A Good Man is Hard to Find Analysis

â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is a short story written by Flannery O'Connor, a significant American writer and essayist. Her writing style reflects the ethnic relation in the South and her own Christian faith. The author writes in third person limited point of view to portray the tragic journey of a family who lived in Georgia in 1953. Bailey wants to take his family to Florida, but his mother, â€Å"the grandmother† disagrees with him because there's a dangerous criminal named The Misfit who is also on the way to Florida.Bailey ignores the grandmother's concern and headed to Florida. On the road, The kids and the grandmother persuade Bailey to drive them to the see a plantation which the grandmother visited when she was a lady. Unfortunately, the family gets into an accident on the desolate dust road to the plantation. The only thing the family can do is to wait for help, and it turns out that their help is none other than The Misfit and his buddies. The Misfit ord ers his buddies to take all the family members except the grandmother into the wood and shoot them.Hopelessly, the grandmother calls The Misfit her child and wants to touch him on the shoulder, but this angers The Misfit. As a result, he shoots the grandmother three times on the chest. The author uses characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to illustrate the theme that the tendency to manipulate people's actions and thoughts may introduce tragic outcomes to the love ones. In the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† , the author applies both direct characterization and indirect characterization to exhibit the selfishness of the grandmother, the innocence of the children, and the wickedness of The Misfit .In the exposition of the story, the grandmother wants to go to Tennessee to visit her connections instead going to Florida, so she tells Bailey that he † ought to take [the kids] somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and b e board. They have never been to east Tennessee† (O'Connor 403). From this quote the readers can perceive that the grandmother is good at manipulating her son by saying that going to Tennessee can be beneficial to the kids in order to achieve her own purpose.She also mentions that The Misfit is also on the way to Florida and she â€Å"couldn't answer to [her] conscience† (O'Connor 402) if she brings the kids to Florida. In this quote, the grandmother uses the word â€Å"conscience† to threat Bailey with the idea that he is going to put his children in danger, so he would give up the trip to Florida. In Katherine Keil's article â€Å"O'Connor's ‘Good Man is Hard to Find'†, Katherine analyzes â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† and comments that â€Å"the grandmother shows her indifference for creation by selfishly manipulating and nagging to get her way on the family's vacation â€Å"(Keil 45).Keil's analysis is reasonable because through the i nteractions between the grandmother and other family members on the issue about the family trip, the grandmother is used to manipulate people's decisions by taking advantage of the vulnerable side of people's mind and being selfish without knowing it herself. The kids, John Wesley and June Star, are innocent compare to their selfish grandmother. After the family encounter The Misfit in the country, John Wesley notices that The Misfit is holding a gun, so he asks him: â€Å"‘What you got that gun for?†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(O'Connor 410).Under this kind of circumstance, probably most of the people would be quiet in order to avoid trouble, but John Wesley mentions the gun just because he is simply curious. Unfortunately, his inquiry brings The Misfit into action, and results in tragedy. Although The Misfit is not present until the final pages of the story, he influences the story from the exposition of the story when the grandmother tells Bailey that he flees from the prison, and is on the way to Florida.The author uses a clear and detailed direct characterization to portray The Misfit when he first appears in the story. The author describes him as a man whose Hair just beginning to gray and he wore silver rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look. He had a long creased face and didn't have on any shirt or undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and a gun. (O'Connor 410) It is easy for the readers to realize that he is an antagonist from his appearance– long ceased face, unsuited clothes, holding a gun, a typical image of villains.The conversations between The Misfit and the grandmother also reveal the evil inside The Misfit. After the execution of Bailey and his son, The Misfit tells the grandmother that he † found out the crime doesn't matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner you're going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it†(O'Connor 414). John Desmond's, a professor of English at Whitman College made comment in his article that † the Misfit acts under the delusion that his actions are somehow good, i. e.  good for him.Since he cannot make sense of his spiritual condition, he now tries to reduce ethical mystery to a perverse pleasure-pain principle†(Desmond135). Desmond's comment reveals the characteristic of The Misfit because The Misfit's demeanor exhibits that his values is tangled, and he has developed his own philosophy, which is evil and lawless. As a result, his philosophy blinded his conscience, and make his sinful actions look naturally appropriate to himself. Besides characterization, foreshadowing is also a significant literary element throughout the story .The author uses foreshadowing to give the story its air of suspense, and to hint the outcome of the story. At the beginning of the story, the grandmother refers to the news that â€Å"The Misfit is al oose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida† (O'Connor 402). Initially, the grandmother just wants to use this scary news to threaten Bailey, and tries to change his mind. The reference to a dangerous criminal raises a sign of hazardousness. The grandmother's dress on the day of departure also foreshadows the misfortune of the family.â€Å"[S]he had on navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet†(O'Connor 404). In the book Short Stories for Students, the author of the article ‘Overview: â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ analysis that † as the family prepares to embark on their vacation, the grandmother plans her outfit with an eye toward tragedy†(Short Stories for Students 103).Wilson's analysis is fair because when people die, they usually are dressed in their best outfit, just like the grandmother is dressed in her best clothes, so its clear that the grandmother holds a pessimistic view on the family trip. On their way to Florida, the family â€Å"passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island†(O'Connor 404). It is pretty disturbing for people who are on a family trip to see thing like graveyard, and the number of the graves clearly represent the six family members, including the baby. When the family are waiting for help after the accident, they encounter TheMisfit, who drives â€Å"a big black battered hearse-like automobile† (O'Connor 409). It is very obvious that the appearance of the car is a vigorous example of foreshadowing, which foreshadows the tragedy that is about to happen. In Arthur F. Bethea's article, he states that â€Å"O'Connor's villain is relentlessly associated with death: he worked as an undertaker , drives a black â€Å"hearse-like automobile,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(Bethea 239). Bthea's interpretation is vigorous because the image of a hearse-like automobile gives rise to a bodeful ambience which perfectly foreshadows the debut of The Misfit.Other than characterization and foreshadowing, irony is another essential literary element that helps to carry out the purpose and the theme of the whole story. Both verbal irony and situational irony are used by the author in this story to illustrate how the grandmother's manipulative behaviors lead the whole family into deadly situation. In the exposition of the story, the grandmother warns Bailey that she â€Å"wouldn't take [her] children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it â€Å"(O'Connor 402).Ironically, she is exactly the person who take the family into dangerousness when she deliberately excites the children in order to force Bailey to take them to see the plantation, where they meet The Misfit. In order to convince Bailey, the grandmother announces that taking the kids to the old plantation â€Å"would be very educational for them†(O'Connor 408). To educate the children is not the purpose of the trip to the plantation in the grandmother's mind, it is just a excuse that used to disguise her selfishness.In Stanley Renne's article he comments that the grandmother is a â€Å"blind old woman, a failed parent who has ruined her own offspring, with a false and destructive dream of the past and an equally false and destructive self-perception in the present†(Renner 127). Renne's analysis is reasonable because the grandmother always wants others to accept her idea, and force his family members to do what she thinks is right and what she thinks is good for them, but the grandmother doesn't perceive that herself is being selfish and nostalgic all the time.As a result of her selfishness and nostalgia, the grandmother ultimately brings misfortune to the family. After the car accident, the kid says: â€Å"But nobody's killed†(O'Connor 409) with great disappointment. It is very awkward that a kid could has this kind of horrible thought, and it is an example of verbal irony because at the end of the story every family member gets killed eventually. Another irony happens when the grandmother is giving her grandkids a lecture on respecting others.She announces that in the old times â€Å"children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else†(O'Connor 404), but at the same time, she saw an African American child on the roadside and says: â€Å"Oh look at that cute pickninny† (O'Connor 404). It is ironic that the grandmother is teaching her grandkids the importance of respect while she calls an African American child pickninny, which is disrespectful.In Stephen Brandy's article he analysis and describe the grandmother as a old woman who † is filled with the prejudices of her class and her time† (Brandy 110). Brandy's comment is agreeable because although the grandmother's conversations make her seems like a nice and traditional Southern old lady, her mindless insult on African Americans reveals that the racism is rooted in her mind for a very long time that even herself does not notice it, or she ignore this issue deliberately.I the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†, the author applies characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to illustrate the theme that the tendency to manipulate people's actions and thoughts may introduce tragic outcomes to the love ones. By using both direct and indirect characterization, the author is able to portray the characters in detail, and create a vivid image of interactions between characters.Foreshadowing is also a important literary element that the author applies in this short story because foreshadowing gives the story its air of suspense thus make the story more interesting and dramatic. Through both situational irony and verbal i rony, the author shows how the grandmother's character trait brings misfortune to the family, and unlock the theme of the story. Being manipulative not only distances a person from his or her family, but also could cause trouble to the love ones. A Good Man is Hard to Find Analysis â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is a short story written by Flannery O'Connor, a significant American writer and essayist. Her writing style reflects the ethnic relation in the South and her own Christian faith. The author writes in third person limited point of view to portray the tragic journey of a family who lived in Georgia in 1953. Bailey wants to take his family to Florida, but his mother, â€Å"the grandmother† disagrees with him because there's a dangerous criminal named The Misfit who is also on the way to Florida.Bailey ignores the grandmother's concern and headed to Florida. On the road, The kids and the grandmother persuade Bailey to drive them to the see a plantation which the grandmother visited when she was a lady. Unfortunately, the family gets into an accident on the desolate dust road to the plantation. The only thing the family can do is to wait for help, and it turns out that their help is none other than The Misfit and his buddies. The Misfit ord ers his buddies to take all the family members except the grandmother into the wood and shoot them.Hopelessly, the grandmother calls The Misfit her child and wants to touch him on the shoulder, but this angers The Misfit. As a result, he shoots the grandmother three times on the chest. The author uses characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to illustrate the theme that the tendency to manipulate people's actions and thoughts may introduce tragic outcomes to the love ones.In the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† , the author applies both direct characterization and indirect characterization to exhibit the selfishness of the grandmother, the innocence of the children, and the wickedness of The Misfit .In the exposition of the story, the grandmother wants to go to Tennessee to visit her connections instead going to Florida, so she tells Bailey that he † ought to take [the kids] somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be board. They have never been to east Tennessee† (O'Connor 403). From this quote the readers can perceive that the grandmother is good at manipulating her son by saying that going to Tennessee can be beneficial to the kids in order to achieve her own purpose.She also mentions that The Misfit is also on the way to Florida and she â€Å"couldn't answer to [her] conscience† (O'Connor 402) if she brings the kids to Florida. In this quote, the grandmother uses the word â€Å"conscience† to threat Bailey with the idea that he is going to put his children in danger, so he would give up the trip to Florida.In Katherine Keil's article â€Å"O'Connor's ‘Good Man is Hard to Find'†, Katherine analyzes â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† and comments that â€Å"the grandmother shows her indifference for creation by selfishly manipulating and nagging to get her way on the family's vacation â€Å"(Keil 45).Keil's analysis is reasonable because through the int eractions between the grandmother and other family members on the issue about the family trip, the grandmother is used to manipulate people's decisions by taking advantage of the vulnerable side of people's mind and being selfish without knowing it herself. The kids, John Wesley and June Star, are innocent compare to their selfish grandmother. After the family encounter The Misfit in the country, John Wesley notices that The Misfit is holding a gun, so he asks him: â€Å"‘What you got that gun for?†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(O'Connor 410).Under this kind of circumstance, probably most of the people would be quiet in order to avoid trouble, but John Wesley mentions the gun just because he is simply curious. Unfortunately, his inquiry brings The Misfit into action, and results in tragedy. Although The Misfit is not present until the final pages of the story, he influences the story from the exposition of the story when the grandmother tells Bailey that he flees from the prison, and is on th e way to Florida.The author uses a clear and detailed direct characterization to portray The Misfit when he first appears in the story. The author describes him as a man whose Hair just beginning to gray and he wore silver rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look.He had a long creased face and didn't have on any shirt or undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and a gun. (O'Connor 410) It is easy for the readers to realize that he is an antagonist from his appearance– long ceased face, unsuited clothes, holding a gun, a typical image of villains.The conversations between The Misfit and the grandmother also reveal the evil inside The Misfit. After the execution of Bailey and his son, The Misfit tells the grandmother that he † found out the crime doesn't matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner you're going to forget what it was you done and just be pu nished for it†(O'Connor 414).John Desmond's, a professor of English at Whitman College made comment in his article that † the Misfit acts under the delusion that his actions are somehow good, i. e.  good for him. Since he cannot make sense of his spiritual condition, he now tries to reduce ethical mystery to a perverse pleasure-pain principle†(Desmond135).Desmond's comment reveals the characteristic of The Misfit because The Misfit's demeanor exhibits that his values is tangled, and he has developed his own philosophy, which is evil and lawless. As a result, his philosophy blinded his conscience, and make his sinful actions look naturally appropriate to himself. Besides characterization, foreshadowing is also a significant literary element throughout the story .The author uses foreshadowing to give the story its air of suspense, and to hint the outcome of the story. At the beginning of the story, the grandmother refers to the news that â€Å"The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida† (O'Connor 402). Initially, the grandmother just wants to use this scary news to threaten Bailey, and tries to change his mind. The reference to a dangerous criminal raises a sign of hazardousness. The grandmother's dress on the day of departure also foreshadows the misfortune of the family.â€Å"[S]he had on navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet†(O'Connor 404). In the book Short Stories for Students, the author of the article ‘Overview: â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ analysis that † as the family prepares to embark on their vacation, the grandmother plans her outfit with an eye toward tragedy†(Short Stories for Students 103).Wilson's analysis is fair because whe n people die, they usually are dressed in their best outfit, just like the grandmother is dressed in her best clothes, so its clear that the grandmother holds a pessimistic view on the family trip. On their way to Florida, the family â€Å"passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island†(O'Connor 404).It is pretty disturbing for people who are on a family trip to see thing like graveyard, and the number of the graves clearly represent the six family members, including the baby. When the family are waiting for help after the accident, they encounter TheMisfit, who drives â€Å"a big black battered hearse-like automobile† (O'Connor 409). It is very obvious that the appearance of the car is a vigorous example of foreshadowing, which foreshadows the tragedy that is about to happen. In Arthur F. Bethea's article, he states that â€Å"O'Connor's villain is relentlessly associated with death: he worked as an undertaker, dri ves a black â€Å"hearse-like automobile,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(Bethea 239). Bthea's interpretation is vigorous because the image of a hearse-like automobile gives rise to a bodeful ambience which perfectly foreshadows the debut of The Misfit.Other than characterization and foreshadowing, irony is another essential literary element that helps to carry out the purpose and the theme of the whole story. Both verbal irony and situational irony are used by the author in this story to illustrate how the grandmother's manipulative behaviors lead the whole family into deadly situation.In the exposition of the story, the grandmother warns Bailey that she â€Å"wouldn't take [her] children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it â€Å"(O'Connor 402).Ironically, she is exactly the person who take the family into dangerousness when she deliberately excites the children in order to force Bailey to take them to see the plantation, where they meet The Misfit. In order to convince Bailey , the grandmother announces that taking the kids to the old plantation â€Å"would be very educational for them†(O'Connor 408). To educate the children is not the purpose of the trip to the plantation in the grandmother's mind, it is just a excuse that used to disguise her selfishness.In Stanley Renne's article he comments that the grandmother is a â€Å"blind old woman, a failed parent who has ruined her own offspring, with a false and destructive dream of the past and an equally false and destructive self-perception in the present†(Renner 127).Renne's analysis is reasonable because the grandmother always wants others to accept her idea, and force his family members to do what she thinks is right and what she thinks is good for them, but the grandmother doesn't perceive that herself is being selfish and nostalgic all the time.As a result of her selfishness and nostalgia, the grandmother ultimately brings misfortune to the family. After the car accident, the kid says: â€Å"But nobody's killed†(O'Connor 409) with great disappointment. It is very awkward that a kid could has this kind of horrible thought, and it is an example of verbal irony because at the end of the story every family member gets killed eventually. Another irony happens when the grandmother is giving her grandkids a lecture on respecting others.She announces that in the old times â€Å"children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else†(O'Connor 404), but at the same time, she saw an African American child on the roadside and says: â€Å"Oh look at that cute pickninny† (O'Connor 404). It is ironic that the grandmother is teaching her grandkids the importance of respect while she calls an African American child pickninny, which is disrespectful.In Stephen Brandy's article he analysis and describe the grandmother as a old woman who † is filled with the prejudices of her class and her time† (Brandy 110). Brandy 's comment is agreeable because although the grandmother's conversations make her seems like a nice and traditional Southern old lady, her mindless insult on African Americans reveals that the racism is rooted in her mind for a very long time that even herself does not notice it, or she ignore this issue deliberately.I the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†, the author applies characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to illustrate the theme that the tendency to manipulate people's actions and thoughts may introduce tragic outcomes to the love ones. By using both direct and indirect characterization, the author is able to portray the characters in detail, and create a vivid image of interactions between characters.Foreshadowing is also a important literary element that the author applies in this short story because foreshadowing gives the story its air of suspense thus make the story more interesting and dramatic. Through both situational irony and verbal irony, t he author shows how the grandmother's character trait brings misfortune to the family, and unlock the theme of the story. Being manipulative not only distances a person from his or her family, but also could cause trouble to the love ones.

Policies and Practices at Wal-Mart Essay

Think about Wal-Mart and think about the biggest and most successful chain of department stores in the United States. Think about Wal-Mart and think about a multi-billion dollar company which just continues to expand. Now think about working for this company. Initially you might think about the great opportunity and promise to work for a solid company. But, if you are not a white male, think again.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wal-Mart gets sued a lot. Back in 2002, Wal-Mart received over six thousand lawsuits (Daniels, 2003). Today the company is facing the largest civil rights class action lawsuit, the Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Inc. The Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Inc is a sex-discrimination lawsuit filed by Ms. Betty Dukes. According to Ms. Dukes, her employer denied her the chance of progressing to the upper echelon of the company she works for. Now what we have before us is an ongoing circus between 2 million women who are currently working or used to work at Wal-Mart and the Wal-Mart company.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The United States government has an agency which prosecutes any work related discrimination act. It is called the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or EEOC. EEOC was established to ensure that every person has an equal opportunity to be hired and employed and that no form of discrimination will be done against them. EEOC laws protect the employees as early as during the application stage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As I have stated above, it is just normal for Wal-Mart to be sued a lot. The reason is maybe because discriminatory practices exist here. Let us study what the law states and compare it with what is really going on inside Wal-Mart. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Title VII of the Civil Rights of Act of 1964 commonly known as Title VII protects employees at being discriminated based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.   If an employer employs fifteen or more individuals, that company covered by Title VII. It is not only intentional discriminations that is prohibited but any practice which has the effect of discriminating against individuals is under Title VII (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2004). The U.S. EEOC is in charge of enforcing this law. The question now is what is the practice in Wal-Mart. Is this law enforced strictly or is Wal-Mart disregarding this act?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Back to Ms. Dukes, she filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart because she claims that Wal-Mart did not gave her a chance to move to the next higher job position because she is a female (Pikul, 2004). With what Ms. Dukes is claiming, this is clearly showing that sex-discrimination is widespread at Wal-Mart and this is definitely unacceptable. Since there are many other complaints just like this, the court has allowed the largest class action discrimination case against Wal-Mart. Equal Pay Act   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Under the Equal Pay Act, there should be no difference in wage based on the sex of the employee. Men and women who basically have the same job position and skill level should be paid equally. This act further states that employers cannot reduce wages of either sex for the sake of equalizing the wage between men and women (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2004).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In a Sam’s Club in Riverside California, Ms. Stephane Odle working as an assistant manager found a W-2 form lying around the office. The W-2 was owned by her male college which also happens to be an assistant manager just like her. She discovered that her male counterpart was earning some thousand of dollars more than her (Daniels, 2003). Again, another act of dishonesty on the part of Wal-Mart. The company made a fool out of Ms. Odle and made a mockery of the act enforced by the EEOC. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 is aimed to protect women from discrimination they may incur on the basis of pregnancy and childbirth. Women who are pregnant or feeling any related conditions should be treated the same way as other regular applicants or employees (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2004). Another act violated by Wal-Mart in which a settlement has been made. In November 1991, a female applicant was denied to be hired because she was pregnant at that time. The EEOC on behalf of Miss Jamey Stern filed a case against Wal-Mart. The settlement cost Wal-Mart $200,000 in damages done to Ms. Stern. There is no smoke if there isn’t any fire. Wal-Mart is certainly guilty of discrimination on their female workers and the minority. They are not only culpable to their workers but also to what the law states. The sheer number of lawsuits being filed against Wal-Mart clearly shows that this company has a big problem. It is never too late for the company to correct its wrong doings against their employees. Eradication of discrimination at work is a process that is why it is imperative that they act now. Instead of being the leaders in discrimination, they should set an example to all other companies, huge or small, that there is no place for discrimination in the work place. References Daniels, C. (2003, July 21). Women vs. Wal-Mart. How the retailer reconcile its storied culture with the anger of these female workers? Retrieved March 11, 2007 from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/07/21/346130/index.htm Pikul, C. (2004, November 22). Women vs. Wal-Mart. Retrieved March 14, 2008 from http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2004/11/22/wal_mart/ U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2004). APA style: Electronic references. Retrieved March 12, 2008, from http://www.eeoc.gov

Illusion vs. Reality A Streetcar Named Desire Essay

Tennessee Williams uses the constant battle between illusion and reality as a theme throughout his play A Streetcar Named Desire. Many use illusion to escape the reality they are living in. This theme is present in all of his characters in different ways. Each character is shown to live their life in either the way of illusion or reality. Harold Mitchell, also known as Mitch buys into Blanches illusions. He is overtaken by her charm, but in the end finally faces reality. Stella who is Blanches sister is always wishing for everything to be perfect with her and Stanley even though he abuses her. She overlooks Stanley’s downfalls to escape her reality. Blanche is the center of all illusion. She fishes for complements and believes she is a step up from all people. Lying to herself and to others allows her to make it seem as if her life appears as it should be rather than how it is. To Blanche the loss of Bell Reve was as dramatic as if she lost her castle. Because of this she pretends that her life in Laurel didn’t occur. She cannot stand the light because she is living in fear that people will notice that she is older and is in denial about it. Each of these characters show how powerful illusion can be. Williams includes specific situations where illusion is portrayed. Such as, in Blanche and Mitch’s relationship. Blanche wants Mitch to want her and creates illusion of what she should be. From this she wants to seem more appealing and lies about her age to him and hides in the darkness she he will not see her clearly. Blanche owns a costume trunk filled with things that are dear to her. Meanwhile, they have no true value. She wears the crown she owns with the costume jewelry and goes through moments where she can pretend she lives the life of a princess to escape reality. Shep Huntleigh is a rich character who works in the oil business whom we never truly find out exists. To Blanche he is a man who she made an escape plan for him to take her and Stella away to Miami. Stella doesn’t want to leave because she thinks Stanley her husband is true to her. In all of these instances illusion plays a key role in a way for the characters to do away with the lives they do not want to be living. Although, not all characters are living in illusion Tennessee Williams does include some who face reality. Stanley Kowalski, Stella’s husband, is strictly a reality based character. He is constantly looking into Blanches real past. He sees through all of her illusions and wants the truth to things. This is proved in the rape scene when Stanley turns Blanche into the victim as she had made herself out to be throughout the play. Eunice the character who lives in the upstairs of the house with the Kowalski’s. She knows how untrue Stanley is to Stella and is always telling her to face reality and not put up with how she is treated like garbage from him. Towards the end of the play Mitch finally overlooks Blanches illusions and begins to question her by telling her how he has never seen her in the light and asks her age. Mitch’s sick mother helps to keep him focused in the real things in his life by having him put aside all other things to take care of the one who cared for him. Escaping your reality and living in an illusion world will leave you blind to the things around you. In some cases, if you are strong enough to withhold from the illusions around you, you may end up in the reality, like Mitch. Both Stella and Blanche found it best in their minds to live in a fantasy but if you live in it too long it can take over your reality.

My Goals for Introductory Psychology Essay

It is my hope that this introduction into psychology will open new ways of understanding how our minds work and the impact our mental processes have on our everyday lives. My goal is to learn how to become a more insightful reader and thinker across disciplines so that I can apply this new knowledge to practical issues in a thoughtful and educated manner. My initial goal is to become a critical reader of our course readings. In order to accomplish this I am going to change my reading habits by utilizing an active approach, including highlighting, note-taking, and asking questions when I am not clear. By tracking my reading and keeping the information organized in my notes I will have direct access to my thoughts about a psychological issues. Specifically, I will maintain a detailed bank of information to draw from when I need to study for a paper or an exam. This alone will be immensely helpful in putting a halt to my current procrastination method and will open up new ways of learning about our mental applications. I will be able to track my progress by how well I retain the information I am reading and by how well I am able to implement this knowledge into practical situations, whether settling an argument, planning my future, or developing personal relationships. I am very comfortable accessing and utilizing computer based texts to help me gather information. On-line quizzes are helpful in testing general knowledge and they point out areas that are in need of improvement. I also follow links to study aids and suggested websites because they often provide detailed information about specific topics as opposed to the general information provided in some textbooks. In addition, Wiki pages and hyperlinked text pages can offer many different lines of inquiry. For example, when I am studying about Freud, I can follow through to pages that are specifically oriented to the id, ego, and superego. Furthermore, I can follow these links to pages about the subconscious or to pages about his notions concerning dreams, desires, and impulses. I am hoping that this course will shed light on the way people act as we do. I am interested in discovering some of my root motivations for holding certain attitudes and beliefs, for example what types of pre-conceived ideas I hold about strangers, or how I react to the way people judge me without fully knowing my personality. I feel that the more we can understand our impulses and desires the more we can direct our energy toward our ideal selves; this psychological basis will be a key to this approach. Being a critical thinker will open these pathways to understanding by incorporating various psychological perspectives to complement my knowledge up to this point. Instead of simply taking things at face value, I will be able to apply my critical knowledge to my everyday life in a more nuanced and balanced understanding.

Dmitri Shostakovich Essay

Dmitri Shostakovich was born on September 25, 1906 in St. Petersburg Russia. He was the 2nd of 3 kids from Sofia Kokalouina (pianist), and Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostrakovich (chemical engineer). Dmitri’s mom, Sofia, taught him how to play the piano at age 9, and Dmitri stood out as a prodigy. When Dmitri turned 13 his parents enrolled him in St. Petersburg Conservatory which is where he began to study piano and composition. In 1925 Dmitri graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and wrote his 1st classical symphony which he named, â€Å"1st Symphony†, as his graduation piece. After Dmitri graduated from the conservatory, he worked as a concert pianist for money and composed pieces in his spare time. Later, after much work, Dmitri managed to win the honorable mention award at the Warsaw International Piano Competition in 1927. After the contest, composer Bruno Walter very much impressed offered to conduct his â€Å"1st Symphony† in Berlin. In 1927 Dmitri finished his â€Å"2nd Symphony† and started working on his 1st opera which he would name, â€Å"The Nose†. In 1930 he finally finished it and premiered it but it turned out to be a failure. It got poor reviews from people like Dmitri Kabalevsky who criticized his music for political reasons. It was so bad that the opera got banned from Russia. Dmitri was devastated and had a nervous breakdown and later had suicidal thoughts, but was treated. Later on Dmitri met a woman named Nina Varzar and married her in 1932. The marriage went well until 1935 when they divorced over a long period of discussions, but later on they got reunited. World War II broke with Germany in 1941 and Dmitri served as a fire warden for a propaganda poster, but he still found time to write his 7th Symphony. This symphony was very popular and served as a form of inspiration for the Russian army. Feeling accomplished Dmitri wrote his 8th symphony which was very different from his 7th. This piece too turned out to be banned from Russia until 1960. In the mid 1940’s Dmitri wrote his â€Å"Violin Concerto No. 1† and it was a success. And in 1949 he composed â€Å"The Song of the Forests† and making Joseph Stalin (Russia’s dictator during the time) â€Å"the great gardener† it was accepted and liked by the people. After Stalin’s death in 1953 Dmitri composed his 10th symphony which was practically dedicated to him. In 1954 Dmitri’s wife Nina died , and he stayed alone for 2 years until he met Margarita Kainova in 1956 and married her, but divorced in 1959. Later on in 1960 Dmitri joined the Communist Party (something he wanted to do since he was very young) but then regretted it. Then in 1962 he married again to a woman named Irina Supinskaya. The fact that their ages differenced by 29 years didn’t matter to them because they stayed together until Dmitri’s death.

Are human rights truly universal Give reasons for your answer Essay

Are human rights truly universal Give reasons for your answer - Essay Example This has facilitated the violations of these rights. It is therefore inappropriate to term the human rights as universal, since their universality is questionable. Protection of human rights has been the sole mandate of the United Nations (UN). From the end of the Second World War, there have been various interventions made by the UN to promote peace and stability. Besides, they have developed instruments that have been able to counter the effect of human rights violations. Whenever instruments are put in place, there is need for approval by the member states. Despite these frameworks being established, there are places where individuals are in ignorant of their rights or else there is violation of the human rights without the subjects raising any resistance. In other areas, the concept of human rights is foreign; in fact, it is seen as a western issue (Brown and Ainsley 2009, pg 5). This helps cast doubt of the universal nature of human rights. The fact that there are individuals that are not aware of their rights makes it impossible to think of human rights from a universal perspective. In other cases, there are countries or blocks of countr ies that have opposed the human rights on the basis that it is a strategy by some counties to exploit them. For example, during the cold war, there was heightened tension by from the southern countries as well as the countries allied to Russia, which saw the whole aspect as an interference from the capitalist states (Baylis and Smith 2010, pg 16). The world is comprised of very many cultural inclinations, which affects the way people live and perceive various aspects. Some of the provisions of human rights go against culture hence there occurs a big conflict between the two. The applicability of human right ceases in such circumstances where culture takes preeminence, this occurs mainly in places where culture

Sustanibilty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sustanibilty - Essay Example Jeff’s argument of focusing on the costs of production was an important aspect because Nike’s revenue was mostly from this pool. On the other hand, Nike’s response was not convincing. Their response that the labor conditions of its contractors were not their concern was not a proper response. Like any other production company, it is necessary to evaluate the production principles of your partners or contractors. Their response was a selfish response that showed that they were concerned about profits, rather than the welfare of the employees and other stakeholders. Their response to the realization of the severity of the labor issue should have been done in the initial periods. At that time, they would have reduced the pressure that was rising in the labor market. The competitors such as Reebok used this opportunity to increase their competitive advantage while Nike was continuing to be stubborn. Nike did not handle the publicity surrounding its labor practices in a positive way. They waited for the labor issue to be amplified before they reacted. They reacted very late when the damage had been made. Had they acted earlier enough, they would have prevented the issues that arose from the labor unrest in its major distribution platforms. For example, when the criticism arose, they should have taken the initiative of evaluating the labor environment and making the possible changes. On entry into the market, Nike should have surveyed the minimum wages and provided considerable wages to its employees. It should have also evaluated its hiring platform to allow for the hiring of competitive and age appropriate individuals. This issue would have prevented the allegations that arose from the use of underage children in their production. They should also have involved major stakeholders such as the government, the unions, and other bodies in designing the employee rights and wages. In Vietnam, a fair

Green Wedge Policy in Norfolk Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Green Wedge Policy in Norfolk - Assignment Example It is realised that the strategic gap and green wedge policies are important for the cities, being more flexible than the Green Belt policy. Local landscape planning authorities have seen the need of preserving an uncluttered landscape for conservation, as maintaining environmental balance is highly important for the city dwellers. When Green Wedge policy came into being, Norfolk was one of the selected cities for implementation of the plan. Green wedges are mainly the undeveloped land that is marked by city planners as the protected area, a kind of community land that should not be developed commercially. It comes under the plan of sustainable development in rural areas and will come up again and again as regions that have to be protected. Preliminary survey and assessment of the plans was done in the southern part of England, Norfolk included. Metro political District and Unitary Development Plan policies were excluded mainly because they were already included in the Green belt policies and again including them in the Green wedge policy was found unnecessary. It was already decided that they do not overlap. The preliminary survey did an assessment of all structural plans and policies. Again, most of the Green Wedges were planned in the Southern part of England. Some of the cities have already come under the Green Belt policy and they do not need Green Wedges. People manoeuvring the policy are trying to find suitable patterns for the whole country. They are also regulating to discover suitable features to be included owing to the special requirement of the particular town or city, within the countrywide pattern. Norfolk comes in the second category and number and mode of strategic gaps and green wedges and their requirements had to be planned for the purpose. Some comments and suggestions were welcomed for some time. But, District councils had to make their own plans and policies for implementing this ambitious plan. "In each case the account discusses the number and extent of strategic gaps and green wedges, their purposes, and any key Examination in Public (EIP) rulings which have affected the status of such policies" http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.aspid=1143456 Norfolk Country Council had always been preoccupied with the environmental balance of the county. It has to think about the river valleys, beautiful landscape, woodland and the wellknown Southern Bypass, most of which come under the southern part of the city. After the policy got approved in 1993, it became part of the major Structure Plan that got approved in 1999. there was a proposal in 1989 from the County Council suggesting that a Green Belt should be made around Norwich, and ultimately after much discussion, this proposal was rejected. But a preservation of environmental assets policy was introduced in its place. This policy was not only for preservation of the natural resources, but also for restraining and controlling of encroaching city expansions. This also intends to protect the historical heritage of the area and control the immediate countryside by creating green wedges and strategic gaps to restrict the unbriddled growth and 'ribbon development' of the city. Green Belt Policy for this area was held to be unsuitable because city growth was considered to be within limits and this makes the existing

Workers Compensation Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Workers Compensation Law - Essay Example The rule of "assumption of risk" said that when workers were wounded working in "risky" occupations; it was their responsibility for accepting hazardous working circumstances in the first place. The third rule, of "contributory negligence," said that if a worker was even partly to blame for an accident or injury, the corporation also should not be held responsible. As one may picture, most companies were much better prepared than their injured employees when it came to participating in the waiting game of the courts. Since most workers lost, it was usually useless to even try. For this reason it became obvious that workers needed a few measure of protection from the burden of injuries on the job (Matkin, 1985). Workers' compensation is a type of insurance, with the best paid by employers. Each state has its own workers' compensation law and as a result its own set of rules. Additional laws are relevant to railroad workers, federal employees, along with others. Essentially, nonetheless, the laws have a general purpose and consequently have similarities. The main comparison is the "no fault" character of the law. ... In return for prearranged as well as certain benefits, employees renounce the right to sue their employers. In return for certain limits on the amount of the benefits, the employer must offer for all injured workers, even when the injuries could not unavoidably have been prevented. It can be seen that both workers as well as employers "gave up" certain rights when the laws were ratified. An employee might have gotten a much larger quantity of compensation for a severe in-jury under the old technique. Nonetheless, most employees gained, while merely a few lost. The employer, conversely, has to pay even if not at mistake. In response, the employer is not subjected to long, expensive defense and potentially pricey settlements. Indeed, one of the main reasons of workers' compensation laws is to evade extended legal battles and give injured workers a means to endure during their recovery period. The other most important comparison is that all states offer the same types of benefits. These include payment of medical expenses as well as "wage loss" of injured employees. Workers' Compensation Benefits Medical benefits in most states include doctor, drug, hospital, medical testing, in addition to therapy. Some states offer "rehabilitation," which may or may not comprise occupational rehabilitation. Occupational rehabilitation comprises services that help the worker in returning to profitable employment. Wage loss benefits are in general of two types: temporary as well as permanent. Both temporary as well as permanent wage loss benefits can be additionally subdivided into two groups: partial and total. Additionally, most states have a "death benefit," which is paid to workers' families when death fallout from on-the-job accidents (Tramposh, 1991).

Arts in philadelphia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Arts in philadelphia - Research Paper Example Description of the sculpture The Clothespin is a giant steel sculpture standing at the Centre Square in 1500 Market Street, in front of the City Hall in Philadelphia. It stands at a vertical height of forty-five feet, and as research has it, weighs about ten tons. The clothespin represents a normal household clothespin used to hold clothes on lines when drying or for storage only that is larger than life and made of steel, and not plastic. The steel seems to be weathering, probably due to the exposure, as it is an environmental art. However, there is a little variation from the actual clothespin in that the handles or pressure points where on pushes together in this giant piece curves outwards more than normal, maybe to provide more balance for the installation. At the joinery part where the two identical pieces normally have a piece of wire going around each peg to form a pivot, the sculptor imitates that and uses a similar twist of steel to create it. Surprisingly, standing from on e side of the sculpture, the twisted joining steel forms a number â€Å"7†, and if one views it from the opposite side, the steel joinery loops to form a number â€Å"6†. ... Oldenburg, born to a Swedish diplomat in 1929 in Stockholm, later went to live in the United States, particularly in New York, and later moving to Chicago. His post-university saw him meet some artists like Jim Dine, Allan Kaprow, and Red Grooms amongst others with similarities of basing their art on alternative to the famous abstract expressionist wave of painting. Their movement came up with an art whereby they included environments to their performances in a bid to eliminate the differences between the visual arts and theater. These kinds of performances are common as the â€Å"Happenings†. Oldenburg is famous for transforming normal objects and changes them in some ways, such as the way he changed the household clothespin to a giant sculpture, therefore making people to view them in interesting and unexpected forms. The socio-political concept of the Clothespin is more understandable by considering the fact that Jack Wolgin commissioned it in 1974 for the marking of the Ph iladelphian bicentennial through a program by the Redevelopment Authority called Fine Arts Program. The Centennial is an American celebration of culture and industrial progress of one-hundred years, which is a major world fair with much global attraction (Stephanie). As earlier stated, the fastening steel pieces form two numerals (7 and 6 in that order), which is the representation of the centennial exhibition year that is 1876. Oldenburg used this unique artistic representation to include the year in the sculpture without making it too obvious- a preference of most artists. In addition to this function, there are more assumptions leaning more on the social aspect concerning the sculpture. For instance, a distant side-view of the Clothespin gives an illusion of a very tall figure with legs

Biopharmaceuticals against Viral disease - development and Research Paper

Biopharmaceuticals against Viral disease - development and pharmaceutical action - Research Paper Example In particular, biopharmaceuticals that are produced to target viral diseases will be examined using the example of Hepatitis C. Biopharmaceuticals are generally large proteins (Sekhon, 2010). The manufacture of these proteins can be done on a large scale using biotechnological methods. What production system is used depends on the type of protein being developed but can range from mammalian cells, yeast, insect cells or bacteria (Sekhon, 2010). The primary goals that have to be taken into consideration when developing a biopharmaceutical are that it should be effective under clinical situations, it should be in a form that is approvable by regulatory authorities and it should be practical to market commercially (Sekhon, 2010).after taking all these factors into consideration, the production of a biopharmaceutical is no easy feat. It requires work on many different levels of expertise (Sekhon, 2010). Very broadly, the development of a biopharmaceutical vaccine to target viruses generally involves the following stages. There is production of a carrier system followed by inoculation of the target with the virus. Reproducibility and infectivity are eliminated and the virus fragment is then purified (Sekhon, 2010). One biopharmaceuticals have been manufactured, there is also the possibility of manufacturing biosimilars, which are other biopharmaceuticals with similar structure and function. This is a challenging task as slight changes in structure; composition etc may result in a large disruption of function (Locatelli and Roger, 2006). The protein content, activity, physiochemical integrity, stability, impurities and additives and immunogenicity all have to be tested separately to ensure that they do in fact behave like the reference drug. A variety of different assays is used for this process (Locatelli and Roger, 2006). One of the major hurdles with the manufacture and use of biopharmaceuticals

The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Tennyson Research Paper

The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Tennyson - Research Paper Example In this ride, she sees all the worldly things which were forbidden to her, and on the way, she dies. As the boat reaches Camelot, all the knights see the corpse in the boat and make the sign of cross. However, Lancelot says that she has a lovely face. In fact, this work of Lord Tennyson came under serious attack for dealing with fantasy instead of reality (Noyes 134). However, an analysis of the underlying themes of the poem reveals that it contains a more realistic picture of the society than many realistic poems do. The most important theme evident in the work is deprivation. The deprivation appears in the work as a curse that the lady cannot look out of her window. She does not know the reason of the curse and does not care to think how to remove it. The poem says, â€Å"And so she weaveth steadily/And little other care has she† (Lord Tennyson, lines 43-44). Admittedly, various scholars give various meanings to this deprivation. To illustrate, Hollander points out that womanhood in the century is the subject (112). This seems a rational explanation because females were deprived of the right to see and interact with everyone and everything they wanted. In addition, the women of that time spent very little time thinking why this social situation prevailed. The woman, however, becomes sad and says, â€Å"I am half sick of shadows† (Lord Tennyson, line 72), when she notices that she is deprived of direct contact with all the worldly pleasures. Yet another argument that is as strong as the first one is that the theme describes how art is deprived of realistic pictures of society (Saintsbury 28). The poem shows the lady viewing only â€Å"shadows† of the real society and portraying the same in her tapestry. Here, it is possible to argue that Lord Tennyson was lamenting of his poem’s inability to deal with reality instead of fantasy. The picture becomes clearer when the

Seminar Paper of BOOTS (now Alliance Boots) Case Study

Seminar Paper of BOOTS (now Alliance Boots) - Case Study Example The concept of merger immediately took notice because of the inevitable benefits provided by the strategy. Most mergers have expanded their operations and surpassed the achievements that the observers have predicted. Primarily, Alliance Boots is wholesaler and retailer of pharmaceutical goods. The company controls a wide chain of pharmacy spread all across Europe. At present, the company maintains 17% of its total target market (BBC News, 2005). Moreover, Alliance Boots is the largest pharmaceutical wholesaler in UK covering 40% of the market. Its wholesaling and retailing activities are undertaken by subsidiary UniChem. With its vast operations, the company employs approximately 100,000 workers in more that 3,000 retail stores in which 2,700 have pharmacies. In addition, the firm has established 380 retail depots to boost its operations. This has made Alliance Boots one of the largest retailers in terms of retail space (Alliance Boots, 2006). Boots Group Prior to the merger, Boots is bannered by Boots the Chemist, which was regarded as a dominant retail pharmacy operating in UK. Most of the company's outlets are situated in high streets and in highly urbanised areas. From a traditional pharmacist, the company has expanded its business portfolio and ventured to photo processing, opticians, and selling of home appliances. The increasing pressure caused by competition has limited the chances of Boots to improve its performance. It was evident that the company illustrated signs of stagnation and such weak showing eventually created the drawing board that led to the inevitable merger with Alliance UniChem. Alliance UniChem In terms of operational scope, UniChem was bigger and its more established reputation has enabled the firm to occupy markets in Europe. Its major aim is to deliver healthcare service and improve the health situation in most of the locations. The business primarily thrives on retailing and wholesaling pharmaceutical products. UniChem has been relying on its core strategies built on the aspects of expansion, innovation and performance enhancement. Aside from these concepts, the company valued the satisfaction of the customers and other stakeholders. The Merger Because of Boots' financial conditions, it was speculated by financial analysts that the merger with Alliance UniChem is already at work. It was surprisingly announced in October 2005 that the merger was officially created. Part of the announcement was the financial considerations made by both parties. Both companies were valued at 7 billion British Pounds and a split of 50.2 and 49.8 were divided among Boots and Alliance respectively. Basically, the merger was undertaken with the expected intervention of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). It was reported that 96 stores were sold to comply with the requirements of OFT. In truth, the merger was pictured as a takeover by Boots, which acquire the whole share capital of Alliance UniChem. This was manifested through the issuance 1,332 Boots Group PLC shares for each Alliance UniChem shares held. After this process, the merging firms adopted the name of Alliance Boots PLC. This was done, accordingly, to reduce the time and paper works needed because of the merger. Most important, both firms remained intact only under the supervision of the parent company (OFT, 2001). Objectives Essentially, the purpose of the merger is to combine a supplier in Alliance UniChem and a customer in Boots. The strategy was

Marketing Mix Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing Mix - Research Paper Example the core product, the augmented product and the tertiary product (Ferrell, 2010). Before a company enters the process of creating a product, it has to answer some questions like; what type of product do they want to sell, what would be the quality of their product and also decide whether they will label their product as only new or sub brand. Based on these questions, some decisions have to be made. These product decisions affect all other marketing mix variables e.g. launching a machine of the highest quality influence the price and marketing strategy to be adopted to promote it. Being the determinant of any other marketing variable, a product features can be altered to make it fit in the marketing mix (Ferrell, 2010). This variable is largely dependent on other marketing variables therefore calls for regular review. The key factors that affect the price of products are advertising expenses, marketing expenses, distribution cost of the product, cost of creating a product and any damage fluctuation in the market (Dogra, 2007). These factors varies independently thus causing price of a product to bear the brunt of changes for a certain period of time. The change in these other variables calls for reduction or increase in the price of the product accordingly. Other external factors also hugely affect the pricing strategy to be adopted by a company. Competition vastly determines the pricing strategy to be adopted by a company. Especially if, the two companies’ products are substitutes, then a company has to set prices that are appropriate to the so as to avoid losing the market advantage to the competitors. Some companies choose to use pricing as a tool to position their product. Others use pricing as a tool to support sales promotions. They give their esteemed customers sales promotions inform of trade discount (Dogra, 2007). This usually refers to the distribution channels a company uses to make its product to the market. A consumer based

Homelessness and the Failure of the Welfare System Essay

Homelessness and the Failure of the Welfare System - Essay Example In his time on the streets, he speaks of Billy Jack, a longtime homeless person who has recently gotten out of jail after five years. For him, being homeless is a matter of pride and a sense of place. He panhandles, he drinks wine, and he waits every morning for the Sally Ann truck to come by with breakfast and clothing. He is settled in his routine. The Parkdale recreation centre in Toronto is a shelter for the homeless, but, according to Stackhouse, public opinion does not consider these people homeless. Some have mental problems; some, such as Jim, have at least a part-time job. Jim works to supplement his disability income and believes that working is a way to be healthier. What constitutes a homeless person Is it simply a matter of not have a mailing address or is it based on income Stackhouse says: When I had set out a week earlier to live homeless, I did not expect to be eating pancakes and sausage for breakfast and pastries before bed, or to earn $20 an hour simply by sitting on the ground with a cardboard sign in front of me (233). On the other side of the coin, Stackhouse goes on to mention his surprise at how much crack passes through the shelters considered representative of public goodwill. He also makes note of the fact that as he moves from one shelter to another, he is apt to see the same people, who are also moving. Some shelters are better than others, for instance in an affluent area of Toronto, Stackhouse talks with an overnight guest, who apologizes for being there and says he knows he shouldn't be. He has a truck, hauls scrap metal to dumps, and makes about $600 to $700 a week. The problems, Stackhouse has discovered, are more psychological than physical and often not related to simply shelter for the homeless. To be homeless, according to Stackhouse, is to be without a stable environment. He quotes one homeless man in this affluent shelter who says: "This is a real traditional neighborhood (comparing it with his transient existence). I bet these people never have to go anywhere" (232). Refutation of Opposing Argument It is said by some that the homeless do not have the resources, opportunities and skills they need to go back to the main society. Jack Layton, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, offers a more academic view of homelessness in his rebuttal of Stackhouse's article. But instead of looking at the specific details of Stackhouse's experience, Layton makes this a personal vendetta, ignoring the underlying implications in the reporter's series. The situations referred to by Layton are that, after one week outdoors, Stackhouse claims, according to Layton, that public resources are used by crack dealers, that beggars earn professional wages and that there is "more free food than the homeless can eat" (Layton, 235). Although Layton implies that he is quoting from the article, the phrase about free food is not even in it, which immediately weakens his argument. Layton does admit that emergency shelters alone are not the answer, but his only reference to the personal aspects of the homeless is their need for more respect. He seems to consider money and

Best source for Expo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Best source for Expo - Essay Example From the article, one can tell that it was the second year for the event and it was like a combination show of trade that gathered fans and made a big party with some music festival in it. How well the author elaborates on the activities that were carried out in the expo makes it a good source of expo. Through reading this article, a reader can tell what to expect in a penny arcade expo. The author analyses the expo in a way that anyone who reads the article can tell every detail of the Expo. The article explains that in the Penny Arcade expo there were more than 10,000 attendees. According to the article, the expo involved console and computer game tournaments (Penny, 2005). I chose this source because it elaborates on every session that took place in the expo. For example, it gives the activities that took place in the show such as the question and answer sessions with penny arcade creators, pro-player challenges, and performances by music rockers. The article gives the highlight of the show as Omegathon, which is a gaming decathlon with six events. The author makes the expo activities look exciting to the reader. Even for individuals who did not attend the expo, through reading this article they can get a clear picture of the activities that took place and how exciting they were. The article also names its sponsors as sonny, Microsoft, Ncsoft, and Nintendo (Penny, 56). By naming the sponsors of the expo, the source makes the reader grasp an idea of corporations that work hand in hand with the Penny arcade Expo. The performances that were made in the expo give the reader an idea of the activities of an expo. Through using this source, an individual can compare how the 2005 expo was different from other expos that have been held since then in different places. One can compare the events and be able to tell the most common events that take place in such expos. The source gives information of the expo through

Business report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 2

Business report - Essay Example Manufacturing only accentuates the packaging industry operations. Packaging is itself a wide and complex industry. It takes different forms. This is because products to be packaged are different. For this reason, you find that the industry is as diverse as the products to be packaged. Liquids cannot be packaged the same way solids like biscuits are packaged. The magnitude of the product to be packaged is also considered when it comes to packaging. As the cost of packaging trickles down to the cost of producing the entire product, then size is a key feature which if ignored it would result to unknown costing mistakes. This report presents a detailed business report on a plastic bottle manufacture. Bottling is a giant industry. Basically, many liquid processors have often opted for bottling to package their output. The convenience which comes with bottling lacks an equivalent. Plastic bottling is accommodative to many forms of liquids and hence many manufacturers result to it. Any investor who wants to invest in the most dynamic industry then needs to embrace plastic bottle packaging industry. It is a sector where the rate of return is high and risks involved are minimal. Actually it is the only industry which violates the principles of investment of the higher the risk the higher the profit. The report analyses possibility of entrance into the market. It gives details of the market analysis and its interpretations. All costs involved have been analyzed. These costs include the Fixed and variable costs. Budgeting is a key element in the financial management of any organization and this report includes a budgetary estimate which comes with production of these plastic bottles. The stocking aspects have been taken into account also to ensure that the best policy is adopted in the implementation of plastic bottles production. Production of these bottles call for technical inputs. This report presents a

Reflections on Connection of Chemisty to Franciscan Value Essay

Reflections on Connection of Chemisty to Franciscan Value - Essay Example One must acknowledge that this concept is similar to the Franciscan value of transformation as it applies in the life of an individual who realizes the need to change aspects of living or character traits whenever a critical situation calls for it though such event occurs within the same person and transforms him or her not physically. Thus, during transformation, the nature or identity is kept because the energy stays as energy and the person is still a person but the difference between the initial and final states would necessarily distinguish one form of energy from the other and if a person has improved or worsened compared to the first condition. â€Å"Diversity†, as another Franciscan value, may be perceived in Chemistry subject as it pertains to various possible chemical reactions that proceed spontaneously out of four types being simple, combination, single replacement, as well as double-displacement. In school, students come from different socio-cultural backgrounds and while this sets barrier in communication, dealing with classmates of diverse ethnic origins helps one learn to adjust with different types of people. Likewise, chemical compounds whether ionic or covalent are formed out of reactants in diverse number when a metallic element combines with another metallic or non-metallic element to produce one such type of substance. Then when this is made to react with other substances of distinct atomic composition, a diverse set of products may be recovered yielding useful materials that are available for regular human consumption. The value of diversity in an academic institution works in the same manner for the challenges encountered on interacting with individuals under a variety of circumstances and personalities pay off by providing opportunities toward personal growth. Besides transformation and diversity,

Culture, Ethnicity, and Health Care Practices Essay Example for Free

Culture, Ethnicity, and Health Care Practices Essay 1. Identify two religious or spiritual practices in which members of the Evans Family may engage for treating hypertension, diabetes, and mental illness. In the text, the Evan’s family is introduced as an African-American family, and members of the Baptist church. Members of this family have been diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes, and mental illness, diseases that the family may attempt to treat through religious of spiritual practices. Daily prayer may be a spiritual/religious practice used by the Evans family to treat the mentioned health conditions. â€Å"African-Americans consider themselves spiritual beings, and sickness is viewed as a separation between God and man† (Purnell, 2003, p. 49). In an attempt to get closer to God, daily prayer would be viewed as a positive aspect to accomplish this, lessen the separation between themselves and God, to improve or abolish the sicknesses. God is viewed as the â€Å"supreme healer†, and the Evans family may also be asking God through prayer for healing to improve the illnesses, and restore their health. Another spiritual practice which may be employed by the Evans family to treat the hypertension, diabetes, and mental illness which they are experiencing involves the laying on of hands. African Americans may hold the belief that diseases can be cured when a person of faith gifted with special healing powers touches the afflicted person. This touch is usually accompanied by prayer. Sometimes, it is believed that â€Å"†¦the laying on of hands is thought to free the person from all suffering and pain, and people who still experience pain are considered to have little faith† (Purnell, 2003, p. 50). It is important that the health care provider be aware of these spiritual practices, their potential effect on the health care plan, to provide culturally competent care. 2. Name two dietary health risks for African Americans. Typical diets for African Americans can reflect the regional cuisine, but there are some foods and types of foods that are considered central to the diet. Salt pork, or â€Å"fat back† is a staple ingredient in many African American’s diet, and reflect the tendency of the diet to be very high in fat, cholesterol, and sodium. This type of diet is associated with high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes; these conditions do occur at a higher prevalence in the African American population. Another diet related health risk involves the tendency to view people of healthy body weight as being underweight and needing more â€Å"meat on their bones† (Purnell, 2003, p. 47). Even in infancy, it is a common practice to avoid underfeeding by feeding newborn infants liquefied cereal mixed with formula and given through a bottle. â€Å"African Americans believe that giving only formula is starving the baby and that the infant needs ‘real food’ to sleep through the night† (Purnell, 2003, p. 47). These views may lead to a tendency to overeat, and be overweight, which is associated with the increased risks for the health conditions listed above. Health care providers can be in a position to give nutritional information, and recommend resources to assist patients to reduce dietary health risks, while maintaining the spirit of traditional cuisine. A magazine published by a health network directed at African Americans encourages healthier, culturally sensitive changes: Dr. Jones stresses that eating healthy doesn’t mean having to give up favorite foods. It just means preparing these dishes in a healthier fashion. That includes traditional favorites, like soul food—one of the oldest and richest cuisines in America. While it’s always been good for the soul, soul food is usually not so good for the heart†¦But soul food doesn’t have to be bad for you. You can continue to enjoy your ages-old family recipes in a new, health-conscious style by changing your cooking methods (Advocate Health Systems, 2007, p. 2). 3. What historical precedence is there for distrust of â€Å"outsiders† in Appalachia? People in Appalachia are characterized as having a distrust of â€Å"outsiders†, and are often unwilling to share their true thoughts and feelings with them. Part of the historical precedence that contributes to this distrust centers on their prior dealings with authority in the form of the large mining and timber companies. The Appalachian people were exploited by having their land taken by these outside business interests, who then subsequently attempted to control the behaviors of the workers for their own profits. There is a strong reliance on family and community; individualism and self-reliant behavior, and reverences for family lineage are highly valued within this culture. Appalachia has been characterized by poverty and isolation, which can result in cultural lag. There has historically been a limited access to education, as well as less of a valuing of higher education, with an emphasis placed upon learning skills necessary to enter the traditional employment fields and earn a living. These factors encourage the continuing distrust of outsiders. Communication styles reflect a general distrust and unease with â€Å"outsiders†. Materials or oral communication presented at a level that is beyond the understanding of the client may lead one to believe that the provider is â€Å"stuck up† or â€Å"putting on airs† and may add to a general feeling of distrust. Traditional Appalachians may value a large amount of personal distance, direct eye contact, and may value silence. They are often unwilling to communicate true needs in an attempt to be polite. Because of historical inequities with interactions with authority figures, including outsider health care providers, traditional Appalachians may not respond well to teach or instruction that is perceived to be an order; they may be much more receptive to hints and suggestions which solicit the client’s opinions (Purnell, 2003, pp. 73, 74). Because of improved technology, transportation, educational and employment opportunities, and more exposure to outside culture, traditional Appalachia may be changing, and the barriers and distrust of â€Å"outsiders† will be lessened. However, an Appalachian educator notes: The mountains have figured into all of it. The mountains kept us so isolated from the rest of the country and from other peoples involvement in our lives that we developed these characteristics: We are very independent, we are very contented with the places that we live, we are very close to nature, we have a deep sense of a belief in God, and we have a deep sense of being friendly and kind to one another and helping one another, and taking care of everyone else in their needs. And we also have a strong sense of whats right and what ought to be and a deep mistrust of anyone whos new, anyone whos a stranger. We dont trust change very well and we dont like change very well (Morgan, 2005, p. 1). 4. What evidence do you see of the â€Å"ethic of neutrality† in this case study? The case study presents a view of the client by using her preferred terms, language, and presents her views in an objective manner. The case study seems to reflect the point of view of Miss Leona, and it respects her unique perspective. The author uses the words of the speaker to explain her reasons for doing things in a way that reflects aspects of the culture. For example, rather than state that Miss Leona may have difficulty reading medication instructions, the author includes the information that she was only educated through the third grade, and states â€Å"She admits not using the salve given to her by Dr. Adi because he told her to apply the salve according to the instructions on the jar† (Purnell, 2003, p. 89). The author does not make any judgments relating to the health related behaviors of the people in the case study. Several elements that illustrate cultural domain concepts are objectively presented. The use of folk medicine is demonstrated, with no evaluation of the home remedies, including the application of a bacon grease poultice to the leg wound. Similarly, the author presents Miss Leona’s own explanations of her illnesses, including her statement that she has â€Å"low blood†, in a subjective manner. The â€Å"ethic of neutrality† is maintained through an objective account of her situation, as experience by the patient alone, within her unique perspective. 5. How might you help Miss Leona eat a more nutritious diet? In the case study, the elderly Miss Leona reveals that she has been diagnosed with a heart disease, which her physician attributes to a high fat diet. She believes that her heart problem is instead related to the recent death of her husband, based in part on the timing of the diagnosis. She has expressed her dissatisfaction with the physician who has diagnosed this condition, because he did not communicate adequately during the visit. Miss Leona reveals that her diet is mainly high fat meat, dairy, and simple starches; she doesn’t mention fruits or vegetables at all. These foods are easy for her to prepare, and readily available. She demonstrates the difficulty in bringing food to her home, because she has to walk up a steep grade and a footbridge to get to her home. She does rely on others to bring her groceries at times, but makes it clear that she values self reliance. In accordance with traditional Appalachian cultural values, Miss Leona would most likely not respond well to being told directly which foods that she needs to eat to stay healthy. Rather, a practitioner would have to engage her in more of an indirect chat that would show knowledge of Miss Leona’s unique situation, and respect her likes and dislikes, and her need for ease of food preparation. The practitioner would also have to address the issue of being able to accept assistance needed to even bring healthy foods into her home, since there are physical barriers present that make carrying heavy groceries up a steep incline, especially with an infected leg wound, and a heart condition, impossible. The practitioner would need to provide the appropriate support needed to help make food choices that Miss Leona would be able to prepare, and enjoy. 6. Describe two taboo views that African Americans may have about pregnancy. Taboos are practices that if done, are likely to result in harm coming to the mother, unborn child, or both in the case of pregnancy-related taboos. There are a few pregnancy taboos regarding photographs that African Americans might have, according to the text. There is the belief that pregnant women should not take photographs, or they may cause the baby to be stillborn. Another cultural belief that may be shared is that a pregnant woman should not have their picture taken, because it captures their soul. There is also a taboo that involves the dangers of purchasing clothing or other items for an unborn baby. This is said to be â€Å"bad luck† for the baby and mother. Baby items are purchased after the child is born to avoid causing harm to or misfortune to the mother or her child. Pregnancy taboos views may be held by African Americans, in addition to other prescriptive and restrictive practices regarding childbearing. The realities of pregnancy are related to many factors. â€Å"African American women usually respond to pregnancy in the same manner as other ethnic groups, based on their satisfaction with self, economic status, and career goals† (Purnell, 2003, p. 48). 7. Identify and discuss views that Dorothy and her parents may have about mental illness and medication. In the case study, Dorothy is a 42 year old African American woman living with her parents who takes medication for a diagnosed of bipolar disorder. African Americans have variations in drug metabolism, particularly of psychotropic medications. They show higher blood levels, experience a faster therapeutic response, and are at more risk for drug side effects. â€Å"Health care professional’ personal beliefs may about a specific ethnic group may account of how the drug is prescribed, and African Americans are at a higher risk of misdiagnosis for psychiatric disorders and ,therefore, may be treated inappropriately with drugs† (Purnell, 2003, p. 48). The Evans family may have seen these medications misused in family members or friends, and may have some negative view regarding the treatment of mental illness. In African American culture, there is a tendency to use medication on an â€Å"as needed† basis; when an illness improves, and the person feels better, she may stop taking the medication. This practice could be very detrimental to medication therapy for bipolar disorder. If Dorothy and her family engage in this practice, she would most likely not have had good responses to medication. Dorothy and her family may therefore have a negative view of the medication’s effectiveness. African Americans often attach a stigma to mental illness, especially since there tends to be a high frequency of misdiagnosis of psychiatric disorders, leading to a distrust of mental health professionals (Purnell, 2003, p. 50). The Evans are a religious family, and they may have prayed and attempted to achieve spiritual healing for Dorothy. When the illness persisted, they may have judged Dorothy as not being faithful enough to receiving healing. With these cultural factors coming in to play, there is a high probability that Dorothy’s illness presents a great challenge within the Evans family. References Advocate Health Systems (2007). How to make your family recipes heart healthy. Advocate Magazine 3(24). Retrieved 6/12/07, from http://www. advocatehealth. com/trin/info/library/ham/win00/trin1. html? fitness Morgan, K. (2005). West Virginias Appalachian culture. West Virginias Appalachian Music and Literature Resources. Retrieved 6/12/07, from http://www. ferrum. edu/applit/studyg/West/htm/wvcultur. htm . Purnell, L. (2003). Transcultural healthcare: a culturally competent approach. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Company.

Elementary school Essay Example for Free

Elementary school Essay As the end of the semester approaches, there are lots of experiences and learning that I would like to share during my internship at Paul Revere Elementary school. Just like in any experiences there are good things and bad things all at the same time. These experiences made my stay at Paul Revere Elementary school worth spending. Setting goals is something very important because this makes a person knowledgeable of his/her purpose. Even before going into my internship there are different goals that I would like to attain in my stay at Paul Revere Elementary school. Now that I am approaching the end, I believe that I am able to attain the goals that I established even before I entered my internship. It is also during my stay at Paul Revere Elementary school that I learned lots of things. During my stay there are things that I know that I would learn. One of this would be the importance of education to people especially to young students. My stay at Paul Revere Elementary school made me more aware of how important education is. There are also some things that I did not expect to learn at this school and this is how different students have different needs that teachers needs to consider. This is a very important factor consider in education and learning how to cater to these different needs is something that Paul Revere taught me. Because of these experiences, I believe it strengthened my career choice rather than question it. These experiences are enough proof to show how much I value now being a teacher. Being able to shape young minds is a very rewarding experience and I will never exchange this experience for anything else.

Force majeure and hardship

Force majeure and hardship INTRODUCTION A basic and universally accepted principle of contract law is pacta sunt servanda. This principle means that each party to an agreement is responsible for its non-execution, even if the cause of the failure is beyond his power and was not or could not be foreseen at the time of signing the agreement. The principle reflects natural justice and economic requirements because it binds a person to their promises and protects the interests of the other party. Since effective economic activity is not possible without reliable promises, the importance of this principle has to be emphasized. On the other hand, practice has demonstrated that on many occasions application of this principle may lead to the opposite of its aim. That is to say, the situation existing at the conclusion of the contract may subsequently have changed so completely that the parties, acting as reasonable persons, would not have made the contract, or would have made it differently, had they known what was going to happen. This situation is unlikely to arise with short-term contracts, which often exhibit a simple structure where non-performances are exchanged for money. In international trade, however, many contracts are of a more complicated structure, and even if they are not long term contracts, they frequently exist over a substantive period. International trade transactions generally imply a greater element of uncertainty because they are subject to political and economic influences in foreign countries. Different legal concepts deal with this problem of changed circumstances and provide for the discharge of the duty to perform of one or both parties when a contract has become unexpectedly onerous or impossible to perform. The classic concept of force majeure is primarily directed at settling the problems resulting from non-performance, either by suspension or by termination. Concepts likeimpr ¿Ã‚ ½visionor hardship are mainly directed at the adaptation of the contract. Although all legal systems take notice of the situation of changed circumstances, the conditions under which they allow the defence of force majeure vary. Furthermore, the adaptation of the contract is not universally accepted. Attempts have been made to tackle these problems on an international level. In particular, the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) addresses the issue of changed circumstances. It avoids reference to the existing concepts because it has developed a system of its own. This concept, however, is generally not regarded as being able to solve the problem entirely. Parties to international sales transactions, therefore, frequently include special clauses in their contracts dealing with matters of hardship and force majeure. This paper aims to give some idea of the concepts of hardship and force majeure in the context of international sales transactions. First, the concepts will be discussed on a theoretical basis. The different approaches to the situation of changed circumstances in the major legal systems will then be discussed. Article 79 of the CISG will be introduced, interpreted, and its scope determined. It will then be possible to ascertain if, to what extent, and what kind of clauses dealing with the matter of changed circumstances, should be inserted into international sales contracts. Force majeure and hardship clauses will then be discussed in more detail. Finally, the use of standard forms of contract, with special regard to the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, will be considered, and a recommendation as to force majeure and hardship clauses will be made. FORCE MAJEURE AND HARDSHIP THE CONCEPTS IN GENERAL The two major legal concepts dealing with the problem of changed circumstances are those of force majeure and hardship. In order to understand the interpretation and discussion of Article 79 of the CISG and the deliberations on force majeure and hardship clauses in international sales contracts, the two concepts first have to be considered on a general and theoretical basis. 1. Force majeure The concept of force majeure, providing for the discharge of one or both parties when a contract has become impossible to perform, has evolved progressively in international trade practice by assuming many original and autonomous features distinct from similar legal concepts. The approach of municipal legal systems to situations of force majeure varies from country to country. Despite these circumstances, certain general characteristics of the conception of force majeure can be determined. The roots of the classic concept lie in the Code Napol ¿Ã‚ ½on, from which the words force majeure (an irresistible compulsion or coercion) are taken. An English courts interpretation of the words held that they have a more extensive meaning than act of God or vis major. Act of God is defined as an event happening independently of human volition, which human foresight and care could not reasonably anticipate or avoid. According to the judgment, the words force majeure could cover the dislocation of a business due to a universal coal strike or accidents to machinery, but would not cover bad weather, football matches, or a funeral.In Brauer Co. v. James Clark it was held that a party could not rely on force majeure simply because the price it was required to pay for the goods was considerably in excess of the price at which it had contracted to sell them. In more general terms, it can be said that force majeure occurs when the performance of a contract is impossible due to unforeseeable events beyond the control of the parties. The following is a possible definition of force majeure: Force majeure occurs when the law recognizes that without default of either party a contractual obligation has become incapable of being performed because the circumstances in which the performance is called for would render it impossible. I promised to do this but I cannot due to some irresistible unforeseeable and uncontrollable event. A similar definition is contained in Article 7.1.7 of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts where, under the headline of Force majeure, it is stated that a partys non-performance is excused if that party proves that the non-performance was due to an impediment beyond its control, and that it could not reasonably be expected to have taken the impediment into account at the time of the conclusion of the contract or to have avoided or overcome the impediment or its consequences. The aim of the classic concept of force majeure, as is reflected in Article 7.1.7 of the UNIDROIT Principles, is to settle the problems resulting from non-performance either by suspension or termination. 2. Hardship The concept of hardship is usually discussed in the context of hardship clauses, which are frequently introduced into contracts in international trade. The term hardship, however, has also been used in legislation, e.g., in the Australian National Security (Landlord and Tenant) Regulations and the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1948-1964. With respect to those rules, courts had to interpret the term hardship and determine its scope. Thus, it was held that hardship, as used in the National Security Regulations, may be regarded as the subjective effect of a detrimental nature upon the person concerned. In another decision interpreting the Landlord and Tenant Act, hardship was said to include any matter of appreciable detriment whether financial, personal or otherwise. The circumstances in which hardship generally exists (as usually set out in hardship clauses) normally incorporate three elements. First, the circumstances must have arisen beyond the control of either party; self-induced hardship is irrelevant. Second, they must be of fundamental character. Third, they must be entirely uncontemplated and unforeseeable. A clear descriptive definition of hardship is contained in the UNIDROIT Principles. It reads as follows (Article 6.2.2): There is hardship where the occurrence of events fundamentally alters the equilibrium of the contract either because the cost of a partys performance has increased or because the value of the performance a party receives has diminished, and the events occur or become known to the disadvantaged party after the conclusion of the contract; the events could not reasonably have been taken into account by the disadvantaged party at the time of the conclusion of the contract; the events are beyond the control of the disadvantaged party; and the risk of the events was not assumed by the disadvantaged party. The concept of hardship intends to solve problems of such fundamentally altered circumstances by adapting the contract to the new situation. 3. Differences between the two concepts The concepts of hardship and force majeure seem to be related to each other, particularly since they share some features: they both cater to situations of changed circumstances. The difference between the two concepts is most aptly described in such a way: hardship is at stake where the performance of the disadvantaged party has become much more burdensome, but not impossible, while force majeure means that the performance . . . the party concerned has become impossible, at least temporarily. Moreover, there seems to be a functional difference between the two concepts. Hardship constitutes a reason for a change in the contractual program of the parties. The aim of the parties remains to implement the contract. Force majeure, however, is situated in the context of non-performance, and deals with the suspension or termination of the contract. DIFFERENT APPROACHES OF DOMESTIC LEGAL SYSTEMS The approach of municipal legal systems to the problem of changed circumstances varies from country to country. Although all these concepts are related to each other, since they share important features, the distinction between them is extremely important in drafting choice of law clauses in international contracts. Furthermore, it is important to have knowledge about the law that will apply when a force majeure or hardship clause is left out of a contract, and no unified international rules are applicable. Moreover, in order to have relevance and serve a purpose, force majeure and hardship clauses should differ from the doctrine that would be applicable to the problem of changing circumstances, if such clauses were left out of the contract. Thus, the scope of those doctrines has to be determined. The illustration and comparison of force majeure and hardship will also give a deeper insight into the structure and functioning of these concepts in general. For this purpose English, American, French, German and South African law and their approaches to the situation of changed circumstances will now be analyzed. 1. England Consistent with the common law approach to strict liability for breach, the traditional common law rule was that conditions rendering performance impossible, that occurred after the execution of a contract, did not excuse performance. The reason for this was stated inParadine v. Janewhere the Kings Bench held that: When the party by his own contract creates a duty or charge upon himself, he is bound to make it good, if he may, notwithstanding any accident by inevitable necessity, because he might have provided against it by the contract. Such a rigid interpretation prevailed in the United Kingdom until 1863. InTaylor v. Caldwell the court changed its traditional opinion: the strict rule should only apply when the contract is positive and absolute, and not subject to any condition either express or implied. The court held that in contracts where performance depends on the continued existence of a given person or thing, a condition is implied that the impossibility of performance arising from the perishing of the person or thing shall excuse the performance. With this theory of implied condition, the doctrine of impossibility was introduced into English law. The concept of frustration, which developed from the doctrine of impossibility, is based on the sole interpretation of the intent of the parties. If stemming from an act of God, the performance of a contract is to take place under circumstances which are totally different from what the parties envisaged, and therefore, the agreement is frustrated. The concept originates from the famousCoronation cases. For instance, in one such case, an apartment was rented for one day because it afforded a privileged view of the Coronation parade of Edward VII. When the parade was cancelled due to the Kings illness, the landlord sued for the rent. The court, however, decided the contract was frustrated because its execution was fundamentally and essentially different from what the parties had intended. According to the doctrine of frustration, the concept dealing with situations of changed circumstances in English law today, a contract can be frustrated by impossibility, physical, e.g., destruction of the subject-matter, or for legal reasons, e.g., illegality, or by the occurrence of a radical change in circumstances, so that the foundation of the contract has been vitiated. If the contract were to retain its validity under such changed circumstances, it would amount to a new and different contract. The doctrine, by covering situations which do not amount to the impossibility of the performance is thus wider than the concept of force majeure. When a contract is frustrated, a judge cannot amend or adjust it to the new situation. Frustration simply discharges the contract. Although the prerequisites of frustration are rather similar to those required by the concept of hardship, the former is final, by disallowing the adaptation of the contract, directed at another aim. 2. United States Also based on the doctrine of impossibility and its further developments, the United States doctrines regarding changed circumstances are carefully defined in both the U.S. Restatement (Second) of Contracts and the Uniform Commercial Code. Section 261 of the Restatement (Second) is entitled Discharge by Supervening Impracticability and reads as follows: Where, after a contract is made, a partys performance is made impracticable without his fault by the occurrence of an event, the non-occurrence of which was a basic assumption in which the contract was made, his duty to render that performance is discharged, unless the language or the circumstances indicate the contrary. The Uniform Commercial Code, in Section 2-615, entitled Excuse by failure of presupposed conditions also employs the term Impracticable. In both statutes this term encompasses impossible. The relevant paragraph of U.C.C. Section 2-615 reads: Except so far as a seller may have assumed a greater obligation and subject to the preceding section on substituted performance: (a) Delay in delivery or non-delivery in whole or in part by a seller who complies with paragraphs (b) and (c) is not in breach of his duty under a contract for sale if performance as agreed has been made impracticable by the occurrence of a contingency the non-occurrence of which was the basic assumption on which the contract was made or by compliance in good faith with any foreign or domestic governmental regulation or order whether or not it later proves to be invalid. U.C.C. Section 2-615 Paragraph (b) contains an allocation requirement in the event only part of a sellers capacity to perform is affected. Paragraph (c) states a notice requirement. According to its wording, U.C.C. Section 2-615 only excuses the seller from the delivery of the goods contracted for. The general belief, however, is that this provision is to be considered equally applicable to buyers. The concept of commercial impracticability, which discharges a partys duty although the event has not made performance absolutely impossible, has been adopted in order to call attention to the commercial character of the context in which the excuse defence is used. Courts, however, have been reluctant to accept anything short of impossibility as an excuse for performance. The United States approach to situations of changed circumstances is broader than that of the classical concept of force majeure. The United States approach does not allow the adaptation of the contract and because of the courts way of treating impracticability, it is not as far-reaching as the concept of hardship. 3. France Under French law, the line is drawn between the impossibility of the performance on the one hand, i.e., force majeure, and, on the other hand, circumstances which destabilize the contract where economic conditions are such that fundamental and far-reaching changes occur. The latter is called the doctrine ofimpr ¿Ã‚ ½vision. In France, the principlepacta sunt servanda(as incorporated in Article 1134 of the French Civil Code) prevails over the principlerebus sic stantibus. If the contract does not contain any provision regarding events of changing circumstances, then, the performance of the contract will be enforced without any changes to the contract. A judge is not supposed to appraise the economic situation of the parties or to rule in equity against the wording of a contract. In principle, the only excuse for non-performance of the contract is force majeure. The doctrine ofimpr ¿Ã‚ ½visionhas not been adopted by French courts. Article 1142 of the French Civil Code stipulates that any obligation to do, or not to do, is dissolved by damages whenever the debtor does not execute the obligation. Article 1148, however, specifies that damages are not due in the case of force majeure. While courts have applied those Articles strictly, some change and more flexibility is noticeable in recent case law. Although courts do not apply the doctrine ofimpr ¿Ã‚ ½vision, they have not explicitly rejected it. The application of Article 1148 requires four conditions to be fulfilled simultaneously: the event is irresistible (this clearly distinguishes the force majeure fromimpr ¿Ã‚ ½vision): the event must be unforeseeable: the event is to be an outside one: The failure of suppliers or subcontractors or associates is no excuse for the contractor: the debtor is not at fault: The event should be unavoidable and absolutely beyond the control of the debtor. Article 1148, in recognizing that a contract can be discharged due to force majeure, is not mandatory law. Parties are free to give their definition to force majeure events and the judge has to respect such definition. As the roots of the classical concept of force majeure lie in the Code Napol ¿Ã‚ ½on, this concept and the present approach to the problem of changed circumstances in France, correspond widely. A greater degree of flexibility in the latter has only been noted recently. The doctrine ofimpr ¿Ã‚ ½visionis the counterpart of the concept of hardship. The former, however, is not part of French law. 4. Germany The German approach to the problem is rather flexible. Under German law, the rulepacta sunt servandais certainly not adhered to anymore in the strictest sense. This is not surprising in a country where, after World War I, the value of the items on the menu in a restaurant could change between the placing of the order and the arrival of the bill. As a general rule, section 275 of the B ¿Ã‚ ½rgerliches Gesetzbuch discharges the debtor of his obligation if, after the conclusion of the contract, its performance was rendered impossible for reasons other than negligence, his own fault, or the negligence of his employees. The impossibility of performance (Unm ¿Ã‚ ½glichkeit) can be of a physical or legal nature. The performance may still be possible at a later time without unreasonable damage to the other party. As a consequence of World War I, some judges and legal scholars began advocating the doctrine ofUnm ¿Ã‚ ½glichkeitfor application to economic impossibility. According to such experts, the debtor cannot be forced to comply with efforts or sacrifices which are beyond what parties reasonably envisaged in good faith. This doctrine is called Opfergrenze. The doctrine ofOpfergrenzeis a suitable stepping stone to the famous German doctrine of theWegfall der Gesch ¿Ã‚ ½ftsgrundlage. According to the latter doctrine, every contract has a basic aim, emanating from a basic intention of the parties, which cannot be achieved or realised in the absence of an existing environment, e.g. the prevailing economic and social order, the value of the currency, normal political conditions, etc. This definition of theGesch ¿Ã‚ ½ftsgrundlagebears close resemblance to therebus sic stantibus doctrine in international public law treaties. A line should be drawn between the so-called erg ¿Ã‚ ½nzende Vertragsauslegung (an interpretation of the contract which fills gaps) and theGesch ¿Ã‚ ½ftsgrundlagenlehre.According to the former, which requires a gap in the contract, the function of the judge is to complete the contract, whereby he should give an interpretation of what the parties actually would have wanted if a given event had been contemplated. According to theGesch ¿Ã‚ ½ftsgrundlagenlehre, the judge is not only allowed to complete a contract, but depending on the object of the contract, the judge can also change its terms or terminate it. There is a little difference and if so, not an essential difference between the reasoning in the classical force majeure concept and the German reasoning in theUnm ¿Ã‚ ½glichkeit. Furthermore, the doctrine of theWegfall der Gesch ¿Ã‚ ½ftsgrundlage, aiming at an adaptation of the contract, is very similar to the concept of hardship. 5. South Africa Until 1919, there was a general assumption that . . . no difference between South African law and English law on the effect of supervening impossibility. The English approach was adopted in a number of cases until the case ofPeters, Flamman andCo v. Kokstad Municipality was decided. According to this case, if a person is prevented from performing his contract byvis majororcasus fortuitus. . . he is discharged from liability. In applying the principle that supervening impossibility discharges the contract, impossibility must be given the same meaning as when initial impossibility is under consideration, i.e., the impossibility must be absolute (as opposed to probable and relative) and it must not be the fault of either party. Most important is the fact that, ifvis majororcasus fortuitushas made it uneconomical for a party to carry out its obligations, it does not mean that it has become impossible. Additionally, sincePeters,Flamman and Co.there is no room in South African law for the English doctrine of frustration. The decision in the recent case ofKok v. Osborne and Another, however, could be a first step toward recognition of the concept of commercial impossibility in South African law. The plaintiff in this case (Mrs. Kok) entered into a contract of sale as the buyer . . . wrongly assumed that the seller had already been paid by a third person. The court held that the contract between the litigants hinged on the assumption that the defendant indeed had been paid, which in fact did not happen, and that the contract failed due to supervening impossibility of performance. In this case, the courts opintion was that South African law recognises commercial impracticability as a form of supervening impossibility as does the English. This decision, however, has been heavily criticised by commentators for different reasons. As a result, the doctrine of frustration under the English law is not a recognised part of South African law. Moreover, it is properly stated that supervening impossibility is not applicable in the present case. For these reasons, it is not likely that the case ofKok v. Osborne and Anotherconstitutes the starting point for a change in the South African approach to the problem of changing circumstances. Thus, one can conclude that the South African approach corresponds with the concept of force majeure. Situations of hardship do not discharge a party of its liability. ARTICLE 79 CISG Article 79 is the provision of the CISG, that deals with situations of changed circumstances. More precisely, it deals with the circumstances in which the buyer or seller may be excused from performance of his contractual obligations because of an extraneous event that is judged sufficiently important to warrant the excuse. This is a situation which is referred to as frustration, force majeure orWegfall der Gesch ¿Ã‚ ½ftsgrundlagein different legal systems. In subsequent chapters the legislative history of Article 79 and its significance for international trade will be outlined. Its contents, scope of application, and legal effect will also be analysed and evaluated. A. The significance of the CISG for international sales transactions Never before has the increase in international commerce been as significant as it has been during recent decades. Many difficulties occur in the context of an international sale of goods as a consequence of the considerable differences in the national rules governing the law of sales. Thus, the expanding volume of international sales requires a common understanding of the legal rights and duties among partners to an international transaction. The CISG is understood as a modern uniform substitute for the wide array of foreign legal systems. It is based on the Uniform Law for the International Sale of Goods (ULIS) and the Uniform Law on the Formation of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (ULF), drafted by the Rome Institute. These two Conventions had a rather limited success; only nine countries have become members. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), therefore, in a further attempt to unify the law governing the international sale of goods, prepared the Draft Convention on Contract for the International Sale of Goods. This was finalised at a diplomatic conference in Vienna in 1980 and entered into force in 1988. Nations are now ratifying or acceding to this Convention at a pace comparable to that of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards when it was promulgated. The latter is said to be the most successful instance of international legislation in the history of commercial law. The CISG harmonised interests and ideas of different legal systems and of countries on different levels of economic development. Thus, a text that is suited for implementation in civil law countries and common law countries and for economies that are developed and those which are developing. According to Article 1, the Convention applies to international contracts for the sale of goods (if the parties have not rejected its application in their contract Article 6) when the States where the parties have their places of business, are in different contracting states, or the rules of private international law lead to the application of the law of a Contracting State. As more than fifty countries have already enacted the Convention, among them major trading nations like the United States, Germany, France, or China, the Convention can apply to a large number of transactions. This number will continue to increase with the accession of further countries to the CISG. Only ten years after entering into force, the Convention can already be considered a success. Its significance for international sales transactions will increase in future years. B. Legislative history of Article 79 1. The role of legislative history As previously discussed, the CISG was created to free international commerce from a babel of diverse domestic legal systems. The ultimate goal of the Convention is the uniform application of the uniform rules. The Convention will often be applied by tribunals (judges or arbitrators) who are only intimately familiar with their own domestic law. These tribunals will be subject to a natural tendency to read the international rules in the light of the legal ideas of those specific systems. In order to control the damage, there will be long-range correctives through international critique of questionable interpretations; to this end measures have been taken for the collection and publication of caselaw produced under the Convention, e.g., CLOUT (Case Law On UNCITRAL Texts). These measures, however, take time to become effective. Fortunately, there need not be a delay in using the legislative history, which sets out the evolution of the uniform law, to counteract the tendency to view the Convention through the lenses of domestic law. The Conventions legislative history provides an international reference point in applying the uniform international law, and its record clarifies the purpose and in tent of the Conventions words. 2. The evolution of Article 79 Article 79 is a revised version of the exemption clause in ULIS (Article 74). Its development, as a part of the CISG, went through three stages: (1) The UNCITRAL Working Group (1970-1977); (2) Review by the full Commission (1977-1978); (3) The Diplomatic Conference (1980). Article 74 ULIS was criticised during the discussions of the Working Group. The clause was thought to make it too easy for the promisor to excuse his non-performance of the contract. Grounds for relief were not only physical or legal impossibility, or circumstances which fundamentally altered the character of the performance owed, but the provision could also apply to situations where performance had unexpectedly been made more difficult. Several members of the Working Group were, therefore, in favour of restricting the grounds for relief and making them more objective. The Working Group set up a drafting party, but it could not agree on a revised wording. It submitted a draft which was provisionally adopted by the drafting party (Alternative A) and an alternative proposal of the Norwegian observer (Alternative B). Following a study by the British delegate, the Working Group adopted a version which largely followed Alternative A. This based the promisors liability on fault, but transferred the basic concept of the impediment taken from Alternative B into the first paragraph. The version was adopted as Article 50 in the 1976 Geneva Draft. In reformulating the grounds for exemption in Article 51 of the 1977 Vienna Draft, the former Article 50, the requirement of the promisor not being at fault was abandoned and replaced by an objective test of the impediment beyond control. The 1978 New York Draft adopted Article 51 of the Vienna Draft relatively unchanged as Article 65. At the Vienna Conference, the Norwegian delegation proposed that paragraph (3) be supplemented by stating that if a temporary impediment ceased and the circumstances had radically changed to such an extent that it would clearly be unreasonable to continue to hold the promisor to his obligation, he should be released from that obligation. It was, however, argued that such an extension would introduce theth ¿Ã‚ ½orie de limpr ¿Ã‚ ½visioninto the Convention, and the proposal was therefore rejected. There was, nevertheless, agreement that the limitation in paragraph (3) should be deleted, i.e., that an exemption was only for the period during which the impediment existed. Contents of Article 79 CISG The meaning and purpose of the different provisions of Article 79 will now be considered in more detail. 1. The general rule paragraph (1) Paragraph (1) sets out the conditions under which a party is not l