Tuesday, December 31, 2019

The Jealousy of Iago in Shakespeares Othello Essay

The Jealously of Iago in Othello Iagos crimes define pathological jealousy and a sheer desire for revenge. His acts are pre-meditated and have reasons. In various soliloquies, he reveals grudges that, while mostly false or overblown, present themselves as clear to Iago. Iago masters duplicity, even remarking himself I am not what I am. (line 67) Many of his dark motives are probably concealed from the audience. In his few soliloquies, he presents definitive motives for his vengeful desires. His passions are so dark that they can only be understood by himself. The first scene depicts Iago conversing with Roderigo. Iagos goals, grudges, and furthermore his motives are†¦show more content†¦Iago convinces Brabantio that he must rescue his daughter from the devil, another racial reference to Othellos black skin. Iago never identifies Othello except with remarks such as the Barbary horse mounting Desdemona. Brabantios cousins, Iago rages will be jennets, (line 14) black Spanish horses. The racism and hatred behind Iago is only worsened by Othellos high position and high popularity with the people; far higher than Iago will ever reach. Thus, Iago hatches a plot, not out of sheer malice or insanity, but out of a pathological jealousy beyond comprehension. Othello demonstrates his noble nature when confronted by Brabantio. He coolly remarks I must be found./ My parts, my title, and my perfect soul/ Shall manifest me rightly. (lines 30-32) This remarkable presentation even causes Iago to swear in appreciation, By Janus. He is insanely jealous over Othellos skill. The Duke does not even notice Brabantio just greets Othello as valiant Othello. (line 48) Iagos first plan is foiled by the composure and sheer power of Othello. This only maddens Iago. Later, Iago scorns the Moor and Cassio. While his many accusations are unbelievable, they present motive and a pathological desire to ruinShow MoreRelatedTheme Of Monstrous Jealousy In William Shakespeares Othello1271 Words   |  6 PagesWilliam Shakespeare’s â€Å"Othello†, illustrates four of themes in the play. One of the themes is extreme jealousy can make a person act like a monster. In the play, Shakespeare uses Othello, Roderigo, and Iago to prove the theme of Monstrous Jealousy by Othello slapping Desdemona in front of the Public of Venusians calling her cruel names and Developing evil schemes to kill Desdemona at night. Iago tells the lie to Othello about Cassio and Desdemona to and convincing Othello to believe in it. RoderigoRead MoreJealousy In Othello Essay1517 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"is† connotes an action. William Shakespeare’s, Othello, incorporates both perspective and action, however, Shakespeare adds an additional element: temporality. In Othello, Shakespeare personifies jealousy through the characte r Iago to argue that our perspectives may be temporary, but our actions are permanent. Jealousy is not incorporeal in Othello. While most assume jealousy is an emotion that people feel internally, within the confines of this play, jealousy is animated, and thus external. HowRead MoreThe Tragedy Of Othello By William Shakespeare757 Words   |  4 Pages The Tragedy of Othello by William Shakespeare William Shakespeare uses many literary devices to enhance and provide greater complexity in his works. More specifically, the theme, symbolism, and dramatic irony are used to enrich Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Othello. The plot is definitely engaging but the theme allows for an universal human correspondence, furthering the depth of the author’s message. The element of symbolism contributes to the theme of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Symbolism expressesRead MoreTheme Of Jealousy In Othello1511 Words   |  7 PagesJealousy is not confined to Othello because there are multiple examples in the play that show other characters that portray characteristics of jealousy such as Iago and Roderigo. It is clear that jealousy is not confined to Othello as he is not the only character in the play that shows jealousy in different ways. In the play, ‘Othello’ written by William Shakespeare in 1603 and set in a Venetian society, even though Othello did kill his wife and himself Shakespeares jealousy overcame him mentallyRead MoreJealousy and Race in Othello 1430 Words   |  6 PagesOthello is one of Shakespeare’s tragedies; originally written as a play and performed to an Elizabethan audience. Othello and many of Shakespeare’s other plays have been performed to various audiences since, and have been adapted into Opera, Ballet, Film and television productions. Othello has survived the centuries to this day and age; and continues to captivate and remain relevant to a modern audience; Othello certainly is a timeless classic work of art. â€Å"The object of tragic imitation is menRead MoreEssay about Destructive Jealousy in Iago and Othello1006 Words   |   5 Pagesâ€Å"Jealousy has the power to destroy† Discuss the ways in which Shakespeare uses both characters Othello and Iago to convey this message. Following the recent study of Shakespeare’s play â€Å"Othello†, we found a lot of information about the play and the theme jealousy. Shakespeare wrote tragedies, comedies and histories, all were in five acts of poetry. My definition of jealousy is where someone has something or is able to do something that another person can do. They are jealous because the otherRead More Tragic Flaws Of Othello Essay1081 Words   |  5 Pages Jealousy and Gullibility: The Devastating Flaws of Othello â€Å"The tragic flaw is the most important part of the hero and the events that occur in the work is a reflection of that flaw.† – Aristotle The plot of William Shakespeares Othello is a tale of love, jealousy, and betrayal; however, the characters, themes, and attitudes of the works are different, with Shakespeares play being a more involved study of human nature and psychology. Othello is considered to be a prime example of AristotelianRead MoreEssay on Othello; Jealousy1702 Words   |  7 PagesThroughout Shakespeare’s Othello, the major theme of jealousy is apparent. The tragedy Othello focuses on the doom of Othello and the other major characters as a result of jealousy. In Shakespeare’s Othello, jealousy is portrayed through the major characters of Iago and Othello. It utterly corrupts their lives because it causes Iago to show his true self, which in turn triggers Othello to undergo an absolute conversion that destroys the lives of their friends. Othello represents how jealousy, particularlyRead MoreOthello, By William Shakespeare1599 Words   |  7 Pages William Shakespeare’s 16th century play Othello is a duplicitous and fraudulent tale set alternatingly between Venice in act 1, and the island of Cyprus thereafter. The play follows the scandalous marriage between protagonist Othello, a Christian moore and the general of the army of Venice, and Desdemona, a respected and intelligent woman who also happens to be the daughter of the Venetian Senator Brabantio. Shakespeare undoubtedly positions the marriage to be viewed as heroic and noble, despiteRead MoreEssay about Tragic Flaws of Othello1137 Words   |  5 PagesJealousy and Gullibility: The Devastating Flaws of Othello By: Ryan Mongon The tragic flaw is the most important part of the hero and the events that occur in the work is a reflection of that flaw. Ââ€" Aristotle The plot of William Shakespeares Othello is a tale of love, jealousy, and betrayal; however, the characters, themes, and attitudes of the works are different, with Shakespeares play being a more involved study of human nature and psychology. Othello is considered to be a prime example

Monday, December 23, 2019

Teenagers, Drugs, And The American Academy Of Child And...

Teenagers abuse a variety of drugs, both legal and illegal. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry names the following as the legal drugs that teens experiment with: alcohol, prescription medications, inhalants (fumes from glues, aerosols, and solvents) and over-the-counter cough, cold, sleep, and diet medications. The most commonly used illegal drugs according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry are: marijuana (pot), stimulants (cocaine, crack, and speed), LSD, PCP, opiates, heroin, and designer drugs such as Ecstasy. These drugs are all dangerous and have serious consequences associated with them. Some of the negative consequences associated with teen drug use are: a higher risk for†¦show more content†¦During special events like prom, graduation, house parties and the regular weekend gatherings teens can be found celebrating, raising red solo cups, and enjoying being young. However, at the end of the night it’s not the te ens that find themselves in trouble with the law, it’s the parents. These events are socially referred to as â€Å"drinking parties† when parents knowingly or unknowingly have people under the drinking age in their home participating in underage drinking (Lawyers). Some parents feel that it’s safer for their teens and their friends to drink in the privacy of their home. Other parents have no idea that underage drinking is going on in their home. Regardless of the situation there are consequences for all involved (Lawyers). When parents decide to host an event where there is a possibility underage drinking can take place, parents should be aware of â€Å"social host liability†. When hosting a social event were drinking is taking place parents become liable for any injury or injuries that are caused due to the alcohol that the parent served or supplied (lawyers). Liability does not stop at injuries but includes medical bills, property damage, and pain and s uffering. In more serious cases parents can also face jail time or be fined by the court (Lawyers). However, the children are the ones who unfortunately suffer the most consequences when it comes to underage drinking. According to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, about 45

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Ethical Challenges and Agency Issues Free Essays

When an agent finds out that they are going overbudget or over the allotted time limit the most critical element is open communication. With open communication it gives management more advance warning earlier in the budget cycle to make changes that can get the project back on track. The most important element management needs is ample time to make corrections to keep the project on budget and within time constraints. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethical Challenges and Agency Issues or any similar topic only for you Order Now The more time management has the better their chances are of getting the proper resources aligned to get the budget back under control. If the budget issues are due to the client not properly keeping records, the agency could word the contract in a way that allows provisions for adjustments which would enable the agency to form a financial or time resolution with the client. A contract that allows for those types of adjustments limits agency issues and will keep a better working relationship between the two parties. The main issue is deciding what party is responsible or accountable for an overbudget project. If the agency can demonstrate why the budget is off to the client and be able to charge extra for the additional work the agency could delegate more resources to get the project completed in time as well. It is critical for the agency to have open communication between its team members, but it is just as crucial for the agency to be honest with the client as well. The ethical issue that arises with being overbudget is that individual employees don’t want to be penalized or face repercussions for their performance so they delay reporting results to management. When employees are afraid to report shortfalls earlier in the process it can lead to higher costs and major agency issues. The sooner the agent can show the client that planning or reporting issues are occurring they can make vital decisions to get the project back in line. Employees need to objectively think about others involved in their future with the company and client. As long as individuals clarify expectations and apply ethics to a situation it is possible to get a project back on budget. The agency can delegate more resources to an area that needs more manpower or money to get the project completed as promised to the client. Executive Pay Analyzing the ethical challenges as well as any agency issues in the Level of Executive Pay Case Study brings forth hidden issues in the New York Stock Exchange. To better analyze these issues one first has to ask oneself the following question, what is the true definition of ethics. Wheelwright defined ethics as â€Å"that branch of philosophy which is the systematic study of reflective choice, of the standards of right and wrong by which it is to be guided, and of the goods toward which it may ultimately be directed. † Did Mr.  Richard (Dick) Grasso violate any ethical standards set forth by the organization he was representing; did he really violate the systematic study of reflective choice, of the standards of right and wrong? In order to get a straight answer to this question it will dependent in which side of the fence one might find oneself in; if you are on the side of the lucky ones that happens to earn this outrageous sums of money then the answer would be no. But if you find oneself in the other side of the fence with the individuals who earn an average salary that would never get the opportunity to reach the levels of aristocracy that Mr.  Grasso reached then the answer would be yes. The ethical roles on all companies play a big role on the decision making of each enterprise. Before and after Mr. Grasso was hired it was customary to compensate top officials with these large sums of money. Top officials in the NYSE never had to disclose their earning to the public or to the SEC before so it’s hard to say any ethical standards were bent or even broken. This type of compensation to top NYSE officials was customary and there were no real intentions to misguide or mislead the public or the SEC. Just because not everyone in the NYSE had access to potentially earn this outrageous sums of money will indicate to the public that these individuals were directly involved in unethical behavior. All companies in today’s business society have a code of conduct implemented but this does not means that it is being followed. What companies are doing is creating rewards methods in order to retain the services of these top business gurus that would help their business to maximize their profits and Mr. Grasso track record spoke for itself. These incentive programs can help businesses to minimize any unethical attempts to their code of conduct. The general public and the SEC are outrage because of the outlandish compensation top NYSE officials receives but at no point during the case study it mentions that these top officials have a salary cap. One believes that since there were no salary cap on how much NYSE officials might earn there are no ethical implications that could discourage NYSE official from making these large sums of money. What one does believe is that if there are established codes of conduct and employees or management violates them, there should be strict actions taken to prevent the problem from worsening. One believes that all employees including management needs to uphold the highest level of ethical conduct if a company wants to be successful. 1933, 1934, and SOX The financial information users usually rely on opinion of independent auditors to make important economic decisions. To protect users’ interest from fraudulent financial statement, security acts of 1933, 1934, and SOX joined in to ensure adequate information disclosure. The acts provide regulation that goes beyond and requires more extensive disclosure than GAAP to govern corporate financial activities. For example, companies must fill audited annual and unaudited interim financial statements in conformity with regulation S-k. In addition, the regulation S-K governs the footnote disclosure in the financial statements. Congress enacted the acts after the stock market crash in 1929 to regulate the trading of securities to the public. For this reasons, security trading companies must register with SEC prior to issuance of security to ensure that information presented to investor for making accounting decisions is correct. In the aftermath of the famous corporate accounting scandal (Enron) that rock the world market, congress enacted the Sarbanes- Oxley Act (sox) to strengthen corporate accountability and governance of public companies. The provision increases the CEO and auditors responsibilities. CEO and other top executive must certify that company financial statement and other disclosures are fairly presented in accordance with GAAP. In other words, CEO is responsible to ensure that material misstatement does not exist in the financial statement presented to the users. SOX also authorize the Public Company accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to oversee the activities of the registered accounting firm. This changes the way auditors plan, implement and report the audit. The provision increases penalties that could affect an accountant who is involve in the destruction, alternation, or falsification of records in federal investigations. Any violation of such may be subject to fines and imprisonment of up to 20 years, additional training, new quality control procedure, revocation of firm’s registration, and barring from participating in audit of public companies. How to cite Ethical Challenges and Agency Issues, Essay examples

Friday, December 6, 2019

Child Labour and its Effects on Children and Their Families examples Essay Example For Students

Child Labour and its Effects on Children and Their Families examples Essay For the purpose of this essay, Britain will be concentrated on to discover the historical approach to child labour along with compulsory schooling, plus the effects this had on the lives of children and their families. The last two hundred years from the 1800’s to 2000 are explored to recognize the issues surrounding prolonging childhood in mainly Britain. It was here child labour was initially recognised in factories, mills and mines in the early nineteenth century. This essay will demonstrate the various changes during this period, and the differences between the working class and upper class childhoods and the differences between the childhoods of two hundred years ago, and that of today. As a result, this essay will describe the changes in the experiences and opinions of childhood to the prolonging of childhood in Britain. Two main causes for the prolonging of childhood in Britain over the last two hundred years seem to be due to raising the age limit of when child labour begins, along with lowering the age of when a child should start school, raising the leaving age and making schooling compulsory (Cunningham 2003). Child labour in Britain included working in mines, factories and mills. The two factors contribute together on the effect of prolonging childhood. The age a child began school became younger, and their school days lengthened whilst the child labour age became older, and the hours shortened. Firstly, looking at the initial cause over this period, was the age of child labour was raised. Children as young as seven and eight were spending long hour’s underground working in mines and pits and there were no laws regarding children working until the 19th century. The first act to be actually checked up on and backed. .itain over the last two hundred years, is due to the gradual raising of the child labour age, the lowering of school age and raising the leaving age of school, shortening the labour day, lengthening the school day, and eventually making school compulsory to all. Also contributing is the foundation of youth groups and Halls conceptions of adolescence. Works CitedCunningham, H. (2003) ‘Children’s changing lives from 1800 to 2000’. In Maybin, J. Woodhead, M. (eds.) Childhoods in Context, Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd. in association with the Open University, pp 81- 128 The Open University (2003) U212, Childhood ,Audio 3, Band 3,’ Hugh Cunningham on the history of childhood’ Milton Keynes: The Open University. The Open University (2003) U212 Childhood, Block 2, ‘School children in Kristiania 1912: Work and school’, Milton Keynes, The Open University.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Place of Contentment free essay sample

A Safe Haven lingers in the outskirts of the digital world, and makes me feel whole. Tumblr.com is more than a blogging site. It’s the original chameleon of the Internet being anything you ever wanted, and so much more. A blank canvas for your imagination and a friend to hold your hand when all you want to do is cry. The power of youth intertwines in cyber fibers and creates the genius that is Tumblr. This website attends to all emotions and senses by captivating one into seeing the beauty of life, through every type of creative mind on the planet. It is an underground safety net to express and vent where no one will find you, unless you allow yourself to be found. Tumblr can also be a place to share your offerings to the world of newborn foals, chewing at the bit with a burning desire in their hearts to make an impact. We will write a custom essay sample on Place of Contentment or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This site is wonderful in the way that it gives people a chance to have a voice that they are rarely given otherwise. Throughout my time using Tumblr, I have been able to form opinions about politics, and learn about critical issues in the world I was never informed about before. I have learned the most outlandish potpourri of facts as well. For instance, Jared Padalecki is obsessed with Where’s Waldo books, Nutella jars are made as big as a human torso for 40 dollars at Costco, and the Barbie Brand might be going in the right direction of supporting body peace by finally creating an athletic build doll. Tumblr allows you to share your true self and it’s my personal space to just be, and I am forever grateful to have had the area of serenity for my years throughout high school. I believe that even though most of my followers do not know my actual name, and know nothing about my life in the physical world, they know me better than any of my friends in school. My followers see my triumphs as well as my failures, all through the pictures I reblog, and the text entries I write. It is said that you become the company that you keep, so what happens when you are constantly surrounded by minds filled with dreams and inspiration, people who hold infinite paintbrushes with color palettes never seen before? A limitless line of brilliance is formed, molded by the minds that shape each other indefinitely. I believe in the future generation, and the glorious potential of our world. Tumblr simply fuels that fire by providing witty comments laced with laughs and chuckles, innovative yet insightful photographs, and opinionated writing pieces created by the random introverted girl in someone’s physics class. Tumblr gives me hope for the bright tomorrows that reach beyond the rolling hills of my current existence, and in turn gives me complete tranquility.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Computer Addiction essays

Computer Addiction essays There once was a time when the only computers known to the average person were those the military possessed. Eventually, large corporations found many different uses for computers in the business world, and today, computers are as common in numerous households around the globe. People from all age groups are learning to operate computers and anyone who has worked with computers for long periods of time knows that computers can be just as addicting as smoking. Computer addiction can have a number of physical, social, and psychological effects on a person and it is to be taken as seriously as any other addiction that a person is battling. One common physical effect computer addiction can have on a person are back problems. Sitting for so long can take a toll on a person's muscles and can result in poor posture. Poor posture can result in chronic back problems that require the services of a chiropractor. Dry eyes, carpal tunnel syndrome, and vision complications are some eye problems caused by over use of a computer. Migraine headaches are quite common in computer addiction and are linked to the straining of the eyes. Because of the long hours spent engrossed in a computer, addicts often have eating irregularities, such as skipping meals and binge eating. Computer addicts experience sleep disturbances, or changes in sleeping patterns, which are most likely due to late hours on the computer and low blood sugar from eating irregularities. One last effect is the failure to attend to personal hygiene, such as bathing, combing hair and brushing teeth. All of these physical effects can be linked to computer addiction. Social effects of computer addiction include reduced time spent socializing with others. People may begin to feel that their computer is the only relationship that they have the time to focus on. They lose the desire for human contact and communication and in a way ...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Should America as a country promote the use of a single language Essay

Should America as a country promote the use of a single language - Essay Example We can think of America as a colorful bride having colors and feelings of internal emotions, internal true love and adorance as America is a dreamland of all the cultures presenting multiple linguistics. It is rather to be found in the extent of the power of a language that power is lies in the numbers of speakers, which is directly bound to the power of the literary language by which means a language is able to extend its influence over large territories and to get more speakers, in ever-widening circles, until, of course, the language becomes a world language. The use of multiple languages should be promoted in American society because there is a need for the society to think about those criteria in which people from all over the world along with different colors of racial and cultural freedom bring with them their feelings to be communicated in their own language so that they think of America a

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Paper on groups in your high school Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Paper on groups in your high school - Essay Example These relationships refer to the processes that are learned in school. They â€Å"refer to the social and psychological underpinnings of the system, how people come together in schools and divide and subdivide into groups† (Crosno 38). On one side you could see cliques that are relatively more popular than others. They compose of both guys and girls where the closest girls usually sit next to each other and chatter or next to the guy most likely have a relationship with. Then there are groups that associate with each other mostly because of their common interests like those who like a particular brand or music or those who belong to the same club. There are also groups that are somewhat in the middle. They are not exactly the most popular but they are familiar faces and most of them have an interesting story about them that you know. They are approachable compared to others and they tend to put balance on the cafeteria and the entire school just because they are more tolerant of the different people. They would rather remain neutral instead of favouring an opinion over

Monday, November 18, 2019

Soft Commodity Research Paper (News Letter Form)

Soft Commodity (News Letter Form) - Research Paper Example 4). Additionally, production shifted from Gulf Coast regions to more efficient growing areas. However, due to the decrease in demand in rice during 2008, the price of rice has significantly increased. But with the aid of the structural changes, the US rice industry has managed to cope and since then the trend of the demand has normalized. Currently, rice is valued in the market at $578.36 per metric ton. According to World Bank’s bi-annual Global Economic Prospects (26) report, a decline on the prices of global prices of farm commodities should be expected in 2012 by up to 11% mainly due because of the slowdown in demand and improved supply prospects. Although returns to rice production are highly variable and fluctuating, the trend is being controlled with the substantial structural changes that are being implemented in order to balance these factors. In the years to come, as the World Bank has predicted, rice prices will continually drop. And unlike other agricultural products, the rice industry has enjoyed a decline in its

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Van Genneps Stages of a Rite of Passage

Van Genneps Stages of a Rite of Passage Van Genneps stages and understanding a rite of passage in relationship to one or more rituals Wittgenstein (1987, p.14, Chapter I. Introduction) set a large challenge for anthropology that has yet to be taken up. After reading the Golden Bough, he argues that Fraser made a crucial mistake by trying to deduce what things mean. He accused Fraser of not understanding that practices signify nothing but themselves, and that the extent of anthropology could be to delimit and work out the practical structure of such tasks. For the past fifty years or so, anthropology has largely ignored Wittgensteins remarks and has built an anthropology that privileges the observer. It privileges the observer because it is only the observer who can read into phenomenon their underlying socio-cultural meaning. It is precisely this sort of reifying reductionism that we find in Van Genneps (1909) theory of the rite of passage. Rites of passage present an irresistible and difficult focus for the ethnographer: they are constellations of compacted meanings removed from the process of everyday life. In the authors own experience, they are also some of the most frustrating things to analyse. Presented with so many unusual phenomenon, the ethnographer asks, what does this mask mean only for your informant to respond with a shrug. This difficulty of compacted meaning may partly explain why ethnographers are so quick to ignore the phenomenon involved in a rite of passage in favour of reading it as a structural process. This difficulty may also explain why, fully one hundred years after it was published, Van Genneps Rites of Passage theory remains unchallenged in the anthropological world. That said, Van Gennep’s overall structures has remained remarkably adept at matching up to all the rituals people apply to it. However, there should not be taken as a mark of its success. It one is to recall that the success of Evans-Pritchards structural-functionalism (Kuper: 1988, pp. 190-210, Chapter 10 Descent Theory: A Phoenix from the Ashes), was more based on the tastes and cultural paradigms of anthropologists than it was on its correspondence to any ethnographic reality. This essay will argue that Van Genneps stages of rites of passage do indeed cohere to many rituals, however, like Turners schemes (1995), these stages do little to explain to us the significance of ritual. In order to do so, this essay will argue, it is necessary to turn to how the phenomenologically experienced reality of ritual constitutes the social reality of a ritual. To make this argument this essay will focus on three rites of passage: French marriage ritual in Auvergne (Reed-Dahany: 1996), Yak a healing rituals in Zaire (Devisch: 1998, 1996) and refugee experience in Tanzania (Malikki: 1995). The last example proves the most difficult for Van Genneps theory: because though it corresponds to his stages, nothing about the experience of refugees would correspond to the socially rigid categories Van Gennep claims are central to rites of passage. From this example, this essay will argue to understand rites of passage we need to consider more fully the relationship of time-out-of-time in culture. For until we confront the question of what allows a certain unit of time to be taken out of the experience of the everyday, we will be no closer to understanding how rites of passage deal with other senses of time-out-of-time. Van Gennep (1909, Chapter I The Classification of Rites) attempts to demonstrate a there is a universal structure underlying all rites of passage. While there might be physiological, factors involved (e.g. coming to puberty) the mechanisms that determined the rites of passage are always social, and these social constructions display a cross-cultural similarity. Rituals and ceremonies in Van Gennep’s scheme serve the function of guaranteeing ones path through liminal transitory categories as one passes through the stages of separation, transition and reincorporation that he claims are present in all stages of rites of passage. What we can note about this model already is that the ritual serves the purpose of a unit of causation in a socially determinist model of society: there is a societal need that ritual fulfils. Because of this functional model, we are none the wiser as to how a society determines the exact elements of a ritual, or how people experience the ritual. Van Genneps approach is based on a socially functional model: though he is far more inclined to admit the power of the individual in the social form sui generis than is Durkheim (Zumwalt: 1982:304). That said, he still claims (Van Gennep, 1909, p. 72, Chapter Six Initiation Rites) that in mutilation: the mutilated individual is removed from the mass of common humanity by a rite of separation which automatically incorporates him into the defined group. His emphasis here is on the social end process: as if it could somehow be separated from the phenomenological experience of the pain. Thus, the process of scarification that marks many initiation rituals is merely placed as part of the logic of social cohesion: following such a pattern, it is hard to explain the beating and terror that often accompanies initiation rituals. Indeed, it ignores the central challenge Merleau-Ponty (1962, p.115, Part I The Body, Chapter III The Spatiality of Ones own Body and Motility) posed when he asked: H ow can we understand someone else without sacrificing him to our logic or it to him? The domain of phenomenology is closely linked to that of ritual. Jackson (1996, p.3, Chapter I Introduction) characterises phenomenology as a project designed to understand being-in-the-world. This attempt to understand how inter-subjective experience is constituted is a possible answer to the question Merleau-Ponty poses above how does one understand the other. Characteristically, phenomenology attempts to answer this project by not privileging one domain of experience or knowledge, as none of them can encompass the totality of the lived experience. Instead, it is an investigation into (Ricoeur, 1979, p.127, Chapter IV The Structure of Experience) the structures of experience which proceed connected expression in language. This is what Merleau-Ponty would call the preobjective. This understanding of the importance of structures that escape linguistic formalisation has also been part of the emphasis of the study of ritual in anthropology. In Levi-Strauss (1965, pp.167-186, Chapter Nine The Sorcerer and His Magic) classic examination of north American healing sorcerers he emphasises how the experience of the healing takes place between the triad of patient, sorcerer, and social body. He also emphasises the importance in this relationship of the sensory experience of the sorcerer. However, despite this emphasis, he is undertaking his analysis from a recorded text, and his emphasis is on the structural coherency sorcery provides rather than its embodied experience. He writes (ibid: 181): In a universe which it [the social body] strives to understand but whose dynamics it cannot fully control, normal thought continually seeks the meaning of things which refuse to reveal their significance. So-called pathological thought, on the other hand, overflows with emotion al interpretations and overtones, in order to supplement an otherwise deficient reality. The sensory experience of the ritual as understood by Levi-Strauss is constituted as a means-end relationship to get to the desired goal, the assertion of the cosmological unity of the social body. Here we can see the same pattern of assumptions about bodily meaning we noted earlier in Van Gennep. This emphasis, a legacy of Durkheim, characteristically means that repetition, often the element of ritual that constitutes its definition, is overlooked as window-dressing to the mythical meat of the ceremony which is that which can be vocalised (and thus objectified). This legacy can also be found in the two anthropologists whose writing about myth has defined the field, Van Gennep and Turner (1986, 1995). In Van Gennep, central to his notion of ritual as a rite of passage is a sacred-profane dualism, which is also kept in Turners scheme, though he also includes the notion of the marginal or liminal. In this distinction we can see that both theorists only deal with the relationship between the sacred and profane in terms of social structure and fail to deal with these elements interpenetrate in everyday lived reality. In a sense, their distinction is similar to that made by Mauss (1993, p. 12, Chapter I The Exchange of Gifts and the Obligation to Reciprocate) when understanding the gift. Mauss claims that the person for whom the sacrifice is performed enters the domain of the sacred and then rejoins the profane world, which is separate from the sacred, though conditioned by it. For Turners early work, and for Van Gennep, ritual is the heightened activity in which the sacred-profane worlds are mediated between. What is advantageous about these approaches is that they identify ritual as the situation or drama par excellence, as an organisation of practice constructed and defined by participants and it is a practice in which the participants confront the existential conditions of their existence. However, there are problems with Turner and Van Gennep’s approaches which parallel that of Levi-Strauss. In both cases, the emphasis is on the formal unity of the social world. Kapferer (1997, pp.55-61, Chapter II: Gods of Protection, Demons of Destruction: Sorcery and Modernity. The Transmutation of Suniyama: Difference and Repetition) illustrates some of these problems when analysing the Sri Lankan suniyama, or exorcisms. While he agrees with Turner that the suniyama constitute their own space-time, he also makes clear the extent to which they borrow from everyday life. Rather than seeing resolution and unity in the suniyama, he notes that the reactualisation of the ordinary world amid the virtuality of the rite is a moment of intense anxiety. In the events of the chedana vidiya, the tension, he argues, is not just about the destructive forces of the demon but also about the re-emergence of the victim in the ordered world. One can see in the suniyama that the lived world is not reducible to categories, despite the attempts at structuration. It is an excellent example of what Jackson (1989, p.5, Chapter I Paths Towards a Clearing) calls mans rage for order, and simultaneously usurpation of that order coupled with an awareness that the order is always exceeded by the lived world. Kapferer refuses to push dualistic or triadic models onto the Sri Lankan suniyama, and argue for it being a continuous process orientated at the restitution of social action. One of the ways this uncertainty the rage for order and its ambiguity or infirmity is manifested is in sensory experience. It is here that the Durkheimean project is unable to provide a satisfactory analytical framework and where phenomenology can provide some edifying lines of inquiry. None of these lines of inquiry are pursued by Reed-Dahany (1996), who illustrates the extent to which Van Gennep can be utilized, and also the extent to which Van Genneps scheme founders in its constructionist model, in her analysis of marriage practice in Auvergne. She notes that (ibid: 750) in the early morning after a wedding, a group of unmarried youths burst into the room to which the bride and groom have retired for the night and present them with a chamber pot containing champagne and chocolate. The youth and the newly wed couple then consume the chocolate and champagne together. The participants describe is as something which appears disgusting, and yet actually tastes really good. Reed-Dahany utilises Bourdieus work on taste to show how this reversal of the established bourgeois order simultaneously parodies marriage and bourgeois taste. Like the examples we see in Turners work, the sacred ritual of marriage here is associated with the inversion of established meanings only for these meanings to be ever more forcefully reinserted after the period of liminal disaggregation. We can see how such a ritual fits Van Genneps scheme very well: the couple are segregated from society (both from each other before marriage, and then from society the honeymoon afterwards) before being reaggregated. Thus, Reed-Dahany has no problem in understanding the ritual of la rà ´tie as a ritual of reincorporation in the sense Turner had meant it. Through the partaking of food with the unwed they are allowed to re-enter society, the wet-substance consumed standing in for fecundity. Indeed, as Reed-Dahany notes (ibid: 752) Van Gennep himself had commented on these rituals in his work on folk customs in rural France and had pursued much the same conclusion. Yet what Reed-Dahany notes is that the focus for the people involved in the ritual are the scatological reference implicit in the ritual: these elements of parody of bourgeois society that take place at the level of bodily praxis are left unexplained by Van Genneps scheme, in which any set of symbols is replaceable with anot her as long as they have the same social purpose. This is why Van Gennep has great problems explaining rites of passage that are not formal. Yet, it is not the case that rites of passage and other temporal markers must be institutionalised. As Malikki (1995, p. 241, Chapter Six Cosmological Order of Nations) notes: historical consciousness is lodged within precarious accidental processes that are situated and implicated in the lived events and local processes of the everyday. In her work, Malikki looks at the creation of a mythico-history among Hutu refugees who fled the mass killing of 1972 in Burundi for Tanzania fifteen years ago. She contrasts two groups; the first, living in an urban environment, deploy their ethnicity and history only rarely, situationally and relationally, and attempt not to stick out. In contrast, at the refugee camp, the inhabitants were continually engaged in recreating their homeland. Malikki (ibid: p.3, Introduction An Ethnography of Displacement in the National order of Things) notes: The camp refugees saw themselves as a nation in exile, and defined exile, in turn, as a moral trajectory of trials and tribulations that would ultimately empower them to reclaim, or recreate anew, the homeland in Burundi. One of the noticeable elements in this construction of a mythico-history is the way in which it internalised exterior categories, and then subverted them. For instance, Malikki draws attention to the way in the powerful discourse of inter-nationalism, refugees are in an ambiguous space, particularly polluting, between national boundaries. Malikki uses the work of Van Gennep and Turner to understand how the Hutu refugees in the camp had turned this liminal space into a trial of separation, which would empower them to return. The narratives that people told Malikki were incredibly standardised, they functioned, as Malikki notes, as moral lessons, that represented (ibid: p. 54, Chapter Two The Mythico History) a subversive recasting and reinterpretation of [events] it in fundamentally moral ways. In Malikkis work, we can see that rites of passage can be lodged in accidental processes and contingent historical events. Even here, they seem to fit the categories of Van Genneps classificati on. However, one notes that nothing about these classifications explains the way these patterns were then sedimented into a rite of passage that structured and organised practice. She notes that one of the key moments in this history is when the refugees arrive across the border in Tanzania, and are able to meet other refugees from Burundi (there appeared to be little widespread national connections before then ibid: p.103, Chapter Two The Mythico History). Thus, collective effervescence of consciousness, which, as the narrative describes, allowed people to understand the final secret of the Tutsis, was not just experienced verbally. The supplanting of the social order with chaos (though an ordered chaos) was accompanied by very physical processes. The fear of pursuit, the bodily feeling of cramp and hunger, the sight of corpses on the road: all these were processes that the refugees took great pains to describe to Malikki. The refugees referred to this moment as one of revelation, and this memory, which must have in part formed the social bond that allowed for the creation of the mythico-history, was a silent history of bodily feeling and gesture as much as i t was one verbalised. If we develop Malikkis understanding of the similarity between rites of passage and the refugee experience slightly, there is a parallel between the symbolic death and rebirth in the liminal stage of separation in a rite of passage, normally accompanied by ritual action that provides the unity of a shared painful experience, and the collective pain of that crossing into Tanzania in 1972. These phenomenological bodily experienced realities are not marginal to a group feeling of cohesion: rather than social aspects of the rite of passage stem from these silent memories of bodily experience. We will now turn to an analysis of the rites of passage in the Yaka healing cults of Zaire. In contrast to the social world of the Yaka, which is patrilineal, femaleness, uterine filiation and mediatory roles are cyclical and occupy a concentric life-cycle (Devisch: 1996, p.96, The Cosmology of Life Transmission). It is within this contrast that the healing rituals takes place. The healing rituals a re not a collection or commiseration, rather, they are bodily and sensuous, they (ibid: 95) aim at emancipating the initiates destiny clearing and enhancing the lines of force in the wider weave of family. It is not just in the matrilineage that healing occurs however, for (Devisch: 1998, p.127, Chapter Six Treating the affect by remodelling the body in a Yaka Healing Cult) it is in the interplay of physical links and individualising relationships a person weaves through his mothers lineage with the uterine sources of life and the primary and fusional object that the Yaka cultures in Kinshasa and south-west Congo localise the origin of serious illness, infirmity and madness. The ritual allows for the rebirth of the individual, and occurs at the margins (physical and cultural) of the society. This re-sourcing of the body is very fundamentally sensory. For instance, in the period of seclusion a young Mbwoolu become body doubles, and become an inscribed body envelope that serves as his interface with the social body. It is important to note there that the Yaka identity is structured as an envelope and knot. Harmful things like thievery of sorcery are associated with this knot being tied too tightly or loosely, inversion of normal bodily functions, such as flatulence or ejaculation outside of coitus can be understood as the knot being tied too tightly or gently. The person in this sense is constructed inter-subjectively, spreading outwards in a myriad of exchanges and well formed knots. The transference to the Mbwoolu involves an enacted cosmology where the objects and the initiate are covered with a red paste. Devisch notes that the notion of the person in these ceremonies is to be found to be located at the skin level, through a myriad of exchanges. At an early stage in the ritual, the initiates and the Mbwoolu figurines are floated in water, and this is the beginning of a process that continues throughout the ritual, as the initiates skin is turned inside out. In this process, the illness is displaced onto the Mbwoolu, and his insides become a receptacle for the power of the healing ritual. The figurines become a social skin to be idealised, socialised and protected. The importance of sensory experience in the ritual is also in the moment where the master shaman bites off the head of a chicken and sprays the initiates with its blood. Devisch (ibid: 146) also talks about the importance of the fusional absorption in the rhythm and music, then (ibid) [the] tactile olfactory and auditory contacts envelop, and are finally interwoven into an increasingly elaborate utterance, by the mirrored gaze. By this Devisch is alluding to the process by which the initiate converts the primary fusional object into phenomena of identification by incorporation. In this process of incorporating the figurine into themselves, all the senses are in use. What is noteworthy and excellent in Devischs work is that while he does occasionally lapse into statements about trance-inducing music, she is clear to emphasise that sensual phenomenon are not part of a means-end relationship to induce the required result, nor are they somehow secondary to the meaning of the ritual. Rath er, he emphasises that the sensory experience is in many respects, the ritual that the experience of being covered in red clay and submerged in water and having your skin reversed cannot be separated from the transference of your illness to the statues. What Mauss (1993, p.2, Chapter I The Exchange of Gifts and the Obligation to Reciprocate) was right to emphasise when he claimed sacrifice was a total social fact was that questions of sacrifice are questions of Being first and foremost. They occupy a place were the social world is made and remade. In Devisch, what is understood to constitute the central aspects of the Yaka healing cult are sensory experience. This is very different to the understanding laid out by Van Gennep and Turner. For while Devisch makes clear that in the Yaka healing cult one is separated from society pending ones reincorporation, he does not allow the socially functional explanation to obscure what the ceremony might mean. One can see the difference if we contrast Turners work to Devischs. For Turner, the performative and sensory aspects of healing function at its normative pole, the pole at which ritual healing is a resolution of social and emotional conflict. The power of dominant symbols, for Turner, derived from their capacity to condense structural or moral norms the eidetic pole and fuse them with physiological and sensory phenomena and processes – the oretic pole. In Turner, the oretic pole, where emotional and bodily praxis is centred, is a given. For Devisch, this given in Turners work is a critical problem, for it prevents his understanding that the basis of creativity in ritual (1993, p.37, 1.6 Body and Weave: A Semantic-Praxilogical Approach) is to be sought not in liminality but in the body seen as a surface upon which the group and the life-world is inscribed. We have seen in three rituals how Van Genneps classification superficially fits the pattern of behaviour. However, like in the work of Victor Turner, we have seen that Van Gennep cannot explain the detail of rites of passage using his system of classification. In his system, the details of a ceremony become marginal, whereas for the practioners they are central. To explain such details we need to pursue a phenomenologically informed anthropology such as that which Devisch practices. For if a rites of passage is a primarily embodied experience, then the body cannot simply be a receptacle for social value rather, one would argue, it can also be a generative movement, both of meaning and of experience Bibliography Devisch, R. 1998: Treating the affect by remodelling the body in a Yaka healing cult. In Strathern Lambek, Bodies and Persons. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Devisch, R. The Cosmology of Life Transmission. pp.94-115. In, Jackson, M. (ed) 1996: Things as they are: New Directions in Phenomenological Anthropology. Indiana: Indiana University Press. Devisch, R. 1993: Weaving the Threads of Life: The Khita Gyn-Eco-Logical Healing cult among the Yaka. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Jackson, M. 1989: Paths Towards a Clearing. Indiana: Indiana University Press. Jackson, M. (ed) 1996: Things as they are: New Directions in Phenomenological Anthropology. Indiana: Indiana University Press. Kuper, A. 1988. The Invention of primitive society: transformations of an illusion. London: Routledge Kapferer, B. 1997: The Feast of the Sorcerer: Practices of Consciousness and Power Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Levi-Strauss, C. 1965. Structural Anthropology 1. London: Penguin. Malikki, L. 1995: Purity and Exile: Violence, memory and National Cosmology among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania. London: University College Press. Mauss, M. 1993: The Gift: The Form and Reason for exchange in Archaic Societies. London: Routledge. Merleau-Ponty, M. 1962 Phenomenology of perception. London : Routledge Reed-Dahany, D. 1996: Champagne and Chocolate: Taste and Inversion in a French wedding ritual. American Anthropologist. Vol. 98, No. 4, pp. 750-761. Ricoeur, P. 1979: Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning. Texas: Christian University Press. Turner, V.W. 1995: The Ritual Process: Structure and anti-structure. London: Aldine. Turner, V.W. 1986. The drums of affliction. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Van Gennep, A. 1909: The Rites of Passage. London: Routledge. Wittgenstein, L. 1987: Remarks on Frazers Golden Bough. London: Brynmill Press. Zumwalt, R. 1982: Arnold Van Gennep: The Hermit of Bourd-la-Reine. American Anthropologist. Vol 84, No 2, pp. 299-313.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Kosovo Crisis :: essays research papers

Kosovo has encountered some hard times. Ethnic Albanians claim themselves to be the descendents of the ancient llyrians, Kosovo’s first inhabitants. The Serbs believe that Kosovo is the cradle of their history and culture. Both have different wants; the Serbs with to have â€Å"their† land while the Albanians, which make up ninety percent of the population, want an independent nation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many of the troubles evolved from World War II when the country was torn on whether or not to support tHitler and his movement. Since then the Albanians have cried for a free republic. The Kosovo Liberal Army resulted from Albanian attacks. The army was formed to perform terrorist attacks on this who didn’t wish to conform to the Kosovo government. Thus, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) involvement was imminent. The purpose of NATO’s involvement was to resolve the conflict as peacefully as possible. Their involvement, however, seems to be more of a cancer that a cure. Both side of the conflict turn their weapons of destruction not only on each other, but also onto NATO soldiers. Somewhat ironic, to prevent death we must send our brave men in to die. The conflict has been hard on the world, but more so on Kosovo itself. It is predicted that if the war doesn’t stop the two-sides will be fighting over nothing other than pride. The worldà ¢â‚¬â„¢s involvement into the conflict seems to have fueled the anger of both sides.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are hundreds of people suck in the middle. Regular farmers have become heroes. Women starting orphanages for children who have been abandoned or lost their parents. One story is of a man that digs through the destroyed rubble searching for anything that could be of value to give to those less fortunate than he, and there aren’t many that are fortunate. Another is of those who have given their lives, which amounts to hundreds of stories related. There are those who don’t even want to be there such as the American G.I. who is ready and willing to gibe his or her life for those caught in the middle. Yet even though there is goodness in the torn country an official describes it as, â€Å"if five candles are burning and one is extinguished, the one not lit sticks out among the others. There is good in this place of anger, it has just been overlooked.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The conflict continues, and every day another person is found risking a sacrifice for the good or the country or another person.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Thorn Queen Chapter Twenty-Seven

When I crossed over to the castle in the Thorn Land, I was surprised to find Nia sitting on the floor beside my rabbit paperweight. Her knees were drawn up, and her face-which appeared tear-streaked-rested on her knees. Yet, when she saw me, her face lit up like the sun bursting from behind clouds. â€Å"Your majesty!† she cried, springing up. â€Å"Some of them said†¦they said you wouldn't come back. But I knew. I knew you would.† The devotion in the girl's eyes was startling. Nia had been another servant passed from Dorian, and it had never occurred to me that she would serve me out of such love. â€Å"Of course I came back,† I said softly. â€Å"Why wouldn't I?† She averted her eyes. â€Å"After everything that happened, and†¦well, because of Queen Katrice. There are those who assumed you'd abandon us and stay in the world of the humans.† I didn't bother pointing out that abandoning this land would kill me. I was too shocked by something else. â€Å"They thought†¦they thought I'd just start a war and leave?† â€Å"I knew you wouldn't,† she said fervently. â€Å"I knew you wouldn't.† I gave her a small, comforting smile while a knot twisted in my stomach. â€Å"Take me to Shaya and Rurik.† The two of them were surprised by my arrival, but something told me they hadn't doubted I would return either. I could tell by the compassion on Shaya's face that what Leith had done to me was common knowledge. To my surprise, it was Rurik I took the most comfort from. He didn't question my appearance. He offered no sympathies. He simply jumped straight to business. â€Å"We've gathered as many soldiers as we could while you've been gone,† he said. â€Å"Some are camped outside, and Dorian's said he'll send reinforcements-his military's much larger. The majority of yours is in Highmore. We'll need to determine the best way to distribute them.† For a moment, I felt dizzy as he continued rattling off military strategy. What was going on? What was I doing? I was a girl from Tucson who'd grown up in a middle-class neighborhood. How on earth was I standing here, listening to a fairy soldier explain how to lead a war? I held up a hand. â€Å"Wait†¦before you go any further. Is there†¦is there any way this can be avoided?† Kiyo's words came back to me, and I hated to say what I did next. â€Å"Is there any way to make peace?† Rurik's eyes widened, and shock and anger filled his features. â€Å"Peace? After what-â€Å" Shaya silenced him with a gesture of her own. â€Å"Yes, actually. Katrice sent a rather long letter about it.† â€Å"So†¦we could get her to understand that it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Was an accident? Hardly. â€Å"I mean, could Katrice let all of this go, considering Leith started it?† Shaya cleared her throat uncomfortably, and Rurik looked angry. â€Å"Well,† she began, â€Å"not entirely. For Katrice not to go to war, she demands that we become her subject kingdom and has very specific details on the kinds of tribute and taxes she requires for that. She also†¦she also says that you must marry her nephew in place of her son and tie this kingdom to her through that branch of the family. My impression is she sent a similar list of demands to Dorian-aside from the nephew part-which he refused rather, ah, indelicately.† I stared, my mouth agape. That was not what I had in mind. How could Katrice demand those kinds of things after what Leith had done? How dare she act as though I had done something wrong? Yes, I could imagine her grief for her only son. I wasn't that heartless. Yet†¦what she was suggesting was ludicrous. And if she thought I would ever, ever let another member of her family lay a hand on me†¦ I turned back to Rurik as though the issue of peace with Katrice had never been mentioned. Later, I would ask Shaya to help me compose a formal response to Katrice's letter, something along the lines of I am the Thorn Queen. Fuck off. â€Å"What should I do next?† I asked Rurik. He smiled, a fierce delight in his eyes. â€Å"You should speak to the soldiers gathered here and make an official declaration of war. And then you should go to Highmore and speak to the ones there. They don't even know you as their queen yet, let alone the person sending them to fight. And you should practice up on your magic, both for battle and to show your own people that that Rowan bitch can't touch you.† I shivered at the feelings his words inspired in me. In Tucson, I'd been trying to hide from my magic, but now it was calling to me again. And with this threat from Katrice-no, this insult from Katrice-there was nothing I wanted more than to summon all the forces of nature and rip her apart. â€Å"Dorian is coming here-today, I think,† said Shaya, interrupting my murderous thoughts. â€Å"Follow his lead. He knows what to do.† I wasn't entirely sure what that meant. The only thing I felt certain of was that I wasn't quite ready to go over the maps Rurik had laid out and examine all the troop placements he had in mind. I'd always sucked at Risk and had a feeling this would be similar. Besides, I hadn't returned to the Thorn Land to make war-not right at this second, at least. I'd come because of the dream from last night, the dream where I'd felt at peace. Because at the moment, I felt no peace. A gentry queen wanted to lead armies in and kill my people-and I was supposed to do the same to her. I'd just broken up with my boyfriend, someone I loved dearly, because I-possibly irrationally-held him responsible for not protecting me from an assailant. And as for that assailant†¦well, his face still flashed in my mind, and no matter how much time passed, I couldn't seem to rid myself of that dirty feeling within me or my repulsion at being touched. I swore to Rurik that I'd talk to him later, that I needed some time to myself first, and left them both for one of the castle's enclosed gardens. It was the one I frequently meditated in, where Shaya was still attempting to grow grass and where Kiyo and I had made love. I sat down there cross-legged, taking in the sun on the orange rocks around me and relishing in the faint breeze that stirred the branches of the mesquite and smokethorn trees. A tiny lizard scurried off behind a rock, and I heard what sounded like a hummingbird-or a big-ass bee-in a cluster of nearby flowers. I cleared my mind and tried to communicate with and heal the land like I had before, but for whatever reason, the connection didn't come. Panic seized me. Had the events with Leith broken something within me? Had I lost my ability to revive the kingdom? I sat there sweating, wondering what would happen to the land if I couldn't connect to it. The heat eventually made me sleepy, and I lay down on the grass, my hands digging into the earth. When I woke up, two things immediate became apparent. First, I felt†¦better. I felt strong and refreshed, and all around me, the colors and scents seemed stronger and more vivid. I still wasn't happy about the impending war, but that horrible feeling in me†¦the bitterness Leith had left†¦well, it had lessened. The air hummed around me, and for a disorienting second, I couldn't tell where I ended and the land began. It was then that I realized why my meditation hadn't worked. I had been in no condition to heal the land. It had had to heal me. I was energized now, ready to do anything. Ready to lead a war. The other thing I noticed after waking was that Jasmine was sitting right beside me, gray eyes staring into mine. I bolted upright. â€Å"What the hell are you doing here?† I exclaimed. â€Å"You're not supposed to be loose.† Girard's cuffs were still upon her, and she jerked her head back toward the castle. â€Å"I'm not exactly loose.† I followed her motion and saw a dozen guards, all keeping a respectful distance, but all watching Jasmine closely. When Volusian had disappeared, Rurik had undoubtedly increased her security detail. â€Å"Jasmine,† I said, â€Å"I'm not really in the mood for your banter, okay? Save your whining and insults for a day when I don't have to worry about having caused a war.† Her face was perfectly calm. â€Å"I heard what happened to you.† I braced for smugness. â€Å"Yeah, I'm sure everyone has.† â€Å"I'll fight for you, you know.† â€Å"Look, I'm sure-wait. What did you say?† I stared at her, waiting to see that composure crack. It didn't. She was still serious and actually looked older than her age. â€Å"He had no right. I told you before: no one does that to a daughter of Storm King. Not even to you.† I was speechless for a moment, still waiting for a punch line. â€Å"Jasmine†¦you hate me.† She nodded. â€Å"Yup. But that doesn't change what happened. No one does that to our father either and gets away without punishment. Dorian should stab Katrice too.† I decided not to mention that nothing had been done to our father technically, seeing as he had died years ago. â€Å"What will you do exactly?† â€Å"Same thing you will. Fight. Use my magic. Summon monsters.† â€Å"But†¦I mean, even if you're trying to, um, protect our family honor, you realize you're still helping me in the process, right? I thought you wanted to destroy me and go have Dad's world-conquering grandson.† â€Å"Oh,† she said sweetly, â€Å"I still do. And I will. But we're going to deal with Katrice first. Our father's heir cannot be born from rape. I told you before-only someone worthy. That bastard wasn't, and his mother has to pay for it. Once she's done†¦well, then I'll deal with you. Besides, someone's got to take her kingdom when we kill her. Might as well be me.† Whoa. There were so many parts of Jasmine's logic that were flawed that I didn't even know where to start. I didn't entirely know the story of her own conception, but my mother had been raped. God knew how many other women Storm King had taken advantage of; I found it hypocritical of Jasmine to take such a high moral ground about his heir in light of that. Still, I couldn't deny the fact that she would be useful, and if that was the reasoning it took for her to help me, so be it. It would also be handy to not have her trying to kill me. â€Å"Well, then, thanks,† I said at last. I decided not to mention just then that there was no way in hell I would ever let her rule the Rowan Land. Details, details. Jasmine looked supremely pleased. â€Å"So I can go free then, right?† I scoffed. â€Å"Not a chance.† â€Å"But I'm helping you!† â€Å"Yeah, and in the same breath, you talked about how you want to usurp me. Look†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I glanced back at her guardians. I would have to consult with Rurik about those least likely to try to knock her up, now that Volusian was missing. Some of my soldiers were female. â€Å"You can wander the castle more-under guard, of course. And I'll see about†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I frowned, suddenly recalling my helpers at Art's house. They were close to Jasmine's age, relatively speaking, and for Markelle at least, I had no doubts whatsoever of her loyalty. I wondered if she might have the makings of a bodyguard/friend. â€Å"I'll see about getting someone your own age to hang out with you.† Jasmine scowled. â€Å"That's not what I had in mind.† â€Å"Yeah, well, your cell in the dungeon is still available.† She gave me her trademark sullen glare and then stormed off back inside. Nonetheless, I felt like she really would help me, and frankly, I was going to need everyone I could find to get me out of this mess. Kiyo had implied that Katrice might call in some allies, and if this became about multiple kingdoms squaring off†¦ I stood up, suddenly feeling ill about it all once more. The flames of passion and initiative that had flared in me earlier began to flicker uneasily. I couldn't do this. I couldn't lead an army. I couldn't go to war. What was I thinking? Trying to shake off my building panic attack, I headed back toward the castle, wanting to hide in my room for a while. I passed Rurik along the way. He'd apparently been seeking me, hoping I'd go talk to the gathered soldiers and inspire them-particularly since word had come that Dorian was almost here. I nodded quickly, promising anything, so long as I could get a moment to compose myself and summon my earlier confidence. All of this was overwhelming me. I needed to be alone, lest I start crying. Only, I was apparently still a ways from being left alone. Ysabel was standing outside my bedroom, arms crossed. Apparently, my earlier suspicions had been right. She really did hang out in the hall waiting for me. â€Å"No magic lessons,† I told her. â€Å"Magic lessons?† she exclaimed, straightening up. She was as immaculate as ever, her red hair twisted into myriad braids. â€Å"I'm never teaching you anything again. My lord is sending me away-and all because of you!† The land might have healed me, but there were only so many weird revelations I could handle today. Jasmine becoming my ally currently held the lion's share. â€Å"What are you talking about?† â€Å"My lord is on his way,† she hissed. â€Å"And he sent word that I was to pack up my things and be prepared to leave. He has a small group of guards ready to escort me away.† â€Å"So?† I shrugged, eyeing my door longingly. â€Å"Isn't that what you wanted?† She took a step toward me. â€Å"He's not sending me back to the castle. He's sending me back to my village-back to my children. Don't you understand? He's through with me! He's casting me aside because of you!† The anger and hate on her face made me guess she'd forgotten I could suffocate her. As it was, she was in my personal space so much that I feared she might actually attempt physical blows. I wanted to tell her that Dorian casting her aside had little to do with me. That was just Dorian's way. Shaya had said Ysabel was one in a string of mistresses who resembled me. He'd grown tired of her, just like the rest, but that wasn't my fault. Telling her that wouldn't help, though. â€Å"I'm sorry. But, I mean, won't you be glad to see your kids?† â€Å"Glad?† she cried. â€Å"What do I have to give them? What do I have to show for my time at court? I have nothing. I came to Dorian's court to improve my children's lives-to bring us wealth. Now I have to return empty-handed, tossed aside to our backwoods village.† Ouch. I didn't know what to say, didn't know whether to laud a mother's attempts to improve her kids' lives or look down on someone who'd tried to do it via sleeping with a king. â€Å"I'm sorry,† I said wearily. â€Å"I'm sure you'll figure out something.† I started to turn away, and to my astonishment, she grabbed my shoulder and spun me toward her. I think she'd been about to hurl an insult, but I gave her no chance. I still wasn't ready to be touched, and she'd caught me off guard. With no second thoughts, my instincts summoned up magic, the air shoving her away from me and slamming her-hard-into a wall. She stood there, dazed, and I gasped, horrified at what I'd brutally done without even thinking. I really was turning into my father's daughter. â€Å"Are you okay?† I asked, stepping toward her when she didn't move. She jerked away from me, which I hoped meant no concussion. â€Å"This isn't over. I will never forgive you for taking him from me! I'll make you pay. He's mine. Do you understand? Mine.† This was followed by a whole tirade of ranting and insults about how much she hated me and would see me destroyed. She kept her distance, though, so apparently my brief lapse into violence had done some good. After a while, I had no patience for it and simply went into my bedroom, leaving her out there. I locked the door but could still hear her going on and on. Remembering Rurik saying that I should go out and talk to the people who could possibly be dying for me, I tried to distract myself from Ysabel by looking through the room's closet. I figured I should probably wear something gentry, and Nia had kept me well-stocked. The spark was rekindling in me, that need to take revenge against Leith and show Katrice we couldn't be pushed around. I would prove a strong leader for those out there. I was pulling out a silvery blue silk dress that looked suitable when Ysabel's shouting finally stopped. With a sigh of relief, I started to drape the dress over a chair-and caught a glimpse out the small window. There was an army out there. I immediately backed away, trying to block out the sea of faces encamped outside. I dropped the dress, feeling dizzy. The reality of it all hit me, and I again felt helpless and out of my league. A sharp knock sounded on the door, momentarily breaking through my panic. Anger was an easier emotion to deal with, and I hurried over, yanking the door open. â€Å"Look, I told you there's nothing I can do about-â€Å" I stopped. It wasn't Ysabel outside my door. It was Dorian.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

ABC Cheese Ansoff model Essays

ABC Cheese Ansoff model Essays ABC Cheese Ansoff model Paper ABC Cheese Ansoff model Paper Essay Topic: Marketing The ABC Cheese Factory is located in the heart of historical Central Tilba and is the home of the famous Tilba Club Cheese. The ABC Cheese Factory was established in 1891 and was the first very first Cheese Co-op in New South Wales. The Ansoffs product-market matrix helps to understand and assess marketing or business development strategy. Any business, or part of a business can choose which strategy to employ, or which mix of strategic options to use. This is one simple way of looking at strategic development options. The Ansoffs product market growth matrix uses a businesss current products and markets, and provides the option for growth by moving horizontally or vertically through the model. There are four types of intensive growth such as market penetration, market development, product development and integrative and diversification growth. A business logically should maximize its possibilities for growth using market penetration first. This will give the business added resources which further growth options may be pursued. After market penetration strategies may be either product development or market development depending on the circumstances of the business and the market in which it operates. At this stage, a company is pursuing in achieving maximum sales/profit using the business current product range within the current market. The best way to achieve this is by gaining competitors customers (part of their market share), attracting non-users of the product or convincing current clients to use more of the product, with advertising or other promotions. Often marketing mix (4Ps) are being use to achieved the strategy. The objective of market penetration is to attract new customers either the new adopters, brand switchers or competitors customers. It would also increase the current usage rates of the company product. In ABC Cheese Factory case, the existing product is the Tilba cheese and existing market referring to the market inside NSW area. In order to compete with their competitor and acquired more market share, ABC Cheese can use the marketing mix (4Ps). Product ABC Cheese needs to change the packaging of the product to be more presentable and noticeable in order to set a new image and to attract customers to purchase the product. They can opt to give a new look for the packaging by making colorful packaging either for loose packaging or vacuum packaging. By doing this, it would attract the customers and can differentiate ABC Cheese Factory product range. Besides that, they can also introduce the grained cheese packaged in a nice container. This will allow the customer to maintain the current storage without having the hassle to put the cheese into other container. ABC Cheese can create a point of recognition through means such as a logo, or slogan, a company can convey the essence of what their brand stands for. ABC Cheese Factory can labels all products in a way that promotes a boutique, high quality and specialty vibe that separates the company not only from main stream competitors such as Kraft and Coon, but also further promotes the boutique nature of the brand. They can put the slogan such as ingredients are 100% breed in NSW. Price The company may choose the pricing factor in order to increase the market penetration. This can be directed at either customers or distribution channel members. However, it depends on the objective whether to adjust up or down for a short time or longer-term strategy. It is stressed that before the price adjustment is implemented, the company should calculate the break-even effect of the price change and determines whether the change will achieve the objective. ABC Cheese Factory can give discounts to the retailers or suppliers for purchasing large quantities of the product. This will attract the retailers or suppliers to continue purchase large quantities in the future considering the discounts that they will enjoy. Hence, this will increase the market penetration of ABC Cheese Factory. Promotion Promotion is the most flexible and diverse option for market penetration. In general, the promotion aimed at the customers but may also be directed towards distribution channel members. The promotion can be the most expensive of the marketing mix options. ABC Cheese Factory can provide the advertising support to the retailers. By providing the posters, display stands and brochure of the 15 lines of ABC Cheese product would increase the notice of the target audience toward their products. ABC Cheese Factory can also negotiate with the retailer in the supermarkets to display the product at a specific place such as end of aisle displays. ABC Cheese Factory can display the entire product there and the customer will notice and remember the exact place if they want to repurchase again in the future. Place The less common method of increasing the market penetration is by distribution as the change must occur within the current market definition. ABC Cheese Factory can increase the exposure in their current distribution outlets. With the combination of discount for large quantities purchaser will indeed make an impact to the market penetration. The market development is to increase either sales or profit potential by directing the current products towards new markets of any segmentation description. It can provide a newer pool of potential customers in addition to the existing markets. ABC Cheese Factory can create new demographic markets by producing cheese products which is targeting the young kids. In addition, ABC Cheese Factory can spread the distribution areas across the state borders such as Sydney and Melbourne. Product development is another alternative to expand into new markets. It would increase sales or profit potential by developing new products, usually within the same broad product category, which should appeal to existing customers. ABC Cheese Factory can introduce new flavor to their product range such as strawberry, chocolates and orange. This will indeed increase the sales or profit. Integrative growth is aiming at the increment sales or profit through establishing or acquiring business within the current industry or industries connected at the external value chain. There are three options for this method such as backward, horizontal and forward integration. The backward integration is acquiring suppliers, forward is acquiring resellers and horizontal is acquiring competition. ABC Cheese Factory should set their own retail outlet and sell their own product label. This will give the customer a better access to their product. By choosing the diversification growth option, the company can increase the sales or profit potential by creating new combined new product and new strategy, and broadens the scope and potential of the business. General methods used are to establish or acquire businesses outside the current industry. There are three levels of diversification such as concentric, horizontal and conglomerate strategies. Diversification is the most costly and risky strategy. Introduction to new products such as jams and preserves, honey, coffee, wine and even established a new cafe can be a profitable move towards acquiring market share. ABC Cheese Factory also can enter strategic alliance with a bakery company in order to produce cheese cakes and cheese bread. The major advantage by doing this is to share the risk and pooling resources and systems to reduce costs.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Analysis Of The Opening Scene Of American Beauty (1999) essays

Analysis Of The Opening Scene Of American Beauty (1999) essays I decided to analyze the opening section of American Beauty. The film starts straight into Jane being filmed by her neighbour who she is having a conversation with. By starting the film with the use of a hand held video camera effect, it makes the film seem much more authentic. Jane is lying on a bed and does not show the whole of her body; this may suggest that she is not the main character but a significant player in the main characters life. She is dressed in black and blue colours, which suggests her character to be quite dark and mysterious. The lighting is dark and muted, which expresses a melancholic mood. Her make up is plain and there is no emphasis on particular features. Jane is staring into the camera, which is meant to engage the audience. The scene then cuts to the title of the film in red text on a black background that are colours associated with death. The next scene is showing the whole neighbourhood in which the family live. The lighting is bright and real, in contrast to the scene before. The camera does not give a focus on any particular house yet, as it is trying to come across as though this is an average family from an ordinary suburb. The next scene is of Lester lying in bed and the camera is looking down on him as to when the camera was at level with his daughter in the previous scenes. This shows how the character is interpreted by sections of society whereas many people would be on literally the same level as Jane, many people would look down on Lester. The camera shows the whole bed and there is nobody lying next to Lester. This shows that even in the beginning of the film that the relationship between him and his partner is not that close. However, the arrogant body language that he has shows that he does not care about the relationship. The lighting of this scene is convincing because it is real daylight. This emp hasizes the fact that the props and setting is genuine. In bed, Les...

Monday, November 4, 2019

Botticelli, Birth of Venus and Venus De Milo Essay

Botticelli, Birth of Venus and Venus De Milo - Essay Example The well-mixed primary colors resulted in clearly defined secondary colors. The colors provided an outstanding emphasis on the beauty’s milky skin color. Artists illustrate Venus as one of the most beautiful and chaste goddesses who remained as a symbol of coming spring. Painters designed her nudity to depict some significance in itself because all artworks of Renaissance history revolved around the theme of Christianity at that time. At the time, it was not easy to portray a woman as nude (Siapkas & Sjogren, 2013). Most aspects of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus manipulate in motion. For instance, a succinct observation of the orange tree leaves in her background as well as her hair shows that Zephyrs had blown them away. They are floating behind her, the cloaks and the waves gently breaking. Further, the breeze also blows and lifts her drapery of the figures. Representative/Objective The Venus de Milo statue had a carved right arm that lay across the torso with a rested right hand on the left knee that remained raised. Meanwhile, the left arm held up an apple at an eye level. The statute comprises two blocks of marble that sculptured on separate occasions, then joined at the hips (Judovitz & Duchamp, 2010). The sculptors used tendon joints to fashion the left arm and foot, though as different pieces. Venus de Milo had some of its parts broken during transportation including right hip and three other pieces.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Standard American English and Lyrics of Songs Essay

Standard American English and Lyrics of Songs - Essay Example For an exceptional artist to use African American language, she must have obtained a tremendously prodigious number of fans who understand her language better. For instance, when she says â€Å"to the left† is African American idiom and according to Beyonce and the song, she meant that her lover should leave the house and go away to somewhere else. Therefore, the quote â€Å"to the left† according to the standard Britain English, it is incomplete or rather â€Å"to the left† can directly and literally mean go to the left. Therefore, as far as Britain English is concerned, the meaning in those lines is not absolute. Another instance where the use of Standard English is losing the meaning is on the quote â€Å"matter fact†, here there in no preposition, but it is normal with standard American English but not standard Britain English. The meaning will always change when an artist uses standard English, for example, words like â€Å"cause† and †bout† in the song, gives a different meaning hence changes the meaning. When using words like cause instead of because, and bout instead of about, that only gives a total difference and meaning. Artists should reconsider the use of one language that can be understood easily with all people internationally. By this information, the song can reach the listener hence no problems to the

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Branding, Pricing, and Distribution Research Paper

Branding, Pricing, and Distribution - Research Paper Example Establish a complete trucking business The company must work its way towards becoming a complete trucking business which includes a range of long-haul trucks and trucks which can carry different types of business. Then the company will be able to tap into consumer segment previously unapproached. Establish independent status They must become independent of their own like having their own fleet of trucks to carry the equipments. They must have their own drivers without having any contracted services. Global product branding Strategy Herb Holden Trucking Inc. needs to increase its presence around the globe. Hence they must look at the consumer segment where they want to tap into. Then they will be able to isolate the types of equipments which they will need to serve the consumer. They must make an agreement with the customs department and various officials of the country so that no restriction comes while carrying out their business. Answer 2 Pricing Strategy Herb Holden Trucking Inc. ... They can also go for vertical integration with other firms. This will significantly reduce the overhead and management costs associated with it. With this they might also be able to get lower transaction costs. They must also look for quicker routing time by the trucks so that per day income will increase along with the increase in efficiency. The must also take a look at the maintenance cost associated with the fleet of trucks and try to keep the trucks maintenance twice every year to increase their operational efficiency. They should also take care of the buildings, office etc. to reduce their cost. They must buy trucks that give higher mileage compared to other trucks to increase profitability. They can reduce the total transport cost by reducing the product volumes and doing unnecessary packaging, and rely more on the local products instead. Answer 3 Pricing strategy will help in reducing the cost of operation which the company will face in the due course of their work. By bringi ng down the cost they will be able to buy more number of fleets to augment their business strategy. With lower cost to operate they will be able to spend more on branding activities like promotion. Hence they will be able to deliver to their clients the equipments they want more quickly as compared to others. Again they can reach out to a larger number of customers through their increased fleet base. This will deliver a sense of customer satisfaction (Konings, 2008). By doing vertical integration with other firms in the same line of business they will be able to increase their market share and hence reach out to large number of customers. With vertical integration both the management will be able to formulate strategies which will serve both

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Idealism in Realistic Context Essay Example for Free

Idealism in Realistic Context Essay Human idealism is a predominant theme in contemporary literature. Movies such as â€Å"Superman,† â€Å"Star Wars,† â€Å"Armageddon,† â€Å"Charlie’s Angels,† etc. have impressed the world with their portrayal of ideal human qualities as characters deal with social and personal conflicts of everyday life. The same theme can be found in the stories of Kincaid, Crane and Chabon. The stories titled, â€Å"Girl,† â€Å"An Episode of War,† and â€Å"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay,† present the protagonists’ struggle towards idealism in a realistically imperfect society. Idealism, as the American Heritage Dictionary defines, is â€Å"the act or practice of envisioning things in an ideal form† (Answers. com). This idea is in contrast with realism, which represents â€Å"art or literature of objects, actions, or social conditions as they actually are, without idealization or presentation in abstract form† (as mentioned in Answers. com). In the three stories mentioned, human characters are expected to attain ideal qualities to compensate the flaws of society. While they are depicted with idealism, the stories present at the same time the real status of society characterized by discrimination, death, and superficiality. Primarily, the society, with its history, culture, and norms, establishes limitations and requirements for human characteristics. These requirements are directly established in Kincaid’s, â€Å"Girl. † In this piece of work, the mother embodies the society in setting standards for women. She orders her daughter what to do, from washing clothes, cooking pumpkin fritters, soaking salt fish, ironing her father’s clothes, to making ends meet (17). Although these requirements are set by a mother (Moore 2008) adhering with these is similar to fulfilling requirements set by society. Since the story does not specify a character’s name, it can be inferred that the author addresses the female population in general, and thus exempts the opposite gender of the said responsibilities. Therefore, while ideal qualities are expected of a girl, the standards disparage the female gender. In Crane’s â€Å"An Episode of War,† the situation of the characters demands them to have courage in spite of personal fears of death. Seeing the lieutenant’s blood gushing out of his body, the soldiers are confronted with the reality of death. Despite their fears, they need to show courage in the midst of disaster because it is what society expects of them. Similarly, the lieutenant has to face his fate with a brave heart because there is no place for cowardice in the military service. At the end of the story as he denies his pain and says, I dont suppose it matters so much as all that (11), the lieutenant submits to the standards of courage set by his society. In Chabon’s â€Å"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay,† the author presents a different style in embodying the society it portrays. It uses the characters’ concepts of the world expressed in their dialogue. In the story, Sammy and Joe are seen brainstorming about a hero they would like to create. Both have the same notions of a hero based on what society has taught them. Based on their conversation, a hero is one who has supernatural qualities like Superman, but must be purpose-driven like Batman to ensure that people would love him. The making of a hero thus projects the idealism in the minds of the two characters. As they construct their own hero, the two present the expectations that each of them has learned from the society. Evidently, the concept of human idealism which asserts compliance with the rules of society makes the characters lose their self-identity in the process. In the first piece, as the girl does all of what the society (or the mother) expects of a daughter, she loses the opportunity to design her life according to her own plans. In other words, the ideal characteristics that she is expected to have all lead to losing her right to live and design her own life. The tasks that she is bound to accomplish each day thus prevent her from doing things that she wants or needs, such as attending school. In sum, these tasks imply stereotyping and gender discrimination. Stereotyping is very obvious as the story relates all the responsibilities a girl should do in a household. By advising a girl how to cook, iron clothes, or serve dinner, the mother implies limiting the girl to household chores and discouraging her from pursuing education and profession. In the second story, the loss of identity is vividly illustrated. The situation itself calls for pretense and deceit. As the men in the battlefield witness the wounding of the lieutenant, they suddenly grow strange, and at once become unable to face the situation. Besides the sergeant who nervously assists the lieutenant, the rest of the men are astound and do not know what to do. Their silence as the lieutenant is carried back to the camp explains the sudden strangeness that they feel. Idealism prevents them from expressing fear or disgust even at a very crucial moment. In contrast, if the soldiers were only imbued by realism, they would have expressed sentiments, or some would have backed out from their mission. However, due to idealism, they choose to pretend and bear the sacrifices brought by war. In the third story, as Sammy and Joe strive to construct a superhero, they lose their own human identity in the process. The superficial qualities they want their superhero to possess deconstruct their human characteristics. Accordingly, this motive suggests their wish for supernatural strength and escape from the ordinary ways of the world. Therefore, while they aim for a newly constructed identity, Joe and Sam attempt to abandon not only their own human characteristics but everything associated with it, including their society. Such attempt can be due to the difficulties they encounter in life, although there is no mention of this in the excerpt. The three literary pieces from contemporary literature present different struggles of the characters in the society they live in. Highly imbued by idealism, the characters show the reality of every person to attempt to adhere to the expectations and standards of society. Like many of us, although they experience the loss of identity and other social struggles, they still continue to face the challenges of life, the ideal requirements that social reality demands.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Several differences between private and public schools

Several differences between private and public schools Introduction Extant literature proposes that there are several differences between private and public schools in term of governance, facilities and even the curriculum. These studies do however record both the similarities and differences of these institutions as well as the controversial aspects of these institutions structures. Like other countries of the world, Kuwait has also various factors that affect the running of public and private schools. In this context, it is true that many several students feel and experience the difference that exists between private and public schools. The general consensus however is that private schools are better as compared to the public schools as postulated by Hannaway (1991) when he argued thatprivate schools perform better due to greater school level autonomy and their responsiveness to the needs of students and parents. Public schools have always paid for higher education programs out of general public taxation. This has prompted several students to pay little or no tuition fees at all and has also enabled number of admissions in the public schools as compared to the little or rather fewer admission in the more expensive private institutions. Most students have been able to gain access to public institutions for higher education through selective exams programs; this is mainly in an effort to have of quality education and better performance in these schools which usually enjoy adequate government funding. Due to the difference in students abilities and competition in public schools, students with low ability have a choice of increasing their education level or being uneducated depending on their financial capabilities. This simply means that a student with a low ability can equally be enrolled in a private school but after paying full tuition money which is always very expensive. On the other hand, a student with low ability and lacks enough finances remains uneducated. But studies have shown that there is an increasing demand for public schools due to high demand of higher quality education coupled with high level of students competition for the government funded learning opportunities. Overview of the Kuwaiti Education system The Kuwaiti education system in the early 20th century comprised of very basic education that was delivered through very few Koranic schools with funding from the various wealthy Kuwaiti citizens. The Koranic schools main taught the students how to read write and solve. The initial step towards the modern education system began in 1921.Thse schools mainly concentrated on the teaching of commerce and mathematics. It was later on that that writing skills were introduced. In 1967, it became necessary to compulsory to enroll students or rather school going children to primary schools (Kjeilen,2009). The Kuwaiti government dedicated a very large sum of money in funding of its educational system. The government also has made efforts to device programs that aid in improving the entry of the Kuwaiti women from education institutions to their professional work life.A considerable percentage of the Kuwaiti education is made up of private schools with about 40% being in the kindergartens and secondary category. The private schools are mainly financed by foreigners while the tuition fees and other subsidies are derived from government support. In a nutshell, the Kuwaiti education system ranks very high and attendance is open to both sexes. The Kuwaiti education is also compulsory and free for all the Kuwaiti citizens. Social changes in Kuwait have rapidly sped up since the oil boom that started in 1950s. Right before the super affluence which was caused by oil, Kuwait as a country was one of the poorest states both technologically and economically; the people from Kuwait majorly lived and survived on activities such as trading, herding, pearling and fishing. The decades following the development in Kuwait after 1950s attracted many immigrants especially those from poorer states that include Arabs from the Middle East who wanted to be part of Kuwait by Citizenship. As time accelerated to a different Kuwaiti era, more and more developments were established as the native Kuwaitis led much comfortable lives in urbanization, thus leaving most of the labor work to the foreigners who were more of laborers. Early education foundation was based on only a few Quranic schools that provided majorly religious teachings and basic literacy in Arabic tutelage at the beginning of the 20th century. In the Middle East, Kuwait was one of the nations that flagged the most sophisticated, generous, and comprehensive educational infrastructures that enabled a much extensive education boosting in the country. Al Mubarakiyya school was founded in the year 1912 as one of the most profound and modern educational institutions in Kuwait through funding by merchants to supply clerks who at least had the basic knowledge in fields of commerce, letter writing and arithmetic. This was later followed by introduction of other subjects in the curriculum like geography, history and art. English courses were first stated in the year 1921 by Al Ahmadia School and shortly followed by the first girls school which was founded and established to offer instructions in home economics, Islamic studies and Arabic. In the 1930s, the modern period of establishment of educational facilities was initiated and on going; this was after the pearling based devastation of the Kuwaitis economy. In the year 1935, public education was established after the education system was partly adopted for control by the Kuwaiti state. This chapter initiated the starting of new schools, sending of Kuwaiti students abroad for higher learning and also founding of an education mission by Palestine teachers. Among the schools which were founded, three of those schools merged a total of 600 boys, while the other primary schools were established for girls and were able to accommodate a total of 140 girls. A year later in 1936, a department of education was instituted in order to monitor the running of the public schools, oversee foreign teachers from Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon who were the pioneers of the secondary education program in Kuwait. By the year 1945, a total of 17 schools in the country were est ablished. In the academic year of 1954-1955, the first technical school and the first kindergarten were established. This clearly shows the rapid acceleration of education facilities in Kuwait since the year 1950s. In the technical college, the first year saw accommodation of 80 students who were enrolled and an increase in number courses which were gradually introduced as demand for more fields of study heightened. The educational developments continued pacing up as a new institution for the blind was inaugurated in the year 1956 with a total of 36 pupils in enrollment records. This was not enough since by the year 1973, there were approximately 1,644 students who were identified to be in need of special facilities for education. Some of these students include the blind, the deaf, and other handicapped ones. All these special students were enrolled in 11 institutions which were specially designed for them in acquiring education as other normal students. Adult education for women officially ca me underway in the year 1963; this was a result of the existing similar programs for women though dormant(Meleis et al ,1979). This system saw continuous enrollment of approximately 45,000 students of which 18,000 were girls. The education department of Kuwait was then officially inaugurated as the Education Ministry in the year 1962. This establishment gave the education ministry full mandate to oversee and manage all directions in education maintenance and development over the decades. Kuwaits state education has since progressed since the Kuwaiti nationals got involved in their education process twenty years back from the beginning of the millennium. This progress made has been quite remarkable especially in terms of expatriate to national ratio of teachers who were employed. In the year 1982, there were 24,367 teachers in total; 6,478 teachers were Kuwaiti nationals. The academic year of 1997-1998 saw total of 27,359 teachers employed in public schools and an estimate of 10,000 teachers in private schools. Of the 27,359 teachers in public school, 17,357 teachers were Kuwaiti. The ratio of Kuwaiti teachers to expatriate ones changed from approximately 1.7:1 from 1:3.76. The state of Kuwaiti managed to promote their education process by extensively increasing the number of Kuwaiti teachers between the early eighties to the late nineties. The doubling of the Kuwaiti teachers between the eighties and the nineties has relieved the reliance of foreign professional teac hers in Kuwaiti schools. This was a great change but not good enough since most of the Kuwaiti professional teachers were particularly in practice at the lower levels, mostly the primary schools. The entry of male teachers in the profession also saw many of them teaching in primary schools. Kuwaits transformation into a modern nation with remarkable education institutions has been so, thanks to the governments early decision to distribute the oil revenues to citizens through investment of education, social welfare, housing and healthcare. The Kuwaiti education system is tailored to cater for the nations needs. In their endeavor to ensure that most of its citizens are educated, the Kuwaiti government has ensured that the education is provided free of charge. This has been the case since 1966.In order to ensure that the share of national budget that is targeted towards the provision of free education yield good outcome in terms of raising the Kuwaiti Literacy level, the government has made education to be compulsory for student aged 6-14. The Kuwaiti government has in its vision and commitments the need to provide its citizens with a stable and highly educated human resource base. This is in an effort to meet the social challenges attributed to development challenges as outlined in their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).This is through the guarantee of an education slot to each and every citizen who wishes to pursue their education to whatever level that they desire. It is quite evident from the number of schools alone, the governments commitment towards ensuring that the Kuwaiti population is properly educated. The general Kuwaiti education system is made up of elementary, intermediate and secondary schooling systems. As of 1995, there were about 861 state and private institutions (schools) that fell into these categories. Once an individual goes past these three basic levels of education, they proceed to institutions of higher learning such as the Kuwait School and other educational centers where they learn various courses in various fields of study Cost of private schooling in Kuwait The private education in Kuwait makes a very crucial element of the Kuwaiti education system. There is a very strong government presence in the private schools in Kuwait. The private schools do enroll about one third of children at the elementary level.The cost of private schooling in Kuwait was a preserve for the high income families only before Kuwaiti was invaded by Saddam.This situation has however changed and students from moderate and modest families also do enroll in the private schools. This move is mainly fueled by the perceived decline in the quality of education in the public school system. Their main attraction is however pegged on the quality education that they desire for their children. There is however situations that necessitate the parents to return their children to the public schooling system due to the increase in the school fees paid in the private schools in Kuwait. Some of these parents resort to this move despite the availability of loans to fund for their ch ildrens education (Kuwaiti Times, 2007) Different students get enrolled in different schools majorly due to their level of performances and their family income, this has always been the question asked mostly and a major source of debate whether students in private schools are better than their counterparts in public schools. Several parents and guardians have developed the mentality that paying extra money for their kids education makes all the difference as far as quality and success in their childrens education is concerned. With this kind of belief in existence, more wealthy parents or guardians prefer paying so as to secure well the future of their children in the private learning institutions. On the other hand, some parents, guardians, students and even college professors believe that education is generally the same whether it is from a public institution or a private one. This depends on the attitude and mental preparedness of the student towards their education and future. When comparing the public schools to the private ones, it is quite obvious that the quality of education in private schools is much lower than those in public schools. This is mainly reflected in the strategies used when competing for students. In public schools, there has always been a setting of qualification which must be achieved by a student before being accepted for admission; this kind of admission setting is designed to enable public schools act as monopolies whereby zero tuition fees for students with high abilities is initiated. When it comes to private schools, the mode of competing for students is not through the ability of a student but the financial capability. This means low ability students can be admitted so long as they can pay for the private fee; this has enabled many students to accede higher education, thus boosts total income in the economy. Competition between private and public schools is determined by numerous variables including exams taken as well as general prices in the institutions. An active role played by schools in setting the exams and the tuition fees determines the level of quality of education provided. While public schools have always maximized public surplus. That is, the total sum of students earnings less the all the costs spent in providing education, the private schools have always aimed at maximizing profits; which is, all income generated by the students who have been admitted in the institution less all the expenses incurred in providing education for the students in the schools. This clearly shows that private schools use price as admission policy so as to ascertain their sustainability in providing better education, this is because money from students is basically the only funding they use in running their institutions. As far as price is concerned, there are variations in pricing in different p rivate schools depending on various factors of which educational quality is the most paramount. Thus the better the quality level of a private school, the higher the tuition fees paid by the parents (Tabora, 2008). Students who attend public schools under public monopoly are basically the same students who are admitted in these institutions under competition. These students have always obtained similar quality in school in both cases. The existence of private schools for higher has raised total welfare since students who have not been admitted in the public monopoly have been given a chance of joining the private schools and get educated. When observing the market partitions in which both public and private schools compete for students, there is a very unique equilibrium that exists in which the private schools are lower in quality than the public schools. Importance of schooling The concept of schooling was invented in order to empower the human capital. Previous research on human capital has however been targeted on the quality and quantity of returns that a person obtains as a result of schooling. As advanced by Mincer in his outstanding and standard formulation, the amount of investment invested in a particular cause can be translated into various observable differences that various from one individual to the next (Mincer, 1976). Therefore, in case the investment in an individuals education is considered to decline on a linear scale, an all the amount of investment are considered to be forgone income, a very simple and direct correlation can be derived between the earnings and the years that an individual spends while schooling. The application of the commonly available data portrays that there is a characteristic that is eminent in all the schools allover the world. Is very important that the world provide their citizens with the best level of education. The importance of the human capital cannot be overemphasized. This is because of the various gains that result of the gainful and observable changes that come with having a population with a high literacy rate. Every country in the world must have its own dependable and experienced workforce in order for it to succeed in its endeavors of being both sovereign and prosperous. This requires the individual countries to device their own efficient and customized education system and curricula that would fully take care of its industrial and intellectual deficiencies. The investment in human capital therefore very crucial for the success of every nation. In certain cases however, it becomes crucial for certain sectors of a nations economy to require specialist support from expatriates. This is due to the fact that certain courses or rather education needs are never relevant or rather are never heavily invested on in certain specialist areas of the economy. Thus the need for expatriate support in certain areas such as engineering and other very technical areas of the economy. It is therefore necessary for every government to be heavily involved in the education of its citizens. This is very applicable in almost every country. There is however a generalizability that is used as an indicator of the role and importance of return variation of schooling investment in different nations across the globe (Psacharopoulos, 1994). The exact role of government in education is however still subject to debate and is subject to various different views. It is worthwhile to note that a high returns on the schooling level does not necessarily imply that it is the role of government intervention that has subsequent resulted to the better academic yield. However, in order to conclusively justify the level of government intervention, it is important to take into account various parameters that affect the educational yields or rather outcome. For quite a long time, the role of education to a given society has been researched upon by various scholars. The role of the government has been featured as one of the major determinants of the success in terms of schooling in the lives of the citizens. Kuwait for example has her government put in place various mechanisms to ensure that the citizens and foreigners who attend its education system do get certain critical notions and ideas imparted upon them. Kuwait being a Muslim state, has most of its schooling requirements tailored to meet the strict requirements of the Muslim religion. In fact in earlier years, the rules that govern schooling were very strict. The education of the girl child for example was forbidden for a long time. But later on, partly due to the effects of westernization, the education of the girl child became accepted as one of the steps toward a democratically balanced Kuwaiti society. The role of government intervention can however be justified using certain mechanisms such as market failure. Importance of resources availability to the quality of education Several researchers have focused their attention to the important role that is played by the availability of resources to the success in the schooling process in various countries. It is however very important that the amount of resources that are devoted to the process of acquiring proper education can not be directly tied to the outcome of the various schooling processes. In Kuwait for example, the private schools that are in essence run and managed by foreigners are better equipped as compared to the public schools. The analysis that focuses on the role of resources in the outcome of schooling process is however subject to a lot of discussions and debate. This is because of the multivariate nature of the schooling process. Despite the controversies that surround the analysis, there is however a considerable amount of evidence that supports that fact that a positive correlation exists. This is based on the minority of scholarly work that exposes a substantial and positive correlati on (Schneider, 2002). Other studies however, are focused on the simple relationship between the resources and the outcome of the schooling process. In these studies, a simple correlation is devised in order to relate the causal factors and the outcomes of the schooling process. The relationships that have been derived do not however have a systematic review but the causal factors do have a certain level of support in the review process. A proxy relationship can however be conclusively be justified as appropriate. The existence of this stronger relationship that exists between the resources and other causal factors may be applicable. Factors such as the amount of wealth in a students family background may to a large extent be an influence and a major contributor to the level of students performance as a result of a dedication and provision of more resources into the schooling of the student. The growth setting however, has no direct proxy relationship. In certain instances, poor proxies have however been a ssigned to the process of getting a correlation between the amount of resources and the outcome of schooling (Hanushek Kimko , 2000). International schooling policies have been supported hugely and are now gaining increased income. Numerous debates have been carried out and the arguments have supported interventions by the government based on spillovers which are as a result of the growth process in education. This is why the general endogenous growth model has clearly shown that education level in an economy influences the growth of a country. That is, if the education level of an economy is low, the growth of that particular nation will definitely drag unlike if the education level is was higher. The structure of the endogenous development model brings in a spillover that people will not take into consideration their own decision making process. Empirical work carried out has underscored the merits of schooling quantity in these particular places. The relationship between individual earnings and schooling have shown the most consistent and strongest support in education performance; when an individual uses own mo ney to finance schooling, the seriousness becomes extreme to the extent that exam performance of that individual turns out to be quite pleasing. While basing reliance on evidence that is limited, there has been quite promising support that exists on the importance of education and schooling in relation to effects of growth as well as the distribution of earnings (Gregorio, 1999) The economic effects as a result of differences in educational quality of secondary and elementary schools are not well comprehended as the effects of quantity, especially in relation to the aggregate performance the nations economy. This poor understanding of the implications of quality in education makes it difficult to reflect measurement. It is very difficult to precisely define the quality of education since the term quality reflects the extent of an institutions knowledge base as well as the analytical skills employed as the focal points of learning institutions. To properly build the base of this discussion, this study will rely on data sourced from standardized exams of achievements in academics and students ability in education. Re lying on this information from standardized tests to reflect quality measures is controversial in a way that there are gaps available in evidence and also the emanated conclusions follow (as stated below). All in all, these measures prove to be th e most effective indicators available of quality and have a relationship with the results that we positively satisfy us. Numerous research studies have been carried out and documented in the field of labor markets which directly focus on personal differences when it comes to cognitive ability and effects in earnings (as well as modify the estimates of returns in terms of quality). 4. The latest direct research study of cognitive achievement have recorded substantial returns in the labor market has measured individual variations when it comes to cognitive achievement. For example, ONeill (1990), Murnane, Willett, and Levy (1995), Bishop (1989, 1991), Neal and Johnson (1996), Currie and Thomas (2000), Grogger and Eide (1993), and Murnane et al. (2000) each conclude that the earnings advantages are quite substantial when standardized test are highly achieved. These conclusions have been extracted from various approaches. Bishop (1989) is much concerned about the errors that result in the most testing environments and emphasize on extreme care when dealing with that problem since it has very dramatic consequences on the estimated importance of the test variations. On the other hand, Grogger and Eide (1993), ONeill (1990), Neal and Johnson (1996), and Bishop (1991) have greatly put their reliance on the latest labor market information as well as representative sampling which suggests that earnings advantage to measured variations in skill is much greater than those of the earlier times and earlier research studies (even when reliability of the test is not corrected. In Kuwait, just like in other quickly-developing education systems, one main domain of interest is ensuring that the quality of education that is offered by both private and public providers is up to standards needed. This paper elaborates by way of a thorough review the history of development of Kuwaiti education system since its initiation. It considers several quality systems that are currently employed in other countries in the Gulf States so as to identify the effects of the education systems both private and public on the attitudes of the students towards schooling. Two main results emerge from the present analysis. The first suggests that there are no significant effects from class attendance. The second indicates that smaller classes do not translate into gains in achievement. Other results include the lack of significant peer effects and evidence of variability in teaching effects, which is, however; also not significant. These findings need to be interpreted carefully. For instance, the result of no attendance effects may not necessarily indicate that attendance does not matter per se: on the contrary, it can instead be the case that attendance does matter but that the students in our data choose optimally how many classes to attend, so that marginal variation around that attendance level does not translate into any gains in terms of achievement. The outlook of the 21st century Kuwaiti education The Gulf States have undergone a number of serious challenges both on their economic and political existence. These numerous challenges have been brought about by the prosperity and accelerated growth as well as the heightened levels in social services. There tends to be some sort of deception in some certain levels when one looks at the external wealth and modernity of some of these Gulf States. For example, it is true that Kuwait as a country is in possession of 9.5% of the proven oil reserves in the world (out of a combination of 64.9% of all Gulf States) and many of the Kuwaitis are very rich people thanks to their oil rich nation. While this is so, the oil revenues in Kuwait are very modest when comparisons are made to the gross domestic product of the developed countries of the world. The fluctuating prices of oil have greatly influenced the reliability of development as well as long term planning; this is so especially when the price per every barrel remains low on the world m arket like it was in the eighties and the nineties. According to reliable sources, studies have shown that the low oil prices in 1980s was the cause of deficit budget operation by the Gulf States; which was barely the size of Switzerlands GDP if they were combined i.e. (U.A.E, Kuwait, Oman, Iran, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar). The Gulf States wealth illusion is as a result of control of the oil reserves by only a hand full of people who easily access the world markets through exports in ships; this clearly explains the long gap between the rich and the poor; which is bad for the economy. These Gulf States have had to deal with the grapples that affect their budgetary uncertainties in the oil markets. Some of these problems are public sector dominance, visible and hidden unemployment, poor revenues for the huge populations, dominance of foreign workers among, and also poor participation in the decision making process with the exception of Kuwait which has an elected body that represents it. The core feature of this analysis, however, is how the quality of schooling influences the national and economic growth. It is obvious that schools (no matter their geographical locations) have numerous variations as far as knowledge and general quality is concerned. These differences are always very difficult to deal with since the implications for comprehending the core issues are emphasized in this study.