Operation management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Operation management - Essay Example The main success of the company was drawn from the traditional management system and also the outstanding customer service as they believed the customer to be the greatest asset to a company. Their operations were mainly geared towards ensuring that the customers were satisfied and they looked for the best methods to ensure customer satisfaction. The employees within the organization had to work extra shifts to meet the demand of the customer in the organization. Delivery of service at the company had to be flawless and the customers had to have their services delivered on time making the process more difficult especially in the peak time when there was customer influx meaning that the processes involved increased due to the verification procedures. The company had to hire more workers on temporary basis to deal with the increase in the number of customers and also the inflows that were blowing out of hand for the employees at the company (Upton, 1997). The permanent employees also had to work extra shifts so as to meet the demands of the customers who had to get their insurance in order. The process that was involved in ensuring that the insurance forms were properly filled in and entered into the system was however marred with problems since the customers were at times not filling the form well. The problem of entering the wrong data into the systems was however more critical since the customers would be dissatisfied leading the directors to take a step and introduce the SPC model to sample the problem in the organization. The workers were not entirely amused but they had to abide by the directive and one of the directors Kluck hoped that the method would help in reducing the errors (Upton, 1997). The main reason for implementing the model to the company was mainly to understand the accuracy levels so as to come up with the best solutions to the problems that plagued the company. The SPC model was set up in such a way that each employee would

Social Studies Standards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social Studies Standards - Essay Example The national standards for social studies and the standards set for social studies by Washington state have much in common. The national standards broadly reflect a scenario where the rudimentary elements of the subject are highlighted. Also, the nature and scope of knowledge and skills for students in the different school grades that must be developed are provided (National Standards for Social Studies). The Washington state social studies standards are more specific to its region. It highlights the role of a citizen in society and his rights and responsibilities. It makes study of the constitution of the United States and the constitution of Washington State compulsory for students desirous of graduating from this state (Social Studies). Students in the early grades, middle grades and high school learn social studies in the context of their understanding and grasp. The level of learning and understanding naturally advance as the students scale higher up on the academic ladder, year by year. The students' understanding of the subject gives them greater awareness of their rights and responsibilities in society. Their knowledge of the locality as well as their state and the world at large and their interdependence, also become sharper. Their capability to think and address issues of local application and global importance also gain significantly. For instance, environment and the need to do something to reduce pollution are fresh in the minds of students (Wyoming Social Studies Content and Performance Standards). Social Studies Knowledge As mentioned earlier, the knowledge of social studies advance as students go up the academic grades. The basic knowledge of social studies is essential for every student. For students intending to pursue any branch of study where social studies play vital role like history and geology there is benefit in good score. For middle graders, an understanding that different scholars may interpret similar events in different ways may suffice. For high school students, it becomes necessary to demonstrate that historical knowledge and the concept of time are socially influenced constructions and the questions they raise need to be handled selectively according to the time they occurred (National Standards for Social Studies). Meaningful Learning A systematic and cohesive learning makes study of social studies interesting and meaningful. The student looks forward to such learning and his curiosity is heightened and satisfied step by step with each passing grade. Learning must be such that interest in the subject is awakened. The curriculum must be composed of not only contents but also the means of conveying the message. There must be good use of visuals, audiovisuals, group discussions and interactions with students. The use of computers and search engines like google and yahoo must be encouraged. Students must be given projects highlighting issues on social studies. It is great to note that use of pictures and words in a project enhance knowledge. There is a Chinese saying that one picture is as good as a thousand words. Conclusion As a subject, the indispensability of social studies cannot be overemphasized. It is not possible that one can do without it. Thanks to the technological advancements in communication and travel, the world has become a global

Historical Background Of Victorian Age English Literature Essay

Historical Background Of Victorian Age English Literature Essay In the year 1837, Queen Victoria ascended the throne of Great Britain and Ireland and succeeded William the IV. She served for a period of 64 years, till her death in 1901 and it is one of the longest reigns in the history of England. The period was marked by many important social and historical changes that altered the nation in many ways. The population nearly doubled, the British Empire expanded exponentially and technological and industrial progress helped Britain become the most powerful country in the world. 1.1.1. Chief Characteristics of Victorian Period While the country saw economic progress, poverty and exploitation were also equally a part of it. The gap between the rich and the poor increased significantly and the drive for material and commercial success was seen to propagate a kind of a moral decay in the society itself. The changing landscape of the country was another concern. While the earlier phase of Romanticism saw a celebration of the country side and the rich landscape of the flora and fauna, the Victorian era saw a changing of the landscape to one of burgeoning industries and factories. While the poor were exploited for their labor, the period witnessed the rise of the bourgeoisie or the middle class due to increasing trade between Britain and its colonies and the Reform Bill of 1832 strengthen their hold. There was also a shift from the Romantic ideals of the previous age towards a more realistic acceptance and depiction of society. One of the most important factors that defined the age was its stress on morality. Strict societal codes were enforced and certain activities were openly looked down upon. These codes were even harsher for women. A feminine code of conduct was levied on them which described every aspect of their being from the proper apparels to how to converse, everything had rules. The role of women was mostly that of being angels of the house and restricted to domestic confines. Professionally very few options were available to them as a woman could either become a governess or a teacher in rich households. Hence they were financially dependent on their husbands and fathers and it led to a commercialization of the institution of marriage. 1.1.2. Victorian Novels Victorian Era is seen as the link between Romanticism of the 18th century and the realism of the 20th century. The novel as a genre rose to entertain the rising middle class and to depict the contemporary life in a changing society. Although the novel had been in development since the 18th century with the works of Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Samuel Richardson and the others, it was in this period that the novel got mass acceptance and readership. The growth of cities, a ready domestic market and one in the oversea colonies and an increase in printing and publishing houses facilitated the growth of the novel as a form. In the year 1870, an Education Act was passed which made education an easy access to the masses furthermore increasing literacy rates among the population. Certain jobs required a certain level of reading ability and simple novels catered to this by becoming a device to practice reading. Also the time of the daily commute to work for men and the time alone at home for women could be filled by reading which now became a leisure activity. As a response to the latter, the demand for fiction, rose substantially. The novels of the age mostly had a moral strain in them with a belief in the innate goodness of human nature. The characters were well rounded and the protagonist usually belonged to a middle class society who struggled to create a niche for himself in the industrial and mercantile world. The stress was on realism and an attempt to describe the daily struggles of ordinary men that the middle class reader could associate with. The moral tangents were perhaps an attempt to rescue the moral degradation prevalent in the society then and supplied the audience with hope and positivity. These moral angles allowed for inclusion of larger debates in fiction like the ones surrounding the woman question, marriage, progress, education, the Industrial Revolution. New roles for women were created because of the resultant economic market and their voice which was earlier not given cadence was now being spotted and recognized and novels became the means where the domestic confinement of women was qu estioned. Novels reflecting the larger questions surrounding women, like those of their roles and duties. In the latter half of the century, Married Womens Property Acts was passed, the women suffrage became an important point of debate, and poverty and other economic reasons challenged the traditional roles of women. The novel as a form became the medium where such concerns were raised. 1.1.3 Charles Dickens: A Popular Victorian Author In the same year that Queen Victoria ascended the throne, Charles Dickens published the first parts of his novel Oliver Twist, a story of an orphan and his struggle with poverty in the early part of the century. As the Industrial Revolution surged on, the class difference between the traditional aristocracy and the middle class was gradually getting reduced and with the passing of the Reform Act, the middle class got the right to vote and be politically engaged in the affairs of the nation. While the aristocracy criticized the work that the bourgeoisie had to do in the factories and the industries, to maintain the supremacy that they had the privilege of, the middle class in response promoted work as virtue. The result of this led to a further marginalization of those struck by poverty and were part of neither groups. The Poor Law that was passed made public assistance available to the economically downtrodden only through workhouses where they had to live and work. The conditions of these workhouses were deliberately made to be unbearable so as to avoid the poor from becoming totally dependent on assistance from outside. Families were split, food was inedible, and the circumstances were made inhospitable to urge the poor to work and fight a way through poverty. However, these ultimately became a web difficult to transgress and people chose living in the streets rather than seeking help from a workhouse. Dickens was aware of these concerns as a journalist and his own life and autobiographical experiences entered the novel through Oliver Twist. His novel enters the world of the workhouses, the dens of thieves and the streets and highlights that while there was economic prosperity on one side, there was poverty on the other and while morality, virtue were championed, hypocrisy was equally a part of society. His social commentary entered the world of his fiction. In 1836, before Oliver Twist, his serials of Pickwick Papers were published which led him to instant recognition and popularity. It started the famous Victorian mode of serial novels which dominated the age till the end of the century. It not only made the reader anxious for the next serial to come and spread the popularity of the book itself, but also gave the writer a chance to alter his work according to the mood and expectation of his audience. His works enjoyed continuous popularity and acceptance and Dickens as a writer became famous for his wit, satire, social commentary and his in depth characters. Bleak House, A Christmas Carroll, David Copperfield, Great Expectations are some of his other great works. 1.1.4 William Makepeace Thackeray: English Victorian Writer Thackeray was born in Calcutta, India and was also an important writer but one who expressed his age very differently from Dickens and other writers. He is most noted for his satirical work Vanity Fair that portrays the many myriads of English society. Although he was seen as equally talented as Dickens, but his views were deemed old-fashioned which hindered his popularity. He did not readily accept the changing values of the age. His work is seen almost as a reactionary voice. Vanity Fair for example has the subtitle A novel without a Hero and in a period where other writers usually embarked on a portrayal of the coming of age of a hero, Thackeray himself very deliberately opposes it. While the protagonist of Dickens David Copperfield invites the reader to identify with him, Thackerays Becky Sharp is the conniving, cynical and clever. Even his novel Pendennis, is a complete opposite of the novel David Copperfield, although both were published the same year. Thackeray did not identif y with the middle class because hence his novels lack a middle class hero. When novels were catering to reassure middle class self-worth, Thackeray denied to give that assurance. Even, Dobbin, a middle class character in Vanity Fair, is not completely granted hero status and a tone of criticism lingers on the character throughout the work. In The History of Henry Esmond, Thackeray deals with questions of not only of the concerns of society at large but also of individual identity. While most writers supported the idea of innate goodness in the individual human self, Thackeray differed. For example the character of Henry Esmond is also not a completely positive character and the negatives of his self, is perhaps Thackerays critique of Victorian emphasis on the individual. An individualism that focused on personal virtue and morality is seen as Thackeray to at the risk of selfishness bordering on narcissism and self-absorption. His discontent with his age became more vocal in later works like Phillip and The New Comes. While the former is injected with autobiographical accounts and is goes back to the satirical tone of Vanity Fair, the latter is a harsh critique of the material greed of the age and a critique of the contemporary culture of the age. As a result of his strong opinions of his society and its issues, and a critical rejection of the dominant concerns found in works of other writers of the same age, Thackeray stands in isolation as an outsider to this circle due his skepticism of the changing Victorian society. His stand did not change with time and lends to a social criticism and commentary of a very different sort in his works. Catherine, A Shabby Genteel Story, The Book of Snobs are some of his other works. 1.2 Women Novelists of the Victorian Era The era saw a proliferation of women writers. The novel as a genre was initially seen as feminine literature and as the literacy rate among women increased, a new need for women writers catering to this segment was answered by these writers. 1.2.1. Mrs. Gaskell Elizabeth Gaskell, popularly called Mrs. Gaskell wrote short stories and novels that dealt with presenting a social picture of her society in the 1850s. While it was a time when doubts about material progress reaching the actual lives of the ordinary man were starting to be raised, Gaskell mostly gave an optimistic view of the time. Gaskells North and South for example, seeks to present an answer to division and difference by presenting a form of a social reconciliation. There is an attempt at reconciliation of many divergent streams in the novel. Mary Barton was her first novel, published in 1848 with a subtitle, A Tale of Manchester Life and sticks to the Victorian concern of presenting the daily life of the middle class. Cranford came next in the form of a serial and was edited by Dickens for the magazine called Household Words. It was received positively and Gaskell gained immediate popularity for it. It centered on women characters like Mary Smith, Miss Deborah and the others. However the book was also critiqued for its lack of a significant story line. She was also famous for her gothic style in some of her works and this made Gaskell slightly different from other novelist of her time. Ruth, Sylvias Lovers, Wives and Daughters were other significant works by her. 1.2.2. George Eliot Perhaps the one most famous women writers, George Eliot still maintains a canonical status. Her real name was Mary Ann Evans or Marian Evans and she adopted the pseudonym George Eliot to escape the stereotype attached with women writers and successfully entered the domain of serious writing. She had a controversial personal life and there too was not hesitant to break the norms of societal feminine boundaries. Adam Bede was her first novel, published 1859, set in a rural landscape and deals with a love rectangle. It received critical appreciation for its psychological descriptions of the characters and a realistic description of rural life. Mill on the Floss, 1860, revolves around the life of Tom and Maggie Tulliver and traces their life as they grow up near the River Floss. Historical, political references to those of the Napoleonic Wars and the Reform Bill of 1832 inform the novel and lend it a more intellectual and serious strain. Autobiographical elements also form a part of the novel as George Eliot fuses herself partly with Maggie, the protagonist of the book. After Silas Marner (1861), Romola (1863), Felix Holt the Radical, (1866) came Eliots most popular novel Middlemarch in the year 1871. The novel revolves around the life of complex characters and the Reform Bill of 1832. Subtitled A Study of Provincial Life the plot is based in the fictitious town of Midlands. The greatness of the novel was because of the vast portraiture of country and urban life that it depicts, its complex plots and characters, and its stark realistic projection of the time its set in. The role of education, the women question, politics, s ocial commentary, idealism are other complicated strands of the novel. 1.2.3. Bronte Sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte were the three famous novelist daughters of Patrick Bronte, a well-educated man and a writer himself; and Maria Bronte. The family together went through a series of tragedies where Maria Bronte died very early and none of the three sisters could reach the age of 40. Charlotte died at the age of just 39, Emily at 30 and Anne at 29. All three were educated by their father at home and all of them were fond of storytelling since childhood. Charlotte Bronte is famous for her novel Jane Eyre, published in 1847. The titular protagonist of the book, Jane Eyre, and her struggles in life and love for Mr. Rochester along with the process of her mental and spiritual growth are traced. The novel is believed to have a feminist tone to it and the famous woman in the attic character of Bertha Mason raises several gender and feminist issues. Emily Bronte, the second of the trio, became famous for her novel Wuthering Heights, published in the year 1847 and the only boo k written by her. Like George Eliot, Emily wrote under the pseudonym of Ellis Bell but after her death Charlotte published the novel with her sisters real name. The novel is the love story of Heathcliff and  Catherine Earnshaw. Anne Bronte, the last of the three, wrote two novels: Agnes Grey  (1847) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall  (1848). The former was an autobiographical work and the latter is about a woman named   Helen Graham who transgresses marital and social boundaries to assert her freedom. It is seen a substantial piece of feminist writing. All three sisters hence larger societal questions through mostly women characters and the plot focusses on their life with themes of love and passion. They hence enjoyed a large female readership and have achieved status as classics of literature. 1.3. Late Victorian Novelists Thomas Hardy was the most important writer in the later part of the Victorian Era. He was influenced by both the romanticism of the earlier era and the social commentary of Dickens. He is famous for the conception of the fictional town of Wessex. Far from the Madding Crowd  published in 1874,  The Mayor of Casterbridge  in 1886,  Tess of the dUrbervilles  in 1891, and  Jude the Obscure  in 1895 are his famous novels but Hardy was also known for his poetry. The late part of the period also saw the rise of the sensational novels by writers like Wilkie Collins and they too were based on the life of the middle class. The Woman in White (1860) and The Moonstone (1868) are Collins famous sensational novels. Anthony Trollope, another writer in the second half of the era, was himself from a middle class background and wrote the Phineas Finn (1869) and The Way we Live (1874). It was the time when Lewis Carroll wrote his famous Alices Adventures in Wonderland published in 1865 an d stood very different from other because of the child fiction genre it became a classic of the Carrolls different dreamy world that stood in direct contrast with the realistic tone of novels that was at its peak. George Gissing, George Moore, Samuel Butler, Henry James, Robert Louis Stevenson were other novels of the era. Rudyard Kipling and his short stories based in India pointed to the larger historical process of colonialism happening at the time. It was in 1877 that Queen Victoria became the Empress of India. Then also came George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde, another two most famous writers of the time. 1.3.1. Overview of Victorian Period The age hence was important for the rise of the novel as a genre and form which itself saw transformation within the period. From romanticism to realism, politics to passion, optimism to pessimism, the novel could successfully deal with the changing mood of the society. Class, gender, individualism, society all were given space in the novel. The period was known to have witnessed the massive change of Britain from an agrarian to industrial landscape. All concerns informed the novel and the novel was made into perhaps the most important genre of the age and the ones that would follow. 1.4 Modern Period After Queen Victorias death in 1901 came the period which saw writers like Joseph Conrad, H.G Wells, D.H Lawrence, E.M Forster and others. The most important event in the early part of the 20th century was the First World War that took place from 1914 to 1918. It was a crucial event that changed the way of the world, impacted the psyche of the people and also the way literature was written. The pessimism and doubts that were a part of the writings of the earlier period may perhaps have anticipated the War. Hence Joseph Conrad, instead of talking of the society and its change now focused on dislocated individuals, a question of where one belongs in a seemingly cruel world. Colonialism are important part of his works wherein he presents a stark reality of exploitation and greed. Lord Jim, Nostromo, Heart of Darkness, are some of his major works. H.G Wells was a prolific writer and wrote around a hundred novels. The Time Machine, Ann Veronica, The History of Mr. Polly, The War of the Wo rlds, are some his important novels and Tono- Bungay is seen as his most brilliant work. Lawrence, was a controversial writer because of the open sexual references in his work. His work was different because of the sensual language and emotional feelings that made them. Therefore the novel then moved from the realism of the world outside more towards a description of the reality of the individual within. Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love are important works by him. E.M Forster, lastly wrote his famous Howards End that deals with the Schegel and the Wilcox family and the society in 1910, brilliantly and delicately described which would then be transformed permanently by the First World War. 1.4.1. The Georgian Poets and World War I During the reign of George V, was published five anthologies of poetry by Edward Marsh in the year 1912 to 1922. Many important writers like of the time like Edward Thomas, Robert Graves, D.H Lawrence, Walter de la Mare contributed to these anthologies. The main concern was to depict the real issues surrounding the world around the World War. 1.4.2 Modernism Modernism as a movement was a response to the horrors of World War-I and to the rising industrial societies and growth of cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It challenged the harmony and the rationality of the Enlightenment and sought to reinvent art and literature of the age. To do so, it broke away from the works of the past and conventions that were earlier held at a pedestal. The view that traditional conceptions of beauty and on the whole the meaning of art itself did not fit the age lead to another movement called Dadaism that consciously set to redefine art itself. The movement was seen as anti-art that aimed to upturn its order. Chaos then as the basic antithesis to order was abundantly used by artists. Started by Tristan Tzara (1896- 1963) as a reaction against the senseless violence of the First World War and to reflect the anarchy that it spread in the social system as well as in the lives of ordinary people. What was also opposed was the conception of what was worthy of being the object of art. The classical subjects were replaced by the mundane as the urinal that Marcel Duchamp placed as an object of art in his gallery. Also in his LHOOQ Duchamps Mona Lisa with a moustache was a direct means to shake the viewer and the age out from his complacency that lead to the war itself. It was the direct expression of disillusionment with the war and that art too had lost its meaning like the literature of the classical time. The breaking down of any previously set rules and a violent portrayal of freedom of expression to shock and awe was the channel of the time that saw the violence of the World War firsthand. The artists and writers of the Dada movement were mostly war veterans and expressed through their work the psychological devastation of the war. The call for re-invention was echoed in the movement and stood for what modernism broadly aimed at. 1.4.3 Thematic and Technical Features of Modern Literature The conception that reality could be easily be comprehended was replaced by modernism with a more subjective argument. Reality became not what was directly seen but what was behind the apparent surfaces and it took a crude look at the ugly, the stark behind the glossy surfaces. It was to raise these questions that distortion became a crucial trope in the visual arts of the era. Comtes Positivism could no longer be used to describe reality. The distorted images force the onlooker to step out of his comfort zone and to question his conception of reality. It highlights the dialectical relationship between the object of expression and the language that expresses it. This was echoed in the Literature of the time where sentences are fragmented and deliberately left incomplete as in Waiting for Godot. Dialogues are seldom completed and there is an inability to find the correct words to describe the state of the self. This breakdown of language after the World War calls out for a need to rei nvent language to fit the post war world. Hitlers use of almost an enigmatic, opera type use of words (he admired Wagner) that achieved his mass appeal, did also lead to the war. It was perhaps then necessary to breakdown language to reinvent it. The distortion and the fragments not only hint at the former but to a unity that needs to be rediscovered. The half-sentence make the reader seek to complete them and participate in the call for a search of a new unity and identity which is Pounds injunction to Make it New. The onlooker/reader is removed from his role as a mere passive observer to an active one who contributes to the meaning of the art he views/reads. Hence the incompleteness was not aimed at a completely pessimistic answer that leads to a loss of hope, but to different source of comfort similar to what T.S Eliot finds in the world of shanti shanti shanti at the end of Wasteland. 1.4.4 Overview of Modern Age Literature James Joyce set his novels and short stories in a small city of Dublin. Dubliners published in 1914 is a part of the modernist literature along with The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses. Stephen Daedalus is a central character both in the Portrait and Ulysses. The latter however was banned. The next important writer was Virginia Woolf who was associated with the Bloomsbury Group which was a group of intellectuals and writers that met at her house which included E.M Forster and Leopold Woolf. Woolf attempted to present the changed world through a changed style of writing. In 1915 came her first novel called The Voyage Out and then came Night and Day in 1919. There was a realistic serious tone to both these books. Modernist strain in her writing began with her next novel call Jacobs Room which was published in 1922 along with Ulysses. The rest of the novels like Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Waves, and Orlando had the same modernist tone. 1.5 Stream of Consciousness Picassos cubism became an important part of modernisms subjective view of reality and a need to move away from traditional forms of art. It was this subjectivity that lead to the stream of consciousness technique of narration, as used by Virginia Woolf in Mrs. Dalloway. The focus on the interiority of the self and its perception of the objects it conceives was way to grasp the changed notion of reality. The Pre-Speech level of consciousness (as Henry James called it) of the character where the narrative deals with what is freely sensed or felt by the characters rather than what is directly uttered changed the way that narratives functioned. The expression of the self was also to highlight the crisis of the self within itself. The existential view of life and its cyclical futile form was what entrapped it rendering it unable to transcend futility of existence. This pessimistic view was a residue of the war which saw man as Sisyphus with his worthless search for meaning, identity and u nity in an age that cannot satiate his search. In The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus dwells on this futility of the modern experience. 1.6 Poetic Drama The term poetic drama was made popular during the middle of the 20th century. The term was made famous due to the works of T.S Eliot who used his work as a reaction to the drama of G. B Shaw and Galsworthy who were immensely influenced by Henrik Ibsen who wrote A Dolls House and Ghosts. In the The Quintessence of Ibsenism written by G.B Shaw, he accepted the formers influence on him. T.S Eliot apart from being a poet was also a critic and wrote many important works like Possibility of Poetic Drama and Poetry and Drama in which he expressed his belief that poetry and drama are linked inseparably. W.B. Yeats, W. H. Auden and other poets also tried writing poetic drama. UNIT 2 1MPORTANT LITERARY TERMS 2.1. Dramatic Monologue A persona poem or what is popularly termed as a dramatic monologue in poetry, uses the theatrical device of a monologue where a character or person on stage speaks alone. Often done to highlight the character or authors internal thoughts and vocalize them to an implied audience, it was used in poetry in the 20th century. Romantic poetry was seen as the root of the same. It is usually one persons speech to oneself or the audience / reader wherein he talks about a subjective view on a situation, topic, or any other character. Robert Browning was the poet who perfected the use of dramatic monologue in his poems like My Last Duchess, Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister. His use of the device influenced Eliot and other modernist writers. 2.2 Paradox As the term signifies, a paradox occurs when there is self-contradiction in a sentence. Even ideas can have a paradox in them. It is done often for stylistic reasons and to express a complicated thought or feeling. Hamlets line I must be cruel only to be kind. (Act 3, Scene iv line 178) in Shakespeares play with the same title is an example of paradox where two contradictory emotions of kindness and cruelty are brought together. 2.3 Antithesis It basically denotes the coming together of complete opposites in a sentence. It is a rhetorical device often used by orators. For example, Goethes quote Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing is an example of the same. 2.4 Symbol Derived from the greek word Symbolom, a symbol is a word or object that stands for another word or object. For example a fox is a symbol for cleverness and dove is the universal symbol for peace. 2.5 Problem Play Used mostly with reference to drama, a problem play usually deals with an attempt to focus the public opinion about a social concern. It engages therefore with a problem in the most feasible manner and may either seek to solve it or complicate it further. It was made famous by Henrik Ibsen, a Norwegian Playwright and even used by G.B Shaw in his plays. 2.6 Essay Usually a piece of prose writing that is aimed at being a thoughtful piece of writing with strong intellectual debates and undertones. It is derived from the word exagium that in Latin means a trial by weight. The form is believed to have emerged in the Renaissance and Francis Bacon in 1597 published his Essays. 2.7 Novel A novel is a piece of literature that can be fictional or real and is written in prose. It is very different from drama and poetry by the extent of its length. There are many sub genres that can be a part of the novel itself. In fact a single novel is often is result of play of these various strands of literature. The root of the word Novel or Novella signifies something new as it was a later conception in the history of literature. It came after poetry and drama. It was the 18th and the 19th century that form became a major literary field with writers like Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe; Fielding, who wrote Tom Jones and Samuel Richardson, Charles Dickens and others. After the romantic phase there was a revival of the gothic fiction in works like Ann Radcliffs Mysteries of Udolfo and Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. Gothic was one such genre of the novel form. Realist novels, Sensational novels, domestic novels are just some of the others. On the whole the novel can be seen as a fictional narrative in prose, generally longer than a short story. Unlike the epic, which is now seen as a dead genre, the novel is still enjoying its high status in the literary market as perhaps, it has evolved with the continuously evolving world. 2.8 Free Verse Free verse is a type of structure which does not have a fixed meter or regular rhythm. Even the line length varies from one sentence to another. The cadence is dependent solely on the wish of the writer but sometimes alternates between stressed and unstressed syllables. It was derived from the word freo a middle-english word that meant free. Many great writers and poets experimented with the free verse style including Milton in his Samson Agonistes. 2.9 Short Story   A short story is also a form of fiction writing but is different from the novel because of the length due to which it gets its name. It can be a highly serious work of literature, a didactic one with a moral, a part of childrens fiction and is also open to experimentation. For example, Rudyard Kipling wrote many short stories. The word short comes from the word sceort which means the same. Defoe also wrote short stories because of the popularity of serial novels at his time. It is however Edgar Allen Poe, who is considered to be a seminal figure responsible for the popularity of short stories as a genre. Joyce wrote them in his work titled Dubliners and Kafka wrote Metamorphosis using the same. UNIT 3 FEATURES AND FORMS OF DRAMA Drama is one of the oldest forms of literature along with the epic. It is believed to have derived from the ancient Greek and Roman works. 3.1 Plot A plot is the main trajectory of drama and called be called as its story line. In Poetics, while defining all the major parts of a drama, Aristotle believed that the plot was of prime importance. It was so because it the plot that could be success at achieving

The Debt Crisis of the Eighties and Nineties Essay -- Economy Economic

The Debt Crisis of the Eighties and Nineties The debt crisis of the 1980s and 1990s has been one of the largest economic disasters of the 20th Century. It has caused widespread poverty, famine and starvation across many of the third world countries it has touched. The Crisis did not go by unnoticed however. Since the mid 1990s world governments have awoken to the horrible reality that such debt causes with attempts to lighten the devastating affects with such programs as the Brady plan, HIPC and eventually HIPC 2. While these plans have had only limited success the question of weather the debt crisis can be solved in the long run is still to be answered. The debt crisis as it is now called did not occur in one single event; instead it developed as a slow moving â€Å"chronic syndrome†[1]. The primary crisis, which occurred in Mexico in 1982, was centred on middle-income nations[2], while the second strain occurred in poorer African nations, with the effects from it still being well and truly felt today[3]. For these countries the need for industrialisation meant the need for large-scale borrowing. Since many of the African nations were excluded from being aloud to borrow until the early 1960s, the need to borrow a lot, quickly, was a common trend throughout the developing nations[4]. The reasons for the colossal amounts of debt cannot be simply explained for they vary from country to country. Some nations had corrupt militaristic governments who cared more for themselves than for their people[5]. While others struggled with failed projects and damaging economic decisions[6]. By the early 70’s the debt had begun to accumulate. The impoverished and debt stricken countries began to shift commodities meant for the sustenance of the people to the export sector to try and make enough money to pay off their debts. Suddenly all the indebted countries were simultaneously selling their primary commodities on the world market. The flow of coffee, coca, copper, steel, ect, had the devastating effect of lowering the commodity prices causing the developing nations to make much less than they had previously. Countries now had to sell two or three times what the used too to make the same money[7]. Combined with the rising and falling of the dollar, and the rises of interest rates in the 80s, the third world debt was now even larger than ... ...continue in the long run many of HIPC goals will be achieved. Success of HIPC and the debt cancellation plans of the 90’s are indeed difficult to judge. If success were to be measured by how much has been paid out from the forecasted amount then HIPC could be viewed as a failure. However if success were judged on the increase of social service spending then yes HIPC would be seen as a successful initiative. The one clear success of the debt cancellation plans has been public awareness. Though the cancellation process is moving slowly and only achieving a fraction of its goals[18] the general public of the world has now awoken to the horrors that debt can lead to. With public support behind the debt cancellation process the debt crisis will eventually be overcome. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] La Trobe, Assignment Manual, p.130 [2] Ibid [3] Ibid, pp.130, 131 [4] Ibid, p.133 [5] Ibid, p.131 [6] Ibid [7] Ibid, p.137 [8] Ibid [9] lecture [10] Ibid, p.144, 145 [11] Ibid [12] Ibid [13] Ibid, p.149 [14] Ibid, p.152 [15] Ibid, p.156 [16] Ibid [17] Ibid [18] Ibid, pp. 150-153

Civilizations of the Americas

The Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas were three of the most advanced civilization in the Americas. They each brought major accomplishments to the world during their period of reign and some of these accomplishments are still used to this very day. Each one of these civilizations were influenced by foreign countries including: Europe, Asia, and parts of the Middle East. Some of these accomplishments included agriculture, architecture, writing, and trade. These accomplishments led each of these civilizations into being the most advanced in the world during their time of rule. The Mayans were the first civilization of the three and reached its greatest height between 250 and 900 CE. The Mayan civilization was located in the areas known today as Guatemala, Belize, Chiapas, and the Yucaton Peninsula, which had rich and fertile soil. Being the first civilization didn’t hold back the Mayans from being advanced in architecture, math, astrology, and writing. In the Mayan civilization, there was one major city called Tikal. Tikal was located in Guatemala and became a major Mayan center. The Mayan pyramid in Tikal was the tallest pyramid until the twentieth century (Document 1). This structure showed that the Mayans were advanced in architecture without several different inventions that were used in future societies including the wheel. The Mayans used characters or symbols as a writing system. They used glyphs (symbols) to write necessary things down on stelae. Each glyph either represented a sound or a word. Glyphs were put together to make sentences or represent the Mayan calendar (Document 2). The Mayans used a 364-day solar calendar with 18 months and 20 days in each month. These accomplishments prove that the Mayan civilization was one of the most advanced in the Americas.

The Amish Community: the Effects of Subsistence on Aspects

The Amish Community: The Effects of Subsistence on Aspects of a Culture Tristin Bovee ANT 101 Ilda Jimenez y West October 29, 2012 The Amish Community: The Effects of Subsistence on Aspects of a Culture Any person who observes an Amish community may catch a glimpse of a lifestyle that looks as if it adheres to no modicum of logic. Why would a whole group of people choose to live without the technology that makes life so much easier? The answer is simple and uncomplicated; cultural preservation.The Amish are culturally aware of themselves, and as such have put forth the effort to sustain their traditions and way of life for hundreds of years (Kraybill, 2001). The further technology advances in the world outside of the Amish community, the broader the Amish lifestyle becomes from the modern American culture amongst which they live. However, if the Amish belief system is viewed from an anthropological perspective, their values and reasoning is much more understandable to modern thinkers . There are many different sects of the Amish belief system but for the sake of simplicity, this paper will concentrate on the Old Order Amish.The Amish faith sprung out of traditional Protestantism in the sixteenth century. Then referred to as Anabaptists, the Amish believed that baptism should not occur in children or infants, but only in adults that can make the decision for themselves (Kraybill, 2001). They also called for a separation between church and state, and a return to literal interpretation of the bible. Suffering extreme persecution for their beliefs, the Amish fled to northern Europe to escape harsh treatment from authorities and religious leaders alike (Fischetti, 1997).While living in these remote regions, the Amish grew dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Agriculture has been the primary mode of Amish life ever since. Many Amish beliefs today are stemmed from their subsistence strategy of emerging agriculture. Body The most widely known belief of the Ami sh community involves the refusal to use electricity or modern technology, such as television, in their homes. The Amish belief system is centered around family and community values and as such, they hold a strong conviction that modern technology shatters those relationships (Fischetti, 1997).The use of electricity opens the doors for mass media influence which holds the possibility of fracturing Amish traditional values. The very values that the Amish hold are a result of their emerging agricultural subsistence. When livelihood depends on bringing in crops and dairying, community and family are the primary modes of labor, and cooperation is of the utmost importance in order to maintain their way of life. Some analysts argue that the individualism seen in modern cultures is caused primarily by industrialization (Kraybill, 2001).By avoiding modern technology and said industrialization, the Amish believe they are maintaining their closely knit communities. From the etic perspective, this may seem to limit the quality of life that the Amish live, especially their youth, but from an emic perspective, this is the lifestyle that they know works for them and does not challenge what they believe. Amish adults are only looking out for the wellbeing of their children on a spiritual level. Like band societies, the Amish do not believe in accumulating wealth; they believe in having what one needs to survive.Beyond enduring, what is important to them is helping each other, which is an aspect in most cultures that grow or forage for their own food (Marlow, 1996). Amish and band societies have much in common, such as their reciprocal economic system of general reciprocity. A reciprocal economic system is a variety of trade between family members (Nowak & Laird, 2010). General reciprocity is an exchange without an instant return or a determined value of the trade (Nowak & Laird, 2010); this is what the Amish community practices between members.Within the Amish, assistance or supplies are given freely to those who are in need of it; the provider knows that anyone in their society would do the same for them under similar circumstances. Due to their belief in self-sufficiency within their community, the Amish do not believe in government assistance. Coupled with the collective Amish decline of private health care, one may wonder how they pay for medical expenses; their church and community. The Amish church picks up most medical costs, and what it does not cover is picked up by the individual family and community.The Amish lifestyle is based upon the literal interpretation of the Christian bible, as well as a set of unwritten, adaptable guidelines called the Amish Ordnung. The Amish Ordnung provides the Amish community with cultural capital, or awareness of the morals, principles, convictions and responsibilities of Amish life (Kraybill, 2001). It outlines correct behavior, clothing choice and technologies that are deemed acceptable for use without fear o f destroying the family (Donnermeyer & Friedrich, 2002). The guidelines that the Amish Ordnung outlines are changeable.This is to better facilitate solutions toward the difficulties of living in contemporary society while maintaining their cultural heritage and beliefs (Donnermeyer & Friedrich, 2002). While many people living in modern society have faith of some kind, the Amish live their faith every day. Every aspect of their life is centered around their biblical interpretations and beliefs. Family and community are a huge part of the Amish belief system which is evident by the way their kinship systems work and live together. The Amish are a patriarchal society.Men are the breadwinners and thus the head of the household; women ensure the upkeep of the home and the upbringing of the children (Donnermeyer & Friedrich, 2002). These gender roles begin at a very young age. In some societies, such as pastoralist societies, this division of labor via gender creates an environment of ine quality in favor of male family members (Nowak & Laird, 2010). This is not the case in an Amish household; each family member is respected and valued for the person they are, and also for the work they accomplish.The strong nuclear family and the division of labor being gender-based provide the Amish with a strategy to impress upon their children the importance of their beliefs (Donnermeyer & Friedrich, 2002). Young members of an Amish community are not required to be baptized into their faith until eighteen years of age (Kraybill, 2001). Eighteen years living within an Amish community results in these kids knowing nothing else and it is often easy for them to make the decision to continue living their experienced lifestyle. However, should anAmish child refuse, they would be shunned. Shunning is the practice within the Amish community of excommunicating members who do not hold to the community beliefs. Most parents would like to keep their children as close as possible, which is ju st another motivation for immersing their children in the Amish world in order to keep them from being shunned. Often, two or three generations of extended families live in neighboring homes and work the same farmland. This is because a large part of who makes up an Amish community is determined by geographic proximity (Kraybill, 2001).Amish grandparents will often retire to a home on the farm referred to as a dowdy house (Donnermeyer & Friedrich, 2002). These practices demonstrate the provision of a support system through all stages of life. Societies which practice agriculture for subsistence often establish large families to assist with the amount of labor required for farming (Nowak & Laird, 2010). This is demonstrated in Amish families, which on average produce six children per nuclear family (Kraybill, 2001). However, agriculture is becoming less common amongst Amish communities as there is little farmland large enough to accommodate them.This has led many Amish families to re cognize the importance of family planning, since little farming requires less farm labor and family assistance with farm chores (Donnermeyer & Friedrich, 2002). In addition, many Amish families have turned to selling crafted items to supplement the income lost from the declining amounts of agriculture. In the book, Riddle of Amish Culture, author Donald Kraybill (2001) states that â€Å"the hallmark of Amish society has been a close-knit, highly integrated community where the threads of social life are woven into a single fabric that stretches from cradle to grave† (pg. 19, para. 4).This quote emphasizes the Amish social life centering on family, community and church from birth to death. Social activity in the Amish community can be described in three words; family, community, and church. Amish society is organized into three basic social units. The first unit, the settlement, consists of Amish families living within a common location and typically ranges in size from a dozen families to several thousand. The second unit, the district, is the organizational unit above the family and refers to the church. One church district usually includes twenty-five to thirty-five families within the immediate area.The third unit, affiliation, is the collection of church districts that hold similar religious practices and cooperate with each other (Kraybill, 2001). Amish children are taught in parochial schools, in which the highest level of education achieved is the eighth grade (Kraybill, 2001). The Amish believe that their way of life does not require more than an eighth grade education; most Amish children know how to run a household well before they finish their schooling. Conclusion If it weren’t for their way of life, they would have been acclimated to societal norms long ago.However, the Amish people are capable of seeing the world from an emic and etic perspective, ostensibly at the same time. Because of this awareness, they are able to take the corre ct steps to ensuring the survival of their cultural and spiritual beliefs. REFERENCES: Donnermeyer, J. F. , & Friedrich, L. (2002). Amish society? : An overview reconsidered. Journal of Multicultural Nursing & Health, 8(3), 14. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/220297959? accountid=32521 Fischetti, P. R. (1997). The Amish. Washington, United States: Educational Extension Systems. Retrieved from http://search. roquest. com/docview/189310852? accountid=32521 Kraybill, D. B. (2001). Riddle of Amish Culture (Revised Ed. ). Baltimore, MD, USA: John Hopkins Univeristy Press. Retrieved from http://site. ebrary. com/lib/ashford/docDetail. action? docID=10021650&ppg=2 Marlow, E. (1996). Teaching about another culture? : The Old Order Amish. The Social Studies, 87(4), 161. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/274834778? accountid=32521 Nowak, B. , & Laird, P. (2010). Cultural Anthropology. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from https://conte nt. ashford. edu/books/AUANT101. 10. 2/sections/ch00

buy custom Antigone essay

buy custom Antigone essay The common definition of politics is a peaceful settling of beauty. This definition can in no way be applied in the play Sophocles by Antigone. Politics is best correlated with the community. The relationship between Creon and Antigone is not peaceful but turbulent. The two characters are seen to be stubborn thus taking away any peace in the plot development of the play. Such a form of politics is commonly referred to as political drama involving peaceful conduct requiring some kind of agreement on the political rules. In the play, the way Creon regarded the city laws made him to abandon his other beliefs. He believed that everyone should abide by the laws he sets no matter the other religious and moral beliefs. Antigone regarded the gods beliefs in high reverence. She believed that the gods laws had to be obeyed and should come before any other especially with regards to family. The position taken by these two characters makes the play stand out as a political drama (Antigone 78). Sophocles by Antigone is a Greek drama modernized with the use of sidebar notes, difficult vocabulary and terms and modern characters. These inclusions were intended to make the audience enjoy the wisdom, beauty and intent of the play. The curse on Oedipus haunts and lingers the young generation in this brilliant and new Sophocles classic drama translation. The daughter of Jocasta and Oedipus, Antigone is introduced in the play as heroine who is unconventional and pits the beliefs she has against the Thebes King. This manifest itself in a bloody test involving wills which end up leaving only a few unharmed. The play gets emotional as Antigone challenges the king stating her rights to have her brother buried. Though doomed, she shows her determination and in her inner strength as the play unfolds. Through Antigone, political morality and law that is relevant today is brought out despite the play being staged thousands of years ago. The plot of the play revolves around Antigone narration of the main character, Thebess former King, who unknowingly married the mother and killed his father after which he renounced the kingdom after discovering what he had done. The other striking issue in the play is Antigen fight against her uncle, Creon who was the new Thebes king, to bury her brother. The play pits the unwritten laws of the gods against the humankind laws which tie the family against civic duty as well as man against woman. Sophocles is among the many Ancient Greek playwrights that were used to comment on political and social concerns. Sophocles was written with the intention on commenting on the political and social concerns to the Pericles and Athenian general on the authoritarian rule dangers (Antigone 65). The Day of Affirmation is a philosophical essay which has proved to be relevant in the analysis of Antigone. The philosophical essay focuses on political issue, individual liberty, power of governance, the role of womn and the youth in the society and the beliefs of people before the law and God. These are some of the issues that the play addresses thus the two correlate. The Day of Affirmation addresses the right to communicate and express ideas aimed at recalling government obligations and duties while addressing the right of affirmation of the peoples allegiance and membership to the political and social body governed by people who share the heritage, land and the future of the children. According to the affirmation, the decisions made by any governance should be aimed at improving the lives of its subjects. Thus the essential of the people humanity can only be preserved and protected not just to the wealthy, poor, religious or people from a particular race but to all the people. The Day of Affirmation goes forward to state that the power of governance should be limited to the common peoples act so to ensure they are no interference in the peoples right to security at their homes and the right to worship with no imposition of penalties and pain and no restrictions on the peoples opportunities (Antigone 102). This is closely associated with Creon and Antigone positions in the play. Creon carries with him strong opinion on the city laws and the laws he passed. His ways of implementing them are very strict to ensure that they are followed. He orders Polyneices not to be buried as he dishonored Thebes. He went ahead to order that anyone found burying him will face a death sentence as this was considered as disobeying the orders he had put in place. In this context, contrary to the Day of Affirmation that favored the common man rights, Creon orders count more than the common man wish. This decision proved to be problematic to Antigone as the subject in question was her brother and more so she had her family values to be so valued that she could not leave the corpse to rot. Antigone on the other hand is passionate and principled in everything that she does. She represents the voice of the common man in the play. No matter how her sister tried to convince her to change her mind about the burial of her brother, she stuck to her words despite the dangers she was putting herself in with regards to going against Creon and the entire state. Just as it is stated in the Day of Affirmation, the common man was expected to obey the laws put in place by those who govern them. Ismene states that it was a must for them to obey those who are in authority. Antigone continues to fight for what she believed were her rights until when she met her fate and died honorably as a proud woman (Antigone 122). The philosophical essay calls for everyone to recognize human equality before the law, before God and the government council. This should be done as it is the right thing to be done and not because it has economic advantages, or Gods laws command that, or thats what is expected by everyone. It should be the dream of all systems of governance to increase the freedom oof its subjects, ensure justice to all and put in place that will ensure that it remains flexible and strong so as to meet the peoples demands. Antigone in the play can be interpreted as being a wise and noble young woman who stood and fought for her rights for justice in relation to traditional beliefs. Creon on the other hand fights for what he believes is based on might. The two bring out the a subtle variation with Antigone standing out as being the best representation of ethical imagination opposite to the sister, Ismene, who does everything so long as the law of the community states so. The laws in the system of governance witnessed in the play are a convention of a given time and place representing an imperfect image of unwritten laws that come above the normal rational level leading to incapable and infinite final formulation. The position taken by the Antigone and Creon contradicting the laws of Thebes makes the play a perfect example of political drama. From the play, it can be possibly maintained that Creon was always in the wrong while Antigone in the right. The entire play is centered on a beautiful cause and martyr while Creon is only out to do anything to ensure that his apotheosis and triumph come to pass. Creon is punished for punishing Antigone but by stating that Antigone was right and Creon was wrong means that the law which Antigone vindicated was supposed to supersede the ones which Creon had vindicated. Antigone stands out as being a pathetic as well as a noble creation who makes no effort to conciliate Creon. However, she maintains a defiant attitude through out the play glorying her actions and the penalty that followed. It is hard to picture out how Creon without considering his authority and position could have in a different way from what he did in the play. Antigone though proved to be brave, she courts death. The Gods were against Creons actions towards Polyneices and this can be viewed as being a justification o f Antigone actions. For the two, it was not a matter of their action but the temper in which they acted that resulted to their ruin. Thus Creon and Antigone were both right in their actions and roles in the play (Antigone 98). Nothing illustrates better the complexity involved and underlies the simplicity of Sophocles than Antigone ethics. The central role assumed by Antigone is the law relations that have sanctions in the law and political authority with regards to the obligation on members of the states and citizens. The laws in Thebes present themselves in a crucial form that is in direct collision. The same laws justified Antigone position to insist on burying her brother as well as Creon edict which meant that Polyneices was deprived his funeral rights. Polyneices was a heinous criminal while Creon the head of state thus was expected to typically impose punishment on him. Antigone also had the right to burry her own brother thus the political drama and dilemma in the play of who was right and who was wrong. Buy custom Antigone essay