English 2 – Literary Response

My Singular Irene Literature is, by my understanding, a means to critic society and individuals or the way the world is behaving. Writers of Literature write literature to provide a new way of seeing things that might be different from our point of view. In other words, writers use tools of literature story like: symbolism, point of view to help them is making the literature story to be more exciting and clear to us, the reader. The author helps us to see the frailty or other bad deeds and good things about this life in this world as we seldom see those things with our own eyes. A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings and My Singular Irene is a very good example for this literature reading, because it is very rich in literature concept and devices, like: symbolism or point of view. The main character in this story is said to be alienated, repressed and silenced in the story. I will prove this statement by retelling the main point on the story that supports this statement. A very old man refers to an old angel that is cast ashore into earth because of inability to keep up with the heavy rain. e can see that the angel is alienated from examples that shown this statement, such as : †They found the whole neighborhood in front of the chicken coop having fun with the angel, without the slightest reference, tossing him things to eat through the openings in the wire as if he weren’t a supernatural creature but a circus animal. †(Gabriel Garcia Marquez 36). the angel is alienated because It is treated differently from the others. The others are having f un with the angel rather than socializing with the angel. The angel is also repressed and silenced. There is a quotation that shows this statement: â€Å"Pelayo watch over him all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with his Bailiff’s club, and before going to bed he dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop. †(Gabriel Garcia- Marquez 36). From this statement, we can derive that the angel is â€Å"caged† from it’s freedom and its freedom is repressed by the caged that Pelayo given it, thus the angel is silenced from the freedom. My Singular Irene is also a good example for this literature reading. Irene is reputed to be alienated is true in this story. Irene is treated differently from other people. From the story we know that Ilene’s husband( the first person view in the story) isolated Irene from the outside world by buying Irene very expensive â€Å"stuff† to lure Irene to stay in the house isolated from the outside world. Irene is also axiomatic to be repressed and silenced. We know from the story that Irene is considered as a â€Å"thing† to her husband, because her husband wants Irene to act like he wants. So, in order to satisfy his ego, Irene is inhibited and muted by many ways, like: not allowing Irene to go to the outside world, forbidding visitors to meet Irene. Irene too, like the Angel is constrained from freedom. A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings and My Singular Irene are an example of story that has a symbol of contemporary alienation and triumph over it. First, I am going to express about A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings. The angel in the story is alienated or make indifferent. It is derived from the behavior of the people that found the angel. It is treated like mere goods than divine figure. So, it is true that it is a contemporary alienation. Later in the story, we know that the angel has his most precious tool that can bring him back to his divine status. That tool is its wings, when its wings grows back, he immediately leaped up to the sky and clapped its wings and fly to the horizon of freedom. The angel is reputed to be a triumph over alienation. Second, My Singular Irene is also a symbol of alienation. Irene is also made hostile like the angel. She is isolated or â€Å"caged† by her husband; there is an interesting point in this story in my point of view. To me, Irene seemed to be speechless or not a living thing. The author writes the story in such a way that us, readers, grabs the alienation theme in the story. Irene is also considered as a triumph over alienation. There is a quotation from the story: Horrifying! Irene changed into a horrendous butterfly! I stood up and fell again, powerless now. She would leave me; she would take flight and leave me. The gigantic Irene Butterfly smiled at me, diminished, and disappeared with the others. I am at the site of the events, waiting for Irene’s return. She has no return. She cannot deny me the peace that her company always offered me. (AlmAnzar, JosE AlcAntara 45) From this quotation, I interpret it that Irene’s freedom does also mean she has a higher status in the relationship with her husband now. What I meant by higher status of relationship is the one that always try to get the relationship going is the one that has a lower status, in this case, her husband. Irene’s triumph over alienation is expressed by the author of Irene transformation into the most beautiful butterfly that can fly anywhere it wants. It is very interesting that these two stories have a similar thing. They both define freedom by flying leaving the thing that binds their way to freedom. The following paragraph below tells a story about human needs for personal freedom and community. There is certainly no argument in this world that can be used to defy human needs for socializing and personal freedom. Human always seek out a way to grab that freedom. Kingdom falls, kingdom rises, Leader of a faction dies, and assassin was born. All of these examples are made because of the need to obtain and maintain personal freedom and the ability to communicate freely with communities of choice. There is an interesting story below those talks about human’s desire for personal liberty. This story is about the struggle of African-American communities in the United States to obtain their right of personal freedom and human needs for sociality. United States also known as the land of the free and the brave has been well known for its freedom. It has a lot to offer, such as: the freedom of speech, the right to work, etc. But, in contrast to all of those things, there is a little dispute inside this great country in the era of slavery. African American is the target for this matter. African American arrived in the United States as Indentured Servants via Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. They could earn their so called â€Å"personal freedom† by working as slave to their chosen master. As time goes by, the other majority in the United States made a conduct for slaves called â€Å"Slaves Codes†. This Slave Codes constrained African American in the Unites States from their liberty. They did fight for it until the Majority pushes another harsh rule for any slaves that disobey its masters. From this point, we can see human’s needs for personal freedom. Human fights for freedom risking everything they had, like: their lives, treasure, relatives. There is also a story of a president that fight for part of his citizen’s needs for personal freedom, his name was Abraham Lincoln. He was a farmer boy that born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. His parents were both born in Virginia. Abraham was well known for his strength and cleverness in farming skills. In not so long time he began to be very famous in the community because of his skills in socializing. Not so long after that, he became the president of the United States. He saw this great calamity of slavery and intends to abolish this calamity for good. To pursue this personal freedom, Abraham had gone through a lot of obstacles from his own family until his own citizen in the south. Alas, not so long a civil war broke out between the north and the south. But, the good always wins; Abraham with the North wins the Civil War by diplomacy. And thus the period of reconstruction began. Unfortunately Abraham was killed by an assassin in April 14, 1865; Lincoln was killed at Ford's Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth. This story has greatly described to us the importance of human need for community and personal freedom. In conclusion, these two stories, My Singular Irene and A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, tell us about the importance of personal freedom and need of interaction with other people. They also told us, no matter how hard human is pushed to abandoned their personal freedom; human always emerges to fight their way to obtain freedom even though they have to put their lives on the line to achieve their goal, personal freedom.

Consolidated Life Case-Business Ethics Essay

Consolidated life is a prestigious insurance company however, due to the nature of the establishment the duties required by the worker neither required minimal knowledge nor did you have to have a high level education in order to obtain a position at the company. Mr. Mike Wilson however, obtained a business degree in administration. He was hired by Consolidated Life as simply as you can put a clerical worker. He worked in the policy issue department which main duties included processing or in taking clients orders for insurance, customer service, and client services. One would say that working for them; your performance required little to no creativity. It was the same day-to-day work load. Because it required so little creativity, daily routines were repetitive and can be done basically, with your hands â€Å"tied to you back†. Mike Wilson demonstrated how an effective a â€Å"leader† can be in the workforce rather than just a â€Å"manager† by title. He portrayed in existence of â€Å"high fidelity† which is the best experience you can have in a workplace. In the book Trade Off, by Author Kevin Maney, the word fidelity deals with â€Å"the total experience of something† (Maney, 2009). The author also says that â€Å"aura† can also provides an advantage to fidelity. With that being said Mr. Wilson influenced his co-workers with providing them with incentives and rewards in which they can gain a reward at the end of the task but most importantly he provided the right tools and motivations in order for his employees to work in a positive mind frame. This created a system of mutual bipartisanship between supervisor and employee. Model: based on the â€Å"Organizational Model Behavior† Mike’s drive and motivation can be comparable to a person with â€Å"theory y† attributes. The â€Å"theory Y† concept displays how an employee’s work is â€Å"as natural as play†. Also a person with this characteristic has a huge sense of self-direction and self-control. Mr. Wilson showed this by cultivating a modern management technique that motivated its workers rather than coerced them which a person who you can place in this. Whereas, a person with the characteristics of â€Å"theory x† carries the opposite attractions. The individual is not seen as enthusiastic about their job. They are mainly threatened or told â€Å"do it or else† and as stated before, lack the ability and drive to overachieve. They usually follow the motto, overpromise-under deliver. Mikes performance ultimately won him a promotion working in the supervisory assignment area. He won this promotion just six weeks after promise. Mike brought a sense of modern culture although it was seen as â€Å"unorthodox† or non-traditional. When comparing the delegation of authority in the levels of management the organization structure clearly shows that the establishment followed an â€Å"authority† oriented program in which Presidents are first to make decisions for the overall â€Å"vision† for the company in which it then trickles down to the VP who implements the President’s strategy by orchestrating a staff of supervisors to oversee the execution. Situation: There seems to be a drastic change to the division in which Mike supervised some time ago. When Mike realized his unhappiness at his new division he sought a remedy for disaster by returning to his old division forcing him under new terms and most importantly, a new boss. The performance value of his once â€Å"over exceeding† staff was now dwindled and unmotivated. The new way in which they worked became stricter and more inflexible. It was stale and there was no aura of high fidelity being promoted. Problems: The problem of this case has to do with mis-delegation of roles and mis-clarification for all parties. Not only that, the fact is the company as a whole has not identified its mission statement for their employees. With that being said the transition from the time Mike left became a tragedy. As stated before, the culture of the environment was slated after Mike left. It became from being a â€Å"collegial† environment to an â€Å"autocratic† environment once new vice presidentJack Greely took over. Not only did he change the environment of the company, he basically dismantled the structure and rebuilt it based on his power. Until Mike was promoted the managerial style approach was not identified and supervisors, at this early time wanted a change and that’s why Mike was chosen to become supervisor. However, when Jack took Mike’s former supervisor’s place, the organization became, â€Å"autocratic†. An autocratic person can be defined as an employee that is dependent tot tally on a supervisor. This person has no other desire than to do what is only required out of the task and only the minimum. Usually in an autocratic setting the boss expects pure obedience from their employee’s and rely straight on authority from â€Å"higher up’s† with no regard to any self-drive for themselves and lacks the qualities and abilities to take on initiatives and providing an entrepreneurial attitude about themselves. This can be explained by using the Abraham Maslow’s Theory found in an essay article written by Janet Simmons, Donald Irvin, and Beverly Drinnien which it states he says accordingly â€Å"that the only reason that people would not move well in direction of self-actualization is because of hindrances placed in their way by society† (Janet A. Simons, 1987). Also saying â€Å"We must see that the person’s basic needs are satisfied. This includes safety, belongingness, and esteem needs† (Janet A. Simons, 1987)A person in the Consolidated Life organization that can be also skewed towards the â€Å"autocratic† style is Mr. Rick Belkner. Mike’s former boss. This, for lack of a better term, lazy supervisor (whom he was Mike’s supervisor initially) illustrated as a person who rather do â€Å"crossword puzzles† during his work shift then to lead by example, what a competent Vice President of their division; shy 40,000 of a six-figure salary. The point was clearly made by Mr. Greely when he assumed that Mike’s management style would still be undermined no matter how good of his performance. He even went to the extent of assuring that Mr. Wilson will fail no matter how â€Å"high† you move up in the establishment. It is almost agreeable to say that Mr. Speely’s choose of words were not only rude but shows a poor and ineffective leader. Mr. Greely does not seem to be results-driven but ego-driven as his defense for Mike’s work style was inarguable and measured his own assumption to Mike’s performance rather than just judging an employee on what he does best, his/her performance. Reading how Mike handled it; amazingly enough. In the chart featured on page-You can see simple comparing of the two different types of behavioral patterns by identifying the qualities, organizational and environmental forces that are represented by the 2 behavior patterns. You will see the differences between a workers operating in an autocratic setting versus a person who operates under the collegial or supportive setting(s). By identifying the contrast you are able to see what kind of modifications or structures that would have to be put in place based on a employee’s attitude. The attitude in which comes from probably stems from personal goal, motivations, or self desires a person may have in their work space. Some individuals don’t possess the willingness to achieve and be a leader. Some individual are quite happy with just being an average worker and moving up in the â€Å"corporate† latter is something that does not motivate them. Autocratic Environment Vs. Collegial /System Environment Base Questions for Case 1. Describe ALL the factors that contributed to Mike’s lack of promotion at the end. Was his lack of promotion fair? When Mike left the division, he left the process in which he created, to be altered by the new president upon his departure. The flexible leadership that led to the team success came to a halt when divisional vice president, Jack Greely; who’s reputation was described as â€Å"tough but fair†. Mike accepted the position at the old division again without really investigating the provisions in which he was now to work under. He loss total control when he noticed that co-workers were actually more inclined to follow Mr. Greely’s direction because the employees knew the order of hierarchy and knew the consequences of action should one follow anyone’s demands except for Mr. Greely’s. 2. Using your knowledge of culture, explain in detail Consolidated Life’s culture when Mike was first hired and then when he returned. There was a transition in the organization which proved to have opportunities due to the position void. Such example shows that Mike (when he was first hired by Consolidated Life) he was promoted to his position because of the opportunities of change. Mike’s style was not really favored by his â€Å"higher-ups† but because he manages to increase workflow and reduce errors, which created more performance his flexible style was overlook which sends a sign of â€Å"inconsistency†. If you are going to allow a manager to take over the project then let them take over. As long as they don’t compromise the integrity of the company or do anything illegal. 3. What actions could Consolidated Life have taken to prevent Mike’s problems? There should have been more flexibility granted for Mike to effectively coordinate his team. Mr. Wilson’s track record clearly shows that as a supervisor he is competent to make educated decisions and lead a staff with ease. An employee is always happy when they are not pressured nor stressed. Most important of all, when a leader shows reciprocity, more than likely there would be a win-win. For Example, Mike’s strategy to reward his co-workers in exchange for hard work showed the worker was not working out of vain and in fact he/she was being acknowledged and rewarded for the hard efforts being put forth. 4. Who do you think was at fault for Mike’s problems, Mike or his supervisors (e. g. , Jack) or others? Completely justify your opinion. The fault of Mike problems was his free spirited style which usually offends conservatives. Jack implemented a â€Å"corporate† style setting upon Mike’s return.

Walt Disney: a Cultural Transformation

â€Å"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. † Walt Disney believed in this passionately. This is one of the many reasons Walt Disney accomplished so many things in his lifetime. With hard work and a great imagination you can truly do anything just as Walt Disney did. Even today Walt Disney’s company is extremely successful. All of the different things that Walt Disney and his company have done have contributed to the world’s popular culture. Walt Disney was born on December 5th, 1901. His parents were Elias and Flora Disney. Walt had a good childhood although it is said that his father had a bad temper that at times he could not control. Walt started to become interested in acting and drawing at a young age. At school, instead of focusing on his work, he would draw endlessly. Among his classmates he was known as Walt Disney, the artist. In 1917 Walt attended the Chicago Art Institute where he gained more experience. He dropped out of school in an attempt to join the army but was too young. Instead of the army, Walt joined the Red Cross where he drove an ambulance for a year. In 1919, Walt moved back to Chicago and started drawing for a living. After a couple fail attempts he and his brother were able to open Disney Brothers Studios. In 1927, Walt had created Oswald the lucky rabbit. Oswald turned out to be a huge success but Walt was betrayed. Universal pictures bought out Walt’s staff and he lost all rights to the character. Walt was desperate to create another successful character like Oswald. In 1928, Walt and his small circle of associates came up with a mouse character. The new character was named Mickey Mouse. At the time they didn’t know how much this little mouse would impact America. Mickey Mouse hit stardom when Steamboat Willie, the first animated short with sound and movement, was released. That’s when Walt Disney Productions was formed. During the time in which Mickey Mouse was introduced America was in the depths of a depression. The economy was hit badly on Black Tuesday October 29th 1929 when the stock market crashed. Then, tragedy struck again when a long drought destroyed crops and farms. So many people lost everything they had. Mickey Mouse was someone to pick them up in those hard times; a source f wishful thinking. In this time unemployment reached historic levels and the whole country looked for prosperity ahead. Throughout the 1930s the Disney cartoons were a business stimulus. Mickey Mouse merchandising exploded and there were a hundred products not only across the country but around the world. Mickey Mouse products were the only thing getting some companies through the Depression. By 1934 Mickey Mouse merchandise was earning around $600,000 a year. Political historians would likely say that the 1930s were the age of Franklin Roosevelt but cultural historians consider it the age of Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney is famous for saying, â€Å"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse. † Mickey Mouse is now one most recognized faces of all time and an icon of American culture. There is no doubt that Mickey Mouse and his ears are the face of The Disney Studios but Mickey isn’t the only iconic character that the company has created. Hundreds of characters have been born from Disney Studios, although some are more popular than others, they all have contributed to Disney Studios. Around the same time Mickey Mouse was introduced his â€Å"friends†, as they have been come to be called, were created. Mickey’s friends included Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. These characters represented friendship and often taught moral lessons like Disney often did. Snow White and Cinderella started the princess phenomenon. These movies lead to other Disney Princesses including The Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas and Rapunzel. Girls around the world look up to these female heroes. The one thing that all these Disney characters have in common is that they will forever be embedded in pop culture. In 1937, Walt Disney made history when Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released. The film was the first full length animated film of its time. Critics had little faith in the productive of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but were proven wrong when the film earned over 8 million on its first release. The film was such a success that Walt built a studio specifically for the making of animated films. The film became a foundation for future feature length animated films. During the 1940s and 1950s the studio made many animated films including Fantasia, Bambi, Cinderella, Alice n Wonderland, and Peter Pan. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was an artistic and technological breakthrough in the entertainment world. Animated films lead to the production of live-action features and television programs. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs showed that animated films could be just as entertaining as other motion pictures. Walt Disney was known for transforming imagination into reality which was es pecially true when he made Disneyland, the first ever theme park. Disneyland changed the amusement park industry forever when it opened on July 18th 1955. Disneyland was the first start in making theme parks popular. Walt Disney once said, â€Å"Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world. † Although Disneyland was successful, it wasn’t the perfection Walt was looking for. Disneyland in California didn’t meet his vision because of the sleazy restaurants and hotels that were around the park. Fifteen years later Walt decided to build a new theme park in Orlando, Florida that would be a magical experience all around. Walt tried to keep the operation low key by setting up dummy corporations to buy the land. It was a reporter from the Orlando Sentinel newspaper who broke the news that it was Disney who bought the land. Walt never did get to see Disney World completed because of his death on December 15th 1966 of a cardiac arrest. Walt’s brother stayed on the project and Disney World opened to the public on October 1, 1971. Central Florida now has more theme parks than any other place in the world with Walt Disney World resort being the largest recreational resort ever built. The happiest place on earth didn’t just stay in the United States. Besides Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida there are three other Disney resorts in Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong. Many people wonder how such a successful enterprise was created. At first, the Walt Disney Studio wasn’t profitable but it was staying afloat. Even when in debt Walt Disney looked to do more. He made smart moves to fundraise money to start new projects including Disneyland. As early as the 1930s Disney enterprises became global with branch offices in Chicago, Toronto, London, Paris, Copenhagen, Milan, Barcelona, Lisbon, and Sydney. After the death of Walt and his brother, Roy, the company struggled. In 1980s and 1990s the stock grew rapidly which made Disney the largest entertainment empire in the world. Before Walt Disney died he managed to build the first multinational media corporation. Disney now has five business segments including media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive media. The Walt Disney Company is now a $60 million dollar company and is the complete entertainment experience. Walt Disney is known for saying â€Å"if your dream it, you can do it. † He and his company are an example of just that. Although Walt Disney died his legacy lives on. The Walt Disney Company continues to create blockbuster films, parks, and television. Disney has made a few hundred movies and more than fifty of them being animated films. There is now a Disney channel on all five continents in several languages. The Walt Disney Company has become part of the world’s culture especially in the United States. He has created some of the most iconic characters of all time including the timeless Mickey Mouse. Disney characters have touched the hearts of people around the world. When the first full length animated movie was made it changed the course of film making forever. Disneyland and Disney World were the start of theme parks as we know them today. The achievements of Walt Disney are impressive and they have laid out the foundation for the whole entertainment industry. Even to this day, Walt Disney will forever be known as the king of animation.

Population geographies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Population geographies - Essay Example This movement is often termed as migration. Population movement is categorized under the micro and macro levels. Macro migration refers to the movement of people from one country to another while micro refers to people moving from one region or area to another. A population movement is as a result of the pull (voluntary) and pushes (non-voluntary) factors. While major cities are a focal point of public attention, urbanization will be concentrated in the smaller cities, which have inadequate resources to cater for the needs of the new urban population. In most countries, the total number of urban dwellers continues to swell at a higher rate than the cities’ or towns’ capacities to provide water, jobs, sanitation, houses, and other essential services. The UN states that the unemployment rate of immigrants in urban areas is higher than in rural areas. It is only about 40% of the immigrants who have access to good jobs. Consequently, many people are forced to fend for themselves by entering the informal sector, or turning to crime and prostitution. Due to high unemployment levels, some of the urban dwellers are forced to build their houses since they cannot afford to pay rent. These shanties give rise to slums within the urban environment. Slums lack sewerage, waste disposal and water facilities. Accessibility of clean water in the urban areas is a necessity everywhere. Unlike in developed countries where the urban population has access to clean water, third world countries lack this basic need or commodity. In Africa, 26 % of the urban population has access to clean water. 29% of the Asian urban population has access to clean water whereas, in South America, only a paltry 12% have access to clean water. The movement of people from rural to urban areas (mostly in developing countries) is among the most common visible trends today. According to the United Nations data, 60% of the world’s population will be

Critical Thinking # 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critical Thinking # 3 - Essay Example Through workplace diversity, employers enhance productivity and creativity and motivate employees to be loyal to the company. Moreover, workplace diversity is important since it develops competitive advantage since employees have the capacity to understand diverse customers’ needs. Companies that disregards people’s gender, race, religion, ethnic group, or sex develops competitive advantage in the diverse market. A diversified workforce is important since it allows employers to access a wide range of potential employees thus enhancing the chances of recruiting the most qualified and talented employee (Kerby and Burns 1). A market environment that includes, represents, and values employees help in motivating employees and fostering productivity. A diversified workforce promotes different cultures, creates an inclusive work environment, and reduces the costs of training and replacing employees (Kerby and Burns 1). In this case, employees understand the customers and identify with their needs to the benefit of the company. The inclusive workforce possesses different perspectives that help organizations to establish new opportunities, satisfy customers’ needs, and understand the market. As such, with the continued value of diversity in the global market, it is inherently important to recruit and retain a diversified workforce. Furthermore, employees in a diverse workplace gain various benefits. Such benefits include respect for one another that reduces the possibility of conflict in an organization (Mayhew 1). By recognizing other people’s opinion and cultures, employees in a diverse workplace establish common grounds that enhance productivity and positive working relations. The idea also helps in conflict management. In a diverse workplace, employees learn from one another, which help in adopting better working styles and developing positive attitudes in a business (Mayhew 1). Indeed, employees

Deities of Sexuality and Fertility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Deities of Sexuality and Fertility - Essay Example She was meant to titillate and goad men to fight each other over her beauty. A certain element of carnal and sexual lust is associated with her and her sculpture shows her bare-chested, playing and fondling her breasts. Among her stories and practices was the prostitution ritual practiced in her temples. In the Roman temple on Acrocorinth, intercourse with the high priestess, after paying the required offerings, was the accepted method of worshipping Aphrodite (Walter, 1985). Demeter on the other hand nourished earth and called the earth mother or the Goddess of life, fertility and grain. She is portrayed as demure, mother like figure, fully clothed and with a staff in hand. Demeter has given corn and barley to mankind and the skill to till the land and make ti fertile. There is no symbolism of carnality or sexuality but only that of fertility and give rise to life. She has been portrayed with images of harvest, flowers and of life. She was the enemy of Aethon the famine god and put him in the stomach of Erysichthon. Demeter however was not demure but had a number of husbands such as Zeus from whom she obtained Persephone; Poseidon from whom she got Despoina and Arion and many others (Walter, 1985). Persephone was the daughter of Demeter and Zeus and was the consort of Hades.

Case study paper on - death penalty both pro and anti capital Essay

Case study paper on - death penalty both pro and anti capital punishment - Essay Example On the other hand, the article written by Hugo Bedau argues that death penalty is a lawful killing, and since it is a form of killing the law should rise above it and condemn it. He says that death penalty is an immoral act in an indecent form of action by the law, and the fact is that it is a dignified form of killing executed and polished by the law. I feel that both the articles make a very valid point, and it is upto the people and the law to decide what is right and wrong. However, keeping everything in mind, death penalty should be slowly taken away from the law and society as we move towards a more liberal and morally committed world. The first article is written in an extremist/radical style, while the other one is written in a liberal/radical style. Both the articles maintain a valid point of law, however, it is pertinent to note that death penalty should be tried to be done away with slowly, and not immediately. IN this context both the articles explain an important perspec tive, the perspective of doing away with death penalty but with slow time. Death penalty is not morally wrong. I am sure ernest van den hag would have reacted hard on this thought. Just as imprisonment is not considered morally wrong as a lawful kidnapping, or fine is not considered to be morally wrong as a lawful robbery, I don’t think that people should consider death penalty as morally wrong as a lawful murder. It is an example, which is set to the people and has been a very successful form of deterrence over the last many centuries. In many ways death penalty has acted as deterrence better than imprisonment, but as the society moves forwards, we need to realize that this form of punishment will not yield the same results again. Death Penalty as a form of deterrence will slowly fade away, as life imprisonment takes over. In answer to the second last question, both the arguments make sense either ways. However, lets try to move forwards and be more pragmatic. It is true tha t there is no going back once the death penalty has been executed. And therefore the point is that to be careful while executing the death penalty. This is because there are many criminals even today who deserve this penalty. One cannot do away with this form of punishment mainly because there exists an apprehension that innocent will get killed. What about the fact that there is being a miscarriage of justice? Even that is an apprehension, and therefore we need to sideline both the apprehensions and think from a logical and practical perspective. And that perspective teaches us that the execution of death penalty should be allowed, albeit with caution. The final question consists of Bedau contemplating that it is immoral and indecent to award death penalty in response to crimes such as rape and kidnapping. Crimes such as rape and kidnapping in them mind of Bedau is not that extreme or indecent to attract the award of death penalty. It is pertinent to understand that death penalty s hould only be awarded for the ‘rarest of the rarest’ crimes, and not for some petty crimes like kidnapping. Agreed, rape is a very severe crime which attracts a very severe punishment, but killing the rapist for such an act would be encroaching upon the boundaries of morality and responsibility. The correct punishment for rape would be to award life imprisonment, which is still la very harsh punishment, as deserved by the rapist, but not on the extreme

Søren Kierkegaard Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

SÃ ¸ren Kierkegaard - Essay Example He notably only traveled abroad five times, four times to Berlin and once to Sweden. Despite this fact, he still managed to take from his studies and many experiences to form a universal model for understanding the different stages and aspect of living. His many works garnered him acclaim among fellow scholars and mathematicians of his era, and like many of the greatest philosophers his works have been heralded as timeless. One of Kierkegaard's most notable works is his theory of the spheres of existence. For the philosopher, existence meant to become progressively more individualistic (Kierkegaard, 175). Keirkegaard believed this individualistic existence caused everyone to travel along a path toward self-realization and this process, he noted, had three stages. These stages being, Ethical, Religious and Aesthetic, as "All human beings are currently at one of this stages, depending on the extent to which they have achieved their life-project (Kierkegaard, 175)." By more individualistic, Kiekegaard means that through each stage individual gain a higher understanding of self than they had before and it is through the privileged perspective provided by the assessment of and graduation from the previous stage that allows the person to attain this new form of self. Kiekegaard goes on to further note that, "Each stage is a way of seeing life, a way of understanding the world. They are different ways of livi ng out one's existence, independent spheres of life, situations which embody a certain stability. Living fully in the aesthetic sphere will never lead to the ethical one, and the upholding of ethics will never open the door to religion." He closes by pointing out that no one stage can completely dominate and individual's life and if one were to allows this to happen they would stay stagnant and not progress through the stages. Aesthetics The first stage of Kierkegaard's progression of existential stages is aesthetics recognized as the 'immersion in sensuous experience; valorization of possibility over actuality; egotism; fragmentation of the subject of experience; nihilistic wielding of irony and skepticism; and flight from boredom (Stanford, p1)." This stage of existence is a very selfish one that involves excessive self-indulgence. Kierkegaard refers to temptation and the appreciation and distraction of beauty a lot in this section.Ethics Ethics in Kierkegard's work has more than one meaning, "It is used to denote both: (i) a limited existential sphere, or stage, which is superseded by the higher stage of the religious life; and (ii) an aspect of life which is retained even within the religious life (Stanford, p1)." This is basically the stage where one starts to asses their life and view themselves objectively. It is recognized as the stage of reasoning this stage is 'limited' in that it is the stage that comes before the religious stage, but it is retained within the religious stage in that the traits used in the ethical stage must also be used to make the valuable choices in the religious stage. Ultimately the final obligation to transition from Ethics into the religious stage is to completely relinquish one's reliance on reason for one's trust in faith. Religion The final stage of existence that Kierkegaard recognizes is the stage of Religion, and specifically Christianity. Kierkegaard

Do the potential advantages of GM food outweigh possible drawbacks Essay

Do the potential advantages of GM food outweigh possible drawbacks - Essay Example With this in mind, it is therefore vital that we understand genetic modification as it relates to our food products, in order to explore more fully the science and controversy surrounding its risks and benefits in our world today. Using this information, we can then make an educated decision as to whether the sale and use of such products would be to our gain or to our detriment. Background First, it is vital that we understand what the words â€Å"genetically modified food† actually mean to the general public and to the scientific community. â€Å"Genetically modified†, or GM, food, is a food crop that has had its genetic code, as designated by the DNA of the plant, altered in some way that makes it different from the original food crop (Forman, 2009). The other commonly heard term GMO refers to a genetically modified organism. This is slightly different from a GM food crop in that it is a wider term. GMO can be any kind of genetically modified product, but the term is most often used in reference to food product organisms, such as soybeans that have been altered to resist colder climates or bacteria that have been designed to be useful in the manufacture of cheese (Whitman, 2000). The sale and human consumption of genetically modified food crops is generally more controversial than the usage of genetically modified organisms in food manufacture, as such organisms are used only in the manufacturing process and are not present in the final consumer product (Forman, 2009). In the approximately fifteen years that genetic modification have been in practice for food and consumer goods, there have been three major tiers of progress. The first level was changes to food at a level generally unnoticeable to the consumer. This included changes to products that primarily affect the growers, such as giving the plants insecticide resistance or a lengthier period of ripeness. While this tier was the only one in effect, most consumers were unconcerned about gen etic modification and there seemed to be little conflict. The second level, however, gained much more widespread coverage. This stage started to involve changes to product that were visible all the way down to the consumer level, such as altering colour and nutritional content. The newest and next generation of genetically modified foods is currently in the research phase, and primarily focuses on medicination uses for GMO. This involves the creation of pharmaceutically-active food crops, which could be designed to contain vaccines or medicines for developing nations (Magana-Gomez and Calderon de la Barca, 2009). All three of these categories are currently ongoing, and all have a wide variety of both helpful and harmful possibilities. Risks and Concerns One major concern for many consumers and companies that purchase food products is the relative newness of the genetic modification process (Forman, 2009). While most produce and meat that we eat today is already greatly modified from its â€Å"wild† phenotype to make it more palatable, have better yields, or for myriad other reasons, the traditional breeding methods used to produce these crops have been in use for hundreds and even thousands of years. The scientific community generally considers such methods proven safe by the basic fact that they are still in use after all this time with no serious detrimental effects on the human

Is the world a better place as a result of globalization Essay

Is the world a better place as a result of globalization - Essay Example before were considered internal, are now openly and more successfully being interfered at by international organizations, justifying such actions with values that are established universal, for example, human rights (Boyle; Keck and Sikkink). Being able to enjoy things that we don’t enjoy before could immediately tell us that indeed, globalization has made the world a better place to live in. In fact to Wolf, globalization has lessened inequality between and within nations. So, if globalization has made it possible for all nations to enjoy the resources each one has; if globalization has made it possible for peoples of different cultures to converge in order to alter a medically unsafe belief; if globalization has given underdeveloped nations the opportunity to be developed; then, what is there to oppose? As Rodrik has pointed out, let us be careful in jumping to such conclusion, because to his view, globalization has in fact weakened labor and has been unwisely undermining nation states. Following Rodrik’s analysis, I, too, am skeptical that globalization is making our world a better place to live in. What made me say this, I shall argue below. The main feature or more precisely, the very logic of globalization is to liberalize the world market. Thus the driving force of globalization is not homogenization, neither convergence, in the positive sense, but the unrestricted movement of capital. It is nice to imagine that globalization will unite the world towards the betterment of humanity. Unfortunately, thinking that way would be fooling ourselves, because the fact remains that globalization is capitalism’s economic strategy. On the other hand, it would also be inaccurate to deny that globalization has opened up economic opportunities and development to poor countries. Exemplars of which are China and India, which economy has dramatically improved from impoverishment. Many more countries in Asia are also benefitted with rapid economic growth. Having the

The role of tourism in development (economic environmental - social Essay

The role of tourism in development (economic environmental - social and culture) - Essay Example It is further divided into different section headings and focusing on all the factors that play their role in the development of tourism in the country. The main focus of this research is on the study of the role of tourism in the development of the country, on the economic, social, environmental and culture aspects of the countries that are both developed and under developed. Research is a term that is used in our everyday life but every research needs some strong substance data to support itself Research is considered to be systematic way of collecting data and then conducting its analysis and giving conclusion and recommendations based on the findings (Thornhill et al 2007). Why this writer mention two times? Basic research has its main focus towards the expansion of the knowledge processes of businesses while the applied research has its focus towards understanding a particular problem well of the business or any management. This research is more inclined towards both the elements of basic research and applied as it involves in gaining insight of the issue and then understanding its implications and developments. The main questions that need to be answered while in the development of its strategy is whether the research is having an exploratory nature, a descriptive nature or an explanatory nature. The exploratory research is useful if the problem identified needs a clarified understanding of the (Thornhill et al 2007). The studies of the descriptive nature require the accurate profiles of the people or events for the causal relationship to be developed between the various variables This research attempts to investigate the role of the development of tourism in the developed and under developed countries and what impact it gives on the economical, environmental, social and cultural impacts on the country. Therefore, exploratory research is applied and also some elements of descriptive research also exist. There

Writing a Critique Essay Example for Free

Writing a Critique Essay ‘To critique’ in the academic world means ‘to look into a certain work and state the strengths and weaknesses and then provide suggestions on improving the work in a manner that is constructive’ (Critiquing Tips, n.d.). Methods in Effectively Critiquing a Work Effectively critiquing a work entails the following: First of all, it is very important to be very honest (Critiquing Tips, n.d.). Second is to look for something optimistic or encouraging to speak about (Critiquing Tips, n.d.). Third is to speak about the weaknesses but at the same time â€Å"providing suggestions on how it may be developed and improved† (Critiquing Tips, n.d.). Last but not least, it is essential do be diplomatic no matter what weaknesses are to be stated and keep in mind that the goal of critiquing is to â€Å"provide assistance to the author of the work† and not attack or insult the individual (Critiquing Tips, n.d.). Aspects to Look for in Critiquing It is essential to look into the references utilized by the author, check for validity and reliability (Chesapeake College, n.d.). Scrutinize how the ideas were supported, check if the stated ideas are facts, or simply opinions to verify if there was no bias and both sides (or opposing perspectives) were evenly taken into consideration (Chesapeake College, n.d.). Also, the â€Å"appropriateness of the vocabulary and logic of the argument should be looked into as well† (Chesapeake College, n.d.). Noting the Findings/ Writing and Presenting the Critique The findings may be noted by: 1) â€Å"introducing the work including the author, title, as well as, the references and their dates of publication†; 2) â€Å"providing a one- to two- sentence summary†; and 3) â€Å"producing a thesis statement† (UHWO Writing Center, n.d.). It is also highly recommended to state â€Å"three to five points to support the thesis statement† (Chesapeake College, n.d.).

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Control

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Control Abstract Brown marmorated stink bug (Order Hemiptera: Family Pentatomidae) (BMSB) was  accidentally introduced into the eastern U.S. from Asia in the late 1990s. In 2001   it was officially identified in Pennsylvania, and has since spread along the eastern seaboard and  westward into the Great Lakes region. In 2002 it was found in Portland, Oregon, and has since spread to localized areas in Washington and California. It has not yet been found in Utah, but it is likely only a matter of time before it will occur in most states due to its rapid adaptation to a wide range of climates. Since 2004, BMSB has gained notoriety as a major nuisance due to large aggregations of the bugs invading buildings in the fall to overwinter, attracted to the protective warmth. Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Biological control and insecticides are two primary control tactics under evaluation. Entomologists have explored its native range for natural enemies, and a few  are under further study for potential release in the U.S. Many of the synthetic pyrethroid-type insecticides are efficacious in rapid knockdown of adults and nymphs; however, this group of insecticides has a major negative side-effect of high toxicity to many beneficial insects,  mites, and spiders. Research to develop effective traps and lures is underway, with the release of a killing station pending (Alpha Scents Inc.) Life History In the temperate   regions of the U.S. there appears to be one to two generations per season. In the warmer areas of its native range there can be up to six generations per year.   Therefore, it is likely that two or more generations will occur in warmer areas of the U.S. as its range  expands. Adults have an extended egg-laying   period. Adults and nymphs have been observed in the field up through September. Host Plants BMSB has been found feeding on over 60 plant species. Crop plants which host BMSB include tree fruits and nuts such as peach, apricot, cherry, apple, pear, Asian pear,  filbert, and cane and vine fruits including berries and grape. The most preferred vegetable and field crops include pepper, tomato, green bean, soybean, field and sweet com.   BMSB also feeds on ornamental plants such as butterfly bush, some rose species, honeysuckle and catalpa. Management Research is underway to develop effective traps and lures for monitoring and an attract-and-kill management approach. A BMSB pheromone lure was recently  released by Alpha Scents Inc., and they are close to releasing a killing station design. To date, research has shown that tall, pyramid shaped, ground-level traps colored dark brown or black rather than yellow are more attractive to BMSB. In addition, researchers found that BMSB adults frequently escape from traps, so that placing a quick knockdown insecticide device in the trap such as vaportape or a 114 piece of cattle ear tag improved trap capture. Exclusion BMSB can squeeze into narrow cracks and crevices, so seal entry points into homes and other buildings with caulking. Place and repair screens on windows,   doors and vents; and remove or seal around window air conditioner units. Mechanically remove adults congregating on exterior surfaces or within buildings with a vacuum or broom. Insecticides Evaluation of insecticide effectiveness has shown that BMSB can be more difficult to kill than other stink bug species. Insecticides were most effective when BMSB  were directly contacted with the spray as compared to walking on dried residues on plant foliage  (Leskey 2010). While a number of insecticides initially disabled BMSB, the effect was temporary and a high percentage of the population recovered and returned to feeding. References Petrizzo, E. (2011)   Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, Utah State University Cooperative Extension Brown  marmorated stink  bug Adult female Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum:  Ã‚   Arthropoda Class:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Insecta Order:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hemiptera Family: Pentatomidae Genus: Haly_omorl2._ha Species:  Ã‚   H.halys      

Impact of Culture on Life Satisfaction of Students

Impact of Culture on Life Satisfaction of Students ABSTRACT Defining culture by reference to deeply situated societal values and beliefs, this study makes three contributions to the growing field of satisfaction research: first, it tries to uncover the relationship between international students life satisfaction and cultural life satisfaction across different cultures; Second, it explores whether and to what extent a range of cultural values serve as important moderators of international students life satisfaction; Finally, it explains the Life Satisfaction differences between international students across five nations (India, Africa, China, United Kingdom and Turkey). A total of 100 international students from the University of Northampton participated in this study. Analysis of the present study is based on data from two surveys. The first is the Dieners Satisfaction with Life Survey (SWL) to measure international students overall satisfaction with life across nations. The second is the cultural satisfaction survey which includes the six d eterminants of cultural factors: satisfaction in general, job, social relationships, health services, authority services and public safety. Using both Pearson and Partial correlation coefficient, statistical analysis showed that except for the General Satisfaction section p value is more than 0.05 (p>0.05) for each of the subsections. In addition, hypothesis one showed that there is not any correlation between Life Satisfaction and Cultural Satisfaction amongst International Students. Therefore, null hypothesis is accepted. One-Way between subjects ANOVAs enables us to partially accept hypothesis 2, which states there will be a difference in CS between International Students from different countries. Statistical results of one-way ANOVAs also accepted Hypothesis 3, which states there will be a difference in LS between International Students from different nationalities as well. According to these results, Hypothesis 2 is partially accepted because four out of the six subsections of the CS (General and Job Satisfaction) showed these differences. These results show the importance of the cultural determinants of the social relationship, health, authority and public safety satisfaction play a particularly prominent role on individuals Life Satisfaction. Finally, based on the Dieners SWL (Diener et al, 1984) and cultural life satisfaction survey, the empirical results show that several cultural values are indeed very significant influences on individuals assessment of their life satisfaction. INTRODUCTION Psychological research during the past two decades has revealed cultural differences across a wide range of domains. These studies focus on several factors such as what are peoples desires, wants, and needs, and which life domains are decisive in an overall evaluation of living conditions? Does the quality of a society in which a person lives play a significant role? As a result most psychologists are now keenly aware that the way people in different cultures think, feel, and act are, in varying degrees, different. International students have in recent years come to constitute a large proportion of the world-wide student body in higher learning institutions. There are hardly any countries that are unaffected by the presence of international students in its institutions of higher learning, or the pressure to send some of its own students to study abroad (Paige, 1990). Current estimates suggest that up to 1 million students annually study in countries other than their own (Open Doors, 1996/97). One rationale behind the increasing number of international students is the assumption that students can serve both as cultural ambassadors and resources (Klineberg, 1970; Mestenhauser, 1983; Paige, 1990), and as links between cultures (Eide, 1970). It has also been assumed that these cultural links could help reduce inter-group tension, prejudice, hostility and discriminatory behaviour, and to help increase international understanding and co-operation (Amir, 1969; Baron and Bachman, 1987; Fulbright, 1976) . These assumptions, however, have not always been supported. On the contrary mental health problems such as depression, psychosomatic complaints, anxiety and paranoid reactions (Jou and Fukada, 1997a and b; Sam and Eide, 1991; Ward, 1967; Ying and Liese, 1991) have been suggested to characterise international students. These are in addition to socio-cultural problems (e.g., language difficulties, difficulties in negotiating day-to-day social activities and, racial and ethnic discrimination) (Furnham and Bochner, 1982; Kagan and Cohen, 1990; Ward and Kennedy, 1993) and academic problems such as failure (Aich, 1963; Barker et al., 1991) have been documented as characterising international students overseas sojourn. Life Satisfacion (LS) has been defined as a global evaluation by the person of his or her life (Pavot et al., 1991, p. 150), and has been identified as a key aspect of quality of life and Subjective Well Being (SWB) (Mannel and Dupuis 1996). SWB is a way of defining a good life, and is often referred to as happiness. People who experience abundant SWB have many pleasures and few pains, and they feel satisfied with their lives (Diener, 2000). Satisfaction also refers to the cognitive/judgemental aspects of SWB (Neto, 1995). Diener and his colleagues (1999) argued that, SWB and happiness, has both an affective (i.e., emotional) and a cognitive (i.e., judgmental) component. The affective component consists of how frequently an individual reports experiencing positive and negative effects. In addition to this, previous research (Diener et al., 1999) has found college students consider happiness and LS to be extremely important, and there is evidence that increased LS impacts upon academi c performance in college students (Rode et al., 2005). Research has shown that increased LS and happiness may be related to goal progression (Emmons, 1986), close social relationships (Myers, 2000), and being involved in flow activities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). Moreover, Veenhoven (1991) uses the definition of LS as the degree to which an individual judges the overall quality of his life as a whole favourably. (1991: 10). This idea emphasises satisfaction with ones life, implies contentment with or acceptance of ones life circumstances, or the fulfilment of ones wants and needs for ones life as a whole. Furthermore, the need satisfaction model (Maslow, 1970; McClelland, 1961) and the spill over (Diener, 1984;Wilensky, 1960) theories provide useful frameworks to conceptualise the processes that underlie happiness in a life domain. The basic premise of the need satisfaction model is that people have basic needs they seek to fulfil in each life domain. Individuals derive satisfaction in a particular life domain when events and experience related to that domain fulfil their needs. Therefore, this model seems to suggest that people who are successful in satisfying their needs are likely to enjoy greater SWB than those who are less successful. For example, a person reports high satisfaction of her health life domain based on positive experiences concerning health-related activities such as a healthy diet, regular exercise and attention to medical needs. Moreover, the spill over theories of quality of life are viewed as having two broad types; bottom-up and top-down theories. Firstly, bott om-up theories assume that LS is a summary evaluation of aspects of ones life. For example, one is satisfied with life because one has good social relationships, enough money, weight under control, and an interesting job (Choi et al., 2007; George and Landerman, 1984; Larsen, 1978). Secondly, top-down theories assume that LS is due to personality influences. For example, a neurotic individual is more dissatisfied in general with his or her job, social relationships, weight, and income in particular ( Shepard, 1974; Kremer and Harpaz, 1982). Although there may be some agreement about the important qualities of the good life, with considerations like health and successful relationships, each individual assigns different values to these factors (Diener et al., 1985). Each person has his or her own values, criteria, and basis for evaluation. Furthermore, considerable research effort has been devoted to the study of adults perception of the quality of their lives, including LS judgements. LS research is supported by the variety of measures appropriate for adults, such as the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985; Pavot and Diener, 1993), Quality of Life Inventory (Frisch et al., 1992), Life Satisfaction Index (Neugarten et al., 1961), and the Salamon-Conte LS in the Elderly Scale (Salamon and Conte, 1984). Several studies have been carried out regarding LS and the results of these studies emphasise that LS is related to different factors. A great deal of psychological research has explored the sources of peoples LS. Due to variation in the characteristics of the included samples such as age, gender or culture questions which are commonly found in questionnaires as well as included indicators, different factors have been found to be associated with LS. Campbell (1981) indicates that there are at least 12 domains involved in contributing to LS. These are health, finances, family relations, paid employment, friendships, housing, living partner, recreational activity, religion, self-esteem, transportation, and education (Campbell, 1981). Specific cultural and social factors also have been found to play an important role in determining LS and happiness (Triandis, 2000). LS is used worldwide in research including adults, young people, students, older people etc. (Baiyewu and Jegede 1992; H illeras et al. 2001b,Neugarten et al. 1961; Vitterso et al. 2002; Wood et al. 1969) and is supposed to be a useful outcome variable in different countries. Cultural context is an important element that influences an individuals cognitive evaluation of ones life. Culture affects people in a variety of basic psychological domains, including self-concept, attribution and reasoning, interpersonal communication, negotiation, intergroup relations, and psychological well-being (Brewer Chen, 2007; Fiske et al., 1998; Markus Kitayama, 1991; Oyserman et al., 2002). Sociologists and social psychologists are interested in socio-demographic patterns that emerge when people evaluate their overall living conditions (Veenhoven 1984; Argyle 1999; Headey and Wearing 1992; Hagerty et al. 2000; Glatzer and Zapf 1984). However, socio-demographic factors account for less than 20% of the variance of SWB, a finding confirmed in several studies (Campbell et al. 1976; Andrews and Withey 1976; Diener and Suh 1997). Many efforts have been made to analyse determinants of LS and researchers from several disciplines illuminate this subject from different perspectiv es. The study revealed that the standard of living, access to employment, job satisfaction, marriage, social relationships, social networks, and health were the most decisive factors when explaining variations in LS within countries. Previous research also indicate that these factors have a positive impact on individuals LS (Diener et al. 1999) with results also showing that individuals with high LS have such benefits including physical health, mental health, good interpersonal relationships, and educational and vocational success (Frisch, 2000; Park, 2003, 2004; Veenhoven, 1989). More recently, economists have shown an interest in explaining LS outcomes with respect to reported SWB as a proxy for individual utility. They primarily focus on cross-country comparisons, the question of marginal utility of income, and the relationship between absolute and relative levels of income on SWB (Frey and Stutzer 2002a, b; Oswald 1997; Layard 2005). Moreover, LS differs a great deal between individuals and between European countries. The previous study within the enlarged European Union shows average LS in 2003, measured on a scale from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 10 (very satisfied), ranged from 8.38 in Denmark to 4.41 in Bulgaria. In every country high income goes hand in hand with higher LS scores. However, poor people in Denmark are nevertheless more satisfied than rich people in Bulgaria. The large differences in the overall level of LS between old and new member states have so far been explained with reference to the level of economic prosperity in each country (Fahey and Smyth 2004). Moreover, several studies have pointed out that poorer countries tend to possess lower LS than richer ones. To support this idea, Leelakulthanit and Day (1993) compared the LS scores of Americans and Thais. The results showed that Americans were more satisfied with their lives than Thais. Similarly, Diener et al., (1995) investigated LS among American, Korean, and Chinese college students. The results of the study illustrated that American college students scored more highly on LS, positive feelings and influential factors (e.g., income and wealth of the countries) than both Chinese and Korean college students. The results of these studies emphasized that the countries with high qualities (such as income, wealth, education) have higher LS scores than the countries who have low quality of standards . Conversely, Heady et al. (2004) instead analysed household panel data for five countries and found the happiness measure to be considerably more affected by economic fac tors than found in most of the earlier literature. The economic factors in the study include wealth and consumption expenditures and among the findings are that wealth has a stronger impact on happiness than income and that non-durable consumption expenditures are as important for happiness as income. Recent cross-country studies have therefore returned to this issue, questioning the insignificance of economic factors, which led to a heated debate in Social Science Indicators between Richard Easterlin, who defended the standard conclusion that average income does not matter, and Michael Hagerty and Ruud Veenhoven, who opposed this and argued that positive happiness trends in most nations were caused by income growth (Hagerty and Veenhoven 2003; Easterlin 2005; Veenhoven and Hagerty 2006). Moreover, a number of previous studies exposed evidence about health playing a critical role in overall LS. In fact, health has long been viewed as one of the major factors to LS as previous studies have found that health plays a crucial role on individuals LS (Linn et al., 1988; Michalos, Zumbo, Hubley, 2000; Okun et al., 1984; Parkerson, Broadhead, Tse, 1990). Additionally, a number of previous studies have examined the relationship between LS and health factors such as obesity, alcohol use, suicidal thoughts, physical activity, stress, and academic performance in different populations. For example, the study of the Moum (1996) found that people who score high on LS measures are less likely to attempt suicide. Lewinsohn et al., (1991) also pointed out that people who score high on LS are less likely to become depressed in the future . Several researches have also examined that LS is related to healthy behaviours in a number of different populations (Kelly, 2004; Rudolf Watts, 20 02; Valois, Zullig, Huebner, Drane, 2004b). To support this idea, Statistics Canada Web Site (2009), found that Canadians LS was related to their health. The statistics showed that people who were satisfied with their lives reported that their health was excellent (62.5%) and only 8.4% of people who were satisfied with life reported poor health. Conversely, of those people who were not satisfied with their lives, 54.2% reported that their health was poor. As a result, this study found that weak levels of health are directly related to low levels of satisfaction with life, low levels of morality, and low levels of satisfaction. This study also stresses that public health provisions have an important role on the improvements of individuals quality of life. For example, Life expectancy in France or Germany has risen sharply. However, this improvement is not due to high-technology. These countries attach importance to improve the quality of health in urban sanitation. The main aim here is relatively low-cost treatment (for example; antibiotics for childrens ear infections) (Deaton, 2008). From the past to the present, a great deal of psychological research has explored the sources of peoples LS. These sources include ones overall wealth, whether one is single or married, male or female (Gold et al., 2002; Murtagh Hubert, 2004), or young or old (Diener, 1984; Mercier et al., 1998; Prenda Lachman, 2001) A few studies have investigated international undergraduate students Satisfaction with Life (SWL) in the pattern of culture associates. Definition of the SWL emphasises the individuals own Quality of Life (QoL) based on their selected standards (Shin and Johnson, 1978). Each individuals decisions about their own particular criteria of their QoL can help them to judge and establish their own SWL (Diener et al., 1985). This shows that ones SWL is not a universally determined criteria of QoL, because each individual is judging their SWL by their own evaluation of the QoL. This is one of the important reasons to focus on people of diverse ethnic background and their differ ent values and perceptions of what may characterise the good life (Diener et al., 1985). Another important reason to study SWL and Culture across different nations is based on cultural factors (such as ones quality of life) that play an important role on individuals happiness. Veenhoven (1991) found that living in an economically prosperous country where freedom and democracy are respected; political stability; being a part of a majority rather than a minority; being toward the top of the social ladder; being married and having good relationships with family and friends; being mentally and physically healthy; being active and open minded; feeling in control of ones life; having aspirations in social and moral matters rather than money-making and being politically conservative are significantly related with individuals happiness rather than unhappiness. Moreover, other researchers have established that individuals from different cultures have different levels of economic and social satisfactions with their Jobs. For example, people who have the same jobs but who live in different countries might have different levels of job satisfaction because of cultural influences (Cranny et al., 1992; Gallie Russell, 1998). This signifies that both economic (money) and social (interest) satisfaction with work, such as individuals quality of their working styles, experiences and achievements, is another very important component of individuals overall SWL (Frijters et al., 2003; Kraft 2000). Furthermore, health is a subjective phenomenon manifested as the experience of wellness/illness based on individuals evaluations of how they are feeling and doing. There are variety of factors on an individuals health satisfaction which have been related to their LS such as weight (Ball et al., 2004), alcohol use (Murphy et al., 2005), stress (Schnohr et al., 2005), and physical activity (Valois, Zullig, Huebner, Drane, 2004b) These have been shown to be related to life satisfaction in different populations. The relationship between LS and various aspects of perceived health has been investigated in different nations because in different cultures people have different health institutions and services which can affect both their QoL and SWL. Previous researchers found that there is a positive relationship between subjective health and LS (Arrindell et al., 1999; Lohr et al., 1988; Rapkin Fischer, 1992; Willits Crider, 1988). The information above supports that to study both SWL and culture have been useful in illuminating how individuals differ in their SWL from different nations and the role of culture. A Number of studies emphasize that culture affects individuals from several basic psychological domains. For example, attribution and reasoning, intergroup relations, interpersonal communication, self-concept, negotiation, and psychological well-being (Brewer Chen, 2007; Fiske et al., 1998; Lehman et al., 2004; Markus Kitayama, 1991; Oyserman et al., 2002). From the theory and research presented in this review, it can be seen that cultural factors are the integrative parts of the LS. According to this, this study will focus on the Culture and LS amongst international students to see whether culture plays an important role on the undergraduate students LS from five different cultures. The specific aims of the study are three-fold. Firstly, it determines whether there is a relationship between international students LS and CS amongst five different countries. Secondly, it specifies whether the international students have differences in CS in general factors (i.e. quality of services/ city/life etc.), social relationships, job satisfaction, health, authority and public safety across five different countries. Thirdly, it explores whether there is an LS difference between International Students from five different countries which are China, India, UK, Turkey and Nigeria. In this study, I will focus on more cross-cultural phenomenon of the st udents satisfaction as well as its link with cross-cultural differences in the bases of LS (Schimmack et al., 2002; Suh et al., 1998) and provide tests of an empirically supported explanation for the differences. When people construct judgments about their overall LS, different cultural members place relative emphasis on different aspects of life. Therefore the hypotheses for this study are: There will be correlation between LS and CS amongst International Students from five different countries . There will be a difference in CS between International Students from five different countries There will be a difference in LS between International Students from five different countries. METHOD SECTION Participants A total of 100 students from the University of Northampton (UCN) in Northampton participated in the study. The sample for the current study comprised of 100 students, with twenty participants from each of the five nations India, Africa, China, United Kingdom and Turkey. Participants were selected from these five countries because many students from these countries came across to study in the University of Northampton. All participants were more than 18 years of age. Both males and females between the ages of 18-25 were selected. Each participant was required to complete both Questionnaire Section A of Life Satisfaction and Section B of the Cultural Satisfaction (see Appendix 2). All student participation was voluntary. Apparatus/Measurements The measures for the study were either taken directly or with modification from existing scales as described below. With the exception of the Satisfaction With Life Scale, all the items reported here were answered on a 5-point Likert Scale. Life Satisfaction : Global life satisfaction was measured by the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, Griffin, 1985) to measure the life satisfaction of the international undergraduate students. The SWLS is a five-item inventory with a 7-point scale. The five items used to measure satisfaction with life are : (a) In most ways my life is close to ideal; (b) The conditions of my life are excellent; (c) I am satisfied with my life; (d) So far I have gotten the important things I want in life; and (e) If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing. Participants respond to each item on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), yielding a possible total score ranging from 5 to 35 (see appendix 2). Satisfaction With Culture: Participants cultural life satisfaction was measured by questions both from Quality of Life Satisfaction Survey (2003) (QLS) (cited in Delhey, 2004) and the 2006 General User Satisfaction Survey (GUSS) (Torbay Council, 2006). Researcher also prepared some of the questions. The Satisfaction with Culture survey is a 70-item Likert scale designed to measure international students cultural satisfaction within six cultural life domains: general, social relationships, job satisfaction, health perception, authority and public safety were considered important influences on individuals life satisfaction. Participants respond to each item on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) (see appendix 2). General : The general questions about the cultural life satisfaction, which consists of twenty-three out of the 70 items, was added to the beginning of the Cultural life satisfaction scale in order to measure general life satisfaction about the cultural factors. The researcher also prepared the questions from 1 to 19. However, questions 20 to 23 from the general section were obtained from QLS. Students were expected to respond to each item based on a five-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Examples of items are It is a good place to live, overall quality of life in the city, water quality, noise etc. However, nine items were measured on an ordinal scale that assessed satisfaction with current state of general services (e.g. health services, public transport, education system etc.). Participants again respond to each item on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (poor) to 5 (very high). Higher values indicate higher LS. Social Relationships : To achieve a high level of joy and happiness in life, people must be socially involved with people. This involves getting along well with others, having friends and companions, and offering help to those who need it. This part evaluates international students social relationships in their home countries through sixteen items. However, five questions about the tensions between different groups were obtained from QLS. Scoring goes from 1 to 5, where 1 corresponds to the answer Very many tensions and 5 to No tension at all. Moreover, eleven questions consisted of general problems about parents, children, teenagers etc. These eleven questions were also prepared by the Researcher. Statements such as parents not taking responsibility for the behaviour of their children, noisy neighbours or loud parties and people being attacked because of their skin colour, ethnic origin or religion etc. The items were also based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (a very big p roblem) to 5 (not a problem at all). Job Satisfaction: In this section questions asked students to evaluate their overall Job satisfaction and financial situation. Questions in the Job Satisfaction section were adapted from QLS. A list of seven items was constructed to measure the job satisfaction variable. Items were presented on a 5- point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Items included My work is dull and boring , I am well paid, and My job offers good prospects for career advancement etc. Health Perception : The health perception variable was measured on a Likert scale that assessed satisfaction with current state of health services in international students countries. This section consisted of eight items. Questions 1 to 4 from the health section were obtained from QLS. However, questions from 5 to 8 were obtained from GUSS. Items were presented on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from very satisfied to very dissatisfied where 1 corresponds to the answer very dissatisfied and 5 to very satisfied, and included statements such as waiting time to see doctor on day of appointment, Quality of Hospitals and Deal with patients etc. Authority: The authority section consists of seven items. Question 1 and 7 from the authority section were adapted from GUSS . Also, questions 2 to 6 were prepared by the researcher . The items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale, and included statements such as how satisfied or dissatisfied you are with each of the following services provided or supported by your country City Council such as; Sports/leisure facilities and events, libraries, museum, galleries, theatre etc. Scoring goes from 1 to 5, where 1 corresponds to the answer strongly disagree and 5 to strongly agree. Public Safety: Public safety questions about the cultural life satisfaction, which consists of nine items. Questions in the Public Safety section were prepared by the researcher. Questions include how safe do you feel walking in your neighbourhood during the day? and how safe do you feel walking in your neighbourhood after dark? etc. The responses were based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from very unsafe to very safe, and 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Procedure Before the experiment participants were asked to read the standardised instructions (see appendix 3 ) and to give their consent verbally. According to the standardised instructions, participants were fully informed what the study was going to investigate. The standard instructions informed the students of the purpose of the study; that participation was voluntary and the responses were going to be treated confidentially. Also, it explained the details of what participants would have to do and were allowed to ask any questions. Experimenters informed the participants that the aim of the study was to investigate whether there is a relation between participants general life satisfaction and cultural life satisfaction. By giving their consent to taking part in the study, they were agreeing to be involved in this study and were then asked to sign the consent form (see appendix 4) and read the brief (see appendix 4). After that, participants were asked to fill in the questionnaire. The que stionnaire consisted of two sections; section A and section B. Section A was about the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al., 1985) to measure life satisfaction. The scale comprises of five-items and the responses were made on a 7-point agree-disagree Likert scale (Diener et al., 1985). On the other hand, section B was about cultural life satisfaction (Questions were obtained from QoL). The Satisfaction with Culture survey is a 70-item Likert scale and was designed to measure international students cultural satisfaction. The scale provides scores for six dimensions namely for the participants satisfaction with their nations. The six sections of the cultural satisfaction are: general, social relationships, job satisfaction, health perception, authority and public safety considered important on individuals cultural life satisfaction. According to participants responses, negative scores indicate dissatisfaction, whereas positive scores indicate satisfaction of the specific domain for the individuals life satisfaction. In this experiment, participants were not timed. Therefore, all the participants had the same life satisfaction and cultural satisfaction scale. Participants were also aware that they were allowed to withdraw at anytime without giving reason. After the experiment, the experimenter gave the participants a cue sheet which consisted of a brief explanation of what the study was about and the experimenters e-mail address (see appendix 5). Also, each Life satisfaction scale had the participant number recorded on the top of the paper so, if the participants changed their minds and wanted to retract their results from the study, they could email the experimenter and give their paper number by 01-01-2010. Also, participants were allowed to ask any questions. There was no deception of the participants in this study. Finally, no personal data was requested. As a result, the participants were anonymous . Questionnaires will be kept confidential and securely kept in the locked answers cupboard. Design This study was performed to determine the relation between culture and life satisfaction. The dependent variable of the study was the life satisfaction and the independent variable was culture. In this experiment, participants were sampled around the university campus and each participant received only one questionnaire. All experime

Canticle For Leibowitz: Walter Miller :: essays research papers

Canticle For Leibowitz: Walter Miller   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Walter Miller, in the novel A Canticle For Leibowitz, mocks the way we are as humans, particularly in those ways that lead to regressive thinking. The novel pokes fun at the attention to impractical details, such as to the spent copying the Leibowitz blueprints. Miller also mocks humans by describing the inordinate amount of attention and energy given to a spiritual being such as Leibowitz, as today's society worships God. Finally, the most absurd way Miller mocks today's society occurs when he describes how they do not give something very important the considered attention that it deserves. These are three examples how Walter Miller mocks and shows today's society their faults.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Miller mocks the way we are as humans when Francis gives too much attention to impractical details to the Leibowitz blueprints. Brother Francis spends many years copying the blueprints of the circuit design. Francis copies the design so carefully he mistakenly believes the color of the paper is important to the design of the circuit. Francis is set on mindlessly copying the blueprint he does not realize what the circuit design is for, and what is does. Brother Francis thinks regressively. The monks copy out the blueprints, and then do nothing with them. As a society we do the same thing today. In school students copy notes off the blackboard blindly, they do not know what they are copying. Therefore, they do not understand the content.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Not only does Miller also poke fun at impractical details, Miller also pokes fun at the way today's society revolves is the importance of a spiritual being such as Leibowitz. Today's society is strongly set on the existence of God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Today's society is mocked due to the importance of a spiritual being, like Leibowitz. The monks do not really know who Leibowitz is. All of the information about Leibowitz are only rumors. No concrete evidence surfaced to prove that Leibowitz exists. It is the same in today's society with the belief of God. No proof that God physically exists is evident today. Most people still believe in God spiritually on the other hand. In comparison to the book's society, Leibowitz is their God. When Brother Francis accidently stumbles upon possible genuine evidence of the existence of Leibowitz, they ignore it. The Monks concentrate on the most illogical things. The only thing that they believe is important is a mysterious pilgrim spotted in the desert. The Monks believe that the pilgrim is Leibowitz himself. The Monks are looking past concrete evidence wondering if it is Leibowitz who is seen desert. It seems Canticle For Leibowitz: Walter Miller :: essays research papers Canticle For Leibowitz: Walter Miller   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Walter Miller, in the novel A Canticle For Leibowitz, mocks the way we are as humans, particularly in those ways that lead to regressive thinking. The novel pokes fun at the attention to impractical details, such as to the spent copying the Leibowitz blueprints. Miller also mocks humans by describing the inordinate amount of attention and energy given to a spiritual being such as Leibowitz, as today's society worships God. Finally, the most absurd way Miller mocks today's society occurs when he describes how they do not give something very important the considered attention that it deserves. These are three examples how Walter Miller mocks and shows today's society their faults.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Miller mocks the way we are as humans when Francis gives too much attention to impractical details to the Leibowitz blueprints. Brother Francis spends many years copying the blueprints of the circuit design. Francis copies the design so carefully he mistakenly believes the color of the paper is important to the design of the circuit. Francis is set on mindlessly copying the blueprint he does not realize what the circuit design is for, and what is does. Brother Francis thinks regressively. The monks copy out the blueprints, and then do nothing with them. As a society we do the same thing today. In school students copy notes off the blackboard blindly, they do not know what they are copying. Therefore, they do not understand the content.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Not only does Miller also poke fun at impractical details, Miller also pokes fun at the way today's society revolves is the importance of a spiritual being such as Leibowitz. Today's society is strongly set on the existence of God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Today's society is mocked due to the importance of a spiritual being, like Leibowitz. The monks do not really know who Leibowitz is. All of the information about Leibowitz are only rumors. No concrete evidence surfaced to prove that Leibowitz exists. It is the same in today's society with the belief of God. No proof that God physically exists is evident today. Most people still believe in God spiritually on the other hand. In comparison to the book's society, Leibowitz is their God. When Brother Francis accidently stumbles upon possible genuine evidence of the existence of Leibowitz, they ignore it. The Monks concentrate on the most illogical things. The only thing that they believe is important is a mysterious pilgrim spotted in the desert. The Monks believe that the pilgrim is Leibowitz himself. The Monks are looking past concrete evidence wondering if it is Leibowitz who is seen desert. It seems

The Importance of Disaster Investigations for Systems Engineers :: Engineers Engineering Systems Essays

The Importance of Disaster Investigations for Systems Engineers - What is a Systems Engineer? In the modern industry engineering systems are becoming more complex by the day. Therefore a need for elite engineers i.e. the Systems Engineer, capable of applying a wide range of engineering disciplines to a variety of tasks from product design and development from requirements analysis to simulation to manufacturing and marketing etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is essential. Such engineers work within a team at the heart of the organisation where the design and development of a project is carried out. At this stage it is of great importance that every aspect of the design is studied accurately in order to ensure the final product works effectively, efficiently and safely. However, although maximum effort is made during the design, it is impossible to produce a result 100% efficient. This unfortunately leads to the occurrence of accidents and in some extreme cases to a disaster. By carrying out investigations into the disasters and their causation, lessons can be learnt and employed in future designs. This allows the team of engineers to improve the performance and efficiency of the system whilst maintaining the maximum safety levels. - Disasters and why they happened? - Air disasters caused due to faulty design: There have been historically countless cases of confusion in handling the flaps and the gear controls on the DC3 aircraft as they are in close proximity to each other and of similar shape. This is a problem that should have been addressed by the system engineers before the final go ahead for production was approved considering the importance of such instruments and their role during the flight of the aircraft. - Challenger disaster caused due to faulty design: This incident saw the destruction of the United States space shuttle Challenger 73 seconds after take-off from the Kennedy Space Centre on January 28, 1986 killing the entire shuttle crew. The disaster was caused by the failure of an "O-ring" seal in the solid-fuel rocket on the shuttle's right side. The seal's faulty design and the unusually cold weather, which affected the seal's proper functioning, allowed hot gases to leak through the joint. Flames from inside the booster rocket escaped through the failed seal and enlarged the small hole. The flames then burned through the shuttle's external fuel tank and cut away one of the supports that attached the booster to the side of the external tank. The booster broke loose and collided with the tank, piercing the tank's side. Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuels from the tank and booster mixed and ignited, causing the shuttle to tear apart. It is quite clear from this example that had the design of the ring

An Investigation Of Japanese Corporate Culture, Its Trends And Changes

An Investigation of Japanese Corporate Culture, Its Trends And Changes Japanese Business & Culture bus 258.1 Table of Contents1.0 Introduction 2.0 Procedure 3.0 Findings 3.1 Changing social culture. 3.2 Business Culture in Japan 3.3 Why change is needed 3.4 What is Japan and her corporations doing to develop and change 4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Bibliography Japanese Business & CultureAn investigation Japanese corporate culture, its trends and changes.1.0 IntroductionThis report is based around the following quote: "Japan's corporate culture is the product of uniquely Japanese social and historical influences, so deeply rooted as to easily repel outside influences. Bur Japanese corporations need to change their basic goals...." This report will discuss nature of corporate culture in Japan, and why change is needed. The maximum length is 2,000 words 2.0 Procedure The report was produced using library based research because of the time scale and cost. The sources used include text books, journals and newspapers.. The references have been made 'Harvard Style' and can be found in the Bibliography. 3.0 Findings The Japanese business culture has been described by Beedham as a culture that acts like a clan, in that there is a large amount of authority given to the man at the top, and in the commitment that is shown by the people around him, Beedham points out that this can be evident in the way that their car factories, investment banks and government ministries are ran. This clan-like-behaviour has the effect of making decision making painfully slow, with compromises having to be met in all directions, but this is starting to change, as the people of Japan are starting to change and have different priorities. These changes can be put down to several factors that are changing in Japanese society as a whole. 3.1 Changing social culture. The increasing and speeding up of urbanisation is one way in which corporate culture is being changed. Because of this urbanisation there is less commitment to groups as people become more individual and have their own priority in life. Marriage and family ties are also starting to loosen. Links between children, parents and grandparents are not the same as they were ten years ago. The greatest impact on peoples commitment to their work is money. As the Japanese become richer, they are starting to see that there is... ...g the corporate culture slightly Japanese corporations are not seen as been there for just profit. Profit is important, but it is not the only reason for the company's existence, but involves people and their future. This is however changing with corporations starting to set financial targets for themselves and cut costs. Ways in which the Japanese corporate culture is starting to change can be found in the way that promotions are decided. In the past seniority meant everything and no some positions are given on merit. Also, management positions are starting to be taken up by foreigners, as well as R&D relocation outside Japan. Japanese politics are also helping in the change of culture. Deregulation and liberalisation promote a more dynamic organisation culture and structure but these developments need backing up with further proposals to deregulate and promote entrepreneurship 5.0 Bibliography Brian Beedham, Tomorrow's Japan, The Economist, July 13th 1996 Various Internet article with no title or author. FT 96 Dec 05 page 6/ Survey - Japanese Industry: Routes to the top FT 96 Dec 02 page 20/ Lex Column: Japan FT 96 Nov 18 page 14/ Management: Time to pull back the screen

Mockingjay Book Review Essay

Imagine the cruelest form of a dictatorship you can think of, randomly selecting two young and innocent children per state from their families and friends. This is the corrupt and power-obsessed capitol. The capitol forces 24 children, 2 from each district to get put into an arena where they must violently fight to the death; there are 12 districts. This is called the hunger games, a â€Å"celebration† rather than a punishment to remember the 13th district that attempted to overrule the capitol, therefore, destroyed. The treacherous and notorious hunger games are nationally televised to all the districts as a lesson and are an amazing and honorable task to the people of the capitol. When Katniss Everdeen’s sister is randomly selected, Katniss takes her place in the games and wins. She is then reselected back into the games the next year and forcefully taken against her will in a surprise attack during the games into what is now known as the surviving district 13. In the final book of the trilogy, Mockingjay, starts off where Katniss is then taken into the underground District 13, a secret remaining district which is grouping together as rebels to fight against the capitol. Mockingjay has captured thousands of audiences ranging from kids, teenagers, and adults. Mockingjay has an unexpected turn in fate when most of the trilogies fans expect to finally see Katniss in freedom from the games and to find her romantic life where she can live in happiness and peace. When she becomes the rebel’s leader and emblem in district 13, it’s unexpected when she is soon found to be trapped in the evil and manipulative ways of government type control again. The capitol had used a televised, violent, and an effective show of the hunger games to prove to the world how much power and control they had over everyone else, and to threaten others so that they will not try and regain strength against the capitol again. Now, districts 13’s rebels are trying to overrule the capitol by using the same savage like strategies. They are creating videos of their rebellious actions and uprisings and televising them as well for more supporters. Soon enough, Katniss realizes she has fallen into the manipulation of another group again, and is causing just as much anger, pain. Sacrifice, and war as the capitol themselves were. This book is as popular and similar in fiction, style, and audience as some of the greatest fiction stories in the world such as, â€Å"Harry Potter†, â€Å"The Chronicles of Narnia†, and the â€Å"Twilight† trilogy. They all take place in a separate fantasy world where its evil vs. the good incorporated with the usual romance affairs. The nasty tracker jackers that take over memoires and change them so people forget who they are, the beautiful jabberjays, so entrancing yet evil by projecting the screams of your loved ones being tortured. Katniss as the main character of course is like Harry Potter, or Bella. She is brave, important, bossy, skillful, intelligent, logical, swift, humorous, thoughtful, caring, independent and sympathetic. Her personality traits are amazing as well as her physical, she is enchanting and beautiful. Her looks are mesmerizing when she rides across the arena in her carriage and dress on fire. She is the girl on fire, the fierce and brave girl who started it all by saving her younger sister. The story is dark and twisted, yet mind grabbing, and fascinating. Its gruesome and detailed events are disturbing but so thrilling and adventurous you can’t seem to stop reading this famous and loved trilogy.