The Toad Essays - Management, Organizational Structure, System

The Toad Military Organizational Structure Organization involves a intentional formalized structure of roles. People working together towards a common goal, but in specialized areas. The overall effectiveness of any particular association is directly proportional to the functioning of its members. As a firm increases in size the participants lose sight of the concept of teamwork. To maintain the competitive edge a corporation must remain flexible. To this end, varying styles of organizational structure have been implemented. Much of this framework is determined by the business type, goals to be achieved, and even the sociological level of advancement. Our armed forces today reflect this philosophy. Traditionally the military has used a rigid organizational structure. A well defined chain of command is used to delegate responsibilities, even to this day. Divisionalization structure was a common style to maintain a self-contained support and service center. As pointed out by Dessler, this style requires more managers with general management abilities (401). Most subordinate's job is to follow instructions from the higher level (Adams 102). This behavior has been reinforced by a high level of discipline, required for battlefield operations. As technology has redefined combat operations, so has the organizational and management style changed. The military organization today is based upon a geographic departmentalization structure. A specific section is tasked to go into a special area first should the need arise. This metamorphosis is a requirement due to the reduced number of personnel and the need for quick worldwide responsiveness. These numbers alone are not sufficient for adequate results in reaction to many needed operations. To make up for the lack of qualified people, the reserve forces are part of the new reactionary force. In any contingency worldwide these assets may be called up with short notice for global engagement. National Guard personnel serve under the command authority of their respective state or territorial governors until mobilized for a federal mission. This unique status does involve some creative managerial solutions. As a National Guard member I have noticed a uncommon organizational structure utilized. In some ways my unit is organized as a network system. The network is comprised of formal and informal structures. Work has been divided among varies specialized shops centering around maintaining expertise in that one area. Other aspects of the unit show a matrix structure to be present. The fact I have more than one supervisor, as in a project and functional manager illustrate (Wheelen and Hunger 231). This is manifested by the emphasis that work is important not the formal structure surrounding it (Nohria and Eccles 193). A result of multitasking requirements and a limited amount of resources available to non-federal units. But overall, at least upon the surface a functional organizational structure is present. A boundaryless organizational design is an interesting concept. However not practical in the military work environment. In my shop alone there are individuals who need to know who is in charge, or they would be nonproductive. A formal, functional structure, or at least be able to work within one must be maintained. Being accustomed to this style makes the transition of working with our active duty counterparts much easier. Yet our informal network based, matrix style organization is focused upon completing the mission with all our resources, not solely upon described duty roles. The military organizational structure has evolved greatly in the last two decades for the better. And they will do better to incorporate successful National Guard techniques. Any established group that is planning to endure and succeed today must remain flexible. Works Cited Adams, J. L. Conceptual Blockbusting. San Francisco,: W. H. Freeman Co., 1974 Dessler, G. Management: Leading people and organizations in the 21st century. Upper Saddle River, N J: Prentice Hall, 1998 Nohria, Nitin and Robert G. Eccles. Networks and Organizations: Structure, Form, and Action. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1992. Wheelen, Thomas L. and David J. Hunger. Strategic Management: and Business Policy. 6th ed. New York: Addison-Wesley, 1998 Bibliography Works Cited Adams, J. L. Conceptual Blockbusting. San Francisco,: W. H. Freeman Co., 1974 Dessler, G. Management: Leading people and organizations in the 21st century. Upper Saddle River, N J: Prentice Hall, 1998 Nohria, Nitin and Robert G. Eccles. Networks and Organizations: Structure, Form, and Action. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1992. Wheelen, Thomas L. and David J. Hunger. Strategic Management: and Business Policy.

Public Relation †Hilton Hotels Essay Essay Example

Public Relation – Hilton Hotels Essay Essay Example Public Relation – Hilton Hotels Essay Essay Public Relation – Hilton Hotels Essay Essay Hilton Worldwide is one of the world’s largest hotel companies. which operate more than 3. 700 hotels around the Earth. The company’s flagship trade name. Hilton Hotels and Resorts. has more than 540 belongingss in 78 states across six continents. The Company stands as the stylish. advanced leader in the full service section. As a portion of the company’s vision. to remain the leader in the cordial reception industry. Hilton Hotels and Resorts is seeking to set up better communicating between the company and its populaces. Hotel public dealingss include activities such as imperativeness dealingss. particular events be aftering. newssheets. community dealingss and many more. Bing a planetary company their chief PR map is to concentrate on â€Å"media dealingss and trade name reputation† says John Forrest Ales. Senior Director for planetary trade name PR at Hilton Hotels and Resorts ( Ciarallo. 2009 ) . In order to this. with the aid of Covalent logic which is an incorporate communications house which supplying design. scheduling and scheme for concern and authorities. Hilton Global Brand Public Relations created the Hilton Global Media Center ( HGMC ) . the hotel industry’s first-ever on-line media centre. and the company’s Prime Minister comprehensive online resource for media ( Bucci. 2011 ) . The best manner to depict this procedure is gatekeeping theory. In human communicating. gatekeeping is the advancement through which thoughts and information are filtered for publication. The internal determination doing advancement of relaying or keep backing information from the media to the multitudes ( Cassidy. 2006 ) . Harmonizing to John Forrest Ales. HGMC is one cardinal aggregation point for newsmans to happen everything they need. including: entree to company releases. exposure and picture. trade name fact sheet and history of Hilton Hotels and Resorts. media contact information. media enquiry and many more of import information for newsmans and besides for public. It is one of the best ways to larn about what is go oning within their trade name and across their hotels. He continues. stating that The Hilton Global Media Center has transformed the manner they interact with media and driven a direct addition in their portion of voice and media coverage prominence ( Bucci. 2011 ) . In this key. the HGMC is the gatekeeper who decides what information should travel to populaces and what information should non. Gate maintaining is nil but to barricade unwanted or useless things by utilizing a gate. So if something bad go oning in Hilton Hotels they have power non to publicise. On the other manus. some intelligence must be accessible for populaces. for illustration of import events around any of the Hotels. which may act upon travellers or Hotel’s invitees. The Hilton Global Media Center accomplished several aims. which included widening PR cordial reception to media professionals seeking information about any of the Hilton Hotels A ; Resorts worldwide in a timely. efficient and suiting mode and bettering the response velocity to media questions by leveraging new media. The on-line media centre rejuvenated the brand’s pine awaying repute as an industry rebel and provided the planetary web of belongingss the ability and liberty to advance their hotels. while besides back uping th e trade name ( Bucci. 2011 ) . As a consequence of difficult work. HGMC was successfully planned and delivered in a fast-changing planetary and local media landscape. Within merely three months after the Hilton Global Media Center’s initial launch. the company had a 10 per centum addition in media coverage. One facet of the HGMC that is highly good is the interlingual rendition characteristics and tools. Because of this characteristic. users of 85 different linguistic communications have accessed the web site. This is something that people could non happen in other cordial reception concerns ( Bucci. 2011 ) . In these instances. when the company prepares something exceeding for populaces. it is good manner to pull off the repute of this company every bit good. Repute is treated as the feedback from others refering the credibleness of an organization’s itself-definition. Organizations use steps of repute to better their public messages and relationship edifice patterns ( Leuven and Mak ) . Hilton Hotels and Resorts have really good repute non merely because of epicurean trade name but besides because of Company’s civilization. First. company has strong direction all around Hilton Hotels. Directors are with wide-ranging experience from focused-service hotels to luxury and big resort undertakings. for illustration. Senior Director for planetary trade name PR at Hilton Hotels and Resorts. John Forrest Ales. His experience includes beef uping the reputes of the world’s largest retail merchant and a governor retrieving from the greatest natural catastrophe in U. S. history. In 2010 John Forrest Ales was named to PR Week’s â€Å"40 Under 40† list. which recognizes top endowment in the public dealingss industry ( Arkansas alumni association. 2012 ) . He is professional who works to better relationships between company’s employees and clients. Both frontline and direction workers of Hilton Hotels are well-trained to present a perfect client helping. Hilton Hotels tends to choose employees with the right accomplishments and cognition. It is revealed that Hilton Hotels welcomes and prefers employees who have grades from cordial reception institutes in Switzerland. However. those with appropriate experiences are besides welcomed. All workers of Hilton Hotels are required to go to both on-the-job and off-the-job preparation programmes to guarantee that they are equipp ed with the right tools to transport out a good client service. At the same clip. to actuate all workers to work towards the assigned undertakings with their best attempt. Hilton Hotels provides its workers with fiscal and non-financial wagess. Some employees who have been working for the hotel for more than two old ages are eligible for organizational wagess. which are in the signifier of portions that are sold to workers at a discounted monetary value ( Watson. 2007 ) . Furthermore. in 2008. Hilton Hotels and Resorts created Dubbed [ electronic mail protected ]/*plan. which is good chance to people who desire the flexibleness to work at place the ability to take their ain hours from available pool of hours. working from the comfort of their ain milieus ( Haussman. 2008 ) . In order to this. the concern maximizes the value of its internal and external relationships and maintains a good repute overall. In today’s extremely competitory universe. an increasing figure of companies have realized the importance of going more customer-centric and invested a big sum of clip and resources in relationship direction system with the purpose of better pull offing their populaces. During long being old ages. Hilton Hotels and Resorts have built tremendous Online Empire which is accessible for everyone around the universe. Hilton appears to be puting the industry criterion in footings of invention and how it provides comfortss and services. The Hilton Hotels and Resorts are now focused on their Customers Truly Matter Initiative ( CRM ) . CRM is a manner to utilize engineering to give company the power to solidify relationships with their best clients ( University of Washington. 2009 ) . No other hotel in the universe is taking the enterprise to make something l ike CRM which will once more solidify Hilton as an industry leader. Under the construct of value concatenation. it can be assumed that the targeted clients of Hilton Hotels are those who are choice witting and they are willing to pay excess for the best service. However. Hilton Hotels uses distinction scheme to develop a good relationship with clients and this enables to retain clients more efficaciously. To maintain clients updated with new offers. Hilton Hotels sends electronic mails to clients who sign up for the service. The engineering makes it easy for Hilton Hotels to develop a client database and this can assist them to supervise the behavior of targeted clients more efficaciously. Hilton Hotels besides utilises other new signifiers of media to maintain a good relationship with clients through societal webs like Facebook and YouTube. This enables clients to portion experiences about their stay at Hilton Hotels. At the same clip. this besides allows Hilton Hotels to maintain public informed about recent events and activities. Hilton steadfastly believes that he client affairs and they want the client to experience particular. With the engineering available today Hilton Hotels and Resorts will be able to run into and transcend the dema nds of their populaces. The public dealingss practician must foster their community dealingss every bit good as maintain credibleness. construct solid internal and external relationships. and efficaciously pull off issues. Organisation public dealingss can be defined as the province which exists between an organisation and its cardinal populaces in which the actions of either entity impact the planetary. economic. societal. political or cultural wellbeing of the other entity ( Bruning A ; Ledingham. 1999 ) . Sustainability is one of the individual most of import planetary issues confronting the universe. A clear apprehension of the issues environing clime alteration. planetary heating. air and H2O pollution. ozone depletion. deforestation. the loss of biodiversity and planetary poorness is indispensable for every director in the cordial reception industry. After planetary heating. everyone has become more cautious about environment. more administrations have realised duty towards environment. Hilton Worldwide focal point on sustainability. the company intends to extenuate their impact on the environment. make economic value for their proprietors. and supply a better experience for their invitees. As a consequence of the planetary confusion Hilton Hotels and Resorts became first multi-brand company in cordial reception industry. in April 2010. after officially denoting â€Å"Lightstay† . a property- degree sustainability measuring ( Environmental Friendly. 2010 ) . A tool sole owned by Hilton’s. to mensurate sustainability public presentation impact by taking into consideration energy and H2O usage and waste and C end products associated with edifice operations and affecting 200 operational patterns services including housekeeping. paper merchandise use. nutrient waste. chemical storage. air quality and transit at 1300 Hilton belongingss. The intent of Hilton for following such steps was to do guest experience rich and impel economic returns. The attempts of Hilton Hotel toward prolonging environment are outstanding. Hilton has a different section merely to look in issues related to sustainability. Hilton support batch of societal causes and environment sustainability is one of it. Hilton is one of the oldest participants in its industry ; still duty for environment sustainability came much later. Looking at Hilton Hotel’s attempts. many hotels are fiting up their attempts in prolonging environment with Hilton. More eco-conscious concern travellers are taking closer expression at eco-friendly hotels. Equally of import today’s job is the current economic crisis in whole universe. As with most industries. the cordial reception. travel and leisure sector is sing legion challenges as a consequence of the planetary economic crisis. In order to pull off economic issues in PR. Hilton Hotels and Resorts attempt to direct the message for populaces that hotels are non merely for people who have a batch of money. but besides accessible for in-between to budget travellers. Lower monetary values for bare rudimentss are going more popular. Price. Distribution. Promotion. and Product Elements Rates are one of the many variables that determine customer’s determination in remaining at a peculiar hotel. Monetary values differ from one market to another and from one location to another. Although Hilton trade name is widely recognizable. they ever offer their merchandises for a monetary value their mark market is willing to pay. To reason. Hilton Hotels and Resorts created successful p ublic dealingss scheme which helps them to remain leader in cordial reception industry. The company looks at the importance of their repute. relationship direction and specially the chances offered by societal media. One of the best Hilton Hotel’s communicating beginnings is Hilton Global Media Centre. It is hard to happen an facet of the run that needs betterment. Hilton Global Brand Public Relations have teamed up to make an unbelievably successful run. Merely by sing the site people can state that a batch of clip and attempt every bit good as changeless two-way communicating went into the development and selling of the site. Harmonizing to Jonh Forres Ales. the company truly believes that planing the site from a reporter’s position and apprehension that the newsmans covering Hilton live in all corners of the universe positioned the site for long-run success ( Bucci. 2011 ) . Mentions and BibliographyBruning. S. D. A ; Ledingham. J. A. ( 1999 ) Relationships Between Organizations and Publics. Development of a Multi-Dimensional Organization-Public Relationship Scale. Public Relations Review. p. 25. Bucci. J. ( 2011 ) Hilton Hotels and Resorts Innovate PR Campaign Launches The Hotel Industry’s First-Ever Online Media Centre. [ Online ] Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. bulldogreporter. com/dailydog/article/hilton-hotels-resorts-innovative-pr-campaign-launches-hotel-industrys-first-ever-on [ Accessed 15th November 2012 ] . Business Wire. ( 2012 ) Hilton Worldwide Joins Feeding America and the Global FoodBanking Network to Minimize Food Waste and Alleviate Hunter. [ Online ] Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. businesswire. com/news/home/20121016005475/en/Hilton-Worldwide-Joins-Feeding-America-Global-FoodBanking [ Accessed 15th Novermber 2012 ] . Cassidy. W. P. ( 2006 ) Gatekeeping Similar For Online. Print Journalists. Newspaper Research Journal. 27 ( 2 ) . 6-18. Chapman. R. ( 2012 ) Will societal intent companies tarnish charities’ good repute? The Guradian [ Online ] Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. defender. co. uk/voluntary-sector-network/2012/sep/05/social-purpose-companies-tarnish-charities [ Accessed 15th November 2012 ] . Ciarallo. J. ( 2009 ) Hilton Hotels PR Up for Review. PRNewser [ Online ] Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. mediabistro. com/prnewser/hilton-hotels-pr-up-for-review_b2654 [ Accessed 15th November 2012 ] . Doorley. J. A ; Garcia. H. F. ( 2010 ) Reputation Management. Reputation Management: The Key to Successful Public Relations and Corporate Communication. 2nd Edition. Routledge. Ein News. ( 200 ) Hilton Worldwide Signs Agreement with Three Leading Universities to Groom China’s Hospitality Talents. [ Online ] Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //world. einnews. com/pr_news/123385265/hilton-worldwide-signs-agreements-with-three-leading-universities-to-groom-china-s-hospitality-talents [ Accessed 15th November 2012 ] . Environmental Leader. ( 2012 ) Hilton LightStay Program Helped Save $ 29m in 2009. Environmental leader. Environmental A ; Energy Management News. [ Online ] Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. environmentalleader. com/2010/04/21/hilton-lightstay-program-helped-save-29m-in-2009/ [ Accessed 17th November 2012 ] . Haussman. G. ( 2008 ) Thin Client Case study- Hilton has employees at place. Thin Client News. [ Online ] Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. thinclient. org/thinclient-news/2008/12/thin-client-case-study- hilton-has-employees-at-home. hypertext markup language [ Accessed 17th November 2012 ] . Ledingham. J. Angstrom A ; Bruning S. D. ( 2000 ) Public Relations as Relationship direction: A Relational Approach to the Study and Practice of Public Relations. United States of America. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Murray. K. ( 2004 ) CEO Views on Reputation Management: A study on the value of public relaptions. as perceived by administration leaders. [ Online ] Jonh White Associate. Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //chimeplc. com/downloads/reputationkm. pdf [ Accessed 17th November 2012 ] . Phillips. D. ( 2006 ) Towards relationship direction: Public dealingss at the nucleus of organizational development. Journal of Communication Management. 10 ( 2 ) . 211-226. PR Newswire. ( no day of the month ) Hilton Hotels unfastened cyber-resort so clients can seek new on-line reserves. [ Online ] Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. prnewswire. co. uk/news-releases/hilton-hotels-open-cyber-resort-so-consumers-can-try-new-online-reservations-156400025. hypertext markup language [ Accessed 16th November 2012 ] . Ruth-McSwain. A. ( 2011 ) Gatekeeper or Peacekeeper: The Decision-Making Authority of Public Relations Prectitioners. Public Relations Journal. 5 ( 1 ) . University of Washington ( 2009 ) Customers Truly Matter. [ Online ] Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //faculty. Washington. edu/rfish/is300/present/is300f_hilton. pdf [ Accessed 17th November 2012 ] . Van Leuven. J. K. A ; Mak. A. K. Y. ( no day of the month ) . Reformutaling Organizational Identity and Reputation Theory from a Public Relations Vantage Point. School of Jurnalism A ; Communication. University of Oregon.

The Location and Legend of Alba Longa

The Location and Legend of Alba Longa Location and Legend Alba Longa was a region in the area of ancient Italy known as Latium. Although we dont know exactly where it was, since it was destroyed early in Roman history, it was traditionally founded at the foot of the Alban mountain about 12 miles southeast of Rome. A doublet legendary tradition, found in Livy, makes King Latinus daughter, Lavinia, the mother of Aeneass son Ascanius. The more familiar tradition credits Ascanius as the son of Aeneas first wife, Creusa. Creusa disappeared during the escape of the Trojan band led by Prince Aeneas, from the burning city of Troy the story told in Vergils Aeneid. (We know she died because her ghost makes an appearance.) Harmonizing the two accounts some ancient thinkers say there were two sons of Aeneas with the same name. Be that as it may, this Ascanius, wherever born and of whatever mother it is at any rate agreed that his father was Aeneas seeing that Lavinium was over-populated, left that city, now a flourishing and wealthy one, considering those times, to his mother or stepmother, and built himself a new one at the foot of the Alban mount, which, from its situation, being built all along the ridge of a hill, was called Alba Longa.Livy Book I In this tradition Ascanius founded the city of Alba Longa and the Roman king Tullus Hostilius   destroyed it. This legendary time period spans about 400 years. Dionysius of Halicarnassus (fl. c.20 B.C.)   provides a description of its founding along with a note about its contribution to Roman wine. To return to its founding, Alba was built near a mountain and a lake, occupying the space between the two, which served the city in place of walls and rendered it difficult to be taken. For the mountain is extremely strong and high and the lake is deep and large; and its waters are received by the plain when the sluices are opened, the inhabitants having it in their power to husband the supply as much as they wish. 3  Lying below the city are plains marvellous to behold and rich in producing wines and fruits of all sorts in no degree inferior to the rest of Italy, and particularly what they call the Alban wine, which is sweet and excellent and, with the exception of the Falernian, certainly superior to all others.The Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus A famous legendary battle was fought under Tullus Hostilius. The outcome was decided by a variation on single combat. It was a battle between two sets of triplets, the Horatii brothers and the Curatii, perhaps respectively from Rome and Alba Longa. It happened that there were in the two armies at that time three brothers born at one birth, neither in age nor strength ill-matched. That they were called Horatii and Curiatii is certain enough, and there is hardly any fact of antiquity more generally known; yet in a manner so well ascertained, a doubt remains concerning their names, as to which nation the Horatii, to which the Curiatii belonged. Authors incline to both sides, yet I find a majority who call the Horatii Romans: my own inclination leads me to follow them.Livy Op. cit. Of the six young men, only one Roman was left standing. Dionysius of Halicarnassus describes what may have been the fate of the city: This city is now uninhabited, since in the time of Tullus Hostilius, king of the Romans, Alba seemed to be contending with her colony for the sovereignty and hence was destroyed; but Rome, though she razed her mother-city to the ground, nevertheless welcomed its citizens into her midst. But these events belong to a later time.Dionysius Op. cit. Survival The temples of Alba Longa were spared and its name was given to the lake, mountain (Mons Albanus, now Monte Cavo), and valley (Vallis Albana) in the area. The territory was named for Alba Longa, too, as it was called the ager Albanus a premium wine-growing region, as noted above. The area also produced Peperino, a volcanic stone considered a superior building material. Alba Longan Ancestry Several patrician families of Rome had Alban ancestors and are assumed to have come to Rome when Tullus Hostilius destroyed their hometown. Alba Longa References Alba Longa Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.Ascanius Mother, by Robert J. Edgeworth; Hermes, 129. Bd., H. 2 (2001) , pp. 246-250.Religions of Rome: Volume 2, A Sourcebook, by Mary Beard, John North, and S.R.F. Price; Cambridge University Press: 1998.

Ultimate fighting championship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ultimate fighting championship - Essay Example Since UFC is spreading its vision to digital platforms, there are a lot of career opportunities for affiliate marketers, as UFC continues to enter into partnerships with advanced distribution partners, like Xbox and Play Station. Jobs are available for the management of affiliate marketing relationships with these distribution partners. Opportunities are also available in UFC sales and marketing department for carrying out corporate sponsorship sales. The job of a senior director in UFC sales and marketing will be to generate revenue by advertising the portfolio of UFC international entities. He will also be responsible for gaining scholarships and building business relationships with high-profile corporate partners. Market research coordinators are also required in UFC. A market research coordinator will be responsible for regularly coordinating and managing research projects regarding event planning, sponsorship, public relations, advertising, marketing through digital media, and o ther company divisions. Other career opportunities are present for Digital Marketing Partnerships Manager, General Manager, Digital Marketing Manager, Human Resources Manager, Recruiter, Digital Media Analyst, Digital Media Affiliate Marketing Manager, and Cost Accountant (Simply Hired, Inc.). This shows that UFC offers a vast variety of career opportunities. As far as goals and objectives are concerned, UFC aims to train best fighters in the world, while giving innovations to its programs and events. It also aims to go into business partnerships with high-end distribution partners. Since it is the fastest developing sports organization in the whole wide world, it aims to promote mixed martial arts at a global level. It also aims to arrange tournaments of highly skilled athletes in various disciplines of martial arts including karate, jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, boxing, wrestling, grappling, sumo and various other fighting sports. UFC has another

Taxi Driver by Julia Phillips and Michael Phillips Essay

Taxi Driver by Julia Phillips and Michael Phillips - Essay Example However, mise-en-scene techniques and slow moving camera shots soon reveal Travis’s point of view, positioning a subjective view of Travis’s world. The film uses camera movement and cinematography together with mise-en-scene at the outset to establish the tensions that build up to the violence. The film opens with the credits in the foreground of a taxi coming out of the steam of a street at night. A montage reveals rain beating against the taxi’s windshield. In the meantime, the yellow taxi is accented by rain and neon lights that bring it into sharp focus. Travis’s eyes can be seen moving from one image outside of the taxi to another as he travels Times Square and 42nd Street. The viewer sees what Travis sees: prostitutes, couples, and pornographic theatres visited by men. The camera alternates from the inside of the Taxi where Travis’s watchful eyes are moving and observing, to outside of the taxi to show the audience what Travis sees. These scen es are juxtaposed against a more tranquil, ordinary and inescapably artificial world. The camera takes the viewers to a campaign headquarters with red and white colours and signs and slogans that appear to be inconsistent with the world that Travis observes from his taxi. Travis sees the world as inherently diseased and is on a mission to root out violence, disease and decadence. He becomes infatuated with Betsy, a campaign worker played by Cybill Shepherd. Point of view via mise-en-scene is displayed through scenes in which Travis’s point of view and his disconnect and social isolation comes across. For example, in an attempt to connect with Betsy, Travis gets it right the first time when he has coffee with her. On his next date with Betsy, he takes her to a seedy, sexual film. Betsy is no doubt offended by this effort at connection. By taking this approach, the viewer is drawn into and observes the distorted mind of Travis at work. Camera movements and mise-en-scene functio n to highlight Travis’s distorted mind and subjective point of view. For example, the camera picks up views of New York City that demonstrate just how Travis sees the world around him. A camera shot from inside Travis’s taxi picks up drug addicts and prostitutes. This is the world that Travis sees and is distracted by. He does not see beyond these images and forms his opinion of the outside world accordingly. The camera, by showing a view outside the taxi that selects drug addicts and prostitutes takes the viewer into the disturbed mind of Travis. This is world that Travis sees and is fixated on. A world diseased and decaying and in need of cleansing. Mise-en-scene is also used to demonstrate contradictions. The camera depicts a seemingly ordinary man, dressed neatly and appearing to be respectful and naive. Yet, the camera follows and depicts Travis visiting seedy theatres and writing letters to his parents that reveal that Travis would like to live an ordinary life, but is trapped by his perceptions of a diseased world. In his letters to his parents, Travis unrealistically himself as a working man on the verge of marrying a respectable woman (Betsy) when it is well known by the time of writing, that Travis has been rejected by Betsy. Therefore, the underlying message is that there are contradictions between that which occurs in Travis’s mind and the world in which he actually lives. The contradictions are reaching a fever pitch and this is

Hostility and Aggression Essay Example for Free

Hostility and Aggression Essay Examine how Miller presents the themes of Manliness, Hostility and Aggression in A View from the bridge A View from the Bridge, contains many references to manliness, aggression and hostility. Often, these feelings link together. A chief cause of these feelings is Eddie, a man keen on the idea of manliness and who in some ways, feels deprived of love. An example of this is the relationship Eddie has with Beatrice, his wife, and the numerous amounts of conflicts that are present amongst them. It is also shown in the way that Eddie constantly laments over the relationship between his niece, Catherine and her lover, Rodolpho. Before Rodolpho came to Eddie and Catherines household, Eddie and Catherine had a very close relationship. The stage directions frequently let us in on the way that they acted together, physically. Catherine, taking his arm, and walking him to the armchair. Both of these instances portray a rather touchy and sensitive connection between the both of them. Eddie has a very narrow view of what he considers manliness. He may never have said it but his actions showed that he feels manliness consists of knowing ones boundaries and protecting ones territory, a territory in which other men are regarded as hostile intruders if they attempt to enter. We see that Eddie believes that Rodolpho does not conform to this image of masculinity as Eddie says of him, The guy aint right and the guy is no good. Eddie is clearly unhappy with the close relationship developing between Rodolpho and Catherine. He accuses Rodolpho of being effeminate, meaning that he acts more like a woman than a real man, by suspecting that his blond hair is not natural and that his singing at work makes him more like a chorus girl. We can say that, because he is intellectually limited, he acts by instinct and prejudice. He is quite amusing in his attempt to explain and justify his suspicions of Rodolpho, protesting that he has fair hair, a high singing voice, and a taste for feminine occupations such as cooking and dress-making. It is all summed up in the conviction that Rodolpho is gay and therefore not a suitable husband for Catherine. Eddie is feels most comfortable on a physical level, a big, strong, impulsive man. He has a primitive mans view of the purposes of which marriage was ordained and cannot believe that the United States law would allow a young girl to be married to someone who is not right. It is then that he seeks help from Alfieri, a lawyer. Eddie tries to force Alfieri to give him is kind of justice. He believes that Rodolpho is going to marry Catherine in order to make him a legal immigrant and thinks that this is unjust and that the law should be capable of making a case against Rodolpho. Alfieri is a very rational and unemotional as he informs Eddie that no law has been broken. Perhaps the real injustice that Eddie feels is that Rodolpho, an effeminate, weird man is taking Catherine from Eddie, a robust, muscular man. We can relate this to the present idea of a man being hit by a girl. When such an incident occurs men feel, discouraged, weak and powerless the complete opposite of a man, who feels confident in his masculinity as women are always looked down upon. Maybe in this instance, Eddie feels that Rodolpho, a girl, is taking Catherine away from him and conceivably he feels that this is unjust as women should not be more dominative than the men. This has an effect on his confidence and faith in himself, making him weaker as he is not in the more controlling and dictator position. Another example of this is when his own masculinity is called into question when Beatrice asks him When am I going to be a wife again? . Later in the play, when he trying to regain his control he tells Beatrice that she must never ask questions like this again. Eddie is most hostile and aggressive towards Rodolpho. He sees their relationship as thought they are two enemies, fighting over Catherine. An example of this is when Catherine and Rodolpho return from the cinema and Beatrice jokes that Eddie is jealous of Rodolpho. Eddie, shocked by this idea, speaks to Catherine alone to ask her about her feelings for Rodolpho. This turns out to be a confirmation of Eddies thoughts and is probably when the real conflict between Eddie and Rodolpho begun as Eddie finally realized that Rodolpho is in love with Catherine. Another form of aggression is when Eddie teaches Rodolpho how to box. This is an opportunity for Eddie to prove his masculinity to everybody, compared to that of Rodolphos and is also a way of taking out his anger on the one person he hates most. This is also an example of controlled hostility but this then develops into an unpleasant form of hostility, at the beginning of Act II when Eddie kisses Catherine and Rodolpho. Therefore Miller has structured this well as whenever Eddie is calm and friendly, the atmosphere is likewise. When he is tense and hostile the atmosphere is uncomfortable between everyone. Miller also moves the action and the themes of the play until he reaches the final scene. At the end of the play, we see Marco, unexpectedly, release his emotions towards Eddie. Marco is seen as the stronger of the two brothers and has a strong sense of responsibility to his wife and family. Marcos intention to punish Eddie was not a selfish one, he feels that it is his duty to do so and his wisdom of morality is very clear. We are not certain that Marco would have killed Eddie if Eddie had not pulled the knife out, but having said that, Miller did not allow Marco to feel any sorrow or regret for the death of Eddie. Generally speaking, Eddie is a man who feels uncomfortable when the boundaries of his manliness are threatened. Before the cousins arrived from Italy, Eddie had no threat towards him in his household; both Beatrice and Catherines lives revolved around his he liked it this way because he would have complete control over them. However, the arrival of Marco and Rodolpho changed their usual routine and suddenly Eddie felt as though his possessions i. e. Catherine, were at stake.

Willie Russells Educating Rita :: Willie Russell Educating Rita Essays

Willie Russell's Educating Rita In this play, Willie Russell has created two extremes of culture and put them together to focus on the differences between them and how these two cultures change as the play develops. Firstly there is Frank with a good job as a teacher and a large house and is well educated, who is contrasted with Rita who has a council house, works as a hairdresser and is not well educated. They first meet when Rita goes to Frank because she wants to be educated. As the play continues, Frank and Rita almost completely exchange roles as they are both unhappy with their culture and want to be more like the other. This play was written in the 1980's where the working, middle and upper classes were still used widely to determine what your culture was and how important you are to the social society at the time. The theme of culture appears a lot in the play. One of the ways that Willie Russell shows the two distinctly different cultures is how much power the higher classes have over the lower classes. In the play knowledge is shown as a symbol of power. Frank has the superior knowledge over Rita so therefore he also has more power over Rita. But when Rita returns from summer school and is more knowledgeable than Frank because Frank wanted to be more like Rita, so Rita has more power over Frank as she now has the superior knowledge. I think that the swivel chair determines who is most in control over the other person in terms of power and knowledge. At the start of the play Frank is sat in the swivel chair, but once Rita is further educated she sits in the swivel chair. The fact that it is a swivel chair that determines power is significant because it turns around. Much like Frank and Rita as the power turned from being in Frank in to Rita. Willie Russell also used education to show the two different cultures that Frank and Rita live in. Rita says that she wants to be educated because she wants to know everything as she is not happy being classed as working class. But Denny, Rita's husband, does not want her to change and he does this by burning all of her books. Education also symbolises power as Frank has the power to change is life because he is educated, but Rita wants to become educated so she can change her way of life and culture. Education affects the audiences' interpretations of the play as the two extremes of culture that are

The Woman Suffrage Movement

The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage In the early twentieth century, Britain was experiencing a potentially revolutionary social and cultural change. The Woman Suffrage Movement was fighting to procure the vote for women. In the same period, in response to the concept of women voting, Almroth Edward Wright, an English physician, wrote â€Å" The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage†.In Wright’s book, he refutes the Woman Suffrage Movement’s right-to-vote claim by arguing that woman suffrage would be pernicious to the state due to a woman’s inability to represent the physical force and prestige of the nation, a woman’s intellectual defects, and defective moral equipment. Furthermore, he illustrates that women’s rights activists may actually be hindering women with their demands that would ultimately result in women being placed in a far more disadvantageous position than they were before getting the vote.Wright begins by saying â⠂¬Å" The primordial argument against giving woman the vote is that that vote would not represent physical force†. Wright argues that the vote is a symbol of civility, law and order, and imbued with the spirit of a nation to ward off enemies both foreign and domestic. The introduction of a political co-partnership would likely lead to a degeneration of the British Empire into a weak and sickly shadow of its former self. The British Empire would likely exhibit the same symptoms of the latter stages of the Western Roman Empire that competitors would piecemeal steadily over time.The result would be that leadership to uphold law and control over British subjects and colonies would crumple leaving the door wide open for any other Imperial power to snatch the defenseless British holdings. As such, entrance of women voters would bring an end to the old and familiar Victorian England and usher forth a culturally different England that Wright considers a â€Å"social disaster. † It seems Wright believes that Britain would sustain a detrimental blow to its prestige in the eyes of their colonies and dominions as well as the world, if English women could vote.This means that women would inhibit the spirits and morale of the British armed forces and would introduce effeminate elements into the masculine dominated British Empire, turning it from â€Å"Old Jack† into a â€Å"Mary Ann. † In addition to these concerns, Wright illustrates that a woman’s intellectual defects are because of her minds inability to derive solutions with evidence, which results in an unreal picture of the external world. He also argues that a woman is constrained by her thought process. This is because a woman’s mind is linked to emotional reflex response center.Wright further explains that because of this link, women cannot give sound judgment and give a critical intellectual analysis without being under severe distress. As a result a woman’s mind give s in to congenial emotional responses that gives them gratification to which Wright points out, women’s minds can serve them only as a tool to comfort and gratify her with mental thoughts that are not too strenuous. Wright continues by illustrating that women and even intelligent women have all sorts of misconceptions about their abilities.Wright argues that women are delusional in believing that they are physically equal to men to any task. It is quite a grievous mistake that one would believe that women could perform physically strenuous jobs such as coal mining or heavy lifting on a day-to-day basis. Being mentally strain coupled with physical stress, Wright would say that emergencies of the job would be faced continually. It seems that Wright is saying that women overestimate themselves in comparison to men at physically demanding task that they wouldn’t be able to handle it long term.This would explain why emergencies would happen frequently because accidents woul d happen weekly if not a daily basis. For that reason, it is improbable to allow women to vote should they also demand to work in jobs that they are realistically incapable of performing over a long duration. This information would serve as ammunition for the industry heads and naysayers to argue that the economy is suffering due to low levels of efficiency and increase expenditure from the government to the DOLE to cover all these accidents; consequently the whole nation suffers.A third argument that Wright brings up is that women are equipped with defective morals. He explains that women are incapable of putting aside their own interest in favor of the good of the nation and only an uncommonly number of women are able to put aside their personal bias by voting in favor of something that benefits the nation. It seems he is alluding to the fact that women, when put to the vote would most likely vote for positions that would be favorable to anything that has to do her family and woul d consider anything else frivolous.The picture painted of women voters’ canvases an extremely selfish and self-absorbed group of people that would not only cause Britain’s foundation to splinter from blatant corruption but summarily result in execution of egregious acts that might as well kill king and country themselves. Wright continues his critique by saying , â€Å" There are no good women, but only women who have lived under the influence of good men. † Meaning that since women can only use morally defective equipment, women would be congenial creatures that would be easily swayed by their father, husband, or an influential man.And vote for whatever she has been persuaded to vote for which would consequently inflate propositions perhaps even passing legislation that would have otherwise fallen flat. Because of this he goes on to blatantly say that women, because of their domestic almost animal morality cannot be trusted with the vote for they would not be a ble to exercise diligently with the exception of a select few. Wright takes the Women’s Suffrage Movement’s claim of a right to the vote and presents it in an exaggerated way.He first explains that because there are more than three million women in England, these women experience sexual restrictions causing an inbred sense of hostility towards the opposite sex, which Wrights explains that the Suffrage Movement takes advantage these women so that they could achieve their ultimate goal of economic independence of women. However, to attain this goal, they want to have everything from the universities and jobs to every governmental positions open to them.He claims that they want a radical feminist revolution that throws the very nostalgic English traditions that have been set in stone for centuries out like yesterdays garbage. And replace it with an English egalitarian society that just might as well be a Communist or Fascist state. It’s interesting that Wright take s just the idea of women wanting to vote and morphs the idea in to women wanting to outright dismantle all the mores of society and remove all the distinctions between a man and a woman.But women later rebuke this argument by saying that they only want the vote, not a revolution and they are good mothers and wives who are raising the British citizens of tomorrow. Wright subtly carts in again the notion of equality for women. He explains that if the government gives in to the demands of women activist, the government would actually be doing a disservice to women in general. Women would have to compete with men for these highly skilled jobs and would most likely not be able to compete with men, which would increase the wealth gap between men and women.Consequently, this would leave women in a very disadvantageous position of being chronically poor and forced to take odds jobs to survive. Furthermore, women would likely lose their financial support from their husbands and/or fathers be cause women would now be economic equals to men therefore they must go and find jobs to support themselves. Another problem that Wright points out is that men and women have rarely worked in the same workspace before and with the introduction of equality of work in to mainstream society, the implications of whether or not men and women can work in intimate association raises serious questions.He continues to explain that before that even occurs, the intellectual immoralities and limitations of women including their sexual character would interrupt intellectual intercourse between men. Interestingly enough, he introduces various examples that synergies his argument. For example, when two men are having a stimulating intellectual conversation, an appearance of a woman in their proximity would put an end to their discussion. So the hypothesis here is that women being admitted in to male dominated intellectual societies and universities would undoubtedly suppress if not bring an end to a pipeline of intellectual growth.As a result, the proposal of bringing man and woman to work together not only is radical, it maybe detrimental to nation. Wright’s The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage† uses a lot of cynical language and seemingly logical explanations to refute women’s right to vote. At the beginning, Wright stabs the issue right in lungs and expounds why it is the way it is and that the vote of women can and will cause unnecessary burdens on the state and the very people trying to protect them.However, near the end of his piece, he begins to give a very consoling but backhanded compliment of women. It’s painted as if these changes are going to occur, it will undoubtedly cause more hardship for women and that’s why Wright and these naysayers are fighting so hard to protect these ignorant women from themselves. However, Wright’s arguments logical explanations would later succumb to the growing clamor for reform that wo uld eventually culminate in women getting the vote in 1918.

Burger King Ad Analysis Essay

In June of 2009, Burger King released an advertisement for the â€Å"BK Super Seven Incher† for a limited promotion in Singapore. The sexual message that this ad aims to convey is not so much hidden or subliminal as it is blatantly obvious. Not many would be able to simply glance at this ad and then go about their day. Men and women alike are drawn to the ad because they are either attracted to it or offended by it. Effective advertising usually triggers some kind of powerful emotion within its audience. In that respect, this advertisement succeeds with flying colors. Whether it is because of feelings of disgust or attraction, the images in this ad are difficult to ignore which is exactly what the advertiser envisioned happening. Although very ineffective, this ad is still being analyzed today which is quite significant. Burger King’s advertisement effectively creates and manipulates the narrative, layout, and copy to create a strong reaction to sexism and vulgarity wit hin its audience causing them to only focus on the nature of the ad, not how much they want to buy the product. The ad, through its imagery and text, aims to create a fantasy where all a man has to do is hold a burger and young, attractive women will want to have sex with them. Even if men do not consciously think this way, the idea it is still in the back of their minds. In an attempt to create an effective subtext with these images and words, the ad dehumanizes both men and women. On one hand, the woman in the ad is seen as an object who is only useful in sexual situations — hence the focal point of her face, her mouth which is directly in line with the burger. Many have even noted that the woman resembles a blow-up doll which further solidifies the idea of transforming women into sexual devices rather than human beings. On the other hand, a phallic idea is triggered in a man’s mind that to create the notion that size does matter and this ad presents it as the only thing that really does matter when it comes to attracting a woman. It gives men the impression that if they are no t well endowed, women will disregard them unless they are seen eating this burger. The prominent images of this ad cause the audience to have a strong emotional reaction to the ad whether they know it or not. The portion of the advertisement that first catches the audience’s eye is the image of a stunned, fairly artificial looking woman with her mouth agape to a sandwich that seems to be appearing out of nowhere. The sandwich pictured with the woman also looks much thinner and longer than the one pictured at the bottom. The image of the sandwich next to the woman’s mouth creates obvious phallic visualizations within the audience’s minds. The ad’s blatant allusion to oral sex causes the audience to have a strong reaction upon seeing it. The image suggests that upon eating this sandwich, every adjacent woman will be rendered helpless at the sight of a man holding a seven inch burger. The woman also seems to be looking at something out of frame beyond the sandwich. The mysterious item in the shadows that the woman’s eyes are fixed on adds yet another cue a man could subconsciously get by looking at the ad. This allows a man to conjure up any type of scenario within his mind from only the presence of shadows in the ad. Right below is the second-most prominent part of the ad: the words â€Å"It’ll Blow Your Mind Away† in large font with the two largest words in that sentence being â€Å"It’ll Blow.† The ad tends to two very significant aspects of a young man’s life: food and sex. Food is a basic human need but it is not enough to say that this sandwich will satisfy your hun ger, it must also be able to fulfill another desire. The images of this ad indirectly suggest that the sandwich will cater to a man’s hunger as well as his sexual frustration. Along with the suggestive images this ad presents, the words surrounding the artwork bring an equally as obvious but a much more distasteful idea to the mind. In small font at the bottom it reads: â€Å"fill your desire for something long, juicy and flame-grilled† because we all know that a long cake tastes better than a short one. The fact that the sandwich is seven inches long has little to nothing to do with the quality of the sandwich but rather the visualization that this extra long burger evokes while accompanied with the images. As if that was not enough to make a man go cross-eyed, it goes on to add that the burger will make one â€Å"yearn for more† after one taste. The seemingly endless sexually suggestive elements of this ad just causes it to be mulled over in the minds of men and women alike which adds to its effectiveness not to sell a product but to keep the Burger King name in people’s heads. The name of the product in itself is also something to be considered. Without the imagery of the product it would be unclear as to what is being sold. Only in the small text do you see what this product is actually categorized under — a burger. To someone unfamiliar to this ad, the term â€Å"seven incher† could mean a plethora of items, both sexual and non-sexual. Because of the lack of distinction between food and phallus, the audience gets the wrong (or the right) impression of this product. In describing the burger in further detail, the words â€Å"crispy,† â€Å"thick,† and â€Å"hearty† are used to create the idea that not only will you be attracting women from all over the globe, you will also be buying a top-of-the-line meal for the bargain price of $6.25 — an idea any man would be mesmerized by. One long-running advertisement of a similar product could come to mind when faced with an ad centered upon the size of a sandwich — Subway’s â€Å"Five Dollar Foot Long† campaign. Unlike the Burger King ad, the Subway ad features mainly a catchy jingle and cheery imagery. Subway’s advertisers could have easily gone in the route that Burger King did and made the extra long sandwich sexual. Any company would choose not to sexualize their ads in order to avoid excluding the portion of their audience who would not be attracted to or would even be offended by such graphic images. Subway, instead, used positive and healthy imagery using athletes and generally fit people to advertise their product. In 2008, about the time the campaign for the five dollar sandwich began, the U.S. was faced with a financial crisis. As a result, Subway came up with the campaign of a cheap alternative to healthy food. As a result, a very marketable image of their product was created. A notable difference between Burger King’s ad and Subway’s ad is that the â€Å"BK Super Seven Incher† ad had to be taken down right after the backlash ensued; the everyday â€Å"Five Dollar Foot Long† campaign was sustained until Subway was pushed to increase the price of the sandwich due to inflation. Much like an ad targeted to women of all ages that shows young, thin, energetic girls wearing fashionable clothing, this ad creates false scenarios in the minds of males about a situation that eating this burger will put them in. In the past, the appeals of Burger King ads seemed to be based on humor and were aimed towards a more universal audience. Their ads usually include the advertising mascot of the company, â€Å"The King,† who would often be presented in comical situations. The ad, in no way, alienated any group of people which is why it was kept. The problem in advertising today and particularly in this ad is that companies now allow their products to give off the wrong impression in order to get a rise out of people. Despite its limited release, the unnecessarily sexual nature of the ad sparked much discussion around the world. Not long after the backlash, Burger King officials released a statement expressing that the ad was not created by their principal advertising agency, but by a more independent Singapore agency. Although the ad was taken down shortly thereafter, this does not change the fact that Burger King knew what they were getting themselves into in allowing this ad to be released. Excessively sexualizing a product could mean much negative repercussions for a company. Whether Burger King thought they could sell more sandwiches this way or not, they got the publicity that they were striving for. Although the feedback that they were receiving was extremely negative, it successfully got their name in people’s minds which is considered positive for any company. Burger King, by no accident, released an overly sexual ad that could cause any consumer to think twice. In some cases, sex only sells to a point, then it becomes overkill meaning that the ad could work against them if it is deemed â€Å"too sexual.† Done in the right way, sexual ads are very successful but in those cases the ads are very subtle and usually focus on some kind of subliminal message. Burger King’s target audience who are predominately young males will certainly have a strong reaction to the ad but will most likely not be more inclined to buy the product after seeing it in those terms. This ad is a good example of how shock value gets attention but does not effectively sell a product.

The Language of Health Informatics Essay Example

The Language of Health Informatics Essay Example The Language of Health Informatics Paper The Language of Health Informatics Paper Preferred language style: English (U. S. ). For this case assignment, you will be assuming the role of a lead person on a technology review committee at a multi-facility regional hospital. Your committee has been tasked with evaluating the plausibility and possible selection of a new health information system that will enable the hospital to electronically collect and share patient medical history information among its various hospital centers and departments. Currently, each hospital center maintains paper copies and files of patient records, which are separately managed and stored at each facility. Very few of the electronically based information system are integrated between the various centers and locations. To add to the challenge, the CIO informs you that most of the members on the committee have very limited experience with information systems and databases. However, the CIO is aware that you are studying health informatics, so she has asked you to help familiarize the committee with fundamental concepts related to databases systems and relevant health information standards. Specifically, the CIO (and your professor) requests that you prepare a two (full) page paper for presentation to the committee that provides a good overview of the following: Fundamentals of database characteristics and structure. Various types of medical data and information records relevant to this project. The importance of uniform terminology, coding and standardization of the data. Various information standards and organizations that may be applicable, and possibly required, for this project. Remember, your committee is mostly comprised of clinicians and other healthcare practitioners. Accordingly, they do not have a great deal of technical knowledge related to information systems. Introduction The objective of this project is to create a new electronic patient management health information system in order to handle the flow of patient information. This system is to basically enter process, store, modify and transmit the patient information. The current system is a manual one, in which the data is hand written down and stored in the form of hard copies. A lot of hassles are experience with the current system. Hence, it is proposed to shift to an electronic system. Fundamentals of database characteristics and structure The health information system database seems to be highly specialized functional and structural units integrated in a particular hospital environment. The system not only helps to manage the processes but also helps in the functioning of the hospital. The data is collected from the patient entry system or from integration with other networks. It then passes through the internal network for use by the various staff units including patients, laboratory, clinical, nursing units, intensive care unit, pharmaceutical, management, administrators, etc. The database would be performing several functions including processing and storing medical data, ensuring that certain quality standards are met, reporting costs and ensuring that cost-effective strategies are followed and also providing templates and forms for medical entries. Several functions such as quality control, resource handling, administration, etc, are taken care of by the database. The health information system would convert the data entered into information using the computational devices. The information can be stored and used.

Analysis On Bharati Mukherjee English Literature Essay

Analysis On Bharati Mukherjee English Literature Essay In turn, Mukherjee lays claim to an America that is both constantly transforming, and transformed by, the new immigrant. As the title of her short stories collection â€Å"The Middle Man† and Other Stories (1988) suggests, each protagonist from a different part of the world functions as a mediator of cultures, negotiating the â€Å"two-way transformation† (Mukherjee, â€Å"AUP† 141) of either an expatriate or immigrant experience in America. That the collection won the National Book Critics Circle Award undeniably affirms the appeal of such a Maximalist narrative strategy professing to give an equal voice to each immigrant group. On further analysis, however, it is clear that Mukherjee’s representation of a fluid American (trans)national identity influenced by diversity is ultimately predicated on the foregrounding of differences. Despite Mukherjee’s call for America to go beyond multiculturalism in its treatment of new immigrants, her own postcolo nial immigrant subjectivity-inevitably shaped by her elite British and American educational background-remains aligned with white hegemony, which continues to hierarchize its immigrants on the bases of ethnicity, class and gender. After all, Mukherjee specifically reveals in Jasmine that â€Å"[e]ducated people are interested in difference† (33). Keeping Mukherjee’s explicitly stated literary agendas in mind, this chapter will attempt to examine the ironies in Mukherjee’s postcolonial subjectivity in the novel Jasmine and the two short stories â€Å"A Wife’s Story† and â€Å"The Tenant,† both from â€Å"‘The Middleman’ and Other Stories† collection. Radical alterity of India From the vantage point of a successful female intellectual in America, Mukherjee disavows India precisely because its repressive patriarchy severely limits women’s opportunities in life, insofar as the sanctity of women’s lives is largel y disregarded and constantly endangered. However, â€Å"feudal compliance was [precisely] what still kept India an unhealthy and backward nation† (Mukherjee, Jasmine 77). This necessitates that Mukherjee’s heroines break the vicious cycle of being locked into arranged marriages that technically seal their fates with violent subjugation. In Mukherjee’s short story â€Å"The Tenant,† Maya’s claim that â€Å"[a]ll Indian men are wife beaters† (99) may be an exaggeration, but the more disturbing revelation is that â€Å"the groom’s mother was absolute tyrant of the household† (Mukherjee, Jasmine 147) in India. Indeed, generations of Indian women have also been physically abusing female subordinates deemed to have transgressed patriarchal norms. Yet, when meted out to any woman who defends or is interested in the pursuit of an education, such domestic violence is clearly a violation of basic human rights, unjustified to an America t hat champions the inalienable rights of every individual to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In Jasmine, Jyoti’s mother suffers strikes from her husband because she supports Jyoti’s aspiration to continue her studies and become a doctor. In the short story â€Å"A Wife’s Story,† Panna’s mother is beaten by her illiterate mother-in-law because she enrolled in French class at the Alliance Franà §aise. The fact that even these Brahmin wives are not spared the rod underscores that physical violence against women cuts across the entire caste system, denying all women personal and professional progress. These scenarios emphatically portray the radical alterity of India, insofar as it becomes utterly incomprehensible to Americans who privilege individualism and gender egalitarianism. Aligned with these values, Mukherjee attempts to consolidate her status approval from the American market by positioning herself â€Å"not as [an] advantaged in side[r] of Asian culture but as similarly disadvantaged as [her] Anglo readers in finding that Asian component bizarre, distasteful, and difficult to comprehend† (Shirley Lim, â€Å"AG† 161) as well. As Mukherjee reveals, it is necessary to give Jasmine â€Å"a society that was so regressive, traditional, so caste-bound, genderist, that she could discard it† (â€Å"IMC† 19) in exchange for a rebirth in America. In exposing the oppression inherent in India’s patriarchal structure, Mukherjee situates her decolonizing impulse as one that embraces emancipation in America, a land that seemingly affords women endless opportunities to attain self-actualization.

CRITIQUE OF PROFESSIONAL READING JOURNAL Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CRITIQUE OF PROFESSIONAL READING JOURNAL - Essay Example Her recent work has focused largely on similar issues such as the fundamental processes in learning to read English by Chinese students: both - children as well as adults, and learning to read Chinese by skilled English readers (online, 20101). Dr. Keiko Koda works as Professor of Japanese and Second Language Acquisition at the Univeristy of Illinois, and has extensive experience in the field of second langauge reading competence. Her recent works include a series of studies aimed at investigating the conjoint impacts of first language literacy and second language print exposure on the formation of reading sub-skills in typologically diverse second languages (Chinese, English, Korean, and Japanese). (online, 20102). Second language acquisition and development is a widely researched subject and has been used by various researchers to explore the nuances of language learning among second language learners. The topic discussed in the present article deals with diverse issues related to language acquisition, such as the word identification skills among different sets of college students having diverse linguistic backgrounds (Chinese and Korean) and enrolled in learning English as a second language. The main objective of the authors was to understand the language acquisition process employed by students belonging to diverse cultural backgrounds through exploring the similarities and differences between their methods of learning a common language. Such a study would pave way for further research and bring about major changes and improvements in the manner in which second language training is imparted and courses designed. For this purpose, a study was conducted on two distinct groups of college students all of whom were ESL students. They were tested by way of a naming experiment and an auditory category judgment task.