Budgetary control Essay

Nowadays management’s philosophy revolves around the idea of planning. According to McKinsey (1922), chief executives have come to the realization that today’s task can only be properly fulfilled thanks to the meticulous planning of yesterday. The budgetary control framework has been openly accepted and widespread as a tool for management and overall organisation control. Nonetheless, recent evolutions in the managerial sciences have come to jeopardise the reliability of budgeting as an effective method for the control of performance and organisation. The concern of whether budgeting is in fact an apt tool has created mixed views and debate amongst scholars. This essay will aim to evaluate whether budgetary control is concerned primarily with the control of performance, or if it has of late taken on greater importance especially as a more integrative control mechanism for the organisation. In order to do so it will firstly define the meaning of two fundamental concepts such as budget and budgetary control. Secondly it will evaluate the use of budgetary control as a tool for today’s organization. Thirdly it will follow debates and criticisms on its the effectiveness and use and Lastly it will conclude by assessing to what extent budgetary control has become a more integrative control mechanism for organisations. The work of key specialists in management such as Bhimani, Otley, Van der Stede and McWatters, will be drawn on in order to cover the key issues of the discussion. Before commencing on a discussion of budgetary control, it is immanent to clarify and define the two key terms that will be used in this essay: ‘budget’ and ‘budgetary control’. On the one hand, as defined by Bhimani et al. (2008) â€Å"a budget is a quantitative expression of a proposed plan of action by management for future time period and it is an aid to coordination and implementation of the plan†. On the same line McWatters et al. (2008) highlights the importance of budgets as a planning control system for a company, which ‘translate’ organisational objectives into financial terms. Drury (2009) exemplifies the many different purposes that budgets serve, such as: coordinating activities, conveying various arrangements to different responsibility centres, arranging and controlling operations, motivating employees to attain organisational objectives and assessing the execution of managers. According to Johnson (1996), it was in the 1960s that associations started to highly regard the utilization of budgets as tools for performance measurement and the control of managerial objectives. On the other hand, budgetary control is described by Periasamy (2010) as â€Å"a system of controlling costs which includes the preparation of budgets, coordinating the department and establishing responsibilities, comparing actual performance with the budgeted and acting upon results to achieve maximum profitability†. A similar, yet more formal, definition of budgetary control is given by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of England and Wales (CIMA): â€Å"the establishment of budgets relating to the responsibilities of executives to the requirement of a policy and the continuous comparison of actual with the budgeted results, either to secure by individual actions the objectives of policy or to provide a basis for its revision†. There are two main purposes of budgets which scholars have identified: planning and controlling. The first purpose, which McWatters et al. (2008) discusses, is that budgets have a fundamental role in undertaking planning decisions. In fact, the integration of budgets into a strategic planning of long term and short-term objectives is crucial to the harmony of the project itself. This claim can be explained by Bhimani et al. (2008) who proposes that, budgets provide a more realistic view on the possible outcomes of investments, which consequently leads managers to adjust their strategic goals accordingly. To put it another way, when a company wants to match its potentials suitably with the prospects of the marketplace, it undertakes a strategic analysis to then set several long-run and short-run goals. On this basis a budget is formulated. However, as stated before, once the budget that has been formulated projects a more realistic view on the strategic objectives, these strategic objectives are then readjusted once again. The second purpose that Emmanuel et al. (1990) discusses is to do with budgets as a form of control and a tool for monitoring a company’s performance. McWatters et al. (2008) describe this function by outlining the idea that budgets are frequently used to assign responsibilities by allocating resources to different managers. A budget may be given with more or less flexibility, for example by assigning a large sum of money for ‘advertising’ to be used at the managers discretion, or by highlighting the different ways that this money should be used. The optional flexibility of budgets allows for a company to give the adequate level of responsibility to its employees and thus the organisation is able to maintain a level of control. McWatters et al. (2008) further elaborates on the function of budgeting for control by suggesting that â€Å"the numbers in a budget are also used as goals to motivate organisational members†. This motivational aspect of budgeting can be explained by Bhimani et al (2008) who states that â€Å"the manner in which a budget is administered can adversely impact on the managers’ behaviour†. A manager must believe that the budget is achievable in order to actively attempt to pursue it, Bhimani et al (2008) adds that through the constraints and goals set by budgeting targets, managers are often motivated to â€Å"effect changes in a forceful way†. The way that a budget is formulated, and the demands and pressures that it targets are key in encouraging the right degree of motivation, â€Å"an enterprise can set a difficult to attain budget in an attempt to motivate good performance. This is because, in practice, budgets that are set up to a certain degree of tightness often become stronger motivators† (Bhimani et al. , 2008). A final point to consider with the role of budgetary control is the function that it plays in enhancing communication within a company. Internal coordination between the steps of production , as well as communication among departments are key aspects for a company’s performance. Dury (2009) states that â€Å"the budget serves as a vehicle through which the actions of the different parts of an organisation can be brought together and reconciled into one common plan†. Hence, hierarchical and inter-departmental communication within the organisation is extremely facilitated thanks to the use of budgets. For instance, considering a multinational corporation that, due to its size, has difficulties in communicating between the production department and the sales department, budgets could in this circumstance be the most operational manner of communicating, as they set common goals between different departments. As it is clear form the paragraphs above, the controlling side of budgets play a stronger role than the planning aspect. An example that instead criticise this view can be found in the strategic planning of investments. Maximising performance of a company can be synonymous for maximising the shareholders value. Akintoye (2008) argues that equality in investment decisions are fairly dependent on the solidity of the budgetary control system, which in turn is key to maximise the company’s shareholders value. Therefore, it is arguable that a weak budgetary control system may be the cause of unprofitable investments and consequently may trigger the loss of shareholders value (Akintoye, 2008). There are many examples that reflect this issue, such as one reported by the European Journal of Economics Finance and Administrative Science where the Coca-Cola Company, with the purpose of differentiating production, failed miserably in their investment on food and wine in that the investment rate of return resulted to be beneath their cost of capital. The tremendous loss of money caused by this investment and other failures of this type grab the attention of scholars, raising questions on the salience of the budgetary control system, as well as whether budgets are mainly used to control or plan organisations. Other criticisms towards budgetary control as a main form of performance control, argue instead that the use of budgetary control in performance management has of late taken on greater importance especially as a more integrative control mechanism for the organisation. This stands on the basis of different points of view of the role that motivation and communication play within a company. Bhimani et al. (2008) argues that current speculation concerning budgetary control systems prescribes two inverse perspectives. From one perspective, there is the view that upholds incremental change to budgetary process in terms of interfacing such forms more closely to operational prerequisites, arranging frameworks, expanding the recurrence of plan amendment and the arrangement of rolling budgets. A second perspective supports the abandoning of the budgetary control system as a method of organisational control, and supplanting it with elective systems to empower firms on their adaptability and adjustability. The second perspective arose because of the consequences caused by the conflictual role of budgets between planning and controlling. To summarize; in planning and settling choices, budgets convey specialised information between different departments and hierarchy of the organisation, whereas for control, budgets serve as benchmarks for performance measurement (Otley, 1978). According to McWatters et al. (2008) if too many boundaries are placed into performance targets, then specialised executives will settle down and stop disclosing accurate predictions of prospected occurrences, and instead rely more on budgeted figures, which ease the achievement of the targets. A clear example of this conflict is given by the marketing sector. Salespeople according to McWatters et al. (2008) are usually very specialised and can very well forecast future sales. Their predictions are very important to settle the amount of goods to be produced. Inasmuch budgetary control of sales takes place at the end of the year, and it is used as a tool to evaluate performance. Salespeople are reasonably incentivised to under-forecast future sales in order to assure a positive evaluation of their performance. Nevertheless this behaviour induces the company to have higher production costs, creating counterproductive results. However, this behavioural theory is contrasted by Van der Stede (2000) in his study on the relationship between two consequences of budgetary control: slack creation and managerial short-term orientation. In his experiment he attempts to find the relationship between rigid budgetary control and slack creation, where he defines slack as the action by business unit managers that leads them to â€Å"†¦ exploit their position of superior knowledge about business possibilities vis-a-vis corporate management to get performance targets that are deliberately lower than their best guess forecast about the future† (lukka, 1988). Van der Stede’s (2008) statistical correlation showed in fact that rigid budget control reduced slack. To strengthen his view, Bhimani et al. (2008) states that â€Å"budgeted performance measures can overcome two keys limitations of using past performance as basis for judging actual result†, meaning that, not only budgetary control is a good â€Å"judge† of performance, but it also develops better aspects in comparison to other evaluation techniques. In conclusion, this essay has highlighted the role of budgetary control and it’s functions in terms of planning the organisational control of a company, as well as its role in performance management. Motivation and communication are both key aspects in the management of performance, and both of these functions are met through the system of budgetary control, either by setting achievable incentives, or by providing the necessary requirements to improve communications within a company. Having underlined the role of budgetary control as an enhancer of performance management, it is clear to see how it has become a key mechanism for the integrative control of an organisation. Nonetheless, this essay has outlined some of the key disputes of the reliability and effectiveness of budgetary control as an adequate method of performance management. An example of this is highlighted by the fact that when managers are given strict budgeting figures, they sometimes deem the goals to be too easily achieved, and hence give a lesser input of motivation. Despite the many critics of budgetary control as a tool for the organisation of a company, scholars such as Van der Stede (2000) and Bhimani et al. (2008) have confidently stated that when a budget is set correctly, it can significantly improve an organisations performance, including the integrative function within a company; and is in fact a more effective tool than other existing methods of control.

Need of moral education to students Essay

In today’s world man, machine and money are the modern day trinity where as morality is just a casualty. As a result of this, our society has been suffering from much of corruption, exploitation, merciless killings, casteism, communalism, terrorism and a total crisis of character. In addition, schools have been facing unhealthy behavioral and indiscipline problems from students. All this needs to be reformed. But who is to bell the cat? It is we, the children, who have to complete that task. In this essay further, I shall explain importance of moral education in schools and how it helps our society to beat from above stated social evils. Every child possesses the potential to become the builder of an ideal society. What it needs is a proper cultivation of good morals at a young age to develop positive social attitudes and make him a useful, complete and perfect person. The great goal of education is not to cosmetically furnish the minds to produce doctors and engineers but to develop the sense of right, duty, honour, love of God and humanity by imparting moral education in schools. With this, students can improve overall behavior with their teachers and society too. In addition, when they grow, they will bring strong foundation to beat social evils. Many schools have been searching the reasons of depreciation in moral values and they have been working for developing good moral values among the students. However moral values are integrated part of the education and it is great emphasized in almost all countries. Generally Moral Education is not a specific subject for schools but it is taught under different subjects like languages, literature, supplementary reading books etc. Moral Education is taught as a separate subject like Moral Science in a few schools. Schools have been doing several efforts to manipulate the moral values among the students. The syllabus is designed such type to combine many moral values by stories, poems and by many lessons. Sometimes textbooks include many inspirational lessons about the great persons so that students may learn by their life.

The Curriculum

The curriculum is the goal, or outcome that is desired to be achieved through the instruction. For the instruction to be successful, there needs to be a linear set of standards, or objectives that need to be taught and be assessed to achieve the desired goal of the lesson. There are three main types of objectives that need to be addressed when designing a lesson: Program objective, learning objective, and performance objective. Before addressing these three concepts, there is a need to define the goal(s) of stated objectives. Goals Gagne' (1988) states, â€Å"Education goals are statements of the outcomes of education† (p. 41). The goal of instruction is to impart a knew skill, capability or concept in a measurable manner. Goals are the expected result of instruction. In the example assigned to this paper, the goal of the course is to teach instructors how to best utilize technology in the classroom with the use of laptops and iPads. Objectives Whereas goals are the destination of the instruction, objectives are the means of getting there. As stated previously, objectives are a set of standards that are to be met through instruction and assessment. Objectives and Goals 4 Program Objectives Program objectives define what content is to be used in the lesson, the time-line for instruction, and what tools and media will be used to achieve the instructional goal. In our example of iPad and laptop instruction, first the instructor needs to evaluate the class and determine what their skills with computers and iPads are. There may not be a need to cover some of the instruction or there may be a need for some skill building before the planned instruction can start. The instructor also needs to have a time frame, in which the class can reasonably follow, for the lesson progression. Whether it is measured in hours, days, or weeks, the learners need to know how much time they have to learn the skill before assessment is administered. The instructor also needs to have a plan on which operating systems, software and apps will be used in the instruction and instruct teachers how to integrate them into their lessons. In recent years, schools have gone more tech oriented and teachers need instruction on how to incorporate the devices into the learning process. In short, the program objectives are to teach instructors, in a timely fashion, how to: use laptops and iPads for designing lessons, incorporating technology into existing lessons, maintaining and updating devices, and familiarizing instructors with apps and programs so they can better utilize the technology. Learning Objectives Learning objectives come in many terms such as benchmark, standard, and performance indicator. Whichever term is used, the intended purpose of the learning objectives is to define what the student is expected to learn. According to FLDOE.org (2018), â€Å"Learning objectives Objectives and Goals 5 should break down the task and focus on specific cognitive processes†. Learning objectives give structure to the program objectives through defining the specific skills and knowledge to be learned and how the lessons will be sequenced. Stating only that the instructors will learn to and understand how to use an iPad is not an example of a learning objective. Learning objectives are specific knowledge and skills that are targeted for learning. Examples for this would include: selecting and deploying the appropriate applications, managing the steady flow of updates, assigning and submitting assignments electronically, and how to diversify the lessons to accommodate students' learning needs. Sequencing would also be addressed by teaching the lessons in a proper order. It would not be effective to teach how to diversify and accommodate the applications before teaching which applications are appropriate for the lessons. Performance Objectives Performance objectives are exactly what it states: performing learned knowledge and skills through an action. Gagne argues that the â€Å"five-component objective† is the best approach for performance objectives. The five components he lists are: Situation, Learned Capability Verb, Object, Action Verb, and Tools, Constraints or Special Conditions. Situation â€Å"What is the stimulus situation faced by the student?† (Gagne, p. 123). The situation can be defined as the circumstances of the instructional objective. What is being offered? Under what Objectives and Goals 6 condition is the instruction or assessment is being administered? Using our example, the situation is â€Å"using an iPad† or â€Å"using a computer†. Learned Capability Verb (LCV) This component deals with how the situation is applied. Gagne states that there are nine standard verbs that are used: discriminate, identify, classify, demonstrate, generate, adopt, state, execute, and choose. Gagne (1988) states, â€Å"By including one of these verbs in the objective, the intended behavior is more clearly communicated, and the conditions of learning appropriate to that type of learning outcome are more readily applied† (p. 125). For our example, demonstrate, generate, chose, and execute would most likely be the actions used. Object The object is the actual learned item or behavior that the learner is applying with the LCV. It can also be described as the learning objective that the learner will demonstrate. Using our example, how to assign and submit assignments electronically using the laptop and iPad would be the object of the performance objective. Action Verb Gagne (1988) explains, â€Å"The action verb describes how the performance is to be completed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p. 125). There are many different action verbs that can be used depending on the task. Objectives and Goals 7 Hypothesizing, solving, and typing are considered action verbs. In our example, the learner so far has been instructed to demonstrate how to assign and submit an assignment. Applicable action verbs would be â€Å"upload† or â€Å"download†. Tools, Constraints, or Special Conditions This title is self-explaining. This section deals with the conditions, the limitations and the applicable media of the objective. In our example, iPads and laptops are the tools that are being used in this lesson. A constraint is the time frame that the teachers are limited to for the instruction. From personal experience, most of these types of training exercises and courses are limited to just a few hours, or at most, one day. Outcome The outcome of the five-point approach for our example is, â€Å"Using an iPad or Laptop, the teacher will demonstrate how to assign and submit a lesson electronically by uploading the assignment in the fewest steps possible†. Summary Properly defining goals is the first step to designing an instructional plan. Program objectives are a general outline of what it takes to reach that goal. The learning objectives are the specific skills and knowledge objectives that are used to meet the program objectives. Following the five-step performance objective model, learners should be able to easily understand what learning outcomes they are required to demonstrate at the end of instruction.

Food Safety - Chemical, Microbiology, etc Term Paper

Food Safety - Chemical, Microbiology, etc - Term Paper Example In the wake of the salmonella outbreak, many companies withdrew their peanut butter products from the market. Nearly seventy companies recalled 125 peanut butter products. A large number of adults and children had fallen ill, after consuming the King Nut brand peanut butter. Tests conducted by the CDC and other state health institutions have confirmed traces of salmonella in the peanut butter, manufactured by the King Nut company. This brand is supplied in large containers to organizations, such as nursing homes, schools, and hospitals. However, consumption of peanut butter products of other companies that were sold to customers in retail outlets or grocery stores did not contain salmonella. The contaminated peanut butter was not sold directly to the consumers. It was supplied to food service providers in the States of Ohio, Michigan, North Dakota, Minnesota, Arizona, Idaho, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Florida. It was then redistributed to retail sellers. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, traces of salmonella bacteria were found in a container of King Nut brand peanut butter. This came to light on account of preliminary laboratory tests conducted on samples of peanut butter. The E. coli outbreak of 1993 had claimed the lives of three children in Western Washington. In January and February of that year, these children had consumed meat contaminated with the E. coli bacteria. This outbreak also caused 450 people to fall ill; in addition, a few others were rendered ill after being exposed to people who had been infected with these bacteria. Finally, the cause of this infection was traced to the undercooked meat served in the Jack in the Box Restaurants. Acylamide is a carcinogen and neurotoxin that is formed in a number of food products.

How global warming is causing the spread of disease Essay

How global warming is causing the spread of disease - Essay Example Only very wealthy people could actually own and operate cars. However today almost everyone owns a car. This is because machines produce other machines and thus reduce the costing of building. Thus it can be said that humans live in a much mechanized world today. The machines however need energy to operate. The biggest source of energy for these machines comes from fossil fuels. This is because humans have still not invented a widely usable perfect substitute for non-renewable energy. The energy used has a very bad impact on the environment. The carbon is residue of most combustion process. This is because humans have still not formed a combustion system which could burn with 100 % efficiency. This level of efficiency means that all the fuel I converted to energy. However the current combustion systems give shockingly less amount of efficiency even lower than 50% in many cases. The carbon fuel that does not converted into energy because of this low efficiency level is emitted into th e atmosphere. Combined with other harmful products it becomes major contributor to ozone depletion and global warming. Thus not only is it hazardous to health is inhaled in large quantities but it almost causes irreparable damage to our environment. In definition global warming refers to the increase temperature near the Earth’s surface. According to scientists this process started in the mid-twentieth century and is still going on. The reports recently released by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control), in the last few years global temperatures have shown an increase of 0.74  Ã‚ ±Ã‚  0.18  Ã‚ °C (1.33  Ã‚ ±Ã‚  0.32  Ã‚ °F). Along with burning of fossil fuels as explained above, the deforestation of rain forests is also a major cause of this increase. According to some shocking reports released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control the temperatures are expected to rise another 1.1 to 6.4  Ã‚ °C (2.0 to 11.5  Ã‚ °F), in the next few decades.

Education in America between suburban and urban schools Essay

Education in America between suburban and urban schools - Essay Example The process of accreditation was initiated in 1913, ending in 1952. Within the last century, the quantities of private high schools have grown at relatively stable rates, unlike public schools whose growth rates have fallen since the 1950’s and 1960’s. For example, between 1966 and 1976, the quantities of state educational institutions have grown at more than 180 percent, with private schools only growing about 10 percent at the same time. In the beginning of the present century, the average special educational institution made up roughly half the quantity of all educational institutions of the higher school. From the 1950’s through the 1970’s, the public sector of higher education increased due to a rise in the quantity of biennial colleges. For example, in 1970 the state biennial colleges made up more than 70 percent of all varieties of biennial colleges combined. However, by the end of 20th century their quantity had decreased to only 60 percent. The number of students attending the accredited high schools within the 2 0th century grew at higher rates than the quantity of other educational institutions. Further, at the beginning of the present century, accredited enrollment was made up of approximately 15 million people. However, at the beginning of the 1990’s, the tendency of excess of rates of growth of the number of students above that of the rates of growth of high schools had changed, and the quantity of high schools began to grow at higher rates than that of the number of students. During this period the lowest gain was eight percent, which occurred when the gain of the quantity of high schools for the same period experienced a 15 percent growth rate. In this situation, the average number of students of an educational institution, which constantly grew during all centuries, began to decrease. If in 1990 the average of students made 3.9 thousand persons, in 2000 the rate was

Sexual Harassment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sexual Harassment - Research Paper Example (The Masschusetts Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights pp. 3-5) What is sexual harassment in employment? Sexual harassment is a situation where an unwanted attention of a sexual behavior occurs in the process of working or seeking work and hence threatens the ability of an individual to earn a living. . (The Masschusetts Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights pp. 3-5) Is it a serious problem? Harassment can be with different behaviors like passing distracting or annoying comments to intimidate, giving threats or demanding to have sexual conduct. The most troublesome and serious situation happens when an employee faces a supervisor who makes sexual demands accompanied by job-related threats. Majority of the people thinks that such situation becomes very critical to handle. Such situations especially happen where jobs are scarce and when the employee has few job skills. (Conte pp. 6-10) However, less unmitigated forms of harassment may also have the serious effect of threatening the income of an employee or his or her career prospects. Acts that may appear to be disturbing and distracting from the victim's perspective, may sufficiently lead to a fall in work performance or might even try to take majority day offs in order to ignore such situations. (Conte pp. 6-7) Who are the victims? According to most of the studies, this kind of problem of encountering sex related threats demands, and annoying behavior are being mostly faced by women. This is understood because it is very consistent with the way power is distributed in the workplace as women workers are typically at the bottom of the job ladder, and those in supervisory positions are mostly males. (Boland p. 12-18) There are many variations to these work places like professors happen to be mostly male, are in a position to take advantage of students, female enrollment in skilled trades apprenticeships is increasing, but instructors, union officials, and foremen are almost invariably male and even female professionals employed by corporations, government agencies, and other large institutions are almost always responsible to male executives. Those who claim that there are places where males get harassed by females do have a point and must get equal consideration, but very few females are in a position to take advantage over males in the workplace. Sexual overtures from the employee to the supervisor hardly entail the threat associated with the reverse. (Boland p. 12-18) Why is this issue receiving so much attention recently? Sexual harassment in the workplace is a very old problem. Women have put up with it in the past because there has been no simple escape. However, recent increases in the number of women in the labor force have made us aware of a whole range of ignored issues of concern to working women—harassment, child care, comparable worth, and others. In the last few years, court decisions and guidelines of Federal and State agencies h ave made it clear that sexual harassment is illegal and has defined the responsibilities of employers in

Immigration to America after the Civil War Essay

Immigration to America after the Civil War - Essay Example Immigrations to the United States after the Civil War had many economic benefits and a few negative implications to the country. Labor was at the center of focus after the abolition of the slave trade. An aberration from the trend seen in 1860, the number of workers compared to the total population rose from 33% to 40%, this represented growth by a factor of 2.7 between 1870 and 1920 (Walton & Rockoff 319). This prompted need for labor that ended up facilitating migration of people to the United States. The lives of the people who worked as slaves were fully transformed since there was no more forced labor. On the other hand, the large-scale farmers had a difficult moment adjusting to the new system of operations. This led to failure of some and rising of small-scale producers, who took advantage of the labor boycott by the slaves. The deficit created in terms of labor attracted foreigners who came to America in large numbers. In addition, the situation was aggravated by other extern al factors as the Irish Potato Famine in Ireland. The rise in population because of immigration acted as a catalyst to the rise of the rapid industrialization experienced between 1877 and 1900. The number of immigrants rose to more than seven million during the period. This was accompanied by a tremendous increase in population from 49 million in 1880 to 76 million in 1900 (White 1). The immigrants occupied most parts of America except the southern parts that were fully occupied by American farmers and industrialists. Many industries came up while those affected by the war restructured prompting the demand for additional labor. New production processes were initiated and research was intensified in order to facilitate industrial development. By 1900, many industries stood tall in provision of quality goods and services. This enhanced competition and trade (White 1). Increasing population facilitated a change in the demand and supply dynamics. The increased population provided a broa d market for goods and services, a factor that made it possible to increase the supply. In order, to take care of the supply needs individuals and corporate emerged with solutions to handle the increased supply. There was need for shelter that facilitated initiation of housing projects, need for food that boosted agriculture, the need for clothing facilitated the revamping of cotton farming and establishments of ginneries among other establishments. This demand created high production that facilitated trade within the country as well as opened new frontiers of business especially in Europe (White 1). The immigration rate was a blessing in disguise, since some of the immigrants helped reconnect America with their mother countries hence facilitating knowledge sharing and trading activities. Surplus production increased tremendously. Immigrations to the United States triggered economic changes that were politically motivated. It is worth noting that during the Civil War, there was a gr eat rift between the people of the southern parts of United States and the federal government under Abraham Lincoln. The people of south had an ideological difference with the leadership of the federal government since they wanted to retain slave trade (Digital History 2). Immigration facilitated an anti-democratic movement that was meant to put restriction on voting rights. The movement

Literacy Skills and Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Literacy Skills and Practices - Essay Example This paper focuses on my literary practices, how they came by and the technological and social perspectives. When I was around three and years old, my parents used to read to me. This way I was able to memorize some of the stories they read to me. Computers and television played a significant role in teaching me how to read and write through educational programs. This helped to shape me as a writer and lay a firm literacy foundation. I got my first computer when I was in fifth grade. Initially, I used it to play music and online games but later I used it to communicate via email and social media. Word processors came in handy when designing text documents. Since then, the computer has been part and passel of my reading and writing process. The new technologies have transformed my literacy practices, both intentionally and unintentionally. They have built my foundational literacy skills such as phonics, comprehension, spelling, vocabulary, writing, and phonemic awareness. Initially, t he definition of literacy was based in the print world, which was a world of print media, a two-dimensional world of images and print. This definition does not accommodate the new ways of literacy practices like information search across multiple media, the participating visual conferences and virtual environments, emails, creating personal blogs, wikis or websites. As a reader, I am not confined to comprehending and decoding the print word. I am able to author texts, critique and respond to texts, read and understand information from numerous perspectives. No set of rules or regulations are set to guide my online participation and monitor what I pay attention to. As a reader, I am expected to understand complex designs which include pop-ups, images, hyperlinks, and icons. My teachers have guided and modelled me literally, enabling me to critically synthesize and analyze ideas; interpret messages; identify audience and purpose and be involved in reflective activities. Technology has provided many opportunities for us as learners to collaborate with one another; hence literacy is not only about writing but also a combination of ideas with other people. As a student, I have been able to link with other students across the globe. This includes various people from different cultural backgrounds and nationalities. This activity has always been preceded by thorough research on how different cultures respond and react to different information. As students, we have literally engaged in practices away from our classrooms. Some students run and own blogs and, therefore, communicate regularly with other peers. By reading different educative blogs and articles, I have managed to harness vast knowledge on a wide variety of issues. Currently, learners are called upon as confident and discerning users of search engines and websites, social networking participants, complex information maze scrutinizers, critical and strategic explorers.

Digital rights management (only the written part) Essay

Digital rights management (only the written part) - Essay Example This is all great for sharing various works and ideas, publishing content cheaply, etc. but there is a problem here as well, and that is what were going to discuss - the issue of Digital Rights Management or DRM for short, with a focus on music files. One of the consequences of files spreading so easily is that â€Å"intellectual property owners lose control of distribution† (Kumik, 2003) and usually don’t get paid regardless of the time, cost, and effort that may have gone into producing it. The music industry has been particularly affected (Peitz et al, 2005). This puts off many from publishing on the Internet, but as a distribution channel, nothing else can compete, so it is attractive as well. Among end users also, there is an issue of privacy (Feigenbaum et al, 2002). Firstly, let me explain precisely what is DRM. According to Subrmanya (Subramanya, 2006), DRM broadly refers to â€Å"a set of policies, techniques and tools that guide the proper use of digital content†. It is clearly â€Å"rooted in and driven by business interests and legal concerns† as pointed out by William Rosenblatt and others in their book ‘Digital Rights Management: Business and Technology’ (Rosenblatt et al, 20 01). Technology enabled the digital revolution to take place, but many content owners are therefore now eager â€Å"for more intelligent, efficient, and effective management of their content† (Hilts, 2003) as well. If we break down the whole process of content flow from ‘packaging’, through transmission, tracking, and delivery, and of course, redelivery, protection measures can be applied at each stage. Already, we have digital watermarking, the protocols for content syndication, rights expression languages, etc. (Becker et al, 2003) But it is not straightforward because in the fast changing world we live in, implementation is still an obstacle as is the legal side, business models change, and

Change the Culture of an Organisation Essay Example for Free

Change the Culture of an Organisation Essay The culture of an organization can be defined by the ‘way they do things’, this means the way they make decisions, operate and how they choose and achieve their objectives. As culture is a set of values and practices, changing it may be difficult and a long process, especially if the change is organized by a new chief executive. Changing the culture of an organization may not be easy especially if the new chief executive does not fully understand the previous culture and therefore does not embrace it in the change. This lack of knowledge may result in an inappropriate culture being chosen that could limit the company’s performance as productivity reduces. An example of a badly imposed culture can been seen with the Chrysler and Damier-Benz merge in 1998. Damier-Benz imposed their traditional and structured German culture on the free-spirited American car company Chrysler. The extremely different cultures created tension that later affected their efficiency as decision-making took longer and the workforce were not happy. The inappropriate culture resulted in a loss of $1.5 billon by 2006. In 2011, the new chief executive of Tesco, Phillip Clarke, also made a cultural change which proved unsuccessful. He proposed a strategy to change Tesco’s brand image to be known for â€Å"highly valued brands† as opposed to their cheaper â€Å"Value† products. The decrease in popular promotion deals such as vouchers and meal deals reduced their sales revenue and share value which fell by 15% by the end of 2011. This suggests that Clarke failed to identify Tesco’s main source of competitively. Therefore, both examples show that cultural changes may be difficult as the new chief executives lack knowledge and experience in the company. Culture change also takes a long time, especially as traditions and values are set. A prime example of this is with Sony. Sony is a Japan-based company who prides themselves in adopting a traditional Japanese business culture. Examples of their culture can be seen with their clear line of authority and their strong belief in respect. However, Sony’s reducing performance and the fast changing world alarmed the new chief executive, Howard Stringer, to change the culture to one that embraces change. Although proposals to change the culture were made in 2007, Sony’s culture has still not fully transformed which is reflected in their still low competitively. Therefore, it may still take some time for Sony to fully embrace an innovative culture as their Japanese culture has largely influenced the organization. It also took a long time for Marks Spencer to introduce higher levels of technology, such as a stock control system, as they are said to have a ‘backward culture’. This is because they don’t embrace change and are led by system and procedures. These examples provide evidence that change in a business’s culture may not be done quickly as the organization is accustomed to the previous culture. However, changing a company’s culture can be easy if the new chief executive conducts the change in an appropriate manner. As culture change will have a direct impact on stakeholders, it is important for the new chief executive to inform all stakeholders of the changes and to also encourage feedback. The loss of the innovative leader of Apple, Steve Jobbs created much anxiety about the new CEO Tim Cook. Stakeholders feared Cook would change the company and reject all Jobbs practices especially as the two leaders have different personalities. The media worsened the situation with continuous negative press coverage which resulted in a decrease in consumer confidence as well as Apple’s share price. Although Jobbs had planned to make some strategic changes to the company’s practices, he reassured stakeholders by stating that â€Å"Apple will not change†. He also identified these new strategies and their benefits in a press release which justified his decisions and satisfied stakeholders. The newfound trust of stakeholders will enable Apple’s cultural change to be easier and happen more quickly. In view of the above, I believe that it is not easy to change the culture of a business, as the current practices are custom to the organization; this also suggests that the change will be quite a process and therefore won’t be done quickly. This situation is worsened as the chief executive is new and won’t have the necessary knowledge and understanding of the business to enable a smooth and quick transition. However, the ability for the new chief executive to change the business’s culture quickly and easily is highly dependant upon the reaction of the stakeholders. For example, BP’s customers may react positively as the new culture will increase the company’s responsiveness to customers. Shareholders may also react positively as the increase of innovation should increase BP’s competitive advantage which could increase the company’s value and share price. However, the increase in innovation may pose a threat the employees as management will expect higher quality and the need for more qualified personnel may be necessary. Therefore, support from stakeholders will encourage an easier and quickly transformation whereas negativity will not. The skills of the workforce is also important as if they are innovative the cultural change will happen faster. However, Sony is in a creative industry and their strategy to increase innovation still took a long time. This suggests that attitudes and beliefs of the workforce are also important. An easy change is also depend upon the new executives approach, is it forceful or flexible? Damier-Benz’s forceful approach result in a large amount of tension that slowed the change and resulted in a financial loss.

Cognitive Dissonance Essay Example for Free

Cognitive Dissonance Essay Solving a cognitive dissonance is a good way to look at all your cards on the table, so to speak. The definition of cognitive dissonance is A feeling of discomfort caused by a discrepancy between an attitude and a behavior or between two attitudes. (S.Carpenter, K. Huffman 2010). This is means that cognitive dissonance is a problem that involves how you feel and what you are doing to cause the problem. For an example: a man has stolen a car. He feels upset that he has stolen the car but he is in desperate need of money. The mans attitude is that stealing is wrong and his behavior is that he has stolen a car. To solve this cognitive dissonance, the man will have to either change his attitude (change his belief that stealing is wrong) or his behavior (Give back the car and never steal again). To solve cognitive dissonance you will have to, like I put it, put your cards on the table and resolve your problem(s). Like the stealing man I referenced, he noticed his problem was either his attitude for the whole thing or his behavior. To avoid cognitive dissonance, you can completely ignore the problem. Someone can be a doctor that chain smokes even though they have warned their patients of the dangers of smoking and completely ignore the attitude (guilt for being a hypocrite and endangering their own lives) and the behavior (smoking) and be a smoker without thinking anything wrong or good about it. One example of cognitive dissonance that happened to me is the first and only time I cheated on a test back in high school. I needed to pass an exam because I was out sick for a month and my grade was low. A student was selling the test answers for five dollars and I bought one. When I took the test, I was felt guilty for cheating. My attitude was that cheating was wrong yet my behavior was that I was cheating on my test. I choose to fix my attitude on the grounds of that I REALLY needed to pass the test with flying colors and I felt that studying wasnt going to cut it. It turns out that the test answers were from the wrong test and everyone who bought the answers, like me, failed. Luckily the teacher hated the turn out so much that she allowed everyone to retake it. I got a 95% on my own. I never cheated again.

GDP and Business Environment of China

GDP and Business Environment of China Overview China is the oldest continuous major world civilization, with records dating back about 3,500 years. Successive dynasties developed a system of bureaucratic control that gave the agrarian-based Chinese an advantage over neighboring nomadic and hill cultures. Chinese civilization was further strengthened by the development of a Confucian state ideology and a common written language that bridged the gaps among the countrys many local languages and dialects. Whenever China was conquered by nomadic tribes, as it was by the Mongols in the 13th century, the conquerors sooner or later adopted the ways of the higher Chinese civilization and staffed the bureaucracy with Chinese. The last dynasty was established in 1644, when the Manchus overthrew the native Ming dynasty and established the Qing (Ching) dynasty with Beijing as its capital. At great expense in blood and treasure, the Manchus over the next half century gained control of many border areas, including Xinjiang, Yunnan, Tibet, Mongolia, and Taiwan. The success of the early Qing period was based on the combination of Manchu martial prowess and traditional Chinese bureaucratic skills. During the 19th century, Qing control weakened, and prosperity diminished. China suffered massive social strife, economic stagnation, explosive population growth, and Western penetration and influence. The Taiping and Nian rebellions, along with a Russian-supported Muslim separatist movement in Xinjiang, drained Chinese resources and almost toppled the dynasty. Britains desire to continue its illegal opium trade with China collided with imperial edicts prohibiting the addictive drug, and the First Opium War erupted in 1 840. China lost the war; subsequently, Britain and other Western powers, including the United States, forcibly occupied concessions and gained special commercial privileges. Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking, and in 1898, when the Opium Wars finally ended, Britain executed a 99-year lease of the New Territories, significantly expanding the size of the Hong Kong colony. As time went on, the Western powers, wielding superior military technology, gained more economic and political privileges. Reformist Chinese officials argued for the adoption of Western technology to strengthen the dynasty and counter Western advances, but the Qing court played down both the Western threat and the benefits of Western technology. In Beijing, on October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the Peoples Republic of China (P.R.C.). The new government assumed control of a people exhausted by two generations of war and social conflict, and an economy ravaged by high inflation and disrupted transportation links. A new political and economic order modeled on the Soviet example was quickly installed. In the early 1950s, China undertook a massive economic and social reconstruction program. The new leaders gained popular support by curbing inflation, restoring the economy, and rebuilding many war-damaged industrial plants. The CCPs authority reached into almost every aspect of Chinese life. Party control was assured by large, politically loyal security and military forces; a government apparatus responsive to party direction; and the placement of party members into leadership positions in labor, womens, and other mass organizations. Natural resources Coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (worlds largest). Agriculture: Products Among the worlds largest producers of rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, peanuts, tea, millet, barley; commercial crops include cotton, other fibers, apples, oilseeds, pork and fish; produces variety of livestock products. Industry: Types Mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizers; consumer products, including footwear, toys, and electronics; food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, rail cars and locomotives, ships, and aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites. Trade in 2008 Exports $1.5 trillion: electrical and other machinery, including data processing equipment, apparel, textiles, iron and steel, optical and medical equipment. Business Environment in China Activity indicators Show the working of the economy as a whole. Consumer indicators Show the increase in the demand of consumer product but the unemployment is still rising. Business indicators Show that the profit margin is decreasing but the inventories are increasing yoy. External indicators Show that the import is increasing faster than the export of the country. Inflation indicators Show that the consumer price inflation is become negative but core price are not affected due to this. Financial market indicators Shows that investor are investing but wait for future interest rate cut so that they can get more fund at cheaper rate of interest. Analysis and Interpretation We can analysis from the 1st and 4th chart that the GDP of China is growing from last 5-6 years but it show the decline in the 2008-09 that might be because of the global recession going on. All China has growing economy which set the benchmark for the other country. We can analysis in the 2nd and 3rd chart that the urban fixed investment is very fluctuating from last 5-6 years in one year it increase and in the other year it decrease. But that might be the internal condition and demand and supply effect change the overall investment in the country. Analysis and Interpretation We can analysis from the 1st chart that the retail sales is increasing year after year and that is good sign for the economy as well as for the business environment is concern because it will generate new employment and source of income for the people of China. We can analysis from the 2nd chart that per capital income and consumption is fluctuating from last 5-6 year that might be due the changing in the per capital income and the price index of the country. But another positive sign we find that most of the time consumption is less that the income which means the people are able to save some amount from their income which is good sign for any country. We can analysis from the 3rd and 4th chart that the unemployment is increasing year after year and on the other hand in the 4th chart the employment is fluctuating but most of the time it is increasing. So we can find that the unemployment is increasing because of increasing in population more that the increasing rate of employment. Analysis and Interpretation We can analysis from the 1st and 2nd chart that the industrial output is increasing year after year which is good sign for the growth of the economy because as output increasing which means the sales will increase, if sales will increase then more income will generate, then it will increase money flow in the market. So all these things will effected just because of increasing output of the industry. We can analysis from the 3rd chart that the inventories of the industry is increasing year after year that might be good as well as bad sign for the industry because it has their own benefit like constant supply and its own risk like blockage of funds in the inventory. We can analysis from the 4th chart that the industry has earning a good profit margin from last 5-6 years which is good sign for the growth of the business in China and an opportunity for other to do business in the China. Analysis and Interpretation We can analysis from the 1st and 4th chart that import and export is increasing year after year in amount but if we find the increase in percentage then we find that the increase and decrease is very fluctuating from last 5-6 year. We can analysis from the 2nd and 3rd chart that export is increasing more that the export in last 4-5 years which means it helps to increasing the balance of payment of the economy of China. Analysis and Interpretation We can analysis from the all of the above chart that the price of all the commodities whether they are capital goods or house hold good is increasing year after year and it is always say that in the growing economy the prices are always increasing with the growth of the economy. Analysis and Interpretation We can analysis from the 1st and 2nd chart that the government has given more rate of return to its investor year after year which means the government want to increase the investment in the country. We can analysis from the 3rd and 4th chart that interest rate are decreasing year after year which means the people can borrow money at cheaper interest rate and then can get more return by investing in different sources of income. JAPAN Overview Legend attributes the creation of Japan to the sun goddess, from whom the emperors were descended. The first of them was Jimmu, supposed to have ascended the throne in 660 B.C. a tradition that constituted official doctrine until 1945. Recorded Japanese history begins in approximately A.D. 400, when the Yamato clan, eventually based in Kyoto, managed to gain control of other family groups in central and western Japan. Contact with Korea introduced Buddhism to Japan at about this time. Through the 700s Japan was much influenced by China, and the Yamato clan set up an imperial court similar to that of China. In the ensuing centuries, the authority of the imperial court was undermined as powerful gentry families vied for control. At the same time, warrior clans were rising to prominence as a distinct class known as samurai. In 1192, the Minamoto clan set up a military government under their leader, Yoritomo. He was designated shogun (military dictator). For the following 700 years, shoguns from a succession of clans ruled in Japan, while the imperial court existed in relative obscurity. First contact with the West came in about 1542, when a Portuguese ship off course arrived in Japanese waters. Portuguese traders, Jesuit missionaries, and Spanish, Dutch, and English traders followed. Suspicious of Christianity and of Portuguese support of a local Japanese revolt, the shoguns of the Tokugawa period (1603-1867) prohibited all trade with foreign countries; only a Dutch trading post at Nagasaki was permitted. Western attempts to renew trading relations failed until 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry sailed an American fleet into Tokyo Bay. Trade with the West was forced upon Japan under terms less than favorable to the Japanese. Strife caused by these actions brought down the feudal world of the shoguns. In 1868, the emperor Meiji came to the throne, and the shogun system was abolished. Geographic An archipelago in the Pacific, Japan is separated from the east coast of Asia by the Sea of Japan. It is approximately the size of Montana. Japans four main islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. The Ryukyu chain to the southwest was U.S.-occupied from 1945 to 1972, when it reverted to Japanese control, and the Kurils to the northeast are Russian-occupied. Land area: 152,411 sq mi (394,744 sq km); Analysis and Interpretation We can analysis from the above charts that consumption and inventories are increasing from last 2 years and private fixed investment is decreasing from last 1.5 year which means this disinvestment is going on just because of global recession going on in the world. Analysis and Interpretation We can analysis from the above chart that from last 2 quarters the GDP and industrial production is increasing which means the Japan has come out of the recession going on in the world economy and this is good sign for the future of the people of Japan and business going on in Japan. Analysis and Interpretation We can analysis from the above charts that prices where increasing from last 4-5 years but from last one year it is below zero which means due to recession the demand of the good are decrease which decrease the price of the commodity. Analysis and Interpretation We can analysis from the above charts that the unemployment is decreasing from the last 4-5 years but it suddenly increase in the current year and in last year just because of recession and it is permitted that it will decrease again in future also. In the other chart we find that from last 4-5 years the wages are quite constant but it suddenly decrease again due to recession only and we can say that it will again come to its resistance level when the economy will stable. Analysis and Interpretation We can analysis from the above charts that apart from the year 2008-09 the interest rate, monetary policy and money growth is increasing from last 3-4 year which is good sign for any economy. But if we look after the year 2008-09 then that is again the time period of recession which cant show the real picture of the economy. Text of report by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) Tokyo, 5 December: China and Japan signed the China-Japan Long- Term Trade Agreement in Tokyo on 5 December. This provided a framework for trade exchanges between the two countries between 2006 and 2010. Chen Jian, assistant to Chinas minister of commerce and chairman of Chinas China-Japan Long-Term Trade Agreement Committee, and Koga Kensuke, chairman of Japans Japan-China Long-Term Trade Agreement Committee, signed the agreement. The core content of this long-term trade agreement is that China and Japan will further strengthen cooperation in energy conservation technologies and equipment as well as environmental protection technologies and equipment, and has reached agreement on Chinas export of coal to Japan and Chinas import of energy conservation and environmental protection equipment and technologies from Japan. This was the sixth time a similar agreement was signed since the first China-Japan Long-Term Trade Agreement was signed in 1978. The China-Japan Long-Term Trade Agreement has played an important role in maintaining the stable and rapid development of trade exchanges between the two countries. During this period, total bilateral trade between China and Japan increased from 4.82bn US dollars to 168bn US dollars in 2004. Total trade volume is expected to see further increases this year. Impact of agreement upon both the countries Build good relation between both of the countries. Overcome the weakness of one country by the strength of another country. Increase the trade between the two countries. Open route for future contracts also in different areas. CONCLUSION China and Japan are very popular countries in world. Both have contributed for the development of world economy and helps established the international market in world. China is popular for the production electronic products at very cheap prices. China is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Japan is popular for development of new technology innovation and Japan is the second largest energy importer after United States. Japan is one of the best destinations for starting new business or we can say that it is an international opportunity to work with the technology conscious country so that it will helps to make a competitive edge for our business. Overall we can say that both the countries have their positive aspect as well as negative aspects. So it is very difficult to select one country to be the best because if we think for the international market we cannot select only one country for our business opportunity. So, both the countries are having good business opportunities. BIBLIOGRAPHY http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107666.html?pageno=4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/global_economy/japanecon_charts.html http://www.mofa.go.jp/POLICY/economy/japan/indicator2.pdf http://www.redorbit.com/news/international/327614/china_japan_sign_20052010_longterm_trade_agreement/index.html www.fundsupermart.com.my/main/research/viewHT http://www.capitaleconomics.com/clientarea/articles/China%20Chartbook%20(Feb%2009).pdf

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham City Jail” Essay

Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote an argumentative persuasive essay, the â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† on April 16, 1963. King had written this letter to address and respond to the criticism made by the white clergymen. The letter was an approach to end racism and hatred in a non-violent manner. The non-violent movement was organized by King and his pro-black organization called â€Å"The Southern Christian Leadership Conference†. King and his pro-black organization group presented the essay to argue non-violent actions against the racial discrimination and hatred among the black community residing in Birmingham. The letter was also aimed towards the freedom and equality to not just the black community but also to the white community, to the social, religious and political community. King wanted to address the stress of everyone having freedom and equality. King’s main thesis in writing the Birmingham Letter is that racial discrimination and hatred to the black community is due to the optimism of the white community. I agree with his main points that King had presented in the essay. Everyone should have equal rights in every criteria including socially, politically, and religiously. This is what King wanted for everyone. He wanted to peacefully bring every race and gender together as one society not multiple societies like how it was. King argued the freedom and equality for everyone in the United States and that there shouldn’t be a reason to prejudice to each other. King supported his points throughout his essay by using logos. Logos is the use of facts, statistics and studies to show others why and how your point is correct. He researched his opinions and accumulated facts to prove his opinions and thoughts. In the l... ...n you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?† The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust.† He makes the readers think that he knows what he is talking about and shows determination. King had written this letter to address and respond to the criticism made by the white clergymen. The letter was an approach to end racism and hatred in a non-violent manner. King and his pro-black organization group presented the essay to argue non-violent actions against the racial discrimination and hatred among the black community residing in Birmingham. The letter was also aimed towards the freedom and equality to not just the black community but also to the white community, to the social, religious and political community. King wanted to stand up for his thoughts and ideas that everyone should have freedom and equality.

Stereotyping Women In The Media :: Gender Papers

Throughout history when we think about women in society we think of small and thin. Today's current portrayal of women stereotypes the feminine sex as being everything that most women are not. Because of this depiction, the mentality of women today is to be thin and to look a certain way. There are many challenges with women wanting to be a certain size. They go through physical and mental problems to try and overcome what they are not happy with. In the world, there are people who tell us what size we should be and if we are not that size we are not even worth anything. Because of the way women have been stereotyped in the media, there has been some controversial issues raised regarding the way the world views women. These issues are important because they affect the way we see ourselvesÂâ€"contributing in a negative way to how positive or negative our self image is. In the media there are people who view women a certain way, and if we don't hold to the standard that we are not as good as other women who are the size the media says we have to be. In an article it said that "Large women in America are to all intents and purposes invisible in today's thinness-obsessed culture. A big women is neither seen nor heard, and is defined purely in terms of her weight and other people's prejudice." (Goodman par 1) This is a hard thing for women that a heavier to understand because they want the person to think that they are heard. This plays into the way that they think and the way that women look at their bodies. You can see this happening with different types of televisions shows, which put on the show thinner women. "Practically the only television programming that addresses her directly consists of weight-loss ads, the message: lose weight. You're not real women unless you're thin (Goodman)". It is hard to think that this statement could be true, but 2

Katherine Ann Porters The Jilting of Granny Weatherall :: The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

Katherine Ann Porter's The Jilting of Granny Weatherall â€Å"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,† a short story by Katherine Anne Porter, describes the last thoughts, feelings, and memories of an elderly woman. As Granny Weatherall’s life literally â€Å"flashes† before her eyes, the importance of the title of the story becomes obvious. Granny Weatherall has been in some way deceived or disappointed in every love relationship of her life. Her past lover George, husband John, daughter Cornelia, and God each did an injustice to Granny Weatherall. Granny faces her last moments of life with a mixture of strength, bitterness, and fear. Granny gained her strength from the people that she felt jilted by. George stood Granny up at the altar and it is never stated that she heard from him again. The pain forced Granny to be strong. In "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," there are two themes. The first is self-pity. The second theme is the acceptance of her death. Both deal with the way people perceive their deaths and mortality in general. Granny Weatherall's behavior is Porter's tool for making these themes visible to the reader. The theme of self-pity is obvious and thoroughly explored early on. As a young lady, Granny Weatherall was left at the altar on her wedding day. As a result, the pathetic woman feels sorry for herself for the rest of her life. She becomes a bitter old woman who is suspicious of everyone around her. This point is shown early in the story when the do Granny Weatherall, the main character in Katherine Anne Porter's The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, is an 80-year-old elderly woman who is at the doorstep of death. There is a sense of disillusionment with Granny that leads readers to develop their own interpretation of her relationship with Cornelia, her daughter As the narrator, Granny unk nowingly would paint the picture of Cornelia as nuisance and bothersome. In fact, the reader can rationalize that it is just Cornelia's concern for an ailing mother that creates the situation of her seemingly being there all the time. Granny is having mental flashbacks as death approaches like "a fog rose over the valley" (1296). Granny recalls events throughout her life, from being left at the altar on her wedding day, to losing a child, to coming to grips with her own death as the story reaches a close. All of these recollections and the realization of her death bring together the great ironies of the story, ironies which cause not one but two jiltings for Granny.

The Psychology Of Fashion Fashion Essay

Over the 2nd half of the last century, the organic structure has emerged as an object cardinal to our behaviour and to our thrust for intending. Therefore, manner, being in close contact to our organic structures, has started to have the attending of public, creative persons, and intellectuals. Psychology of manner lookIt is a common expression, that persons play the functions associated with their individualism and rank in society. One ever has the want to hold a occupation in a big company ; such companies are normally image-controlled. Companies want their employees to hold proper visual aspect to look successful. Conservative vesture is still the most recognized successful expression for an person. Not merely that, but companies want persons besides to reflect the position and professional public presentation of the company foremost by the feeling left by the manner their employers frock. Those who are non playing functions associated with their places in society appear as odd and non trusted this shows in being careful of what we do or state in their presence. Using this to a client employee interaction, the client response should so be negative, and the impact of such negative response heightens and reaches higher administrative degrees. Looking for a occupation is hard particularly if the purpose is high, the manner one manages his or her visual aspect may be an of import key in giving a good first feeling. The importance may mount to it may non count what cognition, attack or personality if one gets a incorrect first feeling. The reply to the inquiry why employers encourage the image-control plans now becomes clearly comprehensible. The usual society ‘s expression for adult females is that they appear quiet. Nevertheless, adult females began to take on stronger and more important expression likely since society approved for them to have on pants. This reworked transcript is still developing ; and adult females now are taking on non to have on make-up, titling hair, and have oning what has ever been a work forces ‘s wear characteristic such as neckties. It is true that a necktie gives reflects answerability, dependability, shrewdness, and position, therefore, a scarf may non be adequate neckwear for adult females. These organic structure fond regards are non merely a signifier of stylish vesture, but used besides to demo the singularity of an person. When a occupation demand is divergent communicating with clients as in gross revenues or public dealingss, of import qualities for choice are good wellness and good- looking, every bit good as cognition and acquaintance with the merchandise or house. However, non all directors appreciate these positions ; alternatively, they worry possibly excessively much about the manner mentalities, which can be a penchant for choice. Psychological theories related to FashionThe bases of depth psychology theory as explained by Sigmund Freud are four rules:Organization of personality.Psychosexual stages of development.Natural psychological activity.Psychoanalytical method of psychotherapeutics. Many psychologists applied Freud ‘s psychoanalytic theory to the survey of manner:Theory of switching attractive zonesManner historiographer, James Laver the art historiographer ( 1899-1975 ) theorized the attractive force or seduction rule is what governs adult females manners. For that, the chief thrust behind alterations in adult females manners was the wish to pull the opposite gender. On the other manus, what governs alterations in work forces ‘s manners is the hierarchy ( picking order or ladder ) rule significance that stylish adult male ‘s manner highlights the socioeconomic position more than anything else does. Harmonizing to Laver, female ‘s frock, attracts males by discriminatively covering and concealing certain parts of the female anatomy. Therefore, different manners are based on switching attractive zones. Manner helps to maintain involvement in the organic structure by constructing what can be called attractive capital that is covering up part s for longtime plenty to construct up a sense of delectation when seeing them once more. Sexual symbolism of vestureAlison Lurie the American novelist ( born in 1926 ) applied the psychoanalytic theory in her description of what one ‘s pocketbook communicates. Gender attractive force is non all a pocketbook communicates. Its contents represent the contents of head, or act as a portable individuality hint. At the same clip, nevertheless, the bag suggests magnet information in the eyes of the perceiver. A tightly closed, fastened, and folded bag points to a adult female who protects her privacy ( physical and emotional ) . An open-topped to a great extent loaded bag, points to an unfastened, swearing personality, which may name for attack. A pocketbook that has many compartments, points to a methodical organized head or a adult female who engages in many activities in life. A one-compartment pocketbook, on the other manus, points to the opposite particularly if disorganized and mixed up. The executive adult female who carries a pocketbook and a brief instance togethe r may hold two opposing inconsistent features. Lurie, in her book, besides discusses the imagination associated with work forces ‘s wear ( umbrellas, chapeaus, ties, and walking sticks ) . Manner is a manner of self-expression. It allows people to reassign feelings and ideas without stating a word, and if I may cite from Thomas Carlyle ( the Scottish philosopher and author 1759-1881 ) ; â€Å"Society is founded on fashion†¦ If the cut of the costume signals intellect and endowment, so the colour suggests temper and heart† .

The last supper

The Dad Vinci code Picture says a lot of words Symbols in a picture. Spain: ASK robes. Are priest robes. Poseidon symbol of power Devils pitch fork Christianity, Mary. Pagan god hours century before Christianity understanding past to understand present write your own history, define original truth. People fear what they don't understand Follow Doctrine. Dad Vinci code trivial man star- finical religious icon, symbol for Venus female half. Goddess symbol. Knows the meaning of the symbol has nothing to do with the devil Confession.Monomials right was female the left was male French kind conquered Jerusalem orchestrated. Military arms knights invasion was to find an artifact lost at the time of Christianity Stop searching, quit the holy land. Cot 13, 1307 Friday. Holy grail. â€Å"look up† Jesus had one true message. Arose- symbol of holy grail. Holy grail, god power on earth. Critics, used to keep secrets. You write the info on a papyrus finger, force it open, secrete erases for ever. 12 million possibilities. Churches power on earth, holy grail bible.Constantine was a Christian was baptized on his death bed balance natures, goddess. Turmoil, young Jew named Jesus preaching love centuries after his certification agene create war in the Christianity Constantine pagan, unify Rome religion, Christianity, rise empire tore it apart. Council debated and voted, acceptance gospels date of Easter. Jesus was viewed by many of followers, man immortal man, who is god, who is man? People kill over the question last supper, dad Vinci. Jesus is in the middle. Breaking bread. Wine.How many wine glasses are on the table, a single cup. Both the bible, celebrate the holy grail. Represents aggression, V shape of a woman's womb ancient symbol of woman hood. Holy grail is a woman is in the last supper. The mind chooses what it wants to see. Smeared by the church. Mary macadamia – prostitute. Jesus wife. Jesus and Mary, clothes the same joined at the hip, the grail change position, next to Jesus leaning on him holy grail gospel, Phillip rejected, appear human and not unimportant Mary magnolia companion, spouse.Gospel Mary manacling: the savior made her worthy , Jesus to tell Mary, up to her to continue her church, not Peter. Church by woman descended by kings, Just like holy grail, French general. Royal blood, blood of Christ, Mary was pregnant at the time of the prosecution for her own safety, left the holy land and gave birth to the daughter Sara wrist had a blood line pagans, Joining of man and female, route to heaven, monopoly woman are a huge threat to the church.Witches hammer, torture all woman. 50,000 woman burn alive. Millions. Female child. Worth killing for. Witness the cover up in human history history protectors of the lining descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary magnolia keystone?map, lead us to holy grail guardian of the grail I am the messenger of god. Haunted by angels. God doesn't forgive murderer, he burns them knights swore to defe nd her kneel before her bones holy grail was lost In time Ephesians. Pope Rosella Chapel The Last Supper I know you missed class last week, but I would love to explain one of the important pieces of art we went over, The Last Supper, painted from 1495 to 1498. That day, we went over the history that led up to period of Modern Art. As Leonardo da Vinci painted this huge piece of art, 15 by 29 feet, he had purpose and meaning into every detail, which I will explain to you. The subject around Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper is based on the last meal Christ had with his twelve disciples before one of them betrays Jesus. Judas is the one that betrays Christ that leads to His death on the cross and Resurrection. This meal is also known as the Passover meal where Jesus broke the bread and drank the wine as remembrance of his body and blood that He sacrificed for all mankind. In the Bible (Matthew 26), Jesus says that the one who will betray Him is, â€Å"He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. † In the painting it displays Judas’ left hand and Jesus’ right hand reaching for the food. The Last Supper clearly displays classicism within its details. The biggest thing that Leonardo da Vinci displays in this art piece is Neo-Platonism. This idea or truth has God in the center of all things. It can be displayed as a triangle, which stands for the Trinity, and gives a sense of stability. In The Last Supper, we can see that Leonardo has Jesus in the center of everything, which you will see in the later descriptions. First sign of neoclassicism is the triangles that make up Jesus and next Him. The head of Christ makes the top of the triangle his hands make the bottom two corners. This is so important, since the triangle is upright. When a triangle is upright, it gives the meaning of stability. Therefore, where Christ is the center, there is stability. However, there is an upside down triangle next to Jesus. This is the sign of instability. I believe this is on that side of Jesus, because Judas is also on that side. We can tell that Judas is on this side, because one, both him and Jesus are both reaching for the food, and that is described in the Bible. Also in the Bible (Matthew 26:15) it says that Judas was given thirty pieces of silver to betray the Christ, and in Judas’ right hand it looks like he is holding a sack of coins. Lastly, Leonardo da Vinci painted Judas’ face different than all the others. His face is kind of blurred and is shaped oddly, which is unlike all the others. There are a lot of evidences of classicism in this painting. In this picture, Jesus is the focal point. One sign of classicism is in the lines and symmetry. All of the lines in the ceiling and walls all lead to the head of Jesus. The three windows in the background are symbolizing the Trinity, and the biggest one is framing Christ. This also makes Jesus stand out even more. Also everyone is either pointing to Jesus or are looking at Him. The bread and meal plates are all evenly spaced, which is the sign of classicism. Another sign of classicism in this painting, the colors are very complimentary. Jesus is especially bright in His red and blue. Leonardo did this on purpose, because he wanted to make Jesus stand out the most. This is why he chose red, the color that stands out the most in paintings. The last sign of classicism is the balance. On each side of Jesus, there are two sets of three disciples. The three disciples is a sign of the Trinity and the four groups is also a symbol of Plato’s four virtues. In conclusion, The Last Supper is a huge symbol of classicism and Neo-Platonism. Leonardo da Vinci had many meanings behind each and every detail, from the placement of the bread, to lines on the ceiling. I hope this helps you out a lot. There is a lot of information in just this little paper. The Last Supper I know you missed class last week, but I would love to explain one of the important pieces of art we went over, The Last Supper, painted from 1495 to 1498. That day, we went over the history that led up to period of Modern Art. As Leonardo da Vinci painted this huge piece of art, 15 by 29 feet, he had purpose and meaning into every detail, which I will explain to you. The subject around Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper is based on the last meal Christ had with his twelve disciples before one of them betrays Jesus. Judas is the one that betrays Christ that leads to His death on the cross and Resurrection. This meal is also known as the Passover meal where Jesus broke the bread and drank the wine as remembrance of his body and blood that He sacrificed for all mankind. In the Bible (Matthew 26), Jesus says that the one who will betray Him is, â€Å"He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. † In the painting it displays Judas’ left hand and Jesus’ right hand reaching for the food. The Last Supper clearly displays classicism within its details. The biggest thing that Leonardo da Vinci displays in this art piece is Neo-Platonism. This idea or truth has God in the center of all things. It can be displayed as a triangle, which stands for the Trinity, and gives a sense of stability. In The Last Supper, we can see that Leonardo has Jesus in the center of everything, which you will see in the later descriptions. First sign of neoclassicism is the triangles that make up Jesus and next Him. The head of Christ makes the top of the triangle his hands make the bottom two corners. This is so important, since the triangle is upright. When a triangle is upright, it gives the meaning of stability. Therefore, where Christ is the center, there is stability. However, there is an upside down triangle next to Jesus. This is the sign of instability. I believe this is on that side of Jesus, because Judas is also on that side. We can tell that Judas is on this side, because one, both him and Jesus are both reaching for the food, and that is described in the Bible. Also in the Bible (Matthew 26:15) it says that Judas was given thirty pieces of silver to betray the Christ, and in Judas’ right hand it looks like he is holding a sack of coins. Lastly, Leonardo da Vinci painted Judas’ face different than all the others. His face is kind of blurred and is shaped oddly, which is unlike all the others. There are a lot of evidences of classicism in this painting. In this picture, Jesus is the focal point. One sign of classicism is in the lines and symmetry. All of the lines in the ceiling and walls all lead to the head of Jesus. The three windows in the background are symbolizing the Trinity, and the biggest one is framing Christ. This also makes Jesus stand out even more. Also everyone is either pointing to Jesus or are looking at Him. The bread and meal plates are all evenly spaced, which is the sign of classicism. Another sign of classicism in this painting, the colors are very complimentary. Jesus is especially bright in His red and blue. Leonardo did this on purpose, because he wanted to make Jesus stand out the most. This is why he chose red, the color that stands out the most in paintings. The last sign of classicism is the balance. On each side of Jesus, there are two sets of three disciples. The three disciples is a sign of the Trinity and the four groups is also a symbol of Plato’s four virtues. In conclusion, The Last Supper is a huge symbol of classicism and Neo-Platonism. Leonardo da Vinci had many meanings behind each and every detail, from the placement of the bread, to lines on the ceiling. I hope this helps you out a lot. There is a lot of information in just this little paper.

Germany was to blame for the outbreak of the First World War Essay

Germany was to blame for the outbreak of the First World War do you agree? I do not agree fully that the Germans were to blame for the outbreak of war. German intentions were not to start a war, however there are a few events where they unintentionally helped to escalate the situation. There is no doubt that they did help to escalate the situation between Serbia and Austro Hungary. In this essay I will be arguing that Germans did not cause the outbreak of the war. I will be doing this by discussing the blank cheque, the Schlieffen plan, the September programme, the actions of the Kaiser and the actions of Bethmann Hollweg. Many historians argue that because Germany pre-planed for war that when the chance of war arose they obviously provoked it. The evidence for this argument is the Schlieffen plan, it was a military strategy devised in 1882 as a means of coping with a two front war. Some people argue that the Schlieffen plan is the first traceable reason why the war started. However this is hardly true the Schlieffen plan was drawn up because of the increasing pressure Germany was under because of the triple Entente. Germany was after all geographically in bad position on one side they had France and on the other Russia, to make this situation worse France and Russia were allied. Therefore it is not surprising that a plan was created in case a war with the both countries was to occur. A war such as this would have to be fought on two fronts so to be able to fight a war like this on side would have to be disabled quickly. The German’s plans to get to Paris in 6 weeks is seen to be an aggressive tactic that is why some people see the Schlieffen plan as a plan to expand Germany if war was to break out. It is clear this is not the case, the Schlieffen plan was a defensive strategy designed to help Germany to come with a war on two fronts. The Schlieffen plan can hardly be seen as the Germans planning for war because other nations had simial plans such as Russia who had to stick to their plans so completely that hey had to declare war on Germany. An argument has been put forward that Germany declaring war on France is proof that the Schlieffen plan was a form of expansion for Germany and that that it was not a defensive plan. However this is hardly true, Germany declared war on France because Russia had declared war on them and Russia and France were allies. So to Germany I was natural that France would join the war because of the alliance system. Russia also did the same when the Tsar was told that he could not mobilise against Austria alone because the plans were for a war with Austria and Russia. The September programme drawn up by the chancellor of Germany, Bethmann Hollweg is seen as another piece of evidence suggesting that Germany had planned the war. The September programme was a document that set out Germany’s war aims, including a list of territorial acquisitions. This is seen to be incriminating because it was written so soon after war broke out. However Bethmann Hollweg was under a lot of pressure from military who needed to know their objectives. It should also be considered that the German army had been mobilised for a few months so plans for the army had to be drawn up. Some people argue that because the September programme was released so quickly that these objectives must have been premeditated. This is not completely true, it was important for the germens to think quickly what they were going to have to achieve in the war after all they were fighting on two fronts. Some of the objective might have been premeditated but these were probably defensive ones thought up long ago. It is clear to see that Bethmann Hollweg was caught between the Kaiser and Moltke. Bethmann Hollweg’s behaviour is often criticized during the July crisis. It is Bethmann Hollweg’s actions that are used as the argument against him. However what he did can be seen as a gamble that went horribly wrong. Bethmann was not consulted on the blank cheque but did back it. Some people argue that Bethmann wanted to manipulate Russia into mobilising against Germany so they didn’t look as if they started the war. This is untrue because instead Bethmann thought that he could keep the Balkan war localized. The evidence for this argument is that Bethmann thought that Russia would not help Serbia if a war happened because the Tsar would not lend his support to royal assassins. Bethmann also felt that Russia was not military or financially ready for a war. Germany’s mobilisation against Russia was only meant to deter Russia from war not to provoke them into war that is where Bethmann’s gamble failed. The blank cheque is seen as confirming Germany’s guilt in starting the First World War. The blank cheque is another example of a mistake made by Germany. The Kaiser gave unconditional support to Austria, this was done because Germany felt isolated by the triple entente and wanted to make it clear to Austria that their alliance was strong. However as professor Rohl argues the Kaiser was a very unstable man. There is a lot of evidence to support this argument such as when the Kaiser decided to change is mind about the blank cheque but then was convinced by his wife to â€Å"be a man†. The Kaiser was heavily influenced by others and there are many examples, such as the first Moroccan crisis where he was pushed by Bulow and Holstein into provoking the French. The blank cheque is greatly misunderstood the vague phasing used is open to interpretation. The historian Gerhard Ritter argues â€Å"that Germany sought to deter Russia from war, not to provoke conflict with her†. The blank cheque like the September programme is seen as evidence that Germany had wanted a war for some time but really they have both been misinterpreted. The real nation that was to blame for the outbreak of war was Austro-Hungary who even after finding no evidence that linked the assassins to any terror groups in Serbia and after Serbia agreed to their ultimatum still invaded their country. This is really the behaviour of a nation with war on their agenda. Austro-Hungary it can be said had to avenge the death of Franz Ferdinand. Russia too could have avoided war but much like the Kaiser the Tsar kept on changing his mind. In conclusion from the evidence above it can be seen that everyone muddled into war and that no one power is to blame. The September programme and the Schlieffen plan which are seen to highlight German guilt, do not and are actually defensive precautions not premeditated plans for war. Bethmann Hollweg and the Kaiser both were trying to achieve the same objective but were both communicating very well. The nations involved in the July crisis can be blamed for standing by their alliances instead of sorting out the situation. Germany did contribute to the mix up between nations in the Balkans and for inciting Austro-Hungary however they are not ultimately to blame for the outbreak of war.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Desiree’s Baby Essay

This passage’s relationship with the general theme or idea of the story is that it was able to show the main character’s dilemma of whether succumbing to his predetermined death or fighting for his life and his desire to be with his love ones. More so, the ticking of his watch symbolized the feeling of fear and alarm over the notion of an impending death. In this type situation or conflict, an individual would normally notice all the things that are happening around him. However, his senses were enhanced making the main character to see all the things in a micro-level which means that everything has been intensified such as the ticking of his watch that he thought was the sound of loud pounding of metal (Eserver. org). 2. â€Å"When he frowned she trembled, but loved him. When he smiled, she asked no greater blessing of God† The story of Desiree’s Baby story revolved around unconditional love as well as the limitations of love. In the passage, it demonstrated Desiree’s unconditional love for her husband despite his erratic temperament and his apparent concern over racial issues. However, this also suggests that the husband did not reciprocate the level of love and care that was being given to him. In connection with the general theme of the story, the passage emphasized the main character’s sentiments towards the overpowering characteristic of love or being in love. She is willing to give her all to the man she loves without expecting any in return which was the main idea of the story. More so, in the end, regret or remorse is the only redemption that one can do to compensate for a great love loss (Eastoftheweb. com). Works Cited Bierce, Ambrose. â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. † 2009. Eserver. org. 14 April 2009 Chopin, Kate. â€Å"Desiree’s Baby. † 2003. Eastoftheweb. com. 14 April 2009

Jay Gatsby the Tragic Hero Essay

The great flaw in Gatsby’s character is his excessive obsession. We find out towards the middle of the book Gatsby is obsessed with Daisy to the point that his life is ‘Daisy’. He throws extravagant parties in hopes her being there. He purchases a palace of a mansion simply because it is close to Daisy’s home. He makes a living only to prove himself worthy to Daisy. He lives for ‘Daisy’, but he does not live for the living Daisy. Gatsby is so infatuated with ‘Daisy’ that he is bent on the magnificent fantasy of a Daisy to which no human can compare. He chooses to remain loyal to the young Daisy of eighteen, who was â€Å"by far the most popular of all the young girls of Louisville†¦dressed in white, and had a little white roadster† (Fitzgerald 72-73). In the words of Fitzgerald: â€Å"No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man can store up in his ghostly heart† (93). This is very true, as the real Daisy served no other purpose to Gatsby than to bear a faint resemblance to the fantastical angle he had conjured out of his shattered dreams. Neither Gatsby nor anyone can gain anything from such a delusional happiness. Gatsby has many nemeses in the novel. George Wilson can be considered a nemesis because it is at his hands that Gatsby meets his death. Another rival of Gatsby’s is Tom Buchanan, our protagonist’s adversary in love who also had a hand in the hero’s downfall. In my opinion however, the arch-nemesis of Jay Gatsby is none other than Jay Gatsby. I believe Gatsby’s own actions and flaws in character have brought about his demise. Gatsby was the one who built his entire life gravitating around a single ideal of a girl he once loved. Gatsby was the one who took the initiative to meet Daisy. Gatsby was the one who, having already gained the affections of Daisy, pressed her, on page 126, to testify that she’s never loved Tom. In the words of Daisy, â€Å"you [Gatsby] want too much†¦I can’t help what’s past† (126). Indeed, Gatsby asked for too much, and in return, if not retribution, everything blew up in his face with nothing left b ut a dying dream. Gatsby’s ending in The Great Gatsby was certainly anything but happy. For one thing, he was murdered. On top of that however, lays an even crueller fact. That is, Daisy never called. Gatsby would have died just a little more at ease if he had known that the object of his fascinations for 4 long years  showed any hint of remorse that they may very likely be torn apart. She did not. Gatsby’s soul would have rested easier as well if the person for whom he died showed any sign of sorrow for his departure. She did not. Nor did any of his many acquaintances, save one, turn up to pay respects to the man whose generosity they had often molested. If this is not tragic, what is?Gatsby’s demise is so metaphorical and symbolic that it is hard to pinpoint exact what Fitzgerald was trying to say. Gatsby, a prosperous and extravagant self-made man, was killed by a downtrodden worker of the slums. Could this be alluding to a communist-style revolution? Daisy is quite similar to the American Dream, both being glorious and full of promises to he-who-wins-it. If Gatsby died in trying to get ‘Daisy’, is Fitzgerald denouncing the American Dream? There is, however, evidence that Fitzgerald still believes in the American Dream, as Daisy bears a few dissimilarities to it. That is, Daisy, in principal, is far more superficial, cursory, and lax than the â€Å"white picket fence† American Dream. Could Fitzgerald also have been trying to convey that the Dream has been perverted to such an extent that he-who pursues-it shall fail tragically, just as Gatsby had? The possibilities are endless, but one thing Fitzgerald was trying to express is certain: do not follow in the footsteps of Jay Gatsby, or we too will meet a tragic demise.