Silence essays

Silence essays The novel Silence, written by Shasaku Endo, describes the migration of Christianity into Japan during the 17th century. This movement of a new religion into a foreign country was not very pleasant. Christians were given the option to apostatize or to be put to death by execution or extreme torture. Missionaries were sent out to spread the word of Christ no matter the consequences. The Church at this time was worried about Christianity dying down in Japan so Father Rodrigues and Garrpe made a pilgrimage there. This represents the extent the Church will go to instill its values all around the world. The attempt to westernize Japan was a battle that was to fierce for anyone to over come. Both Christians and the Japanese officials were too bold hearted with supporting what they believe is right. Innocent lives were taken and yet some still would not apostatize because of their dedication to the new religion. The Japanese had strong tradition of believing in Buddhism. This meant that becoming a Christian would be viewed disrespectful to the Japanese officials. The priests had to be secretive with their message of the Lord due to the brutal consequences. They struggled to find their brothers of religion wherever they traveled. Soon the officials heard word of the traveling priests and the samurai ransacked the village. They used three villagers as bait to have the priests come forward. The villagers were killed by the samurai and the priests could not step forward. Eventually, Father Rodrigues is captured and is tortured to the point of exhaustion. Then he is threatened by the samurai that if he does not apostatize, then other prisoners will be killed on his account once again. This time it was a test too great for his faith and was forced to stomp on a picture of the Lord. This symbolized that although a Christian he will have to adapt by keeping his faith to himself. Crea ...

Robert the Bruce Biography

Robert the Bruce Biography Robert the Bruce (July 11, 1274–June 7, 1329) was king of Scotland for the last two decades of his life. An ardent proponent of Scottish independence and a contemporary of William Wallace, Robert remains one of Scotlands most beloved national heroes. Early Years and Family Born into an Anglo-Norman family, Robert was no stranger to royalty. His father, Robert de Brus, was the 6th Lord of Annandale and a great-great-grandson of King David mac Mail Choluim, or David I of Scotland. His mother, Marjorie, was the Countess of Carrick, descended from the Irish King Brian Boru. His sister Isabel became the Queen of Norway by marrying King Eric II, long before Robert ascended to the Scottish throne. Robert’s grandfather, also named Robert, was the 5th Earl of Annandale. In the autumn of 1290, Margaret, the Maid of Norway, who was the seven-year-old heiress to the Scottish throne, died at sea. Her death set off a whirlwind of disputes regarding who should succeed to the throne, and the 5th Earl of Annandale (Roberts grandfather) was one of the claimants. Robert V, with the aid of his son Robert VI, captured a number of strongholds in the southwest of Scotland during the period between 1290 – 1292. Naturally, young Robert supported his grandfather’s claim to the throne, but ultimately, the role of king was given to John Balliol. Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images Association With William Wallace King Edward I of England was known as the Hammer of the Scots, and worked diligently during his reign to turn Scotland into a feudal tributary state. Naturally, this did not sit well with the Scots, and soon Edward found himself having to deal with uprisings and rebellions. William Wallace led a revolt against Edward, and Robert joined in, believing that Scotland needed to remain independent of England. The Battle of Stirling Bridge, in September 1297, was a devastating blow for the English. Shortly afterwards, Bruce family lands were sacked by Edwards troops in retaliation for the familys role in the rebellion. In 1298, Robert succeeded Wallace as one of the Guardians of Scotland. He served alongside John Comyn, who would become his chief rival for the country’s throne. Robert resigned his seat after just two years, when the conflicts with Comyn escalated. In addition, there were rumors that John Balliol would be restored as king despite his abdication in 1296. Instead, Scotland functioned without a monarch, and under the guidance of the countrys Guardians, until 1306, one year after Wallace was captured, tortured, and executed. Rise to the Throne In early 1306, two very important events took place that would shape the future of Scotland. In February, matters came to a head between John Comyn and Robert. During an argument, Robert stabbed Comyn at a church in Dumfries, killing him. When word of Comyn’s death reached King Edward, he was livid; Comyn had been distantly related to the king, and Edward saw this as a deliberate plot to stir up dissent. Comyn’s son, John IV, was immediately whisked off to England for his own safety, and put into the care of a nobleman who was raising Edward’s own children. John Comyn was stabbed by Robert the Bruce in 1306. Print Collector / Getty Images Just a few weeks later, at the beginning of March, Robert’s father, the 6th Earl of Annandale, died. With his father now dead, and Comyn also out of the way, Robert was the chief claimant to the Scottish throne. He moved rapidly to take power. Robert was crowned king on March 25, but an attack by Edward’s army pushed him out of the country. For a year, Robert hid out in Ireland, raising a loyal army of his own, and in 1307 he returned to Scotland. In addition to battling Edward’s troops, he laid waste to the lands of Scottish nobles who supported the English king’s claim to rule Scotland. In 1309, Robert the Bruce held his first parliament. Bannockburn and Border Raids Over the next few years, Robert continued to fight against the English, and was able to reclaim much of Scotlands land. Perhaps his most famous victory of all took place at Bannockburn in the summer of 1314. That spring, Roberts younger brother Edward had laid siege to Stirling Castle, and King Edward II decided it was time to move up north and take Stirling back. Robert, upon hearing of these plans, rounded up his army and moved into position above the marshy area that surrounded the Bannock Burn (a burn is a creek), intending to stop English troops from reclaiming Stirling. The Scottish army was thoroughly outnumbered, with an estimated five to ten thousand men, compared to an English force of more than twice that size. However, despite the larger numbers, the English were not expecting to encounter any Scottish resistance, so they were caught completely by surprise in the narrow, low-lying area of the marsh, as Roberts spearmen attacked from the wooded hillside. With English archers at the far back of the marching formation, the cavalry was rapidly decimated, and the army retreated. King Edward is said to have barely escaped with his life. Following the victory at Bannockburn, Robert grew bolder in his attacks on England. No longer content to just wait around defending Scotland, he led incursions into the border regions of northern England, as well as into Yorkshire. By 1315, he had attacked English troops in Ireland, at the request of Donall ONeill, the king of Tyrone, one of Gaelic Irelands eastern kingdoms. A year later, Roberts younger brother Edward was crowned as High King of Ireland, temporarily cementing the bond between Ireland and Scotland. Robert attempted for several years to bring about an alliance between the two countries, but eventually it crumbled, as the Irish saw Scottish occupation as no different than English occupation. The Declaration of Arbroath In 1320, Robert decided that diplomacy rather than military force might be a viable method of asserting Scottish independence. The Declaration of Arbroath, which later served as the template for Americas Declaration of Independence, was sent to Pope John XXII. The document outlined all of the reasons that Scotland should be considered an independent nation. In addition to detailing the atrocities committed upon the countrys people by King Edward II, the declaration specifically said that although Robert the Bruce had saved the country from English dominion, the nobility would not hesitate to replace him if he became unfit to rule. One of the results of the declaration was that the Pope lifted Roberts excommunication, which had been in place since he murdered John Comyn in 1306. Some eight years after the Declaration of Arbroath was sealed by more than fifty Scottish nobles and dignitaries, King Edward III, the fourteen-year-old son of Edward II, signed the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton. This treaty declared peace between England and Scotland, and recognized Robert the Bruce as Scotlands lawful king. Statue of Robert the Bruce at Stirling. Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images Death and Legacy After a two-year-long illness, Robert the Bruce died at the age of fifty-four. Although there has been speculation that his death was caused by leprosy, there is no evidence to indicate that he suffered from the disease. Western University anthropology professor Andrew Nelson studied Roberts skull and foot bone in 2016, and concluded: The anterior nasal spine (the bone support around the nose) in a healthy person is teardrop-shaped; in a person with leprosy, that structure is eroded and almost circular. King Robert’s nasal spine is teardrop-shaped... In a person with leprosy, the end of th[e] metatarsal bone [from the foot] would be pointed, as if inserted into a pencil sharpener. This bone shows no sign of â€Å"pencilling.† After his death, Roberts heart was removed and buried at Melrose Abbey, Roxburghshire. The rest of his body was embalmed and interred at Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, but was not discovered until construction workers found the casket in 1818. Statues in his honor exist in several Scottish cities, including Stirling. Robert the Bruce Fast Facts Full Name:  Robert I, also Robert the Bruce, Roibert a Briuis in medieval Gaelic.Known for:  King of Scotland and a celebrated warrior in the Scottish fight for independence from England.Born:  July 11, 1274 in Ayrshire, Scotland.Died:  June 7, 1329 at Cardross Manor, Dunbartonshire, Scotland.Parents’ Names:  Robert de Brus, the 6th Earl of Annandale, and Marjorie, Countess of Carrick. Sources Letter from Robert the Bruce to Edward II Reveals Power Struggle in the Build Up to Bannockburn. University of Glasgow, 1 June 2013, www.gla.ac.uk/news/archiveofnews/2013/june/headline_279405_en.html.Macdonald, Ken. â€Å"Reconstructed Face of Robert the Bruce Is Unveiled - BBC News.†Ã‚  BBC, BBC, 8 Dec. 2016, www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-38242781.Murray, James. â€Å"Robert the Bruce in Battle: A Battlefield Trail from Methven to Bannockburn.†Ã‚  30 Aug. 2018, www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/military-history/pre-20th-century-conflict/art487284-Robert-the-Bruce-in-Battle-A-battlefield-trail-from-Methven-to-Bannockburn.Watson, Fiona. â€Å"Great Scot, Its Robert the Bruce!†Ã‚  The History Press, www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/great-scot-it-s-robert-the-bruce/.

Wireless Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Wireless Technology - Essay Example Wireless technologies are becoming commonplace. Millions of individuals and businesses apply to the benefits of wireless technology, to raise the efficiency and productivity of their decisions. That wireless technology benefits businesses and improves their productivity is undeniable. Unfortunately, not all business owners are willing to accept and deploy effective wireless systems in their organizations. Wireless technologies speed up data transmission and are more secure compared with hardware wired mechanisms. The multitude of wireless technology standards makes it possible to find the best solution for each and every worker. The use of wireless technologies is particularly useful for the complex organizations, which comprise numerous departments and are being dispersed over a large territory: in this case, wireless technologies are the only possible way to improving interconnectedness and sharedness of knowledge and data between all levels of the organization’s performance . The current state of technology provides an extensive list of wireless technologies and standards, which facilitate the choice of the best wireless solution. The use of Wi-Fi, HomeRF and Bluetooth favor the implementation of wireless technologies in business and help businesses to meet their data transmission needs. â€Å"Wi-Fi is the most widely used wireless technology at present. It is an IEEE 802.11b wireless standard and can transmit data up to 11 Mbps† (Wells, 2009, p.81). The use of improved Wi-Fi versions is possible, too: for example, WiFi/g and WiFi5 exemplify a relatively new standard of connectivity and can transmit data at almost 54 Mbps (Wells, 2009). Apparently, there is no need to wait until wireless technologies â€Å"settle down†. They have already become an essential ingredient of daily business routine. Undoubtedly, wireless networks can enhance productivity and efficiency within organizations. This is, actually, one of the

The character Dee walker,alice everyday use Essay

The character Dee walker,alice everyday use - Essay Example She is the successful daughter, â€Å"the child who has made it† (Walker, Para. 3) and carved a place for herself in the outside world. Her style of dress, in striking shades of yellow and orange, ethnic jewelry and hairstyle all deliberately accentuate her African heritage and call out loudly for attention. They constitute her apparently defiant statement of identity. Dee’s use of the Swahili style of greeting, â€Å"Wasuzo-Teano† (Walker, Para. 21), and her adoption of the name, â€Å"Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo† are also meant to reinforce her assertion of her roots. Dee’s veneer of pride in her heritage is like her â€Å"sunglasses which hid everything† (Walker, Para. 82). A deeper study of Dee’s personality reveals that she has actually rejected her roots. â€Å"She had hated† (Walker, Para. 10) her childhood home. Her attitude towards her mother and sister is marked by criticism and condescension. Dee takes pictures of them as if they were curiosities and includes the house and the cow, but not herself. She does not see herself as a part of their world. Her change of name is again a rejection of her lineage. The name Dee, which has passed down to her through generations of her family, is more a genuine part of her heritage than the affected African name she has adopted. Her rejection of her past is irrevocably made by her statement about the old Dee: â€Å"She’s dead† (Walker, Para. 27). Dee covets the churner top and dasher, not as treasured parts of her past life, but as pretentious artistic curios to be flaunted as exotic ornaments. Likewise, her estimation of the quilts, â€Å"they’re priceless!† (Walker, Para. 52) is not based on the value of her love for the grandmother and the aunt who made them, but on their considerable monetary value as antiques, which will make a striking fashion statement. Dee does not know who made the dasher, nor does she know how to quilt. Unlike her sister Maggie, who will use

Civil disobedience Essay Example for Free

Civil disobedience Essay In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay â€Å"Self Reliance† and Henry David Thoreau’s essay â€Å"Civil Disobedience,† both transcendentalist thinkers speak about being individual and what reforms and changes need to be made in a conformist society. Thoreau elaborates more on the relationship between individuality and society and to break free from conformity. Meaning to take a stance and influence man to make a social change. Emerson leans more towards nature and the connection to spirituality. He exclaims that for individuality there has to be some sort of understanding of oneself to make an impact – which is the basic nature. He believes that man’s connection to nature is the most valuable source of life because nature is what links man to God, â€Å"the divine providence.† Both authors express the need for individuality in order to possess a strong moral and become whole through their transcendentalist ideals. In Emerson’s â€Å"Self-Reliance,† social responsibility is important. The meaning behind this is that there is a time in man’s life when he will finally realize that he has a purpose, a destiny, and the responsibility to achieve goals as long as there is a tap into spiritual nature. Emerson states, â€Å"The strongest man in the world is he who stands alone,† which references the belief of individualism. Emerson notes that famous men and women are often misunderstood simply because of their opinion, ideas, and thoughts; however, this misunderstanding is why they are so respected. One large point in â€Å"Self Reliance† is that humans should not conform to society but to be independent in mind. Emerson stresses that one should connect with nature to maintain peace of mind and individual mentality. In â€Å"Civil Disobedience,† Thoreau meets a man while serving time in prison who has been locked away for burning down a barn. Even so, Thoreau sees his cellmate as an honest man by simply trusting his own intuition. Furthermore, Thoreau writes, â€Å"The government is best which governs least,† in lines 2-3, which is based on the belief that people should not conform to society but stay independent and embrace their own beliefs, goals, values, and morals. Both â€Å"Self Reliance† and â€Å"Civil Disobedience† are relevant in modern society because they discourage conformity, which is a big problem in the world today. Humans tend to lean with the majority, but should be taught to stand their ground. Both essays also mention the government and the problems involved in it. Since they were written, government has not improved; it may have even worsened. Government is best when it governs least- that perspective should still be applied to today’s government. Now, the government tries to constantly control every aspect in everyone’s life, but like Thoreau states, it should allow its people to decide major issues.

Albert Einstien :: essays research papers

When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours that’s relativity. I, Albert Einstein, am a German-born American physicist. I am best known as the creator of the special and general theories of relativity. I was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1879. My family owned a small business, which manufactured electric Machinery. I was a shy very child and did not talk until the age of three. At the age of twelve I taught myself Euclidean Geometry. When I was fifteen my family decided to move to Pavia but I stayed in Munich alone and finished the school year. I did not last but only a term on my one until finally I followed them to Pavia. I then tried to skip high school by taking an entrance exam to the Swiss Poly Technic, a top technical university, but I failed the art portion. So my family sent me to the Swiss town of Aarau to finish high school. I graduated from high school at the age of 17and enrolled at the ETH in Zurich. This is were I met and fell in love with a classmate named Mileva Maric who would later be my first wife. I didn’t enjoy the methods of institution there. I often cut classes and used the time to study physics on my own time or I would play my beloved violin. I passed my exams and graduated in 1900 by studying the notes of a classmate. I graduated as a secondary school teacher of mathematics and physics. In January of 1902, Mileva gave birth to our first daughter, Lieserl, but we put her up for adoption later on. In 1903 while I was working in the Swiss Patent Office I completed a range of publications in theoretical physics. I wrote these by myself. I sent one of these publications to the University of Zurich. By 1909, I was recognized throughout German-speaking Europe as a leading scientific thinker. I held professorships at the German University of Prague and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. In 1910 my second son Eduard was born. In 1914 I advanced to the most prestigious and best paying post that a theoretical physicist could hold in central Europe, professor at the Kaiser Wilhelm Gegellschaft in Berlin.

Enironmental Pollution Essay

Environmental Pollution is one of the biggest challenges faced by most societies in this modern era. It has become a paradox of our time that urbanization and development be associated with environmental degradation. In man’s quest for social growth, nonchalance to nature’s laws have set in and this has disturbed a number of natural phenomena. The industrial revolution has brought with it technological advancement, such as the discovery of oil and fossil fuels and its virtually universal use in a diversity of industries. Further more rapid growth in population is established to be the fundamental cause of environmental framework collapse. Population growth increases the need to produce consumer commodities and this desire is transformed into a necessity to abuse environmental resources. Population growth creates certain negative environmental issues. These issues could be economic or social by nature. Their consequences range from a decline in air and water quality as well as deterioration in infrastructure and significant health hazards. A rapid growth in human population within the city propagates pressure on the framework of such cities and its natural resources. As cities begin to expand, they take a toll on existing rural areas, creating diverse environmental challenges such as reduced biological habitat as well as pollution of nature’s resources. The increased densities of industrial areas within cities, large number of automobiles and commercial enterprises add to increased health hazards and complete breakdown of ecosystem. Development of thought Our environment plays an important role in life. Man has equally been an active participant in the process of impacting on the environment through population and greenhouse effects. Obviously the growing population indicates a higher usage of resources thus leading to a greater deal of increased pollution. Therefore pollution of the environment has become an issue of significant discussions and diverse consequences. In recent times, the rapid growth has forced the natural environment to change drastically. A greater part of such change can be concluded to be negative with daring implications. Conclusion In light of the mentioned consequences of environmental pollution and the already visible degradation it has imposed on the environment. I would recommend the following bearing in mind that significant measures which must be cost effective and in line with budgetary allocations be taken into consideration. Pollution control Legislation of point sources The social, economic and ecological significance of conservation of the environment cannot be contestable; if pollution is to be maximally reduced, the need to appraise or look into the current levels of pollution, and environmental protection legislations within the city, with a view of presenting a new legislation. New legislated standards should be proposed since already existing legislations are found to be somewhat irregular and deficient. Also the advantages and possible problems of the proposed legislation can be debated upon and discussed. Encourage alternative transportation Alternative means of transport should be highly promoted. Cycling and walking do not propagate any sort of environmental degradation as opposed to the use of vehicles, which through the use of gas and fossil fuels are a significant actor in the downward slide of the negative environmental conditions. This recommendation takes into consideration that this measure might affect the convenience and time related factor that society has grown to enjoy from such vehicle technology. Establish green spaces or urban forestry The establishment of green spaces and urban forestry would lead to a significant decline in civilizations environmental footprints on the environment, meaning the least amount of pollution and emissions. This will facilitate the cleaning of emissions as they are released as well as restoring the ecosystem and natural balance of the environment. Of course this will have to be done without curtailing people’s freedom and rights or the world’s economy. Promote fuel-efficient cars It is a fact that a large percentage of pollution comes from emission of vehicles. It is recommended that alternative fuels or fuel efficient vehicles be encouraged. Means of transport which would be significantly friendly to the environment. Alternative fuel sources would also play an effective role in the reduction of pollution. This recommendation assumes that the alternative fuel type will displace a similar amount of current fossil fuels. It does not consider consumer acceptance or infra-structure issues that will impact the market penetration of these alternative fuels. Implementation of these recommendations would bear a total cost of about $16.2M and is well within the confines of the City Councils Budgetary allocations on tackling environmental issues. Decision-making about environmental issues necessitates the maintenance of a fine balance between the effectiveness of measures and the public reaction towards them. This simply means that in as much as the recommendations tend to curb and reduce the effect of environmental pollution, it might come off as inconveniences to the general public and thus   promote a negative reaction from the people of the city. The implementations and measures no matter how effective will put a strain on the convenience of the public, regardless to say that such measure will be beneficial both in the short run and long run.

The Life and Literature of F Scott Fitzgerald

ABOUT THE AUTHOR The Life and Literature of F. Scott Fitzgerald By Jillian Thompson May 16, 2012. English newspaper, The Guardian, once asked Jonathan Franzen, the Pulitzer Prize nominated author of The Corrections, to contribute what he believed were the greatest rules to abide by for aspiring fiction writers. His response was â€Å"Fiction that isn't an author's personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn't worth writing for anything but money† (Franzen). The novels of Francis Scott Fitzgerald suggest that he would agree wholeheartedly with Franzen.In his Notebooks, Fitzgerald wrote, â€Å"There never was a good biography of a good novelist. There couldn’t be. He’s too many people if he’s any good† (Fitzgerald 61). Fictionalizing emotions and backgrounds are an unparalleled resource to writers, and some of the greatest stories in literature have grown from the personal lives of novelists. Dickens’ David Copperfield, Hemingway ’s A Farewell To Arms, and Kerouac’s On the Road are famed illustrations of autofiction techniques, featuring a protagonist that has been modeled after the author, and a central plotline that mirrors the events of their lives.A close examination of the known facts of Scott Fitzgerald’s life is enough to establish that there is a profound relationship between his personal dispositions and the subject matter of his novels. It is also fair to conclude that he was deeply concerned with class, wealth, and their effect on the corruption of â€Å"The American Dream. † The novels and short stories of Scott Fitzgerald are documents that illustrate the hazy and glamorous Jazz Age, and had Fitzgerald’s own life been any less hazy and glamorous, some of America’s greatest literature may not have come to pass. THE LIFE OF SCOTT FITZGERALDFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born September 24th, 1896 in St Paul, Minnesota, the only son to middle class parents , Edward and Mary Fitzgerald. His parents instilled him with a fear of failure, and an obsession with wealth that would haunt his life’s ambitions. At an early age, he proved himself an imaginative and talented writer, and despite some academic struggles, he was accepted to Princeton in 1913. Intent on following his family’s advice, Fitzgerald dedicated himself to the pursuit of social and intellectual attainments, the path he believed would lead him to fame and fortune.He joined any extracurricular activity that he believed would increase his social standing on campus, but the beginning of WWI put an end to any possible fruition of his efforts. He left Princeton for the army in 1917, and was stationed at Camp Sheridan in Montgomery, Alabama, where he began work on a novella called The Romantic Egotist. It was also there that he met the woman who would change the course of his life forever. Her name was Zelda Sayre, the â€Å"golden girl†, and in her, Fitzgerald met his match in both ambition and extravagance.They had a whirlwind romance, but in the summer of 1919, Zelda grew tired of waiting for his success, and ended their relationship. Devastated by her rejection, he moved back to St. Paul, more determined than ever to become rich enough to win Zelda back. He rewrote The Romantic Egotist and in a letter to his publisher wrote, â€Å"I have so many things dependent on its success—including of course a girl† (Bryer and Barks 149). In 1920 This Side of Paradise was published. The novel was an overnight sensation with postwar youth, and two weeks later Fitzgerald and Zelda were married.They became the icons of success and youth, the first â€Å"it† couple if there ever was one, but the tumultuous beginning of their relationship never quite faded away. He and Zelda lived far outside their means, and Fitzgerald continually sunk into debt. Zelda’s impulsiveness, once interpreted as charming, had become erratic, and emotionally draining for Fitzgerald and his writing suffered. While living in Europe, Zelda overdosed on sleeping pills, and flung herself down a flight of stairs in a jealous fit. Fitzgerald had Zelda institutionalized, and she was diagnosed with schizophrenia.Fitzgerald’s dream of his muse had become a nightmare, and he worked through his emotions the way he always had, through writing, and Tender is the Night was the result. Fitzgerald died of a heart attack in 1940, while writing his final novel, The Last Tycoon. Zelda died not long after, locked in a room awaiting treatment as the sanitarium set fire. They are buried together, with a shared headstone that quotes the final words of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby. â€Å"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past† (172). FITZGERALD AND THE JAZZ AGEPerhaps the most vivid and poetic character of any Fitzgerald novel is â€Å"The Jazz Age† itself. The histori cal backdrop of the glamorous world of Flappers and speakeasies that’s envisioned when one thinks of the â€Å"Roaring Twenties†, make the perfect canvas for Fitzgerald to place his characters, who share Fitzgerald’s own conflicted feelings on Jazz Age morals. The Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise both center on the theme of love warped by status seeking. They can be read as harsh criticisms of 1920s America, and its disintegration during an era defined by material excess.With the end of WWI the American economy soared and brought about an era, from 1920-1931, which was marked by unprecedented national wealth and prosperity. The rise of the stock market and the shock of the war left America with a generation that compensated for the chaos by creating a society centered on materialism. People began to spend and consume like never before. The conservatism and modest values of Victorian society that marked the previous generation were too suffocating for the y outh who grew up fast during the â€Å"Great Crusade. A person from any background now had the opportunity to earn a fortune, especially if they were helping to supply the demand for bootleg liquor, such as Jay Gatsby was. But this giddiness was short lived, and after the stock market crash, those that had enjoyed the rapid succession from penniless to millionaire as a bootlegger, quickly lost everything as the economy crumbled. Even before the stock market crash, Fitzgerald portrayed the decay of the Jazz Age as the self-consuming society of excess that couldn’t possibly be sustained through its greed and cynicism. Fitzgerald always idolized the luxurious lifestyle of the rich.As the Fitzgerald’s fame rose in the early 1920s, he found himself slowly being seduced by the opulence of his newfound life. But despite the excitement of his new life, Fitzgerald struggled with the mixed feelings of hypocrisy associated with falling in love with a girl who was everything heâ €™d ever dreamed of, but who led him toward the materialism he had once despised. Fitzgerald developed his characters as representations of these inner conflicts. Arthur Mizener, Fitzgerald’s most noted biographer, wrote that Fitzgerald’s work so perfectly defined the Jazz Age because Fitzgerald nfused both sides of himself into what Mizener called â€Å"the middle-western Trimalchio and the spoiled priest† (297). The symbol of the green light on Daisy Buchanan’s dock in The Great Gatsby represents Fitzgerald’s hope for the future, but also the awareness that it may never be realized. Writing The Great Gatsby allowed Fitzgerald to confront his feelings on the superficiality of his world and its inhabitants. Even the title The Great Gatsby is a reflection on the Jazz Age as a masterful illusion. THE AUTHOR AND THE HERO The heart of any study on Scott Fitzgerald is of course his work.However, Fitzgerald wrote only about himself and the people and places with which he was familiar, therefore his life and his work are inextricably bound together. â€Å"There were four or five Zeldas and at least eight Scotts,† as James Thurber once put it in his book Credos and Curios, â€Å"so that their living room was forever tense with the presence of a dozen desperate personalities, even when they were alone in it. Some of these Fitzgeralds’ were characters out of a play or a novel, which made the lives of the multiple pair always theatrical, sometimes unreal, and often badly overacted† (63).In fact, reading This Side of Paradise is like reading a biography of Fitzgerald. A young man from the Midwest serves in the army, falls in love with a rich socialite, and they break up, leading him to search for success by any means available. Jay Gatsby and Amory Blaine, the young dandy protagonists of The Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise, pursue and glorify wealth to win the affections of the woman they love, much like F itzgerald himself did to win Zelda Sayre.Gatsby and Blaine are perpetually romantic adolescents whose lives are based on the mistaken idea that enough money and fame can keep the love and beauty of the past crystallized forever. The romanticism of Gatsby and Blaine, which at first rises above the frivolity Fitzgerald associated with Jazz Age society, eventually disintegrates to unveil the corruption wealth causes. The Great Gatsby’s narrator, Nick Carraway, is a young man from the Midwest with an Ivy League education, exactly like Fitzgerald.Nick’s background makes him an ideal narrator because he is able to see past Gatsby’s superficialities to the man underneath. Fitzgerald uses Nick to express his opinion that an ideal based on a materialistic foundation is a self-defeating and ultimately destructive goal. Then lastly, there’s the girl. The object of all-consuming affection. Fitzgerald’s muse for his female protagonist was of course his wife, Ze lda. In fact, she was more than just a muse. After sharing her personal diaries with Fitzgerald, he used verbatim quotes to write the character of Rosalind Connage in This Side of Paradise.He wrote, â€Å"all criticism of Rosalind ends in her beauty† (Bryer and Barks 201) and told Zelda â€Å"the heroine does resemble you in more ways than four† (230). Like Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, Zelda never took to motherhood and was never particularly domestic. According to Fitzgerald’s Notebooks, the famous line from The Great Gatsby, â€Å"I hope she'll be a fool–that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool† (Fitzgerald 22), is based on what Zelda said after her daughter, Scottie, was born. The most accurate portrayal of Zelda is most likely in Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald’s last completed novel.This is a story of a man of almost limitless potential who makes the fatal decision to marry a beautiful but mental ly ill woman, and who ultimately sinks into despair and alcoholism when their doomed marriage fails. He wrote it about their time in Europe, and the Lost Generation community of writers, a term coined by Fitzgerald’s close friend Ernest Hemmingway to describe those who came of age during World War 1, including Gertrude Stein, T. S Eliot and Waldo Peirce. In the novel, he chronicled the decline of Zelda’s mental health, and his discovery that she would never return to the way she was.The Zelda in this novel not was the glorified beauty of This Side of Paradise or The Great Gatsby, and she a wrote a semi-autobiographical account of her own as a form of revenge against Fitzgerald after their marriage dissolved. After she was committed, Fitzgerald wrote in his Notebook, â€Å"In an odd way, perhaps incredible to you, she was always my child (it was not reciprocal as it often is in marriages) †¦ I was her great reality, often the only liaison agent who could make the world tangible to her† (478). â€Å"SO WE BEAT ON†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Fitzgerald, 172)The beginning of The Great Gatsby is prefaced by a poem written by a fictional character from This Side of Paradise. It reads, Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry ‘Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you! (6) If the words of Jonathan Franzen are true, then it can be assumed that Fitzgerald’s greatest adventure into the unknown was his relationship with Zelda. Their relationship became the basis of his life’s work, which made him one of the greatest storytellers American literature has known to date.

The Dominating Role essays

The Dominating Role essays Throughout history women have been seen as subservient caretakers of men. For years women have made it their responsibility to cater to a man's need, whether it be to cook, clean, or be a lover to that particular man. However In Thomas Wyatts poem They Flee From Me women are portrayed as a-moral sexual beings that take advantage of men. Furthermore, Wyatt uses an array of imagery and other poetic techniques to convey this message. In line one of the poem, They flee from me that sometime did me seek the speaker is suggesting that the women of the poem are playing mind games with him because at times the women seek or want to indulge in the company of the speaker and at times they run away or do not care to be in the presence of the speaker. Moreover, in lines three and four states, I have seen them gentle tame and meek, That now are wild and do not remember, show that the women do not have any character to them. The women personalities can vary at any time sometimes they are sweet, polite, and calm but at other times they are wild, rude and impolite. Also the women have no conscious about the various sexual acts they perform with the men. Nor do they really seem to know whom the men are they are performing these acts with. In line eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen which states, When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall, and she me caught in her arms long and small, and therewithal sweetly did me ki ss the women mean nothing but sex to the speaker. Furthermore, there is a lot of emphasis put on the structure of the womans body in these lines. The speaker is very much attracted to the womans outer appearance the way her body is shaped, how small and petite the woman is, and lastly the sex appeal she portrays. On the other hand, the poem shifts and the dominating role are not placed on the mans perspectives and desires...

How Content Can Catch Fire With Amplification Process With Heidi Cohen

How Content Can Catch Fire With Amplification Process With Heidi Cohen Do you do whatever you can to get a prospect’s attention? Many marketers actually miss the mark when it comes to connecting their customers and content. Today, we’re talking to Heidi Cohen, chief content officer of Actionable Marketing Guide. She describes how you can build momentum to keep your content visible, consumable, and actionable. Also, Heidi shares a method to follow for your content’s amplification and distribution process. Difference between distribution and promotion of content Distribution Method: Ignite (up to first three days): Build a network and spark participants’ interest and willingness to engage with and share your content Fuel (first month): Plan, manage, and schedule social media marketing to keep content fresh and visible; utilize many mediums (i.e. video, audio) Spread (ongoing): Road test content to determine what works or doesn’t to attract new people; perform audit to update content and get conversions Less than 60% of digital traffic is human; build relationships and be creative to reach humans who will share your content Ways to create new or keep content going include visuals/images, guest posts, build authority, get people involved, take content live, and go to conferences Links: Heidi Cohen Subscribe to Heidi Cohen’s Newsletter Hootsuite Buffer Aaron Orendorff How To Avoid The Most Costly Mistake In Influencer Marketing With Shane Barker Andy Crestodina Steve Dotto The Secret 3 Steps For Content Amplification And Distribution Success 5 Basic Content Types Customers Need How We Increased the Readership of Buffer’s Blog to Over 1.5 Million Visits Yale Appliance Brian Dean The New York Public Library on Instagram How to Network at a Conference: 101 Tips From Marketing’s Best Content Marketing World Gini Dietrich Write a review on iTunes and send a screenshot of it to receive a care package! If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Heidi Cohen: â€Å"You don’t want to have your promotions look like wallpaper meaning that no one sees them.† â€Å"Optimization is key because it’s not just that one shot in the dark.† â€Å"You’ve got to make sure that everything you create has‘connected content’.† â€Å"Keeping that content going is way cheaper than creating it again.† Im a big proponent of testing and tracking to get those incremental 10% improvements.

Major Factors Influencing the Fast Moving Consumer Goods Dissertation

Major Factors Influencing the Fast Moving Consumer Goods - Dissertation Example According to the statistics, the country improved its net worth of FMCG from an initial $884 million in 2008 to $1 billion in 2011 (Iheduru, 2012). There is high competition in this sector, and this explains why majority of foreign-based firms have become interested in the Nigerian market. Many factors account for this scenario experienced in the Nigerian FMCG market. For example, strong economic growth, relatively political stability, and increased consumerism in the country can explain why FMCG market continues to expand in Nigeria. Nevertheless, the sector has not been immune to challenges, which tend to reverse the gains made in the sector. Some of the challenges arise from insecurity issues, political uncertainties in terms of post-election violence, infrastructural impediment, structural and regulatory bottlenecks, and distribution inefficiency (Iheduru, 2012). Therefore, it is in this state of lack of clarity that information has to be sought regarding Nigeria’s FMCG se ctor, and identify specific factors enhancing the growth of FMCG sector. FMCGs Industry Most literatures depict FMCGs industry to be concerned with production, distribution, and marketing of packaged products to diverse group of consumers. Various factors have been explored, which are perceived to have direct or indirect role in the development and sustenance of FMCG industry. Many of these factors can be categorized as both internal and external and have to do with general business environment (Paul, 2010). Therefore, some of the identified factors, which have made the industry blossom include the cost of operations estimated to be low, availability and utilization of efficient and effective distribution networks, the increasing competition in the sector that motivate many players, and the increasing number of people in different countries has also enhanced consumerism (Paul, 2010). These factors can be used to explain the Nigerian scenario, but other micro-aspects found in the country have to be investigated. In order to find out which specific factors have contribute d to progress of FMCGs industry in Nigeria, survey is conducted on a number of FMCGs in the country and analysis of generated resulted will be undertaken. The understanding is that, effective analysis of the results will clearly show which factors and to what level they have contributed to grow of FMCGs in Nigeria. How FMCGs companies in Nigeria try to build on their market share Increasing market share is one of the critical aspects players in the FMCGs industry try to achieve. Given that it was earlier identified that competition in FMCGs sector is increasing, the participants have innovated diverse methods and strategies to stay ahead of the rest. In other words, achieving competitive advantage and remaining in a win-win situation requires market participants (sellers) to identify the most appropriate and best strategies. For example, earlier studies that have been done have shown that, in order to create and increase market share, FMCGs firms adopt some of the following market s trategies. The firms innovate and market strong product brands as compared to their competitors (Gough 2004). Product brand is one of the most frequently and thoroughly used strategy by FMCGs firms to identify, penetrate, and control markets in different regions in which they operate. By owning and promoting strong brands, firms are able to resonate well with a particular market niche, which subsequently leads to increase in market share, a fact

Critical success factors (MBA) Assignment Essay

Critical success factors (MBA) Assignment - Essay Example This paper will review the literature on what are the key factors that determine success of any project. The term success factor itself has been defined different by different researchers. While Clarke (1999) refers to it as ‘key success factors’, Belassi and Tukel (1996) call it the critical success/failure factor. Cooke Davies (2002) calls them merely ‘success factors. According to Torp et al. (2004, pp2) noticed â€Å"CSFs to projects moved from a mechanistic approach to success determination which was relying on purely technical system and the traditional Cost-Time-Quality constraints to a combination of social and technical systems†. Cooke-Davies further clarifies that project success is more difficult than project management success because the goals and methods are liable to change. Project success is measured against the overall objectives of the project while project management success is measured against the cost, time, quality and performance. Cooke-Davies further distinguishes between success criteria and success factors. People also differ on the number of success factors that are critical for project success. Daniel (1961), in an article published in Harvard Business Review, highlighted the type of information needed to support top management activities. He recognized the significance of non-financial data in order to achieve organizational goals and suggested that an organization’s information system should be centered on providing three to six success factors that help an organization achieve success. Rockhard in 1979 defined critical success factor (CSF) as the limited number of areas in which satisfactory results will ensure successful competitive performance for the individual, department, or organization (ESCC, 2006). He stressed that CSFs are the few key areas which have to be just right for the organization to flourish and for the manager to achieve