Psyc 305 Exam #1 Study Guide

PSYC 305 Exam #1 Study Guide Defense Mechanisms: help ego deal with anxiety (Ego cannot handle the conflicts between ID and superego. ) * Rationalism: plausible, but false reason for action * â€Å"I needed to break up with my boyfriend for his own good. † * Sublimation: socially productive displacement * â€Å"I’ll just go to the gym. † * Projection: ascribing own impulses to others * â€Å"He hates me. † * Denial: refusal to acknowledge the impulse * â€Å"I don’t hate my ex. † * Intellectualization: clear, undistorted recognition of impulse over explained and with emotion removed * â€Å"I always have trouble with relationships† Repression: impulses or experiences kept unconscious * â€Å"I feel nothing towards him. † * Isolation: cutting off thoughts related to occurrence * â€Å"I never think about him. † * Identification: merging ones identity with someone else * â€Å"I want to be just like that bully. † * R eaction Formation: transform impulse to the opposite * â€Å"I love my father so much. † (LOVE/HATE) * Displacement: impulses toward another activity * â€Å"What a bad day, I hate my boss and my job, punch hole in wall. † Freud’s Psychosexual Stages (oral – anal – phallic – latency – Genital) * Oral * Birth to age 1 Focus on mouth and feeding * All ID, all the time * From passive > active * Oral fixation * Passive, overly optimistic, dependent * â€Å"Experiencing through the mouth† * Traits: passive dependent, oral aggressive, oral erotic * Anal * Sphincter muscle * Age 1 – 3 * Experiencing through elimination and retention * Excreting – toilet training, ego development * Anal fixation – orderliness, parsimony and simplicity, obstinacy and stubbornness * Traits: passive aggressive, paranoid, compulsive, messy/disorganized, stubborn/stingy * Phallic * Age 3 – 5 * Focus on genitals and masturbation S uccessful passage leads to development of the superego * Solid understanding of the opposite sex * Fixation – immature super ego, pore sex-role typing, sexuality issues * Genitals * Seen in noticing genitals and sex differences, special attention to opposite sex-parent * Narcissistic, arrogant, vane * Oedipus conflict * Boys develop sexual feelings for their mothers and want to replace their dad * Castration anxiety: fear that dad will cut off son’s penis as revenge * Resolved when boy decides to follow in dads footsteps * Electra Conflict * Penis envy: girls feel inferior when they realize they do not have a enis, blame mom * Decides to seduce dad for revenge * Seduction hypothesis: real incest between father-daughter. Revised: fantasy only * Conflict resolved when girl learns to indentify with mother * Latency * Age 5 – puberty * Nothing much going on –ID, ego, superego already developed * Genital * Starts at puberty * Sexual satisfaction from opposite sex * Development of adult sexuality * Proper resolution if no past fixations Freud’s Topographic Model (iceberg) 3 components 1. Conscious mind: aware, accept, identify 2. Unconscious mind: can be brought to awareness readily 3. Preconscious mind: repressed. * ID Unconscious * Preverbal * Source of our instincts and passions * Infant * Driven by pleasure principle * â€Å"Innocent child that doesn’t know any better† * Primary process * First to develop * Libido: sexual energy * Eros: life instinct * Thanatos: death instinct * Balances sex and aggression * Satisfy urges, reduces tension * Seeks pleasure * Ego * The mostly conscious part of the mind * Balances or goes between id, superego and reality * Grows out of the id (ego is shown first even though id exists first) * Face the real world * Understands reality * Decision maker between id and superego * Secondary process/future Second to develop * Brings unity to personality * Reality principle * Superego * Int ernalization of parental images and rules * Includes â€Å"thou shalts† (ego ideal) and â€Å"thou shalt nots† (conscience) * Rules and restrictions of parents/society * Third to develop * Rules and morals of society * Guilty * Phrenology: theory that personality characteristics could be determined by reading the bumps on the skull. (Franz gall) * Localized thinking, feeling and personality in the brain * Attempted to be scientific in explaining characteristic behavior * Fostered scientific debate about the nature and causes of personality Person Metaphors (as a†¦) * Animal: * Respond to reward, punishment * Can be prisoner of its biology * Scientist: * Seek the truth * Try to understand the world by making/testing theories * Actor: * Idea of life as drama (roles) * Writing/acting out scripts * Backstage/onstage * Pathology as role confusion * Computer: * Hardware & software * Data * Programs needing to be debugged * Input > output * Machine: * Causes & effects * Snake biting then developing a fear of snakes * System (ecosystem) * Interconnecting living parts * Self-regulation toward homeostasis * Little changes can have big effects Homeostatic level * Avoid anxiety/fear * Pilot * The self * Being in the drivers seat, steering towards goals * Personality: 1. The stylistic aspects of how we think, feel and act and motives implied by these that make us agreeable or to live with (Dollinger). 2. The underlying causes within the person of individual behavior and experience (Cloninger). * 3 D’s 1. Description: how do we describe people? a. Traits > measures characteristics on continuous scales factors > measures an individuals characteristics based on a group of related traits types > putting people into categories 2.Dynamics: How do our personalities influence our behaviors and motivation? 3. Development: what determines our personality? * Idiographic: looks at the characteristics of a single individual * Individual, one person, different traits * Nomothetic: comparing one person to another * Group of people, one trait in different people * Assessment 1. Interviews (value interactive and subjective approach) a. Unstructured i. Clinical Judgment b. Structured ii. Training, reliability/consistency c. Both should involve empathy, warmth and concern 2. Questionnaires (large sample, need good norms, value efficiency and objectivity) d.General or specific e. Obvious or subtly f. Logically keyed (theory) g. Empirically keyed (what items correlate with) 3. Objectivity: Keeps things standardized and eliminate interviewer bias 4. Subjectivity: Assess your â€Å"feel† for who the person is and the informers reliability in answering. * Reliability: the consistency of response to a psychological assessment (standardization) * Consistency/stability * Questionnaire producing consistent results from time one to time two * Validity: the extent to which an assessment device measures what it is intended to measure * Really measu res what it claims to measure Predictive Validity: how well a test score predicts future behavior * Does a test predict a behavior that the researcher accept as a criterion for the construct being measured * Content Validity: How well the individual items relate to measured construct (face validity) * Test – retest reliability, alternate forms * Correlation * An observational method * Looks for associations between two psychological constructs * Social support and depression * Yields a number representing the degree that two constructs are associated with each other * Coefficient Pearson’s r statistic * Range -1 to +1 * -1 = perfect inverse relationship * 0 = no mathematical relationship * +1 = perfect positive relationship * Limitations * Can’t determine cause and effect relationships * Can only conclude that one or more variable are associated with each other * Good enough if goal is prediction only * Independent Variables: the variables that are manipulated. * Dependent Variable: not manipulated but measured for possible change effects.

The Importance of Cleanliness and Tidiness of a Classroom

It is important to keep and maintain clean environment in our classroom at any time. If we don’t then we will need to face number of possible problems. First of all, the purposes of keeping clean and tidy include health, beauty absence of disgusting smells and to avoid the spread of dirt from one to another. In the classroom where nearly forty students learning and sitting together in such small area, the environment will need to be clean enough.It is because the air inside is breathing continuously by all of us and the bacteria and virus in the rubbish like tissues used by classmates, packing of the food will stay in the air if we just put rubbish everywhere inside the classroom. Smell of the food would further attract pests which have potential danger giving us health problems as pests are usually dirty. Therefore it is necessary for us to put the rubbish or any other used materials inside the dust bin. In addition, we will use the air-conditioner more frequently in the comi ng months because of the raising temperature.Thus, windows will be closed during most of the time. The circulation of air may not be as good as before. If we still keep on throwing rubbish on the floor, we will have a higher chance to get sick because of breathing in the air which contains bacteria. Besides the negative impact on our health, having a fifty classroom will give others a bad impression on us. Others will just think it is impossible and unreasonable for a secondary four student accept to have such dirty and uncomfortable learning environment.And in my opinion, it is unacceptable for us to have lessons in such environment. Last but certainly not the least; it is also our own responsibility to keep the place around us neat and clean. As we are already a form four student, therefore we should able to self-discipline ourselves at any time not to throw or keep rubbish on the floor without our attention. There is with a doubt for us keeping our surroundings without rubbish or any other used materials. And I don’t think we will accept this if it happens at our home, so why we can accept such kind of things happening in the classroom?The only problem is that we don’t care about it and just ignore it although we know that it will worsen the environment and bring negative impact to us. Lastly, let’s imagine a learning environment which is neat and tidy, will it be comfortable and peace? There is again no doubt to say yes, both the teachers and students will feel good and excellent teaching and studying in a clean classroom. In summary, it is always good and necessary to maintain cleanliness and tidiness around us and our surroundings. It will not merely prevent you from so many diseases and illnesses but also keep the environment in a hygienic condition.

Chapter 11 The Firebolt

Harry didn't have a very clear idea of how he had managed to get back into the Honeydukes cellar, through the tunnel, and into the castle once more. All he knew was that the return trip seemed to take no time at all, and that he hardly noticed what he was doing, because his head was still pounding with the conversation he had just heard. Why had nobody ever told him? Dumbledore, Hagrid, Mr. Weasley, Cornelius Fudge†¦why hadn't anyone ever mentioned the fact that Harry's parents had died because their best friend had betrayed them? Ron and Hermione watched Harry nervously all through dinner, not daring to talk about what they'd overheard, because Percy was sitting close by them. When they went upstairs to the crowded common room, it was to find Fred and George had set off half a dozen Dungbombs in a fit of end-of-term high spirits. Harry, who didn't want Fred and George asking him whether he'd reached Hogsmeade or not, sneaked quietly up to the empty dormitory and headed straight for his bedside cabinet. He pushed his books aside and quickly found what he was looking for — the leather-bound photo album Hagrid had given him two years ago, which was full of wizard pictures of his mother and father. He sat down on his bed, drew the hangings around him, and started turning the pages, searching, until †¦ He stopped on a picture of his parents' wedding day. There was his father waving up at him, beaming, the untidy black hair Harry had inherited standing up in all directions. There was his mother, alight with happiness, arm in arm with his dad. And there†¦that must be him. Their best man†¦Harry had never given him a thought before. If he hadn't known it was the same person, he would never have guessed it was Black in this old photograph. His face wasn't sunken and waxy, but handsome, full of laughter. Had he already been working for Voldemort when this picture had been taken? Was he already planning the deaths of the two people next to him? Did he realize he was facing twelve years in Azkaban, twelve years that would make him unrecognizable? But the Dementors don't affect him, Harry thought, staring into the handsome, laughing face. He doesn't have to hear my Mum screaming if they get too close — Harry slammed the album shut, reached over and stuffed it back into his cabinet, took off his robe and glasses and got into bed, making sure the hangings were hiding him from view. The dormitory door opened. â€Å"Harry?† said Ron's voice uncertainly. But Harry lay still, pretending to be asleep. He heard Ron leave again, and rolled over on his back, his eyes wide open. A hatred such as he had never known before was coursing through Harry like poison. He could see Black laughing at him through the darkness, as though somebody had pasted the picture from the album over his eyes. He watched, as though somebody was playing him a piece of film, Sirius Black blasting Peter Pettigrew (who resembled Neville Longbottom) into a thousand pieces. He could hear (though having no idea what Black's voice might sound like) a low, excited mutter. â€Å"It has happened, My Lord†¦the Potters have made me their Secret-Keeper† and then came another voice, laughing shrilly, the same laugh that Harry heard inside his head whenever the Dementors drew near†¦. â€Å"Harry, you — you look terrible.† Harry hadn't gotten to sleep until daybreak. He had awoken to find the dormitory deserted, dressed, and gone down the spiral staircase to a common room that was completely empty except for Ron, who was eating a Peppermint Toad and massaging his stomach, and Hermione, who had spread her homework over three tables. â€Å"Where is everyone?† said Harry. â€Å"Gone! It's the first day of the holidays, remember?† said Ron, watching Harry closely. â€Å"It's nearly lunchtime; I was going to come and wake you up in a minute.† Harry slumped into a chair next to the fire. Snow was still falling outside the windows. Crookshanks was spread out in front of the fire like a large, ginger rug. â€Å"You really don't look well, you know,† Hermione said, peering anxiously into his face. â€Å"I'm fine,† said Harry. â€Å"Harry, listen,† said Hermione, exchanging a look with Ron, â€Å"you must be really upset about what we heard yesterday. But the thing is, you mustn't go doing anything stupid.† â€Å"Like what?† said Harry. â€Å"Like trying to go after Black,† said Ron sharply. Harry could tell they had rehearsed this conversation while he had been asleep. He didn't say anything. â€Å"You won't, will you, Harry?† said Hermione. â€Å"Because Black's not worth dying for,† said Ron. Harry looked at them. They didn't seem to understand at all. â€Å"D'you know what I see and hear every time a Dementor gets too near me?† Ron and Hermione shook their heads, looking apprehensive. â€Å"I can hear my mum screaming and pleading with Voldemort. And if you'd heard your mum screaming like that, just about to be killed, you wouldn't forget it in a hurry. And if you found out someone who was supposed to be a friend of hers betrayed her and sent Voldemort after her –â€Å" â€Å"There's nothing you can do!† said Hermione, looking stricken. â€Å"The Dementors will catch Black and he'll go back to Azkaban and — and serve him right!† â€Å"You heard what Fudge said. Black isn't affected by Azkaban like normal people are. It's not a punishment for him like it is for the others.† â€Å"So what are you saying?† said Ron, looking very tense. â€Å"You want to — to kill Black or something?† â€Å"Don't be silly,† said Hermione in a panicky voice. â€Å"Harry doesn't want to kill anyone, do you, Harry?† Again, Harry didn't answer. He didn't know what he wanted to do. All he knew was that the idea of doing nothing, while Black was at liberty, was almost more than he could stand. â€Å"Malfoy knows,† he said abruptly. â€Å"Remember what he said to me in Potions? ‘If it was me, I'd hunt him down myself†¦I'd want revenge.'† â€Å"You're going to take Malfoy's advice instead of ours?† said Ron furiously. â€Å"Listen†¦you know what Pettigrew's mother got back after Black had finished with him? Dad told me — the Order of Merlin, First Class, and Pettigrew's finger in a box. That was the biggest bit of him they could find. Black's a madman, Harry, and he's dangerous –â€Å" â€Å"Malfoy's dad must have told him,† said Harry, ignoring Ron. â€Å"He was right in Voldemort's inner circle –â€Å" â€Å"Say You-Know-Who, will you?† interjected Ron angrily. â€Å"– so obviously, the Malfoys knew Black was working for Voldemort –â€Å" â€Å"– and Malfoy'd love to see you blown into about a million pieces, like Pettigrew! Get a grip. Malfoy's just hoping you'll get yourself killed before he has to play you at Quidditch.† â€Å"Harry, please,† said Hermione, her eyes now shining with tears, â€Å"Please be sensible. Black did a terrible, terrible thing, but d-don't put yourself in danger, it's what Black wants†¦Oh, Harry, you'd be playing right into Black's hands if you went looking for him. Your mum and dad wouldn't want you to get hurt, would they? They'd never want you to go looking for Black!† â€Å"I'll never know what they'd have wanted, because thanks to Black, I've never spoken to them,† said Harry shortly. There was a silence in which Crookshanks stretched luxuriously flexing his claws. Ron's pocket quivered. â€Å"Look,† said Ron, obviously casting around for a change of subject, â€Å"it's the holidays! It's nearly Christmas! Let's — let's go down and see Hagrid. We haven't visited him for ages!† â€Å"No!† said Hermione quickly. â€Å"Harry isn't supposed to leave the castle, Ron –â€Å" â€Å"Yeah, let's go,† said Harry, sitting up, â€Å"and I can ask him how come he never mentioned Black when he told me all about my parents!† Further discussion of Sirius Black plainly wasn't what Ron had had in mind. â€Å"Or we could have a game of chess,† he said hastily, â€Å"or Gobstones. Percy left a set –â€Å" â€Å"No, let's visit Hagrid,† said Harry firmly. So they got their cloaks from their dormitories and set off through the portrait hole (â€Å"Stand and fight, you yellow-bellied mongrels!†), down through the empty castle and out through the oak front doors. They made their way slowly down the lawn, making a shallow trench in the glittering, powdery snow, their socks and the hems of their cloaks soaked and freezing. The Forbidden Forest looked as though it had been enchanted, each tree smattered with silver, and Hagrid's cabin looked like an iced cake. Ron knocked, but there was no answer. â€Å"He's not out, is he?† said Hermione, who was shivering under her cloak. Ron had his ear to the door. â€Å"There's a weird noise,† he said. â€Å"Listen — is that Fang?† Harry and Hermione put their ears to the door too. From inside the cabin came a series of low, throbbing moans. â€Å"Think we'd better go and get someone?† said Ron nervously. â€Å"Hagrid!† called Harry, thumping the door. â€Å"Hagrid, are you in there?† There was a sound of heavy footsteps, then the door creaked open. Hagrid stood there with his eyes red and swollen, tears splashing down the front of his leather vest. â€Å"You've heard?† he bellowed, and he flung himself onto Harry's neck. Hagrid being at least twice the size of a normal man, this was no laughing matter. Harry, about to collapse under Hagrid's weight, was rescued by Ron and Hermione, who each seized Hagrid under an arm and heaved him back into the cabin. Hagrid allowed himself to be steered into a chair and slumped over the table, sobbing uncontrollably, his face glazed with tears that dripped down into his tangled beard. â€Å"Hagrid, what is it?† said Hermione, aghast. Harry spotted an official-looking letter lying open on the table. â€Å"What's this, Hagrid?† Hagrid's sobs redoubled, but he shoved the letter toward Harry, who picked it up and read aloud: Dear Mr. Hagrid, Further to our inquiry into the attack by a Hippogriff on a student in your class, we have accepted the assurances of Professor Dumbledore that you bear no responsibility for the regrettable incident. â€Å"Well, that's okay then, Hagrid!† said Ron, clapping Hagrid on the shoulder. But Hagrid continued to sob, and waved one of his gigantic hands, inviting Harry to read on. However, we must register our concern about the Hippogriff in question. We have decided to uphold the official complaint of Mr. Lucius Malfoy, and this matter will therefore be taken to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. The hearing will take place on April 20th, and we ask you to present yourself and your Hippogriff at the Committee's offices in London on that date. In the meantime, the Hippogriff should be kept tethered and isolated. Yours in fellowship †¦ There followed a list of the school governors. â€Å"Oh,† said Ron. â€Å"But you said Buckbeak isn't a bad Hippogriff, Hagrid. I bet he'll get off.† â€Å"Yeh don' know them gargoyles at the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures!† choked Hagrid, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. â€Å"They've got it in fer interestin' creatures!† A sudden sound from the corner of Hagrid's cabin made Harry, Ron, and Hermione whip around. Buckbeak the Hippogriff was lying in the corner, chomping on something that was oozing blood all over the floor. â€Å"I couldn' leave him tied up out there in the snow!† choked Hagrid. â€Å"All on his own! At Christmas.† Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another. They had never seen eye to eye with Hagrid about what he called ‘interesting creatures' and other people called ‘terrifying monsters.' On the other hand, there didn't seem to be any particular harm in Buckbeak. In fact, by Hagrid's usual standards, he was positively cute. â€Å"You'll have to put up a good strong defense, Hagrid,† said Hermione, sitting down and laying a hand on Hagrid's massive forearm. â€Å"I'm sure you can prove Buckbeak is safe.† â€Å"Won' make no diff'rence!† sobbed Hagrid. â€Å"Them Disposal devils, they're all in Lucius Malfoy's pocket! Scared o' him! Ad if I lose the case, Buckbeak –â€Å" Hagrid drew his finger swiftly across his throat, then gave a great wail and lurched forward, his face in his arms. â€Å"What about Dumbledore, Hagrid?† said Harry. â€Å"He's done more'n enough fer me already,† groaned Hagrid. â€Å"Got enough on his plate what with keepin' them Dementors outta the castle, an' Sirius Black lurkin' around.† Ron and Hermione looked quickly at Harry, as though expecting him to start berating Hagrid for not telling him the truth about Black. But Harry couldn't bring himself to do it, not now that he saw Hagrid so miserable and scared. â€Å"Listen, Hagrid,† he said, â€Å"you can't give up. Hermione's right, You just need a good defense. You can call us as witnesses –â€Å" â€Å"I'm sure I've read about a case of Hippogriff-baiting,† said Hermione thoughtfully, â€Å"where the Hippogriff got off. I'll look it up for you, Hagrid, and see exactly what happened.† Hagrid howled still more loudly. Harry and Hermione looked at Ron to help them. â€Å"Er — shall I make a cup of tea?† said Ron. Harry stared at him. â€Å"It's what my mum does whenever someone's upset,† Ron muttered, shrugging. At last, after many more assurances of help, with a steaming mug of tea in front of him, Hagrid blew his nose on a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth and said, â€Å"Yer right. I can' afford to go ter pieces. Gotta pull meself together†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Fang the boarhound came timidly out from under the table and laid his head on Hagrid's knee. â€Å"I've not bin meself lately,† said Hagrid, stroking Fang with one hand and mopping his face with the other. â€Å"Worried abou' Buckbeak, an' no one likin' me classes –â€Å" â€Å"We do like them!† lied Hermione at once. â€Å"Yeah, they're great!† said Ron, crossing his fingers under the table. â€Å"Er — how are the flobberworms?† â€Å"Dead,† said Hagrid gloomily. â€Å"Too much lettuce.† â€Å"Oh no!† said Ron, his lip twitching. â€Å"An' them Dementors make me feel ruddy terrible an' all,† said Hagrid, with a sudden shudder. â€Å"Gotta walk past 'em ev'ry time I want a drink in the Three Broomsticks. ‘S like bein' back in Azkaban –â€Å" He fell silent, gulping his tea. Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched him breathlessly. They had never heard Hagrid talk about his brief spell in Azkaban before. After a pause, Hermione said timidly, â€Å"Is it awful in there, Hagrid?† â€Å"Yeh've no idea,† said Hagrid quietly. â€Å"Never bin anywhere like it. Thought I was goin' mad. Kep' goin' over horrible stuff in me mind†¦the day I got expelled from Hogwarts†¦day me dad died†¦day I had ter let Norbert go †¦Ã¢â‚¬  His eyes filled with tears. Norbert was the baby dragon Hagrid had once won in a game of cards. â€Å"Yeh can' really remember who yeh are after a while. An' yeh can' really see the point o' livin' at all. I used ter hope I'd jus' die in me sleep. When they let me out, it was like bein' born again, ev'rythin' came floodin' back, it was the bes' feelin' in the world. Mind, the Dementors weren't keen on lettin' me go.† â€Å"But you were innocent!† said Hermione. Hagrid snorted. â€Å"Think that matters to them? They don' care. Long as they've got a couple o' hundred humans stuck there with 'em, so they can leech all the happiness out of 'em, they don' give a damn who's guilty an' who's not.† Hagrid went quiet for a moment, staring into his tea. Then he said quietly, â€Å"Thought o' jus' letting Buckbeak go †¦tryin' ter make him fly away†¦but how d'yeh explain ter a Hippogriff it's gotta go inter hidin'? An' — an' I'm scared o' breakin' the law†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He looked up at them, tears leaking down his face again. â€Å"I don' ever want ter go back ter Azkaban.† ****** The trip to Hagrid's, though far from fun, had nevertheless had the effect Ron and Hermione had hoped. Though Harry had by no means forgotten about Black, he couldn't brood constantly on revenge if he wanted to help Hagrid win his case against the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. He, Ron, and Hermione went to the library the next day and returned to the empty common room laden with books that might help prepare a defense for Buckbeak. The three of them sat in front of the roaring fire, slowly turning the pages of dusty volumes about famous cases of marauding beasts, speaking occasionally when they ran across something relevant. â€Å"Here's something†¦there was a case in 1722†¦but the Hippogriff was convicted — ugh, look what they did to it, that's disgusting –â€Å" â€Å"This might help, look — a Manticore savaged someone in 1296, and they let the Manticore off — oh — no, that was only because everyone was too scared to go near it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Meanwhile, in the rest of the castle, the usual magnificent Christmas decorations had been put up, despite the fact that hardly any of the students remained to enjoy them. Thick streamers of holly and mistletoe were strung along the corridors, mysterious lights shone from inside every suit of armor, and the Great Hall was filled with its usual twelve Christmas trees, glittering with golden stars. A powerful and delicious smell of cooking pervaded the corridors, and by Christmas Eve, it had grown so strong that even Scabbers poked his nose out of the shelter of Ron's pocket to sniff hopefully at the air. On Christmas morning, Harry was woken by Ron throwing his pillow at him. â€Å"Oy! Presents!† Harry reached for his glasses and put them on, squinting through the semi-darkness to the foot of his bed, where a small heap of parcels had appeared. Ron was already ripping the paper off his own presents. â€Å"Another sweater from Mum†¦maroon again†¦see if you've got one.† Harry had. Mrs. Weasley had sent him a scarlet sweater with the Gryffindor lion knitted on the front, also a dozen home-baked mince pies, some Christmas cake, and a box of nut brittle. As he moved all these things aside, he saw a long, thin package lying underneath. â€Å"What's that?† said Ron, looking over, a freshly unwrapped pair of maroon socks in his hand. â€Å"Dunno†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Harry ripped the parcel open and gasped as a magnificent, gleaming broomstick rolled out onto his bedspread. Ron dropped his socks and jumped off his bed for a closer look. â€Å"I don't believe it,† he said hoarsely. It was a Firebolt, identical to the dream broom Harry had gone to see every day in Diagon Alley. Its handle glittered as he picked it up. He could feel it vibrating and let go; it hung in midair, unsupported, at exactly the right height for him to mount it. His eyes moved from the golden registration number at the top of the handle, right down to the perfectly smooth, streamlined birch twigs that made up the tail. â€Å"Who sent it to you?† said Ron in a hushed voice. â€Å"Look and see if there's a card,† said Harry. Ron ripped apart the Firebolt's wrappings. â€Å"Nothing! Blimey, who'd spend that much on you?† â€Å"Well,† said Harry, feeling stunned, â€Å"I'm betting it wasn't the Dursleys.† â€Å"I bet it was Dumbledore,† said Ron, now walking around and around the Firebolt, taking in every glorious inch. â€Å"He sent you the Invisibility Cloak anonymously†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"That was my dad's, though,† said Harry. â€Å"Dumbledore was just passing it on to me. He wouldn't spend hundreds of Galleons on me. He can't go giving students stuff like this –â€Å" â€Å"That's why he wouldn't say it was from him!† said Ron. â€Å"In case some git like Malfoy said it was favoritism. Hey, Harry –† Ron gave a great whoop of laughter — â€Å"Malfoy! Wait 'til he sees you on this! He'll be sick as a pig! This is an international standard broom, this is!† â€Å"I can't believe this,† Harry muttered, running a hand along the Firebolt, while Ron sank onto Harry's bed, laughing his head off at the thought of Malfoy. â€Å"Who–?† â€Å"I know,† said Ron, controlling himself, â€Å"I know who it could've been — Lupin!† â€Å"What?† said Harry, now starting to laugh himself â€Å"Lupin? Listen, if he had this much gold, he'd be able to buy himself some new robes.† â€Å"Yeah, but he likes you,† said Ron. â€Å"And he was away when your Nimbus got smashed, and he might've heard about it and decided to visit Diagon Alley and get this for you –â€Å" â€Å"What d'you mean, he was away?† said Harry. â€Å"He was ill when I was playing in that match.† â€Å"Well, he wasn't in the hospital wing,† said Ron. â€Å"I was there, cleaning out the bedpans on that detention from Snape, remember?† Harry frowned at Ron. â€Å"I can't see Lupin affording something like this.† â€Å"What're you two laughing about?† Hermione had just come in, wearing her dressing gown and carrying Crookshanks, who was looking very grumpy, with a string of tinsel tied around his neck. â€Å"Don't bring him in here!† said Ron, hurriedly snatching Scabbers from the depths of his bed and stowing him in his pajama pocket. But Hermione wasn't listening. She dropped Crookshanks onto Seamus's empty bed and stared, open-mouthed, at the Firebolt. â€Å"Oh, Harry! Who sent you that?† â€Å"No idea,† said Harry. â€Å"There wasn't a card or anything with it.† To his great surprise, Hermione did not appear either excited or intrigued by the news. On the contrary, her face fell, and she bit her lip. â€Å"What's the matter with you?† said Ron. â€Å"I don't know,† said Hermione slowly, â€Å"but it's a bit odd, isn't it? I mean, this is supposed to be quite a good broom, isn't it?† Ron sighed exasperatedly. â€Å"It's the best broom there is, Hermione,† he said. â€Å"So it must've been really expensive†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Probably cost more than all the Slytherins' brooms put together,† said Ron happily. â€Å"Well†¦who'd send Harry something as expensive as that, and not even tell him they'd sent it?† said Hermione. â€Å"Who cares?† said Ron impatiently. â€Å"Listen, Harry, can I have a go on it? Can I?† â€Å"I don't think anyone should ride that broom just yet!† said Hermione shrilly. Harry and Ron looked at her. â€Å"What d'you think Harry's going to do with it — sweep the floor?† said Ron. But before Hermione could answer, Crookshanks sprang from Seamus's bed, right at Ron's chest. â€Å"GET — HIM — OUT — OF — HERE!† Ron bellowed as Crookshanks's claws ripped his pajamas and Scabbers attempted a wild escape over his shoulder. Ron seized Scabbers by the tail and aimed a misjudged kick at Crookshanks that hit the trunk at the end of Harry's bed, knocking it over and causing Ron to hop up and down, howling with pain. Crookshanks's fur suddenly stood on end. A shrill, tinny, whistling was filling the room. The Pocket Sneakoscope had become dislodged from Uncle Vernon's old socks and was whirling and gleaming on the floor. â€Å"I forgot about that!† Harry said, bending down and picking up the Sneakoscope. â€Å"I never wear those socks if I can help it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The Sneakoscope whirled and whistled in his palm. Crookshanks was hissing and spitting at it. â€Å"You'd better take that cat out of here, Hermione,† said Ron furiously, sitting on Harry's bed nursing his toe. â€Å"Can't you shut that thing up?† he added to Harry as Hermione strode out of the room, Crookshanks's yellow eyes still fixed maliciously on Ron. Harry stuffed the Sneakoscope back inside the socks and threw it back into his trunk. All that could be heard now were Ron's stifled moans of pain and rage. Scabbers was huddled in Ron's hands. It had been a while since Harry had seen him out of Ron's pocket, and he was unpleasantly surprised to see that Scabbers, once so fat, was now very skinny; patches of fur seemed to have fallen out too. â€Å"He's not looking too good, is he?† Harry said. â€Å"It's stress!† said Ron. â€Å"He'd be fine if that big stupid furball left him alone!† But Harry, remembering what the woman at the Magical Menagerie had said about rats living only three years, couldn't help feeling that unless Scabbers had powers he had never revealed, he was reaching the end of his life. And despite Ron's frequent complaints that Scabbers was both boring and useless, he was sure Ron would be very miserable if Scabbers died. Christmas spirit was definitely thin on the ground in the Gryffindor common room that morning. Hermione had shut Crookshanks in her dormitory, but was furious with Ron for trying to kick him; Ron was still fuming about Crookshanks's fresh attempt to eat Scabbers. Harry gave up trying to make them talk to each other and devoted himself to examining the Firebolt, which he had brought down to the common room with him. For some reason this seemed to annoy Hermione as well; she didn't say anything, but she kept looking darkly at the broom as though it too had been criticizing her cat. At lunchtime they went down to the Great Hall, to find that the House tables had been moved against the walls again, and that a single table, set for twelve, stood in the middle of the room. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick were there, along with Filch, the caretaker, who had taken off his usual brown coat and was wearing a very old and rather moldy-looking tailcoat. There were only three other students, two extremely nervous-looking first years and a sullen-faced Slytherin fifth year. â€Å"Merry Christmas!† said Dumbledore as Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached the table. â€Å"As there are so few of us, it seemed foolish to use the House tables†¦Sit down, sit down!† Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat down side by side at the end of the table. â€Å"Crackers!† said Dumbledore enthusiastically, offering the end of a large silver noisemaker to Snape, who took it reluctantly and tugged. With a bang like a gunshot, the cracker flew apart to reveal a large, pointed witches hat topped with a stuffed vulture. Harry, remembering the Boggart, caught Ron's eye and they both grinned; Snape's mouth thinned and he pushed the hat toward Dumbledore, who swapped it for his wizard's hat at once. â€Å"Dig in!† he advised the table, beaming around. As Harry was helping himself to roast potatoes, the doors of the Great Hall opened again. It was Professor Trelawney, gliding toward them as though on wheels. She had put on a green sequined dress in honor of the occasion, making her look more than ever like a glittering, oversized dragonfly. â€Å"Sibyll, this is a pleasant surprise!† said Dumbledore, standing up. â€Å"I have been crystal gazing, Headmaster,† said Professor Trelawney in her mistiest, most faraway voice, â€Å"and to my astonishment, I saw myself abandoning my solitary luncheon and coming to join you. Who am I to refuse the promptings of fate? I at once hastened from my tower, and I do beg you to forgive my lateness†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Certainly, certainly,† said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. â€Å"Let me draw you up a chair –â€Å" And he did indeed draw a chair in midair with his wand, which revolved for a few seconds before falling with a thud between Professors Snape and McGonagall. Professor Trelawney, however, did not sit down; her enormous eyes had been roving around the table, and she suddenly uttered a kind of soft scream. â€Å"I dare not, Headmaster! If I join the table, we shall be thirteen! Nothing could be more unlucky! Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die!† â€Å"We'll risk it, Sibyll,† said Professor McGonagall impatiently. â€Å"Do sit down, the turkey's getting stone cold.† Professor Trelawney hesitated, then lowered herself into the empty chair, eyes shut and mouth clenched tight, as though expecting a thunderbolt to hit the table. Professor McGonagall poked a large spoon into the nearest tureen. â€Å"Tripe, Sibyll?† Professor Trelawney ignored her. Eyes open again, she looked around once more and said, â€Å"But where is dear Professor Lupin?† â€Å"I'm afraid the poor fellow is ill again,† said Dumbledore, indicating that everybody should start serving themselves. â€Å"Most unfortunate that it should happen on Christmas Day.† â€Å"But surely you already knew that, Sibyll?† said Professor McGonagall, her eyebrows raised. Professor Trelawney gave Professor McGonagall a very cold look. â€Å"Certainly I knew, Minerva,† she said quietly. â€Å"But one does not parade the fact that one is All-Knowing. I frequently act as though I am not possessed of the Inner Eye, so as not to make others nervous.† â€Å"That explains a great deal,† said Professor McGonagall tartly. Professor Trelawney's voice suddenly became a good deal less misty. â€Å"If you must know, Minerva, I have seen that poor Professor Lupin will not be with us for very long. He seems aware, himself, that his time is short. He positively fled when I offered to crystal gaze for him –â€Å" â€Å"Imagine that,† said Professor McGonagall dryly. â€Å"I doubt,† said Dumbledore, in a cheerful but slightly raised voice, which put an end to Professor McGonagall and Professor Trelawney's conversation, â€Å"that Professor Lupin is in any immediate danger. Severus, you've made the potion for him again?† â€Å"Yes, Headmaster,† said Snape. â€Å"Good,† said Dumbledore. â€Å"Then he should be up and about in no time†¦Derek, have you had any of the chipolatas? They're excellent.† The first-year boy went furiously red on being addressed directly by Dumbledore, and took the platter of sausages with trembling hands. Professor Trelawney behaved almost normally until the very end of Christmas dinner, two hours later. Full to bursting with Christmas dinner and still wearing their cracker hats, Harry and Ron got up first from the table and she shrieked loudly. â€Å"My dears! Which of you left his seat first? Which?† â€Å"Dunno,† said Ron, looking uneasily at Harry. â€Å"I doubt it will make much difference,† said Professor McGonagall coldly, â€Å"unless a mad axe-man is waiting outside the doors to slaughter the first into the Entrance Hall.† Even Ron laughed. Professor Trelawney looked highly affronted. â€Å"Coming?† Harry said to Hermione. â€Å"No,† Hermione muttered. â€Å"I want a quick word with Professor McGonagall.† â€Å"Probably trying to see if she can take any more classes,† yawned Ron as they make their way into the Entrance Hall, which was completely devoid of mad axe-men. When they reached the portrait hole they found Sir Cadogan enjoying a Christmas part with a couple of monks, several previous headmasters of Hogwarts and his fat pony. He pushed up his visor toasted them with a flagon of mead. â€Å"Merry — hic — Christmas! Password?† â€Å"Scurvy cur,† said Ron. â€Å"And the same to you, sir! roared Sir Cadogan, as the painting swung forward to admit them. Harry went straight up to the dormitory, collected his Firebolt and the Broomstick Servicing Kit Hermione had given him for his birthday, brought them downstairs and tried to find something to do with the Firebolt; however, there where no bent twigs to clip, and the handle was so shiny already it seemed pointless to polish it. He and Ron simply sat admiring it from every angle, until the portrait hole opened, and Hermione came in, accompanied by Professor McGonagall. Though Professor McGonagall was Head of Gryffindor House, Harry had only seen her in the common room once before, and that had been to make a very grave announcement. He and Ron stared at her, both holding the Firebolt. Hermione walked around them, sat down, picked up the nearest book and hid her face behind it. â€Å"So that's it, is it?† said Professor McGonagall beadily, walking over to the fireside and staring at the Firebolt. â€Å"Miss Granger has just informed me that you have been sent a broomstick, Potter.† Harry and Ron looked around at Hermione. They could see her forehead reddening over the top of her book, which was upside-down. â€Å"May I?† said Professor McGonagall, but she didn't wait for an answer before pulling the Firebolt out of their hands. She examined it carefully from handle to twig-ends. â€Å"Hmm. And there was no note at all, Potter? No card? No message of any kind?† â€Å"No,† said Harry blankly. â€Å"I see†¦Ã¢â‚¬  said Professor McGonagall. â€Å"Well, I'm afraid I will have to take this, Potter.† â€Å"W — what?† said Harry, scrambling to his feet. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"It will need to be checked for jinxes,† said Professor McGonagall. â€Å"Of course, I'm no expert, but I daresay Madam Hooch and Professor Flitwick will strip it down –â€Å" â€Å"Strip it down?† repeated Ron, as though Professor McGonagall was mad. â€Å"It shouldn't take more than a few weeks,† said Professor McGonagall. â€Å"You will have it back if we are sure it is jinx-free.† â€Å"There's nothing wrong with it!† said Harry, his voice shaking slightly. â€Å"Honestly, Professor –â€Å" â€Å"You can't know that, Potter,† said Professor McGonagall, quite kindly, â€Å"not until you've flown it, at any rate, and I'm afraid that is out of the question until we are certain that it has not been tampered with. I shall keep you informed.† Professor McGonagall turned on her heel and carried the Firebolt out of the portrait hole, which closed behind her. Harry stood staring after her, the tin of High-Finish Polish still clutched in his hands. Ron, however, rounded on Hermione. â€Å"What did you go running to McGonagall for?† Hermione threw her book aside. She was still pink in the face, but stood up and faced Ron defiantly. â€Å"Because I thought — and Professor McGonagall agrees with me — that that broom was probably sent to Harry by Sirius Black!†

(choose one from the three topices) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

(choose one from the three topices) - Essay Example He asserts that human reason is his will, which government and other human institution should put first for better co-existence of the two. On the part of Marx, he argues that human reason should influence the changes that people prefer. He aims at showing that the most important thing in any society is the people. They form the institutions, thus the authorities’ and power rest on people. Freethinking and active emancipation of self conforms to Marx’s view on human reason. On the side of Machiavelli, having lived at a time of political instability, of sheer violence, war torn era characterized by betrayal and blackmail, he sees too little to rely on human reasoning (Machiavelli 25). He concludes human reason as wicked and merely a push for self-satisfaction. This paper will bring out the position of human reasoning according to the three personalities and its influence on government, property, and labor. Nicollo Machiavelli’s philosophy on human reason describes man as a fickle, unreliable creature. One should not trust his reasoning. He is content to dismiss men as a sad lot that will lie, cheat, and steal if this has benefit on them. Look at the issue of governance, Machiavelli believes that whoever comes to power is from the ordinary men. He is a prince who works his way out of the common lot of deceivers in the society. His reasoning is not far off, the lot which he was part of. Men reasoning according to Machiavelli are rich in qualities, which bring him praise or fame. Since the ruler in power or the prince is a man, he will exhibit the same reasoning behavioral to his subjects (Machiavelli 41). Thus, man is an indecisive creature. Machiavelli seems to argue that man cannot govern himself, and cannot subject a prince to conform to his reasoning. As a prince, one should put on remarkable qualities on public and wise enough not to expose his weaknesses to his subjects. If a prince depicts false strong character, then his people’ s reasoning will conclude he is indeed a good prince. By this notion, Machiavelli neglects the importance of human reasonin

Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words - 2

Law - Essay Example 2001). Section 230(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 defines an employee as someone working under a contract of employment. However, the statute does not clearly define the essential elements of the contract of employment. This deficiency thus resulted into constructions of various tests for determining whether someone is an employee or not. Amongst the outlined essential elements to be satisfied before categorizing a worker as either an independent contractor or an employee is whether the particular worker has to sign a contract of employment with the employer prior to the commencement of the contract. In cases whereby the individual begins to execute the contract without legally recognized documentations (contract of employment), handling of cases such as breach of contract, becomes much difficult, especially when either party presents the case in a court of law (Lord, M. 2009). It is also worth noting that some employees or independent contractors like working on a personal level but this depends on the nature of the work involved. Additionally, it has to be determined whether there has to be a mutuality of obligation between the two parties. A mutuality of obligation refers to a well-set procedure of work or relationship between the employee and the employer or between the contractor and his or her client (Smith, J. D., 2003). An employer should avail work to the employee at all the times, as specified by their contract of employment. Consequently, the employee should complete any work assigned to him or her by the employer at the specified period of the contract. This thus, forms a mutual obligation between the employer and the employee. On the other hand, mutual obligation occurs between a contractor and his or her client when the client supplies exactly the amount of work specified by the contract of employment and the contractor finishes the work within the specified (Welker, R. F., 2002).

Write a reflection journal according to the questions that I will Movie Review

Write a reflection journal according to the questions that I will upload - Movie Review Example Through this method, she was able to give importance to each kid by letting them realize that they all had a role in the success of the project. Ms. Stewert’s method of teaching showed that she respected each child’s opinions. She gave them freedom to express whatever is on their mind, maybe interjecting only when necessary. She did not impede on the child’s self-discovery of things around his environment. Her teaching method showed that she believes that the opinion of the child should take precedence and must be nurtured and allowed to be developed. She encourages children to feel at ease even if they make mistakes. After observing Ms. Stewert’s style of teaching with regards to people with disabilities, I think that she believes that children will learn by experiencing the world around them. By introducing Rebecca to the children, she was able to let them understand and learn about people with disabilities. Although indirectly, she somehow showed them that each one is different yet each one has rights and duties in society. She made the children realize that it is important to respect every person no matter what their stature, age or physical appearance

Female Nudity or Male Nudity Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Female Nudity or Male Nudity - Research Paper Example Regulations against nudity have primarily gone a notch higher with the FCC and the MPA putting much emphasis on what cannot be said or seen on television. The rules have become tighter with every television programme forced to adhere to these rules. The FCC generally controls the airwaves making sure that what is aired is consumer friendly and has a positive impact on the loyal viewers. The FCC has laid down concrete rules against the use of profane language that might be seen to be a nuisance to the viewers. On what can be aired on television, the FCC has strong rules against pornography and sexual scenes and any other scenes with even brief traces of nudity suggesting that such thing can lead to viewer boycotts and other media controversies (Eisenach & Randolph 145). The need for a rating system is to work hand-in-hand with the parents and informing them what the movies are really about so that the parents can make informed decisions on whether to allow their children access to such movies or not. The MPAA has significantly failed in its role and has just made decisions, which have sometimes been seen as politically manipulated. The principal role of the MPA should be to simply uphold a genuine rating system. The MPA has always rated films according to the themes that they portray, violence, drug abuse and language have been some of the themes that the MPA has emphasized on but, one theme that has had the most attention is nudity with the MPA treating films with this theme more severely compared to other themes (History of Cinema 21). It is evident from the regulations of both the FCC and the MPA that nudity has been given no chance. Both organizations have a strong stand against it and they generally cannot stand nudity. This, however, is unfair, as we have witnessed a rather biased approach towards nudity as compared to other themes on television and in the motion pictures. Male nudity has

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A promotional plan to launch the new brand - Assignment Example Human needs can only be satisfied by a product. Additionally, such products need to have a distinct identification. Such identification adequately distinguishes the new product from those that exist in the market. This identification creates a product brand. Additionally, besides branding, packaging and advertising contribute towards a brand name. For instance, Coca Cola is globally identifiable for its name and brand that uses red writings against white backgrounds. Brand naming may be used as a strategy in successful business. Therefore, a brand name can only be launched after thinking of the long term effects of the name on the consumers. Once established, changing of brands may incur huge expenses. A brand of a product serves both the buyer and seller since it helps the consumers to differentiate the products form other varieties. Sharp, effective, memorable and distinguishable branding helps in ensuring customer loyalty. Consumers are believed to use a product repeatedly only wh en they are fully satisfied by the product (Haig 2005, pg. 65). For new products in the market, branding involves various terminologies that are distantly distinctive. These terms include trademark, brand, brand mark and the brand name. According to (Haig, 2005) a brand can be a format, design, term, symbol, name or a combination of these elements. Mainly, a brand needs to distinguish the manufacturer and distributors of the product from those that exist in the market. Alternatively, a brand name refers to the pronounceable brand identity of the product. A good brand name may contribute towards product popularity. Often, a brand name needs to be patented to hinder replication and imitations. On the other hand, a brand mark needs to identify its products using a distinguishable symbol. In most cases, consumers identify the manufacturer of a product using the symbol. For instance, other products manufactured by Coca Cola can be

Politics in China Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Politics in China - Research Paper Example China’s Constitution had an article regarding the freedom of the press but due to the shortcomings in the structural system it was hardly implemented. The other parties of China were hardly allowed to voice their opinion. The only way to end this autocracy was the establishment of democracy (Han & Han, 1990, p.34). In the light of the above scenario this paper seeks to examine the Tiananmen Square protests and the government’s response. Further our aim would be to examine the reason for the survival of the Communist Party when its counterparts in Eastern Europe and Soviet Union were dismantling. In what ways were the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square, and the Party/State’s response, a critical juncture? The output of China following the socialistic pattern of society was commendable but soon it had suffered the same fate as faced by many â€Å"mature socialistic† economies. Reduction in economic growth and consumption pattern resulted in a series of reform s since late 1978 which was a deviation from the traditional socialistic pattern. The crux of the new economic policy was based on private ownership, free play of market forces for allocation and determination of market prices (Harding, 1987, p.99-100). In the month of June 1989, many students had gathered peacefully to protest against the reforms which had taken place and they also wanted to voice their opinion for a more responsible government which safeguarded democracy. They also wanted to protest against the corruption that was there within the government. The essence of the protest was not to follow a democracy style like the US instead they wanted wealth and prosperity of the nation like their western counterparts. They had no intentions of overthrowing the PRC (Lusted, 2010, pp. 1-12). The response of the PRC to the peaceful protests was not only repressive in nature but there was an absolute violation of human rights (Brown, 2002, p. 94). The government had warned the prote sters of drastic actions to control the â€Å"social chaos†. True to their words army action was taken against the protesters and they were shot dead (1989: Massacre in Tiananmen Square, 1989). The Tiananmen Square massacre was etched in history not only for its harsh outcome but also for the fact that it had occurred at such a point of time when communism in two of its strongest base was losing its hold. The protest of 1989 was the first of its kind after 1949 and it was for the sake of reforms. The protests of the people showed their dissatisfaction with the existing government. Though the incident had occurred at this critical juncture, the response of the government was very stern. They used every possible measure to crush the uprising. Why did the Communist Party in China not fall in 1989 unlike the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe? The disintegration of communism started in Poland in mid 1989 and eventually it had spread to other East European countries. Finally, it ceas ed to exist in its place of origin, that is, Soviet Union by the end of 1991. The displacement of communism in Soviet Union did not have much bloodshed. However it is considered as one of the most important political event of the twentieth century (Zuzowski, 1998, p. 1). The poor performance of the Russian economy had prompted their leader Mikhail Gorbachev to initiate a series of reforms in different phases. Though his reforms were meant to bring about economic improvement but it

Home Depot Essay Example for Free

Home Depot Essay Organizational talent is where the organization has the best of the best personnel in as its staff. This covers all the departments of the organization from subordinate staff, production staff as well as the technical staff. Having such a staff base can be advantageous to the organization in terms of efficiency and quality service delivery. The Home Depot Company is one such organization that has the very best personnel as members of its staff. According to Bullard (2010), there are a few basic tactics in which and organization can make maximum of use of its organizational talent and they are: Remove your Constant Underperformers: It is a waste of resources to pay an employee whose performance is not worthy talking about. Therefore in order to remain with employees who can perform, it is wise to get rid of the nonperformers. This is one strategy that the Home Depot uses to improve its service delivery. Bad apples: There are many obstacles that an organization encounters in the day to day running of its activities; therefore for there to be smooth running of the business, the organization should get rid of these internal and external obstacles. Hidden gems: Each organization has the â€Å"silent performer†. This is the employee who is never in the limelight but delivers the best services for the company. Discovering this employee and nurturing him through motivation is the best way that an organization can use to ensure that the organizations talent is maximized. High-quality outside hires: Short term outsourcing can be beneficial for the company especially in technical areas. The human resource department should always be on the look out for those potential employees who can add value to the business and hire them when need arises. The Home Depot as an international brand intends to use the following management techniques to gain a competitive advantage in the Do It Yourself industry (Hewitt, 2007). Performance Management: The performance management allows the company to evaluate the individual performance of its employees and as such it can able to tell which employee fits in which department and how to ensure they deliver the best service for the company. Compensation Management: Nothing can be more motivation an employee as being rewarded for good performance. The Home Depot Company is one such company that ensures that its best performers are recognized and rewarded. This gives them more moral to perform and deliver quality work for the company. Learning Management: Employee training forums help them to be able to learn about new production as well as sales and marketing and as such they can be able to diversify and produce more quality goods. The Home Depot intends to use this management feature to ensure that their staffs especially in the production sector are well trained and conversant with the latest market trends and designs. Social Networking: Social networking can also be referred to as team building, even thou this concept is not new at the Home Depot company, it seeks to improve it and come up with diverse methods of networking and team building. Discuss the Key Channels that Home Depot Developed for Recruiting Talent By recruiting talent, the Home Depot has been able to build the following key basic channels of organization management as well as customer relationship management. The Home Depot has been able to discover capabilities that can be used to determine the success of the customer experience as well as the customer relationship management (Hewitt, 2007). Some of the capabilities include the design and implementation of viable customer relationship management (CRM). This will be used to ensure that clients’ needs are well taken care of. Another key channel that the Home Depot developed by recruiting talent is that it has been able to determine the most productive channel for each department. This has ensured that the level of production in the organization is on steady upward progress in each and every department (Hewitt, 2007). The last key channel of development that the Home Depot develops by talent recruit is that it has been able to build a mutual relationship between itself and its various business partners and associates. This has helped it to ensure that there is smooth running of businesses it the various franchises that it operates in and outside America. Discuss the Critical Programs used by Home Depot to Keep Talent in their Pipeline  The Home Depot has put in place a few programs / strategies that are meant to ensure that the staff it hires are not tempted to jump ship and search for greener pastures but they stay committed to their work. For the new recruits, they are first guided on the various functions of the department they will assigned to, after which they are given a challenge to undertake (Hewitt, 2007). The talent will feel â€Å"empowered† by the challenge given to him / her and will strive to deliver the best, however the management is always on the standby to ensure that they are given any support that they may require. In addition to that, the skilled talents are allowed to try out a variety of roles before they can be advised on the best carrier choice to take. Finally the talents are given an opportunity to try out new innovations and ideas that they might have, by so doing the talents will feel appreciated and as such it will hard for them to leave the organization (Hewitt, 2007). Discuss Three Lessons Learned by Home Depot related to Talent Management. Some of the lessons that the Home Depot learned in relation to talent management are: Investing in talent, give programs time to work, listen and respond to naysayers. Listen and Respond to Naysayers: In every organization, there is always positive and negative criticism coming in from all quarters. The Home Depot has learnt to use the public relation skills by always giving a positive and promising feed back to any criticism that is raise against it. In so doing the company has been able to draw admirers from different regions of the world. Youth Investment: The youths can be used to determine the future of an organization, this is because of their willingness to work, learn and deliver. The youths are also innovative and filled with creative ideas. The Home Depot extensively invests in the youths in all sectors and departments. The youth are then given the responsibility of delivering quality serviced for the organization. Time: The rush by most organizations to have instant results is what makes the programs the implement fail, however when it comes to Home Depot, it has learnt to give time for the programs it implements to develop, mature before the results trickle in. y so doing, the company has been able to reap maximum inputs from the output it gives. Summation / Conclusion The Home Depot Company is a sure that with good planning and implementation, any business can grow into an empire in the shortest time possible. In addition to that investing in youth talent is another way for a company to expand rapidly. The Home Depot should spread its customer base to other untapped market like Africa where there is a lot of potential.

What Is Advertising Theory?

What Is Advertising Theory? We live in a consumerist society. That is a known fact. We are surrounded by ads that say Buy this now. You will save time and money or Do you want your skin to be softer? Try this body cream and you will have the much-wanted baby skin!. And even though some of us ignore the fact that we are, indeed, the victims of these carefully planned slogans which mingle with some eye-catching images, we, the readers of advertisements, interact with them and construct meaning from particular given elements the visual signs that represent something familiar with which readers associate, or the language of the ad that can be related, as Angela Goddard states, with any piece of literature, using fully the resources of language and inviting creative and subtle readings from their users. With this statement, Goddard makes the first approach in the long debate concerning whether ads can be seen as literature or not (1998: 15). In the process of trying to define the ad we stumble upon an inconvenient truth: we are unable to answer the question What is an ad? with anything but it tries to persuade us to buy something, and we do not take into consideration how it does that and by what means we are tricked and that the advertising industry means more than just selling a product. That is the reason why linguists became involved in this subject, as well as sociologists or sociolinguists, psychologists and even anthropologists. The study of advertising is, therefore, taken to another level: linguists came to study and analyze the verbal language and have come to a certain point in their research to say that we can talk about a genre of discourse in advertising; sociologists keep studying nowadays the impact ads have on society and how they contribute to the way people and readers of advertising interpret and build their world and their beliefs and the degree to which we define our identities under the influence of the omnipresent ads. Advertisements are not only a tool used to compel people on an economic territory, but also a kind of tool used to conquer people socially, psychologically and culturally. According to Davidson (1992: 6) studying advertising quickly and inevitably means studying how we read language, images, myths and how it is we build out of them our sense of who we are. From this perspective, ads not only help to sell things (White, 2000: 5), but their existence defines gender construction or stimulates the audience to develop their interest by creating new meanings. In the discussion about some theoretical issues of the advertisement, it must be mentioned that the ad always has an audience and we may call it addressee(s) while the addresser(s) is the one who sends the message (to buy a product, to apply to a service, to support some charity organization, etc) through language (slogans, short texts, etc) and visual tools (Goddard, 1998: 7) Throughout the evolution of advertising, defenders of its effects on society contradicted with those who claimed that ads have a dreadful effect on how one relates to a certain ad and constructs a world around a sold idea. It is partially true that advertisements may have a negative influence in unfolding gender stereotypes and shaping consumers lives on certain levels. A relevant example given by the non-believers is that ads continuously cultivate low self-esteem among young girls exposed to huge billboards showing a girl with a perfect body, perfect shiny hair and perfect skin, making them long for an idea of beauty which is not real at all and manipulating them to buy those products advertised to get that kind of hair or that kind of skin. With this, advertising theorists developed the idea that advertisements come to fill in a much bigger need of comfort, thus improving the corporate image of the company in order to create the icon of a trustworthy and benevolent firm (Brierley, 1995: 43). Its defenders used the argument that not all advertising is deceiving people into buying certain kinds of products, but some advertisements are based on social change and use true stories or/and shocking images to create a (positive) impact on society, aiming constantly at changing the way in which people behave: here we can mention the anti-smoking, healthy eating or anti-drug campaigns, which try to shock people by presenting statistics that show the death rate among smokers or drug users or aim to touch the emotional level by telling the stories of the ones in one of the mentioned situations, for successful advertising appeals both to the head and to the heart, to reason and emotions (Beatson, 1986: 265). Finally, advertising is defended as being a form of artistic expression (Leiss, 1997: 3) and contributing to a certain level to the education of the people, teaching them how to behave and what to think, feel, believe, fear and desire and what not to. (Kellner, 1995 : 5). Advertising must always be theorized according to the development of society towards this consumerist culture that exists nowadays. Therefore, one cannot talk about the impact of advertisements only economically. The evolution of the individual within the advertising culture must also be taken into consideration. In the historical evolution of advertising, one can identify the process of constructing gender identities in society. The most world-wide discussed example we can mention to sustain this idea is the evolution of the image of women in society, from the male supremacy towards the emancipation of women. The researchers in the advertising field stated that this evolution of gender identities must always be related to its context. That is the reason why a sexist ad from the 50s could easily cause laughter, because it no longer relates to the cultural context nowadays. Theorists of advertising conclude that another issue which we must take into consideration when analyzing an ad is the context. Linguists came and said that there is more to take into account when advertising analysts decide the context of the advertisement; according to Guy Cook (1992: 1) context includes also the following: substance, music and picture, paralanguage, situation, co-text, inter-text, participants and function, and, therefore, the correct approach in the study of ads must consider these features too. Cooks holistic definition of the ad (Cook, 1992: 2-6) comes as a breath of fresh air after decades in which specialists ignored the fact that the ad is an interaction of elements and linguists who analyzed the language of the advertisement ignored the picture which comes with it and which also contributes to the construction of meaning. What will an ad look like without the picture? I agree with Cooks idea that elements interact in an advertisement and that the first contact we have with the ad is through the visual tools and only after that do we stop and read what is written under the image. One cannot just simply leave behind the meaning of the picture, because it can be integrated in the sphere of the context. Let us take as example an ad in which two or more people who seem to have different nationalities are shaking hands and smiling gathered at a big table and maybe celebrating something. The readers, at first, interpret this visual information and they do not expect to read u nder this image something about a dreadful event, but they associate the people shaking hands with friendship, peace or something positive; and just after that do they come to read about a charity organization. As Cook states, we cannot just cut out important pieces from the ad, because the meaning of the entire campaign is based on how these elements interact with one another and thus sell the idea or the product. Linguists have launched different theories concerning the new type of discourse that ads use. Even though ads are seen as ephemeral discourses, one cannot ignore the long-lasting impact they have. The debate is taken further at the point of discussing whether ads can be seen as literature. So, can we answer the question What is advertising? by claiming that advertising is a new type of literature? Some specialists state that ads use creativity to stimulate people to read between the lines and find the hidden message and, of course, here they refer to the use of narrative techniques. But some of them also claim that it is impossible to put the label literature on any piece of text produced and that there are certain characteristics that a text must have to be literature. So, both parts have come to a consensus, to create a middle category for ads, and include them in the new sub-literary genres (Cook, 1992: Foreword). Ads still being considered the exception and debates still being ar gued, we cannot totally associate literature with ads. Whatever history the field of advertising has, there is an absolute truth about its changeability. Ads change over time, change being influenced by the social and cultural context. Since the 1900s advertising has changed massively, first because of the technological progress that enables ads to be delivered worldwide through radio, media or through the Internet, commercials being delivered in ways that were beyond belief decades ago; and, on the other hand, due to the changes undergone by society and its cultural values which ads have changed enormously. The public changed its identity, and advertising companies reinvented old ads and updated them to suite the new world. Here we can give the example of brands like Schweppes, Coca-Cola, Dove, and so on and so forth. If we have a look, for example, at a Dove ad from 1955, when the company made its debut, and a 2010 Dove ad we find the old one rather simple, plain we could say, because the cultural context has changed and, thus, the com pany nowadays sustains in its ads this battle between natural beauty and the artificial one, real women vs. supermodels. Cook identifies two levels at which one could observe the evident changes of the ads, one is at the lower level of substance, surroundings, mode and paralanguage, and also at the level of text (Cook, 1992:179); the lower level of substance has been partially covered before, but at the text level we can see a change in the accompanying discourses, because within 50 years there has been a shift from print ads accompanied by stories to very short discourses, nowadays, advertising companies claiming that they would rather use slogans that are short and easily remembered. This change happened mainly because people have nowadays a different life- style, and are not interested in reading a one page ad text or, they probably no longer have the time to do so. Ogilvy claims that we have lost the pleasure of reading advertisements, the pleasure of being captivated by the wit ty, tricky story of a product. Here is an example of the changes in the print ads of The Coca-Cola Company: Then Printed vintage Coca-Cola ad Now Ads as a discourse type Different theoretical approaches have generated a variety of definitions of the concept of discourse, but each of them had as a starting point the concept of language and how language is used in particular situations. Various texts are explored within the field of discourse analysis which is based on examining the way in which meanings are created throughout the text and studying language in its cultural form. Researchers have used the concept of text separate from the one of discourse, due to the common belief that when we talk about a text we strictly refer to the written language and that discourse is strictly limited to the spoken area of language. The modern theorists of language introduced the theory that the concept of text includes many other utterances and statements, so that we can put the label text on almost any magazine article, interview or conversation we stumble upon everyday. In Dresslers view, a text is a communicative event that must accomplish the following seven criteria: Cohesion representing the relationship between text and syntax and the use of phenomena such as ellipsis, anaphora, recurrence or conjunction. Coherence which has to do with the meaning of the text. Intentionality representing the attitude and purpose of the speaker or writer. Acceptability concerning the role of the reader or of the hearer to asses the relevance of the important information of a text. Informativity referring to the quality of the new information. Situationality representing the importance of the situation in which the text is produced. Intertextuality which refers to the fact that a text is related to some other discourses. Discourse analysts have always given a more important role to the external factors, believing that they play a significant part in communication. Cook sustains this idea that discourse analysis is not concerned with language alone (1992: 1) and makes the difference between text and context, the first having linguistic forms, separated from context for the purposes of analysis, and the second including, in the case of advertisements all of the following (Cook,1992: 4) : à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · substance: the physical material of the text. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · music and pictures. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · paralanguage: referring to all the accompanying language (gestures, facial expression, or the size of the letters in writing). à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · situation: the relations of objects and people in the surroundings of the text, as seen by the participants. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · co-text: which refers to the text which precedes or follows that under analysis, and which readers/listeners judge to belong to the same discourse. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · intertext: refers to the text which the readers/listeners perceive as belonging to other discourse, but which they associate with the text under consideration and which affects their interpretation. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · participants: each participant is at the same time a part of the context and an observer of it. Participants are usually described as senders, addressers, addressees and receivers. The sender of a message is not always the same as the addresser. Neither is the receiver always the addressee, the person for whom it is intended. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · function: which refers to what the text is intended to do by the senders and addressers, or perceived to do by the receivers and addressees. In order to establish the type of discourse advertisements use, we need to focus first on the field of discourse analysis and see how the ads have been perceived and received into the sphere. James Paul Gee states that the area of discourses can be seen as an institution and prompts us to imagine that we have a giant map. Each discourse is represented on the map like a country, but with movable boundaries that you can slide around a bit and we move the boundaries of the discourse areas on the map around in negotiation with others (Gee, 1999: 22). That is the reason why some types of discourses seem to be hybrids; because of this continuously interaction between them and the contestable boundaries. The only difference between one discourse and another is the grammar they use; grammar as referring to what linguists have named for a long time now as collocational patterns. In the advertising area these patterns signal the type of social language (informal/formal) used to achieve somethi ng like the customers attention and curiosity. Ads caught the attention of the linguists first because they were an evidence of the fact that language is always in context, and second because their discourse was complex, sometimes associated with that of literature, always holding out more to be analysed. According to Cook, describing advertising as a discourse is both more complete and more difficult than the approaches which separate out components of ads, underline a few, and ignore the rest (Cook, 1992: 2). This approach was summed up in Figure 1 by Cook who also believes that the ad is not a stable entity and that any change that occurs at any level, the whole discourse changes (Cook, 1992: 6): Figure 1 Interaction of elements in ads. There are many categories of discourses, or discourse types, which surround us at any time. Some of them are perceived as conversations, others as news bulletins, gossip, jokes, games, lessons, etc. The categories can be drawn further on, but they all merge and defy the same purpose. It is the cultural background that makes us to separate the discourses into units, to give those units names, and to assign them categories (Cook, 1992: 10). Discourse types also cover the area of non verbal communication, and here we can include the category of advertisements discourse. Ads usually have at least a representative slogan, and/or a text sustaining the product advertised. But this is not a general rule. The importance of these non verbal elements depends and varies from spectator to spectator. There are ads without language which have a greater impact through the image associated with what is being promoted, and there are ads in which language plays a subordinate part. When it comes to define what type of discourse ads embody, specialists find themselves in difficulty. It should not be that way, since we are surrounded by them and they represent a conspicuous discourse type in almost all contemporary societies. Cook is among the first linguists to overcame traditionally bias when it comes to define the ad. When trying to distinguish ads from other discourses, he states that people tend to put in the first place as the major qualifying facet the function of the ads. This is because they simply see the surface aim: to convince people to buy a certain product. But ads are not discourses simply related to that universally known purpose, they also are discourses which do not try to sell anything, but advocate a cause, or sustain a campaign. The ads can also be seen according to their intention to inform, misinform, warn or simply amuse the reader. If one considers that the only function is to persuade people, that person leaves a great amount of information aside. For example, if a non-smoker receives ads for cigarettes, or a person who has limited funds receives an ad for a brand-new, expensive, ecologically car, it is clear that the receiver of these ads will know that they are certainly not for him. But this does not mean that those ads do not say anything to the receiver. This is the reason why Cook understands the function from two different perspectives: the function which the sender intends the discourse to have may not be the same as the function it actually does have for the receiver (Cook, 1992: 14). The receiver can use the cigarette ad in a further discussion about smoking/non-smoking. These changes in the function of advertisements are due to the fact that, with ads, there is no single sender and receiver, because ads are not created by a single individual, neither are they the expression of one unique, universal message for the receivers. Advertising is a difficult genre to describe, because it is very wide and merges with other genres; it is Cooks idea of the interactional features in an ad. Every text, as Roland Barthes argued in one of his works, is a multidimensional space in which a variety of writings blend and clash (Barthes, 1977: 146). Donald Matheson studied further this premise and states that according to the intertextual theory, one must ask himself three kinds of questions about all ads and, indeed, all texts: The first one is about identity, and as Barthes noted, a writers work is about the point where that writer puts himself/herself to what has already been told. Matheson uses this theory at a more general level and states that by using language with a particular history, we are placing ourselves, the messages and meanings we produce, in a particular relation to society and culture (Matheson, 2005: 46). A second kind of question concerns the social struggle, which in Mathesons terms is the struggle to re-accent language that has been tied to particular interests before. One can analyze further on the social component of a particular sign to trace its impact and workings on the society. A third and final question refers to the role of media (such as advertising) in shaping shared repertories of intertexts in society. For example, when a passerby sees the following beer advertisement, he/she will immediately make the connection with the popular saying An apple a day, keeps the doctor away. Alluding to other texts is a valuable technique for advertisers. First, it requires a certain degree of cognitive work from consumers and, as rhetorical analysts argue, the more work people have to do to get a meaning, the further they go through the path a particular text is trying to lead them, the more active they collaboration with the texts meaning is. In the text ads carry with them, their receivers recognize previous ways of talking, especially ways which have been solidified over time and used into genres, and these guide them as to how they should fit the elements of the ad together to form larger meaningful units. Fairclough (1995: 55) argues that we can identify social change and challenges of the social structures to this generic heterogeneity. A particular text can draw upon the language of another genre, or it may perform some of the functions of another genre, and also it mat draw upon the graphic form of another genre (Cook, 1992: 46, describes a Hamlet cigar ad that plays with the British Channel 4 station logo). The ad opens up quite unique and specific identity for its readers/viewers. The reference to other texts is sometimes ironic, so we are being asked by those types of ads to be ironic readers and take a critical standpoint towards media. According to Matheson, before an advertisement can create a desire for a product, it must first create a sense of inadequacy which that desire will fill in Matheson (2002: 48). Advertising works not only when people notice the ads, but when they change their behaviour, preferences and their habits in line with the ad. The goal of advertisements is first to participate in the foundation of peoples lifestyles, of their everyday activities and their understanding of themselves and the world that surrounds them. Cooks study concerning the prototypes, not definitive components of ads resulted in the identification of ads as being embedded in an accompanying discourse, foregrounding connotational meaning, thus effecting fusion between different spheres. Adv ertisements abound in intertextual references, this hypothesis being at the core of Cooks metaphorical definition of parasitic ads: appropriating and existing thorough the voices of other discourses (Cook, 1992: 176). In his study, Cook (1992: 12) heightens the following question: since discourse types may be described in terms of their social function, and vice versa, societies may be categorized in terms of the types of discourses they use, where do we place the advertising discourse? Foucault (1971) argues that a culture represent the sum of its orders of discourse. In this position, advertisements occupy a dual position: they help create a new global culture and a new type of discourse, and also it reflects the differences between cultures. The study of advertisements not only draws attention upon language facts, but they give a great amount of information regarding the cultural and social development of a particular civilization. To define what type of discourse advertisements use it is necessary to notice the attitudes towards this discourse. In this respect, ads are the most controversial of all contemporary discourses, partly because it is relatively new and studies and theories keep comin g to light, and partly because it is associated with the market economy from nowadays which helps the advertising corporations to thrive. Attempts to define ads as a discourse type run into different approaches and theories. One of these theories sustains that analysts must consider first the individual meaning of each of the word, and it was developed by Professor Eleanor Rosch and was named the prototype theory (Rosch, 1977: 34). Her research suggests that we choose or understand a word by referring to a mental representation of a typical instance (Rosch, 1977: 41). That given entity can be a bird, she states, and its image will depend on its resemblance to our prototype of a bird. This will vary from culture to culture, and individual to individual. Rosch states that a typical bird for Europeans can be a sparrow, while for the most North Americans is perhaps a robin. We are less likely to identify with the word from the category, if a particular instance does not match with our prototype. This approach, if applied to the debate of defining ads, simplifies the definition, because discourses that are described as ads, but do not share these prototypical elements of an ad, will no longer make the subject of further analysis. But the prototypical ad varies between a community, individuals and of course periods of time. Another theory that was launched first by Cook (1992) has as a starting point the fact that in order to fulfill its aims, advertising discourse use strategies, especially textual-discursive strategies, and makes use of techniques of manipulation of the language, words, creates ambiguity and also addresses to the emotional and personal feelings of the individual. That is why these discourses are more difficult to pin down. It is because their changing and hybrid nature. The language of advertisements, which linguists state that attests a deviation from the linguistic forms, employs both direct and indirect convincing techniques. In order to achieve their communicative effect, sometimes ad discourses appear ambiguous or use contradictory statements. In the process of constructing ads discourses, the signifier and the signified relationship, in the terms of Saussure (1959), is somehow twisted, misrepresented. In advertising discourses the arbitrariness of sign takes over and the old law s disappear. For example, cohesion, according to Vestargaard and Schroder (1985), ceases to exist in the advertising language, and is replaced by the interpretation of the advertisement message that demands coherence from the point of view of the consumer, and his understanding of that message.

The Biopower of Beauty Essay -- Literary Analysis, Mimi Thi Nguyen

In â€Å"The Biopower of Beauty: Humanitarian Imperialism and Global Feminism in an Age of Terror,† Mimi Thi Nguyen argues that beauty as a measure of moral character functions to regulate an individual. Nguyen explains that beauty promises to be redemptive and bring an individual from the outside in relation with the world(362). For example, the United States through nongoverenmental orgainizations (NGO’s), have promoted beauty to Afghanistan women because it is a way if liberating them from an uncivilized barbaric society that oppresses them to hide their beauty through the veil. According to Kant, the veil is considered ugly because it hides the body, which is associated with the erotic. Kant claims that beauty made visible is true and good, while the invisible is ugly and erotic (266). Nguyen claims using Kant that beauty is connected to morality because it makes visible what the â€Å"ugly† is trying to hide by providing a pathway in which beauty can impr ove ones life. Nguyen asserts that individuals use beauty as a serious of techniques to produce knowledge and emotions that function to portray the individual with dignity in comparison to the â€Å"ugly†. Thus, the use of beauty as an educational tool that measures their character is an important factor in teaching women to associate themselves with the rest of the world. Nguyen states the programs that NGO’s provide for women who do not have the knowledge to make themselves beautiful, serve as programs of empowerment that are connected to forms of dominance (360). Nguyen claims through beauty, Afghanistan women are suppose to feel a sense of self-worth and agency that was denied to them, while adhering to a set of western ideals of beauty. Nguyen claims this produces individual... ...auty School. From Nguyen, beauty functions in foucauldian terms because the students are made aware about their bodies in relation to the west that forces them to regulate themselves in order to adhere to beauty norms and standards set forth by their instructors. Nguyen contends that the western experts then shape the bodies of the students, who will then shape the bodies of others who also want to be like the west. Since western institutions are in charge of the Kabul Beauty School, the beauty school functions to cultivate women who want to preserve beauty for the sake of their dignity and morality as a tool against the â€Å"ugly† and uncivilized who are not like the west. In conclusion, Nguyen argues that beauty connected to morality justifies the United States intervention within Afghanistan that regulates individuals to accept western culture over their own.

Frida Kahlos Definition of Self Essay example -- essays research pape

Frida Kahlo is one of the most famous female painters to originate from the twentieth century, and for good reason. Her art is filled with beauty and creativity, but Frida’s main source of fame comes from the emotions that these paintings invoke, rather than the actual paintings. This is because Frida put herself into every painting she did, leaving traces of her presence all throughout this world and these traces remain long after her physical departure. Frida was a very peculiar and unique individual, hence, Frida’s definition of what a person is, or rather, what a self is, follows accordingly. The self is the reality that one conceives, and this self will live long after the physical body dies, continuing on as long as their memories endure. This is what Frida Kahlo defines as the self, according to her artwork. Frida’s paintings are very diverse, but they all have at least one thing in common: they all allow a glimpse into Frida’s own reality, and some more than others. In the painting, Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (Kahlo, p1), Frida is seemingly in a jungle or garden with a cat and a monkey on opposite shoulders with dragonflies buzzing about her head. She also has a hummingbird tied to an adorned necklace of thorns, which is making her neck bleed. The real emotion in this painting comes fully from Frida’s face. Frida’s eyes are blank and staring straight forward. No happiness emanates from these eyes, only a cold, anguished spirit radiates. Even in this paradise-like setting she is chased by her torment. Although Frida has fabricated a beautiful piece of scenery, she still cannot enjoy the lush flora and fauna around her. This follows her definition accordingly. Although Frida wants noth... ...he will never be forgotten because she has gone to great lengths to traces of her presence everywhere she went. Frida Kahlo is inarguably the most famous painter from the twentieth century because she puts such emotion into her paintings. She put her own reality into every painting that she ever fabricated. She never painted stories or fiction, she only painted what she saw in her own mind, and what she saw in her mind was her life. Much of her life was bad, and much of her life was good, but it was all on canvas, and it’s all open to interpretation. If her paintings mean something specific to a specific person, Frida would say that is all that matters. Frida’s paintings had very intense meanings for her, but she would never want to take a person’s own interpretation away from him or her. Frida would say that the only reality anyone has is of their own make.

Weapons of War :: Essays Papers

Weapons of War â€Å"War on Iraq† and â€Å"sexual identity† showcase instructive new tactics for contemporary politics. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. In conventional warfare. The US military no longer needs nuclear weapons for its better-publicized outings when they’ve built a 10-ton conventional bomb and aren’t above firebombing civilian centers. At a moment when anti-militarist criticism had crystallized around activism against specialized forms of military machinery (the Bradley was too expensive, the School of the America’s too brutal, the nuke too indiscriminate), all such criticism can be blown with the broadcasted desert winds to the enemy and yanked on for leverage - thus permitting/demanding all the kinds of actions (with or without marked technologies) that were the initial object of criticism. Now it’s Iraq who has dangerous WMD’s, not the US (a country with a nuclear policy of first strike against non nuclear nations). What may once have been a criticism of military violence became one of the weapons themselves (Depleted Uranium Bullets, land mines, space weapons, ‘bunker-busters’), and now ‘we’ shall fight clean against an enemy who (gasp!) might not. Just as the crime becomes the criminal, Saddam becomes his weapons programs; he â€Å"is a homicidal dictator who is addicted to weapons of mass destruction" (Bush). Programs that are mostly despicable because they aren’t supposed to have these weapons (according to international agreements, and sometimes early 90’s US mandates, to which, of course, US policy and rhetoric always shows such commitment). The trick is simultaneous with, and analogous to, the more obvious game of peace versus threat. â€Å"We are resolved today, to confront every threat, from any source, that could bring sudden terror and suffering to America† (Bush), except threats from America, naturally. But, the weapon issue focuses on technologies in a way that makes the two rhetorical devices non-homologous and makes weapons more relevan t here, because the question is not just of representations but also of instruments. Such conditions are not governed by banker’s rules of an economy of power (we get some percent more, you get so much less), or by a monarchical power that runs roughshod over (innocent) individuals, trampling the green grass of knowledge. Rather, the banker’s rules matter in the bank, and work only if there is a commitment to the illusion of the bank. Go ahead, tell â€Å"Bush† he isn’t a good king, he isn’t using power responsibly.