Grace Analysis of The Enduring Chill by Flannery O´connor...

In the short story The Enduring Chill, a man by the name of Asbury Fox is presented with God’s grace multiple times throughout the short story. He is offered God’s grace in the form of his mother, a stain on the ceiling, and a Jesuit priest. In the short story, Asbury is a failed writer who blames his failures on everyone else except himself. He has a sense of intellectual superiority to all those around. He is also sick and believes he will die from this mysterious disease. The first time Asbury is offered God’s grace is when his mother and sister both say that he needs to do something constructive with his life rather than labeling himself as a failed writer and sitting in bed all day. His mother’s idea was for him to work in the dairy with her but he ultimately refused, as he felt too weak to do any kind of physical labor. Although his mother’s initial intention was not for him to express a faith, she just wanted him to do something worthwhile with his life hoping that that would help him to feel better. Asbury’s sense of superiority over his mother does not permit him to see her point of view. The second attempt of Asbury denying God’s grace was when he failed to see the significance of the stain of the eagle with the icicle on his bedroom ceiling. The eagle represents the Holy Ghost, but Asbury is too afraid to even look at the eagle because not only does the eagle â€Å"freak him out†, but he is also â€Å"freaked out† by the idea of faith and ultimately cannot accept God’sShow MoreRelatedParkers Back by Flannery OConnor1146 Words   |  5 Pagessignificance of Flannery O Connor s Parker s Back can seem at once cold and dispassionate, as well as almost absurdly stark and violent. Her short stories routinely end in horrendous, freak fatalities or, at the very least, a character s emotional devastation. Flannery O Connor is a Christian writer, and her work is message-oriented, yet she is far too brilliant a stylist to tip her hand; like all good writers, crass didacticism is abhorrent to her. Unlike some more cryptic writers, O Connor was happy

How Many Planets Worth Of Natural Capital Do We Require...

Question 1 a) How many planets worth of natural capital do we require for everyone to live like you? According to Appendix A, if every individual had my lifestyle, two planets would have been required for the adequate provision of resources. Surprisingly, to support my needs, an emission of 7.4 tons of carbon dioxide as well as 4.2 global hectares of the Earth’s productive land would be needed. The entailed land compromises of: †¢ 48% of Energy land (i.e. land required to accommodate my carbon emission) †¢ 29.2% of Crop land †¢ 8.9% of Grazing land †¢ 10.5% of Forest land †¢ 0.8% of build up land ( i.e. area covered by infrastructure) †¢ 2.6 % Fishing grounds b) Were you surprised with your results? It is really disappointing to acknowledge†¦show more content†¦These short distances can be covered by walking or use of bikes, which would hugely contribute for gaining a healthier life. (2) Reduce intake of animal products An approximate of 2,464 gallons of water is required to produce one pound of beef as compared to just 25 gallons for the production of one pound of wheat (vegeteriantimes.com, n.d, para.2). As such, a vegan diet requires 300 gallons of water per day in comparison to 4,000 gallons for a meat eating diet (1millionwomen.com.au, 2015). These figures show the excessive water usage for a meat eater’s diet. As a result, it would be wise to consider the idea of slowly becoming a vegan for the future. (3) Use of more energy efficient appliances In Canada, these appliances (see appendix B for examples) would normally have an ENERGY STAR symbol and have been certified by the government. These products are beneficial due to the following reasons: †¢ Use 20-30% less energy than regular models †¢ Reduces greenhouse gas emissions †¢ Enables consumers to save on utility bills (nrcan.gc.ca, 2016) In short, if the aforementioned measures are undertaken, it would considerably reduce the number of planet earth required for my lifestyles by 0.2 in addition to usage of 6.7 tons of CO2 compared to 7.4 tons. Supplementary measures like use of renewable energy (e.g. solar energy) could also be considered. Nevertheless, consumers tend to avoid utilizing some energy efficient solutions (e.g. solar

Paraphrase Sample Free Essays

Unit II Assessment Question 2 Ramesh Punna Columbia Southern University Original Passage Large-Scale Complex IT Systems (Ian Sommerville, Dave Cliff, Radu Calinescu,Justin Keen, Tim Kelly , Marta Kwiatkowska,John McDermid, and Richard Paige): Complexity stems from the number and type of relationships between the system’s components and between the system and its environment. If a relatively small number of relationships exist between system components and they change relatively slowly over time, then engineers can develop deterministic models of the system and make predictions concerning its properties. However, when the elements in a system involve many dynamic relationships, complexity is inevitable. We will write a custom essay sample on Paraphrase Sample or any similar topic only for you Order Now Complex systems are nondeterministic, and system characteristics cannot be predicted by analyzing the systems constituents. Such characteristics emerge when the whole system is put to use and changes over time, depending how it is used and on the state of its external environment. Dynamic relationships include those between system elements and the system’s environment that change. For example, a trust relationship is a dynamic relationship; initially, component A might not trust component B, so, following some interchange, A checks that B has performed as expected. Over time, these checks may be reduced in scope as A’s trust in B increases. However, some failure in B may profoundly influence that trust, and, after the failure, even more stringent checks might be introduced. Complexity stemming from the dynamic relationships between elements in a system depends on the existence and nature of these relationships. Engineers cannot analyze this inherent complexity during system development, as it depends on the systems dynamic operating environment. Coalitions of systems in which elements are large software systems are always inherently complex. The relationships between the elements of the coalition change because they are not independent of how the systems are used or of the nature of their operating environments. Consequently, the nonfunctional (often even the functional) behavior of coalitions of systems is emergent and impossible to predict completely. Paraphrase for above passage: Minimizing the relationships among the entities in large scale system reduces the complexity. Complex systems are not very scalable and would be huge effort when we need to do any changes over time. Relationships should be changing depending on their performances over the life cycle of application to be more robust and granular. Dependency between the software systems must be identified in design phase to make a large scale system and failure to do this process would result in unstable and fragile software system. How to cite Paraphrase Sample, Essay examples

Breaking Bad News Writing Tips free essay sample

Unfortunately, there will be times in your career when you have to report bad news to someone. It’s awful to give and awful to hear, but there are certainly better and worse ways to present the message. For this assignment, you will select one of the scenarios below and craft a bad news letter to the fictional recipient. Scenarios: 1. Write a letter to a very strong job candidate telling them that after much deliberation following three rounds of interviews, a prestigious job at your organization has been filled by someone else. However, you believe there may be a position available for this person in the future with the company, so make sure you leave a positive impression. 2. Write a letter to someone 90 days past due on a debt to your company. You may want to explain to your reader what will happen if payment is not made soon. Consider how the reader feels about the situation and what would be the best technique for getting payment. We will write a custom essay sample on Breaking Bad News: Writing Tips or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Remember, if this person files for bankruptcy, your company may get no payment at all. . Write a letter to a tenant informing him/her of a lease violation. Be sure to include the specifics of the violation. Remember, this evidence could be important if you later need to evict this person. But be careful of outright attacking the tenant. In the past, your management company has had tenants break leases and trash apartments when there was a disagreement with management. 4. Write a letter to someone who is 30 days past due on a debt to your organization. Think about how this letter might differ from the scenario above where the debt is 90 days past due. 5. Write a letter to a former employee who has recently contacted you and asked you to write a letter of recommendation for him/her. Unfortunately, you ethically cannot recommend this individual for the position he/she is applying for. Quite frankly, the individual was arrogant, unprepared, stubborn, and apathetic. You weren’t sad when s/he left the company and you don’t feel comfortable trying to sell them as an employee to another organization. 6. Write a letter to a subordinate rejecting a recently submitted proposal for opening a new location for your business in his or her native country. You know this proposal was very important to this employee because s/he believed that in time, s/he would be able to move back home to run this facility. You know s/he labored over the details, but unfortunately, it just isn’t a wise business decision. 7. Write a letter to a subordinate to tell them that they have been denied promotion based on their latest performance review. Focus on the problems, not attacking the employee. For example, in what competencies required by the position is the employee lacking? In what areas of his/her job has s/he been performing below standard? Remember that even though you want to protect the employee’s feelings, you need to be explicit in your review – it will be important to have this documentation if the poor performance continues and you need to terminate the employee. Remember the goals you have when presenting bad news: * Make the decision clear * Help your audience accept the message * Maintain a goodwill relationship Prevent further unnecessary discussion * Preserve the company’s image * Protect the company from lawsuits. * Be thoughtful of the reader’s feelings * Reject the person, proposal, idea, behavior clearly and explicitly but not in a hurtful manner. Your letter must be written in the indirect format. This means it will include at least 4 sections (not necessarily 4 paragraphs – could be more or less). You will start with an opening buffer. Your second and third sections will convey the bad news and provide the justification for this bad news. You may choose to put the justification before the bad news if you think that is a better way to present the information. Your fourth section will close the letter on a pleasant note as you try to maintain goodwill between you, the audience, and the organization. Your letter should be presented in block format. It should be no longer than 1. 5 pages long. This assignment is due at the start of class on Wednesday, November 14th. It is worth 50 points and will be graded based on format, content, organization, and language. As always, email me or ask me in class if you have any questions.

Training proposal

Profiles In Courage Essays (1672 words) - Free Essays, Term Papers

Profiles In Courage Essays (1672 words) - Free Essays, Term Papers Profiles In Courage Profiles In Courage, John F. Kennedy Summary The Pulitzer Prize-winning account of men of principle, integrity and bravery in American politics was here available in President John F. Kennedys Profiles In Courage. Eight men who served the United States Government were selected by John F. Kennedy as models of virtue and courage under pressure. These eight men persevered in their pursuit of justice and the right path, in spite of the coercion and vilification of the majority. These heroes include Mississippi's Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar who stood up to unbounded calumny when he moved to reconcile Northern and Southern differences during the years after the Civil War, and George Norris, who, in 1910, crusaded against the strong and often dictatorial leadership of his own party. Others profiled by Kennedy included John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Thomas Hart Benton, Sam Houston, Edmund G. Ross, and Robert A. Taft. John Kennedy's spirited words and devotion to courage lived on in this novel. A thoughtful and persuasive book about political integrity. (The New York Times) Nominated for a Grammy Award in 1991, a recording of Profiles In Courage featured John F. Kennedy, Jr., reading his father's portrait of courageous Americans. John F. Kennedy inspired one generation, and now others, to believe that politics can be a noble profession. For President Kennedy, history was not a dull, dry subject, but came alive in the stories of people who risked their careers to stand up for what was right for our country, even when it was not the easy thing to do. This distinguished belief is played out in his novel in several ways. For example, President John Quincy Adams faced political aversion from his own Federalist Party which was turning to desert him. Also, Henry Clay showed courage when he dragged himself into Senate meetings through excruciating pain and anguish due to his failing health. John F. Kennedy stated, One man can make a difference, and every man should try. (Preface p.10) Of course, this applies to everyone, including women. Many people first learned how this was true when the read this book. The leaders of the past, like Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and Edmund G. Ross, set a shining example for Americans today to live up to. Later, the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award was created by his son, John F. Kennedy Jr.. to be awarded to elected officials who exemplified the kind of courage he wrote about. Interestingly, many of the stories in this book told of courage in standing up against slavery around the time of the Civil War. More than one hundred years later, the struggle for civil rights goes on. The first two Profiles in Courage Award winners, and many other courageous Americans, prove that people must never stop fighting for what they believe is right. The first recipient, Alabama Congressman Carl Elliott, fought for equal opportunity in education and was redistricted of his congressional seat in retaliation for his courageous and principled stand. The second winner, Georgia Democratic Congressman Charles Weltner, took an oath to support his party's ticket in the upcoming fall election. When segregationist Lester Maddox won the preliminary and became the Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia, Weltner followed his conscious and resigned from politics, rather than violate his oath, or belief that segregation was wrong. Each of these men mentioned in Profiles In Courage risked their careers to do what they believed was right, and often they risked their lives. John F. Kennedy hoped that each person who read this book and learned about courageous people in public life would realize that when a person faces a difficult decision which is bound to be unpopular, they are not alone. Each person must stand up for what they believe in and be willing to take the consequences, if they wanted to make the country a better place to live. Response In Profiles In Courage, the late President John F. Kennedy, then a Massachusetts Senator, paid tribute to a number of Americans, primarily U.S. Senators, who distinguished themselves through acts of political courage. None of the subjects were portrayed as perfect or beyond reproach. Kennedy showed very strongly, in fact, the ethical ambivalence of some of the classic figures in American history in this work. The point he sought to make is not about how heroes were made of different stuff than others. This book is about how human beings can, in a time of moral crisis, find the courage to follow their own truth

Strategic Marketing Report (Businesses chosen British Petroleum and Assignment

Strategic Marketing Report (Businesses chosen British Petroleum and General Motors) - Assignment Example It has seen many ups and downs over the years including issues of environment, government dealing, exploration sites, oil prices and such, but has remained strong, with a great market presence and brand equity. The second is General Motors. One of the heavyweights in the 20th Century automotive scene, GM saw bankruptcy in 2009 after many of its products and policies failed. With government holding and new management in place, GM is on the way to recovery. This paper analysis the strategies of these two companies, along with some suggestions that they could utilize in the near future. This paper will study the current marketing strategies of British Petroleum and General Motor. These companies are amongst the biggest players in their respective industries. However, the recent macro-economic environment has had an impact on the policies adapted by both. This paper will examine the specific marketing strategies and will give my own insight into them. General Motors Company is one of the largest automakers in the world, headquartered at Detroit, USA. GM employs around 235,000 people globally and has presence in 140 countries in various regions around the world (gm.com, 2009), with a complete brand portfolio of Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. According to company website, GM main business territory and market is the United States, then China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM has been through many peaks and troughs over the years but the recent taste of bankruptcy was a devastating low for the company. Having changed from General Motor Corporation to General Motor Company, GM has fortunately turned out fairly well from being in the decline phase. Whether this turnaround is successful for the company remains to be seen. There is still a need for GM to establish a culture with a more distinct and reachable vision and get the entire organization on board. The com pany still has

Individual income tax. USA Indiana state laws Research Paper

Individual income tax. USA Indiana state laws - Research Paper Example The taxpayer participates in racecar driving on mini circuit. The car is hers and she is her own mechanic. She lost money during the first two competition years. Taxpayers often receive gifts support the products of racing. The question is whether how the deductions will apply to the swimming pool, the gift, the office, the losses she experienced in racing. It also extends to the treatment that the taxation to the gifts which they receive. Summary of Issues The issue in this scenario is the application of taxation and deductions on incomes according to the Indiana taxation law. It seeks to identify the provision of the taxation law in determining what constitutes taxable income and valid deductions. This is in recognition of the fact that not all assets and incomes are taxable and not all expenses are considered as valid for deduction. The taxation law on income taxes in Indiana recognizes Taxable benefits as any income that is earned from professions or daily business occupation. Th is is an important information in the preparation of income tax returns. The incomes and benefits in this issue include: The salary of the taxpayer Gifts from Racing The issues or the items to be considered for deductions include: Loss of Money in competition Installation of Swimming Pool Repair of the Car Office Space Used For Work Summary of Conclusion Taxable income The salary of the Taxpayer The Federal Tax laws consider all salaries from employment are automatically valid for taxation. The second major form of income is from businesses or other professional occupations that earn regular income. Gifts from Racing The gifts from racing are a form of regular income that the taxpayer has to declare in the return and include in the taxable income. Taxation applies to the gift. The law states that any citizen, who earns money from lottery or gifts, will add them to the taxable income. The racing gift is therefore a taxable income in the Indiana tax return. The US Federal return refer s to them as other income. Deductions Loss of Money in competition According to the Law in Indians, any lost income will be considered as exemption from taxation, if indeed the government investigators have evidences that she lost the money. The investigation proceeds to confirm the status of the losses such that whenever the taxpayer recovers the lost funds, then she will have to include the lost money to the taxable income and pay the full tax. If the amount was a form of assistance or support for any issue, then it will be a legible deduction on the Indiana tax return. In the IT-40 Schedule for the Federal tax return, any form of state tax that is recovered has to be reported in a separate column. There is another column for the deduction recovery for every itemized deduction in IT-40PRN. You may be able to deduct up to $3,000 of the rent paid on your Indiana home. Installation of Swimming Pool The swimming pool was a necessity and the doctor recommended it. This is an added resp onsibility to support the life of the taxpayer. It has to be deducted from the income tax just like the long-term commitments such as insurance and mortgage. Repair of the Car Because the taxpayer repairs his own car, it does not affect the taxation scale. There is no financial implication or economic influence. Office Space Used For Work The use of office for work, the responsibility and the taxation fall on the taxpayer. She will also require to link with the employer and

Lab organization and Management case study Essay

Lab organization and Management case study - Essay Example ization- test systems and test items; rules- standard operating procedures (SOPs) and etiquette; results- unrefined data, reporting and archiving; and quality assurance- autonomous examination of research activities (Agrawal et al, 2009, p.10). It is quite clear that employees at Best Pet Test Company filed to adhere to the best lab practices outlined in the GLP. For instance, Harold did not keep accurate records during his spell as the company’s lab safety manager. In addition, the lab employees used hand written labels to tag the urine sample because two of the three hand-held bar-code readers were not functioning properly. The results of tests carried on the samples were also inconsistent. Lab staff members were often seen in the mail room or lunch area wearing their lab coats. To make the matters worse, Rene (the new lab safety manager at the company) found a number of unlabeled bottles of chemicals cluttering the fume hoods. In the lab, some of the staff members testing blood samples had their morning coffee sitting next to a centrifuge. To cap it all, the local media published a story that laboratory waste with labels from Best Test, Inc. was discovered at an abandoned quarry nearby. The illustration above demonstrates the failure by the company to adhere to GLP standards. GLP regulations stipulate logical descriptions of the structure of the research institute and the duties of each research employee. This implies that Best Test Inc. chart should reveal the activities of the company which must be updated on a regular basis. Job descriptions and organizational charts reflect the manner in which the lab functions as well as the correlation between the various posts and departments. In addition, GLP guidelines emphasize that the number of laboratory staff must be adequate to carry out the required tasks in an efficient and GLP-compliant manner (Kumari & Bhatia, 2003, p.5). The duties of all lab employees should be clearly described and recorded. Their

Features of Gender Inequality in the Workplace

Features of Gender Inequality in the Workplace Introduction Over the recent few years, world has witnessed biggest recession in almost a century. Thus, its clear that its recovery would among other measures; require best of talent, ideologies and innovation. It is thus; more essential than earlier for nations and companies to pay attention to one of the basic cornerstones of economic development to them which is the skills and talent of their female human resources. From being customers to voters, employees and employers, women play an important part of the global economic recovery. Even as, it is not just limited to financial and economic system which is requirement of restructuring, rethinking and reforming. Women make up of almost half the population and without their engagement, empowerment and involvement one cannot expect to efficiently meet these recent challenges nor attain rapid economic recovery. The global gap between men and women still persists as there is still a lot of efforts to be taken in terms of education, health, legislat ions and politics before women can be able counted in power with men. With the help of Global Gender Gap Reports, for the last four years, the World Economic Forum has been able to quantify magnitude of gender-based disparities and has been tracking its progress over the years. This report has provided a comprehensive framework for being able to benchmark global gender gaps. It reveals that the countries which are role models who have effectively divided resources between women and men. According to Global Gender GAP report till date, some of the multi-stakeholder communities of very influential leaders comprising of 50% women and 50% men from politics, business, academia, media and civil society have mutually recognized the largest gaps in every region have committed to improve and enhance use of female talent through their strategies. Every individual in the organization has collectively agreed to empower women, developing globally replicable frameworks and bridging the gap in the world and achieving gender parity. There are different views and perspectives through gender empowerment and equality is an important issue to be addressed to economically and optimally utilize human resources. From values and social justice point of view, empowerment of women and providing them with equal rights and opportunities for fulfillment of their capabilities has been due for a long time. From the business, economic and competitiveness point of view, aiming at gender parity is an essential requirement for progress. Measuring the Global Gender Gap The World Economic Forum introduced Global Gender Gap Index in the year 2006 which is framework to capture the magnitude and scope of gender based disparities and to constantly track the progress. This index is a standard for national gender gaps on economic, political, education and health based criteria and offers individual nation rankings which provide efficient comparisons across regions in the world. The main focus of the rankings is creating awareness amongst the people across the globe of the challenges posed due to gender gaps and chances created by decreasing them. It is a straightforward method and quantitative analysis behind the rankings which serve as a base for designing efficient measures to decrease gender gaps. Basically there are three concepts which underline the Global Gender Gap Index. Firstly, it concentrates on measurement of gaps instead of levels. Secondly, it captures gaps in terms of outcome variables instead of gaps in means or input variables. Thirdly, i t ranks individual country as per the gender equality instead of womens empowerment. Gaps vs. Levels The Gap index is designed to quantify gender-related gaps in access to resources and opportunities in individual nations instead of the actual levels of available resources and opportunities in those nations. The index is constructed to rank nations on their gender gaps and not on the development levels. Rich nations have more opportunities in terms of education and health for the society but it does not relate to gender-related issues being faced by every nation at their individual level of income. Outcomes vs. Means The second fundamental concept which underlies the Global Gender Gap Index is that it accesses nations based upon the outcome variables instead of their input measures. The main focus of the index is a snapshot of where a man and woman stand in respect to some basic outcome variables associated to fundamental rights like health, education, economic participation and political empowerment. Gender equality vs. Womens empowerment The third feature of the gap index is that the ranking of nations is in accordance to their propinquity to gender equality instead of womens empowerment. The main focus here is on whether the gap between women and men in the selected variables is declined, rather than whether women are winning battle of sexes. Gender Inequality at workplace The most prevalent issue being faced among the UK workforce is inequality in the workplace since the beginning of the 21st century. Women have remained well below men in the terms of income due to latent prejudices related to sexuality in the modern British workplace, leading to major hurdle to greater political and cultural integration of the society. Companies today have to adhere to the most relevant legislation for the development of their business and for the society on the whole. The public sector is able to depend on the Government for funding while private sector businesses have no such kind of fiscal safety and are aware that their profit and loss are totally dependent on their optimal utilization of resources which include human resources as well. The most significant indicator of a countrys competitiveness is in its human talent which includes the skills, education and productivity of its workforce. Similar is the case in terms of a company wherein the employees talent is their pillar. In most of the developed world, women currently account for over half of the college and university graduates and in a lot of emerging economies, gender gaps in higher education decreasing at a fast rate. Women therefore consist of an impressive portion of the talent pool available to businesses presently. Over a period of time, a countrys competitiveness greatly depends on whether and to what extent the female talent is utilized. To maximize its effectiveness and competitiveness and development potential, every company must to strive to achieve gender equality which means give the women employees same rights, responsibility and pay as the men for the same work. The government plays a vital role in helping to create the correct environment for enhancing womens economic participation, especially through flexible maternity leave policies and childcare provision. Also, it is of primary importance for companies to create ecosystems where the best talent including male and female can flourish. The subsequent examination into inequality at workplace should essentially adopt dualistic approach, by tracing both cause and effect of the issues of workplace gender inequality. This would involve comprehensive analysis of legislation, most suitable practice and human resources. Human Resource managers have become to comply within new legislations which prevent any kind of discrimination of the basis of gender discrimination which include Equal Pay Act, 1970. Equal Pay Act 1970 The Equal Pay Act, 1970 refers that people must be paid equally or same regardless of their gender. It means an employee cannot be paid less than somebody else of the opposite sex for doing: The same work or identical work (legally known as like work. Different work which is of equal worth to the employer (also known as work of equal value) Pay Discrimination at Workplace There are many ways in which pay discrimination can take place, examples of this include: Women being appointed on lower pay rate than her male counterparts. Women on maternity leave are not given bonus received by other employees. Womens jobs are offered different job titles and grades in comparison to men doing similar type of work. Part-time employees, generally women, have no holiday or sick pay entitlements. Major companies across globe are recognizing the needs to identify potential and capabilities of women and are coming forward with equal opportunities at workplace to ensure this gender gap reduces across the globe. It is the need of the hour for Human Resource Managers to identify and recognize talents and skills based on capability of the individual irrespective of the gender for long term growth and development of the company. With a number of laws and legislations allowing women to have equal opportunities at the workplace, Human Resources managers in the companies must respect and comply within the rules framework to enhance the goodwill of the company. Goodwill of the company plays an essential role in the development of the business in the society and any kind of negative publicity such gender discrimination would lead to the downfall of its market value. Thus, most of the companies are becoming socially responsible to ensure their reputation and goodwill is maintained in the corporate world. To illustrate, some policies companies have undertaken to promote equal opportunities for its staff let us briefly look at Marks and Spencers company policies. The company policy of Equal treatment for everyone states to encourage a working environment free from any kind of discrimination, victimization and harassment; making sure that everybody receives equal treatment in every aspect of employment policies and practices irrespective of their gender, age, marital status or hours of work; employing a workforce that reflects a diverse community serving and maximizing personal and commercial opportunities; constantly monitoring and reporting the composition of the Companys workforce and reviewing changes in attitude and implementation of Company policy and finally complying within the framework of legislation and rules of the government. Conclusion Women are a major part of the human resource of an economy and a company and thus their empowerment and development is essential for the development of the economy. Several studies have confirmed that decreasing gender inequality improves productivity and economic development and that the economic advantages of reducing back barriers to womens engagement in the workforce could be substantial. To illustrate, according to a research conducted recently, decreasing the male-female employment gap will have tremendous economic implications for developed economies boosting US GDP by about 9%, eurozone GDP by 13% and Japanese GDP by 16%. Decreasing the gender inequality in these nations could also play a vital role in addressing the future issues posed due to ageing population and increasing pension burdens. This means that companies would benefit from successfully integrating the female half of the available talent across their internal leadership structures. The studies which explored this aspect have displayed a positive correlation among gender diversity on top leadership teams and a companys financial results. However, regardless of increasing evidence in relation to the significance of womens economic integration and even when the global economys dependence on knowledge industries and skillful workers increases, there still a lot of significant gaps in the job opportunities available to women and in regards to wages paid to women compared with the male colleagues. Talent and human capital are the essentials for economic growth and development and business leaders and policymakers should ensure that any kind of barriers to womens entry to the mainstream workforce are eradicated and that equal chance and opportunity rising to positions of leadership are offered within the companies. They are important factors for determining that companies and economy on the whole is utilizing its existing resources in most efficient and effective manner and also encouraging flow of talent in the future as well.

Government Surveillance in the Digital Age Essay -- Privacy in the Dig

Government Surveillance in the Digital Age Imagine walking along a busy street in the middle of a sunny day. Also imagine that someone is following you around, videotaping everything you do. Disturbing thought? Even more disturbing is the fact that the United States government is already doing this, and it's perfectly legal. According to Robert Trigaux, a reporter for the St. Petersburg times, until August of 2014, in Ybor City, Florida, the Tampa Police Department used fourty-six surveillance cameras that scanned faces of all people walking around the entertainment district. These surveillance cameras captured facial images and then compared them to a police database of known felons. This same surveillance system was also used during the Tampa Bay Super Bowl at the Raymond James Stadium, and other cities are attempting to install such a system. However, even though the cameras are used in public places, they still represent a large violation of privacy. Also a violation of our privacy is the government's usage of the Carnivore Internet surveillance system that can track all of a person's online activity. The FBI not only has the capability to do so, but in many cases it can lawfully enter a person's home and alter or even steal information form his or her computer, all without the knowledge of the owner of the computer. The government's ability to gather personal information on its citizens is similar to methods of surveillance in the novels The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, and 1984, by George Orwell. In order to prevent the extreme cases of surveillance presented in these novels, it is the public's responsibility to remain alert to new developments in law enforcement so as to prevent an unreasonable s... ...ore/000724fbi.shmtl>. Herdy, Amy. Tampabay: They made me feel like a criminal. 8 Aug. 2001. St. Petersburg Times. 2 Nov. 2013. . Searching and Seizing Computers and Obtaining Electronic Evidence in Criminal Investigations. July 2012. Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. 26 Oct. 2013. . The Nature and Scope of Governmental Electronic Surveillance Activity. Sep. 2001. Center for Democracy and Technology. 27 Oct. 2013. . Trigaux, Robert. Tampabay: Cameras scanned fans for criminals. 31 Jan. 2001. St. Petersburg Times. 2 Nov. 2003. . Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Signet Classic Printing, 1950.

The Portrait of Medieval Social Classes as Presented in the General Prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer’s the Canterbury Tales

The General Prologue fulfils two functions: it tells the story of how the tales came to be told, and it introduces the tellers. There are about thirty pilgrims travelling to Canterbury to pray to the holy blissful martyr- St. Thomas of Becket. These characters can be considered the portrait of the whole Middle English society. All the pilgrims can be divided into particular hierarchic structure of classes. The simplest division of society was into three estates: those who fight, those who pray, and those who labour, typified by the Knight, the Parson and the Plowman.Women were often treated as an estate to themselves. The basic tripartite division of society, for instance, is reflected in Chaucer’s making his Knight, Parson and Plowman the three ideal characters on the pilgrimage- along with the Clerk to stand for those who learn and teach. However, I have to admit that this division is not so obvious, which I explained below. ‘Chaucer starts the introduction of pilgrims with the highest-ranking layman, the Knight, with his entourage, and continues with the highest-ranking ecclesiastics, the Prioress and the Monk.The Merchant, Clerk, Sergeant of Law, and Franklin who follow were regarded more or less as social equals, and various other representatives of the middle classes, most of them keen to push themselves up the social ladder, follow in somewhat haphazard order. The Summoner and Pardoner are social and moral misfits in almost every sense, with no obvious place either in a class hierarchy or in the ‘common weal’, society as a system of mutual support’ (Helen Cooper, Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales, Oxford University Press, 1996).According to Helen Cooper, the basic organization then is by rank, but with some telling exceptions and some haphazardness: society is not an ordered hierarchy, not least because the people who compose it are reluctant to stay in their places. The Knight and Squire represent very diffe rent types, and functions, of chivalry. The Monk is described in terms that make him a different kind of antitype to the Knight, and the attributes that might be expected of each are exchanged: it is the Monk who hunts and loves good food and clothes, while the Knight is ascetic who has devoted his life to service of Christ (cf. Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales, Oxford University Press, 1996). If there is a certain logic in the order of the pilgrims, however, the content of the individual portraits shows a constant variation. The stress can fall on appearance, past life, the pilgrim’s own voice or self-image, moral probity, or tastes and priorities. The estates structure suggest that the pilgrims will be defined by their work, but while many of the portraits adopt an appropriate language, only few show their subject doing what his or her office requires.In my work I will describe and submit every character and then summary the portrait of the class as a whole, a nd finally, in the summary I will put forward the whole portrait of society as a whole by summing up the features of each social class. Chivalry Chivalry was undoubtedly the most important of social classes in middle ages. They fought for the king, his kingdom and the religion. Chivalry is also nowadays considered as a pattern of behaviour of ideal man: he has to be brave, gentle for ladies and honourable; he also has to be ready to die for his beliefs.There are three characters representing this class in The General Prologue. These are the Knight, the Squire, and the Yeoman. The Knight is described by Chaucer with respect and honour. Chaucer does not use any irony or satire in the description of the Knight; the irony is reserved to those who fall short of the standard of perfection he sets. The function of the Knight was to fight; but throughout Christian history, and increasingly in the late fourteenth century, there was a profound unease at the thought of Christian fighting Chris tian.The wars that were held in the highest esteem were those fought in the cause of God, against the infidel. ‘The knight is not only a fighter: he is that most honoured of warriors, a Crusader’ (Helen Cooper, Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales, Oxford University Press, 1996). He participated in many wars against Muslims in Spain, North Africa, and the Near East; and pagans around the Baltic. The Knight’s portrait differs from those of most of the other pilgrims in several respects. He is described rather in terms of moral attributes than physical appearance.It reinforces the sense of his asceticism, his devotion more to God than to things of the world. He is also described in terms of what other people think of him: he is ‘evere honoured for his worthynesse’, set ‘aboven alle nacions’ at the table of honour, ‘everemoore he hadde a sovereyn prys’ (op. cit. ‘The General Prologue’, The Canterbury Tale s, Geoffrey Chaucer; lines 50, 53, 67). It is a portrait of ideal Christian knighthood. Almost every pilgrim has some particular object of desire, that the Knight’s should be: ‘Trouthe and honour, freedom and curteisie’ (op. it. line 46). The Knight is considered perfect by Chaucer. He is modest as a maid, he is devoted to God more than any of the characters representing clergy. He sometimes fought on the side of Muslims, but only if they fought against other Muslims; he had never fought against Christians. Despite of his valorous deeds, the knight never boasted of his actions, nor bored his listeners. The Squire would be a candidate for knighthood. He is young, probably in his twenties. He is a son of the Knight. When not in battle, he thinks of himself as a quite a lady’s man.He takes meticulous care of his appearance. He could also sing lusty songs, compose melodies, write poetry, and ride a horse with distinction. He also has all the other proper attri butes to go with his being a young lover: a fine figure, a dashing military career, and all the courtly accomplishments considered those times as being appropriate for winning one’s lady. According to Helen Cooper, the Squire is the iconographic image of young love and its month of May (op. cit. line 92), for the month was often presented as fashionable and gaily dressed youth on horseback.Chaucer does not quite offer us the Squire at his own valuation- a total failure to sleep on account of love has an affectionate touch of the ridiculous about it, as well as the hyperbolic, but the ‘fresshe floures’ embroidered on his clothes, and his associations with the spring with sleepless birds make Squire a ‘courtly version of the lifetime of spring’ (cf. Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales, Oxford University Press, 1996). The Squire is not only young, strong, and in love; he is courteous, eager to server, and in all respects perfect of his type, however different from his father’s type.The Yeoman was a servant of the Knight and Squire. He was known as an expert woodsman and an excellent archer. A knight held a position in society that had to be visibly maintained, by the presence of at least a minimal retinue. The Yeoman is the servant he brings apart from the Squire, a modesty of display that Chaucer comments in lines 100-101 (op. cit. ). One would expect a Yeoman in the company of such a Knight to be a military figure, a longbowman; by the addition of green clothes and the hunting-horn, Chaucer defines him more closely, as a forester.A forester could be anything from a senior administrative official to a gamekeeper: the Yeoman’s knowledge of ‘wodecraft’ shows him to be one of the more practical kind. ‘The Yeoman is not a standard figure in estates literature, but Chaucer creates and iconography for him as effectively as he recreates the conventional images of the Squire. Whether the Yeoman really needs his bow, peacock, arrows, and horn on a pilgrimage is less important than the way they serve to define him.His excellence as a yeoman is summed up in the neologism Chaucer creates for him, yemanly’ (Helen Cooper, Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales, Oxford University Press, 1996). To summarize, the chivalry social class representatives are shown as brave men, skilful in battle, famous for their deeds, ready to die for their beliefs; servants of their lords and masters. The chivalry participates in wars and is appreciated by the rest of community for its strength, honour, fame, and modesty. Priesthood The priesthood is in the middle class of medieval social hierarchy.Chaucer uses a lot of satire and irony as he describes members of this estate in The General Prologue. Members of this social class who participate in the pilgrimage are the Prioress, the Monk, the Friar, the Summoner, the Parson, and the Pardoner. Descriptions of these characters are much more abundant in satire and irony than any other. The Prioress was a head of monastery. She was rather well educated, even though her French was not the accepted Parisian French. She was very coy and delicate. When she ate, she took great care for her table manners. She was very courteous and amiable and tried to imitate the manners of the court.She had three small hounds with her which she treated very gently and tenderly. Her dress was very neat and tidy and she wore a gold brooch with the inscription ‘amor vincit omnia’. ‘Chaucer’s description of the Prioress is filled with gentle and subtle irony. Here is a picture of a lady who happens to be a nun, but she never forgets that she is a lady first. Her oath, ‘by Sainte Loy’ implies that she has chosen the most fashionable and handsome saint who was also famous for his great courtesy’ (Bruce Nicoll, The Canterbury Tales notes, Coles Notes, 1992). She emphasis on her appearance.The Monk ’s description simply seems to had been ‘swapped’ with the stereotypical description of a knight. The Knight is described as the man who devoted his life to God, and the Monk is called ‘a manly man’ by Chaucer, which means his portrait is that of a country gentleman. The Monk is interested in women (on the way which he should not be, regarding to his profession), wearing expensive clothes and jewellery, he likes hunting. He is not modest. He does all these things although his monastic orders ban him to behave this way. He is supposed to be a beggar and own no goods.In description of the Monk, According to Helen Cooper, Chaucer introduces the materials of antimonastic satire: the good living, his failure to keep within the cloister, his approval of secular offices for religious (op. cit. line 187), and his hunting. But it is he himself, not a satirist, who relays all the standard texts and aphorisms on the ills of such life; and he then dismisses them by reference to those items of food- oysters (a cheap dish), plucked hens- that fall well below his favourite diet of roast swan (cf. Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales, Oxford University Press, 1996).The Monk clearly breaks his vows of poverty, obedience to his rule and ‘stability’, staying within his monastery. The Friar, like the Prioress, is described by Chaucer with a set of epithets and attributes that in other circumstances might be complimentary; he is ‘worthy’ like the Knight, and ‘curteis’ and ‘lowely of servyse’ like the Squire (op. cit. lines 99, 250). But his worthiness shows itself in his refusal to fulfil the basic function of his calling, the relief of the diseased and the outcast. The Friar was hobnobbing with the local franklins and surpassing the Monk in being not just like a ‘prelaat’ but like a pope (op. it. line 261). The Friar is the first of the pilgrims who explicitly sets the mone y above God. Destitute widows are the objects not of his charity but of his greed. ‘Over twenty lines of his portrait are devoted to his skill in extracting money; seven more go to his dubious relationships with young women, fair wives, and the barmaids. ’ (Helen Cooper, Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales) Yet there is no doubt that all such things make the Friar socially attractive: the whole emphasis of the portrait falls on the busyness of his social life, on taverns and love-days, on all the people with whom he is on good terms.The Summoner was a man paid to summon sinners for a trial before a church court. He had a fire-red complexion, pimples and boils, a scaly infection around the eyebrows, and a moth-eaten beard. ‘He treats his sores as leprosy. To make matters worse, he loved to eat garlic, onions, leeks, and drink strong wine. He could quote a few lines of Latin which he was using to impress people. Chaucer calls him a gentil harlot and impli es it would be difficult to find a better fellow, because for a bottle of wine, the Summoner would often turn his back and let sinner to continue living in sin. He was also well acquainted with ladies of questionable reputation’ (Bruce Nicoll, The Canterbury Tales notes, Coles Notes, 1992). According to Bruce Nicoll, the Summoner’s physical appearance fits to his profession well. He is so ugly and gruesome looking that a summons from him is in itself a horrible experience. Thus, Chaucer ironically implies that he is a good fellow. But furthermore, he is a good fellow because sinners could easily bribe him (Bruce Nicoll, The Canterbury Tales notes, Coles Notes, 1992).The Parson is the only one of the churchmen shown by Chaucer that we can call competent and fair. Although he was very poor, he would rather give his own scarce money to his poor parishioners than demand tithes from them. His principle was to live the perfect life first, and then to teach it. His life was a perfect example of true Christian priest, and by his good example, he taught but first followed it himself. Among the other churchmen described in The General Prologue, the Parson stands out as the ideal portrait of what parish priest should be. He is the ideal Christian man.The Pardoner was a church official who had authority from Rome to sell pardons and indulgences to those charged with sins. He had just returned from Rome with bagful of pardons which he planned to sell to the ignorant at great profit to himself. He had a loud, high-pitched voice, yellow, flowing hair. He was beardless. ‘There was no one so good at his profession as was this Pardoner’ (Bruce Nicoll, The Canterbury Tales notes, Coles Notes, 1992). The pardoner seems to be the most corrupted of the churchmen. In the prologue to his tale, he confesses to his hypocrisy.The Priesthood class is widely criticised by Chaucer. The Prioress pays more attention to her manners than to the substance of her calli ng. The Monk cares nothing for the rules of his order, the Friar sets money above God. The Summoner and the Pardoner are corrupted. There is only the Parson to fulfil his duties well. He is that good shepherd to care for his sheep. He is the ideal set in the minority of the clergy. The other churchmen described by Chaucer are focused more on their own ‘business’ than on their mission given by the Catholic church.These characters (excluding the Parson) may be called hypocrites. Higher bourgeoisie Higher bourgeoisie is the class of rich and/or well-educated townsmen and landlords who are not noblemen. The representatives of this class are, as follows: the Merchant, the Clerk, the Sergeant of Law, the Franklin, the Doctor of Physic, and the Reeve. The Merchant is anonymous, ‘I noot how men hym calle’ (op. cit. line 284). He has a forked beard and a beaver hat that reveals his wealth. He talks about his occupation and the risks connected with working as a merch ant.According to Helen Cooper, the merchant, like the Knight and Squire, has his own areas of contemporary campaign (cf. Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales, Oxford University Press, 1996). Chaucer has mentioned something about the debt of the Merchant in his description, but we are not sure whether the debt is still unpaid or the Merchant had dealt with it before. The Clerk is a student of what would nowadays be considered philosophy or theology. He is introduced as a diligent person who has a wide connection of books.He is portrayed as a perfect example of a scholar. He has a bachelor degree and is totally devoted to logic. As a subtext to this portrait, there is an opposite description of less ideal clerks: those who would treat education as a pathway to well-paid office, who would prefer expensive clothes and music-making to the books for which the Clerk longs. The Sergeant of Law is a lawyer whose main focus is to make money. His legal knowledge and skill in ‘p urchasying’ land is apparently used primarily for himself as a purchaser.Chaucer uses a lot of law terms in his description of the Sergeant of Law, but no such word as ‘justice’ appears. The Franklin is the only pilgrim to be involved in running the society. He and the Sergeant of Law are partners in graft. He is a landowner, however he is not a noble. He did not inherit his wealth and he is not a ‘nouveau riche’. The Franklin accepts all the duties and responsibilities that go with his position: he has held the office of knight of the shire, sheriff, auditor, and justice of the peace.There is no a single word from Chaucer that would criticise the way that the Franklin fulfils his duties. The Franklin has a white beard. As Helen Cooper noticed, his love differs from the Knight’s chivalry or the Squire’s ladies, the Franklin loves his morning snack of bread in wine; thus the vocabulary used in his description is gastronomic (cf. Oxford G uides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales, Oxford University Press, 1996). Moreover, the Franklin also shares his food with other people. That makes him a perfect landlord.The Doctor of Physic is trained in medicine, astronomy and astrology. He could quote all the medical authorities, but he knew nothing of the Bible. He had made a lot of money during the plague. He has a special love for gold, since he prescribes this metal for cures. The Reeve managed a large estate. He was skinny and bad-tempered. He had a close cut beard and short haircut. His subordinates were afraid of him because of his unrelenting preservance. Similarly to the mentioned later Manciple, he had reaped profits for himself by being clever at buying.The higher bourgeoisie class representatives are shown by Chaucer as people who are greedy (the Manciple, the Doctor of Physic, the Reeve, the Sergeant of Law, the Merchant, the imperfect clerks described in the description of the ideal Clerk), filled with temptation ( t he Franklin) and devoted to their passion (the Clerk, the Reeve). This social class is not criticised so sharply as the clergy. Most of them are fair in their work, some of them are simply perfect (the Clerk, the Franklin), on the other hand some of them cheat (the Reeve).They all want to gain something that make other people consider them ‘upper class’. Bourgeoisie Bourgeoisie are simply the townsmen who are neither that rich nor that well-educated as the people from the class I named ‘higher bourgeoisie’. They are simple people who live and work in town. They are ordinary people and second most numerous class of the middle ages in Europe. The representatives of this class are, as follows: the Guildsmen, the Wife of Bath, the Manciple, the Cook, the Shipman, the Miller, and the Host.The Guildsmen are five craftsmen (four clothworkers and the Carpenter) who belong to a single parish guild. The portrait of the Guildsmen is largely devoted to their anxiety to impress others by climbing on the social class hierarchy ladder; their knives are decorated with silver chasing, which is inappropriate for their social class, because such ornament was reserved for gentry (lower nobility class members). The Guildsmen sit on dais in a guildhall and fulfil their professional obligations. They want to be aldermen and they are improving their qualifications day by day. They work fairly and hard.Unfortunately, the Guildsmen are being corrupted by their wives, who want them to get promoted and advanced in social hierarchy, or at least pretend so. They wish to be accorded the superior title of ‘madame’. Wives of the Guildsmen want to behave ‘roialliche’ and be treated as higher class members and force them to participate in some kind of what nowadays would refer to as a ‘rat race’. The Wife of Bath was an excellent seamstress and weaver. She has been married five times and been on many outland pilgrimages: to Rome, to Bologna, to Jerusalem, to Galice, and to Cologne.Her special talent was her knowledge of all the remedies of love. She was deaf a little. She always was first at the altar or offering in church. The Manciple was a steward for a law school in London. His duty was to buy the food. He was not as learned as the lawyers, but he was smart enough that he had been able to put aside a little sum for himself from every transaction. The Cook in The General Prologue is only defined by his professional skill. He works for the Guildsmen. He has a notorious running sore on his leg.We do not know much more about him from the description in the prologue. The Shipman was the master of vessel and an expert of navigation who knew all the ports from the Atlantic to the North Sea. He was a huge and uncouth man. He could not ride horse well, but no one was a better sailor. Nevertheless, according to Jill Mann, the Shipman had bad habits of thievery, piracy, and mass murder (Chaucer and Medieval Estates Satire: The Literature of Social Classes and The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Cambridge, 1973). The Miller was a stubborn and strong man.His strength would let him outwrestle any man. He had red beard and a wart on his nose. He played the bagpipes as the pilgrims left the town. He had a tendency for thievery. The Host was the leader of the pilgrimage party and the host of the Tabard Inn. His name is Harry Bailey. He was loud, large and merry, although he possesses a quick temper. He was liked by the pilgrims. Members of the bourgeoisie want to get socially promoted and try to do all the things necessary to achieve this promotion (the best example of this is the behaviour of the Wife of Bath).They focus on making money. Some of them, as the Guildsmen, work hard to improve their social and material status, others, as the Miller and the Manciple, prefer continuous small acts of thievery to enrich. Some of them commit more serious crimes, as does the Shipman. All of them a re working hard in their profession and are determined to achieve their destination, one way or another. Peasants Peasants are the lowest social class of middle ages. They are hard-working and poor. Their professions are connected with agriculture. There is only ne representative of this social class appearing in The General Prologue- the Plowman. The Plowman is a small tenant farmer who lives in a perfect peace and charity. He loves God with all his heart. He is always honest with his neighbours. He regularly pays his tithes to the church. He is a brother of the Parson, and so, they are equally good-hearted. The Plowman, unlike most of the pilgrims, is happy with his position in society. He wears his humble tabard which is appropriate for his rank and never tries to be someone else than he really is.The portrait of the only character of peasant class introduced to us by Chaucer lead us to conclusion that peasants are the poorest and the lowest social class of middle ages, but also the most hard-working and morally good people. In my opinion, the Plowman in his morality can be compared to the Knight, although their material and social statuses completely differ. Summary The division of society portrayed by Chaucer is not obvious. In this work I have introduced the division into social classes by the social position, profession and, wealth and education level of each character.I think that Chaucer demonstrates his audience that class order and moral order are two different things. Members of the chivalry and the peasant class are on top and the bottom of the hierarchy. Despite of this fact, in some aspects the knighthood characters and the Plowman are equal. They are all modest, hard-working, truly devoted to god, fair to other people and proud of their position. If we exclude these two classes from the hierarchy, there appears the conclusion that the higher social class character belongs to, the richer, the more educated, and the morally worse it is.The social class portrayed by Chaucer as the most corrupted is clergy. Those who should prevent people from sin appear to be the biggest sinners. We can see that the more powerful and richer people become, the bigger sinners they are. The classes described as these of best morality are chivalry and peasants. Every class has its exceptional ideal representative: chivalry- the Knight, clergy- the Parson, bourgeoisie (as one class with higher bourgeoisie)- the Clerk. These characters are patterns of ideal behaviour for all the members of their classes.By this phenomena, Chaucer shows that there is no class that is totally corrupted- there is always someone who fulfils his duties perfectly. To sum up, the clergy is shown as a class of people who abuse their position for private profits; the bourgeoisie members are only wishing to make more and more money and advance their social status; the chivalry and peasants are happy with their position, neither the Knight, nor the Plowman can be promoted to upper class. The difference is- the Knight, unlike the Plowman, is socially appreciated and respected.Those days your origin and social class membership was the most important part of social life. So, there is no wonder why people from middle classes wanted to be promoted and were ready to do anything to achieve that, on fair or unfair way. Although the portrait of medieval social classes is a little ironical and satirical (and still may appear a literary fiction), I think that it is very likely that it is possibly a complete description of the actual English community in Middle Ages.

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Minimum Wage - Research Paper Example People from different jurisdictions have different opinions and reasons on whether to raise the minimum wage or not. In my opinion, the minimum wage should be raised because of a number of factors that will be discussed in this paper. Statistics reveal glaring differences and variations in minimum wage among various EU member states. For example, in Bulgaria, the minimum wage as of 1st July 2014 stood at 174 Euros. This was extremely low compared to Luxembourg which had a minimum wage of 1,921 during the same period. This glaring variation in minimum wage should be bridged so that workers from both places can have almost equal chances of generating reasonable income. One region should not have such a high minimum wage yet another region has an extremely low minimum wage when both countries are EU member states. Inflation and recession have been common occurrences in the economic front over the years. For example, the value of money in the 1970s cannot be compared to the value of money now. More literally, the value of 10 Euros in 1973 is not the same as the value of 10 Euros in 2014. For this reason, even the minimum wage cannot stay at the same flat rate that it has stayed over the past years. What 10 Euros could do for a worker in 1970 is not the same as what it can do to the same worker in 2014, for example. The minimum wage has to be increased to accommodate these changes in the value of money as a result of inflation and recession (Card, 1992). Today, the productivity of a typical worker is much higher than what it used to be many years back. This is mostly because of advancements in technology which have increased productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency. For this reason, the workers at the bottom deserve to benefit from these gains of increased productivity. Many people around the world are relying in minimum wage jobs to earn a living and make ends meet. For example, between 2010 and

Safer Staffing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Safer Staffing - Essay Example The audience intended by the source are people who want to start new businesses or learn how to start. The source is credible because it offers practical strategies to form new businesses. The authors in this source are experienced in business planning. In this source, they provide advice on how one can develop a business plan fast but in an effective manner. This source is intended for all persons who want to know how to develop successful business plans but in a fast way. The source is credible because it offers practical information and examples The authors in this source have written extensively on issues of business startups. In this source, the authors address issues of researching, writing up and presenting a winning business plan. The audience intended in this source is the people who would like to know how to establish businesses and also those who want to write successful business plans for exams or for businesses. The source is credible because it offers practical and current information on business planning. Blackwell is an experienced author in business planning. In this source, he offers advice on the simple steps one can follow to produce a good business plan. The audience intended by the source is the people who would like to understand every step of developing business plans. The source is credible because it is a current source and offers practical steps to follow in developing business plans. Brandt, J. A., Edwards, D. R., Sullivan, S. C., Zehler, J. K., Grinder, S., Scott, K. J., ... & Maddox, K. L. (2009). An evidence-based business planning process. Journal of Nursing Administration, 39(12), 511-513. The authors in this source are experienced in developing business plans for nursing businesses. In this source, they discuss evidence-based business planning that is important in nursing and offer an important contribution to nursing. The audience intended by the

Online Enrollment System of Act Essay Example for Free

Online Enrollment System of Act Essay 1. Background of the Study The need for powerful and flexible data management systems is increasing in science, engineering, business and the personnel fields. The success of an organization depends on its ability to acquire accurate and timely data about its operation, to manage this data effectively, and to use it to analyze its own activities. Nowadays, web-based applications are widely used due to their ubiquity. This universal availability of information is sparking an era of collaboration. The Internet is neither an extraordinary communications tool nor revolutionary. It simply represents the current stage in the development of human capabilities through written language, which itself derived from the spoken form (Holmes, 2006). Given its current and potential growth, the Internet, which emerged as a powerful tool for information management, has become a prodigious avenue for e-commerce, offering transaction convenience and service efficiency. Continuing innovation in technologies can lead to organizational changes that range from improvement of day-to-day operations and for easy access it provides for the end users (Forman, 2007). Many schools today have adapted this innovation. Among these are online services offered by the Western Mindanao State University (http://www.wmsu.edu.ph/) and Far Eastern University (http://www.feu.edu.ph/). Challenged for such innovation, a group of researchers have decided to conduct a study in Asian College of Technology (ACT), one of the academic institutions here in Cebu that offers ITE (IT Education) courses. Through potent marketing and advertisement strategy, the institution continues to soar its heights towards academic excellence and gains the hearts of some parents in all status, to send their children to college. To meet the demands of the large number of employee and student population, a web-based enterprise system is proposed for the academic institution which includes different sub-systems that will cater the needs to improve its service, operation, processing and other transactions critical to the institution from the enrollment procedures, storing of student permanent records and accounts, student evaluation and as well as grade management. In lieu to this, the researchers divided the enterprise system into sub-systems and each member is assigned to a particular module. The researcher decided to focus on proposing an online enrollment system which will soon enhance their enrollment process as part of the proposed web-based enterprise system. Though an existing enrollment client system, a desktop application has already been used to facilitate the student enrollment process but still a demand on a faster, systematic and more convenient way of student admission and enrollment procedures are technically vital. The study considered the prevailing process of the institution and how the current process can be modified for a more efficient and effective enrollment system. One of the factors to be considered for the proposed system is the lack of manpower to accommodate numerous enrollees, the tedious task of filling up application or enrollment forms, the inaccuracies of information provided by the enrollees, the inefficiency of selecting subject schedules and the slow process of adjusting the schedules enrolled by the students. These factors cause enrollment delay, which really affects the impression of the institution towards its clients and as well as to the enrollment personnel. 2. Statement of the Problem Asian College of Technology, as of 1st semester of SY 2012-2013, has increased its student population. The problems arises during the enrollment period were prevalent as those really affect the impression of the institution. The system seeks to solve the following problems: †¢ Lack of manpower to accommodate large number of enrollees; †¢ Tedious task of filling up and submission of application or enrollment forms; †¢ Inaccuracies of information provided by the enrollees; †¢ Inefficiencies of selecting subject schedules by the enrollment personnel to the enrollees; and †¢ Delay and tiresome processing of schedule adjustments. In order to help students and enrollment personnel to overcome the mentioned difficulties, the researcher came up with an idea of enhancing the existing enrollment procedures through an online enrollment system. 1.3 Goals and Objectives The main objective of this research is to design an online enrollment system as a response of the encountered difficulties during the course of the enrollment period. Furthermore, it specifically aims to: †¢ Provide availability of the system via web to facilitate preliminary enrollment procedures; †¢ Provide a user-friendly interface in filling up student information without the hassle of queuing; †¢ Improve accuracy by providing user data validation features; †¢ Improve efficiency by providing the student a user-interface to select the desired subject schedules; †¢ Minimize delay for processing of schedule adjustments by providing the students a ubiquitous and better system via web without the hassle of queuing. 4. Significance of the Study The proposed study will be beneficial to the following: †¢ Schools: It serves as an essential and efficient tool for improving the current enrollment procedures. †¢ Enrollment Personnel: It will provide them better facilitation, customer service and better technical assistance to student enrollees. †¢ Students: It will give an elated impression to them since the system provides convenient and hassle-free features for enrollment transactions. †¢ Researchers: It will help them in the field of automating and improving current systems and set them to discover things where technology is involved. The system provides them the opportunity to apply their skills and be able to share their knowledge through system development. †¢ Future Researchers: This may open doors for researchers related to enhance and improve online enrollment system utilizing latest and current web technologies. Further, this will serve as a useful reference and guide for further research and develop their own projects. †¢ Readers: The study may serve as valuable reference for further studies on how systems are developed and designed. Further, this may motivate them to be in the technical field and will aid them in the development of their own projects in the near future.

The Process of Pursuing the New Brett Werner :: Essays Papers

The Process of Pursuing the New Brett Werner As we thought about past and current innovations, I always felt like something was missing. Right now, the conclusion I've made is that we were considering only "the New" in our discussions. I am sure that our unintentional omission of "Pursuing" the new wasn't absolute - we talked about it, especially in LivKarin's presentation of traditional/conventional/alternative/sustainable/organic farming practices. But much of our time was more devoted to the innovations of society than to the process of innovation that I think is so important. This gives me a chance to tell a few stories that I hope will increase the clarity of my distinction. My first consideration is the business ethics (perhaps interesting to Ike's CIS major) demonstrated by Siddhartha in a book by Hermann Hesse of the same name. Siddhartha goes on a business trip, which for all economic purposes is a failure. However, Siddhartha approaches the trip with an attitude of enjoying the process. In doing so, he comes back feeling good about the trip rather than upset, and since he took the time to make friends with the potential business partners, he thinks that the future business opportunities will be bright rather than carrying a stigma of disenjoyment in the eyes of others. When I started learning about undergraduate research and education, my dad introduced me to a new understanding of purpose. He said the goal of undergraduate research was to learn the process of academic contribution more than the actual contribution. By learning how to do original research and formulate (hypo-)theses, we learn not only the material, but also the process. I've tried to take this approach for my educational experiences. Some topics came up while discussing innovations that dealt with the potential for dehumanization. Visionaries and doomsayers are at odds because some feel that the new has the wonderful potential to solve all the world's problems while others believe that new innovations are dangerous and threaten the fabric of society and existence in general. In some cases it could be possible for things to be inherently evil, but more often it is a person's responsibility to use the things in a good way. Having said this, a short consideration of historical innovators and innovative processes will shed light on the subject.

Selective Perception in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- Shakespeare Haml

Selective Perception in Shakespeare's Hamlet      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the end of Act I, the point at which Hamlet judges it may be prudent to feign madness - to "put an antic disposition on" (I.v.181) - much of the first half of the play concerns characters trying to determine why the prince's melancholy has evolved into seeming insanity.   Each of the major players in Elsinore has a subjective impression of the reason for Hamlet's madness; indeed, in each of these misconceptions there is an element of the truth.   At the same time, however, the nature of these selective perceptions provides insight into the characters who form them.   And finally, these varied perspectives are notable in their effect upon the dynamic of the conflict between Hamlet and Claudius, and upon the king's increasing paranoia.    Long before the encounter with the Ghost turns Hamlet's vague suspicions into something approaching certainty (I.v.1-113), Claudius views Hamlet not as a madman, but as a threat to the security of his rule and possibly his life.   This is evident from their first scene, in which Claudius publicly denounces Hamlet's "unmanly grief" (I.ii.94) as "a fault to heaven" (l.101); Claudius seems to be undermining Hamlet's popular support by painting him as unworthy to rule.   Even in the face of his court's attempts to dissect the "very cause of Hamlet's lunacy" (II.ii.49), Claudius' initial convictions are never shaken.   Like the other characters, Claudius has his own motives for believing as he does; like the other characters, his beliefs are subject to manipulative reinforcement by the play's events.   Moreover, the speculation regarding Hamlet's madness serves only to convince the king that Hamlet is not mad, and th... ...nnate guilt and paranoia will not let him view Hamlet any other way.   This facet of Claudius' character is integral to the resolution of the tragic sequence: while, in the end, Claudius' paranoia is not enough to save his life, it is certainly sufficient to ensure that no one else escapes the conflict unscathed.    Works Cited Bevington, David, ed.   The Complete Works of Shakespeare.   4th ed.   New York: Longman-Addison Wesley Longman, 1997. Bradley, A.C.   Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth.   London: Macmillan, 1967. Hamlet.   Prod. Dyson Lovell.   Dir. Franco Zeffirelli.   Warner Brothers, 1990. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.   British Broadcasting Corp.   Prod. Cedric Messina.   Dir. Rodney Bennett.   Time-Life Films, 1978. Shakespeare, William.   Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.   Bevington 1060-1116.   

Forecasting the Adoption of E-Books Essay

The size of the market for e-books in the long-run: 293.7 million x 46.7% x 8% = 10.973 million (Total US population x percentage of US population reading literature x Percentage of traditional paper books purchased online in 2003) It will take 10 years to reach 95% penetration of the potential market. Question 2 I predict that the sale of the e-book when it first became available is 0.751milion (pm) (Assumption: each innovator buy one book.) Question 3 The long-run total adoption of e-books would be 10.973 million. (Total US population x percentage of US population reading literature x Percentage of traditional paper books purchased online in 2003) Question 4 I do expect the market for e-books tend to be guided by imitators rather than innovators. According to the table above, I found that the weighted average for e-book of q (0.0684) is larger than p (0.2990). In addition, the word of mouth takes an important role in the adoption of e-books. The information about the e-book from the innovators contribute much to the adoption of e-books since people tend to hesitate to change their old reading habit. Question 5 S(t)=[p+(q/m)N(t-1)][m-N(t-1)] Year 1: [0.0684+(0.2990/10.973) X (0)][10.973-0] = 0.751 million Year 2: [0.0684+(0.2990/10.973) X (0.751)][10.973-0.751] = 0.908 million Year 3: [0.0684+(0.2990/10.973) X (1.659)][10.973-1.659] = 1.059 million Year 4: [0.0684+(0.2990/10.973) X (2.717)][10.973-2.717] = 1.176 million Year 5: [0.0684+(0.2990/10.973) X (3.893)][10.973-3.893] = 1.235 million Question 6 The adoption of e-book will be very different from digital music obtained online. The adoption of e-books face more challenges when comparing to the adoption of digital music. To most of the listeners, there is not much difference in experience between listening to a song from an iPod and a CD player. Therefore, they have a relatively low switching cost and more willing to change their habits. On the contrary, to most of the readers, it is definitely very different from reading an e-book to reading a printed book. The feelings of holding a printed book and flipping over a physical book are irreplaceable. So readers are loyal to printed book and hesitate to switch from traditional books to e-books. Hence, it is reasonable to predict that the pace of adopting digital music is faster than the pace of adopting e-books. Question 7 I think both of the attitudes about reading and purchasing e-content have changed a lot in recent years. In the old time, people could read e-content via PC only. Nowadays, people are able to read e-content through various mobile devices. Therefore, they spend more time on reading e-content especially during leisure time and even commuting time. However, the quality of the reading effort is diminishing as the overload of e-content available on Internet. In addition, people tend to rely more on the e-content since it is very convenient, environmentally friendly, high mobility and high accessibility. For the attitude about purchasing e-content, more people are willing to pay for the e-content in recent years. The advanced online payment system plays an important role. People feel more secure and also convenient when dealing online ever than before. Moreover, more well-known and large-scale publishers offer more choices of e-content for readers. Besides, in the light of the prevalent of mobile device, people have more time and chances to read the e-content regardless of the time and places. Thus, people are more willing to spend on e-content than before. Question 8 The hardware plays a paramount important role in the adoption of e-books. No matter how amazing the e-content is, the e-books would not be popularized if the hardware were not user-friendly. However, a good hardware is very likely to boost sales of the e-books. It is because the hardware is a fixed cost while the e-books are the variable cost to the readers. A portable hardware with proper size of monitor and high capacity is very attractive to the readers. They no longer need to neither carry the bulky printed books nor spare some places for storage. Moreover, the hardware enables readers to read comfortably when comparing to read via PC or smart phone. It is good for the readers’ eyes. Last but not least, the hardware contributed to protecting the environment as it saves much paper. Only when the hardware preforms better than the tradition printed books, the adoption of e-books will be success. Question 9 I do expect the size and also the pattern of diffusion are quite different globally as compared to the United States. The size and the pattern of diffusion depend on many factors. Population, culture, attitude to new products, technology and even literacy could be one of the variables of the size and pattern of diffusion. Take Africa as an example; though the population size of Africa is much larger than The United States, the potential size of the market for e-books must be obviously different from the United States. So it is not difficult to understand that the size and pattern of diffusion of various places will not be similar to the United States.

Applications of Community Psychology to Homelessness essays

Applications of Community Psychology to Homelessness essays One of the goals of the City of Chicago's Health Department is to develop ways to decrease teenage drug use. Since the number of adolescents who use illegal drugs is growing rapidly, new and innovative prevention methods must be experimented with in order to solve the problem. Approaching the issue of teenage drug use from Gerald Caplan's prevention perspective will bring about the new and innovative results needed to effectively address this issue. Gerald Caplan (1964) is known as the individual who used the term prevention as a specific program in the mental health lexicon. According to Caplan, there are three distinct types of prevention; primary, secondary and tertiary. In this essay I will use the three main types of prevention as described by Caplan in the textbook Community Psychology - Linking Individuals and Communities to develop three prevention programs that the Health Department could use to address the issue of teenage drug use. The first type of prevention to be addressed in this essay is primary prevention. The basic ideal behind this intervention is to stop the problem before it becomes a problem. At the primary level intervention is given to entire populations when they are not in need or distress. This is usually done to prevent the occurrence of new cases, especially when the problem is considered to be an epidemic. Before a problem or circumstance has the ability to cause harmful effects on a community, a community psychologist will take a proactive approach and intervene to reduce the chance of future difficulties. Another way to look at primary prevention is to consider it intervention given to all people in a particular setting regardless of the need for the intervention. Examples of primary prevention would be to vaccinate all children for polio and other common diseases even though the children have not shown any signs of the disease and may not have a particularly high chance of contrac ting th...

Only Connect Essays

Only Connect Essays Only Connect Paper Only Connect Paper Essay Topic: Literature The epigraph Only Connect that Forster has given to Howards End is certainly an appropriate one, as the impact of these two words is significant throughout the novel. Forster manages impressively not only to intertwine the lives of the characters, but also integrate the separate divisions of the social spectrum into the world of the novel. Throughout the novel a number of significant connections occur between the various characters. In the portrait of Margaret and Helen Schlegel and in the optimistic ending to the novel, Forster points readers towards a future of harmonious connection between the different elements in the world of the novel. This essay, however will argue that in fact the conflict that is presented in Howards End, outweighs the connections. The protagonist in Howards End who connects with a number of characters is Margaret Schlegel. Margaret is the chief representative of the Schlegel family, which signifies the idealistic, intellectual and cultural aspects of the English upper middle classes. For example, Margaret becomes acquainted with Mrs. Wilcox, a gentle, selfless, loving and strangely omniscient character. In contrast to Margaret, Mrs. Wilcox is clearly not intellectual. Margaret throws a luncheon for the ethereal, selfless Mrs. Wilcox. However, it is clear that Mrs. Wilcox feel uncomfortable amongst the guests. For example, it is made evident that her tastes were simple and her knowledge of culture slight. There was no common topic between Mrs. Wilcox and the guests. Unlike Margaret, Mrs. Wilcox is not interested in Art, Music, Journalism and Literature. Instead, Mrs. Wilcoxs life revolves around her husband and sons. Although Mrs. Wilcox is not a cultured lady, as is Margaret, and despite the failure of the luncheon, they still seem to share spiritual qualities which allow them to connect. This surprising friendship is Forsters attempt to bring the two main families of the novel into a union. He also wishes to bring together the two symbolic ideas that they represent. Mrs. Wilcox is a very different creature from her husband and children, replacing their materialistic hard-headedness with a kind of selfless, loving sensitivity to those around her. The readers recognize that Mrs. Wilcox tends to have an intuitive knowledge of the people around her. Mrs. Wilcox calls this an instinct which may be wrong. As their relationship develops, Mrs. Wilcox attempts to leave her home, Howards End, to Margaret. Although Mrs. Wilcox and Margaret are from different families with contrasting beliefs, they are clearly able to converse well with each other. For example, in Chapter 8 the two characters speak about superstitions. It is apparent that Margaret and Mrs. Wilcox do share some similarities. For instance, Mrs. Wilcox tells her companion about the wych-elm tree in Hertfordshire Margaret tells Mrs. Wilcox that she loves folklore and all festering superstitions. There are obvious parallels between these characters, and this adds to the idea of a future of harmony. Even after the death of Mrs. Wilcox, it seems that her presence still remains within Margaret. A striking incident in which Margaret reveals Mrs. Wilcoxs existence is during her first visit to Howards End. Margaret sees an old woman who was descending, with figure erect and with a face impassive. This woman, Mrs. Avery, mistakes Margaret for being Mrs. Wilcox. Mrs. Avery stated that Margaret had Mrs. Wilcoxs way of walking. Some readers might find this way of expressing the spiritual connection rather unconvincing. For instance, the incident at Howards End, can be thought to be too supernatural sounding. However, Foster is knowingly and wittily asking the reader to stretch their sympathetic connection with Margaret to the extent that they can feel with her, the presence of Mrs. Wilcox. Forster is seducing the reader into accepting something which is irrational and something that would be rejected by commonsense. In Mrs. Wilcox, there is an acceptance of a Margaret-like mentality as opposed to a Henry-like mentality. This supernatural aura is also presented in Chapter 18. Mrs. Wilcox strayed in and out, ever welcome ghost; surveying the scene, thought Margaret, without one hint of bitterness. This suggests that Mrs. Wilcox approved of Margaret and Henry being together. It portrays the spiritual connection between Margaret and Mrs. Wilcox. The most explicit expression of the theme of only connect occurs at the beginning of chapter 22. This is an essential chapter, as it allows the readers to grasp the concept of only connect: Margaret greeted her lord with peculiar tenderness on the morrow. Mature as he was, she might yet be able to help him to the building of the rainbow bridge that should connect the prose in us with passion. Without it we are meaningless fragments, half monks, half beasts, unconnected arches that have never joined into a man. In this chapter, Margarets task in helping Mr. Wilcox to achieve internal harmony is defined: Only Connect! That was that whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted and human love will be seen at its highest. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die (chapter 22). Margaret has an overall venture throughout the novel to unify the unseen with the seen, and therefore create balance. Yet the greatest challenge to this project comes in the form of her eventual husband, Henry Wilcox. After the death of Mrs. Wilcox, Margaret grows very fond of her husband Henry Wilcox. She wishes to change the male mannerism in his character, of panic and emptiness. Margarets attempt to change Henry can be said to be a noble, heroic aim. Margaret starts to do this when she cultivates Henry. While Margaret never forgot anyone for whom she had once cared; she connected and she hoped that some day Henry might do the same. The well-known critic, FR Leavis rather objects to the plausibility of Margaret and Henrys relationship. I disagree: Forster does attempt to trace the development of Margaret and Henrys courtship. Forster suggests the plausibility of their relationship through the narration about Margarets father. It can be said that Margaret is aware that her fathers characteristics are reflected in Henry. For example, the fact that her father is able to change countries and ideals, relates to Mr. Wilcoxs spontaneous and impulsive qualities. This attracts her enormously to Henry. She admires Henrys male strength and soldier- like quality. It also seems appropriate that Margaret and Henry are both middle-aged, single people. Margaret also sympathises with the fact that Henry is needy without a wife. Her intentions to connect with Henry and make him connect are thus not so poorly motivated as Leavis thinks. However, although we might well sympathise with Margarets aims, it is unlikely that readers of Howards End will feel that Margaret will succeed in changing Henry. Henrys character contrasts enormously with Margarets. He is described as being obtuse, materialistic and money-orientated. The way in which Henry deals with Leonard Bast is definitely contrary to the way in which Margaret deals with him. Henrys association with Leonard conflicts enormously with Margarets beliefs. Henry deals casually with Leonard Bast and does not show any sympathy for him when his employment situation becomes disastrous. It is obvious that Henry does not see a personal connection with Leonard Bast. Henry even forgets who Leonard Bast is, contrary to Margarets aim. Margaret later tries to show Henry that he must forgive Leonard and Helen for their sexual encounter. According to Henry it is wrong to have pre-marital sex. However, he has had extra-marital sex with Jackie Bast, and so if Margaret is willing to forgive him, then surely Margaret feels he should be equally willing to forgive Leonard and Helen. She is suggesting that Henry only utilises one area of his emotions and thought, as he is too arrogant and self-protective to forgive. Henry prefers not to connect, so then he does not have to face the consequences and the reality of his actions. It is a case of ignorance being bliss. While he needed the support from Margaret when he had been exposed, he is unwilling to succour another, and so Margaret is attempting to sever his isolation and halt his detachment from reality. Margaret tells her partner; You shall see the connection if it kills you, Henry! A man who ruins a woman for his pleasure, and casts her off to ruin other men These men are you. You cant recognise them, because you cannot connect. Some readers think that what happens at the end of the novel is that through connecting with Henry, Margaret succeeds in undermining Henrys defences. However, it is rather the indirect influence of Margarets connection of Henry and Charles to the Basts that really brings about Henrys change. Henry eventually must face the discovery that his son, Charles, has caused the death of Leonard Bast, and Charles must serve time in prison. Henry is a broken man, but Margaret undertakes his care. Henry undergoes a breakdown and finally recognises that his values were at fault. His obtuseness and ignorance converts into humbleness and awareness. Henry eventually is reconciled to Helen. She and her illegitimate child join Margaret and Henry at Howards End, where peace and stability are enjoyed. It is here when these connections and reconciliation are imposed to provide a source of hope for harmony in the future. In this ending Forster is clearly trying to portray the possibility of a unified Edwardian England. Forster has earlier prepared for the climactic scene of harmony and connection by his scene of reconciliation between Margaret and Helen, the past sanctifying the present. Foster thus illustrates the restoration of the family unit, and here too attempts to convey an impression of inner-harmony and connection between the characters. The situation of the living circumstances at the end of the novel can be said to present harmony. A harmony is achieved at Howards End, as it is inhabited by Margaret, Henry, Helen and the Bast love child. The Bast child can represent a new connected class, a mixture of bourgeoisie and bohemian upper class. It is the characters aptitude to forgive, and so embrace the other that allows them to connect. This is suggested in the relationships between Margaret and Mrs. Wilcox and Margaret and Helen. However this is a mannerism not possessed by Henry until the end of the novel. This explains the reasons for his narrow-minded treatment of Leonard Bast. Not only do various connections or relationships in Howards End predict a future of harmony, but Forster attempts to convey this impression through the ambience of the novel. The continuity in national life appears clearly in the description of the Dorset Coast at the end of chapter 19. The vision of England as a ship of souls, with all the brave worlds fleet accompanying her towards eternity, is a passage which certainly embodies the ideals of harmony and continuity, untarnished by provinciality or jingoism. Forsters use of tone and visionary language positively creates an atmosphere of peace and harmony. A number of ideas in the book are shaped under a Romantic belief that internal order can occur through love, thus attempting to represent the notion of a reconciliation of opposites, through Romantic tendencies. For example, the Romantic idea of the healing and comforting powers of nature is conveyed through Leonards walk. In chapter fourteen, Leonard tells the Schlegel sisters of his connection with nature. The conversation between Leonard and the sisters is clearly enlightening. The characters are all involved in a situation which interests them. The sisters encourage the conversation with phrases such as Yes, go on. Their curiosity is evident when Margaret asks Yes, but the wood. This ere wood. How did you get out of it? However, the love connection between Margaret and Henry, is not truly believable. For example, nowhere in the book is true love really moulded, but instead love based upon the desire to improve and to belong. This is portrayed through their marriage, which seems to occur out of convenience. It is in fact the conflict between the characters which seem more realistic, thus Margaret and Helen separate through conflicts between the families. Henry Wilcox is disgusted when discovering that Helen has fallen pregnant. He does not wish to have a fallen girl staying at Howards End and he does not deny this to Margaret. Henry informs his son, Charles of the situation. In Chapter 39 Charles immediately consults Tibby Schlegel, Helens younger brother. Tibby admits that it was Leonard Bast who would be the father of Helens baby. The Wilcoxes anger leads to the death of Leonard Bast. This incident indubitably predicts a future of conflict The ending of the novel, Forsters attempt to redeem the possibility of connection, is in fact unbelievable and implausible. The final situation in Howards End presents an unrealistic harmony. Forster has made an ending that is too rushed and too optimistic. Readers will question whether it is truly possible for Helen to live beside Mr. Wilcox. It is because of the Wilcox family that Helens lover is now dead. Her baby will have to be raised as a bastard, because there will be no chance of them getting married. It is unrealistic that Helen would forgive the Wilcox family for allowing what happened to Leonard Bast. Leonard will not be able to be a representative of the Bast family. It is likely that Helen will always hold some sort of abhorrence for the Wilcoxes because of her lovers death. It is almost impossible to see that the Bast child will live contentedly beside the Wilcox family, knowing that they are the reason that he is a bastard. The readers also see no sign of Jacky Bast at the end of the novel. Surely it is not credible that Forster has not included this important figure in the end of his novel? The impression of an incurable gender conflict between Henry and the Schlegel sisters is emphasised all the more in the other characters. In fact, Forster portrays almost all the male characters in his novel negatively. The men are possessive and chauvinistic characters made of panic and emptiness as suggested by Margarets sister Helen. Chapter 25 contains a scene in which the clear conflict between men and women is portrayed. Margaret is determined to go back to the place where the car she was travelling in was thought to have hit a dog. Margaret exclaims Do please stop! I want to go back, please. However, Charles took no notice. The other characters told Margaret that The men are there, The men will see to it. This reaction emphasizes how it was commonly thought that the men should take care of all important business and that the women should merely submit to them and do what they are told. After the demanding way that Charles and Mr. Wilcox act toward the women, the narration includes Ladies sheltering behind men, men sheltering behind servants-the whole systems wrong, and she must challenge it. On page 214, Charles speaks of the incident that occurred. He states Miss. Schlegel had lost her mind, as any woman might. The male dominating character underlines his stereotypical view of women as he speaks of them as being over dramatic and foolish. Despite Forsters optimistic ending, scenes like this strongly suggest that the gender differences in the early twentieth century, are likely to cause a future of conflict and disagreement. Forsters vivid and emphatic presentation of the differences within the families, very much goes against the possibility of harmony. He places a large emphasis on the difficulty in connecting due to the families different backgrounds. For example, the pragmatic Wilcox family are materialistic and very much money-orientated. They represent the solid English work ethic and conventional social morality. They are involved greatly in the business environment. On the other hand, the idealistic Schlegel family are more spiritual and cultured. The upper class family appreciate Edwardian culture such as the Arts and literature and music. The Basts, headed by a lower-middle class insurance clerk are impoverished. Leonard Bast desperately hopes that books will save him from social and economic desolation. Their differences in interests present a huge and eventually immovable obstacle in connecting with each other. Moreover, Forster does not deal with people across the whole social spectrum in his novel. If only connect is going to be associated with England, then it is unfair to make a prediction of the future of England upon reading Howards End. Forster does not look upon the whole of England. He avoids looking at people of great wealth such as aristocrats and upper class, and although he includes Leonard Bast, he does not look at the vast numbers of the working class people at all. When reading Howards End, readers are aware of the conflicts and connections between the families. Through many relationships within the novel, people are able to connect and share interests. They are also able to share ideas and beliefs with one another. However, apart from these, too many disagreements occur. These broad fault-lines between groups of people are very evident in the novel, and Forster does little to persuade us they can be healed. They are crystallised in the situation between Henry and Margaret. It is clear that Henry is afraid of emotion. His motto is concentrate, while Margarets is only connect. This difference in attitudes creates an irreconcilable tension in the novel. They are very different people who represent extremely different ideas. The difference between concentrating and only connecting is the difference between Margaret and Henry; it is the difference between the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes, and the primary conflict in Howards End. Through this argument, it can be concluded that the sense of conflict outweighs the attempt to present the Schlegels, Wilcoxes and Basts as connected. Forster is very much similar to the way that Margaret thinks. Forster tends to be biased towards Margarets ideas and beliefs. It can be said that Forster and Margaret share the same aphorism; Only Connect. Although Margaret encourages connection, the hope for harmony seems doubtful. The attempted connections prove unsuccessful. Most significantly, the connection between Leonard Bast and the Schlegels, finally results in his death and Forsters contrived and sketchy harmonious conclusion cannot rescue the argument. Rather what is stressed is the divided nature of Edwardian England and a future of conflict. Bibliography utm.edu/~lalexand/brnovel/forster.html musicandmeaning.com/forster/