Stranger Of Camus Essays - Absurdist Fiction, The Stranger

Stranger Of Camus In The Stranger, as in all Camus' works, Camus' views on freedom and death ? one dependent on the other ? are major themes. For Camus, freedom arises in awareness of one's life, the every-moment life, an intense glorious life that needs no redeeming, no regrets, no tears. Death is unjustifiable, absurd; it is but a reintegration into the cosmos for a "free" man. Until a person reaches this awareness, life, like death, is absurd, and indeed, generically, life remains absurd, though each individual's life can be valuable and meaningful to him. In a sense, The Stranger is a parable of Camus' philosophy, with emphasis on that which is required for freedom. Meursault, hero of The Stranger, is not a person one would be apt to meet in reality in this respect; Meursault does not achieve the awakening of consciousness, so essential to freedom and to living Camus' philosophy until the very end of the book, yet he has lived his entire life in according with the morality of Camus' philosophy. His equivalent in the Christian philosophy would be an irreligious person whose homeland has never encountered Christianity who, upon having it explained by a missionary, realizes he has never sinned. What is the morality, the qualities necessary for freedom, which Meursault manifested? First, the ruling trait of his character is his passion for the absolute truth. While in Meursault this takes the form of a truth of being and feeling, it is still the truth necessary to the conquest of the self or of the world. This passion is so profound that it obtains even when denying it might save his life. Second, and not unrelated to the first, is Meursault's acceptance of nature as what it is and nothing more, his rejection of the supernatural, including any god. Actually, "rejection" of God is not accurate until later when he is challenged to accept the concept; Meursault simply has never considered God and religion worthwhile pursuing. The natural makes sense; the supernatural doesn't. It follows that death to Meursault also is what it is naturally; the end of life, cessation, and that is all. Third, and logically following, Meursault lives entirely in the present. The past is past and dwelling upon it in any mood is simply a waste of the present. As to the future, the ultimate future is death; to sacrifice the present to the future is equivalent to sacrificing life to death. Finally and obviously, since the present is his sole milieu, Meursault takes note of each moment of life; since there is no outside value system, no complex future plan, to measure against, and as a result of his passion for truth and consequently justice, he grants every moment equal importance. One moment may be more pleasurable than another, one boring, one mundane, each receives "equal time" in his narration of his life. Meursault has one failing trait, a direct and logical result of his unconsciousness of his own view of life and philosophy of living, indifference. Perhaps because his way of life and thinking seem so natural to him, he has never considered their roots, has never confronted the absurdity of death, with the consequent recognition of the value of his life. Out of indifference he fails to question and thereby errs out of indifference he links forces with violence and death, rather than with love and life. As a result of indifference, he kills a man. Meursault kills a man and is brought to trial. But in truth he is not tried for murder, nor for his error, he is tried for his virtue. Here Camus shows how many men fear the absurd, refuse ? not to accept it ? to confront it at all. Instead they make compromises with it, grant it importance and supernatural meaning, and live for it. The result is lives built on sham, hypocrisy, paper scaffolding. The natural man, the man of truth and reality, can only threaten their authority, the very fragile web of their lives, that is, his very existence may force them to see through themselves. It is for this that they condemn Meursault to death. Faced with the guillotine, Meursault is forced to confront death, his own death. Through the horror and desperation, he discovers absurdity, the inevitability and injustice of death, the meaninglessness of it, the unimportance. All this has been implicit in Meursault. Now it is conscious. Now Meursault is on the verge of true freedom. The intrusion into his cell of the prison chaplain precipitates Meursault's achievement

Entry Level Freelance Writing

Entry Level Freelance Writing Entry Level Freelance Writing Entry Level Freelance Writing By Michael You know in your bones that youre a good writer, and you have something worth writing about. How do you make that first step into getting paid for it? Ways to break into writing Start a blog. If youre going to promote a website, why not make it your own website? Start a blog and see if you can make it popular. Writing regularly teaches you how to write. Volunteer to write for a charity. Find a favorite non-profit agency or website. Offer to edit their website or write news releases for them. They probably wont turn you down. Make sure its an organization you care about. Ask them to give you a job title to put on your resume. If what you write gets published, you can put that on your resume too. Accept boring assignments to earn more exciting money. Few novelists get rich quickly (and, alas, even fewer poets but you knew that already). Youll make money faster by writing a brochure, a white paper, a press release, a technical manual, or a trade magazine article. Apply to join a blog network. If youre chosen, youll receive training, support and some cash. Some of the best are About.com, KnowMoreMedia, and b5media. Search the freelance writing job boards. My favorites are About Freelance Writing, Freelance Writing Jobs, Writers Weekly, and Writers Resource Center. Whos hiring writers? Many people think that freelance writing is limited to suggesting a story idea to a magazine editor, who hires you to write the story if the idea is good. But there are so many other places to sell your work than through magazines. And pitching a story idea or querying an editor may or may not lead to your becoming a regular member of the publications stable of writers. Being a family man, I value opportunities for consistent work, so Ive approached my writing career more conservatively. Here are some companies Im familiar with who are paying writers for long-term work, in bite-sized pieces: Mahalo, a human-powered search engine: $10-$15 per page. SearchSays, another human-powered search engine: about $1 per 1000 characters Google, not exactly writing, but they want writer-types for temporary, part-time jobs: $15 per hour Brijit, abstracts of high-class popular magazines: $5 each Historical Abstracts, abstracts of scholarly articles about history and social science: $5.50-$8.50 each, more if you can read other languages (They also recruit volunteers, so specify if you want to be paid). Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:70 Idioms with HeartAnyone vs. EveryoneInspiring vs. Inspirational

A Reaction Paper on Personal Protection Equipments

The gloves should be worn at all times to avoid contact with fluids and other specimens or samples of interest that may pose risks to our safety and health. Proper removal and disposal of used gloves is as important as having them worn. Taking them off the right way minimizes contact with specimens, samples, or chemicals and reagents that must be present on the contaminated outer or exposed side of the gloves. Although students have been spending a lot of laboratory classes, it is still noticeable how some do not know how to dispose their gloves correctly.Hence, showing the video on how to properly remove the gloves is very helpful. It is evident that students are mindful about contamination, which makes them cautious during the experiments and observations. However, towards the end of classes, some may be too tired or lazy causing them to be careless when taking off their gloves. This happens without them knowing that they sometimes touch the part that has been exposed throughout their work. The video was a good reminder to always be concerned not only during working hours but also afterwards.Nevertheless, it would also be ideal to find and review other sources to constantly be reminded of the essential information. Important points in the video showing the proper clean-up of blood spill include wearing the PPE during the whole time, securing first aid for any injured person, use of tongs or other lab materials that are safe for picking up sharp or broken objects, use of disinfectant, and proper disposal of the spill and other materials used for the clean-up. When it comes to individual safety, the video discussed the routes by which we may get exposed to the microorganisms.Therefore, we must ensure that we wear the proper protective gear at all times. Moreover, it is not only in equipment that we may guard ourselves. It was suggested that vaccines are received and these must be done as soon as possible even before working in the laboratory. Symptoms of commonly acquired diseases were also mentioned thus giving us an idea of what we may or may not experience in the future. This could serve as a good reference for us to know if we are experiencing a condition that needs to be addressed. In addition to this, it was mentioned that there should not be any lack of judgment in the laboratory.

The feminization of love, How men and women are portrayed by society Research Paper

The feminization of love, How men and women are portrayed by society and the media - Research Paper Example On the other hand, love is a multi-faced movement, which varies based on situations, as well as one’s individual motives. There are many types of love, possibly as numerous as do several persons, who are loved and are in love. It entails a wide diversity of feelings characterized by some set behaviors (Robert 88). These components range from the one we feel for our parents, acquaintances, siblings, and kids to the ones we are feel for our wives or husbands. Currently love is connected to sexual relationships, a boy girl relationship may be termed as love, but, in most circumstances, it is infatuation or lust. However, what we are thinking, as love in the society is determined by women, and not by men (Gelsthorpe 53). Society in the past, viewed men and women from different perspectives. Their roles were well defined by the norms and taboos of a given society. Crisscrossing of duties was prohibited, and penalties were put in place to handle any uncouth behavior. However, changes occur every day with respect to the roles men and women play. In fact, today, their roles are reversed. This has seen the society change drastically within a short duration of time. With the transition of society, men and women continue to modify their lifestyles and way of living. In the field of administration, women are now heading countries, big organizations and small ones at the grass root level. Academically, women are now studying technical courses, which were only left for men. Women have now moved from kitchen and bedroom materials to the head of the families. Their duties and responsibilities have changed from caretakers to economically productive people in the society. Gender equity has now chipped in, and with the company of love, men can now share duties with their partners. Mode of life has further changed considerably. To some extra ordinary scenario, it has proved to be slightly complicated to allow women to participate actively. This is not due to discrimination, but the view of the society in some circumstances, women are viewed as vulnerable. For instance, a war situation. In the negative side, the society terms women as the weaker sex because occasionally, they feel annoyed if the other partner shows love with masculine behavior. They claim that it is invisible to them (Mark 36). How society view men and women culturally vary from place to place, ideas of appropriate behavior based on gender are varying among cultures along with the era. Although some aspects receive extra widespread attention than some others, Masculinities and Feminism claims that there are traditions where it has not been a taboo for men to contain homosexual relations, while there are others, who term as a vi ce, based on cultural beliefs and customs. In the 'Western' account age, when the modern caucus stated that men showed suppressed feelings of not relating, men were emotional about their feelings for their friends. â€Å"Companionship in the outback of Australian previous century is a situation in point" (Hutter 35). Further aspects, though, may differ noticeably with time plus place. In the then times, women were normally associated with roles correlated to medicine and even healing duties. As a result of the coming up of witch-hunts over Europe together with medicine institutionalization, these responsibilities finally ended up under the domination of men. Women turned to have no voice on whatever happened. In the last recent few decades, though, these responsibilities have become for the most part gender-neutral in Western civilization (Mark 178). The element of conference or traditions seems to play a leading role

The Ugly Duckling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Ugly Duckling - Essay Example The collection of plots was chosen because the picturesque version extremely makes children not only listen to the story but also try to read and understand the picture and make up the conversation. The background of images gives special meaning to the text and helps to integrate words and meaning into the image. Children can express the known text content of books through their observation. The history of the ugly duckling gives a mixed message. While parents can encourage children to become like an ugly duckling who continues to optimistically seek out his true identity and refuses to become like others. Like an ugly duckling, children are taught to sit and learn to get up and not be influenced by the opinions of others. More importantly, parents and teachers can use this story as an important tool for developing critical thinking among children and encourage them to use their imagination when they are in their places. This is an interesting way to teach them to have a broader pers pective. Children also learn that everything they love should be pursued, as they help children understand their potential. The book also tends to send a negative message about the development of an inferiority complex among children, and this ugliness is bad. This is not so, so parents must confront this problem by reporting that it was not ugly, but different. Therefore, people look at people and form impressions that may be wrong, as in the case of the ugly duckling who was called ugly simply because he was not like others.

The History of Chinese Literature Essay Example for Free

The History of Chinese Literature Essay Writing in China dates back to the hieroglyphs that were used in the Shang Dynasty of 1700 – 1050 BC. Chinese literature is a vast subject that spans thousands of years. One of the interesting things about Chinese literature is that much of the serious literature was composed using a formal written language that is called Classical Chinese. The best literature of the Yuan Dynasty era and the four novels that are considered the greatest classics are important exceptions. However, even during the Qing Dynasty of two hundred years ago, most writers composed in a literary stream that extended back about 2,400 years. They studied very ancient writings in more or less the original written language. This large breadth of time with so many writers living in the various eras and countries makes Chinese literature complex. Chinese literary works include fiction, philosophical and religious works, poetry, and scientific writings. The dynastic eras frame the history of Chinese literature and are examined one by one. The grammar of the written Classical Language is different than the spoken languages of the past two thousand years. This written language was used by people of many different ethnic groups and countries during the Zhou, Qin and Han eras spanning 1050 BC to 220 AD. After the Han Dynasty, the written language evolved as the spoken languages changed, but most writers still based their compositions on Classical Chinese. However, this written language wasn’t the vernacular language even two thousand years ago. The empires and groups of kingdoms of all these eras were composed of people speaking many different native languages. If Europe had a literary history like China’s, it would be as if most European writers until the 20th century always tried to write in ancient Classical Greek that became a dead language more than two millennia ago. Shang Dynasty (about 1700-1050 BC) Development of Chinese Writing The first dynasty for which there is historical record and archaeological evidence is the Shang Dynasty. It was a small empire in northern central China. No documents from that country survive, but there are archaeological finds of hieroglyphic writing on bronze wares and oracle bones. The hieroglyphic writing system later evolved into ideographic and partly-phonetic Chinese characters. Zhou Dynasty (1045-255 BC) Basic Philosophical and Religious Literature The Zhou Dynasty was contemporaneous with the Shang Dynasty, and then they conquered the Shang Dynasty. Their dynasty lasted for about 800 years, but for most of the time, their original territory was broken up into dozens of competing kingdoms, and these finally coalesced into several big and warring kingdoms by the end of the Zhou era. The great literary works of philosophy and religion that became the basis for Chinese religious and social belief stem from what is called the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476) and the Warring States Period (475-221). Taoism, Confucian literature, and other prominent religious and philosophical schools all emerged during these two periods. The Chinese call this simultaneous emergence of religions and philosophies the â€Å"One Hundred Schools of Thought.† Perhaps so many philosophers could write simultaneously because they lived in small kingdoms that supported them. In Chinese history, the dominant rulers generally squelch or discourage philosophical expression that contradict their own, so when there were several small powers, different schools of thought could survive in the land at the same time. The major literary achievements of the Confucian Classics, early Taoist writings, and other important prose works originated in the late Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty era. These literary works deeply shaped Chinese philosophy and religion. Confucius is said to have edited a history of the Spring and Autumn Period called the Spring and Autumn Annals (æ˜ ¥Ã§ §â€¹) that shapes Chinese thinking about its history. There were hundreds of philosophers and writers who wrote conflicting documents, and there was discussion and communication. What we know of the literature of this period was mainly preserved after the Qin Dynasty’s book burning and from a few recent archeological finds of records. Probably most of the philosophical and religious works of that time were destroyed. If there were great fictional books created, they have been lost. So the main contributions of this period to Chinese literature were the prose works of the Confucian Classics and the Taoist writings, and preserved poems and songs. Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) Literary Disaster and Legalism At the end of the Zhou Dynasty era that is called the Warring States Period, of the surviving few big states in the land, the Qin Dynasty became the most powerful. The Qin Dynasty had big armies and conquered the others. Once the Qin emperor had control, he wanted to keep it, and they squelched any opposition to his authority. In the conquered territories, there were teachers of many different doctrines and religions. A big philosophical and religious school then was called Mohism. They were particularly attacked by the Qin Dynasty, and little is known about it. An early form of Buddhism was also established in China at that time, but their temples and literature were destroyed and even less is known about them. The emperor wanted to reduce the One Hundred Schools of Thought to one that he approved. He ordered the destruction of most books all over the empire. He even killed many Confucian philosophers and teachers. He allowed books on scientific subjects like medicine or agriculture to survive. So the â€Å"Book Burning and Burial of Scholars† was a literary disaster. On the other hand, the Qin Dynasty standardized the written Classical Language. It is said that a minister of the Qin emperor named Li Si introduced a writing system that later developed into modern Chinese writing. Standardization was meant to help control the society. The standardized writing system also helped people all over the country to communicate more clearly. The Qin Emperor favored a philosophical school that was called Legalism (æ ³â€¢Ã¥ ® ¶). This philosophy of course justified the strong control of the emperor and maintained that everyone should obey him. It is thought that Li Si taught that human nature was naturally selfish and that a strong emperor government with strict laws was needed for social order. Li Si’s writings on politics and law and his propagation of this school much influenced the political thinking in the Han Dynasty and later eras. Legalism texts and the standardization of writing were the Qin Dynasty era’s literary contributions. Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) Scientific and Historical Texts A former peasant leader overthrew the Qin Empire. The Han Dynasty era lasted for 400 years. At the beginning of the era, Confucianism was revived. Confucian texts were rewritten and republished. Confucianism was mixed with the Legalism philosophy of Li Si. The resulting ideology was the official ideology of the Han Dynasty and influenced political thinking afterwards. The era’s major contributions were historical texts and scientific works. Sima Qian wrote Historical Records that is a major history concerning the overall history of China from before the Shang Dynasty until the Han Dynasty. The book’s prose was considered a model for writers in succeeding dynastic eras. Another important historical text concerned the Han Dynasty itself. Some scientific texts were also thought to be important for their times, thought it doesn’t seem that the information was widely known or well known afterwards. The Han Dynasty era was one of the two main hotspot eras for scientific and technical advance. But printing wasn’t available for wide publication of the information. During the Eastern Han Dynasty towards the end of the Han era, the influence of the philosophy of the Confucian Classics that hindered scientific progress was waning. So people were more free to pursue invention. Cai Lun (50–121) of the imperial court is said to be the first person in the world to create writing paper, and this was important for written communication at the end of the empire. Finery forges were used in steel making. Two or three mathematical texts showing advanced mathematics for the times were written. The Han Empire disintegrated into warring kingdoms similar to what happened during the Warring States Period before the Qin Dynasty. For several hundred years, dynasties and kingdoms rose and fell in various places, and the next big and long-lasting dynastic empire is called the Tang Dynasty . Tang Dynasty (618-907) Early Woodblock Printing and Poetry The Tang Dynasty had a big empire that benefited from trade with the west along the Silk Road, battled with the Tibetan Empire, and experienced the growing influence of organized Buddhist religions. This era’s main contribution to Chinese literature was in the poetry of Dufu, Li Bai and many other poets. Dufu and Li Bai are often thought of as China’s greatest poets. Li Bai (701–762) was one of the greatest romantic poets of ancient China. He wrote at least a thousand poems on a variety of subjects from political matters to natural scenery. Du Fu (712-770 AD) also wrote more than a thousand poems. He is thought of as one of the greatest realist poets of China. His poems reflect the hard realities of war, dying people living next to rich rulers, and primitive rural life. He was an official in the Tang capital of Chang An, and he was captured when the capital was attacked. He took refuge in Chengdu that is a city in Sichuan Province. It is thought that he lived in a simple hut where he wrote many of his best realist poems. Perhaps more than 1,400 of his poems survive, and his poetry is still read and appreciated by modern Chinese people. Song Dynasty (960-1279) Early Woodblock Printing, Travel Literature, Poetry, Scientific Texts and the Neo-Confucian Classics The next dynasty is called the Song Dynasty. It was weaker than the Tang Dynasty, but the imperial government officials made remarkable scientific and technical advances. Military technology greatly advanced. They traded little with the west due to the presence of warring Muslim states on the old trade routes. There wasn’t territorial expansion, but the empire was continuously attacked by nomadic tribes and countries around them. Their northern territory was invaded, and they were forced to move their capital to southern China. So the era is divided into two eras called the Northern Song (960-1127) and Southern Song (1127-1279) eras. One of the era’s technological accomplishments was the invention of movable type about the turn of 2nd millennia during the Northern Song period. This helped to spread knowledge since printed material could be published more quickly and chea ply. Travel literature in which authors wrote about their trips and about various destinations became popular perhaps because the texts could be cheaply bought. The Confucian Classics were codified and used as test material for the entrance examination into the elite bureaucracy, advanced scientific texts and atlases were published, and important poems were written. The Confucian Classics were important in China’s history because from the Song Dynasty onwards, they were the texts people needed to know in order to pass an examination for the bureaucracy of China. These Confucian Classics were the Five Classics that were thought to have been penned by Confucius and the Four Books that were thought to contain Confucius-related material but were compiled during the Southern Song era. The Four Books and Five Classics (å››æ› ¸Ã¤ ºâ€Ã§ ¶â€œ) were basically memorized by those who did the best on the exams. In this way, Confucianism, as codified during the Song era, became the dominant political philosophy of the several empires until modern times. Since the bureaucrats all studied the same works on social behavior and philosophy, this promoted unity and the normalization of behavior throughout each empire and during dynastic changes. The scholar-bureaucrats had a common base of understanding, and they passed on these ideas to the people under them. Those who passed the difficult exams were highly respected even if they didn’t receive a ruling post. High education in this system was thought to produce nobility. The Five Classics and Four Books were written in the written Classical Language. The Five Classics include: The Book of Changes, The Classic of Poetry, The Record of Rites that was a recreation of the original Classic of Rites of Confucius that was lost in the Qin book purge, The Classic of History, and The Spring and Autumn Annals that was mainly a historical record of Co nfucius native state of Lu. The Four Books include: The Analects of Confucius that is a book of pithy sayings attributed to Confucius and recorded by his disciples; Mencius that is a collection of political dialogues attributed to Mencius; The Doctrine of the Mean; and The Great Learning that is a book about education, self-cultivation and the Dao. For foreigners who want a taste of this Confucian philosophy, reading the Analects of Confucius is a good introduction since the statements are usually simple and like common sense. Another period of scientific progress and technical invention was the Song era. Song technicians seemed to have made a lot of advancements in mechanical engineering. They made advanced contraptions out of gears, pulleys and wheels. These were used to make big clocks, a mechanical odometer on animal drawn carts that marked land distance by making noise after traveling a certain distance, and other advanced instruments. The Song technicians also invented many uses gunpowder including rockets, explosives and big guns. The imperial court officials did remarkable scientific research in many areas of mechanics and science. Shen Kuo (1031–1095) and Su Song (1020–1101) both wrote scientific treatises about their research and about different fields. Shen is said to have discovered the concepts of true north and magnetic declination towards the North Pole. He also described the magnetic needle compass. If Chinese sailors knew about this work, they could have sailed long distances more accurately. This knowledge would predate European discovery. He did advanced astronomical research for his time. Su Song wrote a treatise called the Bencao Tujing with information on medicine, botany and zoology. He also was the author of a large celestial atlas of five different star maps, and he also made land atlases. Su Song was famous for his hydraulic-powered astronomical clock tower. Sus clock tower is said to have had an endless power-transmitting chain drive that he described in a text on clock design and astronomy that was published in 1092. If this is so, it may be the first time such a device was used in the world. When the Southern Song Empire was conquered by the Mongols, these inventions and the astronomical knowledge may have been forgotten. Another contribution to the literature of China was the poetry of the Song era. A Southern Song poet named Lu is thought to have written almost 10,000 poems. Su Tungpo is regarded as a great poet of the Northern Song era. Here is a stanza he wrote: â€Å"The moon rounds the red mansion Stoops to silk-pad doors Shines upon the sleepless Bearing no grudge Why does the moon tend to be full when people are apart?† Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) Drama and Great Fictional Novels The Mongols were nomadic people who herded cattle north of the Tang Empire and wandered over a large area fighting on horseback. They believed that they might be able to conquer the world. They easily conquered Persia far to the west. It was a big empire with high technology, a big population and a big army. Then they decided to try to conquer all the countries around them. They attacked the Tang Dynasty, the Dali Kingdom in Yunnan, and much of Asia, and they formed the biggest empire in the history of the earth until then. They conquered Russia, a part of eastern Europe and a part of the Middle East. In China, the Mongols established the very rich Yuan Dynasty. In their camps, the Mongols were entertained by shadow puppet plays in which a lamp cast the shadows of little figurines and puppets on a screen or sheet. In the Yuan Dynasty, puppet drama continued to entertain the rich dynastic courts in vernacular language. Dramatic operatic theaters with human actors speaking in vernacular language was a favorite form of entertainment as well, and some of China’s best dramatic scripts were written then. Also two of the four novels that are generally considered China’s best literary classics were written in vernacular language then. So though the Yuan Empire wasn’t ruled by Chinese, it was an era of some historically renowned dramatic playwrights and novelists who wrote in vernacular language. It is thought that the operatic style of the shadow puppet dramas that entertained the courts influenced the development of the operatic theater style of the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan rulers were fabulously wealthy according to historical accounts. They had a vast empire and control of trade in Eurasia. For the royal courts or the rich people, refined music, sound effects and talented singers were employed for shadow plays. The Yuan â€Å"Zaju† style of opera was similar to their shadow pl ays. Perhaps the playwrights adopted the plots and the features. There were exciting plots, elaborate costumes, refined music and singing, action, and dance that the Mongols enjoyed. The music of the Zaju operas was called Yuan Qu (Yuan Music). The language used wasn’t the Classical Language but the vernacular language, so that the theater might be enjoyed by everyone. After the Yuan Dynasty, the operatic style developed into the Painted Faces style of Chinese opera that was popular until modern times. Guan Hanqing is regarded as one of the best playwrights of the times. He wrote Midsummer Snow that was one of the most popular drama pieces. It is a tragedy about an unjustly accused woman who received justice after her death. The Romance of the Western Chamber was written by Wang Shifu. It is considered one of the best romantic dramas ever written in China. Novels were another outstanding achievement of the Yuan era. The novelists influenced the future development of the genre. Two novels are still widely read now and are generally considered two of the four greatest novels in Chinese literature. These are Water Margin and The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in vernacular language by Luo Guan Zhong. It is historical fiction about the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms Period. The Three Kingdoms Period was between the Han and Tang eras. Special emphasis is laid on the two famous historical rulers Liu Bei and Cao Cao who were antagonists. It is a long novel with 800,000 words. Water Margin is about the lives and ideals of a group of characters who fought against the corrupt Northern Song Dynasty that the Mongols conquered. It is said it was written in vernacular language by Shi Nai An, but scholars debate about the authorship. Many scholars think that the first 70 chapters were written by Shi Nai An and that the last 30 chapters were written by Luo Guan Zhong who was also the author of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Novels The Chinese rebelled against the Mongols, and the Ming Dynasty era began about 1368. The Mongols and the Ming government still sometimes fought. Because of this and the presence of Muslim countries in between, trade with the west was reduced to the pre-Yuan level. The Ming initially were interested in exploration, and Muslims whose ancestors arrived during the Yuan Dynasty and who were familiar with seagoing trade were employed to make long voyages to the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and perhaps Africa. Then they became isolationist. It is interesting that a book that is one of the four great classics called Journey to the West about a monk going to India was written during this time of isolation. Maybe the thought of travel to the lands in the west was appealing then. Novels were the era’s main contribution. The Journey to the West is based on the historical journey of a Buddhist to India during the Tang era to learn Buddhist teachings and bring back scriptures and information. In 1629, Xuanzang (602 664) left Changan in 629 and arrived back in Changan in 646. Mythical tales about this journey including the character of an intelligent monkey began to be circulated long before the book was written. The author drew on known tales. Journey to the West is thought to have been published anonymously by Wu Chengen in the 16th century though scholars have doubt about the authorship. The trend in that era was for people to write in Classical Chinese and imitate the literature of the Tang Dynasty and Han Dynasty. However, this book was written in the vernacular. Perhaps because there was a lack of accurate geographical knowledge available to the author, much of the geographical landscape of the story is inaccurate. However, the â€Å"Flaming Mountains† that are near Turpan in Xinjiang are mentioned. Perhaps the author meant to poke fun at Chinese religion because a monkey is said to have defeated a whole army led by Taoist gods, and only the Buddha’s intervention stopped the monkey. The book describes India as a land of gross sin and immorality, and the monk was commissioned by Buddha to help India. The characters in the book are well known to Chinese children, and they often appear in martial arts movies and cartoons. Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) Novels and Pre-modern Literature The Manchus invaded the Ming Empire from the north and established the last dynasty called the Qing Dynasty. The Manchus were not Chinese, but they retained the Neo-Confucian governing system of the Song and Ming eras. The Qing Dynasty came under increasing attack from both internal rebellions and foreign countries. In the 19th century, foreign literature and the West became better known. In the middle of this era, the last of China’s four great classic novels was written called Dream of the Red Chamber (ç ´â€¦Ã¦ ¨â€œÃ¥ ¤ ¢); and near the end of the era, modernistic literature developed. The Dream of the Red Chamber also has an uncertain authorship. Like the other three great classic novels, it was written in a vernacular language – the Mandarin language that was the language of the Qing capital. It is probably mostly composed by Cao Xueqin (about 1715-1763) in the middle 1700s, and the first printing of the book was in the late 1700s. It is thought that Cao did not live to see the first printing. It is thought that another person or other people contributed the ending of the story since the original ending of the story was lost. The book has a lot of textual problems, and there are different versions. In a preface to a printed version in 1792, two editors claimed to have put together an ending based on the authors working manuscripts that they had bought from a street vendor. At the end of the Qing Dynasty era, the dynastic rulers came under increasing pressure both from foreign attacks and internal rebellions. Educated Chinese had easier access to foreign literature, and they were more influenced by Western culture. Students started to travel abroad to study, and schools built by missionaries educated tens of thousands of students. There was a general sense of crisis, and intellectuals started translating foreign works on science, politics, and literature. These were popular, and the culture started to change. Some writers produced fiction more like Western fiction. Chinese Literatures Chinese Classical Prose Prose writing in ancient and pre-modern China differed from poetry in that it was less rigidly structured and wasnt like verses in a song or like one of the common styles of poetry. But compared to English prose, literary prose before the year 1900 was often much more formalized. Except for popular novels and theatrical plays, most of the literary prose works were written in the literary Classical Language. This Classical Language utilized the grammar and ancient characters of the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) and of the Han Dynasty era (206 BC – 220 AD). Writers sought to imitate the examples of prose in ancient philosophical and religious books such as Mencius (Ã¥ ­Å¸Ã¥ ­ ) and Zhuang Zi (莊å ­ ). These old texts that were thought to date from about 600 BC to 200 BC were thought to contain examples of careful and well-reasoned discourses and be examples of good organization and style. During the Han Dynasty era (206 BC – 220 AD), a more formalized style of prose writing appeared that was called Piantiwen (é § ¢Ã© «â€Ã¦â€"‡) or parallel prose style. But in the Tang and Song eras, people started to write in the less formal and more ancient style called Guwen (Ã¥  ¤Ã¦â€"‡) of the Warring States era. So classical prose can be divided into three types called Piantiwen style, Guwen style, and the vernacular style used in operatic dramas and in the Four Classic Novels of Chinese literature. For about 2,000 years after the Qin Dynasty era (221-206 BC), Chinese writers had a constraint that European writers generally didnt face after the Renaissance. Chinese writers generally needed to write in a common literary language that wasnt their native language or a vernacular language anywhere. The ancient languages of the Warring States Period were extinct. But writers had to maintain the grammar and the use of the vocabulary. In some ways, this is similar to how educated Europeans wrote in Latin until the Renaissance era. During the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), the emperor ordered that all texts other than those of a philosophy called Legalism and some sciences that he favored be destroyed. There was a Book Burning and the Burial of Scholars. They effectively destroyed several religions and philosophical schools and much ancient literature. During the Han era, people tried to reconstruct and preserve what was lost. What emerged as important were works attributed to Confucius, Mencius, Zhuang Zi, Lao Zi, and a few other philosophers. Mencius whose book was considered one of the major texts of Confucianism was said to have elegant diction, and Zhuang Zi whose text was one of the two pillars of the school of Daoism that emerged in the Han era showed how to use anecdotes and all egories effectively. Chinese writers tried to copy their styles. The example of the style from the pre-Qin era was said to be simple and direct. Ouyang XiuIn the Han era, a variant style was developed that was called Piantiwen (é § ¢Ã© «â€Ã¦â€"‡). This style wasnt as clear or precise, but it was florid, ornate and rigid. The Piantiwen style was popular for several hundred years afterwards. During the late Tang era (618-907), two prominent officials tried to reintroduce the earlier style called Guwen. Han Yu (768–824) and Liu Zongyuan tried to teach others to use Guwen. They are considered two of the great prose masters of the Tang and Song eras. But the Tang Dynasty fell and was replaced by the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD). During the Song Dynasty, another literati named Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072) helped to revive writing in the Guwen style. This neoclassical style dominated prose writing for the next 800 years. It was the writing system of rulers in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1645-1912) eras. In order to gain entrance into the bur eaucracy during the Ming and Qing eras, candidates had to pass the imperial qualifying examination. The exam material was the 9 Classics of Neo-Confucianism as was codified in the Song era. The Four Books and Five Classics (å››æ› ¸Ã¤ ºâ€Ã§ ¶â€œ) were basically memorized by those who did the best on the exams. These works contained the style of writing the literati wished to imitate. After the fourteenth century, vernacular fiction became popular. This may be because the invention of printing allowed the works to be more widely published. In the Yuan (1279-1368), Ming and Qing eras, four novels were published that are considered the best in Chinese history. The four novels are often called the Four Classics in China. All four were written in a spoken language of their times unlike most ancient literature that was written in the literary Classical Language. These four novels all have disputed authorship. They are: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms that is said to have been written by Luo Guan Zhong during the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368); Water Margin that is said to be written by Shi Nai An during the Yuan era; Journey to the West that is thought to have been published anonymously by Wu Chengen during the Ming Dynasty era (1368-1644); and The Dream of the Red Chamber was said to be written by Cao Xueqin (1715-1763) during the Qing Dynasty era (1644-1911). The writers wrote in different languages, but vernacular prose can be called the third type of classical prose writing. Chinese Poetry Poetry has been a favorite literary genre for thousands of years. Poetry isnt taken very seriously in the West, especially in the last two hundred years, but Chinese ancient poetry is still read and ancient Chinese poets are honored. The greatest poets are thought to have lived a thousand years ago or more during the Tang (618-907), Song (960-1279) and Han (206 BC – 220 AD) dynastic eras. Du Fu, Li Bai and Su Shi are considered among the best ancient poets, and there are five major kinds of major ancient poetic styles called Shi, Ci, Ge, Qu and Fu. The very ancient poetry that was written a thousand or more years ago was simpler and about common things like love, romance and nature that people appreciate. Though much poetry was written in the eras following the Song Dynasty (960-1279), it is thought that the poets became increasingly erudite, academic and esoteric so that modern Chinese cant appreciate the style and meaning. Since the Chinese have a character-based writing system instead of an alphabetic system, though the languages have changed, modern Chinese can still read a lot of the ancient poetry. Since the pronunciation of words has changed a lot, often the rhymes or tonal rhythms are lost for poems that rhymed or had tonal patterns. But the meanings of the characters havent changed much, though modern readers may interpret the words to mean something other than the ancient author intended. Nuances and connotations may be lost. Since old poems remain and modern Chinese can understand them to some extent, they are still appreciated. Five Kinds of Poems 1. Shi è © © Shi poems are composed of couplets. They are poems of two more coupled lines. The two lines of a couplet usually rhyme and match rhythmically and complement each other tonally. Modern Mandarin only has five tones, but ancient languages usually had more, so the tonal rhythms are generally lost. 2. Ci è ©Å¾ Ci poetry can be described as poems that have patterns of syllables and tonal patterns. In making a Ci poetry, a poet chooses words that fit a specific pattern. These patterns may have once been part of a song. But the music has been lost. There are various patterns that provided affective settings for various effects or moods. 3. Ge æ ­Å' The word ge means song. Ge poems are the words to a song that can be sung. There were folk songs as well as songs composed by the literate and educated composers. 4. Qu æ› ² When the Mongols conquered China and established the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), they brought with them their own style of music and forms of entertainment. They especially liked to watch shadow puppet theaters that were puppet plays of little manipulated figurines and puppets illuminated by a lamp so that the shadows fell against a screen. It is thought that the form of operatic drama of the Yuan Dynasty imitated their shadow play theaters. The style of music and song in the operas was called Yuan Qu or Mongol Music. The songs from the operas and popular songs were a poetic style called Qu that was also popular in later eras. The poetic style is freer of form. 5. Fuè ³ ¦ A fifth major style of poetry is called Fu. These are descriptive poems that contain both prose and couplets. These were popular about 1,500 years to 2,000 years ago. Often poets included rare or unusual written characters from preceding eras in their poems.

Women as a Minority Group Essay -- essays research papers

Women as a Minority Group   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Women have been discriminated against since the beginning of time, as early as the first people, Adam and Eve. Eve was called the evil one, who ate fruit from the tree of knowledge. Once she had the knowledge to know right from wrong, she chose to do wrong and give the fruit to Adam. Examples like these can be shown all over history books, in stories, tales and legends across the entire world. Women have been subordinate to men in virtually all societies throughout history.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The ideology that one sex is superior to the other is called sexism. The presumption of male sexism led to patterns of prejudice and discrimination against women. These prejudices and discriminations have led to many beliefs or ideas of why women are inferior to men. They range from brain size to sexual differences, including personalities based on genitalia. Cross-cultural studies demonstrate how the socialization process and societal expectations of men and women produce variances in sex-role norms and behavior. As the realization of women as an exploited group increases, the similarity of their position to that of racial and ethnic groups becomes more apparent. Women are born into their sexual identity and are easily distinguished by physical and cultural characteristics. In addition, women now identify that they are all sufferers of an ideology (sexism) that tries to justify their inferior treatment. In all societies around the world, women are treated as if they are a minority group, just like any racial or ethnic group that is out of the norm. The justification for considering women as a minority group and the existence of sexism becomes clear through the examination of social indicators, including education, employment, and income.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Education was sex segregated for hundreds of years. Men and women went to different schools or were physically and academically separated into â€Å"coeducational† schools. Males and females had separate classrooms, separate entrances, separate academic subjects, and separate expectations. Women were only taught the social graces and morals, and teaching women academic subjects was considered a waste of time. Even after these prejudices were overcome, the education system still maintained sexism in both obvious and subtle ways. Books rein... ...nses for maternity and family medical leaves. If a woman chooses motherhood, then she must lower her occupational goals and expectations. A woman with children will fall behind a childless woman in earnings, as the childless woman goes up the corporate ladder faster. Women will then risk career advancement by having children. Also, a working mother must not only juggle a family and a career, but she must find child-care as well. Child care costs are the major reason why most women end up just quitting their jobs. The majority of a working mother’s salary goes directly to the child care provider. If women were paid equal to men, more families may be able to pay for child care expenses and working mothers could continue to work and get ahead. Women have been treated unequally since the beginning of time. Just recently have things began to change for the better for women and the future of our society. The increase in women’s equality rights will take time, but some day women and men will be treated equally. This cannot happen until each of us is able to look at a person and just see another individual, not a male or a female, white or black, rich or poor†¦ a person as just a person.

Tobacco/Cotton Slavery FRQ

Compare and contrast the experience of slaves on tobacco plantations in the early seventeenth-century Chesapeake region with that of slaves on nineteenth-century cotton plantations in the Deep South. What forces transformed the institution of slavery the early seventeenth century to the nineteenth century? When approaching slavery from a historical standpoint, it is a tendency to generalize the experience of slaves. However, slavery differs per region and time period.The differing climates of the Chesapeake region and Deep South determined the crops that would be grown and consequently the severity of slave labor. Likewise, over time slavery evolved from a class based system (poor indentured servants working alongside blacks) to a racially based system, creating an identity within the slave community. However, not only the slave experience differed, the institution itself transformed.The transition from class-based slavery to racial slavery, accompanied by new technologies that made the industry more profitable, changed how the institution was run. Thus, despite a general continuity in the institution of slavery, such as it being agrarian-based and involving black subordinates, many forces changed the institution like the installment of slave codes in 1670s, making it a legal and racial practice, and the development of the cotton gin and other technological advances in the 1790s.Whilst seventeenth century slavery was characterized by smaller tobacco plantations, racially-mixed servitude, and somewhat less-demanding labor, nineteenth century slavery was characterized by large-scale cotton plantations, solely black slavery, harsh and dangerous working conditions, and syncretic slave societies within plantations. This essay will approach identifying factors of change through the general categories of beginning, middle, and end of American slavery. It will also directly compare and contrast the institutions of early Chesapeake and later Deep South slavery.Slavery i s not new and unique to United States history, and many factors caused it to change and evolve in America. The first major transformation took place in roughly the 1690s when slavery was defined legally and racially. Slavery began in the Chesapeake region as indentured servitude, granting migrants passage to the New World in exchange for a labor contract. The first Africans were brought to the Jamestown colony in 1619, joining the ranks of indentured servants and working side-by-side with whites. There was no legal definition of slavery at the time.Eventually, with significant free land to begin competitor farms, European indentured servants often finished or abandoned their indentured life to begin anew. This created an ever-growing void for labor, and presented a flaw with indentured-servitude— if they could start their own farm, what would keep them at another? This frightened the planters, who feared rebellion and faced a lack of labor. At the same time, Africans were ste adily being brought into America for servitude. In fact, by the mid-1680s black slaves outnumbered their European counterparts.Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676, was a rebellion staged by white descendants of or former indentured-servants living on the frontier against the government of Virginia over defending land from Indians. The result, however, was the end of indentured servitude. It presented too much of a risk— servitude would have to be continued in another way. This way was achieved when in 1682 Virginia issued a slave code that marked the first distinction that all peoples imported to the country of color were to be slaves. This was important because it introduced race into the realm of servitude.Now slavery was both legally enforced and racial. This was a significant force to the development of the black slavery and white supremacist culture we associate with American History today. Throughout the middle time period, racial slavery was concreted. In the eighteenth cen tury, it became evident that the fertile soil of the southern colonies would be instrumental to growing cash crops. Thus, the tobacco slavery practiced in the Chesapeake region boomed, increasing the demand for slaves. Tobacco was an appealing crop for planters, for it cost pennies to purchase and sold for much more.As a result, the slave trade expanded, and many companies sought to join the lucrative trade. This is shown by the Royal African Company losing its monopoly in 1698. By 1750, blacks comprised nearly half of the population in Virginia. To ensure the preservation of racial slavery, new slave codes deemed that the children of those enslaved would also be enslaved. Thus the concept of slavery for life was established. This furthered the claim of planters that the blacks they owned were in fact property or â€Å"chattels†, making the racial basis of slavery unquestionable.It is clear that America was no longer just a society with slaves— the institution of slave ry was integrated with race, the economy, politics, as well as everyday life. In addition to tobacco plantations, cotton slavery was also expanding in the Deep South. As the soil became exhausted from growing tobacco in the Chesapeake area, many slave-owners found it more profitable to sell their slaves to southern plantations. Thus, though slavery remained in the Chesapeake area, the growing cotton industry moved its epicenter to the Deep South. The major forces that caused this shift will be included in the paragraph about the end of slavery.The soil was beginning to become overused because of the intensity of tobacco growing in the Chesapeake, and many plantation owners decided to sell their slaves to Southern cotton plantation owners. In the nineteenth century, the institution of slavery peaked economically and politically. Cotton slavery was a lucrative industry. This was made possible by Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin in 1793, and the British Industrial Revol ution. The British had an increased need for cotton for their growing textile industry. The cotton gin allowed slaves to more efficiently yield cotton.Thus, the supply-demand relationship gave rise to massive plantations, some owning hundreds of slaves. The fortunes in slavery were clear by the huge estates of planters and many acres of slave-tended fields. Although, the Atlantic Slave Trade was outlawed in 1808, the slave population in America was self-sustaining (it would eventually peak at about four million before the Civil War). In addition, illegal Atlantic slave trade continued as well as trading within the country (take for example the Second Middle Passage). Slavery, now legally restricted to southern states, was the core of the southern agrarian economy.Because it was so lucrative, planters took initiatives to ensure productivity from their slaves. Whipping was a common practice. Also, Fugitive Slave Laws gave planters the right to their slaves as property, even if they es caped to the free North. Slave codes were strict, and even an inappropriate greeting could guarantee a slave punishment. In response to rebellions like that of Denmark Vesey in 1822 or the Nat Turner Insurrection of 1831, paranoia was high. Planters used these laws to keep slaves in line, and preserve the institution of slavery.In conclusion, a clear progression is made from a legally undefined practice of servitude to a heavily legislated institution with severe punishments. Likewise, slavery developed from servitude of the lower class to racial enslavement. These developments would not be possible without the initial shift caused by Bacon’s Rebellion and the slave codes, to the eventual invention of the cotton gin that made slavery such a lucrative venture. As a direct result of the evolving institution of slavery, slaves had different experiences at different times and places in American history.To exemplify the effects of the forces that transformed slavery, it is importa nt to examine how they altered the experience of slaves over time. To begin we will shed light on the experience of a seventeenth century Chesapeake tobacco slave. This slave would have likely worked alongside white indentured servants, considering slavery was not yet racial. Since slaves were first brought to the Chesapeake in 1619, African servants of this time may not have known English. The nuclear family of slaves often stayed together at this time, and if not they usually remained within the same region.Although the climate of the Chesapeake area is hot in the summer, the conditions were not as bad as further south. The experience of seventeenth century slaves had many similarities and differences to that of their later, Deep South counterparts. By the nineteenth century, slavery was a booming industry, especially in the Deep South where the growing demand for cotton resulted in many plantations. Similarities to the experience of seventeenth century slaves were the consistent agrarian nature of slavery— it still involved significant manual labor.In addition, the slaves lived roughly the same way, with as much (or as little) food and sleep required to keep them productive. Although it was less apparent in the seventeenth century, the black race was always viewed as subordinate. The force that caused significant differences was the increased scale of nineteenth century slavery. It is truly the difference between a society with slaves and a slave society. The Deep South was dependent on the cotton industry. Slaves of the nineteenth century faced grueling conditions, as described in Frederick Douglass’s autobiography. It can be assumed the mortality rate was higher.The nuclear family of Deep South slaves was often broken apart. The marriage vow of slaves was â€Å"until death or distance do you part. † It was profitable to sell slaves down the river, and many slaves like Sojourner Truth watched all of their family sold away. Compared to the mixed ethnicities of slaves in the seventeenth century, by the nineteenth century American slaves formed an identity as a separate ethnic group. Most spoke English, and syncretic slave languages like Geechee and Gullah were formed. In addition, ‘spirituals’ (slave songs) helped the slaves survive harsh work.Deep South slaves also faced more punishment, to keep them mentally enslaved as well as physically. Overall, despite the same general structure, slavery in nineteenth century Deep South was much harsher than tobacco slavery in the Chesapeake. In addition, the resulting identities formed by slaves defined the culture and effected their lifestyles. In conclusion, many forces culminated to transform slavery from an economic to a social and racial institution. The resulting outcome was a huge and lucrative industry. This changed how slaves lived, transitioning from less-harsh work to grueling labor, as well as forming a cultural identity.

Performance Management at Vitality Health Essay

Situational Analysis: Introduction: Vitality Health Enterprises initially started its business as Vitality by importing small quantities of cosmetics from Japan. Initially it started marketing in its neighbourhood and to local organizations. Slowly it started expanding and in 1989 it changed its business model by establishing its own manufacturing facility in the US. Its business continued to grow into various markets as it leveraged its unique supplier connections and technological superiority. Its venture of acquiring HerbaPure Nutraceuticals helped it expand into a new domain of health care and Vitality became Vitality Health Enterprises. It continued its growth by expanding into new geographies until 2008 when its growth began to stagnate. This led to the formation of its new business strategy where a committee was appointed to review the policies and methods of tracking the performance goals of all non-sales and non-executive employees of the company. Drawbacks of previous PMS: PMS scale had 13 different levels of ratings. This scale posed a problem as managers avoided either the pain of evaluating or offending their sub ordinates by giving average rating of ‘B’ or ‘C’ to most of the employees. They avoided giving ‘A’ even to the top performers with a fear of upsetting the spirit of teamwork among others. Therefore the top performers lacked motivation to continue performing better as they received similar kind of merit based incentives and rewards as their less productive co-workers. Also there were flaws in the current methods used to measure performance. The compa-ratio takes into account the number of years an employee has worked with the company. Hence the tenure brings them with high incentives even though their performance wasn’t up to the mark. For example an employee with larger work experience at Vitality would be paid more when compared to other employee who had joined recently for the same output or sometimes even for a lesser output, which brought discrimination and dissatisfaction among the  employees. One advantage was that the compensation provided is 7-8% higher when compared to competitors. But the component of bonuses and variable pay was low in the current structure, which added to the disappointment of the high performers. Therefore even though turnover rate reduced at Vitality due to high compensation, there was turnover among the more productive scientists and product engineers as they moved to companies where their hard work and talents are rewarded better, which was a great loss to the company. Hence the very purpose of PMS that is identifying performers to reward them and non-performers to train them better or in the worst case steer them out was not achieved through this system. So a large section of the employee community wasn’t satisfied with the existing system. Also in a highly competitive market as personal care products, Vitality can’t afford to lose its top talent to its competitors. Additionally its product managers need continuous motivation to innovate and develop new products to withstand the competition. Hence there was a need for a coherent performance management system that held employees accountable for their actions and incentivized employee performance by offering compensations including salaries, bonuses and equity. So a new performance management system was launched. Problem Statement Was newly implemented performance management system in ‘Vitality Health Enterprises Inc.’ effective? Pros of Newly implemented PMS: The revised system is more apt to recognize highly contributing employees by strictly following the distribution model of performance rating. New PMS changed the absolute ranking to relative ranking system which helps to rank the employees based on relative performance basis. This eliminates a key problem of rewarding bulk of employees when their department was failing to meet development and production goals. This plan incorporated a new system of performance-related short and long term cash and equity bonus rather than relying only on salary increases. The newly designed system follows 4 point scale instead of 13 point scale which made the manager task easier in evaluation. Cons of Newly implemented PMS: Some employees were reluctant to perform their duties outside the job as those responsibilities were not in the review system. So they preferred only to work in the domains which were taken into consideration for their reward. Some managers felt that the new distribution system to be very rigid. High performing team need to come up with the targeted number of achievers even though they had many of them. On the contrary, the low performing team also had equal number of top achievers. The new PMS uncovered some managerial dissembling. Because managers allotted ‘Not Rated’ ranking to new members and saved the higher rankings for their veteran employees irrespective of their performance. Hence the new member in team might be de motivated. Some managers were reluctant in differentiating between their employees and allow any unfamiliar person to evaluate them. Because of this true performer might miss his/her rewards and incentives. Some managers rotated the highest ranking between their employees from one year to the next. So the objective of developing new evaluation system was unfulfilled. Recommendations The new performance management scored well in the survey which collected response from all the affected employees. Around 54% of the employees were happy with the new system whereas nearly a third (31%) preferred the old system. The employees who were happy with the new system might be high performers whereas the low or mid performers might have not been happy with the new system and were recommending old system. Managers were not happy with the rigid system because it added complexity in grading and might have been forced to give detailed explanation to offended employees. However there were few issues with the new system, which can be addressed with the measures listed below: Modification of the pay structure by incorporating performance benefits tied to the below: Organization Building: Employees need to contribute for the growth of the organization beyond their core responsibility. This will help in organizational growth and trickle-down effect to the bottom of the organization. So their pay structure will also involve a component that corresponds whether the company as a whole is performing well or not. Team Building: The performance of the team or  division will also impact the rewards being distributed. If a division does well, all its members get benefitted and vice versa Individual Efforts: Like before, individual component will also weigh for performance appraisal. This will have a different weight age for different job descriptions, as per the requirement. For example: A marketing employee will have a higher component of organization building than a R&D scientist who will have a higher individual component E.g. Say a R&D scientist has a base salary of ‘x’ and the weights allocated to organization building, team building and individual efforts as w1, w2 and w3 with per component increase of $p, $q and $r. Hence pay policy line= x+ (w1*p) + (w2*q) + (w3*r) Mixed component of absolute and relative: Employees will be graded against one another only when they are able to fulfil their core responsibilities and perform to a certain benchmark level. As the managers used to assign a Not Rated ranking to any employee who had been in the group for less than a year, regardless of actual performance. Not Rated ranking should be removed and appraisal should be conducted without grading for employees who have not completed a year. Pay structure of Managers: Managers have secondary responsibility of fulfilling staffing needs, their effectiveness in training, development and employee relations. The weight age of secondary component should be increased in such a manner so that they don’t delegate this responsibility to HR, which will be possible if their pay structure will be linked to it. Differential rating points for different divisions: Different division should have a different weight age system of organization growth, team growth and individual efforts in their pay structure and it should be appropriately distributed to all divisions so that rewards are not concentrated in a particular division. Feasibility of recommendation The company is growing at a good rate and hence any recommendation should be careful analyzed for its feasibility. Having different weight age for KRA’s of each division is difficult to formulate and can also lead to conflict between divisions which can lead to loss in synergy across the organization. All the divisions should be kept in confidence while formulating KRA’s and their respective weight ages. As the company is growing, the divisions will also increase and hence this plan’s sustainability is questionable. Pay  structure modification can be met with resistance from employees who will not be ready to accept too many variables in their salary. However educating employee about the benefits of this modification can solve this issue. Creating a separate process for employees who had completed less than a year in a team can easily eliminate not Rated ranking.

Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle (May 22, 1859 - July 7, 1930) created one of the worlds most famous characters, Sherlock Holmes. But in some ways, the Scottish-born author felt trapped by the runaway popularity of the fictional detective. Over the course of a long writing career, Conan Doyle wrote other stories and books he believed to be superior to the tales and novels about Holmes. But the great detective turned into a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic, with the reading public clamoring for more plots involving Holmes, his sidekick Watson, and the deductive method. As a result Conan Doyle, offered great sums of money by publishers, felt compelled to keep turning out stories about the great detective. Fast Facts: Arthur Conan Doyle Known For: British writer best known for his detective fiction featuring the character Sherlock Holmes.  Born: May 22, 1859Died: July 7, 1930Published Works: More than 50 titles featuring Sherlock Holmes, The Lost WorldSpouse(s): Louisa Hawkins (m.  1885; died  1906), Jean Leckie (m.  1907)Children: Mary Louise, Arthur Alleyne Kingsley, Denis Percy Stewart, Adrian Malcolm, Jean Lena AnnetteNotable Quote: When the impossible has been eliminated, all that remains no matter how improbable is possible. Early Life of Arthur Conan Doyle Arthur Conan Doyle was born May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh, Scotland. The familys roots were in Ireland, which Arthurs father had left as a young man. The family surname had been Doyle, but as an adult Arthur preferred to use Conan Doyle as his surname. Growing up as an avid reader, young Arthur, a Roman Catholic, attended Jesuit schools and a Jesuit university. He attended medical school at Edinburgh University where he met a professor and surgeon, Dr. Joseph Bell, who was a model for Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle noticed how Dr. Bell was able to determine a great many facts about patients by asking seemingly simple questions, and the author later wrote about how Bells manner had inspired the fictional detective. Medical Career In the late 1870s, Conan Doyle began writing magazine stories, and while pursuing his medical studies he had a yearning for adventure. At the age of 20, in 1880, he signed on to be the ships surgeon of a whaling vessel headed to Antarctica. After a seven-month voyage, he returned to Edinburgh, finished his medical studies, and began the practice of medicine. Conan Doyle continued to pursue writing and published in various London literary magazines throughout the 1880s. Influenced by a character of Edgar Allan Poe, the French detective M. Dupin, Conan Doyle wished to create his own detective character. Sherlock Holmes The character of Sherlock Holmes first appeared in a story, A Study in Scarlet, which Conan Doyle published at the end of 1887 in a magazine, Beetons Christmas Annual. It was reprinted as a book in 1888. At the same time, Conan Doyle was conducting research for a historical novel, Micah Clarke, which was set in the 17th century. He seemed to consider that his serious work, and the Sherlock Holmes character merely a challenging diversion to see if he could write a convincing detective story. At some point, it occurred to Conan Doyle that the growing British magazine market was the perfect place to try an experiment in which a recurring character would turn up in new stories. He approached The Strand magazine with his idea, and in 1891 he began publishing new Sherlock Holmes stories. The magazine stories became an enormous hit in England. The character of the detective who uses reasoning became a sensation. And the reading public eagerly awaited his newest adventures. Illustrations for the stories were drawn by an artist, Sidney Paget, who actually added much to the publics conception of the character. It was Paget who drew Holmes wearing a deerstalker cap and a cape, details not mentioned in the original stories. Arthur Conan Doyle Became Famous With the success of the Holmes stories in The Strand magazine, Conan Doyle was suddenly an extremely famous writer. The magazine wanted more stories. But as the author didnt want to be overly associated with the now-famous detective, he demanded an outrageous sum of money. Expecting to be relieved of the obligation to write more stories, Conan Doyle asked for 50 pounds per story. He was stunned when the magazine accepted, and he went on to keep writing about Sherlock Holmes. While the public was crazy for Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle devised a way to be finished with writing the stories. He killed off the character by having him, and his nemesis Professor Moriarity, die while going over Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. Conan Doyles own mother, when told of the planned story, begged her son not to finish off Sherlock Holmes. When the story in which Holmes died was published in December 1893, the British reading public was outraged. More than 20,000 people canceled their magazine subscriptions. And in London, it was reported that businessmen wore mourning crepe on their top hats. Sherlock Holmes Was Revived Arthur Conan Doyle, freed from Sherlock Holmes, wrote other stories and invented a character named Etienne Gerard, a soldier in Napoleons army. The Gerard stories were popular, but not nearly as popular as Sherlock Holmes. In 1897 Conan Doyle wrote a play about Holmes, and an actor, William Gillette, became a sensation playing the detective on Broadway in New York City. Gillette added another facet to the character, the famous meerschaum pipe. A novel about Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, was serialized in The Strand in 1901-02. Conan Doyle got around the death of Holmes by setting the story five years before his demise. However, the demand for Holmes stories was so great that Conan Doyle essentially brought the great detective back to life by explaining that no one had actually seen Holmes go over the falls. The public, happy to have new tales, accepted the explanation. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Sherlock Holmes until the 1920s. In 1912 he published an adventure novel, The Lost World, about characters who find dinosaurs still living in a remote area of South America. The story of The Lost World has been adapted for film and television a number of times, and also served as an inspiration for such films as King Kong and Jurassic Park. Conan Doyle served as a doctor in a military hospital in South Africa during the Boer War in 1900 and wrote a book defending Britains actions in the war. For his services he was knighted in 1902, becoming Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The author died on July 7, 1930. His death was newsworthy enough to be reported on the front page of the next days New York Times. A headline referred to him as Spiritist, Novelist, and Creator of Famous Fiction Detective. As Conan Doyle believed in an afterlife, his family said they were awaiting a message from him after death. The character of Sherlock Holmes, of course, lives on and appears in films right up to the present day.

Financial planning and wealth management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial planning and wealth management - Essay Example The World Wealth Report 2013 has been prepared by Capgemini and Royal Bank of Canada jointly. This report shows that 2012 was started with a sluggish beginning with low levels of GDP of most of the economies around the world. However, with efforts from the national governments, economic activities in the world have increased considerably (The wealth report, 2012). Eventually, HNWIs (individuals possessing US$1 million or more investable assets) have ultimately benefitted, as the international market has strongly turned around towards the end of 2012. The report presents the analysis of data collected through survey of more than 4,400 HNWIs belonging to twenty one countries. This makes the study one of the most data rich and highly relevant studies for present economic times. Background The report sheds light on three distinct peripheries; levels of confidence held by HNWIs in the international market, their long term investment objectives, their investment pattern and plans and most importantly, the types of relationships maintained by them with advisors and wealth management firms. The investment pattern of these individuals determines the flow of investment around the world and affects the services offered by the advisors. The type of service demanded by the firms, casts significant influence on the actual investments that would be made throughout the year (Kennedy, 2011). Secondly, the nuances involved in wealth advisor-HNWI relationships have been studied in detail. Emerging opportunities for investment of wealth have been identified and recommendations have been made for improving the relationships between wealth managing firms and all segments of HNWIs. The impact of changes in the national regulations as well as the regulations of the international bodies, such as the Euro zone, during and after the financial crisis, is expected to cast major impacts on the investment climate around the globe. Impact of such changes on individuals and firms has been expl ored to assess the effect it casts on world wealth. Growth of HNWI Market Analysis of HNWI population and investible wealth shows that the HNWI Market has taken a grand leap forward since 2012. Total HNWI population in the world has increased by 9.2% in between 2011 and 2012 and reached the figure of 12 million. Financial market performance also shows impressive improvements, which has been the cause of substantial growth HNWI wealth. Although, there was a fall in aggregate investable wealth in 2011, it again increased by 10.0% and reached a record level of US $46.2 trillion. Market observers have forecasted that the HNWI wealth is expected to grow at the rate of 6.5% annually in the coming two years consecutively. It would touch the US $55.8 trillion orbit by 2015 (Capgemini, 2013). This growth would mainly be driven by expansion of HNWI wealth in the countries in Asia-Pacific region (Durgy, 2013). It is evident from the data that the developing countries are showing greater growth rates than the developed countries. Although, developing economies have been hit hard by the breakdown of the global financial system, these countries offer greater opportunities for growth. Population growth rates in these countries are high and economic activities are increasing at an increasing rate. Therefore, the process of capital accumulation occurs more spontaneously in these economies than the develo

Gender Roles in Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Gender Roles in Islam - Essay Example Specifically, this takes a closer look on how Islamic society treats its male and female members. This also analyzes how this tradition affects the new generation of males and females in particular. In Muslim societies women and men are expected to behave in accordance with social, cultural or religious codes. They have various reasons from doing so but what is most dominant is the fact that they want to make create a line separating men from women and that they want to distinguish between what is considered to be 'masculine' or 'feminine'. These gender roles are learned within a particular social and cultural context. More so, these gender roles are affected by factors such as education and economics (Armstrong 489). In practice, gender roles are often affecting women thereby adversely impeding their self determination in areas such as their socio-economic status, status within the family, health, life expectation, independence, freedom and even their rights (Armstrong 490). This clearly reflects the gender bias that is happening inside the Muslim communities. For them, women are still the weaker sex and males are the dominant ones. For them, women are essential for male for they should act as their partners and because they are essential for men, Muslim societies tolerate men from having numerous women (provided that men can financially support all his women and his offspring equally). For them, women are accessories to the male's harem and that the males are the ones who would ensure on the availability of food, shelter and other basic commodities, while the women should stay at home and manage what is being given by the males. For the Islam, women should not be in command the decision making is the sole responsibility of the males. In short, women in Islam, are often expected to be obedient wives and mothers remaining within the family environment, whereas men are expected to be protectors and caretakers of the family Although the Qur'an views women and men to be equal in human dignity, this spiritual or ethical equality has not been reflected in most Muslim laws. Like for example, women do not have equal rights to make independent decisions in relation to choice of marriage or even of their partners. Still, women are not the deciding factors when it comes to obtaining a divorce and custody of the children (Armstrong 489). The Reactions Now, there have been various reactions from the female side. Reformists and feminists have challenged women's lack of rights and lack of control over their own lives in Muslim Laws through the various techniques discussed in the section (Armstrong 494). Central to this challenge has been the reinterpretation of Qur'anic verses which seemingly privilege men over women and reinforce gender roles. Qur'an verse 4.34, which refers to men as 'guardians' (qawamun) (over women), has been used to justify gender roles. Likewise, this verse is used to give merit as the why men enjoy certain privilege over women. Reformist and feminist scholars have argued that the concept of guardianship has formed the basis of particular "gendered roles" in Muslim societies (Denny 494). Scholars have also explored how verse 4.34 has been interpreted and used to limit women's autonomy, freedom of movement and access to economic opportunities and independence. They found out that the concept of 'guardianship' actually only meant to ensure that a woman who is bearing