Discuss Hardys Portrayal Of Women In The Withered Arm Essays

Discuss Hardys Portrayal Of Women In The Withered Arm Essays Discuss Hardys Portrayal Of Women In The Withered Arm Paper Discuss Hardys Portrayal Of Women In The Withered Arm Paper Essay Topic: Literature The withered arm is a short story about two women who live in the English countryside. The two main women in the text are portrayed negatively by the author, Thomas Hardy. The story was written in the 19th century and thus it was acceptable to portray women negatively in this patriarchal society. At the beginning of the text Hardys attitude towards women is made clear. The women are only given low paid menial jobs such as milking cows. The milkmaids are all working under the control of the dairyman. The dairyman has to stop the women from gossiping when he says get on with your work or twill be dark afore we have done. His authority over the women brought an end to their conversation. Rhoda is portrayed as jealous in the first part of the story. She is very curious about Farmer Lodges new wife and gets her son to report back to her on Gertrudes appearance. She tells her son you can give her a look, and tell me what shes like. The women talk with lower class, common dialect showing that they are less educated than Farmer Lodge who speaks standard English. Rhoda shown as poor in the description of her house: It was built of mud walls. The surface of which had been washed by many rains. This contrasts Rhodas poverty with Farmer Lodges wealth, emphasising male dominance. Her appearance is described as pale and thin. The villagers see Rhoda as some sort of witch. They tell Gertrude that if anyone knew of Conjurer Trendles whereabouts it would be Rhoda. The reader knows Rhoda has supernatural powers because she injures Gertrudes arm through her dream. The same negative phrases are repeated throughout the story, such as thin and worn. This emphasises how women are inferior to men. It can be argued that women are not portrayed negatively. Gertrude is introduced to the reader very positively. Her dialect is one of an educated person compared to Rhodas. She is described by Rhodas son as very pretty and a lady complete. Light imagery is used several times. She is described as the light under a heap of rose petals. When she leaves Rhodas house it seemed as if a light had gone from the dwelling. Hardy uses pathetic fallacy when Gertrude arrives in the village. She arrives while the sun was yet bright. This repeated light imagery suggests that Gertrude is a good person who will bring light to the village. Gertrude is a generous, kind and friendly person. This is shown when she goes to Rhodas house to give shoes to her son. Gertrude and Rhoda get on well despite Rhodas hatred towards her. This shows how friendly Gertrude is and how much of a good person she is. Gertrude is modest as she coloured up more than ever for shame at the noise that her dress was making. Farmer Lodge is portrayed negatively here because he seemed pleased by the noise the dress was making. So it can be argued women are not portrayed negatively in the story. However, Hardy only portrays Gertrude positively at first to contrast her good qualities with Rhodas bad qualities and thus emphasise them. Also, by portraying Rhoda so positively at the start it emphasises her downfall at the end of the story. She becomes selfish, vain, and associates herself with witchcraft by visiting Trendle. So although Hardy shows Gertrude to be good, this is only a literary device used to show how bad she really is. Hardy has an old fashioned view of women that was typical of 19th century society. His view of women is reflected in the text as they are portrayed as inferior to men. Women were expected to be child-bearers. This is shown when Hardy writes about Gertrudes negative characteristics: She had brought him no child Hardy sees this as a reason why Gertrudes marriage is falling apart and why farmer Lodge doesnt love her anymore. In the text women are portrayed as if they were only objects of beauty. This is made clear when Gertrude arrives in the village and Farmer Lodge tells her you must expect to be stared at, just at first. The villagers would stare at her beauty without caring about how this made her feel. Women are weak and helpless in the story. Gertrude has trouble with her stereotypical weakness when she wants to go to town: There was no animal that could be considered a ladys mount This shows that women are so much weaker than men that they cannot ride the same horses. Trendle believes Gertrude will have trouble carrying out his instructions because he says they are hard to carry out, and especially for a woman. Womens subservience to men is also shown in the text. Gertrude fears Farmer Lodge so much that the fear of her husbands anger made her reluctant to breathe a word. Women are portrayed as evil characters. Hardy uses pathetic fallacy to show this when Gertrude and Rhoda go to see Conjurer Trendle: Thick clouds made the atmosphere dark This emphases the evil deed the women are doing by going to see Trendle and associating themselves with witchcraft. Hardy not only portrays women negatively, but he also portrays men positively to juxtapose the genders. The contrast of good and bad emphasises the womens negative qualities. Farmer Lodge is the main male character in the story and is portrayed positively throughout. At the start of the story he is described as a yeoman in the prime of life and has thriving farmers features, compared to Rhoda, the thin, worn milkmaid. Farmer Lodge is also portrayed as being above Gertrude because he has authority over her when he insisted upon [Gertrude] going to [a doctor] about her arm. Other men in the story are also shown positively, such as the dairyman who has manly kindliness. The ending of the story shows how men were believed to be superior because Farmer Lodge prospers while Gertrude and Rhoda suffer. Gertrude became bent and her once abundant hair white and worn away, Gertrude dies, whereas Farmer Lodge ends up a chastened and thoughtful man The entire story is based around Gertrudes withered arm. The problem with her arm brings about her downfall and causes Rhoda to leave the village. The injury is a physical manifestation of Rhodas hate for Gertrude, showing how women are evil and full of hate. It shows how jealous and bitter women can get because they all ant men to look after them. It is also significant that it was Farmer Lodge who was to blame for the withered arm however it was his innocent wife who received the punishment. This shows womens subservience to men. Thus to conclude, Hardy portrays women negatively, and men positively in The Withered Arm. His attitude to women reflects the patriarchal society he was a part of. Before the 20th century his misogynist opinions were considered normal.

How to Apply for College in the US as an International Student

How to Apply for College in the US as an International Student SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips According to the Institute of International Education, almost 975,000 international students studied at colleges in the United States last year. If you’re hoping to be one of those students, then this guide is for you. To help you through the college application process, this guide will go over all the steps you need to take, from translating your transcript to taking the TOEFL. Before jumping into the process of international student admissions, let’s review how your application process is the same as a U.S. student's and how it’s different. Applying to College: International vs. Domestic Students As an international student, you'll largely take the same steps to apply to U.S. colleges as students from the U.S.You'll just need to add a few extra steps to account for differences in languages, school curriculum, andgrading systems. Below, you'll find an overview of the main similarities and differences between applying for college as an international student in the U.S. and applying as a domestic student. How Applying Is the Same Many of the steps you’ll take to apply to college in the U.S. are the same ones that domestic students take. You should apply to several schools to increase your chances of getting accepted. Eight to nine is a good number, but some students apply to even more. You’ll apply by an early deadline, usually in November of senior year, or a regular deadline, usually in January or February of senior. Some schools have even later deadlines that fall in the spring or summer. You might use the Common Application or Universal Application, both of which can just be filled out once and sent to several schools. If any of your prospective colleges don’t accept those applications, then you’ll fill out a separate one. Your application will contain your personal information, like your name and date of birth, as well as any extracurricular activities, jobs, or internships. You’ll also send a personal essay, one or more letters of recommendation, a transcript with your high school grades, and, for most colleges, SAT or ACT scores. A few colleges also ask you to answer supplemental essay questions, which call for shorter responses than your mainpersonal essay. The bulk of the application process is the same for international and domestic students, but international college students do have to take some additional steps. Read on to find out what these steps are. How Applying Is Different There are a few extra steps if you’re applying as an international student. First, you might have to take the TOEFL if you’re from a country where the official language is something other than English. The TOEFL (or its alternative, the IELTS) is a test that demonstrates your English language proficiency. Second, you may need to get your transcript and any other academic credentials evaluated by an approved organization. This evaluation puts your courses and grades into U.S. terms so that admissions officers can understand them. If financial aid is important to you, then you’ll have to figure out whether you can obtain aid directly from colleges. Federal financial aid is only available to U.S. citizens. You might also apply foroutside scholarships. Finally, you’ll need to sort out the legal requirements of living in the U.S. by applying for a student visa. Usually, you apply for your student visa after gaining admission to a college and accepting a place in the next class. Now that you have a sense of the unique requirements for international student admission, let’s dive into the application process, step by step. Read on to learn how each piece of the international student application fits together! How to Apply to College as an International Student Many colleges are seeking to make their campuses more globalizedand welcome international applicants. At the same time, there aren’t as many spots available for international students in the USA as there are for domestic applicants, so you shouldmake sure you understand the college process and can send off the strongest application possible. Colleges vary in their individual policies and requirements, but for the most part, they all ask for the same materials. Most collegesask forthe following: Application High school transcript SAT or ACT scores TOEFL scores Personal essay (and any supplemental essays) Letters of recommendation Many of these components take months or even years to prepare, so college planning should start early in high school. Let’s talk about each of these application components in detail, along with tips for preparing each. The Application You can think of your application - the actual forms that contain your personal information - as the umbrella that covers all the other documents you’ll send. Each school has its own application, but many accept the Common Application and/or the Universal Application. These are both free services that allow you to fill out just one application and send it to several schools. Colleges that don’t accept these applications, such asstate schools in California and Texas, have their own application systems. Regardless of whether you use the Common Application or a school-specific application, you’ll find that both look pretty similar. Applications will ask for your personal information, like your name, address, schools attended, and any extracurricular activities. If your school requires an essay, then you’ll usually paste your essay into your application. You may also invite recommenders via email to upload their reference letters. While creating an account and filling out your application is free, submitting it requires a fee. Some schools have no application fee while others cost as much as $80 or $90. The average application fee is around $35 to $40. If the fees are burdensome, you may be able to obtain a college application fee waiver from the colleges that you’re interested in. Below you’ll find a few more tips to help you prepare your college applications. Tips for Your College Application Preparing to apply to college is a process that can start at the beginning of high school. Colleges will look at all four years of your classes, grades, and extracurricular involvements, so it helps to consider your college goals as you make choices throughout 9th, 10th, th, and 12th grade. Most students apply to several colleges; typically, eight or nine is a good number. That way they can maximize their chances of getting accepted. Students usually apply to two to three safety schools, or ones where their credentials are well above that of the average accepted student. They also apply to schools to which getting accepted is more challenging - usually two to three match schools and two to three reach schools. The application forms themselves are not all that time-intensive. You should give yourself at least a month before your deadlines to fill them out and proofread for any errors. As an international student, you might be in a good positionto emphasize any language skills or unique multicultural experiences that you have. The aspects of your application that require months, if not years, of planning, are your SAT/ACT scores, TOEFL scores, essay, and letters of recommendation, as you’ll learn more about below. First, let’s consider another piece of your college application, your high school transcript. Depending on college policy, you might need to translate your transcript. High School Transcript To determine admission, colleges look closely at high school grades. To show schools this important information, you’ll send an official transcript. Usually, your school must send your transcript in a sealed envelope. For some schools, you can send your transcript directly. Others will ask you to get it translated and certified by an official credential service. If your school uses a different grading system than the 4.0 scale used in the U.S., then you may have to send off your transcript for evaluation. This transcript service may cost around $100. The company should be a member of NACES, the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services, like World Education Services, Inc. Some colleges will allow you to use unofficial translators. Tufts, for example, says â€Å"Acceptable translators include English teachers or other school officials, professional translators, or a local EducationUSA office. Students do not need to utilize credential evaluation companies of any sort.† Read on a few tips for sending your high school transcript to U.S. colleges. Tips for Your High School Transcript Colleges look at your grades throughout high school, as well as your course selection. They consideryour commitment to your academics, your progress in particular subjects, and the extent to which you challenged yourselfwithhigher level courses. Each college sets its own admissions policies, so make sure to research each school on your list about what it wants you to do with your transcript. You should be able to find this on the international admissions page on its website. If you can’t find this information online, you should email or call the admissions office directly. If you need to use an evaluation service, then you'll have toplan especially early. These services typically take about seven business days after receiving your documents. You might start the process about a month before your deadlines to make sure everything arrives in time. In addition to your grades, your SAT or ACT scores are another important part of your college application. Below we'll take a closer look at thestandardized testing partof your college applications. Schools may be very different from one another,so standardized tests, like the SAT and ACT, are usedto bridge the gap. SAT or ACT Scores For most four-year U.S. colleges, your SAT or ACT scores are an important part of your candidacy. Colleges consider both tests equally, so it’s up to you to decide which one you’d rather take. Some colleges additionally require SAT Subject Tests, though they usually waive this requirement if you send ACT scores. While you can self-report your scores on your application, you’ll need to send official score reports via your College Board (for the SAT) or ACT, Inc (for the ACT) accounts. If you send multiple score reports, many colleges will â€Å"superscore† your results, or take your highest scores by section and recombine them into the highest possible composite score. The SAT and ACT require lots of prep and planning, and we have tons of resources to help you achieve your target scores. For now, let’s go over a few of the most important tips for planning for these important tests. Tips for the SAT and ACT The SAT and ACT are challenging tests, and both require a lot of prep to do well. To start your planning, you first need to decide which test to take. Familiarize yourself with their similarities and differences, and choose the one on which you can gain the higher score. Then, you canset a goal for yourself. Determine your target scores based on personal goals and your colleges’ expectations. Most colleges publicize the average SAT or ACT scores of accepted students, and you can also find this information on PrepScholar’s database of schools by searching for "name of college + PrepScholar."Once you know the average, you can aim for an even stronger score to be a competitive candidate. You might start your prep with a timed practice test to gauge your current scoring level and diagnose your strengths and weaknesses. Depending on how much you seek to improve, you can figure out how long you need to study. A score improvement of only 30 points on the SAT may just call for about 20 hours of studying, for example, while a score improvement of a few hundred points could require over 150 hours. Lots of students take the SAT or ACTmore than once to achieve their target scores. As mentioned above, many colleges superscore your results,so you don’t have to worry about increasing your score in one section but decreasing in another. If retaking the SAT or ACT is in your plans, then you’ll need to leave yourself enough opportunities to retest. You might take the SAT or ACT for the first time in your sophomore year. That way, you can take it again as a junior, and even in the fall of senior year if you seek improvement. Your SAT and ACT scores show that you have the academic skills to succeed at the college level. If you’re a non-native English speaker, then you may also have to take the TOEFL to demonstrate that you have college-ready English language skills. Hope you're feeling chatty! The TOEFL will get you speaking in English. TOEFL Scores If your native language is something other than English, then you may have to take the TOEFL (or its counterpart, the IELTS) to demonstrate your English language proficiency. Unlike the SAT or ACT, the TOEFL is computer-based in most countries. Its scoring scale ranges from 0 to 120, and it tests your Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing skills. Many schools require a minimum TOEFL score. If you don’t have the requisite TOEFL scores, then the rest of your application doesn’t matter! The TOEFL is definitely a test to be taken seriously if you want to study at a U.S. college. Like the SAT or ACT, you could take the TOEFL more than once to achieve your target scores. Here are just a few examples of colleges with a TOEFL requirement. The TOEFL iBT is the internet-based test; the less common TOEFL PBT is the paper-based test, and its scoring scale ranges from 310 to 677. College TOEFL iBT TOEFL PBT American University 100 600 Boston University 95 550-600 Harvard 100 600 Northeastern 79-80 550 Penn State 90 550 UCLA 87 560 A few schools will waive the TOEFL requirement if you achieve a minimum score on the verbal sections of the SAT or ACT. Because these sections require strong English skills, they can sometimes act as a stand-in for the TOEFL. As with every other part of your application, you’ll need to research each college of interest to learn about its stance and plan accordingly. Below you’ll find a few more tips for planning for the TOEFL. Tips for the TOEFL As an international student, you may have the double challenge of prepping for the both the SAT or ACT and the TOEFL. You’ll have to set aside time to study for both tests and arrange a testing schedule that works for you. Like the SAT or ACT, you may want to start studying at least three months before your first test date. Set aside several hours each week to review with high-quality practice materials and take practice tests. The earlier you start, the more available test dates you’ll have to retake the TOEFL if need be. If you have strong language skills early in high school, then you might consider taking the TOEFL in 9th or 10th grade. Then you can devote even more timeto other tests and application components. If you wait until later in your high school career, then you should take the time to devise a study plan that balances your time between both the TOEFL and the SAT (or ACT). In addition to your grades and test scores, admissions officers are also interested in learning more about you as a person. One way that they accomplishthis is by reading your personal essay. Your college essay can be about whatever you want! This one about the megastore, Costco, got its writer into five Ivy League schools. College Essays Many 4-year colleges claim to use a holistic admissions process, in which they consider not just your grades and test scores, but also your personal qualities and motivations. One way that they get to know you as a person is through your personal essay. In your personal essay, you’ll typically be asked to reflect on a meaningful experience in your life and how it shaped your identity. What you choose to write about should reveal something significant about your values, and your essay as a whole will show your writing style and thought process. If you use the Common Application to apply to colleges, then you’ll choose one of five prompts for your essay. Here are just three examples of Common Application essay prompts: The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again? Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family. As you can see, the essay prompts ask you to share something personal and meaningful. Schools that don’t use the Common Application will likely have their own essay prompt. They might look similar to the ones above or simply ask why you want to attend the college and to describe some of your future goals. Some colleges, especially the more selective ones, will ask additional supplemental essay questions. These are shorter in length, perhaps a few paragraphs or less, and vary by school. They might ask why you want to attend the school or to talk about a favorite book or artist. Some are abstract, like Tufts’ question, â€Å"What makes you happy?† Others are kind of random, like the University of Virginia’s recent prompt, â€Å"To tweet or not to tweet?† Whatever the supplemental questions, they vary by college and should not be overlooked. Below you’ll find a few tips for writing your college essays. Tips for Your College Essays The college essay is a unique piece of writing. It requires you to be introspective and to share something that’s meaningful to you on a personal level. The best essays tend to zero in on a particular experience that reveals something significant about the writer’s identity. The personal essay’s a challenging assignment, so you should give yourself several months to work on it. You might take several weeks to brainstorm the right topic. Once you come up with a draft, you might share with teachers, friends, and families for feedback. Ultimately, though, the essay should be in your voice and stay true to who you are. As an international student, you may be able to bring unique multicultural experiences or language skills to campus. Your essay’s a great opportunity to share your perspective and show admissions officers why it should be represented on campus. Supplemental essays, while not as lengthy as the personal essay, are also an important part of your application. Probably the most common mistake that students make with supplemental essays is rushing through them and producing generic answers. Your supplemental essays should be specific and customized to each school.They’re typically an opportunity for you to show what you know about the college and your particular reasons for wanting to attend. While admissions officers learn about you from your personal essays, they also get to know you through your recommendation letters. Rather than hearing your voice, they hear what your teachers and/or counselor have to say about you. Ask a teacher who's happy to paint a flattering picture of you in her letter of recommendation. Letters of Recommendation The final important piece of your college applications isyour letters of recommendation. Requirements for reference letters vary; some colleges don’t ask for any, while others ask for one, two, or even three. Usually, colleges want to see one or two recommendations from teachers and one from your school counselor. If you don’t have a counselor, then you might get one from a principal or other administrator. You’ll choose your recommenders and ask them if they’d be willing to provide you with a recommendation. Then you’ll invite them to submit their letters through your online application. Your recommendation letters should speak to both your academic and personal qualities. Like your essays and the rest of your application, they should give admissions officers insight into your strengths and skills as a student, as well as your personality and character. In addition to our in-depth guides on recommendation letters for college, you’ll find a few tips below. Tips for Your Letters of Recommendation Just as you should give yourself plenty of time to write your college essay, you should give your recommenders sufficienttime to write your letters. You should ask your recommenders at least one month before your deadlines. You might also ask at the end of junior year. It’s best to ask teachers who had you recently and for a whole year; junior year teachers tend to be a good bet. If your teachers write in another language, then you’ll have to get your letters translated. The best letters come from educators who know you well, so you should ask teachers with whom you have a strong connection. You might also share your own thoughts and ideas via conversation and a â€Å"brag sheet,† a document you can prepare to help your teachers. You couldtalk aboutyour favorite classes, significant experiences, and academic and personal goals for college. For many colleges, your recommendation letters are a very important part of your college application. Admissions officers are sifting through many strong applicants and trying to gain a clearer idea of who you are as a person. Your recommendation letters are a great opportunity to showcase your positive relationships with your teachers and successes in school. Now that we’ve gone over the main parts of your college application - the application itself, transcript, standardized testing scores, essays, and letters of recommendation - let’s consider some final tips for applying to college as an international student. Keep these final tips in mind as you make plans togrow academically and personally at a U.S. college. Applying to College as an International Student: 3 Final Tips Applying to college is a complex process, and it becomes even more complicated for international college students due to additional steps, like taking the TOEFL and having your materials translated and certified. By familiarizing yourself with the entire process, you can make sure that you have enough time to prepare all your materials by the deadline. With this knowledge, you can produce a competitive application that will secure you a spot at a U.S. college. As you work your way through the steps, remember these three key tips. 1. Don’t Underestimate the SAT/ACT or TOEFL Doing well on standardized tests is important for all college applicants, and it becomes even more significant for international students in the USA. The TOEFL shows admissions officers that you have the reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills to succeed in college-level classes. The SAT and ACT, furthermore, show your academic skills and college readiness. These tests are meant to measure students on a level playing field, regardless of differences in individual high schools and curriculum (though of course, how well they do this is a matter of debate). Admissions officers may be unfamiliar with your school abroad, so they especially rely on these test scores to make sure you have college-ready skills. As discussed above, you should set aside several months to prep for each test and leave yourself additional test dates if you want to retest and achieve your target scores. If your sights are set on a U.S. college, then make sure you have the SAT or ACT and TOEFL scores to compete with other applicants. 2. Remember that Many Colleges Use a Holistic Process While test scores are important, remember that they’re not the only part of your application. Many colleges use a holistic process to admit students, in which they consider your personal qualities and impact in your school community. Admissions officers want to learn about your interests and pursuits in and out of school. They’re interested in your extracurricular involvements and any leadership positions. They want to see if you’ve done community service, volunteered, or worked a part-time or summer job. They also gain a sense of your role in your school community through your letters of recommendation. Admissions officers tend to be more impressed by deep involvement in a few areas than scattered participation in many areas. You might keep this in mind as you move through high school and choose your activities, as well as when you describe your involvements on your application. Ultimately, applying to college requires a lot of self-reflection about your identity and goals for the future. Think about what’s important to you and what you hope to achieve. Then, reflect this self-awareness through your essays and application as a whole. 3. Plan Early! Finally, the importance of planning early cannot be emphasized enough! There are a lot of moving parts that go into a college application, and none of them can be completed in a short time frame. Admissions officers are interested in all four years of high school, so planning early willhelp you make informed choices about your courses and involvements. For instance, you should try to challenge yourself in one or more upper-level classes and stick with an activity or two throughout your time in high school. Follow your interests and you may have a sense of what subject you’d like to choose as your major once you arrive at college. In the end, you college application will tell a story to admissions officers about your high school experience and identity. By planning early, you can make the most of these years with a goal-oriented, proactive mindset. All of your hard work will pay off when you send off a great college application that gets you accepted into your dream school! What’s Next? Are you figuring out where to apply to college? This guide will help you research colleges and find the best ones for you. Will you be taking the TOEFL and the SAT? Check out this comprehensive guide to learn about the TOEFL and SAT and how to prepare for both. Are you getting ready for the SAT? To help you prepare, we’ve compiled our best articles in the Ultimate Study Guide for the SAT. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Compare and contrast management interviews Essay

Compare and contrast management interviews - Essay Example Many of us conducted this management interview with managers from different company departments. This paper therefore compares and contrasts the responses that were given by these managers. Different questionnaires reported different management day-to-day duties. Whereas managers carry the same title, their daily job roles are significantly diversified. The roles span from employee supervision, sales management, overseeing production, as well as general office management. Some managers are required to deliver short-term results whereas others are evaluated annually. The interviews also point to the different management levels by different managers. Seemingly, management levels determine the kind of daily tasks performed by the managers. Some of the highlighted goals include meeting daily sales margins, product delivery targets, meeting production line efficiencies. Others set weekly goals where one manager aims to keep everything in order by making sure errors stay to the minimum. Another one sets a monthly goal of managing real-estate by controlling and managing rent expenses on building company leases. However, daily, weekly and monthly targets pile up accumulatively to become annual targets for the organization. The interviews showed that different managers have different goal achieving strategies. For instance, there is a manager who has a strategy of doing paperwork in the morning, another has a strategy of ensuring the employees are properly trained and they are also cross-trained, another one writes down the goals and objectives and gives them to individual employees, and another one ensures customer gets satisfied. One manager pointed to giving incentives to well performing employees as a way of pushing individual employees to meet goals and targets. Yet, others went to an extent of outsourcing challenging tasks to other vendors in

Personal Statement for UCD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal Statement for UCD - Essay Example May sound cliched, but it is a fact that I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I belonged to quiet an affluent family and this experience casted a direct shadow on my early academic ambitions. Though, my parents, as is the case with most of the caring and responsible parents, expected me to work hard and do well at school, me having an easy access to all the basic necessities of life, and much more, my attitude towards academics was relatively complacent and easy going. It is not that I intended to take life casually and irresponsibly, but I felt that since I was from a well provided and well endowed family, I do afford to take is easy. To a great extent it was true. Academic pursuits and studies did interest me, but in a very loosely and liberal sense that though I liked to read and learn, yet these efforts were not very systematic in the sense that I never intended them to materialize into exceptional grades. I felt that my primary concern should be to learn and experience th ings and not to let my education interfere with what I considered to be real education. This also worked for me in the sense that it was a pragmatic fact that going by my immediate family circumstances, I knew I was never to compete for a job. Everything was going fine, until the catastrophe struck us in an unexpected way. Our well established family business was totally annihilated by a large corporate firm. This changed the things in many ways. Indeed, this had an immense impact on the entire family and the way of life we were used to. Yet, to put it more precisely, it had a great impact on me. Whatever I was, I was never a person given to daydreaming and fantasizing. I immediately geared up to the reality and facts. A thorough analysis of the family situation soon led me to the conclusion that now the things were not the same. My sense of responsibility and sincerity forced me to face the fact that I should not now expect my family to provide me with the comfort and stability tha t I once had. Instead, I should do whatever was possible to emerge as an asset to the family so that they should not unnecessarily worry about me. I decided that somebody has taken away my cheese and it would not come back now. So, to begin with, I started working hard at the school so that I may get good grades and a sound academic grounding, which will better my academic and career prospects. I also solicited a direct insight into the way economic theories worked by working for a taxation company and Charles Schwab Company. One thing that our family misfortune forced me to think about was that I often wondered whether the economic realities always worked in a random and fatal manner or whether there existed a method and reason behind them. This got me immensely interested in the discipline of economics. My work experience soon made me realize that businesses do always had a pivotal impact on the life of the people, their standard of living and the quality of life they led. This au gmented my interest and encouraged me to study economics in serious and systematic way. My academic efforts at the high school made me understand that economic

Blackbird Play Review And Analysis Theatre Essay

Blackbird Play Review And Analysis Theatre Essay After being separated for 15 years, Una comes looking for Ray at his workplace after discovering his picture in a magazine. They once had an illicit relationship, and have been suffering the consequences ever since. What transpires next is a series of chilling twists and turns as details of their sordid past begin to unravel. Blackbird is essentially a 75-minute duologue between two tormented souls, in an extremely filthy and under-maintained office pantry, which Ray calls a pigsty. This intense confrontation, being the focal point of the entire play, situates itself in a confined space. The claustrophobia is evident in the beginning of the play, when Ray keeps finding excuses to leave the pantry. Director Tracie Pangs artistic directions add a dimension of compelling realism, that would have been otherwise missing from the near-claustrophobic confrontation taking place onstage. The minimalist set design by Nicholas Li (with just a dim fluorescent tube light, a dispensing machine, a clogged litter bin, a few lockers, one table and four chairs) echoes Rays repressed life. The barbed wire lining the top of the set is a fitting reminder of the entrapment Una felt throughout her entire life. The subtle use of sound by Darren Ng (constant buzzing sound of a dully running office) also contributes to the mellow tone of the play. The most sublime scene in the play fully transports the audience to relive that fateful moment of elopement 15 years ago. The interplay between actors, set, lights and sound is at its best. Darren Ngs sound design (seagulls on a beach, a bell tolling midnight) balances perfectly with the action onstage, teasing out the nuances during that scene. The projection of symbolic images on the pantry windows also creates a stunning effect. It is no surprise that David Harrowers script has received the critical acclaim it has. The beauty of the script lies in its emotive capture of the juvenile mindset. The lines written for Unas flashback of her younger days (the yearning thoughts, the defence mechanism, the way a young girl would see the world) is spot-on and succinct. I am impressed by how Harrower slowly teases the audience by choosing to reveal morsels of new information about their past as the plot unfolds, thus ensuring that the audience is constantly engaged. Every line of dialogue between Una and Ray is wrought with a dark emotion which blurs the boundaries between right and wrong. The audience plunges deep into the damaged and disturbed psyches of Harrowers two characters who seek for answers but arrive at none. Like most plays dealing with illicit affairs, Blackbird leaves the audience questioning: Who is the culprit? Who is the victim? Is there necessarily a clear-cut right and wrong in their relationship? It is Una who discovered Rays whereabouts and sought him out, but to what purpose: Revenge, reconciliation or resolution? Augusto Boal, the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed, sees theatre as the passionate combat of two human beings on a platform (Boal, 1995). Boals approach attempts to substitute passivity with empowerment (monologue with dialogue). Monologue creates a relationship of oppressor versus oppressed, as the person talking forces his counterpart into listening. All relationships could tend to become a monologue, a man and a woman, one of them tends to become the actor and the other one, the spectator.  Human relationship should be a dialogue but one of them sometimes becomes active and the other passive.   So oppression is this: All dialogues that become monologues (Boal, 1979). In Blackbird, the roles of the oppressor and the oppressed are constantly reversed as Una and Ray attempt to assume power over each other. The confrontation between Una and Ray starts at a frenetic pace with Una being the oppressor, circling Ray like a vulture and forcing him into a corner with words like a scalpel. Ray keeps finding excuses to leave the pantry as he suspects Una of hiding a weapon. However, the tables are turned (literally) when Ray starts to justify his wrongdoings with an assertive tone, leaning towards Una with clenched fists, while Una tries to avoid him by facing the wall. During Unas flashback monologue, she clutches her bag tightly as she recalls about her suffering, while Ray collapses into a chair, burying his head in his palms with repent. The tug-of-war continues as they dig up the past through passion-laden monologues and exchanges. Blackbird is a dialogue of hurt and wayward passion, told with superb onstage chemistry. Credit goes to Daniel Jenkins and Emma Yong for digging deep to produce extraordinarily layered performances. Their excellent turns bring Harrowers deservedly-acclaimed script to life. I specifically wish to highlight Emma Yongs performance. Yongs connection to her character Una is exceptionally amazing. She shows her remarkable versatility as a 27-year-old who has experienced deep tragedy as a child. This illicit affair resurfaces after 15 years where Ray has moved on to a new life, while Una has been left to drown in shame. She remains stone-faced the entire time but her eyes express a myriad of emotions, from hatred to madness to confusion to yearning. Yongs tears of conflicted pain during her flashback monologue is beautifully heart-wrenching. She ably navigates the complex psychological aspect of Unas character and conveys the emotional range required for a character who had sexual intimacy with a man at a tender age. However, one minor flaw would be her pace in line delivery, which sounds rushed at times. Jenkins plays his character Ray with equal passion. His pace, in contrast to Yong, is more balanced. He discharges his performance with gusto, engaging the audience and leading them to sympathise with his plight as the drama unfolds. I was surprised that Jenkins was not initially cast as the male lead. Blackbird was postponed from March 2010 to September due to the unusual circumstance of actor Patrick Teoh quitting the production. Teoh felt that he was unable to fulfil the demands of the role. After watching the play, one could probably see where he was coming from. It is essentially just two people in the same space for 75 minutes, but truth be told, it did not feel that long at all. The 75-minute playing time is filled to the brim with palpable tension and raw emotions. When the cliffhanger climax ended with a truly unexpected twist, I found myself at the edge of my seat. Quoting Unas opening line: Shocked? Yes indeed. Blackbird appears to be a simple situation begging for a simple judgment: It was abuse, was it not? But the complicated tangle of emotions leaves one with a feeling of disquiet and unease which is hard to shake off, even after the curtain falls.

Generational Wealth and Economics: Analysis

Today African American communities are falling apart tremendously. Crime is rising; children are killing more than they are working. Economics are lowering; people tend to spend their money in other communities where businesses look more professional than that of their own, and families are fighting over material things that do not have value or meaning. There is also a rise in welfare, section eight housing, abortion, credit card and calling card charges, and layaway spending that keeps an individual in bondage; bondage of his mind. I would like to suggest that there is a lack of generational wealth in the African-American community. The lack of generational wealth is a direct result of our knowledge of economics and understanding economics. In order to understand the two, generational wealth and economics, you first have to go back to the beginning of time when God created the man and woman (Adam and Eve) and gave them their job description. In the book of Genesis the first chapter and the 28th verse, God said, â€Å"Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God also said, â€Å"See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food† (Question about Quoting Bible). At this time God gave a charge to Adam and Eve giving them dominion. They were producers of the world. But when they decided to mess up in the garden by eating the forbidden fruit, they went from being producers into being consumers. This is one of the problems today in the black community. Out of a lack of understanding of who we are and what our purpose is, we consume all things of others but rarely move into the understanding of producing our own. In this light, increasing the number of blacks in ownership positions appears to be an important prerequisite for ending black community unrest (McKersie pg 84). If blacks are upset because they lack control over the institutions of their community, because they are charged high prices for inferior merchandise, victimized by credit racketeers, and exploited by employers, then perhaps some would argue, greater black ownership will help end this condition. If the black community lacks leadership and a stable middle class, then enlarging the number of black entrepreneurs may provide such leadership and foster stability. If the problem is lack of racial confidence, the success of black capitalists would build pride. Today in the black community, crime is rising; children are killing children and spending more money in the communities than their parents. There is an increasing number of males killing for what they think are respect. There is also a mindset on children that, it is better to kill, steal, and destroy, to get what is gratifying to self. Children have become lazy. They have depended on the former generations to get things done rather than them. Today also, there is an increased number of welfare, section 8 housing, and abortion participants, which are considered to be popular in the community. This is nothing but bondage. Society has a way of keeping people focused on minor issues and making them think that they are major. Welfare is not a major problem but rather one that is minor. The major problem today, which has always been a problem, is economics. Economics is a problem because many African Americans don†t know what economics are and how to manage it. Out of one†s lack of understanding the economical breakdown of society, he cannot teach his child about generational wealth. Generational wealth is what a family has accumulated over its lifetime along with those resources that have been inherited across generations. Generational wealth is not riches. When one is rich, they are materially content for the moment but not necessarily content in their private lives. One who is just rich, will become a private failure but public success. In essence, riches are the successes of the world. On the other hand, wealth is generated through the family unit and is passed down generationally. In Proverbs 13:22, it reads, a good man leaves an inheritance to his children†s children. In order for one to truly understand generational wealth, he must first understand economics and vice versa. Economics is the study of heart and wallet. Meaning, if you want to touch people, you have to reach them in their pockets. Matthew 6:21 states, â€Å"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Let†s break down economics. The Greek meaning of the word echo means family. Therefore, economics is the study of the family management. This is so awesome that God decided to give us an assignment in His daily word. In Luke 19:13, God says, â€Å"do business until I return. † He didn†t just throw business in there for anything. To do business until God return means, to occupy; take dominion; handle things in decency and in order to the word of God. Sad to say, but some people only understand economics when it comes to selling drugs. Young men and even some young women understand that you can buy large quantities of drugs at wholesale and make profit by way of retail. On the other hand, if you ask them to turn the television to the stock market channel and decipher the information run on the station, they can†t even relate. So when do we come to an understanding that there is a world wide problem of the family unit that is affecting our economics? One of the major problems in the black community is that everyone is out for self. We have gained a mindset that everyone is supposed to work for his or her own stuff and keep their stuff to themselves. Out of understanding who you are, you understand that the father is the one who formulate the vision, the son is the one who demonstrates the vision, while the grandson authenticates the vision. It takes the fortitude of a father to persevere through the storm of formulation. It takes the zeal of a son to pay the cost of demonstration. It takes the integrity of a grandson to handle the glory of authentication. There are a lot of individuals who don†t understand this so, therefore they operate trying to be the father, son, and grandson. This brings about the mindset of selfish thinking and single generational. Thinking selfishly and single families operate in false wisdom. For example, when most children turn 18, they are kicked out of the house and told by their parents that they are grown enough to make it on their own, but was never equipped to pay their bills and even maintain their payments. Therefore we have a generation that had already achieved their successes, forcing our children to grow up in a fast paced society that prefers self-gratification, without restraint. The family exists at the heart of every society†¦ No society has succeeded without it. But today we see a fraying of all connections that have defined our families. We are neglecting our children emotionally and educationally, marriage is increasingly unstable, we are slipping deeper and deeper into acceptance of violence, and we are absorbed into materialism and competitiveness. If we allow these trends to continue, there lie ahead, families that slip further into chaos. As you can see, we are living in a time where there is much help needed. It is time for African-Americans to wake up and take the dominion that God has given them. It is also, time out for just talking about the decay of the community but rather offer solutions to the problems of the community. Having been empowered to understand that true wealth and economics is generated through the family unit and is passed down generationally, one has the ability to empower another so that we can move forward to begin building our communities economically, emotionally, and physically. I pray that this empowerment will not inspire one but rather, transform one to make a change for the generations to come. It†s just like Bishop says, â€Å"Lack of information is ignorance but the inability to use information is stupidity. † Therefore, those who are not prepared will not survive.

US Involvement Around The World Think Before You Act

It’s Monday morning, another weekend over, a new week full of decisions and obstacles for President Obama. A slowly growing economy, tensions with North Korea and soldiers still in Afghanistan and Iraq the President is always quite busy. Even though the President has lots of ad-visors to help him make decisions some advice that would really aid the president is the lesson that â€Å"Think before you act, be sure not to overreact† Some examples from the Cold War era that support this lesson are The Cuban Missile Crisis, The My Lai Massacre (involving napalm and agent orange) and the incident at Kent State. First off, Kennedy was under a lot of pressure during the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. After the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, the†¦show more content†¦Americans both pro and anti war were outraged that our nations children were murdered in cold blood, simply exercising their constitutional right to protest. The massacre resulted in students across the cou ntry going on strike and forcing hundreds of colleges to close. â€Å"H. R. Haldeman, a top aide to President Richard Nixon, suggests the shootings had a direct impact on National polictics. In The Ends of Power, Haldeman (1978) states that the shootings at Kent State began the slide into Watergate, eventually destroying the Nixon administration. Beyond the direct effects of the May 4th [event], the shootings have certainly come to symbolize the deep political and social divisions that so sharply divided the country during the Vietnam War era.† Another example from the Cold War that proves the importance of thinking and not overreacting was the My Lai Massacre. On March 16, 1968, weary and frustrated American soldiers went in to the Vietnamese village of My Lai on a tip that there were Vietcong hiding in the village and murdered over 300 unharmed civilians including the elderly, women and young children. 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