Mason Schultz Essays - Entertainment, English-language Films

Mason Schultz Dr. Muak ENG 223 31 October 2017 Inglourious Rhetoric Inglourious Basterds is arguably one of the brashest and most daring American war films in history. As a film, Inglourious Basterds is divided into five chapters, each rich in the use of rhetorical devices. Chapter two, however, is the focus of this analysis. Chapter two, entitled "Inglourious Basterds", is where we are first introduced to Lieutenant Aldo Raine. Raine is a proud Tennessean, a former moonshiner, and commanding officer of the Jewish-American military unit known as the "Basterds." Lieutenant Raine delivers an emotion-wrenching speech in order to motivate his special team, a collection of Jewish-American soldiers with a particular vengeance against the Nazis. Set between 1941 and 1944, the film Inglourious Basterds rewrites the history of WWII to incorporate Jewish revenge against the Nazis. The Basterds, comprised mainly of Jews, are placed in a reverse role of history in order to embody a vengeance not traditionally shown. They have been given the opportunity to ter rorize the Nazi Army with brutal murder and post-mortem rituals such as scalping. The audience for Lieutenant Raine's speech is easily comprehendible. At the time of Lieutenant Raine's speech, the Nazi were rounding up all people of Jewish decent and forcing them into concentration camps, or simply executing them. When Lieutenant Raine assembles the team of Jewish American soldiers, he was giving them a chance at retribution and a chance to fight back. The fact that his audience is made up of soldiers with Jewish Heritage makes the receptivity of his speech even more effective. Kairos is the use of particular moments to evoke the necessity for action. Lieutenant Raine's speech capture's in words what is most immediately appropriate for his particular audience to hear. By using the events of World War II, such as the Holocaust, Lieutenant Raine is able to make his speech seem timely and necessary. Within his speech, he also speaks about the exigency (urgency) of this mission, Raine says, "Now, y'all might've heard rumors about the armada happening soon. Well, we 'll be leaving a little earlier. We're gonna be dropped into France, dressed as civilians. And once we're in enemy territory, as a bushwhackin' guerrilla army, we're gonna be doin' one thing and one thing only... killin' Nazis." By saying this, Lieutenant Raine creates a sense of urgency within his soldiers. Stating that they will be deployed immediately adds a level of confidence to his speech as well as describes to his soldiers the importance of this mission. Lt Raine gives his soldiers (The Basterds) a speech, which at first glance, appears to be a conventional "let's do this" speech. However, after analysis, intriguing parallels to the scene prior surface. He tells his men that they will be hunting and killing Nazis. This is fueled by the scenes first presupposition, Nazis are bad. Raine takes this presupposition a little further: he justifies that it is okay to kill Nazis because "A Nazi ain't got no humanity." When he says they're going to kill "anyone wearing a Nazi uniform," Raine successfully reduces the Nazis to a symbol, just as Landa reduced the Jews to symbols in the previous scene. The difference between Raine and Landa is you know where you stand with Raine. He may come across as a bloodthirsty savage, but his is steadfast in his stance against the Nazis. The second presupposition active is Raine's speech is the shared belief that they are terrorists. In his speech, Raine compares the Basterds to "Bushwhackers." Today, a " bushwhacker" could be any kind of surprise attacker. However, to Raine, coming from rural Tennessee in 1944, the term would have had a very specific meaning. Bushwhackers, in the Civil War, were small bands of civilians who would skulk through the night, kill people, and steal property. All of this was done outside of any military jurisdiction for the purpose of dismantling the enemy. They, in practice, became terrorists. Raine plans to kill Nazi soldiers, behind enemy lines, in the most ferocious way possible, so as to frighten and terrorize them. "Sound good?" he swaggers to his men, who all respond in the affirmative. This enthymematic reasoning, present in Lt Raine's speech, is used to support his position and

This Memorial Day, Remember an Abundance Mentality

This Memorial Day, Remember an Abundance Mentality This Memorial Day Sunday, as I sat on a bench overlooking the Hudson River in Tarrytown, NY, I pondered the concept of abundance. Where do I have an â€Å"abundance mentality† and where do I live with a scarcity mindset? â€Å"What about this river, I mused. Rivers are a symbol of abundance. Do rivers have an abundance mentality? What about droughts? If I were a river I would not feel very abundant in a drought.† â€Å"Brenda,† I told myself, â€Å"Stop trying to give a river a brain. Rivers don’t know from abundance and scarcity. They just are. It’s people who feel scarcity during droughts.† Well, that line of thinking didn’t get me too far. Even after attending a yoga class nearby, where the teacher threw out the idea that we should imitate nature and just be, I wasn’t sure what to make of my river question. But what I do know is that for humans, having an â€Å"abundance mentality† is one of the keys to happiness. When we remember that there is enough – more than enough – to sustain us, we can not just survive, but thrive. Experiencing the Abundance Mentality There are some areas where I’ve mastered the abundance mentality. In my travels, for instance, when plans fall through (as they often do, and did on this trip), I am open to what other plans will arise. All I have to do is pick up the phone and I can find a friend to hang out with or a new place to stay if I need it. I am never worried about being stranded or running out of possibilities. In other areas, I have yet to vanquish the scarcity mentality. Last year, when a corporate client abruptly reduced the volume of business they were sending to The Essay Expert, I was scared and discouraged. Without that business, I did not have a solid client base. Initially, I did not know what to do to turn things around. It took me a year to build my business back up to where it was before. And lo and behold, it turns out there was abundance after all – I just had to strive for it. I’ve also faced my own scarcity mentality with my writing team. Now that business is booming, I have been known to worry that I won’t have enough high-quality writers to cover the projects coming in. At first, I was limited in my ideas about how to find writers. But I asked other writers and coaches for ideas, and they shook up my scarcity thinking. I took their advice and reached out aggressively to executive resume writers through multiple channels- including some I had never thought of before. Surprise! Some amazingly talented writers inevitably arose. Whatever convictions I have about what’s impossible are simply not true. An Abundance â€Å"Mentality† is Not Enough Here’s the thing. Just believing that abundance exists is not enough. You need to take action. When my corporate client dropped off, I felt sorry for myself for a little while, but ultimately I upped my game and got my name out to the world on a bigger scale. When I needed new writers, at first I did the same things I had done in the past, but those actions did not produce results. So I did something different. This principle applies to bigger issues too. This is Memorial Day, and some of us are thinking of people we have lost. While the pain of loss is real and will never go away, when we can appreciate the people who are in our lives now, and know there is enough love and connection for us in the world, we can continue with our lives and allow ourselves to feel joy amidst the pain. With an abundance mentality, we see possibilities and can embrace challenge and change. In scarcity, we experience lack and hopelessness. I know this from experience. Where do you fall on the abundance vs. scarcity mindset spectrum? What is your mentality around money? Love? Jobs? Clients? On this Memorial Day, can you remember that good things are out there for you- and go after them? I encourage you to take one action today to create what you thought was not possible in your life. And let me know what happens. *********** Ready to create abundance with your job search, college applications or business? The Essay Expert offers writing help in all of these areas. Contact us!

Why has the strategic bombing offensive against Germany in World War Essay

Why has the strategic bombing offensive against Germany in World War Two often been viewed as morally indefensible - Essay Example he British bombing of Dresden, a city not much smaller than Manchester, towards the end of the war is widely acclaimed as a war crime because this cultural capital of Germany was filled with refugees trying to escape Allied bombing and was of no military value. This and the indiscriminant bombings of other German cities are largely viewed by historians as retaliation for the London bombings by the Germans. Were the bombing campaigns an act strictly motivated by revenge and should therefore be regarded as morally reprehensible or were they the result of a necessary and successful strategy that may have gone a little too far? This question is the focus of the following discussion which attempts to explain why these bombings of civilian targets are generally regarded as an indefensible, shameful act perpetrated by the Allies. The Allies, particularly the British, have been likely rightfully vilified for decimating German towns and civilian populations near the end of the war essentially in retaliation for the Luftwaffe bombing raids over London. This strategic bombing campaign took the lives of an estimated 600,000 German civilians. However, the reality of the situation must be kept in proper context. Germany started the war, killed approximately 12 million civilians including six million in concentration camps and would have taken a greater toll if they had beaten the Allied forces. The German’s and British certainly were not the only nations that committed wartime atrocities. Many hundreds of thousands of German prisoners who were taken by the Americans died in prison camps. Witnesses told of gaunt bodies wearing clothing smeared with diarrhea huddled in muddy holes with no shelter and perhaps a rotten potato to eat. Many had to eat grass and drink urine to survive. According to the American Red Cross, at least 98 percent of American prisoners in German prison camps survived but the West German government stated that more than one million German

Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 12

Response - Essay Example One can feel Mrs. Mallard’s sentiments of relief and liberation when reports of her husband’s death finally dawn on her. Although she openly weeps in the presence of her sister Josephine, she locks herself in her room and all of a sudden feels relieved from her husband’s death. According to Chopin, Mrs Millard kept whispering â€Å"free! Body and soul free!† as a show of exhilaration (Chopin 13).Mrs. Millard openly questions the meaning of love in human life. She claims it is meaningless if one only loves unwillingly. She wonders, â€Å"What could love the unsolved mystery count for in face of this possession of self-assertion† (Cunningham & Reich 725). In addition, Mrs. Millard terms this as the strongest impulse of her being. She goes on to wish she that could have existed a bit longer life now that her companion was supposedly dead. The author cites the main proponent’s fancy was running towards the days ahead of her. This is a clear indication of how unwillingly married she was to Brently and wished they could separate because this will add meaning to her life. Her husband had been silencing her will since she married him and his death adds meaning to her life, as she felt free from a authoritarian husband. I believe the kind of marriage that individuals involve themselves in highly determines the kind of life the individuals lead and their attitude in general. In many instances, when ones marriage is not comfortable and the person has an oppressive spouse, he or she has a negative attitude towards several things. Freedom plays a vital role in a human being’s attitude and in marriage, it is essential that each spouse is free to express their views and ideas. Ones nationality also influences someone’s attitude in diverse ways. For instance, when one identifies him or herself to a certain nation that has done well, the person is more confident in the midst of other and proud. Race plays an essential role in either

Human Sexuality Reflection Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human Sexuality Reflection Paper - Essay Example My concentrations in Professor Fanelli’s lectures and reading course material, has challenged my intellectual capabilities, thus shifting me to the best level of understanding my own values and attitudes in relation to human sexuality. Learning about sexual development is fun because by finding parts played by both stereotypes and gender roles in a society is not only of great importance, but also of very great influential despite of how someone may categorize and identify themselves. Boys identify themselves as being boys by acting and dressing like ones as well as liking a variety of things that boy likes. Those expectations offered to both men and women with regard to sexual behavior and gender role, seems to be very intriguing because it questions cultural expectations that is held for each sex. For instance men and women are not only differentiated by their sex organism but also by their different occupations in the society like a man taking care of the cattle while women taking care of the house and children. Furthermore, getting knowledge from psychological and biological perspectives provides me with a range of better understanding of how distinctive people can be and how they feel as well. After covering the topic called sexuality in young adulthood, I had really gained a wide knowledge involving solitary sex, sexual fantasies of people containing distinct sexualities, sex with other such as touching, kissing, foreplay among others, various techniques and positions constituted in sexual intercourse and the three R,s, that is reflect, review and recite. Each of the aspects mentioned above is both fun to explore and interesting to learn about and that is why this topic on sexuality in young adulthood was my favorite one in class. However, it was considered weird if boys did things that girls could do comfortable and vice versa. It was comfortable

Rolls Royce in Contemporary Business Environment

Rolls Royce in Contemporary Business Environment This assignment is aimed to critically evaluate a change management towards to the operations at Rolls Royce plc, ascertain a range of reasons for either success or failure to implement a operations management and to propose further improvements for the companys performance. The annual Rolls Royce report was used a primary source of business data. It was found that the firms strategy and operations management conforms to the current trends in the operations, i.e. environmental needs, customised quality of products and flexibility of production, etc.; however, certain risks and global challenges may affect a success of the business, leading to losing a share in the market niche. Introduction Rolls Royce in Contemporary Business Environment Rolls Royce is a global company providing a power product, judging on a basis of customers demand or a niche market position its me, for land, sea and air (Rolls-Royce, 2006). The company has a balanced business portfolio with the leading positions in civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy markets. One of key factors of Rolls-Royces success is continuing expansion of its business globally. In the past five year RR started work on or opened facilities in Europe, the United States and Asia. Company employs over 38,000 employees, 22,700 are in the UK with the balance primarily in the US, Asia, Germany, Scandinavia and Brazil, which represents a global expansion of business operations, human resources for implementation of process and technology, i.e. resources for the status. Rolls Royce is a highly focused power systems business, concentrating on manufacturing and services of power systems, including a gas turbine engine. There are approximately 54,000 Rolls Royce gas turbines in service. With annual sales of around  £4 billion and a forward order book of nearly  £22 billion, its technology is applied over a wide range of products that generate high-value services throughout their operational lives. These operations give a value for the companys business. In response to increased orders from the market due to A380 production will recommence and Boeing787 production begins (Boeing, 2006), the firm implements a strategy towards to the best operations for turbine engine production. Objectives of the Assignment Manufacturing (WCM) is one of the broadest philosophies focusing primarily on production (Lind, 2001). Although Hayes and Wheelwright originally defined the WCM term (B. Flynn, 1997) to describe organizations which achieved a global competitive advantage through use of their manufacturing capabilities as a strategic weapon, there is no consistent definition of WCM (Maskell, 1991). So does Roll_ Royce represents the operations management? In my opinion, the answer is clearly, yes, it does. A world-class organization is an organization that had established itself as the best (RR automotive has been doing it continuously since 1906) becomes the best with new product lines (such as gas turbines) and then sustains itself as the best in its field during a life cycle. It goes beyond TQM (Total Quality Management), which is an adaptive process. It also goes beyond the learning organization by keeping ahead of changes. World-class organizations practice Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) a management philosophy which focuses on improving processes within an organization. Further these principles of the operations will be analysed and discussed. Analysis and Discussion 2.1. Ownership and Finance Roll_ Royce is a Public Limited Company (plc). What are benefits or drawbacks to be a plc for the ? As firm is selling shares on a stock market, the business gets a huge capital injection allowing the company to expand quicker and invest in new products. In RRs case it allows them to use high quality machinery and materials to produce innovative and yet expensive products, entering a niche on the markets. Being on the stock market can have a positive effect on your publicity and suppliers are more willing to offer you a credit as they can see how secure finances are. Plc-type organisation has also drawbacks. Financial information has to be published for shareholders and it also open for competitors. The company on a stock market have to pay its profit out to shareholders (Fig. 1), which reduces a financial security of the business. Also the shareholders may influence a management style, not always in the best way, in running the company. This could lead to a conflict of interests between ownership and management board, leading to decisions taking a long time to be made. In addition such a business may be affected by movements of global markets themselves, i.e. commodity prices, foreign currency exchange rates etc. Fig. 1. Total Shareholders Return over five years [Rolls-Royce, 2006] 2.2. Business Strategy Roll_ Royce sets-up their strategy towards to be the best, i.e. and had a restructuring programme after 11 September 2001, increasing investments in both technology and capabilities to create competitive products. More satisfied customers relations, which can last up to 25 years or more, is also important for the business as it gives more than 50% of revenue from after sales market service. As a result of this strategy RRs mission statement is described as Roll_ Royce offers the best customers business solutions from superior power systems and services (Rolls-Royce, 2006). RRs ambitious and yet timely objective is to help the environment. The company developed a re-engineering program to reduce as much waste as possible. Using the SMART concept Roll_ Royce come up with a consistent strategy: Developing a competitive product portfolio (currently over 50 product programmes and  £350 millions for development and introduction of new products) for four global markets Civil, Defence, Marine and Energy with 40-50% market share in the next 5 years. Reducing operational and unit costs by increasing operations efficacy. Responding to the challenge of climate change.  £100 million annual investment for RD, introducing an Environmental Engine Programme. Capturing aftermarket services opportunity and add value for customers through the provision of product-related services. Environmental issues will dominate in the airline industry as more public issues have been arisen due to climate change, pollutions, noise and air quality (Fig. 2). The Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE) has set a range of challenging environmental improvement goals to be achieved by 2020. Globally a rapid growth continued in manufacturing load in 2006 and will increase further for the company. It is also inevitable that turnover will increase within the next years due to a world growth of transportation business and energy demand. As a result one of the key objectives at Roll_ Royce is the environmental issue. The pollution produced by companys factories and produced engines has to be designed, monitored and checked regularly. The Environmentally Friendly Engine (EFE) is the latest demonstrator programme to be launched by Roll_ Royce to enable them to meet these targets: reduced fuel consumption, while lowering emissions and engine noise. In addition RR is d eveloping renewable fuel cell systems that have the potential to be clean, quiet, cost effective and highly fuel efficient. Fig. 2. This is an example of an increasing environmental pressure for aerospace industry both manufacturers and carrier companies. Roll_ Royce aims to produce engines to meet the most stringent noise and emission requirements for future civil aircraft. A company is successful if it has stable growing sales and thus financial resources for further business development towards to the level. 2.3. Sales and Operations Management Roll_ Royce press release shows the group ended 2006 with a net cash balance of  £826million. Underlying aftermarket services revenues grew by 13% in 2006 and represented 53% of total sales and is expected to grow up to 63% further. Any threat to security of aftermarket revenues through a failure to provide an operational service which meets customers expectations, would threaten a RRs level of profitability. Therefore Roll_ Royce is focused on providing a high standard of service to all its customers, investing in capabilities such as its recently established Operations Centres, which monitor engine operations in real time, co-ordinating and integrating data to enable Roll_ Royce to provide better predictive information and operational performance. A corporate report shows how well after-sale revenue has increased (Table 1). *Reconciliation of underlying results is provided in notes 2 and 7 of the consolidated financial statements. **Underlying revenues reflect actual US dollar exchange rates on settled derivative contracts. A Roll_ Royce presentation (Rolls-Royce, 2006) contains a statement from each area referring to how well they have done in the previous year: Civil Aerospace = Growing services/improving business mix Defence = Well positioned on new programme Marine = Continuing strong order intake Energy = Introduced new products These four sentences sum up how the business has done in relation to their strategies mentioned previously. But the markets in which company operates are highly competitive that is another challenge faced at Rolls-Royces strategy mix to be the world-class. As Roll_ Royce does not offer products that can be sold over a till but more order based products over long periods, it is risky to have lots of pre-ordered products and therefore important to offer a good stock price to encourage potential investors. Majority of Rolls-Royces programmes are long-term in nature and access to the key platforms is critical to a business success. Although there is clearly a positive feeling to these four statements it is hard to measure these long-term objectives. One mentioned objective is that there is no reference to in their annual report is whether harmful waste has been disposed, protecting the environment, or it has resulted to increased emission tax, reducing a financial outcome. However the Managing Director of Roll_ Royce said that 2006 is developing, overall, in line with our expectations. Particular emphasis is being made on the most profitable engine market for long-haul aircrafts (Fig. 3, table 2). With more orders for new Trent engines to date is exceed 200 aircrafts valued  £6billions with the major clients in Asia and Europe (Table 1, 2 in appendix) shown for coming new A380. This delivery is a real challenge to maintain the status at Roll_ Royce as a series of delays with the aircr aft official launch showed this year. How this does affected the quality management will be discussed next. Sources: Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Airbus Figure 3: Delivered aircraft value and units (2006-2025) Table 2: Long-haul large capacity aircrafts and turbine engine types Aircraft passenger capacity Output (to date) Engine Unit cost Changes and benefits Boeing 747-8 (400-500 passengers) 747 deliveries, 60% civil, 40% cargo. 747-8 to be launched in 2009 4 ц¦ GEnx-2B67 US$ 240 millions Reduced NOx emission, noise dB and better fuel efficiency. Boeing 767-400 (245-375 seats) 767 deliveries, most companies have favoured B 777 instead of B767-400. 2 ц¦ PW40xx or Rolls Royce RB 211 with reduced noise and emission Boeing 777 (300 pass) 791 ordered, 509 delivered. 2x PW 40xx RR Trent 8xx or GE 90-94B US$ 220-240 millions with reduced noise and emission Boeing 787 (220-300 seats) 482 (452 firm, 30*** pending). The sales will continue till 2014. 2 ц¦ GEnx or Trent 1000 US$ 140-188 millions 137 orders for Trent 1000, 170 orders for GNex Airbus 380 (pass 555-853) To date 166 orders from 15 customers. Expected sales of 750 jets A380s over the next 20 years at 420 jets for breakeven. 4 ц¦ GE/PW GP72xx or 4 x RR Trent 9xx US$ 296 316 millions 86 orders for RR Trent, 80 for GE72xx. Fuel consumption of 2.9 litres per passenger km the current industry average is 5 litres per passenger km. Airbus 350 (pass 270-350 seats) Planned from 2013. 2 ц¦ GE/PW GP72xx or CEnx or 2 x Trent XWB US$ 200-240 millions Engines will have a thrust of 75000-95000 lb Sources: Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Airbus. Trent is Roll_ Royce trademark for aeroengines. http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-aircraft-engines Another challenge is to reduce operations and unit costs. Cost of kerosene, which is main aircraft fuel, and other energy resources is continued growing within the industry, although it has achieved almost 50% improvements in fuel use in the last 20 years [1]. Advanced machinery and production tools offer further reduction of energy use to manufacture an aeroengine. If in the short term Roll_ Royce could invest in faster machinery or more productive workforce it could cut down the forward orders and thus optimise the production. In the long run, however, it would mean larger wage bills and higher risk of depreciation on the automated machinery. Cutting staff to reduce the costs by making people redundant is only really necessary if there is a major financial worry, which is the case for many airlines but not yet widely applicable for Rolls-Royce, who is moving production to more labour-effective countries. Therefore companys strategy, to increase quality and reduce waste products, seems to give the results. The production method itself will rely on quality of the product. Roll_ Royce at its current level of business operations has a high quality product, which needs to be maintained and improved continuously. In the long run it would be better but forward orders (Table 2, Appendix) could also decrease due to energy crisis. It would also lead to staff working longer hours and as a result staff morale decreases. Note that many airlines has either cut a number of flights or increased a fuel charge per passenger. This will affect new production orders from Rolls-Royce. One objective that could change for Roll_ Royce is to continue establishing themselves as a leading supplier in the four growing markets. Since the company has positioned itself in the key markets, it has substantial customers to get orders. If one market slows down, e.g. a civil aerospace department after the delay of A380 launch, it can fall back on the other three markets maintaining the business. A disadvantage of this strategy is the significant resources spent for employing experienced workers and management staff to keep the operations in these four markets. It is there Roll_ Royce would need to realign the core objectives to the global challenges to maintain the world-class operations and attract new shareholders. 2.4. Quality Management Within the factories Roll_ Royce manages complex production programmes with demanding technical requirements against stringent customer schedules and a capital intensive form of production, which allows products such as turbine engines to be made fast and all of the same quality. Failure to achieve sustainable quality goal would have significant financial implications for the Group. Car production facilities at Roll_ Royce have labour intensive operations due to handmade cars, causing it to be a far slower and more expensive process. Thus RR cars made by orders have an upper price and a market niche. When producing a product such as a jet engine Roll_ Royce employs a batch production method, which tends to be highly customised. It took several years for the company to change productions to lean system and receive an ISO certification. Quality at Roll_ Royce is intangible because of its world-renowned reputation for many years. The company employs three methods of quality testing. Firstly, Quality Control involves checking of the project at the end of production. But there is a drawback to this form of checking. If errors identified results in a waste being produced, this adds extra costs to operations. Another technique Quality Assurance is also employed at the production; however because there is more time taken on producing a product the cost of originally implementing the product although short term could be significant. As quality needs to be assured it means regular inspections need to be undertaken to ensure quality is achieved. Overall this is a better form of quality testing than quality control as changes can be made to product as it goes through production to increase quality. Final form of quality testing is Total Quality Management (TQM). It involves Building Quality In. All three of these methods of quality testing contribute to the overall quality produced by Rolls-Royce, which manufactures approximately 30 per cent by value of its gas turbine products and some 70 per cent is provided through external supply chains. Any quality failure happened in the supply chain would present a risk to the RRs ability to meet customer requirements and to achieve its financial goals. If quality is not met it could mean lack of sales due to reasons such as loss of reputation. It is not just Roll_ Royce that has to deal with quality. All businesses have to ensure they are producing quality goods otherwise people wont buy their products. A supporting infrastructure for quality management, a key element of world-class manufacturing, is an important element (Flynn, 1999). Roll_ Royce has an impressive investment plan totalling to more than  £3billion for advanced technology, capability and infrastructure, offering improved performance and better energy efficiency of products, environmentally friendly operations and long-term competitiveness.  £30million is spent annually on training and some  £250million is directed annually on capital projects. 2.5. Leadership Style and Management Culture Roll_ Royce has Democratic paternalistic style of management. Although the company has department it also has a management board, making all the decisions and having centralised power over company. An extreme management style is an authoritarian style, which would be noted in a military organisation such as Rolls-Royces military division. Another extreme in management style is a lasses-faire style that gives almost 100% control of a company to workers. Roll_ Royce is though none of the extreme management as it has CEO and a chairman who overlook all decisions. Styles of management are summed up in McGregors Theory Y and X. Another form of measuring management styles is through the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum (Dawson, 2005). None of these theories has been fully taken at the company but it seems to be more towards the McGregor X theory of management, which has an important role of mangers and therefore it is further to the left (Fig. 4). It is thought that manger sells technique where people at the top make the decision but invite people questions. Degree of Workers Authority Degree of Manager Authority Rolls Royce Manager Manager Tells Delegates Allows people to function independently Makes a decision and announces it Fig. 4. Management style at Roll_ Royce Power culture dominates in the company because of its top-mangers. This type of culture is normally linked with an autocratic or authoritarian style of management. It is not solely a power culture as it has many leaders at the top where a position does play a role. However RR has many departments run by leaders that work under one brand name for one goal. A person-type culture can also be found inside Roll_ Royce as skilled employees are able to make their own decisions; however, it does not change much to the overall culture. This links to a hierarchy organisation that is a tall structure but it has a certain degree of openness between CEO and regular employee. 2.6. Communications Management Roll_ Royce is very process focused firm and it continues to reduce operating costs through standardisation but as ever IT, with investments to be at around 2.5% of sales, has been playing a significant role in Rolls-Royces growth, with strong project management and very aggressive timescales being the norm at the company. Roll_ Royce aims to implement a Global Supply Chain management structure at Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems which will allow them to consolidate commodity management and increase US dollar based proportion of a purchase bill. The ERP convergence programme has 18,000 SAP users and is allowing us to open up our capacity and improve effectiveness. A substantial CAD/CAM product lifecycle project was to cut design and development times on the back of technology and monitor a process change down to the second phase. The next stage of Rolls-Royces IT strategy will be nine major teams looking at pushing forward a global supply chain and engineering level. Increased globalisation of the business and advances in technology has resulted in more data being transmitted across global communication links, posing an increased security risk. This puts higher responsibility and risk for being attacked by competitors (The Times, December 3, 2007). Therefore, the company has a corporate IT department and the latest security technology responsible for data management at the company as well as communication specialists at each department. A global company may have certain language and cultural barriers if using a phone is the only way to contact a client. The company uses IT for e-mails. As aforementioned e-mails can have attachments, which makes sending images or documents far quicker and easier than by post. Other electronic devices such as telephones are used to record voicemail and a factory wide public address system to notify staff. However this form of communication is open, as it is not used for restricted information such as redundancies. Externally RRs business uses e-mail to place orders or inquire about business. However it isnt entirely fool proof if a company urgently needs to contact supplier e-mail, although may take a few days before it is read and replied too. Apart from contacting suppliers or customers Roll_ Royce has the website. It provides an alternative way of selling products and giving information away to the public such as potential buyers and shareholders. Dramatically increased IT and operations costs due to market growth and disruption caused by shortages of raw materials could diminish the RRs aims towards to operating and unit cost reduction at UK factories. 3. Conclusion The Roll_ Royce achievements indicated that WCM practices were related to competitive performance, and that the addition of new manufacturing and management practices has resulted in further improvements in competitive performance such as gas turbines assembly line replicated for four key markets and after-sales services, including training. The WCM implementation was recognized as having been an economic success by the company itself and by partner-businesses. Being a world-class company gives to Roll_ Royce a certain advantage on a stock market, where so-called alpha and beta investors do prefer using rather a traditional approach (quality of management and production) to analyse a financial performance of a company, than quantitative approach to investment analysis. Thus more investors do believe in RR, especially after a series of financial crunches on the world markets. Roll_ Royce aeroengines aims to maintain the no. 1 market position by offering industry leading technology at the best environmental and operational performance, minimising airline costs throughout a total product lifecycle, and innovative technical and business solutions maximising customer value. Combination of the technology and after-sales support has created the growing demand at stable price for the new engines. In my opinion, further improvements towards to the world-class require four components: Vision, Active Leadership Involvement, Hierarchy of Trained People, and Constancy of Improvement Activity. (3468 words excluding references) Bibliography Roll_ Royce and Shell has been attacked by Chinese Spies. The Times, December 3, 2007 Boeing Marketing Outlook, 2006. www.boeing.com Dawson, M. (2005). The Consumer Trap: Big Business Marketing in American Life. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-07264-2. General Electrics. GEnx engine. www.geae.com/engines/ assessed on 10.06.2008 Ohno T., Toyota Production System, Productivity Press, Cambridge, MA, 1988. Roll_ Royce Aerospace Market Outlook, 2006. www.rolls-royce.com B. Flynn, R. S. (1997). World-class manufacturing project: overview and selected results. International Journal of Operations Production Management, 17 (7) , 671-685. Flynn, R. S. (1999). manufacturing: an investigation of Hayes and Wheelwrights foundation. Journal of Operations Management 17 , 249-269. Jonsson, P. (2001). Towards an holistic understanding of disruptions in Operations Management. Journal of Operations Management 18 , 701-718. Lind, J. (2001). Control in manufacturing A longitudinal case study. Management Accounting Research, 12 , 41-74. Maskell, B. (1991). Performance Measurement for Manufacturing-A Model for American Companies. Cambridge: Productivity Press. Testore, R. (1998). manufacturing demands suppiers . European Journal of Purchasing Supply Management 4 , 3-5.

Henry James’ The Golden Bowl, The American Scene, and the New York Edition :: American Scene

Henry James’ The Golden Bowl, The American Scene, and the New York Edition In the letter he wrote to Scribner's in 1905 proposing that he "furnish" each volume of his forthcoming deluxe edition with a preface, Henry James portrayed his novels and stories as disenfranchised beings patiently awaiting a "chance" for their cause to be righted. James would be their advocate and the prefaces the texts with which he would demonstrate his novels' worth (367). In this paper I will argue that the writing of The Golden Bowl and The American Scene were essential precedents and complements to this project of self-vindication. Reading The Golden Bowl through its preface shows that beneath the narratives of familial and marital relations in the novel run stories of a writer's contention with a misapprehending audience--the same struggles out of which James spun creative autobiography and a theory of fiction in the prefaces to the New York Edition. Through his indirect critique of his readership in The Golden Bowl and the fierce challenges he delivered to his compatriots in The American Scene James laid essential groundwork for the lessons in reading and creative production he would later offer in the New York Edition. Paul Armstrong has argued that James's prefaces require the same "doubled reading" his novels require, that while the reader is absorbing James's account of his writing experience and his theory of writing, the reader is also responding to James as a centering consciousness whose "interpretive attitudes . . . are as much on display and as much an object for the reader's scrutiny as the impressions of a Lambert Strether or a Maggie Verver" (128). As comparable centering consciousnesses, James the preface-writer and his heroine Maggie Verver make common assertions. Both figures demonstrate the power of the creative deed. Paralleling James's affirmations about "doing" in the preface to The Golden Bowl is Maggie's discovery in the novel of her own brilliant capacity for action. After the assignation of the Prince with Charlotte in Gloucester, Maggie begins "to doubt of her wonderful little judgement of her wonderful little world" (307). She begins to "put" things both to herself and the people around her. She contrives gestures to effect a change in her "practically unattackable" situation. Henry James’ The Golden Bowl, The American Scene, and the New York Edition :: American Scene Henry James’ The Golden Bowl, The American Scene, and the New York Edition In the letter he wrote to Scribner's in 1905 proposing that he "furnish" each volume of his forthcoming deluxe edition with a preface, Henry James portrayed his novels and stories as disenfranchised beings patiently awaiting a "chance" for their cause to be righted. James would be their advocate and the prefaces the texts with which he would demonstrate his novels' worth (367). In this paper I will argue that the writing of The Golden Bowl and The American Scene were essential precedents and complements to this project of self-vindication. Reading The Golden Bowl through its preface shows that beneath the narratives of familial and marital relations in the novel run stories of a writer's contention with a misapprehending audience--the same struggles out of which James spun creative autobiography and a theory of fiction in the prefaces to the New York Edition. Through his indirect critique of his readership in The Golden Bowl and the fierce challenges he delivered to his compatriots in The American Scene James laid essential groundwork for the lessons in reading and creative production he would later offer in the New York Edition. Paul Armstrong has argued that James's prefaces require the same "doubled reading" his novels require, that while the reader is absorbing James's account of his writing experience and his theory of writing, the reader is also responding to James as a centering consciousness whose "interpretive attitudes . . . are as much on display and as much an object for the reader's scrutiny as the impressions of a Lambert Strether or a Maggie Verver" (128). As comparable centering consciousnesses, James the preface-writer and his heroine Maggie Verver make common assertions. Both figures demonstrate the power of the creative deed. Paralleling James's affirmations about "doing" in the preface to The Golden Bowl is Maggie's discovery in the novel of her own brilliant capacity for action. After the assignation of the Prince with Charlotte in Gloucester, Maggie begins "to doubt of her wonderful little judgement of her wonderful little world" (307). She begins to "put" things both to herself and the people around her. She contrives gestures to effect a change in her "practically unattackable" situation.

Analyse the causes of the 1848 revolution in France Essay

Analyse the causes of the 1848 revolution in France. With the ascension of Louis-Phillipe to the throne in July 1830, after the abdication of Charles X he appeared to have many factors in his favour that would seem to warrant a successful monarch and long standing regime. However, after 14 years the monarch, Louis-Phillipe, felt forced into a position where he had to abdicate, why then did the regime collapse so suddenly and unexpectedly? Especially after it had overcome so many early difficulties to establish itself in the minds of the French as an acceptable form of government. I believe the answer lies in a number of factor/causes. Long Term Causes Notably, one of the greatest weaknesses of the monarchy was the fact that Louis-Phillipe could claim no right to the throne of France. The French Tradition concerning the crown was that of heredity right, and had occurred so for centuries, being based, it was claimed, on the will of God. Therefore, although disliked no one could dispute the right of the Bourbons to occupy the throne of France. Louis-Phillipe had no such divine right as there was no belief that the legitimate monarch should be replaced by one of his relatives if he became unpopular. On what basis, then, was he king? There only appear to be three basis’s for a regime; hereditary right, the will of the people or the force of arms. Louis-Phillipe fulfilled none of these criteria. Indeed, the Orleaninst Monarchy was merely a useful compromise clutched at by desperate land owners who feared for their welfare in context of the future. The only way such forms of government can survive is if they manage to continue con vincing their nation that they have the moral right to be in power and in so doing inspire confidence in their supporters. Other long-term causes of Louis-Phillipe eventual downfall can be traced to his policies, both foreign and domestic. What must be remembered is that for the previous five hundred years France had been the most powerful nation in Europe, a heroic and glorious past in which the French placed great importance in. This had ended with napoleons defeat at the hands of the fourth coalition of European powers who had felt that their safety had been placed in question. This, napoleons final defeat, had occurred fifteen years previous and sufficient time had lapsed for the French people to yearn a return to their glorious past and a reinstatement of their empire. However, Louis-Phillipe thought differently, ignoring his past (as a young man he was a refugee abroad which led him to view active/aggressive foreign policy with suspicion) and his natural caution and desire for peace, one has to take into account the fact that the other major European Powers were determined not to let France endanger the security of the other European states again. The king realized that it was likely that any provocation the Powers would attempt to impose their will upon France as they had done in 1815. He recognised the precarious position he was in therefore his highest priority was to avoid a general European war where he was sure to be opposed by Austria, Russia, Prussia and Britain. Evidence of this opinion came in the form of the Belgium question. Belgium previously of the French empire had been annexed to the Netherlands in an attempt to create a buffer to future French expansion. The Belgium’s were not happy with this situation and so rebelled. They were successful. There was general fear throughout Europe that France would then again annex Belgium, but this did not happen. France did not intervene even though Louis-Phillipe’s son was offered the crown. Instead, France worked closely with Britain to ensure the independence of Belgium. Later in Spain there was a power struggle, an area considered to be Frances sphere of influence, but again Louis-Phillipe tried to gain no unfair advantage in the area. This behaviour of the French king was abnormal in the eyes of the French and wholly disappointing as again and again he refused to gain international advantage. In the late 1830’s a foreign crisis emerged that would make the French people feel more than disappointment. The Ottoman Empire was an empire that was struggling. The only way it managed to maintain its control was by establishing local rulers who had relative freedom as long as they respected the suzerainty of the Sultan in Constantinople. However, one leader emerged, Mehemet Ali of Egypt that had almost as much power as the Sultan himself. This pleased the French as Ali was a client of theirs using a lot of their technology and intelligence. The European powers were displease with this and wanted to limit Ali’s powers. Thiers, the leading minister, began an obstructionist policy hoping that Ali would resolve matters in his own way, Thiers even implied it would be an issue that France would go to was over. Unfortunately Britain called Frances bluff as Britain and Russia forced Ali to accept their terms. Louis-Phillipe was humiliated as he wasn’t prepared to risk a war with Britain and Russia; he dismissed Thiers and had to accept national humiliation. This specific incident led to enormous displeasure and discontent among the French people. They felt that in backing down Louis-Phillipe had acted dishonourably and had humiliated the country. Furthermore, the subsequent friendship that evolved with Britain (a situation which Louis-Phillipe felt would be favourable to his position in Europe) added more salt to the wounds. France was playing a junior partner to Britain, the traditional enemy. Louis-Phillipe was in a position where he could do no right. He wasn’t in the position to adopt an aggressive foreign policy (that is aside from the fact that he didn’t want to) which disappointed his subjects and in the scenario where he did become active he adopted positions tha t led to even more humiliation than inactivity would have bestowed. Another aspect of Louis-Phillipe’s reign that could of led to his downfall can be rooted in his domestic policy. Again here inactivity was favoured by the king. Once the regime was established and certain basic rules changed to the kings liking the king’s view was that everything was working well so there was no use in tampering with it. Almost, that the system was beyond improvement. Unfortunately for the king, this was not a widely shared view. The main bone of discontent was concerning the current voting system. Many hankered for a reform especially as there was emerging a new class, a group of men who considered themselves to be part of the social elite and yet who didn’t have the right to vote. Their cause was championed by the Legislative assembly (with Thiers an ardent supporter) a situation which made life more difficult for the king and his government. Another reason for the eventual collapse of the July monarchy can be traced back to the actual person of the king. By 1843 the king had reached his 70th birthday and although fit and alert he was, decidedly old and traits that he had exhibited earlier on in life became more pronounced. His talkativeness became something to be endured, he avoided making decisions altogether being satisfied with the current situation, His public appearances became less which meant he couldn’t create and maintain personal loyalties, significantly he stopped reviewing the National Guard in 1840, what Louis-Phillipe couldn’t see was that he was leaving a vacuum that could easily be filled be someone else on the occasion of a crisis. However these weren’t his only problems for the king one of his other problems was that he failed to play the part of the grand and great king that was traditional in France. He dull and boring, to be honest, he lived like a bourgeoisie merchant doing much for himself, wandering through Paris unattended; he was not the inaccessible monarch of previously. He looked and dressed in an undistinguished manner. This led to the claim that the king was insufficiently different from the ordinary man to be worth having as king. Short Term Causes One of the major problems that surrounded the Revolution of 1848 was the current economic depression. Due to Industrial Revolution Paris had grown considerably which, even when the economy was healthy, created problems of poverty and poor living conditions. By 1846 there was widespread unemployment; tens of thousands of people were living in poverty or near starving. Also, around the same time a social conscience had begun to develop among the upper classes and the opinion was that something must be done. The king responded with his usual stoicism and stubbornness in that he felt that nothing could be done. This isolated some of his natural supporters and disillusioned those who thought that the July monarchy would be a flexible and responsive regime. There were many opponents of Guizot in Parliament, many of whom wanted to see him ousted form power. (NB. They wanted to achieve power for themselves not overthrow the king) One way which the felt effective was the organization of banquets to champion the cause of electoral reform. They arranged a series of local meeting to whip up popular support. Instead the reformers lost control as they were taken over by extreme republicans who desired the overthrowing of the regime. Consequently the meeting were banned and made illegal. There was one due to take place in Paris on 22 February 1848 but subsequently it was illegal. A march took its place. When Louis-Phillipe then called on the National Guard he recognized their reluctance and realized he judged the general mood wrongly. He lost his nerve. He dismissed Guizot in order to mollify the opposition but this instead gave hope to the agitators. The next day troops then fired on a good natured crowd killing 80. The Republicans used this to whip up anger and mobilize a mob in Paris. On 24 February 1848 Louis-Phillipe abdicated. In a situation as complex as that of the Revolution of 1848 with so many interdependent causes it is foolish to attempt to satisfy such a wide ranging issue with one simple answer. There was a fundamental weakness in the July Monarchy in that it seemed to have no right to the throne what was unfortunate for Louis-Phillipe was that there were already alternative forms of government available if the current one became unpopular. Furthermore, his changing personality was leaving a vacuum that could easily be filled be someone else on the occasion of a crisis. These both led to the king’s support being considerable diminished at a time when it was most need. Moreover The king’s lifestyle contributed to the widespread feeling that the July monarchy had outlived its usefulness: it was not that Louis-Phillipe’s lifestyle and personality turned friends into enemies; rather, they contributed to the slump n moral which left the way open to those who passionately wanted change. As well as this his both unsuccessful domestic and foreign led to a more hostile general feeling towards the king as well as contributing to the internal upheaval that eventually led to the kings unseating. In the immediate events leading to the king’s abdication Louis-Phillipe’s â€Å"senile imbecility† (A. de Tocqueville) had a large part to play. His loss of nerve lost many of his last supporters, he failed to stand firm and weather a modest storm. His handling of the situation and especially his failure to call the army which might well have saved him eventually led to his downfall. He allowed a small molehill to become a mountain for no strong reason. It is difficult to assess which of these factors played the greatest role, for, all of the long term factors appear of equal importance, on a par also with the backdrop of economic depression and social consciousness that was concurrent at the time however the questions still remains whether these on their own would have been enough to make a successful revolution and if whether the king had acted correctly and strongly, he would not have fallen It seems it was the kings inactivity that pervaded every part of his professional and personal life (foreign and domestic policy, personality and lifestyle and ultimately in the last days leading up to his abdication) that eventually l ed to his downfall. (Felt that this wasn’t a satisfactory conclusion, found it hard to articulate here, how could I improve it, there seemed to be so many possibilities) Use ready made alternative forms of govment in conclusion to show why fist point was important. Domestic policy – if their had been an electorate reform the regime would have won the cative support of the ‘new group’ Personality- he was lifestyle- they Hort term- Louis-Phillipes lack of stubbornessdismayed his supporters who say this as an indication that the end was near and nobody wants to support a lost acuse . Louis-Phillipe was still in the position to use the army and stand strong but the lack of support shown by the National Guard seemed to have b

Freedom †Short Story from Tkam After Tom Robinson’s Trial Essay

As I sat outside watching the other inmates, a gentle breeze caressed my face, providing relief from the sun’s hot rays. I was used to the heat, but maybe it was the circumstances that I was in that made it unbearable. I could see that my fellow inmates felt the same as they lazed about, their skin glistening with sweat, their shirts clinging to their backs. ‘Guilty until proven innocent’ rang angrily in my mind when I saw the number of Negroes compared to white people incarcerated. The amount of court cases, as well as families, jobs and lives, lost due to our colour was innumerable. Half of us didn’t even commit a crime worth being sent to jail for, but here we are! I wiped my forehead with an already sticky hand and surveyed my surroundings in an effort to shake off the contemptuous thought. The dirt oval consisted of some simple worn out exercising equipment, their hinges squeaking in protest with very movement; a few withering trees dying in the midday heat, two lookouts sitting on the inside of the perimeter where the prison guards patrolled the prisoners and a barbed wire fence which enclosed the space in an ominous hug. I thought pensively about my situation as I kicked the dusty ground vehemently, scuffing my already torn prison boots in the process. The rising hopelessness that I had kept bottled up throughout the court case, believing that with Mr Finch on my side I would definitely be acquitted, quickly vanished, much like the specks of dirt that I had kicked up had disappeared, carried away with the breeze of reality. I observed the bluejays on the nearby trees, warbling their little hearts out with not a care in the world, unaware of the injustice that had occurred. I was being punished for a crime that I had not committed, accused by a woman whom I have assisted for nigh a year! The court case didn’t just affect me – it affected my family as well and I don’t want them to suffer because of it. What will they do? How will Helen watch the chillun’ and work? They don’t deserve this! My family needs me. It was already a struggle to bring food to the table everyday, and now with most of our income ripped away, I can’t bring myself to fantasise what my family would have to suffer. Would Helen have to starve to keep the chillun’ physically satisfied? I’ve prayed for them every night confined in the dungeon, praying that God would help them through this adversity. Ms Mayella obviously doesn’t realise that her decision to accuse me affects my family just as much as it affects me. She used the only ticket that would guarantee her victory over the court case, which would prove her innocent from the despicable crime that she had committed – her race. The inequity displayed towards Negroes always perplexed me. We came from the same ancestors, Adam and Eve, but somehow, white people were born having more rights than others, perceived as superior to others, more moral than others. I should’ve conceded that I was a black man living in a white man’s world, and no matter what I did to prove myself innocent, there would be no justice for me. I hate how all white people acrimoniously conclude that all Negroes lie, all Negroes are basically immoral beings and all Negroes aren’t to be trusted around women, as Mr Finch mentioned. How can people be so shallow, so malevolent and so blind? They’re living a lie! How dare America call themselves a democracy when they can’t even treat their own people equally, lowering our rights, our standards and our lives! The act of incarcerating all black people for almost everything that we do is a paradox to their self-proclaimed government. It is overdue to set things straight, but there is no better time than now to change the way Negroes are treated. I am not going to wait for someone else to take justice, as God knows when that is going to come. Justice is in my hands. The only possible way that I can achieve this is to run. They’re going to kill me nonetheless so I’m already a dead man walking, but I’m not dying knowing that I just sat there letting them persecute me while knowing that I did nothing to prevent this precedent from occurring again to other Negro families. I must run. I quickly rose from the bench which I was seated on and began jogging the perimeter of the oval, keen to find an escape route to freedom. I took a quick glance at the patrollers- they were watching us inattentively, their faces impassive and eyes glazed over, contenting themselves in their current daydreams. I scrutinized the fence for any weakness. There were several places where the fence sagged, but all seemed intact. I searched for other possible escape routes, my eyes slowly taking in every detail of the oval, but when failing to find any, I approached an oak tree to ponder over my next move, when flashbacks of my family and previous life overwhelmed me. There were many oak trees in my life – in my backyard, on the sidewalk, at work – but I never knew until now that they were so prominent in my life. There were oak trees that my children loved to climb on, loved to hide in, loved to have mini adventures in. There were oak trees that I watched from my kitchen window as their branches were softly tickled by the wind, which Helen used to sit under and pensively think about life’s uncertainties, which grew and thrived with my family. There were oak trees which provided me a job, which I spent countless hours climbing up and down laboriously picking acorns, which earned me money to support my family. My heart ached with sadness when I thought back to those wonderful memories, making me miss my family even more than I originally did. Helen would probably be working strenuously to support the children now without my help. What this event has put my family through is unthinkable. I can’t prevent what I am currently putting them through, but they must understand that if I do no try to get free I will be killed nonetheless. Everyone deserves to have equal rights, and I am going to be the person bringing justice. I am not going home after my jail sentence knowing that I did nothing to prevent further injustice from occurring to thousands of other Negroes. I want to be able to tell my chillun’ that I didn’t just sit there being persecuted, allowing other Negroes to be persecuted as well, as the pain that discrimination puts us through throughout our lives is unbearable. I want to be a role model for them; to be an example for fighting for what is right. Even though doing so may be dangerous and may lead to death, bringing justice to every race is worth losing a life for. In a sudden burst of adrenaline and surprising confidence I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me to the barbed wire fence and began climbing. I almost leaped backwards in surprise as my bare skin came into contact with the burning metal that had been basking in the sun all day, but my mind was set on my goal, and so I ignored the acrid pain and scaled the fence. Consecutively, shouts of surprise and disbelief spread through the prisoners, and, as if my actions brought them back to life, the angry voices of the prison guards soon followed. Hollering warnings and portentous threats, the patrollers showed no evidence that a few seconds ago they were practically lifeless, but their efforts were wasted as it proved completely futile. With my prior experience climbing trees for Mr Deas, I quickly adapted to my situation and climbed, my hand and feet working simultaneously to make up for my deprivation. My eyes darted to elusive spaces between the barbs and my hand quickly followed suit, with my legs climbing after them. The barbs clung and sliced at my arms and clothes as the patrollers’ threats became more ominous, their cries climbing to a climatic forte, ineffective at impeding my pilgrimage. The word justice was repeated over and over in my mind, instilling a new hope in me, encouraging me to continue climbing. This failed when a gunshot shattered my tranquillity. A bolt of pure panic shot through me, causing my heart to thrash against my ribs as I realised the severity of my situation. I lost my footing, dangling in mid-air for a second, but immediately found another foothold and scaled the fence even faster than before. Seeing that the gunshot failed to stop me, several more shots were fired into the air, counterproductive as it only made me move twice as fast. ‘Quicker! Quicker! ’ my body seemed to holler at me, dissatisfied with the speed that I was travelling. My stomach started to twist with despair, my newfound hope abandoning me, slowly overtaken by doubt – then a bullet whistled past my ear inches from my face. My hand began shaking uncontrollably from pure fear. My lungs were screaming for air, the spikes were screaming for blood, but my scream for justice overpowered them all. More deathly bullets whistled past, when one successfully tore through my leg. An explosion of pain raked my leg, and immediately I felt warm blood gush out of my pulsing wound. I was almost over the fence though! Clenching my teeth, I reached between the razor wire. The screams and hollering of the prisoners were vociferous, but nothing mattered as the second bullet hit my crippled shoulder. It immediately burst into flames as I started sweating uncontrollably, the back of my shirt soaked with blood, clinging to me. In a last ditch effort, I hauled myself between the razor wire to the other side of the fence leading to freedom. A third bullet tore through my thigh, sending me rolling to the ground in a bloodied heap while other bullets whizzed past and wounded me. The shrill roar in my ears gradually ceased to a dull hum, and dizzying black splotches began crowding my vision. The last thought that left my mind was: Freedom.

Literature Research Paper Writing A Complete Guide

Literature Research Paper Writing A Complete Guide All literature assignments can be roughly subdivided into research and non-research papers; however, many students seem to have trouble fully understanding the difference between them, so let’s clarify things a bit. The scope of a non-research paper is limited to the text it deals with – it is all about this text, your writing abilities and your skills as the reader of the said text. Depending on how well you manage to analyze it, how well you are acquainted with literary theory, other works of the same author and the authors of the same period and so on, you will write a better or worse paper. A research paper includes all this, but also much more. It covers all the discussions held about the text in question ever since it was written and many things that may not seem to be immediately relevant. In a sense, it is your contribution to a conversation between scholars that may have started long before you were born and won’t be over for centuries to come. You are not just the reader of the text, but also its historian, you study it not in isolation but in connection with other texts, historical period it was written it, the entire body of research about it and so on. This boils down to the following: in order to write a research paper about a work of literature you have to study not just the text but also books and articles by many other people, and be ready for your own paper to be read and criticized by others. The very nature of an academic research paper presupposes it being reviewed by peers, so you should write it while keeping in mind potential counter-arguments and objections. This literature research paper guide will help you learn how to do it. Stage 1: Choose a Topic One of the primary purposes of literature research papers is to teach you how to think independently and carry out your own research as a part of scholarly community. As a result, you will usually not be limited in your freedom of choice when it comes to selecting topics. Even if the assignment seems to be pretty rigid to begin with, usually you can discuss it with your instructor and arrange for something a bit more convenient. Here are some useful principles you should follow when making your choice: Choose something you know. By selecting a text you are well familiar with you already eliminate a huge part of work you would otherwise have to do. It is even better if the text in question is not among those usually chosen for analysis. For example, if you happen to have read and liked Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, you can safely choose it as the basis of your research paper. The topic won’t be overloaded by existing research that will make it hard for you to write anything without unintentionally plagiarizing somebody’s work, but at the same time there will be just enough research to build your argument on. The same goes for any other less mainstream book; Once you’ve defined the general direction of your research, refine and narrow it down. On university level, you cannot merely discuss a work of literature in general – it would be more of a book review than a research paper. You should select an aspect of this work and dig deep into it, looking for support for your point of view among other researchers and finding proof both in the text itself and outside it; Turn your topic into a question – it doesn’t necessarily have to be the title of your work, you do it for your own sake. If there is no implied question in your topic, there is nothing to write about. For example, if the topic of your research paper is the theme of orphancy in the works by Charles Dickens, the question you imply to be answering may be â€Å"What does Dickens’ attention to orphancy stem from†? You should end up with a topic that has a number of specific characteristics: It isn’t too broad – you should concentrate your attention on a narrow area to be able to say something new about it; It isn’t too narrow – otherwise you won’t have much room for maneuver; It should have an existing body of literature covering it – all research papers exist only in connection with other peer-reviewed works. You cannot present viable academic argument without backing it up with existing research – which means that you have to take care of finding information sources even before you start writing. Here are some examples that can help you get the right idea: Robert Lewis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as an Allegory of a Man’s Struggle to Contain Primal Instincts; Reflection of 18th Century England in Johnathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels; The Idea of Freedom in the Poems by Lord Byron; The Concept of Struggle for Survival in the Works by Jack London; The Role of George Orwell’s 1984 in the Creation of Modern Dystopian Literature. Stage 2: Thesis Statement Your thesis statement contains the general point of your paper confined in a single sentence. Sometimes two sentences, but if you need more space to give the reader the idea of what is most important in your research paper, you probably spread yourself too thin and have to make your writing more focused. Make sure you understand that you not just state the topic of your paper here, as thesis statement is quite different from it. A topic is the area you research, it is what you study, there may be no two minds about what you write here. A thesis statement states what you try to prove in your writing. For example, The Image of a Dystopian Society in George Orwell’s 1984 is a topic. However, a thesis statement for the paper with such topic would be â€Å"George Orwell’s 1984 lies at the foundation of the entire modern genre of dystopian science fiction and has a greater influence on it than any other single work†. When writing your thesis statement, make sure to keep to these ideals: Brevity – express your main idea in as few words as possible; Clearness – don’t leave any ambiguity; Relevance – don’t go into unnecessary detail. If something isn’t absolutely necessary to drive your point across, get rid of it. Stage 3: Sources Any literature research paper is based on two types of sources: your primary text (the one your paper is about) and secondary sources of information (critical works, research papers from peer-reviewed journals, books and so on). The primary text you have in front of you from the very beginning, and a significant portion of your quotations and references should come from it. As for secondary sources, you should find them – and the best way to do so is to use tools specifically designed for that purpose. Academic search engines like Google Scholar, Microsoft Academic Search, EBSCO, JSTOR and many others can be of enormous help, especially if you don’t know much about the topic of your research. They not only help you find dozens of relevant sources of information on your chosen topic in a matter of minutes, but also provide all the data necessary to define their relative value (where they have been published, how many times they have been referred to in other peer-reviewed papers, have their authors written other works on similar topics and so on). Before choosing any work as a source, go through the following checklist: Who is its author? Is he an expert on the text in question? Has he written other works on similar topics before or since? Is this article related in any way to other works by the same author? Is the author biased? Are there any signs of an agenda in his writing (overly emotional language, mishandling or concealment of facts, obvious confirmation bias? What is the purpose of the article – is it aimed to provide information or to convince the reader of something? Where was the source published? Does the publisher have any sponsors of affiliations that may influence its objectivity? Does the publisher take responsibility for all the content it publishes? How reliable is the information presented in the source? Does the author provide enough viable evidence to back up his claims? Can these claims be verified? What are the sources the author refers to? Are they trustworthy? What is the publication date? Does the source contain up-to-date information? Was there any other relevant researched published since then that may influence the credibility of the source? Stage 4: Outline Simply put, an outline is a plan of your paper. How you write it fully depends on your preferences: it may be as detailed or as superficial as you are comfortable with. You may do with a few words covering the most important points of every segment or write detailed subplans for each stage of your paper. Just make sure you write down everything you are going to need so that you don’t forget anything when the time comes. Stage 5: Writing How you write is a matter of your style and your approach to work, but some principles are universal and should be followed by all students. Never ever resort to plagiarism. Plagiarism is any use of another writer’s work without acknowledgement, passing it as your own. It has always been a bad idea, but taking into account how easy it is today to run a plagiarism check on any paper, it is suicidal. Being caught plagiarizing can even lead to your expulsion, so make sure you don’t do it accidentally – for example, by forgetting to put a phrase into brackets or to mention the source; Combine long and short sentences. One can sometimes hear a recommendation to keep all sentences about the same length (usually 20 to 30 words), but it makes your writing look monotonous and repetitive even if it isn’t. So try to vary sentence length, using a few shorter sentences for every longer one; Limit yourself to one point or idea per paragraph. Every paragraph should more or less follow the same structure: introduction of a point, one or more pieces of evidence to back it up, transitional phrase to lead up to the next paragraph; Be ready to write more than one draft of your paper. Sometimes mistakes become obvious only after you’ve written the better part of your assignment, and sometimes they are serious enough to require a full rewrite of at least some parts of a paper. Stage 6: Revision and Proofreading Many students believe that once the last line is written, their work is finished; or at least that they’ve done with the biggest part of their assignment. However, to write an outstanding research paper, you should pay as much attention to revision and proofreading as you did to the rest of your work combined – it is the part of your job that can make or break you. Give yourself some time for the paper to settle down in your mind before you start proofreading. Then go over it with this checklist in hand: Cover sheet – is it formatted correctly? Introduction – is it interesting enough to attract and keep the reader’s attention? Conclusion – does it sum up all the points mentioned in the body paragraphs? Do you present all your points clearly in the body paragraphs? Are your arguments presented in a logical sequence? Do you support all your points with viable evidence? Do you meticulously cite all the sources, even the ones you don’t cite directly? Does your paper read clearly for its entire length? Are there proper transitions between paragraphs and larger parts? Is grammar and syntax in order? Does your literature research paper conform to the word limit? If your paper holds up under the barrage of such questions, you may be reasonably sure that it doesn’t need significant changes. However, it may be a good idea to ask somebody else to read it and give their independent opinion. We hope that the next time you have to write a literature research paper you will be better equipped thanks to these literature research paper writing tips – make sure to follow them closely!

Movie Mississippi Masala Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mississippi Masala - Movie Review Example Conflicts between the races arise mainly due to ignorance, prejudice and stereotyping which leads to negative ideas and attitudes arising among the groups when relating to each other. Economic pressures and increasing competition for limited numbers of jobs, housing and schools have forced the races into conflict. Added to economic pressures are social conflicts arising from differences in religion, traditional values and a history of oppression of one race by another in different situations. The fear of the unknown and unfamiliar leads to avoidance, hostility, overt violence and a desire to destroy whatever is different from oneself. The film ‘Mississippi Masala’ explores the serious theme of interracial conflict and possible resolutions to these conflicts. In spite of the topic, it is a spicy, romantic, passionate, irreverent, funny and upbeat film which avoids racial stereotyping and depicts its characters as natural and human. The film has a liberal viewpoint in that it shows Demetrius, the Black American Name 2 hero and Mina, the Asian heroine in a positive relationship with believable underpinnings.

Reseach methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Reseach methods - Essay Example The effect of this is that the focus of the research moves from theory to data. The deductive approach is also a descriptive approach in that it describes facts and illustrates theories. Deductive research is often applied to questionnaires and the collection of quantitative data which addresses the hypothesis. There are several advantages to deductive reasoning. It is a relatively simply research method to standardise, as it is a highly structured approach based on scientific principles. Furthermore the structured approach means that the researcher does not necessarily need to be highly knowledgeable about the research topic. Most managers are familiar with the deductive approach and therefore are much more likely to put faith in conclusions that are made using it. In addition it is a quick method of gaining data, as the time-consuming aspects of this type of research are mainly in the set-up and data collection phases. This also means that the amount of time needed to invest in the research can be scheduled and predicted relatively easily. All of these things make deductive research low risk in comparison to inductive research. There are also a number of concerns with this approach. Firstly it is important that causal relationships between all variables in the research are explained and defined. Selecting samples of sufficient size is a crucial factor in determining the success of this type of research. The sample must be large enough to generate accurate conclusions that are reliable in all applications of the data. A significant issue with deductive research is in clearly defining abstract concepts. Taking the example of employee morale, it must be defined in terms of level of satisfaction of employees, which is a personal concept and may mean different things to different people. Conducting this type of research means that concepts must be clearly defined to enable accurate responses from research subjects. Lastly, controls must be applied to ensure the validity of the data gained from the research. If the research was in defining levels of employee satisfaction in a particular department, reasons for h igh or low employee moral must be established. For example, the data taken from employees may indicate a relationship between workload and employee salary. This data can then be used to refine the hypothesis of a relationship between workload, employee salary, and morale, and then collect new data for analysis. This may include input from different departments, both to increase sample size and to note the effects of varying workloads or salaries in different departments. This ensures the accuracy of the hypothesis because it takes into account variation of these aspects in different departments. A larger sample size allows further refinement of the hypothesis - for example it may narrow down the hypothesis to focus on young employees, and allow the researcher to pinpoint different effects of low or high morale, such as absenteeism. In this way, an initial hypothesis focusing simply on employee morale can be progressively refined to pinpoint causal relationships that become evident a s the focus of the research narrows. One of the main disadvantages of this type of research is that it relies on subjects to fill and return questionnaires, which may become more difficult to do as sample size