of authority and smooth spot. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Workers unsatisfied due to unfair staffing. Selection: In the organisation the process of select the right employees on the behalf of the accurate vacancy. Appointment analysis: The organisation human resource department cans analysis the vacancy. Advertisement: In the organisation the vacancy can be announce through different channel, for example electronic and print media. Application form: In the organisation a vacant request form are fix with the job vacancy. Written test: In the organisation useful peoples applying for the written test. Interview: In the organisation the peoples who select in the examination test, call for interview. Medical examination: If the candidates pass the interview the organisation calls for the medical examination. Initial job offer: If the candidates pass the examination, the company issues the call letter. Acceptance/rejection letter: It is a right of peoples who agree or not agree for this letter. Induction:- The worker is introducing to the organisation and other employees of the company. Kinds of choice test: The following are the choice tests are implementing by different association depending upon their necessities. Following are the selection test; 1. Aptitude test 2. Intelligence test 3. Personality test 4. Performance test Induction: Starting assembling with in a company for fresh hire candidate is called orientation. Induction is a process of brining in the employees who is newly chosen to the organisation for the job. The initial purpose is that what the organisation do, type of work and etc. fresh workers brining in the company and former worker are running at there, is renowned as brining the new peoples in the organisation. This program is arranged the main office or branch level for the whole fresh workers. Usually all the fresh candidates are called jointly to the workforce preparation place for the induction program. Motivation: In the organisation wishes, requirement and wants of the workers are simply motivated by unique wishes, desires and wants. 3:Understand the effect the organisational environment on staff: Culture: Organisation culture, a common perception held by the organisation members, a system of sharing meaning. Company culture is a method of mutual value held that differ the company from the different company. This arrangement is common with the importance on earlier of test, the key character of organisation values. The newly research suggest seven character tic of primary culture; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ improvement and risk taking : à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ awareness to feature: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Outcome direction: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ workers arrangement: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ group direction: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ forcefulness: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ permanence: THE CHANGING WORKFORCE WORK LIFE BALANCE AND GROWING CORPORATE INTEREST: In the quantity of change in labor force demographics have bring work- life balance issue to the notice of company. The main revolutionize connected to require for family-friendly remuneration is the quantity of women in the U.S. workforce, which has additional than double since 1970. Furthermore, women are outstanding in the workforce after marriage and after having children, growing the quantity of dual-career households in America. The generously proportioned number of single women with children in the workforce in the past two decades and there is greater than before demand for family-friendly work policy. WORKING PRACTICES: Included method: a lot of institutions, normally those with a strong administrative culture, apply a down to top method to change management. It has lot of benefits, including apply for valid strategy and best co- ordination Understand the grievance, discipline and dismissal process: 4: understand the grievance, discipline and dismissal process: Grievance: Grievance process is characteristically planned to determine grievance as quickly as do and the low stage possibility in the company. The initial process nearly always workers try to decide the grievance with his or her direct administrator. If it cannot be decide at this level it is normally discuss with the union steward and the manager. Collapse at this level typically brings in the individual from the company business affairs section and determined the grievance pass to the services manager, who normally discuss it with the union complaint committee. Unsuccessful effects at this stage give way to the company senior supervision and physically a delegate from the national union. At the last, if those possessions are ineffective in determine the complaint; the last level is for the complaint go to negotiation called grievance negotiation. Discipline issue: The written verbal mildest form of discipline is warning. It is the primary level of disciplinary procedure. This notice is a temporary record of warning which is located in the supervisor file on the workers. The purpose data and outcomes interview with the workers are position in the written verbal warning. What distinguish infect the written verbal warning from the verbal warning. The verbal warning always is put in writing for this level of procedure. Suspension: After that the disciplinary level is suspension or lay off. Frequently it taken only if the previous step has been put into practice without the desire result. Exceptions where suspension is given without any earlier verbal or written waning. Frequently happen if the violation is of a serious nature. Dismissal: The disciplinary deed is called the layoff of a worker. The administration vital disciplinary punishment is dismissing the difficulty member of workforce. Dismissal is use only for the mainly serious fault. Yet it may be the only logical alternative when a worker attitude critically interferes with a division or the organisation procedure. A dismissal assessment should be given long and hard consideration, for almost all individuals being fire from the work is an affecting trauma. In adding administration should think the opportunity that a dismissed worker will take lawful action to struggle the decision. Employment Tribunal: Employment Tribunal, ACAS and Other Agencies position unusual agencies like employment tribunal and ACAS in UK play significant task concerning employment matter, these agency help workers to use their human rights concerning service, and gives employer some intelligence of way concerning employment rule. Employment tribunal is the lawful organization which attend to the case of both the parties and give their decision. Conclusion : HR Planning for KFC is quite efficient and impact on personal as well as working life of personnel, however as discussed above need some precious steps to resolve the above issues to enable effective with efficient strategy in human resource planning. Employees performance is merely based on policies and strategies implement by the HR department and approved by top management.

The Theme of Escape in The Glass Menagerie Essay examples -- essays re

The Theme of Escape in The Glass Menagerie In The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams uses the theme of escape to help drive the play forward. None of the characters are capable of living in the real world. Laura, Amanda, Tom and Jim use various methods to escape the brutalities of life. Laura retreats into a world of glass animals and old records. Amanda is obsessed with living in her past. Tom escapes into his world of poetry writing and movies. Jim also reverts to his past and remembers the days when he was a high school hero. Mr. Wingfield is referred to often throughout the play. He is the ultimate symbol of escape. This is because he has managed to remove himself from the desperate situation that the rest of the family is still living in. The fire escape helps develop the theme of the story. This entrance into the apartment provides a different purpose for each of the characters. The fire escape allows Tom the opportunity to escape the apartment and get away from his nagging mother. Amanda sees the fire escape as an opportunity for gentleman callers to enter their lives. Laura's view is different from her mother and her brother. Her escape seems to be hiding inside the apartment, not out. Laura finds herself escaping at every turn. She induces sickness in her typing class and even as a gentleman caller waits in the living room. Another escape for Laura is her glass menagerie. Her collection of glass represents her own private world set apart from reality, a place wh...

The Caretaker Essay -- Drama

The Caretaker How does the opening of the play set the tone for what will follow? The opening of the play starts off by describing the scene and how everything on the stage would be set out, following that it briefly describes what will happen when the curtains are raised. From the opening of the play it jumps right into the story as though we are picking it up from where we left off, it doesn’t really have a beginning where you are introduced to the characters its as though you have to imagine what the characters are like. The description of the setting does not let on what the play is about, the way the lighting and stage is set up could give the play a certain feel. The description of the setting is like a brief insight onto the kind of play it is. The way the stage is set up could make the play seem very compact in the sense that it is set in one room. The opening of the ‘Caretaker’ is very limited to description it holds back on major detail which could be making the play seem more mysterious. Although the language used to describe the play is limited it sheds just enough information to make the play seem interesting without giving away the whole concept of the play. The way that the setting is described using simplicity makes the plays seem simple yet interesting. It’s not an opening that is used to build up the play but an opening to give the viewer an insight as to what the play is about. In the opening it in a few words it explains that Mi...

Contention about gay marriage Essay

Everyone has the right to get married, right, they should not be judged on who they are and what they believe. Everyone is equal and has equal rights I doesn’t matter what type of sex they are. Same-sex couples want to marry for all the same reasons as their opposite-sex counterparts. These reasons include: for legal security, to publicly celebrate their commitment, to provide greater legal protection for their children, or simply because they are in love. According to a national study by researchers at the University of Queensland, 54% of Australian same-sex partners would marry if they had the choice. 80% of Australians in same-sex relationships support marriage equality even if they do not wish to marry. First, we will look at the benefits that flow to same-sex couples who marry. This is followed by the wider social benefits that come from removing discrimination from the Marriage Act and ensuring equality for same-sex couples. Marriage has evolved throughout history, so it can change again. Different cultures have treated marriage differently. Some promoted arranged marriages. Others tied marriage to dowries. Still others saw marriage as a political relationship through which they could forge family alliances. But all these variations still embraced the fundamental, unchanging essence of marriage. They still saw it, in general, as a public, lifelong partnership between one man and one woman for the sake of generating and raising children. This understanding predates any government or religion. It’s a pre-political, pre-religious institution evident even in cultures that had no law or faith to promote it. Yet, even supposing the essence of marriage could change, would that mean it should? We know from other areas of life such as medical research and nuclear physics that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you ought. After all, such action may not be ethical or serve the common good. Even if this argument had historical basis, it would not necessarily be a good reason to change the meaning of  marriage.

Laissez Faire Leadership Essay

Managers and supervisors who adopt the laissez-faire leadership style delegate responsibility for the accomplishment of work objectives and decision-making power to their employees. For example, a CEO of a large, new-car dealership may allow departments — such as NEW CAR SALES, used car sales and service — to operate on their own without his direct supervision. In this case, the CEO sets expectations for the departments’ operations, revenues and costs and provides the needed resources to accomplish particular business objectives. However, the department managers and employees determine how they will achieve the objectives. Implementation of Laissez-faire Leadership This laissez-faire system works best in groups of experienced, educated and highly skilled employees such as staff specialists or consultants who are accustomed to working in team environments. In our example of the car dealership, the NEW CAR SALES, used car sales and service department teams each possess specific skills and have received specialized training. So each team may work best when it establishes its own work schedules, works independently and makes decisions as a group, rather than at the direction of its CEO. In this example, laissez-faire leadership is especially effective because many department problems are well defined, a course of action is frequently predetermined, resources are readily available and limited CEO interaction is required for the team to work effectively. Advantages of Laissez-faire Leadership â€Å"Hands-off† leadership allows each team’s skilled members to brainstorm to identify appropriate solutions to problems and implement these decisions rapidly. As a result, the business avoids the cost involved in some meetings, such as the opportunity cost of not completing other tasks, missed sales calls and lost customer face time. Laissez-faire leadership works well in a creative environment where employees are free to implement innovative solutions. In our example, the sales team works with the finance department to identify creative financing options for potential buyers. The service department, meanwhile, employs up-to-date technology and mechanics skilled in contemporary engines.

The Thematic Character of Everyday Use by Alice Walker

Often times after a person reads a piece of literature, he or she will form opinions about the motivations of the characters, the effects of the setting, the overall theme or underlying message being conveyed, and the other elements that helped to shape the whole story. After contemplating about their particular beliefs about a work, individuals will find their ideas to be different from others because each of them perceives details of the tale in a varying manner. For this reason, it was not surprising that many of my classmates and I had conflicting opinions about the main themes present in Alice Walker†s â€Å"Everyday Use (For Your Grandmama). Numerous members of the class strongly felt that the story†s central theme lied in the differing values of each the characters. They used textual evidence to prove that Dee†s views on certain issues were so unlike those of her mother and Maggie†s that they actually created a barrier between Dee and her family. Others felt that the setting and the type/amount of education influenced the motives of each of the characters. These people referred to the fact that Dee had the opportunity to obtain a proper education and that Mama and Maggie did not. The rural setting served as a means to enhance their views because it showed that most people had to work instead of receiving an education. In comparison with these viewpoints mentioned, I took a much different approach to interpreting the principal theme of this story. I truly believed that â€Å"Everyday Use† was about the ways in which Dee†s personality affected herself and her family. Using this generalized notion, I developed a more precise theme for this work. Each of us is raised within a culture, a set of traditions handed down by those before us. As individuals, we view and experience common heritage in subtly differing ways. Within many smaller communities and families, deeply felt traditions serve to enrich this common heritage. Alice Walker's â€Å"Everyday Use† explores how, in her eagerness to claim an ancient heritage, Dee denies herself the substantive personal experience of familial traditions in such incidents as the justification of her name change, her comments during the meal with the family, and her requesting Mama for the quilts. Upon arriving at her mother†s new house for the first time, Dee surprises her mother and Maggie with her appearance and her apparent name change. Dee quickly informs her mother that she has made her new name â€Å"Wangero† to reflect her African heritage. She no longer will be named after the people who oppress her. This reference can be attributed to Dee†s possible experiences as a civil rights activist. Among the black community many people adopt African names to reflect their pre-slavery heritage. While this can be a source of strength and affirmation for some, it may represent a rejection of one's past, as it apparently does for Dee. Even her mother†s response that she was named ‘Dee' after her aunt, who was named for the aunt's mother, â€Å"though I probably could have carried it back beyond the Civil War through the branches,† does not have any true effect on her perception of her given name (32). Dee still feels that being called â€Å"Wangero† will give her cultural fulfillment, whereas her real name holds her back from attaining this. She fails to recognize that her mother†s words actually show how the family is proud to pass the name ‘Dee† along generations to help preserve their own traditions. Dee does not feel the pride that is associated with her real name because she possesses a certain prejudice against her family that will not allow her to embrace her own private heritage. This prejudice is rooted in her beliefs that her mother and Maggie are incapable of relating her views due to their lack of education and their unwillingness to accept new ideas. Judging from Dee†s opinions about her name, readers can clearly see that she has misunderstandings about her living heritage that prevent her from feeling the joy of carrying on a family name. Against Dee's claim to her African roots is the thread of tradition in her own family. Not only has Dee achieved an education denied her mother, she has rejected her given name, and she sees self-created symbolism in the food and objects present at the meal. Dee â€Å"[goes] on through the chitlins and corn bread,† â€Å"[talks] a blue streak over the sweet potatoes,† and â€Å"[thoroughly] delights herself [with] everything† (45). Dee finds this meal to be a sort of novelty that she can only appreciate properly because she is now in the proper surroundings to do so. Her usually more sophisticated diet leaves her room to relish such a simple meal and its reflection of her African roots, not her rural family culture. She admits to Mama to not appreciating as a child the benches on which they are sitting, made by her father. Dee can â€Å"feel the rump prints† (46). Yet, when next Dee exclaims to her mother that she wants the butter churn which was whittled out of a tree by her uncle, and that she will use it as a centerpiece for one of her tables, readers suspect her appreciation for the benches and the churn is really as mere artifacts. Dee then turns her attention to the dasher used with the churn. She assures everyone that she will â€Å"‘think of something artistic to do with the dasher'† (53). When the shy Maggie informs them her uncle Henry made the dash, and that they used to call him Stash, Dee exclaims, â€Å"‘Maggie's brain is like an elephant's',† implying that Maggie's knowledge is feral, that she can't help but hold on to facts which are irrelevant (53). Real, human details, such as the name of the man who made the dasher, are not relevant to Dee. She feels the workmanship in the dasher represents good quality art that should be displayed accordingly to mirror her appreciation of her roots. Dee sees the object as a thing of beauty, but not as a part of her very personal culture, a utility reflecting the effort and determination of those who once used it. In turn, she is alienating herself from her personal identification of family†s past through her superficial recognition of the dasher†s value. Dee†s family knows that â€Å"hesitation [is] no part of [Dee's] nature,† and that she is determined to achieve what she desires (6). In the bedroom, rifling through her mother's keepsakes, Dee finds her grandma†s quilts, and tries to lay claim to them. The quilts are made of old dresses and cloths, some handed down from several prior generations. When Dee asks her mother if she can have them, we sense a turning point is reached. Since Dee already rejected them once before, Mama responds to Dee†s request by stating that the quilts have been promised to Maggie. Dee argues that her mother and Maggie cannot properly appreciate the quilts, that the quilts should be displayed. ‘Maggie†¦ [would] probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use'† (66). Dee†s claim to the quilts and her plans to use them as decorations show her outward perception of family heirlooms to be mere objects of display, not treasured items that help people remember their loved ones and make them appreciate the hard work put into them. Dee†s adopted values cloud her mind and thoughts, making her naive to the integrity and genuine nature of her culture. Her mother†s refusal to grant this one favor does not even create any sense of misgivings on her part. Her arrogance and her adherence to her misguided beliefs make her unable to see the true worth of the quilts and their importance to her family†s traditions. Dee†s notions about the quilts thwart her from experiencing the happiness associated with displaying one†s own familial culture to the rest of the world. Our heritage threads through history past the people who contributed to it, to affect us on a personal level. To be fully appreciated and claimed, it must reside in the heart. Dee understands the heritage of people she doesn't know. In this way, her adopted heritage can be understood intellectually, but it is not felt, not personal, and not truly her own. Her rejection of her family†s culture in the rural society will not allow to ever have feelings of personal pride about her true roots. In turn, Dee can never really find happiness in most aspects concerning her immediate family, making it hard for her to have a loving relationship with any of them.