Office Equipment Company Essay Example for Free

Office Equipment Company Essay Therefore, they had to choose a suitable candidate. OEC didn’t have manufacturing facilities in El Salvador, but they had been selling there for more than 22 years at that time. The sales and profits proved to be improving every year. In 1993, OEC decided to construct a factory. The components of the machines would be imported and assembled locally as El Salvador could offer a big supply of cheap labour force. The construction would be supervised by an American technical team. The director, also American, would report to US all problems regarding the production and quality-control and to the managing director from El Salvador, all problems regarding the accounting, the finance and labour relations. The managers from foreign subsidiaries of OEC are used to being rotate among foreign and domestic locations which offered them an important international experience. II. The Problem The main problem outlined in the case study is that the committee does not know which candidate would best fit the managing director’s position. Causes for the problem Current managing director has handed in his resignation and will leave in one month * Current OEC policy only allows for promoting, not hiring from outside the company. Negative effects Long-Term * Loss of international competitiveness if new managing director isn’t capable of handling his duties. * The image of OEC in El Salvador may be affected if wrong candidate is selected. Short-Term * New appointed managing director may not prove to be competent. * Delayed operations if the candidate is not selected before the end of the one month. * Loss of clients if candidate not selected on time. Cultural-differences between new managing director and local staff which may lead to conflicts, if inappropriate US candidate is selected. Communication problems, if poor Spanish speaking candidate. III. Alternative Solutions 1. Choosing Tom Zimmerman Tom Zimmerman is an experience manager that has been working for OEC for 30 years. Therefore, he knows very well all the technical and sales aspects of the company and he was considered very competent in his managerial duties. However, Tom doesn’t speak Spanish at all and, in El Slavador, this crucial for doing business. He is married, but his wife doesn’t speak Spanish also, which would make their life very difficult in El Slavador. They have a big family, but their children live separately at their houses in US. Having a considerable age, both of them, they would likely prefer to stay in the US, closer to their children and grandchildren. Also, Tom doesn’t have any international experience as he never worked abroad. He only visited the company foreign facilities, but this would not have provided him the experience necessary to deal with the cultural differences and everyday problems. Advantages: * 30 years of experience for the OEC; * Important technical knowledge and sales aspects; * Competent in the management duties; * Used with this kind of operations; * His current post will become redundant. Disadvantages: * No international experience; * Doesn’t speak Spanish; * Retirement is planned in 4,5 years; * Married; his wife also doesn’t speak Spanish. 2. Choosing Brett Harrison Brett Harrison has an important experience of 15 years with the OEC and is viewed as a very competent employee capable of reaching a higher rank in management. He is in charge of the regional office of the Latin America and even if he had never travelled abroad, he visited frequently this region. He is married and, both he and his wife speak Spanish. However, they have two children, aged fourteen and fifteen, that are in school and could cause a problem for them by switching not only school, but also countries. Also, his wife has a stable position in marketing at a pharmaceutical company. In case of moving into another country, she could find difficulties in finding a job, or she could not be satisfied of her new job compared to the old one. Advantages: * 15 years of experience for OEC; * Highly competent; * Speaks Spanish; * His wife also speaks Spanish; Disadvantages: * Frequently travelled to Latin America, but never been based abroad; * His wife is employed at a stable workplace; * His children are in school, even if they are starting to learn Spanish; 3. Choosing Carolyn Moyer At the age of 37, Carolyn Moyer is the second oldest proposed candidate as well as the only female. Twelve years ago she attained her MBA from a prestigious university and also was an undergraduate in international affairs at the time she joined OEC. During her work at the company she has become acquainted with having responsibility as a Line authority as well as Staff authority. For the past two years she was second in charge of a product group with similar size as the one from El Salvador; which she managed â€Å"excellently†. She has shown interest in having international responsibilities since she started working for the company. She speaks Spanish well and is not currently married, which may ease her transition from the States to El Salvador. Carolyn Moyer happens to be the second oldest proposed candidate, but also has more than a decade of experience working for OEC. Currently in the Republic of El Salvador there is a strong gender role culture: men occupy the important jobs, whereas women as assistants and other clerical or support positions; only up until recently have started working as doctors, teachers and dentists. As of now women do not yet hold high ranking positions in the business sector. El Salvador ratified the International Agreement on Work Discrimination only in 1995, and the International Agreement on Equal Pay amongst men and women in 2000. Advantages: * Holds MBA from prestigious university. * Has experience at having both Line and Staff responsibilities. 2 years experience of co-managing a large product group. Interested in international responsibilities. * Undergraduate in international affairs. * Speaks Spanish well. * Not married. Disadvantages: * Second oldest candidate, 37 years of age. * Machismo is deeply rooted in the Republic of El Salvador. 4. Choosing Francisco Cabrera Francisco Cabrera, a Mexican citizen has worked for OEC for the past twelve years in the Mexican division and is at the moment one of the assistant managing directors in the Mexican operation tasked with producing and selling products on the Mexican market. After seven years when the current managing director would have normally retired, he was considered to be the next in the line to take his position. Having four young children, between the ages of two and seven, may potentially cause some problems as after seven years when he should have normally taken the position, his youngest would have been nine years old and in school. Advantages: * MBA from Mexican university. * Assistant managing director. * Possesses Mexican Citizenship. * 12 years work experience for OEC in Mexico. * Was deemed as the next managing director. Speaks English â€Å"adequately†. Disadvantages: * Third oldest candidate, 35 years of age. Married with four young children. 5. Choosing Juan Moreno Juan Moreno, the youngest candidate, has worked as the assistant to the El Salvador managing director for the past four years, after obtaining an undergraduate degree from a U. S. university. He is considered competent at what he does and helped increase the sales of OEC products, due to his many connections with potential customers. He is also capable of maintaining good relations with the employees. The biggest disadvantage is that he lacks experience, as having worked the least out of all candidates, and may not have enough knowledge or skill to be competitive with high demanding tasks. Advantages: * Youngest candidate, 27 years old. * Worked as assistant to the current managing director in El Salvador. * Holds undergraduate degree from US. * Competent. * Good employee relations. * Has successfully increase OEC’s sales. * Well connected with customers. * Not married. Disadvantages: * Lacks experience. IV. Best Solution Carolyn Moyer may not fit well in the El Salvador business environment, as just a decade ago women basically had no rights. So potential clients and local staff who she comes in contact with may ignore her and disregard what she says; which makes her competences as an authority useless. It must be a man. Anyone else but Juan Moreno (lack of experience and too young), depending on who has the best Advantages to least problematic Disadvantages. Francisco Cabrera (4) is in my opinion still the best candidate, as like I said, in El Salvador women are housekeepers, and so is his wife. So the fact that he has 4 children, has little to no affect on his job; at the most the company will have to pay him a bit extra to put his children through school, which over the years could add up, but he currently makes the equivalent of $40. 000, which compared to the US candidates is very little, so I assume that his new salary (if selected) would still be less than that of an American. So it cancels out, I suppose.

Development Of Honorifics Within Cultures Cultural Studies Essay

Development Of Honorifics Within Cultures Cultural Studies Essay How does social hierarchy affect linguistic politeness and the development of honorifics within cultures. Japanese, Chinese English will be examined. Politeness is a cultural phenomenon. What is considered polite in one culture can be quite rude or just simply strange in another. An honorific on the other hand is a word, title or expression, which conveys politeness under certain cultural norms when addressing or referring to another person (Brown, 1987). In languages such as Chinese, honorifics operate under a self-denigration Maxim where one either elevates the other partys status and therefore conveying esteem or respect, and/or denigrating the self and thus elevating the relative status of a second or third person (Gu, 1990). To do otherwise is seen as being arrogant boasting, or self-conceited. In some languages such as Japanese, honorifics are also often used together with varying systems of honorific speech, which are grammatical or morphological ways of encoding the relative social status of speakers (Haugh et. al., 2003). Agha (1994) goes on to suggest individuals who use more honorifics are further educated and mature, a nd therefore, of higher social status. Thus it can be hypothesized that politeness is intrinsically intertwined with the speakers cultural understanding and subsequent social status. This paper will explore how social hierarchy affects politeness through the changing use of honorifics. Chinese, Japanese and English will be examined to gain a wider understanding of this phenomenon. The closest Chinese translation of politeness is à §Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ¼ à ¨Ã‚ ²Ã…’, meaning polite appearance. à §Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ¼ à ¨Ã‚ ²Ã…’ is derived from the archaic Chinese wordà §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®. To have a better understanding of the modern conception of à §Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ¼ à ¨Ã‚ ²Ã…’, it may be helpful to review the classical notion of à §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ® formulated by Confucius. Confucius lived at a time when there was constant war between feudal states, partly due to a rapidly deteriorating slavery system. The former aristocratic social hierarchy was shattered, and chaos practically reigned over the land. One of the measures Confucius advocated towards stability was to restore à §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®. This à §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ® does not mean politeness; it refers to the social hierarchy and order of the slavery system of the Zhou Dynasty, which was regarded by Confucius as an ideal model of any society. In order to restore à §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ® it is necessary to à ¦Ã‚ ­  £Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ Ã‚  i.e. rectify names. To à ¦Ã‚ ­Ã‚ £Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ Ã‚  is to put each individual in his/her place in the web of relationships that create community, and behaving accordingly to his/her social position so as to ensure social harmony (Taylor, 2003; Warren, 1980). This is important because: if ming is not properly rectified, speech cannot be used appropriately; if speech is not used appropriately, nothing can be achieved; if nothing is achieved, li cannot be restored: if li is not restored, law and justice cannot be exercised: and if law and justice are not exercised, people will not know how to behave. (Confucius, zilu , quoted by Yang (1987)) Thus speech had to be used appropriately in accordance with the users status in the social hierarchy so thatà §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®could be restored. For instance, a servant was required to call himself or herself à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ´Ãƒ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚  (slave), while addressing his/her master as à ¥Ã‚ ¤Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ºÃ‚ º (great man) or à ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã‚ »Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ­Ã‚  (master). Deviation from this usage, in Confucius view, would disrupt the established social order, hence creating social chaos. An inferiors violation of this usage, at that time, would have been considered as being à §Ã…  Ã‚ ¯Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã…   (offending the superior). This was a serious breach of à §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®which could result in the severe punishment of the offender (Gu, 1990). Since the founding of the Peoples Republic in 1949, the feudal system, which has overseen China for over 5000 years, was abolished. A new order of social structure, the communist system was adapted where ideologically, everyone is an equal. Politeness and its role in this new way of life among the people were drastically changed as the pre-existing social hierarchy was viciously torn down. Consequently, many classical terms, which sounded either too denigrative or elevative in the contemporary political atmosphere, became obsolete. Examples of classical and contemporary denigrating and elevating honorifics from Gu (1990) include (Attachment 1) After the communist revolution, honorifics are only used for formal or volatile circumstances. Extreme honorifics such as the ones mentioned above are saved for TV shows and situations of extreme emphasis. A prime example of modern use of the self-denigration maxim is extracted from Gu (1990) below. (Attachment 2) Gu (1990) explains as thus: When M refers to Ss surname [I], he elevates it as precious surname, whereas in mentioning his own surname [4], he denigrates it by calling it worthless surname. S, on his part, though he does not denigrate his surname in response to As enquiry [2], denigrates instead himself as little brother (implicating that he is inferior to M). In his enquiry about Ms surname, on the other hand, S exhilarates it as respectable surname [3]. It is evident that the distance between self-denigration and other elevation was much larger in ancient China than that in modern China. Elevated honorifics are rarely used outside formal occasions; however the self-denigration maxim still underlines linguistic constructs in Chinese social interaction. The self-denigration maxim is also present in the Japanese politeness or teineisa known as rei. As the Japanese language was greatly influenced by Chinese, some parts copied directly such as the Kanji system, there are bound to be similarities pertaining to social hierarchy and its role in politeness. Rei is a Japanese version of the original Chinese à §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®, however slightly diverged from the original concept. In spoken Japanese, with an honorific o-prefix, o-rei is commonly used in such expressions as o-rei wo suru (to do rei) meaning to express rei as an action; to give a gift to someone whom one is indebted to, or to bow (with no o-prefix). Also o-rei wo iu (to say rei) means to verbally express rei. It is often associated with using the arigatou thanking speech formula, and other speech formulae for apology, such as sumimasen, moushiwake arimasen (Ohashi, 2008). Before World War II, Japan was a Feudal society which placed extreme emphasis on class distinctions and social hierarchies. The variant factor which differentiated Japanese with Chinas changing attitude to politeness was the lack of a violent cultural revolution. Japans transition from a monarchy to the democracy it is today, saw little change in the populaces feelings towards social hierarchy. Therefore we see a broad array of honorific used for addressing or referring to people beyond that of the self-denigration maxim in everyday life. Third-person honorifics such as ore-sama and name+suffix referring to one-self are rarely used outside of popular culture. Commonly seen honorifics are generally gender-neutral and suffixed to first names as well as surnames. Some common affixual honorifics are as follows: Nominal(common): -san The minimal politeness necessary when there is a lack of familiarly between the speakers. Diminutive(common): -chan, -kun Where the addressee is usually that of a lower social status or has a close familiarity with the speaker. Elevative: -sama, -sempai, -sensei, -shi  ­Where the addressee is that or a higher social status or held in great respect by the speaker. Dropping the honorific referred to as yobisute implies a high degree of intimacy, however if used mistakenly or out of such boundaries, social backlash can occur as this is a serious breach of teineisa. Okamoto (1999) views the use of honorifics as determined by features of the context. Honorifics are commonly said to be used in reference to the relevant individual who is perceived as distant from the speaker. Other factors such as formality of the setting, means of communication and topic discussed, have also been noted to affect the use of honorifics and honorific speech. In Japanese, honorifics are also often used together with varying systems of honorific speech, by either grammatically or morphologically changing what is being said. This results in varying ways of saying the exact same thing albeit with varying levels of teineisa. For example, Haugh et al. (2003) illustrates the different ways of saying today is Saturday to varying circumstances below. (32a) (to a close friend) Kyoo wa doyoobi da. today Top Saturday Cop(NonPol) (32b) (to an acquaintance) Kyoo wa doyoobi desu. today Top Saturday Cop(Pol) (32c) (to a guest on a formal occasion) Kyoo wa doyoobi degozaimasu. today Top Saturday Cop(SuperPol) (ibid: 415). The last sentence (32c) is what would be referred as keigo. To go a step further, we have three sub-categories of honorific speech: sonkeigo , respectful language; kensongo or kenjÃ…Â go, humble language; and teineigo, polite language. Below is a chart from Wikipedia which outlines the various morphological changes in words necessary for varying situations. (Attachment 3) To make a mistake in such complex mutilation of language is easy indeed! Due to the complexity of honorific speech, Agha (1994) even suggests individuals who use more honorifics are further educated and mature, and therefore, are of a higher social status. However, one must keep in mind, similar to the many archaic honorifics in Chinese, these specialized forms are rarely if ever used outside extremely formal or special circumstances. Agha (1994) further notes modern Japanese, especially the newer generations, seem to deemphasize hierarchy, where those in higher standing would use honorifics towards their subordinates. The author interprets such use of honorifics as an attempt to reduce the hierarchically defined distance by reciprocating respect. This phenomenon suggests a change in the ideology of honorifics that reflects ongoing social change in Japan. Modern English has a very few Honorifics, all of which are titles pre-fixing a persons name. This exhaustive list from Wikipedia is shown below Ms: default use for women regardless of marital status. Miss: for use by unmarried women only. Mrs: for use by married women only. Mr: for men. Master: for boys or very young men. Dr: a person who has obtained a doctorate, such as the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Rev: for Christian clergy Fr: for priests in Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, and some Anglican or Episcopalian groups The first four are simple variations of standard title. Master is uncommonly heard and the latter three examples are titles of profession. There is also no official honorific speech in modern English, the closest relative to that in Chinese and Japanese would be the languages used towards royalty in old English. The lack of honorifics can be attributed to drastic cultural aversion towards large gaps in the social hierarchy. Most leading western countries operate under some form of democracy, where wars were fought over to take power out of a single persons hands and spread equally to the populace. Regardless of how effective this is in practice, the people still perceive equality as paramount in social hierarchy; that the leader of state is just another person elected by the masses. This is in direct contradiction to thought prevalent in the past when Asian languages were being developed. The head of state, otherwise, emperor was usually symbolized as a divine being with a god-given right to rule. This is similar to European feudal thought towards monarchies; however one has to take into account the time it takes for languages to develop. Indeed if the English monarchy had a history as long as Chinas five thousand years, the western world today would be talking in flowery honorifics. Interestingly, in western culture, honorifics are more commonly used in religion, most notably Christianity. Every station in the Christian religion has an honorific, with the Pope associated with holiness at the pinnacle of the hierarchy. The development and contemporary usage of such honorifics can be attributed to the continual existence and popular belief of the Christian religion over the last two millennia. Ultimately politeness and honorifics reflect cultural values towards social hierarchies. Many of these systems operate under a self-denigration maxim, to do otherwise is seen as breaching etiquette and may have severe repercussions. Honorifics are also often used together with varying systems of honorific speech, many of which are obsolete in modern society. Not only is politeness intrinsically intertwined with the cultural values, but as discussed, it takes a long period where a stable social hierarchy with clearly distinguished levels exists for the continual development and use of honorifics. Nevertheless, politeness will always be integral to human nature and the manner or form of how we execute civility are fundamentally ever-changing.

Marc Chagall Essay -- History

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall as an artist and as a person cannot be categorized. He was born in Vitebsk, Russia, learned to paint in St. Petersburg and lived in Paris, Berlin, and the United States. His career is influenced by many different factors. His Hasidic Jewish upbringing reflected in the content of his paintings greatly. The lyrical fairy tales of Jewish mysticism, the stories of the Bible, and the Rabbis and scholars who surrounded him in his childhood come out onto his work. When he went to art school in St. Petersburg it was the period when he became exposed to the avant-garde movement in art. With Leon Bakst he saw the reproductions of Fauve canvases, the sketches of Van Gogh and of Cezzanne his ambition to go to Paris was born. At the time that he moves to Paris for the first time (1910- 1914) Fauvism and Cubism were the prevailing modern art movements. It can be seen in Chagall’s composition the application of these movements principles of arbitrary colour and reorganization of the visual field, but he incorporates these principles with a dream like scape to create his own personal style. The term Surrealism applies to Chagall, that is the term that was coined when Appolinaire when visiting his studio in 1913 murmured â€Å"Supernatural!†. This is not to say that Chagall was part of any Surrealist movement on the contrary he is against any style or movement. It used as a term where the artist has drawn upon consciously or unconsciously from the dream experience. It is clear in his works that he does not want any movement to restrict his expression and mobility. He is wholly against empathetic realism, of the Courbet, Impressionist or Cubist sort, yet he still uses Cubist devices and comes close to Impressionism. Chagall depicts a more dreamlike, story like content filled with symbolism (much of it traditional) in his paintings. He admired Manet, and drew great inspiration from Gauguin in his early years. He creates a style that was more universalistic and one that did not have any idealistic underpinnings. Chagall’s painting The Fiddler (1912) is the largest and richest work in the series of figure pictures in which Chagall was bringing to life the typical characters he remembered from his childhood. In this composition the use of arbitrary colour is clearly seen, for example the fiddler's green face, the blue roof top etc. He does not ... ...his pictures as illogical and non-realist. The images were not of this earth therefore different from things or geometrical figures. Also the way he uses colour is like no one else. In the conversations Chagall makes many references to poetry, but that is not surprising for to him his art is poetry. His concern was never with a movement but with the purpose of bringing to people the love and gaiety of his paintings. Chagall is known to use much more than a canvas as a showcase for his work. He is world famous for stained glass and mosaics from Jerusalem to the United Nations. For him a stained glass â€Å"is a transparent partition between my heart and the heart of the world.† In his paintings we see his childhood and homeland and for Marc Chagall his paintings are his memory. Chagall left a lasting impression on the art world. He evoked things in his paintings that were close to him and put them together in a poetic sense. He offered a dreamlike scene and influenced the Neo- Surrealists . Chagall being part of the first two phases of Surrealism (1911-1914) (1914-1918) laid a fundamental base for artist like Salvador Dali who would also rely heavily on their dreams and their images.

James Joyces Araby - Araby as Epiphany for the Common Man Essay

James Joyce's Dubliners - Araby as Epiphany for the Common Man Joseph Campbell was one of many theorists who have seen basic common denominators in the myths of the world's great religions, Christianity among them, and have demonstrated how elements of myth have found their way into "non-religious" stories. Action heroes, in this respect, are not unlike saints. Biblical stories are, quite simply, the mythos of the Catholic religion, with saints being the heroes in such stories. The Star Wars film saga is, according to Campbell, an example of the hero's maturation via the undertaking of a great quest. Though it is a safe assumption that many of today's film makers are unconscious of the extent to which their narratives approach biblical parallels, Joyce spent his career turning seemingly simple stories into veiled recantings of biblical and mythical experience. "Araby" is a case-in-point. Like Luke Skywalker, the boy in "Araby" certainly reaches a maturation of sorts while undertaking a quest. Joyce takes accurate and mundane details of Dublin li fe and elevates them into a grand mythical pattern, targeting a moment of departure and awakening for the boy. Joyce's function in equating mundane experience with heroic experience is to propose that the potential for epiphany--the hero's realization of a certain truth--is not exclusive to saints alone, but exists in all people. In order to so, Joyce must declare a relationship between the ordinary and the sublime. The ordinariness of the boy's story is apparent. On one level, it is a simple story about the kind of unrequited "puppy love" that strikes most boys of his age. The details of the setting come from real Dublin--North Richmond Street and Westland Row Station--and depict ... ...t chooses to go to the temple, Orpheus chooses to go to Tartaros. Joyce made his own choice: to leave Ireland, and the result is a lifetime's body of work that demonstrates great insight. It is a good guess that this insight came from a realization Joyce himself may have had--his own epiphany, if you will--illustrating the extent to which the pattern of journey and realization found their way into his life as well as his work. Work Cited Joyce, James. Dubliners. New York: Washington Square Press, 1998. Works Consulted Schwarz, David R. Dubliners: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives. Ed. David R. Schwarz. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 1994. Werner, Craig Hansen. Dubliners: A Pluralistic World. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988. James Joyce's Araby - Araby as Epiphany for the Common Man Essay James Joyce's Dubliners - Araby as Epiphany for the Common Man Joseph Campbell was one of many theorists who have seen basic common denominators in the myths of the world's great religions, Christianity among them, and have demonstrated how elements of myth have found their way into "non-religious" stories. Action heroes, in this respect, are not unlike saints. Biblical stories are, quite simply, the mythos of the Catholic religion, with saints being the heroes in such stories. The Star Wars film saga is, according to Campbell, an example of the hero's maturation via the undertaking of a great quest. Though it is a safe assumption that many of today's film makers are unconscious of the extent to which their narratives approach biblical parallels, Joyce spent his career turning seemingly simple stories into veiled recantings of biblical and mythical experience. "Araby" is a case-in-point. Like Luke Skywalker, the boy in "Araby" certainly reaches a maturation of sorts while undertaking a quest. Joyce takes accurate and mundane details of Dublin li fe and elevates them into a grand mythical pattern, targeting a moment of departure and awakening for the boy. Joyce's function in equating mundane experience with heroic experience is to propose that the potential for epiphany--the hero's realization of a certain truth--is not exclusive to saints alone, but exists in all people. In order to so, Joyce must declare a relationship between the ordinary and the sublime. The ordinariness of the boy's story is apparent. On one level, it is a simple story about the kind of unrequited "puppy love" that strikes most boys of his age. The details of the setting come from real Dublin--North Richmond Street and Westland Row Station--and depict ... ...t chooses to go to the temple, Orpheus chooses to go to Tartaros. Joyce made his own choice: to leave Ireland, and the result is a lifetime's body of work that demonstrates great insight. It is a good guess that this insight came from a realization Joyce himself may have had--his own epiphany, if you will--illustrating the extent to which the pattern of journey and realization found their way into his life as well as his work. Work Cited Joyce, James. Dubliners. New York: Washington Square Press, 1998. Works Consulted Schwarz, David R. Dubliners: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives. Ed. David R. Schwarz. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 1994. Werner, Craig Hansen. Dubliners: A Pluralistic World. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988.

Fall of Man Depicted in Atwoods Backdrop Addresses Cowboy Essay

Fall of Man Depicted in Atwood's Backdrop Addresses Cowboy The sexual politics of the man-woman relationship, or more specifically the sexual exploitation of women by men, is a clear concern in Margaret Atwood's "Backdrop Addresses Cowboy." Although the oppressor-as-male theme is by no means an original source of poetic inspiration, Atwood's distinction is that she views the destructive man-woman relationship as a metaphor for, symptom and symbol of, bigger things. From the vantage-point of feminine consciousness, Margaret Atwood empahsizes the "backdrop" as being not only the woman, but also the land and the spiritual life of the universe; the "cowboy" is both a man bent on personal gain (possibly an American based on Atwood's strong anti-American sentiments in her novel, Surfacing) and an emissary of technological progress. The structure of the poem logically supports the theme of conflict and "imperialism" in that it is clearly divided into two sections or "camps." The first four stanzas offer a description of "you", the "righteous and heroic" cowboy who brutalizes life without creating new life. The perspective shifts then from predator to prey in the final five stanzas as "I", presented as victimized woman and exploited nature, "addresses" her antagonist. The tone or mood of "Backdrop Addresses Cowboy" also undergoes a change after the first four stanzas when the reader enters the tragic, joyless experience of one who is paying the price of "slaughter and desecration." At this point in the poem, it seems futile to consider whether or not the price should be paid and the metaphoric man-woman tension remains distrubingly unresolved. In terms of form, "Backdrop Addresses Cowboy" is written in open (org... ...esecrate", the emphatically placed word of the climactic line in "Backdrop Addresses Cowboy", emphasizes again the "backdrop" as being not only the woman, but also the land and the spiritual life of the universe. As an emissary of technological progress, man has committed a sacreligious act against nature and humanity and his "fall" embodies the fall of the spiritual, the historical and the rational. In Margaret Atwood's poem, then, the troubled man-woman relationship is symptom and symbol of a greater alienation within humanity. Man's past and present curelties to human, natural and spiritual life are expressesed metaphoricall in terms of a cowboy "winning the West" on a movie set, against a backdrop "supporting" his heroism. "Backdrop Addresses Cowboy" offers a vision that is both desolate and conscious-expanding but it does not present answers.

Kes the Play

kes In this assignment I am writing about the play called†kes†how Barry Hines the author of Kes brought his characters to life. He has gone into great detail and time to produce this play by trying to bring his characters to reality by their language , the surroundings of that area and the clothing they wear. The area where this scene is set is in a rough, unpleasant place, Barnsley. Although Barnsley is local to us, it is an industrial working class area were poor unwealthy people go to work and try to make end meet to feed their families. All these characters show how they act as normal on an ordinary day, because Barry Hines needed to get across the description that effect his characters in the play. Billy did not have a good relationship between his family his mom and brother. His mom does not care for Billy, all she wants to do is go to parities and knockabout with men, this shows that her children don’t come first in her life. Billy clothes are dirty and appalling with wholes and stains in them because he doesn’t wash his clothes. In the morning when he wakes up his mom doesn’t leave tea in the pot for him and tells him to go to the shop for her to buy cigs, before he goes to school, so Billy will be late, Billy runs out the house and goes to school after having an argument with his mom to go to the shop for cigs. His mom doesn’t have any money for him for hi school dinner because she spent it the night before or she needs it for the night ahead. Billys brother Jud steals his snap for school and takes his bike so Billy’s got nothing for school. Jud went out one night and got really drunk when he came home, Jud woke Billy up to undress him because he was too drunk to do it himself, it is the only way Billy can get his own back by slapping and shouting at him â€Å"you drunken sow og pig bastard. Billys school life is not much better than his home life; his school is run down, horrible and dirty. He thinks the whole world is against him and does get along with other kids in school he doesn’t knock about with any mate’s accept his kestrel bird. Barry Hines the other of Kes describes a bewildering scene into which Billy fits appropriately when he is fighting over a schoolmate over his brother â€Å"Im not frightened of him that would be if he were here I bet I know somebody who could fight him. Soon the fight broke out in the playground everyone gathered round. There is one teacher in the school that takes and interest in Billy due to the hawk. He helped Billy against McDowel so Billy would not get into trouble. The teacher Mr Farthering finds out about Billy’s hawk and asked if he could see the bird. The kestrel is the only pleasure Billy gets in his life, he found it in the formers land in the forest and asked if he could have it, ever since he has owned Kes (name of the bird) he’s been training it, he was so interested in this bird he went to the library to find a book on kestrel but he was not allowed to take it out because he was not a member so he stole it, because Billy was not wealthy his brother and him had to share a bed together. Billy has a paper round, when he goes to collect his papers he steals chocolates and drinks he does this because he is hungry and he probably doesn’t get enough food at home. Billy does his papers in a bad area, the owner of the newsagent Mr Potter said Billys brother Jud gave Billy ? 10 to go and bet on a hoarse, so he went down prepared to bet for Jud as he was down there, Billy spoke to one of Jud’s mates and said it wasn’t worth betting on that hoarse, well Billy did not need to be told twice so he used the money to buy food for him and his bird. As soon as Jud found out his hoarse won and there was no bet on it he went looking for Billy, but Billy hid every time he saw his brother, so Jud stopped looking and went to find Billys only friend in the world and killed his hawk. As soon as Billy found his bird he ran and buried it in the field and went to bed.

Organizational Culture and Cultural Values Essay

One of the most prominent instrumental values of 3M’s culture, and which has contributed to its success is employee risk-taking and encouragement of the same (Mitsch, 1990). 3M’s policy of creating room for employees to experiment and conduct research means that the researchers are more exposed to the risk of failure than they would be were risk-taking not encouraged. However, risk-taking also enhances chances of making improvements on existing products and developing new products. Another instrumental value in 3M is efficiency. Management of new technologies and innovations, assessing, reacting to and anticipating market trends, and assessing customer needs can be very challenging for the management. Research and Development can be costly yet some results are not always positive or available for immediate use. The management of available resources requires efficiency in management. Efficiency is therefore central to 3M’s culture. An important terminal value of 3M’s culture is high quality of output to meet customer expectations. 3M improves the quality of its output by encouraging research and development for long-term and short-term purposes. By encouraging risk-taking, allowing researchers to spend 15 percent of their time researching for new products and technologies, and scaling up R&D budget from 4. 6 percent to 6. 5 percent within a decade, 3M declares its intention to ensure that consumers get a continous supply of high quality products (Mitsch, 1990). A second terminal value is innovation. As noted above, 3M attaches high premium on research and development of new technologies and improvement of existing technologies and products (Mitsch, 1990). Innovation is one of the factors which separate market leaders from mediocre organizations and 3M invests heavily to sharpen its innovative edge. Question 2: Human interactions, property rights and ethics do influence 3M’s cultural values. The involvement of marketing, manufacturing, quality, laboratory, financial and packaging staff in production of new products promotes healthy relationships between staff members working with the different units. This team-work reduces the frequency of inter-departmental rivalry and exchange of blame for mistakes and failures. Healthy interactions among units and sub-units are instrumental to increased productivity and staff motivation. An important property right at 3M is access to and right to use laboratory resources and technologies developed within one’s operating unit, as well as technologies developed by other units. A leading cause of failure in many organizations is unhealthy rivalry among units, which lead to some units keeping technologies and resources to themselves and barring others from accessing them. The management of 3M ensures that workers, regardless of which unit they come from, can access laboratory resources and technologies easily (Mitsch, 1990). Such property rights encourage inter-unit co-operation and cohesion, reduce R&D costs, and promote productivity in the long-term. They also enrich the organization’s cultural values. Reference Mitsch, R. (1990). Case: Three Roads to Innovation. Journal of Business Strategy (Sept/Oct 1990), pp 18-21.