A Crash Course on Racism and Contemporary Society Essay Example for Free

A Crash Course on Racism and Contemporary Society Essay When you see the word crash, it always summons to mind an unfortunate event that has to deal with vehicles. Someone even told me that it is prohibited to say this word when you are boarded on an airplane because you might cause panic among another passengers. Planes, cars and even computers crash. Crash basically means collision. Similarly, the title of Paul Haggis recent movie is Crash (2005). However, viewers will see not only collisions involving cars, but collisions involving race, culture and classes. The movie †Crash† tackles the cross-cultural panorama of Los Angeles urban life, involving people interconnected to each other in vestiges of crime, racism, corruption, obligation, indignation and chance over a two-day period. The storyline superimposes the complexity of the multifaceted narratives of their lives entwined under the numerous social and psychological issues usually hidden inside the closet of the American consciousness. The Plot: Crash or Clash The story revolves around two cops, one senior and the other junior. The other jaded and abusive, the other one is a novice and willing to learn the ropes. These cops are played by Matt Dillon and Ryan Philippe respectively. One day, when they were assigned in their beat site, they pull over and eventually harass a black couple (Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton) because the SUV theyre driving vaguely fits the description of a carjacked vehicle that was reported. More complications swiftly supersede within 24 hours, these characters all cross paths again in separate incidents of incredibly high tension that challenge both the prejudices that have formed between them and the assumptions we draw out from their different perspectives about race and culture as a whole. It turned out that Christine (Thandie Newton) was surprised that she encounters Sgt. Ryan (Matt Dillon), the racist cop who sexually molested her during a traffic stop the previous night, the officer on the scene who pulls her from the burning car. To further intricately muddle the conflicts, characters encounter and reencounter one another in highly convenient ways. For example, a young African-American criminal Peter (Lanrez Tate) is murdered. Fortunately, he has a brother, Graham (Don Cheadle), an LAPD detective, who discovers Peters dead body in the desert. Prior to learning of his brothers death, Graham is thwarted by the district attorney’s office into suppressing evidence that may partially absolve a white police officer charged with killing a black cop. Incidentally, the district attorney (Brendan Fraser) is looking for a conviction that would help him gather enough support from the black community, since he is trying to manage a potential media scandal. He and his wife (Sandra Bullock) were carjacked in Sherman Oaks by two young black men. Moreover, more table-turning events are revealed in the lives of the characters because actual carjackers is Peter and his friend (Larenz Tate and rapper Ludacris). Surprisingly, the carjackers and their victims – these four are, in turn, connected through other events to a young Hispanic locksmith (Michael Pena) desperately trying to make a better life for his 5-year-old daughter after moving out of a crime-ridden neighborhood, and to a struggling Iranian shopkeeper (Shaun Toub) desperately seeking to lay blame for the vandalization of his convenience store, and to a pair of internal affairs detectives (Don Cheadle and Jennifer Esposito), whose lives and jobs are complicated by politics, tested principles and personal secrets. As film involves various crashes and clashes, forcefully it does not just invoke commonly hackneyed racially charged confrontations found in some films, but it almost subliminally showcases how passive prejudice and pre-conceived notions are often prevalent in simple day-to-day life. Thus, people could just collide and all these complications happen within a blink of an eye, unaware that they are villains and victims all at the same time of the milieu they are placed in. Although the dominant illusion that Crash could perpetuate among its viewers about its own narrative is that each character does something virtuous in one situation, and something unconscionably racist in another. Entirely, this is not the case because some characters could be deemed as purely good people. The Latino locksmith Daniel exists solely to incur racist threats and insults from other characters, then to belie their opinions through his role as the most upstanding of family men. Unfortunately, other characters display no redeeming traits, like the DA’s wife, Jean Cabot (Bullock) is depicted as a self-involved rich and uptight woman who is there to speak the unspeakable truth when justifying her fear of black men. Eventually, she stops just short of calling Daniel a wetback, and undergoes a quite insincere transformation that resulted from her inability to understand that her housekeeper Maria (Yomi Perry) is nice to her when she fell down some steps and fractured her leg, and nobody else has given her sympathy. She had no choice, but be nice to the person who helped her (Sicinski, 2005). Craig Detweiler (December, 2005) analyzed that Haggis portrays the film as a depiction a fine interconnectedness of realistic portrait of pertinent issues with a subliminal touch of magic realism. The movie offers a range of familiar types, attempting to prick his viewers consciences without being overbearingly preachy or nearly jingoistic. As the film kicks off, tempers are already surging as invectives and epithets are blurted out without batting an eyelash. Prejudices are looking for confirmation. I am angiy all the time, and I dont know why, laments a frustrated housewife. The first half of the film whips up the melting pot of complications, with racist assumptions spilling out of the characters ears. Viewers relish a platter of racism and crime, seasoned with sexual harassment, a broken health-care system and the purchase of firearms. In the softer second half, Detweiler explains that the isolated moments suggest a possibility of redemption for the characters. A motorist hassled by the cops for driving while black turns out to be a conflict-avoiding Buddhist for Christs sake. But that doesnt dissuade the police from violating his humanity and that of his wife. A statue of St. Christopher shows up at surprising times, but it ultimately proves ineffectual. A protective icon inspires a random act of violence. As Christmas unfolds in the movie, we see images of the nativity that could only summon unrealized prayers for peace on earth (Detweiler, 2005). Circumscribing the â€Å"circle† that goes around the film’s plot, a realization could smack its viewers that in the small world we are living in, we are connected to each other, like it or not. Conclusion Racism is a topic well-tackled among discussions. We are aware that it is generally loathed by people and we heard calls of putting a stop to it. We have seen the fall of Apartheid, we have seen those protests voicing out equality, but people still commit racism unconsciously as they encounter each other in their daily lives. Is prejudice primarily a question of color? How do differences of language and culture play into our misunderstandings? What must be done to bridge understanding and permanently inculcate the ugly face of prejudice regarding our differences? The film Crash does not present the ultimate panacea to racism and prejudice. But certainly, it is a mirror of what American society has become. It is presenting a consciousness about the interconnectedness of people and the situations that made them come up with their own realizations. Thus, the film invites its viewers to come up with their own realizations about the contemporary cross-section of American society and provide a space about perspectives on how to deal with their own prejudices. Works Cited Detweiler, Craig. Cultural Collisions. Sojourners Magazine. Washington, (December 2005), 34 (11): 45-46. Sicinski, Michael. Crash, Film Review. Cineaste. New York, (Fall 2005), 30 (4): 51-54.

Zara Is A Phenomenon In The Textile Industry Marketing Essay

Zara Is A Phenomenon In The Textile Industry Marketing Essay Because of its history and leadership long time in its industry, zara is one of the largest internal fashion companies, its belong to inditex one of largest distribution groups in the world. The company particular business model is customer-based and includes the design, manufacture, distribution and sale of it products through an extensive network of group owned shops. Its first store featured low-priced lookalike products of popular, higher-end clothing fashions. The store proved to be a success, and Ortega started opening more Zara stores in Spain. During the 1980s, Ortega started changing the design, manufacturing and distribution process to reduce lead times and react to new trends in a quicker way, in what he called instant fashions. The company based its improvements in the use of information technologies and using groups of designers instead of individuals. Zaras business model can be broken down into three basic components: concept, capabilities, and value drivers. Zaras fundamental concept is to maintain design, production, and distribution processes that will enable Zara to respond quickly to shifts in consumer demands. Josà © Marà ­a Castellano, CEO of Inditex stated that the fashion world is in constant flux and is driven not by supply but by customer demand. We need to give consumers what they want, and if I go to South America or Asia to make clothes, I simply cant move fast enough.    This highlights the importance of this quick response time to Zaras operations. Marketing is another key element in the production of fast fashion. Two approaches are currently being used by companies as market strategies; the difference is the amount of financial capital spent on advertisements. While some companies invest in advertising, fast fashion mega firm Primark operates with no advertising. Primark instead invests in store layout, shop fit and visual merchandising to create an instant hook. The instant hook creates an enjoyable shopping experience, resulting in the continuous return of customers. Research shows that seventy five percent of consumers decisions are made in front of the fixture within three seconds. The alternative spending of Primark also allows the retailer to pass the benefits of a cost saving back to the consumer and maintain the companys price structure of producing garments at a lower cost Production. Generally speaking we can say Zara`s competitors are all quite big competitors that have actually reached international markets, all starting from spain with huge local distribution, that makes the market quite inflexible, as they apparently are doing the same, and that customers are stable, may be because of the nature of the product.(Diana)p37 Zara produces of-the-moment fashion and has developed a very successful vertically integrated company which can design, manufacture, and distribute garments to retail stores in as little as three weeks. Zaras target market is comprised of urban, fashion-conscious consumers who shop frequently for the latest trends.    Currently under debate is a proposed upgrade to the POS system throughout the Zara chain.    With over 950 stores, this would be a huge undertaking for Inditex, Zaras parent company. The current DOS-based system meets the needs of the company, and despite some of the benefits of upgrading, it is best to continue with the current system in place. (Fortune magazine) Zara derives its competitive advantage from an astute use of information and technology. All of its stores are electronically linked to the companys headquarters near La Coruna, a midsized city on the northwest coast of Spain. Store managers monitor how merchandise is selling and transmit this information, as well as customer requests, to headquarters. The role of the store manager goes way beyond that of Gap and HM, says Wills of Goldman Sachs. Together with trend-spotters who travel the globe in search of new fashion, store managers make sure their designers have access to real-time information when deciding with the commercial team on the fabric, cut, and price points of a new garment. Sustain Competitive Advantage The concept of Quick Response (QR) is used to create new, fresh products while also drawing consumers back to the retail experience for consecutive visits. Quick response also makes it possible for new technologies to increase production and efficiency. The Spanish mega chain Zara has become the global model for how to decrease the time between design and production. This production short cut enables Zara to manufacture over 30,000 units of product every year to nearly 1,600 stores in 58 countries. New items are delivered twice a week to the stores, reducing the time between initial sale and replenishment. As a result, the shortened time period improves consumers garment choices and product availability. The SWOT analysis technique lends itself to napkin planning and snapshot insights. To conduct a SWOT analysis, draw a vertical line in the center of your napkin (or whiteboard or flipchart), intersected by a horizontal line. Now you have four quadrants where youll sketch your companys situation.(Dr. Ralph ) Web catalog sites are essentially wholesale or retail order-taking terminals. Zara is carrying products from dozens or thousands of it parent company inditex. But what is the product? Our own store is the product here. We are building an online brand that we hope will represent the kind of store where people can find and purchase just what they want. We market our product lines through HTML e-mail fliers (see http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/html-email-multi.htm), by pushing the customer to the web site saying, Come here, come to our store out of all the other choices on the Web. We have what youre looking for. One way to look at an online catalog site is as a shopping service that helps our customers find what they want among their carefully selected collection of best-of-class products. Custom services, too, can be viewed as products. One of the keys to success was to define the standard product carefully, clarifying what was included in the standard website, and what items were considered add-ons. but a 12-page website that included a single response form, custom graphic header, background, menu system, certain marketing elements, etc. When zara package its services into clearly-defined bundles, they become a product that is clear to the customer and therefore saleable. Companys service packages constitute the product line. Information products. One of the favourite sites is http://Britannica.com ; the website that includes the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica free to the visitor. What a wealth of material ; a great example of an information product (in this case, a free product). An online newspaper is another example of an information product, as well as our E-Commerce Research Room (http://www.wilsonweb.com/research/). Zara has done a good job by subscribing the encyclopaedia. place Place is supposed to signify the physical distribution channel, getting the goods to the customer. Yes, the Internet is either the point of contact or the point of sale, but the FAILURE to consider the distribution channel dooms many online businesses. In this issue well look at the problems and the marketing decisions that online business people are forced to make. Services are typically delivered digitally online, or with the Internet used to generate leads, and the service being delivered in person by a local vendor. The Eight Essential Types of Internet Promotion 1. Search engines Many people, perhaps even a majority of people, will use search engines and the Yahoo! directory to find what theyre looking for on the Web. So the place to start in promotion is to design web pages that will be indexed well by the search engines, using descriptive titles and accurate META tags. 2. Linking strategies Linking strategies are a second essential type of site promotion. The more links pointing to the site, the more traffic it will experience (and the greater perceived popularity will rank Zara higher in the search engines). Another popular method is to join a banner exchange. For every two banners displayed on the site promoting other businesses, one of Zaras banners will be shown an another member site. The biggest exchange is Microsoft bCentral LinkExchange. http://adnetwork.bcentral.com/. Another important form of linking promotion involves paying affiliates for sales resulting from links to Zara site. 3. Viral strategies An increasingly important process is to design a strategy that encourages others to carry Zara marketing message via e-mail, using their own network of relationships ; and preferably their own resources. This is called viral marketing after the way viruses multiply rapidly in a cell, commandeering the cells resources to do the viruss bidding. The classic example is HotMail.com, a free e-mail system. Each e-mail message (sent by definition to a persons own friends and associates) carries a message encouraging the recipient to sign up for a HotMail account, too. Another example is postcard or greeting cards, each of which carries a message encouraging the recipient to send a card to a friend carrying the siteowners marketing message. If zara can write quality articles, we can offer them to others to use on their websites or in their newsletters, each article carrying a link to Zara website. Public relations to get press coverage is a kind of viral strategy, if the company think about it. 4. Public relations Public relations, the task of getting press coverage, is still a vital type of site promotion. News release picked up by several print and/or Internet publications its will get a tremendous boost in traffic, all for free, letting the news periodicals network carry our marketing message. Of course, nothings really free. We will need to have a truly newsworthy event, contest, free service, chat room ; or something ; or no decent publication will consider it news. Coming up with free services and events isnt inexpensive, but the ensuing publicity can be excellent ; we may get an unbiased editorial recommendations that we couldnt purchase for any amount of money. 5. Traditional media Dont discount traditional media in promoting our website ; news releases, of course, as well as paid advertising. A very effective way to promote our site is to place a small display ad in a targeted trade publication, offering some teaser copy and pointing readers to our URL or an auto-responder e-mail address for more information. This way the site serves as an online brochure, providing full information to interested shoppers day and night. A no-brainer is to make sure that all our companys literature, cards, letterheads, and envelopes carry our website URL. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0395906253/wilsoninternetseIf were immersed in the Internet, we may have forgotten that most people still get the majority of their marketing messages through traditional channels. 6. E-mail Publishing The company has to be married to an e-mail publication. The website is the shy partner who passively waits for people to come to him. But the e-mail publication is the bold, active partner who goes out to where people are and invites them to come meet her groom. Together they make a great couple. E-mail : publishing is primarily a way to conserve the people who have shown some interest in the business by coming to zara website or responding to one of the offers. One of the highest priorities of the website MUST be to get the visitor to sign up for the free newsletter or discussion list or updates publication. Offer a variety of inducements ; entry into a contest, a free gift, a free coupon ; whatever it must do to insure a steady stream of subscribers to the newsletter. Once they are subscribers ; if we give them content they enjoy and learn from ; theyll stay with Zara for years, and we can gently build their trust month after month. When theyre ready to make a purchase, the site is at the top of their mind, and theyll probably buy from Zara. With so much SPAM (unsolicited e-mail) abounding, its too easy for recipients to mistake the promotion for just another ad, and unsubscribe forever. Though an occasional promotional e-mail may be okay, the marketing messages in the context of ne ws and helpful information is much more effective, and builds loyalty that can never gain by just bombarding the customers with ads. 7. Networking An extremely important way to promote the website is through networking. Networking isnt quick, but its the basis of relationships that will grow your business through word-of-mouth over the years. 8. Paid advertising It is notice that most of the first seven types of Internet Marketing can be done in-house relatively inexpensively (with the possible exception of search engine positioning). Of course, the company may be able to find a marketing firm to which it can outsource some of these functions, but it can probably do a fine job in-house ; after all, its our business, and staffs are the one who can promote it most effectively. But there comes a point that to get wider exposure, to break into the consciousness of the thousands of people who never haunt it end of the Web, the company may need to resort to paid advertising. Paying high traffic sites or Internet publications to include a graphic or link that will channel large numbers of people to the site. There are several popular forms of paid advertising, with new approaches cropping up all the time: Pricing Strategy as Part of Zara Internet Marketing Plan Pricing Approaches Of course, pricing isnt just scientific. It has a lot to do with your particular niche on the Internet, and how youve determined you can best succeed. Here are some demand-oriented approaches to pricing: Skimming pricing. When offering a new or innovative product it can initially charge a high price, since the early adopters arent very price sensitive. Then lower prices to skim off the next layer of buyers, etc. Eventually, the price will drop as the product matures and competitors offer lower prices. Penetration pricing. Zara have to set a low initial price in order to penetrate quickly into the mass market. A low initial price discourages competitors from entering the market, and is the best approach when many segments of the market are price sensitive. Prestige pricing. Cheap products are not taken seriously by some buyers unless they are priced at a particular level. Demand-backward pricing is sometimes used by manufacturers. First, they determine the price consumers are willing to pay for a product using an approach such as Make Your Price Sell! (http://sales.sitesell.com/myps ) automates. Then they work backward through the standard markups taken by retailers and wholesalers to come up with the price they can charge wholesalers for the product. Bundle pricing is offering two or more products together in a single package price. This can offer savings to both the buyer and to the seller, who saves the cost of marketing both products separately. And the customer is willing to pay more because he perceives that he is getting a lot more, even though the cost to the seller may not really be that much more. Here are some cost-oriented approaches to pricing: Standard mark-up pricing. Typically a manufacturer marks his price up 15% over his costs, a wholesaler 20% over his costs, and a retailer 40% over his costs. The retailer gets a larger markup based on the idea that, since he is closest to the end user, he is required to spend more services and individual attention meeting the buyers needs. Cost-plus pricing adds a small percentage to the retailers costs and cost plus 5% sounds so modest in ads for new cars! Ah! If only it were that simple. 🙂 Experience curve pricing assumes that it costs a company less to produce a product or provide a service over time, since learning will make them more efficient. Then there are competition-oriented approaches to pricing: Above-, at-, or below-market pricing. Certain stores advertise low cost or discount pricing. Others price at the market, while others deliberately price above-the-market at premium prices to attract prestige buyers. Loss-leader pricing works on the basis of losing money on certain very low priced advertised products to get customers in the door who will buy other products at the same time. Flexible-price policies offer the same product to customers at different negotiated prices. for example inditex, give out its product at negotiated prices. Many B2B sales depend on negotiated contracts. 8 Ways to Learn about the Site Visitors According to Dr. Ralph we can learn about our visitors in a number of ways. But before we look at any of them, our main concern has to be the issue of privacy. One of the visitors concerns is the steady erosion of his privacy. 1. Monitor E-Mail Inquiries and Complaints Its vital that the company find a way to monitor e-mail inquiries and complaints from the site visitors. Even if Zara have an employee handle this e-mail for the company, have them print out an extract of key questions and complaints so Zara can keep it finger on the pulse. Dont look at these e-mails as enemy fire; these are the friends wholl help Zara improve it site. When it spot a question occurring again and again, its a sign that it need to deal with it more fully or more visibly on the site. And, it tells Zara whats important to about visitors. 2. Provide Online Questionnaires Zara might want to create an online questionnaire with which it can gather information from the site visitors. After enough people have completed the survey, it will typically download the data file, import it into Microsoft Access or Excel, and conduct an analysis using queries or cross-tabs, and graphing. An increasing number of companies are offering survey services online. 3. Send Out E-Mail Questionnaires The strength of online forms is the ease with which the data can be collected for analysis. The downside is that online forms are essentially passive, they wait until someone comes to them. E-mail questionnaires, on the other hand, are active; the recipient can fill it out and reply without having to open a web browser. But e-mail questionnaires can be more difficult to analyze quickly. A special program must be developed to harvest information from fields delimited by brackets or some other symbol. If the recipient places an answer outside of the brackets, or gives the wrong kind of answer, the survey may have to be discarded or manually scored. E-mail questionnaires, however, may be the survey of choice because of their immediacy and ease in sending. 4. Use Cookies Strategically Another information gathering strategy is to use cookies. Cookies are tiny pieces of information that can be placed on the site visitors web browser for retrieval later. These are widely used to display banners, keep track of shopping carts, remember passwords, track affiliate referrals, etc. Lets say zara want to learn how many of the people who responded to a certain ad actually made a purchase. One way to do this is to create a special webpage URL for the ad. When someone clicks on the ad URL, they come to the special page where JavaScript code places a cookie on their web browser indicating that they came from a certain ad. When a purchase is made in the site ordering system the cookie (if any) is retrieved and a record is made of the source of the sale. 5. Examine Order Files Another way to learn about visitor shopping patterns is to analyze individual order files as well as summaries. Once a visitor places an order or provides an e-mail address, any information collected about that individual can be used to develop a personal profile. 6. Provide Site Personalization Larger company sites are employing database tools that harvest information about visitors by what products they look at or purchase, which banners they click on, etc. Then this data is merged with other databases providing demographic information by ZIP code, etc. to give a customer profile. 7. Study Your Traffic Logs Considerable data about the customers and their surfing habits can be gained from studying the traffic logs for the website. These can tell us how the visitor came to the site, browser used, route used to surf through the website, most popular pages, domain name of visitors, and much more. 8. Employ JavaScript on Your Site In addition to placing cookies, JavaScript can be programmed to harvest information contained in the visitors web browser, such as plug-ins available, the resolution of his computer monitor, operating system used, and version of browser. The information learn from each of these methods can help Zara gain a clearer picture of those visiting it site. Use the data with integrity; adhere to the privacy policy. But use what we learn about our visitors to fine-tune the website sales and revenues, and we will come out ahead. Careful attention to customer data is a major factor in distinguishing successful from unsuccessful sites. Conclusion As a conclusion, the key to successes of this strategy is the internet to see how best I can figure out a consistence marketing plan. The models are based only in empirical example, and this is likely to be a limit on the ability to generalize for such a complex environment. The plan has been able to analyze competition in the digital marketing plan which point out that Zara has been doing well despite some irregularities and little changes that need to be done. Zara has proved strong in the competitive arena of its business activity; due to it unique way of doing things which gave it a competitive advantage. Globalization challenged companies with the proposition of no national and organizational boundaries; some tools like internet were created in this time change and instability for companies, new technologies has been created in a desperate hurry to cover companies requirements. And Zar It comprises the study of different authors perspectives who have contribute in the digital marketing plan or have done a paper work on Zara clothing.

Digressions in Venus and Adonis and Hero and Leander :: essays papers

Digressions in Venus and Adonis and Hero and Leander The poems Venus & Adonis and Hero & Leander have many similarities. Venus & Adonis, written by William Shakespeare (1593), is the story of lovesick Venus and innocent Adonis. Venus attempts to convince Adonis to have intimate relations with her. In the poem Hero & Leander, written by Christopher Marlowe (1598), Leander convinces the beautiful Hero to consummate their relationship despite her arguments. Another similarity of the two works is the digressions within the poems. In V&A, the digression involves two horses that are overcome by lust and eventually run off to mate in the woods. The digression in Hero & Leander is also sexual in nature. It involves Neptune attempting to seduce Leander. The digressions in V&A and Hero & Leander have parallel references to the work as a whole. The digressions also have similar qualities that indicate the influence of Shakespeare on Marlowe. The digression in Venus & Adonis occurs during the first one third of the poem. Shakespeare chooses to have the horses mirror the behavior of Venus and Adonis. The stallion, Adonis’ horse, mimics the actions of Venus. The stallion is the aggressor in the relationship; it is he who approaches the jennet. He shows off his strength and beauty by prancing and stamping on the ground. After his displays of strength and power the stallion, â€Å"looks upon his love, and neighs unto her† (Shakespeare 41). It is clear that the horse is entreating the jennet to submit to him sexually. When Shakespeare describes the stallion he states that, â€Å"this horse excel a common one† (293). This quote directly relates the horse to Venus. The reader knows that Venus is of uncommon status, she is a god and therefore is immortal. Shakespeare uses this knowledge to link the two characters. Venus is also very aggressive in her relationship with Adonis. Shakespeare humorously describes the way Venus demonstrates her strength in a way similar to the stallion. Venus takes, â€Å"over one arm the lusty courser’s rein, Under the other her tender boy† (31-32). Venus is attempting to use strength to get her love, the way the stallion used his strength. Shakespeare is making a reference to how Venus’ is taking what is customarily the male role. The actions of the jennet in the digression can be compared to the actions of Adonis in the poem.

Dunciad: Mock epic and parallels to Rape of the Lock (another satire) E

The Dunciad: A Mock Epic? Honors English   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The fourth book of the Dunciad describes the fall and slow death of the English society that once taught him all the things he knew. He lashes out at his critics, accusers, and nay Sayers in his allegorical poem. It symbolizes a mock epic because of the elaborate use of words, calling on inspiration from a higher force, and using his work not so much to tell a story, but to point out the faults of a social order that can’t or chooses not to see what they’re really doing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It opens with: â€Å"Yet, yet a moment, one dim ray of light Indulge, dread Chaos, and eternal Night!† [Line 1, A.P.] â€Å"Suspend a while your force inertly strong, Then take at once the Poet, and the song.† [Line 7, A.P.] In tradition of the epic, Alexander calls for the aide of an outside power. He doesn’t follow the rules completely, and replaces the muse with Chaos and Night, but does this only to enforce what he’s trying to do with his point and gives you a picture of where he’s going next. In epics, there’s always a battle or a scene that is brazenly described, adding drama, making it a little more important and draws the reader in. When Alexander Pope describes the room as the educators stand before the Goddess, and the scene where Dullness triumphs over everything that breathes life into human creativity, he makes it a point to describe each scene as a play-by-play battle in itself. An advocate of the empr...

Irony in The Lame Shall Enter First Essays -- Lame Shall Enter First E

Irony in The Lame Shall Enter First      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  "[W]hen thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth" counsels the Bible, thus setting the precedent for all well-meaning members of western society concerning their charitable intentions (Matt. 6.3). Humanity's motivation to aid others, regardless of the outcome, is oft times spotted by the subtle struggle between selflessness and selfishness. Flannery O'Connor captures this classic conflict between good and evil in Southern Grotesque fashion through her characters, the protagonist Sheppard and his foil, Rufus Johnson, in [comment2] "The Lame Shall Enter First".[comment3] Challenging the literal paradigm of light and darkness, O'Connor weaves together well crafted characterization, cryptic dialogue, and both biblical and literary allusion in this paradoxical plot and, by way of Sheppard and the antithetical Rufus, blends the black and white of Christian dogma into an ironic grey.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The contrast of light and dark begins with the description and characterization of the apparently angelic [comment4] Sheppard, and continues with the introduction of the obscure and ominous Rufus Johnson. O'Connor is not pretentious in her description and development of either character. Sheppard's white hair and "halo" are obvious references to his protagonistic status as the story's do-gooder [comment5] (Norton 371). The narrator continues on by lauding his charitable contribution to the community as a counselor and weekend volunteer for "boys no one else cared about" (372). The reader's only initial clue toward Sheppard's self-righteous mania is his deliberate, guilt-implying sermon towards Norton, his disconcerted and doomed son. It is n... ...pherd", only the agony of total defeat. Sheppard's epiphany comes too late and the stark contrast that once distinguished him from the dark object of his alms turns into the faded realization that he is no better than the beleaguered beneficiary. Through O'Connor's strategic literary devices, deft character contrast, and parody of entrenched Christian values, the reader is left to digest and dissect the fact that maybe the entire flock [comment15] isn't worth one black sheep. Between the black and white islands of moral certainty, good and evil, there lies a sea of ironic grey.    Works Cited    The King James Version. Great Britain: Cambridge UP, 1996. O'Connor, Flannery. "The Lame Shall Enter First." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1998. 371-414.   

Environmental Concern Issues

Did you ever think that something meant to aid in the advance of humans could be potentially fatal at the same time? What about a disease that was considered â€Å"dead†, resurfacing and killing unsuspecting people? What about the fact that we as human beings are ruining the only place for us to live, the earth? These questions sound outrageous, right? Wrong, these issues are considered environmental problems that we will soon face. These issues are very serious and many people have no idea that they even exist. To have problems and not even know about them is definitely grounds for destruction. We as a people, must look at the problems of antibiotic resistance, increasing diseases, weapons as wastes, and waste disposal and reduction and, if left unaddressed, these issues will become fatal problems in the near future. Many Americans get sick everyday; this usually warrants a trip to the doctor†s office. The doctor will usually examine the patient and prescribe an antibiotic. Antibiotics are being used as a way to solve medical problems. The heavy use of antibiotics is causing a threat to the population. They are so widely used and are beginning to become a contaminant in the environment. When used so frequently, antibiotics are found in the sewers, septic tanks, and even receiving waters. With antibiotics being so abundant in these places, the microbes here are now becoming resistant. With all of the sterilization and sanitation precautions, we would not expect to come in contact with these microbes. Reality is, we do. We come in contact with these microbes and sometimes become sick. Being sick means another trip to the doctor; only this time, the antibiotics that the doctor prescribes won†t work. This is due to the fact that the microbes that caused the sickness are resistant to the drugs, being that they are so abundant in microbe breeding grounds. In order to treat sickness, doctors must evaluate their patients more efficiently and choose other methods of treatment before they prescribe antibiotics. If the amount of antibiotics being released into the environment can be reduced, there won†t be a time when simple infections can†t be treated. Conditions that can†t be treated with antibiotics are called infectious diseases; they are on the rise and kill over 17 million people per year. The importance of this is that most dying are young. Young people are dying from recurring tuberculosis, and the AIDS epidemic. The reasons for these deaths are new strains of the viruses, increased poverty, declining public health measures and increased human contact. To halt the increase of the deaths, we must educate the public. If the symptoms, causes for, and methods of prevention are not taught to the public, they will continue to die unfounded deaths. Education and prevention are the only way that these diseases can be defeated. Weapons are contaminants of the environment also. The disposal of obsolete weapons is a problem being faced due to military tensions diminishing. Explosives, chemical weapons and nuclear weapons are being dumped into landfills and water bodies, causing contamination and posing serious health risks for those who come in contact with them. To prevent this, a way to dispose of these weapons without causing health risks must be developed. Until then, they must be kept out of everyone†s reach to prevent harm. Other contaminants include solid and toxic waste. With the increase of economy, comes the increase of waste. Waste is anything that is not desired by an organism; releasing waste into the environment causes health risks for all organisms. To reduce these risks, government regulation must be initiated. Recycling, reducing and reusing must also be executed. If not as much waste is produced or it can be reused, this problem may be decreased. All in all, to keep what we have and maybe improve it, antibiotics use must be reduced, infectious diseases must be prevented, weapons must be disposed of properly and we must reduce solid and toxic waste. These problems will be facing the population very soon and unless we are equipped with knowledge and know-how in these areas, we will suffer immensely from what can seem to be such simple problems. We must initiate defense mechanisms against these problems so that these â€Å"secret killers† do not kill us off. As the presidential election approaches, American citizens will be hearing many campaign speeches. It has been said that Vice President Albert Gore plans to address the issue of increased climate change in his campaign. With increased climate change, the population must be made aware of this issue; in addressing this potentially dangerous issue, there are some points that should be made to successfully get the point across. To successfully get this information out, the causes, influence, and possible ways to correct this problem must be addressed. The main cause of this issue is human behavior. With humans being a more advanced population, they also increase the production of a major climate-changing factor. This factor is the overproduction of greenhouse gases. Increased population, causes the increased production solid waste that is harmful to the environment. Fossil fuel burning is also a result of human behavior, which contributes to the production of the greenhouse gases. The overproduction of greenhouse gases is the immediate issue that must be addressed to increase knowledge of the increased climate change. The greenhouse gases are gases that are responsible for the heat trapping capability of the atmosphere of the earth. With a higher capability to trap heat, the temperature of the earth is greatly affected. Fluctuation in the temperature is the effect of human behavior and overproduction of the greenhouse gases. With the fluctuation of temperature, come the impacts of overproduction of the greenhouse gases. The impacts must also be addressed to acknowledge this problem. These impacts can be seen in raised sea levels, change in precipitation and change in local climate conditions. The temperature can also alter forests, crop yields and the water supply of the Americans. These alterations will then threaten human health conditions, harm birds and fish and cause imbalances in many other ecosystems. Along with animals being affected, it has been said that deserts may expand into rangelands and some National Parks may be affected. To better control this issue, some solutions must be planned and executed. The first step, must be the education of the population. With the threats of these human behaviors being known, governmental programs will be able to be implemented. These programs must include the encouragement of switching to carbon fuels and education of the causes, impacts and solutions of this problem. The development of reusable energy alternatives, solid waste reduction and recycling, as well as waste prevention are some effective solutions that should be put into play. The management of agricultural systems as well as energy efficiency could aid in the prevention and reduction of greenhouse gases. When these programs and ideas are put into play and discussed as solutions, this problem may be effectively addressed and eventually under control. To discuss the issues of climate change, the causes, influence on society and probable solutions must be addressed. In the upcoming months, the presidential candidates will need to address many issues; to address these issues and get the points across to Americans, effective presentation must be used. To effectively present the issue of climate change and almost any issue, the causes, the effects and the corrections to these problems must be addressed. If humans are able to cause such enormous problems, they must know be educated about them and must try to correct these problems, if humans are to survive as a population.

Critical thinking Essay

Critical thinking involves the process of mentally analyzing, reflecting, observing, evaluating, examining, using reasoning skills, mentally taking apart and dissimilating information. It is a mental process that can be used in problem solving by knowing what you want the outcome to be and evaluating what steps you need to take to arrive at that outcome and in what order you need to take those steps. Critical thinking involves serious thought process and often requires time to really follow through in using the critical thinking in obtaining accurate results from the process. To ensure that you are studying credible information, there are many things you can do when browsing the various information sources and research topics in the library. Some of the things you can do is obtain your information from credible physical sources such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, newspapers and research books. When using online databases, you can select â€Å"peer-reviewed,† â€Å"scholarly,† or â€Å"refereed† before beginning your search for information sources in the various databases. Your results will be more credible results since these information sources were written by professionals in those particular areas and deemed credible by their peers in that area. You can use Google, however, you can use Google>Advanced Search (option to the right of regular Google) and you can enter the domains . edu and/or . gov in the domain search box to do subject searches in these two credible domains rather than the less credible domains like . com and . org. Some of the more credible sources one would find located in the reference collection of the library, the books that can be read or copied but not circulated outside of the library. In the material itself you can check to see if it has an author’s name, see if the author cited credible information sources in writing the article, and if the material is still relevant or if it is dated material. Another thing to check is if this author has written other articles on this subject or if any articles written by others has cited his/her work in them. Information that you can locate on a web page includes the name(s) of the person(s) who created the web page, the web page address or Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the date the web page was created and/or the date the web page was last updated, what type of domain does the web page come from, contact information, what if any purpose the web page has, whether the page has a commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP) or uses another provider. References Chris, V. & Thomas Tinney. (2007). Professional Library Sources. Retrieved April 8, 2007, from Current Library News & Library Information site: http://www. academic- geneology. com/professional Librarysources. htm â€Å"Critical Thinking. † (2007, April 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 8, 2007, from http://en. wikipedia. org/w/index. php? title=Critical_thinking&oldid=120149553 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Critical_thinking (2004). Finding Credible Information Online. Retrieved April 9, 2007, from Performance Learning Systems Web site: http://www. plsweb. com/resources (2006,December 12). Finding Information on the Internet: A tutorial. Retrieved April 9, 2007, from Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask Web site: http://www. berkeley. edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.