The Origins Of The Percussion Family - 1310 Words

Examining the Origins of the Percussion Family To get a clear view of the origins of the percussion family, one should first have to the ability to classify the plethora of instruments. For the sake of this document we will use the broad classification of Janissary instruments and non-Janissary instruments. The Janissary instruments find their roots in the Turkish military bands of the Ottoman Empire. The term Janissary refers to the Turkish Yeà ±i-à §eri, or â€Å"new troops†. Sultan Orkhan I, of the Ottoman Empire, created The Janissaries, but his successor, Murad I, officially established the corps circa 1360’s CE. They were originally an elite corps of troops made up of the Sultan’s loyal slaves. The corps eventually picked up the use of†¦show more content†¦This is most likely the influence of the Crusades that would have brought Arabic culture, albeit in a violent way, to Europe. Timpani, as aforementioned, hold an intrinsically military tradition. Because of its use in the Turkish armies, the Europe borrowed the instrument in its armies. These influences can be seen in the earliest uses of timpani. The timpani that were taken from the Arabs were made into an essential element of prestige for the nobility. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries both trumpeters and kettle drummer were restricted to only those of high rank or nobility. This lead to the creation of an exclusive guild to train the instrumentalists. This lead to a surplus of players, especially after the last failed Siege of Vienna in 1683 CE. Due to this surplus, the Classical period, when timpani were used on a regular basis, began to use timpani in a limited fashion. In combination with the trumpets, the timpani mostly played rhythmically driving music. This is best observed in Handel’s Messiah. During the Hallelujah Chorus the trumpets and timpani can be easily heard playing the same material. This pairing is not coincidental, both instruments had a high amount of military background during the time of Handel. So, the pairing would have observed that military tradition, but this military tradition followed the Eastern custom of pairing trumpet with timpani. It is important to note that this trend among the Classical composers to use timpaniShow MoreRelated History of Percussion Instruments Essay926 Words   |  4 PagesHistory of Percussion Instruments There are few certainties about the percussion family. No one can say how many instruments it contains; few have agreed on playing techniques; and few could name one orchestral piece specifically written with percussion in mind. However, one thing is certain, percussion has been shown over time that it is not merely a matter of beating out rhythm (â€Å" History of Percussion† 1). The family of percussion instruments is the first musical instrumentationRead MoreThe Musical Exploration Of Isms1770 Words   |  8 Pageswhat we are.† Percussion is one of the oldest instrument families and has grown to a degree of vast importance in all forms of modern Western music. Namely, this is because of the incorporation of percussion into both academia and entertainment music. At first, percussion was introduced into Western Classical music during the Classical period, as a means of getting exotic and unusual sounds for composers; however, the twentieth century works brought a unique gravitation to percussion. Twentieth centuryRead MoreMusic Class Under The Instruction And Supervision Of Mr. Gonzales1925 Words   |  8 Pagesscary and suspenseful mood. Percussion instruments are hit, shook, or rubbed to make music. Percussion instruments can be tuned or untuned. The timpani drums, also known as kettle drums, are an example of a percussion instrument; it is made of metal. The gong is another percussion instr ument that is a type of cymbal and is untuned. Maracas are also a percussion instruments because sound is made by shaking them and are untuned, as well. The voice can also be a percussion through beat-boxing, makingRead MoreHistory of Percussion Essay3972 Words   |  16 PagesPercussion is known to have been around since the beginning of civilization, in all cultures and all major civilizations around the world. In 6000 B.C., the first time of a percussion instrument was evolved, and it was simply anything that could be found that could be hit together to create a sound. Percussion instruments have been used and associated with strong ceremonial, sacred, or symbolic events. For example, in Africa, drums symbolize and protect tribal royalty. The drums symbolize a familyRead MoreOrigins Of The Middle Eastern Dance1181 Words   |  5 PagesSharqi stems from older dances. It is known to be one of the world’s oldest dances with theories relating it to ancient dances in Mesopota mia, Egypt, Greece, Persia, India and other ancient civilizations. Middle Eastern dance have many histories and origins. It is possible that this dance can be traced back to Mesopotamia where temples engraving depicting dancers have been found. These same types of depiction have been found on temples in Egypt dating back to 1000 B.C. and in Greece. It is whisperedRead MoreEssay on Traditional Russian Folk Instruments1518 Words   |  7 Pagesbasically flat, with a small round sound hole near the narrow top of the belly; a long, narrow neck; and three gut or metal strings, normally plucked with the fingers (a leather plectrum is sometimes used with metal strings). A member of the guitar family, this instrument is sometimes called the Russian lute. The balalaika is built in six different sizes, from the piccolo to the contrabass. 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They like to combine music with dance, and the Native American music always created rich percussion instruments. For example, the hand drum, log drum, water drum and rattle, etc. Powwow is an important festival and ritual for the Native American, and it is a symbol for the tradition culture of Native Indians. Powwow, is a social gathering by theRead MoreNative American Tradition Culture Of Native Indians1338 Words   |  6 Pageshave they own special festivals and music, and Native American is no exception. First, the native music related many aspects such as ritual, life and work. They like to combine music with dance, and the Native American music always created rich percussion instruments. For example, the hand drum, log drum, water drum and rattle, etc. The Powwow is an important festival and ritual for the Native American, and it is a symbol of the tradition culture of Native Indians. Powwow, is a social gathering byRead MoreAssignment: Human Voice and Music Essay2489 Words   |  10 Pagesinstruments, each instrument representing one of the four families of instruments.   Describe the physical appearance and how sound is produced for each instrument, and what the most common use of each instrument is in music. Answer: Four musical instruments : Trumpet: brass wind musical instrument of part cylindrical, part conical bore, in the shape of a flattened loop and having three piston valves to regulate the pitch. Its origin is ancient; records of a type of simple valveless trumpet are

The Tragedy of American Diplomacy by William Appleman...

After earning his master’s degree and Ph. D from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Famous historian William Appleman Williams of Atlantic, Iowa, wrote the book, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy in response to the rampant changing things happening around him. Enraged, Williams’ addresses several points with foreign policy being the main one. He encompasses several themes throughout his book such as American capitalism, the failure of American liberalism, and the Open door notes. These themes help convey his view on the matters at hand, which for a lack of a better term was pissed. Quite frankly, Williams’ gets straight to the point without being around the bush with his extremely biased views by going into depth about America’s morbid foreign policy. However, the organization of the book proved to be beneficial to Williams’ it successfully portrays why he wrote the book and how passionately he felt about its topics. The Tragedy of American Diplomacy follows and critiques the twentieth century belief that the substantial surge of growth in the nineteenth century was crucial to the opulence and security to go forward in America. He highlights the distinction between this idea and the determined quest of expansion with the belief of many Americans that this â€Å"economic intervention† would usher in wealth and tranquility to the rest of the world. The tragedy that Williams informs us about is purely ironic because, The American ideals at the time contradict with what wasShow MoreRelatedThe Tragedy Of American Diplomacy983 Words   |  4 PagesWell-known professor of American history, William Appleman Williams, crafts The Tragedy of American Diplomacy to illustrate that there is more to history than what meets the eye – more than what most Americans have been taught. He argues that there is a tragic past when the history of American diplomacy is analyzed. Throughout crucial periods of time in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Williams explores and analyzes instances in which American diplomacy was challenged, policy was deficientRead MoreComparative Critique of Kennans American Diplomacy and Williams the Tragedy of American Diplomacy1279 Words   |  6 PagesThe works of William Appleman Williams and George F. Kennan have contributed to understanding of American diplomatic history during the period of 1900-1950. Kennans book, American Diplomacy, offers a sharp critique with its focus on American mistakes, specifically examining the absence of direction in American foreign policy and with the end result of American strength and insecurity at the start of the Cold War. Williams, in his book The Tragedy of American Diplomacy, pursues a different butRead MoreThe Cold War And The Sovi et Union1462 Words   |  6 Pageslearned truth about world within.   Ã‚  And they have learned to seek security only in patient but deadly struggle for total destruction of rival power, never in compacts and compromises with it. (Kennan, 1946) Kennans telegram formed the basis of American policy toward Russia for the next fifty years. He presented a country that was inherently incapable of being a responsible world partner. Kennan implied that direct military confrontation was too risky, and so a policy of â€Å"containment† would playRead MoreOrigins of the Cold War Essay1295 Words   |  6 PagesOrigins of the Cold War The purpose of this paper is to explore the origins of the Cold War. To accomplish this exploration, the works of W.A. Williams, Robert Jervis, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. serves as the foundation. Before a closer examination of these works, a short explanation of the three common viewpoints regarding the study of the Cold War is warranted. These viewpoints are Attribution, Structural, and Misperception. With these viewpoints to guide the way, the above authorsRead MoreTo What Extent was the Cold war Caused by Ideological Differences?1709 Words   |  7 Pagesexpansionist policy in Eastern Europe and beyond, driven by the ideological goal of exporting world revolution, started the Cold War. According to Michael Hart, â€Å"the Cold War was caused by the military expansionism of Stalin and his successors. The American response†¦ was basically a defensive reaction. As long as Soviet leaders clung to their dream of imposing Communism on the world, the West had no way (ot her than surrender) of ending the conflict†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . 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Films Aftertaste for Homophobia and Militarism- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theFilms Aftertaste for Homophobia,Militarism and Racism. Answer: Sports and politics do not mix, this is the statement that has been critically explored in the documentary. The documentary is based on Dave Zirins book, A Peoples History of Sports in the United States, Not Just a Game showcases the political scenario that is prevalent on the screens. The documentary focuses on athletes like Billie Jean King, Jackie Robinson, and Pat Tillman athletes who, hardly set as examples in the American sports and politics scenario. Where there is money and power involved politics will surely crop up. Dave Zirin states that, American sports culture shapes cultural attitudes, norms and power arrangements. Sports are a cultural force, a shared social space and a political force, The plot of the documentary discusses several political and societal issues faced by sports personalities in their career (Zirin, 2008). The film covers the careers of famous American sports personalities like Jesse Owens to Howard Cosell, the documentary Not Just a Game exhibits that sports encompasses the concepts of nationalism, militarism, and patriotism which is the exact opposite of politically nonaligned aspect of the perception of sports. With the help of images and footages of old and new interviews of popular athletes, the director points out a series of issues which lead to the conformation of the topic that politics is very well prevalent in American sports community (Briley, 2010). A number of issues are discussed in the movie which was deemed to be glamorous in the sports arena for the longest time, for example: sexism, homophobia, militarism and racism. Not only that the screenplay of the documentary explores the forgotten history of some of the athletes who has a revolutionary career. These people went beyond the field of play to stand up against power anarchy and power misuse and also fought for social issues. The plot of the movie is intensely moving and has a rational flow of knowledge and understanding of the sports culture in the country (Briley, 2010). Sexism and gender discrimination has been an issue in the country for a prolonged period of time until rules and legal framework were set up to support the interest of women in the country, sports is also not an exception, the writer has cited several examples throughout the movie that highlights the issues faced by women athletes and the kind of politics they had to face in the field facing a male opponent. The career of Billie Jean King (famous tennis player) is used as an example to categories and demonstrates the issue further. She had a lasting impression on the game of tennis as she revolutionized the game and was a vocal revolutionary about the woman and gay rights. Title IX of the legal framework of America has encouraged womens participation in sport from a 1 out of 35 share to the currently 1 in 3, the media is also criticized in emphasizing on male sports personalities than female and this has been highlighted in the documentary (Brake, 2012). Media has been recorded to de dicate 1.6 percent of sport air time to women in 2009. In a span of five year the Magazine published by ESPN had only six female covers models. Media coverage of women in sports lack respect and use the female sports personalities as secondary (O'Reilly, 2012). Another social issue that has been highlighted in the documentary is Homophobia. Acceptance of homosexuality has been one of the major issues that the American society and the impact of it have been observed in the sports industry as well. The documentary traces the fact that not a single athlete had accepted their sexuality during the tenure of their career this fact is of course stated during the period this documentary was made. The silence of male athletes of the period on the issue of violence towards women as well as any kind of activities towards homosexuality, this situation was observed throughout the sports community (Sherkat et al., 2014) The scenario has changed for better now and acceptance of homosexuality has also been legalized in several states of America and the sports community has also shown acceptance of homosexuality with time. Jason Collins, for example is the first NBA player who has openly accepted his sexuality in 2014 (Zirin, 2008). Dave Zirin achieved a lot of critical acclamation for the screenplay and the movie discusses the issue of militarism in the sports arena. American football is used as a platform to discuss the examples. There are a number of images from the Fox Sunday NFL anchors in military camouflage as well as the F-14 pre-game flyovers. It also focuses on how a sportsperson uses military expression to illustrate their experience on the field; the examples state that football in America is regarded as the major game. The football culture in the country as described in the documentary is dominated by the traditional male behavioral model some of the examples of this theory are the idea to impose and undergo pain in order to gain success, to succeed at any cost and win in the game regardless of the consequences (Briley, 2010). There are also a lot of militaristic jargons used in the sports like football for example: the term quarterback is actually a rank in among the military generals and is used i n football to indicate a position of a player. The role of a player is this compared with the role of a soldier in the battlefield which indicates the militarism in sports. The documentary shows how these ideas are used to glamorize the sport and bring a sense of masculinity in the sports community. But Zirin shows that militarism is not only prevalent in football but is also prevalent in other sports as well. Indeed, all American sports are either uncritically patriotic or wholly militaristic (Zirin, 2008). The gap that has been identified in this audiovisual representation of the topic of politics in sports is the issue of racism. The documentary discusses a brief of the history of racism in sports with the example of the successful career of Jack Johnson (boxer). Prior to that, men of color and women were treated as secondary and their careers were not followed by the media as well. This was because they were viewed to be physically incapable, lacking mental skills and physical capabilities. The success of Johnson was a benchmark in the American sports history as well as in American society (Zirin, 2008). He ranked as one of the top boxers in the world. In 1910, Johnson even defeated a white male boxer, this becoming a representation of black masculinity and a threat to whites. After the success of Johnson, several other men of color were inspired to join the sports community and take sports as a career option. The documentary states the situation that is revolutionary but does not go further deep in to the issue of how people were treated previously. The film takes a broad perspective of the collective meaning for social justice therefore lacking individual focus on severe issues. The career and success of popular athletes such as Muhammad Ali, Jack Johnson, Jackie Robinson and John Carlos have been discussed but the issue has been highlighted the solution or the revolution in the situation has not been mentioned. Civil rights are used as the overall concern of that the documentary deals with thus reducing the emphasis on individual issues. The documentary portrays the Black Power salute of John Carlos and Tommie Smith on the podium during the Mexico City Olympic Games in the year 1968. Zirin, the narrator of the film, states by mistake about these athletes showing their showing their respect for Civil rights movement when in actuality they expressed their solidarity with Black Power and Human Rights (Briley, 2010). The approach of the narrative of the documentary look forward to place these sports personalities as revolutionaries, who not only strive to make the situation in the sports community better but also fit into the reforming the American society. The documentary uplifts the true spirit of sportsmanship and commemorates the efforts of the athletes who has strived the make the sports community in America a diverse and better opportunity for the young aspirants irrespective of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation etc (Zirin, 2008). It can be concluded form the above example that the documentary is not like any other sports documentary that focuses on a sports legend and follows the career prospect of a sport, but rather the content is intensely mixed with the political and societal conditions of America which was also impacting the sports community by and large. The personalities who have been discussed in the documentary reformed the community as well as changed the way the sports were depicted even a decade ago. There have been reforms in the community as well as in the society, as these people have strived to put their perspective across and have traced a successful sports career as well. Power, politics and American sports are depicted to be interred connected and the influence of sports in the society has been analyzed to be significant. Reference list: Brake, D. L. (2012). Getting in the game: Title IX and the women's sports revolution. NYU Press. Briley, R. (2010). A People's History of Sports in the United States: 250 Years of Politics, Protest, People, and Play. Journal of Sport History, 37(1), 192-193. O'Reilly, J. (Ed.). (2012). Women and sports in the United States: A documentary reader. UPNE. Sherkat, D. E., Powell-Williams, M., Maddox, G., De Vries, K. M. (2011). Religion, politics, and support for same-sex marriage in the United States, 19882008. Social Science Research, 40(1), 167-180. Tomlinson, A., Young, C. (Eds.). (2006). National identity and global sports events: Culture, politics, and spectacle in the Olympics and the football World Cup. SUNY Press. Zirin, D. (2008). A people's history of sports in the United States: 250 years of politics, protest, people, and play. The New Press.

The Empty Corner Room free essay sample

The Empty Corner Room by J. H., New City, NY Last August, my family and I drove up to Cornell University to take my brother to college, but my parents were not quite prepared themselves. My brother was nervous, my parents were horrified and I was extremely depressed. Andrew and I are very close and always have been. We rarely fought, but there were those rare occasions when he tortured me by feeding me mashed peas, the food I hate most. Still, he was always by my side when I needed help with homework or anything school-related. I always ran to him when there were family problems. The four-hour drive seemed to last forever. Driving on the same thruway almost the whole way could not have been more boring, but the techno music and rap pumping and the excitement in the car kept us going like the Energizer bunny. Trees, trees and more trees were everywhere. We will write a custom essay sample on The Empty Corner Room or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Lakes, rivers and ponds too. Diners, gas stations and ice cream parlors. I was sick of the outdoors by the time we reached the Cornell campus. Cornell was not too different from the outside world, except that waterfalls, gorges, gardens and museums covered its amazing grounds. Thousands of students and cars bustled through the campus streets trying to find their dormitories. Some crazy teenagers actually jumped off cliffs into cold water gorges 10 stories high, for fun. It took us an hour to get Andrews belongings up to his small dorm room with the help of some Cornell students. Halfway through setting everything up, my brothers roommate appeared with his parents. Richard seemed like a nice guy, low key, just like my brother. He was six feet tall, dark brown hair, dark, warm eyes and a good dresser, I might add. My brother and Rich did not talk much to start with, but when they did, they mumbled and it was impossible for anybody to understand what they were talking about. After three hours of organizing their small room, we were all exhausted and hungry, but relieved the toughest part of the trip was over. The last few hours of the weekend we spent in my brothers room, making sure everything was set up. It was time for our final goodbye. It was my dads turn first. He told my brother not to worry and they shook hands and gave each other a tight, warm hug. Then I reached out, taking hold of his skinny body and said: I love you. Finally came the moment my mom was dreading. She gave Andrew a hug and kiss and wished him all the luck possible. And thats when the tears came. Driving home that night, I began realizing how special my brother really is to me. We may have our disagreements, but they all seemed pushed aside, like blocks in shuffleboard. At my house now, there is no more loud music, no more sweet smelling cologne, but there is a love that I will always cherish not too far from home.

Gangs and Police in Colors essays

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7 Blogging Tips to Make Your English Writing Topics Eye-Catching

7 Blogging Tips to Make Your English Writing Topics Eye-Catching 7 Blogging Tips to Make Your English Writing Topics Eye-Catching PÐ µÃ ¾Ã'€lÐ µ are buÃ'Æ'Ã'â€"ng only Ð ¾nÐ µ thing frÐ ¾m Ã'Æ'Ð ¾u thÐ µ wÐ °Ã'Æ' you are engaging them that mÐ °kÐ µÃ'• thÐ µm feel relaxed as well as joyful. And thÐ µ Ð ¾nlÃ'Æ' way tÐ ¾ bÐ µ considered a master Ã'â€"Ã'• tÐ ¾ gain rÐ µÃ °l Ð µÃ'•tÐ °tÐ µ Ã'â€"n Ã'Æ'Ð ¾ur Ã' lÃ'â€"Ð µntÃ'• hearts Ð °nd mÃ'â€"ndÃ'•. We Ð °rÐ µ inundated of much more daily Ã'â€"nfÐ ¾rmÐ °tÃ'â€"Ð ¾n thÐ °n Ð ¾ur brÐ °Ã'â€"nÃ'• Ã' Ã °n Ã'€Ð ¾Ã'•Ã'•Ã'â€"blÃ'Æ' hÐ °ndlÐ µ. In Ð ¾rdÐ µr to stand Ð ¾ut and to make people remember your writing, you have tÐ ¾ mÐ °kÐ µ Ð °n Ð µmÐ ¾tÃ'â€"Ð ¾nÐ °l Ã' Ã ¾nnÐ µÃ' tÃ'â€"Ð ¾n, uÃ'•Ã'â€"ng Ã'Æ'Ð ¾ur passion Ð °nd personal Ã'•tÐ ¾ries. Start creating a masterpiece with your EnglÃ'â€"Ã'•h wrÃ'â€"tÃ'â€"ng topics. To get inspired, you can take Ã'•Ð ¾mÐ µ vÐ °luÐ °blÐ µ lÐ µÃ'•Ã'•Ð ¾nÃ'• from blogging. WrÃ'â€"tÃ'â€"ng an essay or dÃ'â€"Ã'•Ã'•Ð µrtÐ °tÃ'â€"Ð ¾n Ð ¾r any other academic Ã'€Ð °Ã'€Ð µr requirÐ µÃ'• thÐ µ same skills Ð °Ã'• a blÐ ¾g does, Ã'â€"n Ã'•Ð ¾mÐ µ ways. YÐ ¾u have tÐ ¾ sell what you Ð °rÐ µ wrÃ'â€"tÃ'â€"ng. YÐ ¾u need tÐ ¾ capture thÐ µ rÐ µÃ °dÐ µr. Here are Ã'•Ð µvÐ µn keys that wÃ'â€"ll mÐ ¾vÐ µ Ã'Æ'Ð ¾ur writing from juÃ'•t alright, to downright Ð °wÐ µÃ'•Ð ¾mÐ µ. Clarity You have tÐ ¾ be as clear as a Ã' rÃ'Æ'Ã'•tÐ °l Ð °bÐ ¾ut Ã'Æ'Ð ¾ur who, what, why Ð °nd how. There is no room for confusion. The reader won’t be involved to the paper to read it till the very end if he/she hasn’t understood its theme. Confidence Anytime you are teaching Ð ¾thÐ µrÃ'•, you should be confident of what you are writing about. If you are not certain enough, people won’t view you Ð °Ã'• a leader Ð ¾r a fÐ ¾llÐ ¾wÐ µr. Being confident while writing an English writing sample makes it easier for the readers to understand what you are talking about. Providing the audience with suitable examples will be beneficial for you as well. Conversation Effective Ã' Ã ¾mmunÃ'â€"Ã' Ã °tÃ'â€"Ð ¾n is nÐ ¾t the only Ð ¾nÐ µ way Ã'•trÐ µÃ µt its an interaction between some people discussing the same topic that should be bÐ °Ã' k Ð °nd fÐ ¾rth and a natural flow. EngÐ °gÐ µ, ask questions, gÃ'â€"vÐ µ examples, tÐ µll stories, and ignite a rÐ µlÐ °tÃ'â€"Ð ¾nÃ'•hÃ'â€"Ã'€ with your reader. Content One of the best ways tÐ ¾ present yourself Ð °Ã'• Ð °n individual Ã'â€"Ã'• tÐ ¾ create a great Ã' Ã ¾ntÐ µnt thÐ °t Ã'Æ'Ð ¾ur tÐ °rgÐ µt Ð °udÃ'â€"Ð µnÃ' Ã µ will fÃ'â€"nd valuable. NÐ ¾tÃ'â€"Ã' Ã µ thÐ °t it is not always the thing that you fÃ'â€"nd vÐ °luÐ °blÐ µ. Remember, its nÐ ¾t about Ã'Æ'Ð ¾u. You have to be audience oriented in your paper rather than self oriented. Connection YÐ ¾u hÐ °vÐ µ to remember that business Ã'â€"Ã'• Ð °bÐ ¾ut people, not numbÐ µrÃ'•. ItÃ'• Ð °bÐ ¾ut rÐ µlÐ °tÃ'â€"Ð ¾nÃ'•hÃ'â€"Ã'€, nÐ ¾t computers. An engaging English essay should be able to create a link between you and the reader. If you understand the relationship between you and your professor, understand what the requirements for the project are, you will connect successfully. Care An awÐ µÃ'•Ð ¾mÐ µ English essay or academic paper shows care. Your reader is your customer and you are selling what you have written to get a good impression. Consistency IÃ'• the item you are writing about consistent wÃ'â€"th how you are interacting wÃ'â€"th the audience? Everything Ã'Æ'Ð ¾u dÐ ¾ Ð µvÐ µrÃ'Æ' Ã'€hÐ ¾nÐ µ call, mÐ µÃ µtÃ'â€"ng, blog Ã'€Ð ¾Ã'•t, Ã'•Ð ¾Ã' Ã'â€"Ð °l Ð µngÐ °gÐ µmÐ µnt Ð °nd personal Ã'â€"ntÐ µrÐ °Ã' tÃ'â€"Ð ¾n Ã'â€"Ã'• a uniquÐ µ rÐ µÃ'€rÐ µÃ'•Ð µntÐ °tÃ'â€"Ð ¾n Ð ¾f you. ThÐ µ basis Ð ¾f an awesome writing style is built Ð ¾n these Ã'•Ð µvÐ µn Cs. Are you unique? DÐ ¾ you hÐ °vÐ µ something Ã'â€"mÃ'€Ð ¾rtÐ °nt tÐ ¾ offer?

Cours Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Cours - Essay Example Reduced weight increases fuel consumption efficiency and reduces the amount of carbon compounds produced (Das 2001, 1). Reducing the weight of a vehicle by about 100kgs would lead to a reduction of about 0.3 to 0.4 liters of fuel per 100km (Yu & Dean 2006, 580). For example, the Ford Explorer model by Ford has a scratch resistance and corrosion proof cargo area made from integrated liners and side panels, reducing the vehicle’s weight by up to 20% compared to its conventional metal model. In addition, using composites makes it possible to reduce the number of parts required in fabrication of vehicles, compared to use of steel or aluminum (Calister 2007, 582). This leads to achievement of high volume composite concept in vehicle manufacturing, which leads to increased cost effectiveness. The use of natural based fibre has further improved fibre applications in the vehicle industry. Natural fibres are environmentally sustainable to use compared to metals. These fibres are proces sed from natural plants, making them biodegradable and environmentally friendly. Currently, natural fibres are mostly used in making of seat liners, equipment panels, carpets, among other applications in vehicles (Riaz 2012, 9). Natural fibres such as jute, sisal, hemp, and kenaf offer good acoustic properties to vehicles, high stability, less splintering in case of accidents, and reduced forging behavior compared to metals (Sanadi et al 1994, 469). Through the use of fibre reinforced composites, many parts of different shapes can be produced with much ease, and at high speed compared to use of metallic materials. The ability to configure and produce complex shapes inexpensively makes the use of polymers to considerably reduce the cost of a vehicle, making them more affordable to customers. Composites offer increased stiffness, toughness, and strength over structural metal alloys. These superior properties come along with vehicle

AB Electrolux Challenges Times in the Appliance Industry Case Study

AB Electrolux Challenges Times in the Appliance Industry - Case Study Example Thirdly, they have implemented a restructuring program of production for the past six years to relocate 60% of its manufacturing to countries of low-cost including Mexico and china (Hill & Jones, 2012). Their goal was to reduce it overall consumption of energy by 15% of its 2008 levels by 2012 to achieve efficient consumption of energy in its manufacturing. The company has also launched a green product range in all its business sectors to heighten its awareness of its energy efficient and products that are considerable to the environment. The other strategy was a move to outsource its production from developed countries in a bid to come up with high quality products. However, the company needs to be mindful of the cost of labor in such countries which is fast rising (Hill & Jones, 2012). The company has also embraced advanced technology to meet the changing demand and tastes of appliances by consumers, For instance the development of vacuums that transmit lower noises. All these strategies have been influential fro the company in its business setting and is slowly gaining its competitive advantage in the

Those Silly Magazine Advice Essay Example for Free

Those Silly Magazine Advice Essay A man and his girlfriend were married. It was a large gathering. All of their friends and family came to witness the lovely ceremony and partake of the festivities and celebration. A few months later, the wife came to the husband with a proposal that they would read a magazine for couples, for their marriage to be strengthened. The next morning, they decided they would share each other’s listed annoyances. As the wife started reading her list, her husband was crying. When it was the man’s turn, the wife was touched because he don’t have anything in his list. In life, there are enough times when we are disappointed, depressed and annoyed. We don’t really have to go looking for them. We have a wonderful world that is full of beauty, light, and promise. Reference: Kong, Francis J. (2003). The Early Bird Catches the Worm but the Second Mouse Gets the Cheese: Those Silly Magazine Advice. Philippines: Success Options Inc. In a major university a professor of economics gave a tst to his class. The test had several sections of questions, each of which contained three categories. He instructed the students to choose one question from each section. The first category in each section was worth 50 points. The second category was not quite as hard as worth 4 points. The third category, the easiest, was worth only 30 points. When the students had taken the test and turned in the papers, the students who had chosen the hardest questions, or the 50-point questions, were given A’s. The students who had chosen the 40-point questions were given B’s, and those who chose the 30-point questions, or the easiest questions, were given C’s. Whether or not their answers were correct was not considered. The students were confused and asked the professor how he had graded the exam. The professor leaned back and with a smile explained, â€Å"I wasn’t testing your knowledge. I was testing your aim.† Reference: Kong, Francis J. (2003). The Early Bird Catches the Worm but the Second Mouse Gets the Cheese: Testing Your Aim. Philippines: Success Options Inc.

Comparing Fitzgeralds Great Gatsby and Eliots The Love Song of J. Alf

Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby and Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock   Ã‚   The Roaring Twenties bring to mind a generation of endless partying, which reflected very little of the morals of the generations preceding it. The world, for that generation, was fast-paced and thoroughly material, crowded with bizarre and colorful characters like David Belasco and Arnold Rothstein. Inspired by this era's "spiritually exhausted people" (Brians), F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and T. S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock address many of the same themes in attempting to restore the "lost generation." In developing these themes, both authors utilize weather, the concept of illusion versus reality and the direction of time as a mode of conveying the promise of their dream to the citizens of the Jazz Age. In both The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Great Gatsby, weather and time of day play an important part in setting the tone and mood. Prufrock sets out in the evening, a time of uncertainty, neither day nor night, to confront his past. Likewise, the important events in the Great Gatsby occur at a significant time of day. Once, when Gatsby talked to Nick about his past, Nick describes it as "a time of confusion," (Fitzgerald 102) which the evening time has come to symbolize. Also, the time of final confession in the Great Gatsby was the night Daisy rejected Gatsby (148). Even the covering of the night was not enough to hide the disenchantment of his dream. At this time, Gatsby tells the whole truth about his past and his relationship with Daisy. This past was set in October, as was The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. When Gatsby looks back through the mists of time, he sees a perfect ... ...both authors sought to communicate to their societies, the beauty of a dream uncorrupted by senseless illusions. In using the weather, the concept of illusion versus reality and the direction of time to convey the promise of their dream to the citizens of the Jazz Age, Fitzgerald and Eliot contrast the frustration and despair that was inherent in a spiritually bankrupt world with the fulfillment characteristic of a more grounded and less immoral lifestyle.    Works Cited:    Bewley, Marius. "Some Notes on The Great Gatsby." Mizener 70-76. Eliot, T.S.. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 1996. 2459-2463. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. New York: Scribner Classic, 1986. Pinion, F. B. A T.S. Eliot Companion. Totowa: Barnes & Noble Books, 1986.

A Class Divided: the Effect of Discrimination in One Life Essay

The most interesting part of A Class Divided is when the students were tested on their knowledge on the days of when they had to wear the collar and when they had it off. The test scores were higher when the collars were removed. It is amazing that discrimination can mentally affect someone academically. Discrimination is a powerful weapon that can harm anyone, no matter where you are in the social class. My opinion on the video is that no matter what race or ethnic group you are, there is always a way that discrimination can affect you. I believe that although minority groups are more vulnerable to discrimination, the dominant group has a flaw in which can be discriminated by other races or ethnic groups. The most common discrimination occurs to African American people, just because of skin color. Discrimination among Asian people occurs because most people would think that all Asian people are Chinese. It is also known as a stereotype that Asian people’s eye sizes are small, which is not in every case at all. Another stereotype is that all Asian families own either a restaurant or a convenience store. Although there are a few Asian families that do own a business, most families do not have the benefit of owning one of their own. Japanese people were being harshly discriminated during World War II because of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Asian people, however, did not receive as much discrimination as an African American person or a woman. African Americans were discriminated since the beginning of civilization, starting out as slaves to a more dominant group. In the United States of America, African Americans earned their freedom after the civil war, but were still discriminated harshly. Jim Crow laws were placed to limit the freedom of African Americans. Eventually, civil rights movements occurred with Martin Luther King, Jr. leading the movement. Women were also discriminated harshly in the past. Women were considered as property of their husband. Human rights of women were very few, or none at all. Women were always at home cooking, cleaning, or taking care of the children. Women were not able to fully get their rights until they were able to receive their political rights. Different countries in the world granted women’s suffrage at different times. New Zealand was the first country to grant women their suffrage rights in 1893, while the United States granted women their voting rights in 1920. Right now, illegal immigrants from Mexico are being discriminated because they are working for low wages. Many United States citizens are outraged at the fact that their jobs are being replaced by illegal immigrants. Also, people from the Middle East are being discriminated for the actions of the terrorist group that Osama Bin Laden found, Al Qaeda. Even though most people from the Middle East are innocent, the terrifying horrors of 9/11 scarred their lives in the world. If everyone participated in Jane Elliot’s experiment on discrimination, the world would become many steps closer to world peace.

Kenya on Education Essay

Many countries are faced with poverty in this lifetime. Some are more deprived than others. Kenya, a third world country is one of the most deprived areas in the world. The contributions to this issue are: poor education, lack of nutritional foods, high unemployment rates, and insufficient medical needs. Kenya has a very poor education system that are has affected so many young children in the Kenya school district. Many of the children in Kenya should are in primary and secondary schools which should are be funded by the government education free program. The misuse of education is preventing so many children from attention school. Many of these children are very fortunate that their parent can afford to send them to a private school to get best a better education. Many parents are arguing that they believe sending their children to a private school would give themn m better opportunities to their education. The pupil in Kenya reported that most of the private school ss are doing as well as they should and the secondary school s are doing much better. than the TAccord to the center of evaluation for global action stated that the primary and secondary education has poor learning environment, shortage of learning materials ,and teachers due to unemployment,. congestion in classrooms has led to the poor performance. The article also argues that Private schools have all that they need, sufficient learning materials, adequate staff, provision of a good learning environment hence the better results for these school children. The{CEGA}also argues that the usually in Kenya, private primary schools perform far way better than government schools schools ,while in the contrary government secondary schools perform better as compared to the private schools. The article also stated that many of the primary and secondary school s that which are funded by the government are lack of insufficient learning materials such as school libraries, text books, chalks, exercise books , and access to computers which is a key facility since the current world is technology oriented. The school children in Kenya are omitted out of their education, because of the government misuses of donations that whiuch was given toward the childrens education school program, so they can have a brighter and better further future in the world that their theiry are living in. The pundits also argue that the government should not favor pupils from government schools, but to provide a better environment to allow the complete favorably with their counterparts from private schools. The (CEGA) argue that the government had not been employing any teachers for a while since the misuse of school funds. The revenue that that was also collected is was either pocketed by a few or used in political campaigns. This is what the children in Kenya is facing when it comes their education, because most of the citizens in Kenya really do not care if they get an education at all. Also Also sSsome of the private colleges and higher learning institutions were declared illegal and offered substandard education. Pundits all argue that education has been commercialized in Kenya due to the number of new institutions coming up in every building and street in the capital city. It asks the question who is going to registered all these schools?

Free Essays on Why Lucky Jim Turned Roght-Obituary of Kingsley Amis

When Kingsley Amis died last year at the age of 73, the general verdict was that he had been the greatest comic novelist of his generation. After making his mark with Lucky Jim (1954) he never looked back, as one comic novel after the other flowed from his pen. Such was the continued acclaim for his work that in 1986 he won the Booker prize for The Old Devils. As a contributor to The Spectator put it, 'He was above all quick-minded, verbally agile, terribly funny, a vigorous persecutor of bores, pseuds and wankers and a most tremendous mimic.'1 Yet many have wondered just how funny and critical Amis, particularly the Amis of the later novels, really was. After all Amis became notoriously hostile to progressive causes and a political supporter of Margaret Thatcher. He was rewarded with a CBE in 1981 and knighted in 1990. Far from being a vigorous persecutor he seemed to have joined the ranks of bores, pseuds and wankers. The heroes of his novels appeared more and more to be the mouthpiece for Amis's pet hates, uttering a never ending stream of extremely unfunny and narrow- (rather than quick-) minded attacks on gays, nuclear disarmers, women's libbers, and so on. What, it might be said, is the point of reading these novels when a visit to the local pub and an interview with the bar bore would yield the same reactionary rant? Perhaps, though, this is too simplistic a dismissal, one which stems from confusing creator and character. Shouldn't we instead put aside what we know about Amis's personal opinions and value the novels for holding up a mirror to the unpleasant realities of our society? This is the view of the liberal minded literary critic Malcolm Bradbury: In later works, like Jake's Thing (1978) and Stanley and the Women (1984), he examined the growing gender conflicts between men and women and their impact on the family and on male psychology. And his prize-winning The Old Devils (1986) showed his cantankerously mortal se... Free Essays on Why Lucky Jim Turned Roght-Obituary of Kingsley Amis Free Essays on Why Lucky Jim Turned Roght-Obituary of Kingsley Amis When Kingsley Amis died last year at the age of 73, the general verdict was that he had been the greatest comic novelist of his generation. After making his mark with Lucky Jim (1954) he never looked back, as one comic novel after the other flowed from his pen. Such was the continued acclaim for his work that in 1986 he won the Booker prize for The Old Devils. As a contributor to The Spectator put it, 'He was above all quick-minded, verbally agile, terribly funny, a vigorous persecutor of bores, pseuds and wankers and a most tremendous mimic.'1 Yet many have wondered just how funny and critical Amis, particularly the Amis of the later novels, really was. After all Amis became notoriously hostile to progressive causes and a political supporter of Margaret Thatcher. He was rewarded with a CBE in 1981 and knighted in 1990. Far from being a vigorous persecutor he seemed to have joined the ranks of bores, pseuds and wankers. The heroes of his novels appeared more and more to be the mouthpiece for Amis's pet hates, uttering a never ending stream of extremely unfunny and narrow- (rather than quick-) minded attacks on gays, nuclear disarmers, women's libbers, and so on. What, it might be said, is the point of reading these novels when a visit to the local pub and an interview with the bar bore would yield the same reactionary rant? Perhaps, though, this is too simplistic a dismissal, one which stems from confusing creator and character. Shouldn't we instead put aside what we know about Amis's personal opinions and value the novels for holding up a mirror to the unpleasant realities of our society? This is the view of the liberal minded literary critic Malcolm Bradbury: In later works, like Jake's Thing (1978) and Stanley and the Women (1984), he examined the growing gender conflicts between men and women and their impact on the family and on male psychology. And his prize-winning The Old Devils (1986) showed his cantankerously mortal se...

Teaching Children to Count

Teaching Children to Count A childs first teacher is their parent. Children are often exposed to their earliest math skills by their parents. When children are young, parents use food and toys as a vehicle to get their children to count or  recite numbers. The focus tends to be on rote counting, always starting at number one rather than the understanding the concepts of counting. As parents feed their children, they will refer to one, two, and three as they give their child another spoonful or another piece of food or when they refer to building blocks and other toys. All of this is fine, but counting requires more than a simple rote approach whereby children memorize numbers in a chant-like fashion. Most of us forget how we learned the many concepts or principles of counting. Principles Behind Learning to Count Although weve given names to the concepts behind counting, we dont actually use these names when teaching young learners. Rather, we make observations and focus on the concept. Sequence: Children need to understand that regardless of which number they use for a starting point, the counting system has a sequence.Quantity or Conservation: The number also represents the group of objects regardless of size or distribution. Nine blocks spread all over the table are the same as nine blocks stacked on top of each other. Regardless of the placement of the objects or how theyre counted (order irrelevance), there are still nine objects. When developing this concept with young learners, its important to begin with pointing to or touching each object as the number is being said. The child needs to understand that the last number is the symbol used to represent the number of objects. They also need to practice counting the objects from bottom to top or left to right to discover that order is irrelevantregardless of how the items are counted, the number will remain constant.Counting Can Be Abstract: This may raise an eyebrow but have you ever asked a child to count the n umber of times youve thought about getting a task done? Some things that can be counted arent tangible. Its like counting dreams, thoughts or ideasthey can be counted but its a mental ​and not tangible process. Cardinality: When a child is counting a collection, the last item in the collection is the amount of the collection. For instance, if a child counts 1,2,3,4,5,6, 7 marbles, knowing that the last number represents the number of marbles in the collection is cardinality. When a child is prompted  to recount the marbles how many marbles there are, the child doesnt yet have cardinality. To support this concept, children need to be encouraged to count sets of objects and then probed for how many are in the set. The child needs to remember the last number represents the quantity of the set. Cardinality and quantity are related to counting concepts.Unitizing: Our number system groups objects into 10 once 9 is reached. We use a base 10 system whereby a 1 will represent ten, one hundred, one thousand, etc. Of the counting principles, this one tends to cause the greatest amount of difficulty for children. Note We’re  sure youll never look at counting quite the same way when working with your children. More importantly, always keep blocks, counters, coins or buttons to ensure that you are teaching the counting principles concretely. The symbols wont mean anything without the concrete items to back them up.

The Emergence of Modern Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Emergence of Modern Science - Essay Example Whereas it is healthy to ask critical questions, scientific proof, and evidence, accepting the scientific reality is a necessity. For instance, whereas our ancestors gladly accepted polio vaccine and eradicated polio, it is overwhelmingly difficult for present generation to accept genetically modified foods as a solution to rising food crisis. As argued by Michael Specter, healthy skepticism calls for asking the right questions, at the right time, to the right people. Pinpointing a problem is also a prerequisite to healthy skepticism. 3. A healthy skepticism requires an understanding between correlation and causation. Learning widely and gaining all round knowledge provides a basis for unbiased skepticism. Additionally, critical review of previous fundamental scientific theories makes it possible to question scientific knowledge based on scientific questions and scientific assumptions. 4. Articulate use of brains is one of the key to success in education. Understanding the unlimited relations between brain hemispheres is overwhelming. However, understanding that such relations exist makes it possible to prepare psychologically to expect, accept, interpret, and analyze wide array of knowledge. I hope to learn more about how brain hemispheres work in preparation for optimal use of brain resources. 5. Whereas it has been argued that schools kill creativity, I believe creativity starts with oneself and can be nurtured with time. Going beyond classwork and course books for search of knowledge is a prerequisite for creativity. Working in tandem with lecturers and like minded students will go a long way into cultivation creativity in my journey through UHD. 6. The first cartoon is funny because it depict a scientist in denial of scientific evidence. Whereas many scientists are looking hard for evidence to support theoretical predictions, it is funny that a scientist would disregard archaeological evidence of evolution in first the first

Nature versus Nurture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nature versus Nurture - Essay Example erived from the review of the theories, it has been observed that deciding whether the behavior of exhibited by human are genetic or learned is quite difficult. Nevertheless, it has been clearly observed that the impact of environment on the behavior of human being is largely apparent in many of the theories conducted in the filed of human growth and development. Human growth and development is an integral part of human life cycle. In order to describe the human growth and development, it is extremely important to acquaint with the concept of development. In this regard, development is a conception of continuous process. It is also describes that the growth and development is a periodical process, which changes over the time as human beings are matured. The process of growth and development helps human to think logically and perceive things rationally which will influence human to maintain all the responsibilities towards the society. The development process starts when a child is born and continues throughout the life (Ruffin, 2013). With this concern, the easy analyzes the seven theoretical perspectives of human growth and development and draws three inferences explaining on going debate of Nature versus Nurture related to lifespan. The human growth and development is a conception, which mainly depends upon several theoretical approaches. In order to explain the importance of the theoretical approaches it has been stated that the theories mainly works as a supportive factor to judge the world with the proper logic as well as in a balanced way. Besides, there are several theories that help people to understand that process of development of human personality as well as the nature and reasons behind the behavioral approach of a human. The theoretical approaches of human growth and development also describe the influence of human action on the environment. It has been also describes that the several theories are based on critical approaches of social and

Local and Federal Sharing of Information for Law Enforcement Essay

Local and Federal Sharing of Information for Law Enforcement - Essay Example This plan was put together by the DHS and the FBI in order to share information between their two systems. The overall aim of iDSN is "to achieve biometric-based interoperability with a reciprocal exchange of a small subset of DHS and FBI data. The FBI subset will include information on individuals with outstanding warrants for which biometric information exists ("Wanted Person File"). The DHS subset will include information on individuals who have been denied Visas or aliens who have been expeditiously removed from the United States." (Federal Bureau of Investigation, n.d.) Therefore, this database will allow both groups to access information about the various agencies. Data will be shared between the two agencies, and this includes copies of the database's fingerprint information in order to assist with the comparison of fingerprints. Furthermore, the shared information also allows other data to be included, such as criminal history, biography, and any other relevant history which may also be significant above and beyond fingerprint sharing. All data is stored and accessible in the System of Records. Users will also be able to access the FBI maintained criminal history of each individual through the database.

Royal Bank of Scotland Staff Management

Royal Bank of Scotland Staff Management The Royal Bank of Scotland Executive Summary Royal Bank of Scotlands rapid expansion into the global market as against its roots as a national bank, has exposed the bank to the ripple effect created by the fall in the USA housing market, which has led the global banking industry into greater economic crisis. As a result of RBSs exposure to the current financial crisis, this report shall looks at the difficulties involve in leading and motivating staff of RBS as it navigates its way out of the crisis. The difficulties with leading staff of RBS that shall be looked into involve, lack of In-depth and technical knowledge by the board and the CEO, Managing culture, Managing Change, Loss of reputation, and Government Interference. Understanding and satisfying of staffs need in this current financial crisis may be a difficult task for the management of RBS, this report shall also evaluate the difficulties of motivating staff of RBS ranging from government influence, disparity in pay, public outcry and challenges in satisfying the need of every employee of RBS Lastly the report shall recommend practicable solutions that are applicable to the current financial crisis to the management of RBS. 1.0 Introduction The environment where business operates has a major impact on its operation. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) operates in the UK financial industry which is one of the strongest financial hubs in the world. Porter (1998) says that a business will be successful if all the elements of the microenvironment are favourable to the organisation, this can not be in isolation of the macroenvironmental factors which also dictates the success of an organisation. The current financial crisis, was ignited by the fall in the USA housing market, and has a ripple effect which has exposed RBS and the UK banking industry as a whole, this has led to the liquidity problem been faced by the industry and the loss of confidence in the banking industry. Companies that market products or services have always had to deal with a wider range of issues than those encountered by domestic firms (Jeannet and Hennessey 1998). Royal Bank of Scotlands rapid expansion into the global market as against its roots as a national bank, has exposed the bank to greater economic crisis. The new chairman headed by Sir Philip Hampton in his bid to reform the bank has rooted out seven non executive directors and the former CEO Sir Fred Godwin who spearheaded the Global expansion, and appointed a new CEO Stephen Hester. In 2008 RBS group declared a loss of  £28bn the biggest loss in British corporate history (www.guardian.co.uk) and this has culminated into several lay off of staff. The Government in its effort to save the bank has injected some fund into the banks business and now owns about 70% of the bank. RBS has laid off some thousands of its workforces over the past year, there is consistent criticism from the media and the general public about bankers pay and reward, banks exposure to the global crisis, governments control power etc, all these have sent different signal to the remaining staff and also create difficulties in leading and motivating these staff by the management. 2.0 Leading Staff Of RBS During The Financial Crisis It takes a mentally tough and emotionally strong CEO and a competent Board to survive the current crisis. Kotter (1996) as cited by Robins and Judge (2007) says management is about coping with complexity by implementing the vision and strategy provided by leaders, coordinating and staffing the organisation for smooth operation, while leadership on the other hand in contrast is about coping with changes, by having ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a set of goals. Robin and Judge (2007) also group leadership theories into two, Charismatic and transformational leadership. But says Transformational leadership builds on the transactional leadership Ø The charismatic leadership theory. Charismatic leaders have vision, willing to take personal risk, sensitive to follower needs. These individuals are set aside from ordinary people and treated as endowed with exceptional qualities and are given unprecedented autonomy and resources, which then makes such individual to posses ability to leverage higher salaries and reward even when their performance was not very good, high risk taker, incur high cost and engage in self sacrifice to achieve the vision, and engaging in unconventional behaviour. These traits were seen in Sir Fred Godwin character, though to some extent the staff and board were satisfied with him before the current crisis, but such attributes may be difficult to lead staff and the whole of RBS group in this current crisis judging by their recent performance (Refer to Appendix 1). Ø The Transformational leadership theory Transformational leaders are known for providing vision and sense of mission, communicates high hope, inspirational motivation, careful problem solving skills etc, however it also build up on the characteristic of transactional such as the contract exchange for reward, and management by exception. These set of individual inspire staff to put in more effort to achieve the business objectives and goals, and also help staff at looking at old issues in a different way by been more innovative and creative. These traits are been seen in the new CEO Stephen Hester and such characters may seems to fit in to lead in this current financial crisis 2.1 Challenges with leading staff of RBS out of this current financial crisis Ø In-depth and technical knowledge of the board: According to Peter Principle, In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to level of incompetence. The remuneration package approved by the former board of RBS has shown that though the board has some financial experts but the full understanding of the former CEO package which led to the public outcry was not fully understood by some members of the board before they approved it. This was also emphasised by Ministers who believed that it was not only Lord Myners who did not know that Sir Freds pension was discretionary. They believed that the old board of RBS was kept in the dark too (www.bbc.co.uk). The current board has several financial experts with years of experience working in the industry but this still does not guarantee that all strategies and decision made by them shall be perfect. Ø In-depth and technical knowledge of CEO: Dive (2009) argue that most CEOs do not know how to establish accountable organization. RBS was reported to have lost over  £600m in Madoffs alleged investment scam. This could have been attributed to the lack of understanding and technical knowledge of such investment exhibited by the former CEO Fred Godwin before venturing into such a risky investment scam. However the new CEO too could have being tricked into such investment because it is very hard for CEO to posses in-depth and technical knowledge of all the financial operations and investment. But not withstanding CEO should strive enough to develop or gain the full understanding of some decision they might have made in past and to be able to correct some anomalies When Egg card terminated over 100,000 of its credit card customer in February 2008, the CEO said he believes they pose an unacceptably high risk to the company, this was supported by Angela Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers Association, who said that Eggs action was a sensible way of looking after a business (news.bbc.co.uk). Ø Managing culture Another difficulty leaders are likely to face in the current financial crisis is the ability to manage culture. Leaders need to know how to manage culture that exit within its organisation and the environment where it operates. The issue that leaders face at each of their organisational growth stages are different, partly because the role that culture plays at each stage is completely different (Schein 2004). The inability by banks chiefs to manage the bonus culture that exits within the financial institution in UK has led to public outcry and different criticism about the ability of these executives to run a profitable company and at the same time manage its staff. Stephen Hester who was brought to turnaround RBS might be faced with managing culture because it is a barrier to change, and change is prone to resistance. Stephen Hester is expected to deal with lavish executive perks in RBS which has become a culture in the banking industry, such as the  £17m private jet used by Sir Fred Godwin, and heavy pension schemes. However Stephen Hester too according to (www.dailymail.co.uk) lives an expensive life style such a 350 acres of country estate, expensive mansion in London, and large option reward. This is a culture that has been in the industry for quite some time and it may be difficult for any new CEO to change because he too might have been a benefactor at a point in time, and also for the position of a CEO of a large financial organisation like RBS to be attractive, the reward needs to be competitive. This is a major challenge that Stephen Hester and the board might faced in leading at this point of time. Ø Managing Change Johnson et al (2001) say when a business is in terminal decline and faces closure or takeover, there is a need for rapid and extensive change in order to achieve cost reduction and revenue generation. Stephen Hester was appointed not only as CEO at RBS but implied as a change agent who will carry out a rapid change within the bank. Change is a major challenge and may be difficult to implement than it seems at first because while changing the business strategies and operation, one has to change the people and their orientation. Balogun and Hailey (2004) say success rate for most of the change programme launched within organisation is poor and the failure rate is 70%. However Stephen needs to find ways of ensuring that the outcome is positive change rather than damaging to the business. RBS in its bid to be back to a profitable organisation has embarked on different change management processes which have led to some job cut, however resistance to these changes is expected. Rob Macgregor, Unites national officer, said the union was appalled that thousands of people, who form the backbone of the RBS operations, are to be made redundant. He added: These employees are totally blameless for the current position which RBS is in, yet they are paying for the mistakes at the top of the bank. (www.guardian.co.uk) Ø Loss of reputation Adams Equity Theory says the more upset people get the greater they strive to redress the inequity. The general public and the medias impression of banks and financial institution has led to the loss of reputation of most banks in the UK , which was even seen in the damage done to the building of RBS by angry protester in April 2009 during the G20 meeting in London. This has created fear into the members of staff of RBS not to be attacked in public once people know that they work for the bank. And this may even force some to leave the organisation or think about a career in another industry. Ø Government Interference The injection of over  £20bn by the UK government to salvage the RBS from collapse has led to major influence of government in the decision to be made by the current Board and CEO. Decision made by management must always be the one politician will prefer rather than the one that will be of best economic interest to the bank. The recent announcement by the bank to cut 9000 jobs over the next three years which might result in a savings of over  £2.5bn (www.guardian.co.uk) was strongly rejected by the Politician , and the banks deputy chief executive had to change their strategy from job cut to redeployment of staff while facing the MPs. This is a vital challenge that faces the management of RBS in leading the staff for a profitable organisation. 3.0 Staff Motivation Unhappy staff are known to have little chance to produce satisfied customers, so the more contented staff are, the higher customer satisfaction will be. The management of RBS needs to integrate individual needs along with the organisational goals in other to achieve the business objectives, but motivation of staff comes with different challenges. 3.1 Challenges with Motivating staff of RBS during the current financial crisis Ø External influences A key difficulty been faced by most organisations during this global financial crisis is that they have placed too much attention on the external environment, at the detriment of the internal working environment. RBS continuous laying off staff with the aim of cutting cost was a result of its exposure to the global economic crisis, liquidity in the market, and fall in stock value. This is a demotivating action to the staff of RBS but the management and board of RBS might want to first readdress it position in the banking industry before it can then focus on the staff extreme needs. Ø Reward Structure The pluralist perspective of organisational conflict according to Lashley and Ross (2003 ) emphasises that conflict between subgroups is inevitable, and therefore it must be handled and managed carefully . Because of the higher pay package being offered to some investment staff of RBS, some group of staff in the retail and commercial sector of business may believed that they are being underpaid and at the same time bring in lesser risk, this may result in different conflict and complex issues arising among staff. Also the need for reward when target is met may be valued by some top performing investment staff within the bank, and they may threaten to leave if they are not been compensated competitively with what is obtainable in the industry. Increased wages are precisely what RBS may not be able to provide during this storming period however Nelson (2005) has also said though money is a factor of motivation, but not sufficient condition alone to attract, retain and motivate good employees. Ø Satisfying needs of all staff Money may not be provided everytime while appreciation and involvement of staff which are seen as other means of motivation can be provided any time. The problem with this, is understanding the need of all members of staff of RBS and aligning organisation policies with these needs. Maslow hierarchy of needs says before the self actualisation of need can be met, the basic life needs needed to be met, and he also said when a need is satisfied it no longer motivates and the next higher need takes its place (Refer to Appendix 2). Maslow hierarchy of needs might be ineffective when organisation is faced with too many external factors. Virtually almost every staff of RBS is worried about their job security, public attack, loss of bonuses, and stigmatization of banking profession. Therefore understanding and satisfying of staffs need in this current financial crisis may be a difficult task for the management of RBS. Ø Government Interference/ public outcry The Government forced down the 2008 bonuses that were supposed to be paid to staff of Lloyd bank, as a result of government ownership in the bank and the poor performance of the bank in 2008, while some staff see these as unfair treatment because they met their target and they deserve their bonuses. This was supported by Unite trade union who says they will not accept a situation where staff are made to suffer financially for the mistakes or greed of the top executives who ran the bank. This could be demotivating to staff that work in the three banks where government have control, in which RBS is one of them 4.0 Recommendation Leading and motivating is an integral part of managing people in an organisation, because people are major asset to such organisation. Gratton (2000) says people should be treated with politeness, respect, dignity and fairness. This can help to build an organisation where people can grow and flourish and at the same time save management reputation when they acted wrongly Organisation branding could help to motivate employee, it helps to give them a job securities and the status that is attached to the branded company. Media can be used to gain back the good image RBS is known for, and also management should avoid action or event that may put the company into public debate by ensuring that ethical decision are taken all the time. Businesses that survive the trying times are the ones whose leaders adopt a attitude of discovery and change, instead of resistances. Johnson et al (2001) suggest five style of change management: Education communication, Collaboration/participation, intervention, direction, coercion, some of which can be used by the management of RBS while turning the business around. Though RBS do appraise its staff regularly the use of management by objective (MBO) as part of its performance measurement for staff may be very much ideal in this era, in order to align both the goal of individual staff with that of the organisation. Butler (2009) says that in a multicultural organisation, transformational leadership demonstrates care for the personal relationships with a diverse group of people that in turn builds better leader-member exchanges, trust and organisational commitment. These kind of leadership traits might have been suggested to the board of RBS before the selection of Stephen Hester as the new CEO with the hope of changing the staffs paradigm and give them higher satisfaction. However a transformational leader will require more to be successful in this era , and this may include trust and been ethical, in other to gain the respect and to remove the stigma associated to CEO of big banks seen as selfish ,greedy, and extravagant lifestyle. Apart from the normal qualities of a good leader, two exceptional role that may be expected of the new leadership of Stephen Hester and the new Board at RBS are to provide team leadership, and self leadership roles. Team building is essential for every organisational development and growth. Task and problems are shared to enhance productivity, great leadership takes into account proper delegation amongst staff while still taking responsibility at the end of its completion. Leaders lead by good examples in era such as this, Josef Ackermann, CEO of deutsche Bank pledged to relinquish his bonus which runs into millions of Euros (www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk). This action has also prompted 3 other senior board members to agree to relinquish theirs as well. Which is now been used as a yardstick in the industry. Though Stephen Hester is new at RBS but there are some other processes or action through which he can control his own behaviour in order to exhibit self leadership role However leadership though required some qualities but these qualities and the leadership styles varies along with the changes in the environment. Managing change may go with different kind of leadership style. Lewin et al (1939) identify Authoritarian, Democratic, and laissez-faire style as the three major classification of leadership style. Stephen Hester may decided to use any or combination of the styles. Whichever option adopted has its own shortcoming, therefore the management should ensure it monitor the resistance and blend with any changes to its style that might fit any particular circumstances. Training is one of the strategies for success in organisation, the cultural change that is expected of the new board can be done through training of its staff. Also RBS Management is expected to come up with some practicable corporate and business strategies, which will give not only the shareholder confidence in the bank but inclusive of the staff, who will then be certain about their long term commitment to the business instead of the fear of losing their jobs RBS management need to put more efforts into the remaining staff so as not to lose the key ones, because of the amount of training and experience that has been impacted into them. Therefore involvements in plans and decision, timely and resourceful information, celebrating success, flexible working hours are some of the intrinsic motivation that can be used. Bibliography Armstrong, M.(2001). Human Resources Management Practices. 8th edition. Published by Kogan Page Ltd London. Balogun, J and Hailey,H. (2004). Exploring Strategic change .FT Prentice Hall, London BPP ACCA Study text(P3)-Business Analysis) (April 2007), 1st edition, Published by BPP Learning Media ltd. Butler, C. (2009). Leadership in a multicultural Arab organisation. Journal of Leadership Organization Development Journal Volume:30 , Issue:2 , Page: 139 151,Published by Emerald Group Publishing Limited Child, J. (2005). Organisation Contemporary Principle and Practices. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Crouhy, M. Mark, R. and Galai, D (2001).Risk Management :comprehensive chapters on market credit and operational risk. Published by McGraw-Hill Dive, B. (2009).Why do banks continue to waste talent. Journal of Industrial and Commercial Training Volume: 41 , Issue: 1 , Page: 15 19. Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited Gratton, L. (2000). Living Strategy: Putting People at the Heart of Corporate Purpose. Published by Peason Education Ltd Jeannet, P. and Hennessey..D, 1998. Global Marketing Strategies.4th edition. Houghton Mifflin Company Johnson, G. Scholes, K. Whittington, R (2001). Exploring Corporate Strategy.7th edition. Published by Pearson Education, Uk Kotter,J. (1996) Leading Change. Published by Harvard Business school Press Lashley, C. Ross, D.(2003).Organisational Behaviour for Leisure Services. Published by Butterworth-Heinemann Laurence,J.Hull,R.(1969). The Peter Principle: why things go wrong. Published by Willian Morrow and Company New York. Lewin, K. LIippit, R. and White, K. (1939). Patterns of aggressive behaviour in experimentally created social climates. Journal of Social Psychology, 10, 271-301 Nelson, B. (2005). 1001 Ways to Reward Employees .Workman Publishing Company, New York. Porter,M.(1998). Competitive Advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance, Free Press New York Robins.S., and Judge.T, (2007). Organisational Behaviour,12th edition .Pearson Education Inc New Jersey Schein, E. (2004).Organisational Culture and Leadership.3rd edition. Published by John Wiley and Sons http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7222336.stm (Accessed on 10/04/09) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7926977.stm (Accessed on 11/04/09) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7890924.stm (Accessed on 12/04/09) http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090407/tuk-rbs-to-axe-9-000-jobs-dba1618.html (Accessed on 14/04/09) http://www.abraham-maslow.com/m_motivation/Hierarchy_of_Needs.asp (Accessed on 10/04/09) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2009/02/driven_to_distr.html (Accessed on 10/04/09) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1078815/New-Royal-Bank-Scotland-Boss (Accessed on 12/04/09) http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/08/rbs-job-cuts-unite-union-banking/print (Accessed on 09/04/09) http://www.rbs.com/about-rbs/what-we-do.ashx (Accessed on 11/04/09) news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7921778.stm (Accessed on 09/04/09) www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk (Accessed on 12/04/09) www.dailymail.co.uk (Accessed on 12/04/09) www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/feb/06/rbs-boardroom-shakeup/print (Accessed on 10/04/09)

Ethnography Essay -- Reflexivity Anthropology Essays

Ethnography Works Cited Missing Reflexivity is a qualitative method of research that takes an ethnography one step further, displaying the personal thoughts and reflections of the anthropologist on his informants. Ethnographies generally take an outside or foreign perspective of a culture, like reading a text, and reflexivity introduces a new component of inside description. Here, the anthropologist may describe personal interactions and experiences with natives and use this inside information to make additional conclusions about the people being studied. The ethnographer may also reflect on his ethnic connections with his informants, or his acceptance into the society, explaining that it provides valuable, inside knowledge of the culture and ultimately leads to a greater understanding of the native people as a whole. The importance of reflexivity is illustrated in Dissolution and Reconstitution of Self: Implications for Anthropological Epistemology, by anthropologist Dorinne Kondo. Her reflections lead her to realize that she has lost, or has almost lost, her identity as an American anthropologist and now sees herself as a young woman of Japanese culture. "What occurred in the field was a kind of fragmenting of identity into Japanese and American elements, so that the different strands, instead of interweaving to form a coherent whole, strained and tugged against one another" (78). As she became so immersed in the culture, Kondo began to understand and adopt cultural aspects that are unique to the Japanese, a thus adopted a new identity. At first, she practiced Japanese behavior to be socially accepted and gain the respect of her host family, but she was so successful that community members began to regard her as a fello... ...and to view cultures differently in general. Some Anthropologists with postmodernist ideologies view cultures as "messy text", which is "the most complex and interesting form of experimentation with ethnographic writing now being produced" (Marcus, 187). The influence of Postmodernism also lead to the emergence of reflexivity. Various styles of reflexivity now exist, such as feminist, sociological, and anthropological. Reflexivity contributes to "messy text," because it identifies many cultural aspects ethnographers cannot explain nor understand and thus cannot be fitted, neatly into structure. Reflexivity is also influencing ethnographers to develop new approaches in studying culture. As we have reviewed in several ethnographies this semester, we see that personal reflections of the anthropologists is just as significant to fieldwork as the 'outsider' descriptions.

Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 9

9. Tenderloin If you're looking for a great taco in San Francisco, you go to the Mission district. If you want a plate of pasta, you go to North Beach. Need some dim sum, powdered shark vagina, or ginseng root? Chinatown is your man. Hankering for stupidly expensive shoes? Union Square. Want to enjoy a mojito with an attractive, young professional crowd, well you'll want to head for the Marina or the SOMA. But if you're looking for some crack, a one-legged whore, or a guy sleeping in a puddle of his own urine, you can't beat the Tenderloin, which was where Rivera and Cavuto were investigating the report of a missing person. Well-persons. â€Å"The theater district seems somewhat deserted today,† said Cavuto as he pulled the unmarked Ford into a red zone in front of the Sacred Heart Mission. The Tenderloin was, in fact, also the theater district, which was convenient if you wanted to see a first-rate show in addition to drinking a bottle of Thunderbird and being stabbed repeatedly. â€Å"They're all at their country homes in Sonoma, you think?† Rivera said, with a sense of doom rising inside him like nausea. Normally at this time of the morning, the Tenderloin sidewalks ran with grimy rivers of homeless guys looking for their first drink of the day or a place to sleep. Down here you did most of your sleeping during the day. Night was too dangerous. There should have been a line around the block at Sacred Heart, people waiting for the free breakfast, but the line barely reached out the door. As they walked into the Mission, Cavuto said, â€Å"You know, this might be the perfect time for you to get one of those one-legged whores. You know, with demand down, you could probably get a freebie, being a cop and all.† Rivera stopped, turned, and looked at his partner. A dozen raggedy men in the line looked, too, as Cavuto was blocking the light in the doorway like a great, rumpled eclipse. â€Å"I will bring the little Goth girl to your house and film it when she makes you cry.† Cavuto slumped. â€Å"Sorry. It's all kind of getting to me. Teasing is the only way I know to take my mind off of it.† Rivera understood. For twenty-five years he'd been an honest cop. Had never taken a dime in bribes, never used unnecessary force, had never given special favors to powerful people, which is why he was still an inspector, but then the redhead happened, and her v-word condition, and the old one and his yacht full of money, and it wasn't like they could tell anyone anyway. The two hundred thousand that he and Cavuto had taken wasn't really a bribe, it was, well, it was compensation for mental duress. It was stressful carrying a secret that you could not only not tell, but that no one would believe if you did. â€Å"Hey, you know why there's so many one-legged whores in the Tenderloin?† asked one guy who was wearing a down sleeping bag like a cape. Rivera and Cavuto turned toward the hope of comic relief like flowers to the sun. â€Å"Fuggin' cannibals,† said the sleeping bag guy. Not funny at all. The cops trod on. â€Å"If you only knew,† said Rivera over his shoulder. â€Å"Hey, where is everybody?† asked a woman in a dirty orange parka. â€Å"You fuckers doing one of your round-ups?† â€Å"Not us,† said Cavuto. They moved past the cafeteria line and a sharp young Hispanic man in a priest's collar caught their eyes over the heads of the diners and motioned for them to come around the steam tables to the back. Father Jaime. They'd met before. There were a lot of murders in the Tenderloin, and only a few sane people who knew the flow of the neighborhood. â€Å"This way,† said Father Jaime. He led them through a prep kitchen and dish room into a cold concrete hallway that led to their shower room. The father extended a set of keys that were tethered to his belt on a cable and opened a vented green door. â€Å"They started bringing it in a week ago, but this morning there must have been fifty people turning stuff in. They're freaked.† Father Jaime flipped on a light and stood aside. Rivera and Cavuto entered a room painted sunny yellow and lined with battleship gray metal shelves. There was clothing piled on every horizontal surface, all covered, in varying degrees, with a greasy gray dust. Rivera picked up a quilted nylon jacket that was partially shredded and spattered with blood. â€Å"I know that jacket, Inspector. Guy who owns it is named Warren. Fought in Nam.† Rivera turned it in the air, trying not to cringe when he saw the pattern of the rips in the cloth. Father Jaime said, â€Å"I see these guys every day, and they're always wearing the same thing. It's not like they have a closet full of clothes to choose from. If that jacket is here, then Warren is running around in the cold, or something happened to him.† â€Å"And you haven't seen him?† asked Cavuto. â€Å"No one has. And I could tell you stories for most of the rest of these clothes, too. And the fact that clothing is even being turned in means that there's lot of it out there. Street people don't have a lot, but they won't take what they can't carry. That means that this is just what people couldn't carry. Everyone in that dining room is looking for a friend he's lost.† Rivera put down the jacket and picked up a pair of work pants, not shredded, but covered in the dust and spattered with blood. â€Å"You said that you can link these clothes to people you know?† â€Å"Yes, that's what I told the uniformed cop first thing this morning. I know these people, Alphonse, and they're gone.† Rivera smiled to himself at the priest using his first name. Father Jaime was twenty years Rivera's junior, but he still spoke to him like he was a kid sometimes. Being called â€Å"Father† all the time goes to their head. â€Å"Other than being homeless, did these people have anything in common? What I mean is, were they sick?† â€Å"Sick? Everyone on the street has something.† â€Å"I mean terminal. That you know of, were they very sick? Cancer? The virus?† When the old vampire had been taking victims, it turned out that nearly every one of them had been terminally ill and would have died soon anyway. â€Å"No. There's no connection other than they were all on the street and they're all gone.† Cavuto grimaced and turned away. He started riffling through the clothing, tossing it around as if looking for a lost sock. â€Å"Look, Father, can you make us a list of the people these clothes belong to. And add anything you can remember about them. Then I can start looking for them in the hospitals and jail.† â€Å"I only know street names.† â€Å"That's okay. Do your best. Anything you can remember.† Rivera handed him a card. â€Å"Call me directly if anything else comes up, would you? Unless there's something in progress, calling the uniforms will just put unnecessary steps in the investigation.† â€Å"Sure, sure,† said Father Jaime, pocketing the card. â€Å"What do you think is going on?† Rivera looked at his partner, who didn't look up from a dusty pair of shoes he was examining. â€Å"I'm sure there's some explanation. I don't know of any citywide relocation of the homeless, but it's happened before. They don't always tell us.† Father Jaime looked at Rivera with those priest's eyes, those guilt-shooting eyes that Rivera always imagined were on the other side of the confessional. â€Å"Inspector, we serve four to five hundred breakfasts a day here.† â€Å"I know, Father. You do great work.† â€Å"We served a hundred and ten today. That's it. Those in line now will be it for today.† â€Å"We'll do our best, Father.† They moved back through the dining room without looking anyone in the eye. Back in the car, Cavuto said, â€Å"Those clothes were shredded by claws.† â€Å"I know.† â€Å"They're not just hunting the sick.† â€Å"No,† Rivera said. â€Å"They're taking anyone on the street. I'm guessing anyone who gets caught out alone.† â€Å"Some of those people in the cafeteria saw something. I could tell. We should come back and talk to some of them when the priest and his volunteers aren't around.† â€Å"No need, really, is there?† Rivera was scratching out numbers on his notepad. â€Å"They'll talk to the paper,† Cavuto said, pulling in behind a cable car on Powell Street, then sighing and resolving himself to move at nineteenth-century speed for a few blocks as they made their way up Nob Hill. â€Å"Well, first it will be covered as amusing stuff that crazy street people say, then someone is going to notice the bloody clothes and it's all going to come out.† Rivera added another figure, then scribbled something with a flourish. â€Å"It doesn't have to come back to us,† Cavuto said hopefully. â€Å"I mean, it's not really our fault.† â€Å"Doesn't matter if we get blamed,† said Rivera. â€Å"It's our responsibility.† â€Å"So what are you saying?† â€Å"I'm saying that we're going to be defending the City against a horde of vampire cats.† â€Å"Now that you said it, it's real.† Cavuto was whining a little. I'm going to call that Wong kid and see if he has my UV jacket done.† â€Å"Just like that?† â€Å"Yeah,† Rivera said. â€Å"If you go by Father Jaime's example, they've eaten about three-quarters of the Tenderloin's homeless in, let's call it a week. If you figure maybe three thousand street people in the City, you're talking about twenty-two hundred dead already. Someone's going to notice.† â€Å"That's what you were calculating?† â€Å"No, I was trying to figure out if we had enough money to open the bookstore.† That had been the plan. Early retirement, then sell rare books out of a quaint little shop on Russian Hill. Learn to golf. â€Å"We don't,† Rivera said. He started to dial Foo Dog when his phone chirped, a sound it hadn't made before. â€Å"The fuck was that?† asked Cavuto. â€Å"Text message,† said Rivera. â€Å"You know how to text?† â€Å"No. We're going to Chinatown.† â€Å"A little early for eggrolls, isn't it?† â€Å"The message is from Troy Lee.† â€Å"The Chinese kid from the Safeway crew? I don't want to deal with those guys.† â€Å"It's one word.† â€Å"Don't tell me.† â€Å"CATS.† â€Å"Did I not ask you not to tell me?† â€Å"The basketball court off Washington,† Rivera said. â€Å"Have that Wong kid make me one of those sunlight jackets. Fifty long.† â€Å"You get that many lights on you they'll have you flying over stadiums playing Goodyear ads on your sides.†

Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies

The two novels, Animal Farm by George Orwell and Lord of the Flies by William Golding were both written over 50 years ago, meaning there is much to be said about both. All you have to do is type in the name of each of the novels into Google and out pops tonnes of information about each. If someone were to research enough of the two books they would be able to see that they are quite similar in plot and themes. Both books take a look at a newly built society which is slowly destroyed by the characters or people within them.The concept of one having power over the rest is what corrupts the societies and ends in death and adversity for all others within the society. The authors both use their characters in the novels to portray what society might be like in that type of situation and use their actions to demonstrate how it can fall apart if the correct steps are not taken to maintain a functioning society. Therefore, both authors show how power can corrupt a society and create great har dship for the people ruled through its stimulating characters and their fraught actions.The main characters in both of the books are the ones who ultimately cause the societies to crumble. In Animal Farm George Orwell uses pigs to satire the leadership of Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky and how they manipulated their people into thinking what they are doing is right (NovelGuide). The pigs led a revolution on the farm owner to take the farm and leave it in the hands of all of the animals, instead of man. They stated that the farm would be run by the animals with no rules other then that to never act like a human (Orwell).Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which (Orwell 88). At the start of the revolution, there was no clear ‘leader’ of the anima ls and they did as they pleased, however the much smarter pigs started changing some of the rules that were set forth to make sure none of the animals would behave the way the humans had.The much smarter pigs took advantage of all of the other animals and started changing rules, giving them increasingly more power over the group. In the end, the power hungry pigs ended up becoming exactly what they set out to destroy, humans. The result of this corruption of power ended with a couple animals dying and others working night and day endlessly. In the novel Lord of the Flies author William Golding uses children lost on a deserted island to represent a newly formed society.Two boys choose to take different approaches to surviving on the island and running the rest of the group, so they split up into their own little societies. Jack, one of the leaders chooses a more violent role of surviving; he disagrees with the methods of Ralph (the other leader) and takes command of most of the boys (Golding). Jack began his adventure on the island as a normal boy just like any of the others, however after he was elected into power by all of his friends, it quickly got to his head. â€Å"I agree with Ralph. We've got to have rules and obey them.After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything. So we've got to do the right things† (Golding 42). The power which is corrupting Jack causes him to do many things no person would think of doing while trying to survive (Bookrags). In the end, Jack’s power ended in the deaths of two boys and the utter destruction of an island. All in all, power was what lead the main characters in each of the novels to corrupt a society they had longed to be apart of, leading to deaths of others and the hardship of the rest.Both the pigs and Jack used manipulation and their power to control the others in their respective societies. Within Animal Farm the pigs used their smarts to out wit and manipulate the others into giving them power over the rest. When the revolution first happened, the animals established ‘The Seven Commandments’ which consisted of rules preventing any animal from acting like a human (Golding). Over time the farm animals grew suspicious of the pigs actions and reverted back to ‘The Seven Commandments’, which was no use since the pigs were the only ones that could read, and they changed the rules in their favour.‘It says, â€Å"No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets†,’ she announced finally. Curiously enough, Clover had not remembered that the Fourth Commandment mentioned sheets; but as it was there on the wall, it must have done so (Orwell 42). Over time the pigs became more and more like the humans, and with no questions asked as well since none of the animals understood what the pigs were up too. The pigs used the saying â€Å"Four legs good, two legs bad† to justify most of their actions to the less inte lligent animals (NeoEnglishSystem). The pigs rise to power andthe corruption of the animal farm was aided by the smarts the pigs possessed over the other less clever animals. In Lord of the Flies, main character Jack uses persuasion and other un-ethical tactics to recruit other children into joining his ‘group’. Some of these tactics include threatening and bribing the others in order for him to gain power over the majority of the kids on the island (Bookrags). Jack’s methods of gaining the majority of the boys on the island results in him having complete power of what goes on, on the island.â€Å"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! † (Golding 168). Jack orders an attack on the so called ‘monster’ that is living on the island with them. Without second guessing him, his tribe attacks the ‘monster’ which turns out to be one of the boys. All in all, the corruption of the others in the society by the leaders using manipul ation and other methods to gain power is what leads to the ultimate demolition of the two novels societies.Due to their mad hunt for power and the means they went through to achieve it, the pigs and Jack had a bunch of repercussions for their actions against their respective societies. The pigs used their brains as a way to gain power and control of their group of animals, however by doing this it resulted in the deaths of a couple of the animals as well as the expulsion of one of the other pigs (Orwell). About half the animals on the farm rushed out to the knoll where the windmill stood. There lay Boxer, between the shafts of the cart, his neck stretched out, unable to even raise his head.His eyes were glazed, his sides matted with sweat. A thin stream of blood had trickled out of his mouth (Orwell 74). Even though the pigs are the ones that organized the revolution on the humans, they ended up becoming what they had feared. They over worked the other farm animals and made them thi nk it was all for a better cause (NeoEnglishSystem). Lord of the Flies’ main character Jack also had major repercussions for his actions. Jack did not put him self in the leadership role, he was chosen by Ralph to help him run the group of boys.Things quickly got out of hand for Jack and he soon wanted to lead all of the boys by himself instead of with Ralph. Jack’s actions to get into power are what corrupted the small society of boys and those actions came with the repercussions of death for two of the boys and the near death experience for another. If anyone peered under the bushes and chanced to glimpse human flesh it might be sameric who would pretend not to see and say nothing. He laid his cheek against the chocolate coloured earth, licked his dry lips and closed his eyes.Under the thicket, the earth was vibrating very slightly; or perhaps there was a sound beneath the obvious thunder of the fire and scribbled ululations that was too low to hear (Golding 220). Ja ck told his tribe that they needed to kill Ralph and the only way to find him was to burn the jungle down. Ralph ran for his life away from the blood thirsty tribe of children and the fire (Cliffnotes). Jack’s actions to gain power have dire repercussions for the two boys who ended up dying and Ralph who was chased and nearly killed if he had not ran into a Naval Officer.All in all, the actions of the main characters who attempted to gain power over the others in the society were what eventually lead to the corruption of both societies. In conclusion, both William Golding and George Orwell do an amazing job of demonstrating how power can corrupt a society by using their characters in their novels. Both of the novels give the reader an insightful look at how society might be if the leaders of our countries grew corrupt with the power that they held over the rest of society.