This is Dead Ringer by Dennis Hamley Essay Example for Free

This is Dead Ringer by Dennis Hamley Essay Giles Conover also disguises himself as a cleaner and a scholar of great age. Naomi Drake disguises herself as a match seller, shop assistant and one who washes up. The atmosphere throughout the film is sinister and clouded due to special effects and the black-and-white photography. The use of light and shade is great and adds tension to the audience and this is great for a movie of this age. And also when the Creeper moves there is a sound track that is very scary and this gives a feeling of; Something is going to happen for sure. I cannot miss this. It grabs attention!!! My favourite scene was when the Creeper broke the back of Giles Conover and then tried to kill Sherlock Holmes. We see the Creepers face for the first time and he is hideously ugly. Of course Sherlock Holmes kills him, with a snub-nose Bulldog revolver. Holmes then smashes the final bust of Napoleon and recovers the valuable Borgia pearl. This was an exciting and dramatic ending to the film. Dr Watsons comic acting was humorous. When he hid the pearl in his mouth for protection of the precious stone it was amusing because no one noticed where it had gone. The original story, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, did not have the Hoxton Creeper in it. Beppo is the killer in the original story but using Rondo Hatton as the Creeper was brilliant idea by the film studio and made people even more interested in the movie. I feel The Pearl of Death was a success basically because of the impression that was given by the Creeper. In The Scarlet Claw, another film starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, disguise is also used. The murderer is a master of disguise and uses five disguises, including that of a woman! The postman called Potts, who is the murderer, dresses up as Judge Brissons maid and tears out the judges throat with a garden weeder. This is the weapon he uses to kill all his victims. The film is set in Canada in the lonely village of Le Mort Rouge. The setting is misty and creepy. There is a marsh next to the village where Sherlock Holmes chases the murderer, but does not catch him. This is a vivid scene which I enjoyed. In the end though, Holmes foils the villain who is a mass murderer and master of disguise. Miles Mander plays two roles that are very different in the two films I have watched. Firstly, he acts as a villain on the loose: Giles Conover, and then he acts as a man totally scared and out of his wits: Judge Brisson. I like his role as Conover; it suits him because he looks a very mean man who will do anything for his needs. To conclude, I have enjoyed these films. But I was not scared by them. My English teacher says the Creeper is very scary but I think differently. I believe Rondo Hatton would have been scary to those watching in the cinemas half a century back. I think these films are not scary to a modern audience because there are far scarier horror films these days due to modern technology and special effects. I personally feel Basil Rathbone is an excellent actor; he was very good for the era he was in. I feel more tension is needed to make it up to the scratch of standard films today. I feel that some of the characters are too one dimensional and they need a little bit more feeling in their acting, but still the camera work is excellent for a film of this age. The films seem very old fashioned. I think improvements are needed to make them a bit more modern. There is fog, a lonely marsh, a bell ringing, and a monster on the loose. This creates a creepy, sinister atmosphere. But this gives me an impression that these were stories of many ages back. These days films are more interesting but these films are ace because of their many turns and twists. 1125 words Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Conan Doyle section.

Societys True Nature Essay Example for Free

Societys True Nature Essay In Franz Kafkas enigmatic novel The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa lives the life of a bug. The traveling salesman awakens one morning to find himself incredulously transformed into a â€Å"monstrous vermin.† At First, Gregor is apathetic towards his â€Å"metamorphosis† and immediately begins describing his room and slight discomforts in great detail. At the same time, Gregor incessantly comments on unimportant aspects of his – almost dismissing the fact that he is now a cockroach. When his family starts knocking on his door, Gregor immediately begins conjuring scenarios in which he imagines that his family genuinely cares for him. This illusion is soon shattered after the reader is exposed to the true nature of the Samsas. Gregors metamorphosis symbolizes what he is and has always been in society – a cockroach. Through Gregors physical transformation, Kafka communicates that people are oblivious to how alienated they are from society and humanity in its entirety. First off, in The Metamorphosis, readers are immediately exposed to the absurd atmosphere Kafka has created when he describes how â€Å"Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams †¦ [to find] himself transformed into a monstrous vermin† (1). At first glace this statement may sound normal, but after analyzing this and many other statements, it becomes apparent that Kafka has purposely placed the Samsas in an unreal environment. For example, in the sentence previously mentioned, the third-person narrator speaks casually of Gregors metamorphosis as if it were nothing. In his article, Johannes Pfeiffer says that Gregor â€Å"does not truly realize his new position in all its gravity† (55). Gregors inability to acknowledge his transformation might represent people and their apathy towards the more significant things in life. Throughout the story, the narration alternates between first and third person – suggesting that the narrator of the story constantly shifts from Gregor to an unknown entity. However, the baffling narration in The Metamorphosis is no mistake. Through this bizarre style of narration, Kafka brilliantly demonstrates how alienated people can be from themselves – for Gregor is alienated to the point where he must tell his story in a third-person perspective. Moreover, it has been speculated that society manipulates people by having certain ideals. As a result of his father being unemployed and his mother and sister not being able to work, Gregor is left with the burden of holding his family together by reluctantly taking a job as a salesman. The following excerpt describes the Samsas financial situation: In the course of the very first day his father explained the familys financial situation and prospects to both the mother and the sister. From the time he got up from the table to get some kind of receipt or notebook out of the little strongbox he had rescued from the collapse of his business five years before. . . In those days, Gregors sole concern had been to do everything his power to make the family forget as quickly as possible the business disaster which had plunged everyone into a state of despair (25). The excerpt is describing Gregor listening in on his family discuss the financial situation at hand. We learn that the Samsas massive debt is a result of Mr. Samsas failed business. Being the concerned son he has been brainwashed to become, Gregor – with good intention – took a myriad of jobs to appease his family and restore peace in the chaotic household the Samsas inhabit. The significance of this is that it identifies the reality people choose to live in – a reality where people abandon aspirations and conform to the desolate society that surrounds them. Lastly, Gregors transformation itself is ironic. A metamorphosis suggests ascension into a higher form; but in Gregors case, he has devolved into one of the most insignificant form that comes to mind – a cockroach. However, Gregors bug form is simply an illustration. After close analysis, it can be said that Gregors metamorphosis is his inner state surfacing into the physical world. With that said, one can come to the conclusion that Gregor has always been a bug and has been alienated from his family prior to his transformation. The Samsa family loses faith in Gregor recovering (as if they ever had any) and begins discarding remnants of his past. Gregor is addressed as â€Å"it† (Pfeiffer 55) later in the book when his family dehumanizes him. Reading about how Gregor and his family are so alienated from one another that they do not see it is powerful on its own, but seeing Kafkas message and understanding how people live in a world not too different from Gregors is a ha rsh truth that only a handful of people come to realize. All in all, Gregors metamorphosis symbolizes the alienation, which has always (and may always) exist. It is a powerful symbol that reveals how alienated people are from themselves and society in its entirety. After reading Kafkas The Metamorphosis, one cannot help but question whether his own life is real or a deviation that has spawned and thrived in the alienated society man has given birth to.

ASDA Employee Motivation Research

ASDA Employee Motivation Research Research Project To determine some vital roles of leadership in  improving the sense of motivation in employees in  the retail organisations of UK- A study on ASDA. Task 1 Understand how to formulate a research specification Part 1: You have to create a research proposal in a subject of your interest. In doing this, you have to formulate and record possible research project outline specifications (AC1.1); Identify the factors that contribute to the process of research project selection ( AC1.2); Undertake a critical review of key references (AC 1.3) ;Produce a research project specification (AC1.4). Introduction Business organisations are an integral part of nations economy in todays globalised set of environment where all industrial sectors are largely concerned about a timely achievement of their stipulated goals and objectives. In context to which, they are hereby required to operate with a strategic arrangement of their action plans to duly accomplish their stipulated targets on time. It is with reference to yet another prime concept of realism in todays set of business where an establishment is comprised of two vital set of bodies entitled as employees and employers (Alfalfa-Luque, Marin-Garcia and Medina-Lopez, 2015). Wherein, the employees are direct in charge of their respective set of employers where they are with a through accountability of guiding them. This in turn has breakdown the preceding role of employers where they are mainly positioned at two vital profiles of leaders and managers in the organisation. Both these parties are required to perform a similar set of responsibility by thoroughly guiding their respective set of employees and generate a prior sense of encouragement in them. It is mainly with respect to carry out there assigned tasks on time for an eventual achievement of their organisational goals and objectives. In order to achieve this research, I will start by: To analyse the factual concept of leadership in retail organisations of UK To discover the adopted tools of motivation in ASDA To identify the relationship between the tact of leadership and motivation in ASDA To recommend some principle strategies to enhance the motivation level of employees with some profound tactics of leadership Background of the study The present survey is based upon a configured purpose of exploring the function of leadership to enhance the sense of motivation in the deputed employees of retail organisations in UK. For which, a renowned retail enterprise named ASDA has been taken into consideration for it where it is a subsidiary supermarket of Wal-Mart as its parent company (Cadden, Marshall and Cao, 2013). With a foundation year of near about 68 years, it is currently headquartered at Leeds that is in the West Yorkshire of England. It is evident to deal into grocery products along with general merchandise commodities and fiscal services as well. As per a recent transcription of the year 2016, ASDA is depicted to be extended in around 630 distinct locations at a global level. Herein, it is also ascertained to employ total 180, 000 number of workers to operate at its widespread locations. The current study has hereby focussed to interpret the adopted procedures of ASDA to motivate their deputed set of employees by aligning it to their applied tact of leadership at the workplace. Leaders in ASDA are evident to play a crucial role in handling the work of their respective set of teams (Kim and Brymer, 2011). However, it is together essential for them to continually stipulate such standardised practices of directing their staff members that in turn results in improving the sense of motivation in them. This investigation will thereby focus upon defining such effective practices of leadership that will consequently lead to upgrade the motivation level of the employees by referring to varied tools of motivation and certain abstractive theories of leadership as well. Literature review Concept of leadership in the retail organisations of UK It is as per the stated clause of Taylor, Bogdan, and DeVault (2015), where todays organizations are with a strong requisition of leadership at their workplace to make an optimum utilization of their accessible resources. In accordance to which, leadership is hereby referred as such vital trait that is both inbuilt and out built for the leaders. This means that there exist two types of leaders where some of them are called as born leaders and other can refer to acquire its attributes to become an effective leader. The concept of organizational leadership tends to deal with both expertise tactics as well as human psychology by emphasizing more upon the development of leadership skills and abilities. It should, however, relate to the undertaken goals and objectives of the organization where a potent leader will refer to deal with the hard times of industry and still develop by that time. Tools adopted by the retail organisations of UK to motivate their employees There exist varied motivational tools that are being adopted by the organisations in order to raise the motivational sense of their employees. Bayne and Woolcock (2016) had hereby enlightened two vital types of motivational tools in the organisation known as internal and external tools of motivation. Wherein, an intrinsic tool is in context to meet out the mental needs of the employees by rewarding them with non-monetary means like higher-grade responsibilities as a mean of providing empowerment. Another source of extrinsic motivation involve the tools of monetary benefits for the employees such as bonuses and additive remuneration on carrying out a considerable work. Relationship among the tact of leadership and motivational context of employees in the retail organisations of UK There exists an implicit relationship among an applied tact of leadership and motivation as per the reflected outlook of Menges, Walter, Vogel and Bruch (2011). It is where the leaders are hereby referred to be a prime source of motivation to produce an encouraging sense of work in them. This is also in correspondence to employ varied available theories of motivation with a prime accountability of the leaders to practice them at the workplace. The two-factor model of Herzberg is a factual instance of such conceptual theory that is often being referred by the leaders to inculcate in their day to day practice for fulfilling the need base consideration of their respective employees. Other than this, there together exist varied styles and models of leadership that should be referred by the leaders for aptly managing the carried assignations of their employees. Research aims and objectives A prior intent of this study is To determine some vital roles of leadership in improving the sense of motivation in employees in the retail organisations of UK- A study on ASDA. This configured aim has further depicted some leading objectives that are as stated below: To analyse the factual concept of leadership in retail organisations of UK. To discover the adopted tools of motivation in ASDA. To identify the relationship between the tact of leadership and motivation in ASDA. To recommend some principle strategies to enhance the motivation level of employees with some profound tactics of leadership. Research questions It is mainly on the basis of above formulated aims and objectives to carry out this survey, which is hereby, directed by some below mentioned research questions: What is the factual concept of leadership in the retail organisations of UK? What are the tools adopted by ASDA to motivate their employees? What is the relationship among the tact of leadership and motivational context of employees in ASDA? Rational of the research: This section is specially to determine such contributory factors that have largely assisted the investigator to carry out the investigation in a directional manner. It is mainly in context to depict a prime reason behind selecting this particular topic for the investigation that has hereby represented a leading reason of personal interest of the researcher. Due to which, this particular topic of leadership has been chosen as a mean of exploring its vital role in enhancing the motivation level of the employees (Neuman and Robson, 2012). A prevalent state of competition among the organisations is together referred to be yet another significant reason behind electing this subject matter where it is a present-day concern in most of the retail organisations in UK. As a result to which, a demotivated set of workforce in turn impacts upon the overall productivity of the enterprise that resultantly impacts upon the profitability index of the enterprises. This research work will thus aid them to strengthen the prospective element of leadership in the organisation in order to raise the sense of encouragement in their employees. Producing a research project specification This is another foremost section of the investigation where the researcher will hereby define the adopted technique to carry out the study in an effective manner. Research design- It is a foremost tact needed to be referred by the investigator in order to carry out the study in a directional manner (Research design, 2009). This will in turn depict the nature and type of study that will be referred by the surveyor for conducting the research work. Wherein, the present investigation has showcased a descriptive study to make an in depth analysis of its elected subject matter. Research approach- It is yet another prime consideration of the researcher to carry out the investigation where here the surveyor has opted to carry an inductive format of the study. This will in turn widen the scope of investigation where its concentrated set of data is evident to transact from specific to general context (Deductive Reasoning Versus Inductive Reasoning, 2014). Data collection- The data collection measures together exists with its two imperative methods by referring to both primary and secondary aggregation of information. Into which, the primary accumulation of data will necessitate the surveyor to directly approach the respondents and interrogate them on the basis of a framed questionnaire (Gast and Ledford, 2014). Wherein, another alternative of secondary data assemblage will require to study pre established statistics in verified publications like books, journals and online articles, etc., from attested internet sites. Sampling- It is yet another practice of distributing the targeted respondents of the study in a proportionate way to give an equalised chance to each of them. However, there exists two leading tactics of sampling known as random and purposive distribution methods (Gast and Ledford, 2014). The present study has thus opted for a purposive or non probability tact for sampling the data where the surveyor will hereby refer to interrogate 4 top administrative bodies of ASDA. Data analysis- This is basically to analyse the above acquired set of data by electing one of the two alternative measures to make either qualitative or quantitative investigation. The present research work has therefore depicted a qualitative analysis of data to conduct a thematic study of the subject matter (Quantitative Methods in Education Research, 2014). Scope: the researcher has the skills required to carry out an inductive format of the study. Research limitations- This is especially to define certain limited elements that often leads to obstruct into the conducted study of the researcher. An inadequate source of time with deficit amount funds are those two constricted factors that largely impedes the survey. However, these two elements are referred to be the two most appropriate elements of the study for succeeding towards its undertaken aims and objectives. It is therefore important for the surveyor to conduct a planned study with present time and funds for achieving the targeted goals on a stipulated duration that is 11 weeks for this particular investigation. However, a limited number of secondary resources is referred to be yet another limited aspect for carrying out a defined study. Wherein, there together exists certain ethical dilemma as a way of obstructing the study where the researcher is required to use an authentic set of data while referring to the secondary resources. However, the primary sources were duly accessible where the researcher in the present study has referred to directly approach the responders as a way of interrogating them. Ethical issues- There together exists certain ethical responsibilities that are required to be considered by the researcher to carry out the study (Neuman and Robson, 2012). With respect to which, the investigator in the present study is required to carry a confidential interrogation in which, its obtained data should not get accessed by any unaccredited set of users. This is for instance to conduct a confidential study where the researcher is not liable to reveal the given answers of the respondents to an unauthorised user. Along with which, the investigator is together required to take a prior consent of the respondents to participate in the study with no forcible context on them. M1: This is basically to justify the specification of the present research work with some affluent measures of data collection and analysis. In whose context, both primary and secondary tactics of data collection have represented to be a justified selection of techni9ques by the researcher where both these methods have greatly collaborated with the findings of one other. Along with which, the qualitative method of analysis has also sustained the study by carrying out a thematic assessment to define the subjective nature of the facts by accurately corresponding to the nature of this particular research topic. TASK 1 part 2: Provide an appropriate plan and procedures for the agreed research specification (AC1.5);Match resources efficiently to the research question or hypothesis (AC2.1) This is basically to correspond the present carried investigation with that to the applied resources where the researcher has hereby opted for varied pertinent resources like time, cost and manpower resources to carry out the survey in a efficient manner (Paarlberg and Lavigna, 2010). These resources have together depicted a projected way of carrying out the study where the time to carry out the entire survey was duly scheduled by the researcher with the help of Gantt chart. With reference to which, the researcher has hereby referred to undertake 11 weeks of study to acquire its stipulated goals and objectives. Research objective By when Resources to be used (2.1) Milestones (when do you know this objective is achieved) How will you monitor this objective is being achieved? method of monitoring Statistic analysis 10/03/2017 Internet and blogs On that day Recorder Numbers (using chart) In March Internet On that month Recorder This research has been scheduled with a projected timeline to promptly carry out the investigation. It is with a prime consideration of achieving its configured goals and objectives by avoiding the possibility of any sort of hindrance in the research work. It is mainly in regard to specify the available period of time to carry out the study where such planned work will largely support the surveyor to timely attain the targeted intent of the research. Non-availability of time will not reflected to be a matter of concern for the researchers any more in case they refer to follow this pivotal tool of Gantt chart. Key Activities Week 1 Week 2 3 Week4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 9 Week 10 Week 11 Preparation of Introduction Literature Review Collection of Secondary Information Examination of the Collected Data Research Design Research Methodology Acquiring Primary Data Analysing Primary and Secondary Data Conclusion and Recommendations Completion of Leftover Work Revision and Draft Final Submission TASK 2:BE ABLE TO IMPLEMENT THE RESEARCH PROJECT WITHIN AGREED PROCEDURES AND TO SPECIFICATION 2.2 Undertake the proposed research investigation in accordance with the agreed specification and procedures. This section has referred to depict the framed set of questionnaire along with the conferred answers of the respondents. Undertaking the proposed research investigation in accordance with the agreed specification and procedures by recording This is to discuss upon the undertaken design of the questionnaire where the researcher in the present study has referred to plan an open-ended questionnaire with relevant set of questions. It was with a single close-ended query in which the respondents were hereby asked to provide their own suggestions as a way of advising some effective measures of leadership to enhance the sense of motivation in employees. This in turn depicted a primary method of data collection with a structured interview along with a secondary method in which the governmental records published for the retail based organisations of UK were referred over here. Along with which, the official website of ASDA was also referred to gather some pertinent facts from their pre-established findings. However, there existed certain advantages and disadvantages of both these data collection methods that are as mentioned below- Advantages of primary data collection method: A close interrogation by directly approaching the respondents. This in turn relates to the study and research of the person. Great control over a specific subject. Disadvantages of primary data collection method: A costly method. Time consuming process. A lower rate of response. Advantages of secondary data collection method: A cost effective method. Requires less time and efforts. Provides a base to the primary research method. Disadvantages of secondary data collection method: Unspecific in nature. May produce inaccurate data. Issues of time log. Apart from which, a qualitative method of analysis has been used to evaluate the collected set of data where it is usually done to conduct a thematic assessment based upon distinct formation of themes. Where it is also associated with a leading issue of partiality where the evaluation often tends to bias from one other. Collating relevant data where appropriate This section has referred to depict the framed set of questionnaire along with the conferred answers of the respondents. Since how long your are employer with ASDA? Frequency Percentage 1 year 0 0 3 years 2 50 5 years 1 25 More than 5 years 1 25 Are you agreed by the fact which states that employees need a close supervision at the workplace. Frequency Percentage Strongly agreed 1 25 Agreed 1 25 Neutral 2 50 Disagreed 0 0 Strongly disagreed 0 0 Most of the employees are self motivated in your organisation. Frequency Percentage Yes 1 25 No 3 75 What leadership style is being adopted by you to acquire timely submission of assignations by your respective subordinates? Frequency Percentage Democratic 2 50 Laissez free 0 0 Autocratic 1 25 Bureaucratic 1 25 What principle traits of leadership must be adopted to enhance the productivity status of your establishment? Frequency Percentage Generating a sense of encouragement in employees. 2 50 Provisioning an effective reward system at the workplace. 1 25 Carrying out a strict approach toward the employees by penalising them for not meeting the stipulated standards of work. 1 25 In your view, does leaders play a substantial role in supporting their subordinates to accept their key responsibilities of work. Frequency Percentage Most of the time 2 50 Sometime 2 50 Rarely 0 0 Never 0 0 However, on discoursing upon the facts and findings acquired from the secondary sources of data collection, it has been found that leadership does plays an intact role in motivating the employees at the workplace. It is however with some great efforts of the leaders where they are hereby provisioned with distinct tools of motivation to utilize on them. Although, their together exists certain advantages and disadvantages of data analysis method where the data in the present investigation has been analysed using a qualitative method. In whose context, below are the identified advantages and disadvantages of this measure: Advantages: No rigorous plan or design is required. An affluent and detailed set of information. Disadvantages: A subjective view of the study that needs a massive involvement of the surveyor in the study. A very time consuming procedure with biased context of research as per the own set of views of the investigator. D3: This is basically to justify the selection of data collection method where both primary and secondary measures of data collection has been implicated by the investigator over here. Both these measures have greatly contributed in conducting a directional study where the findings incurred from primary method have supported the facts of secondary resources. 3.1 Appropriate techniques of research evaluation It is basically to discourse upon the way in which the researcher has hereby referred to acquire the aims and objectives of this investigation where it was carried to assess the roles of leadership as a way of generating a motivational sense in the employees. It was with a prime objective to evaluate the realistic concept of leadership in the retail based organisations of UK. The researcher duly achieved this where leadership is identified to be a trait in which the leaders are responsible to handle their respective subordinates and their work with some expertise skills with some specialised abilities. Another objective of this study was to discover the adopted tools of motivation in ASDA where it has been found that they are more likely to use the internal measures to encourage the workers by promoting them to a higher level position, etc. The last objective of this investigation was to identify the relationship between the tact of leadership and motivation in ASDA where both these elements are depicted to have a close interrelation with one other. It is where the leaders are apparent to play a principle role in inspiring their employees by implicating various tactics of motivation. All these objectives have been attained by using some effective techniques of research with valid and reliable set of findings that are proven to be successful for this survey. Wherein, the benefits of the incurred outcomes of this research is evident to support the organisation named ASDA in determining such vital roles of their leaders that are effective in creating a sense of motivation in their workers. However, there existed certain difficulties in carrying out this investigation where the respondents were not willing to interact with each another in a smooth manner. Apart from which, this has also reflected to be a slight time consuming study with less number of secondary resources. Along with which, the surveyor was also not well versed to work on excel with less experience in conducting such studies. 3.2 Using appropriate research evaluation techniques and interpreting and analysing the results in terms of the original research specification Theme 1- A major number of responders are evident to work from a longer time period in ASDA. Interpretation: This is on interpreting the outcome of above carried analysis in order to determine the existent time period of the employers working in ASDA who has hereby represented as the respondents of the study. In context to which, it has been found that almost all responders are working from a considerable time period and are well experienced in their field. Wherein, 2 of them are employed with ASDA from last 3 years and 1 of them is occupied since 5 years and another 1 is working here for more than 5 years. Theme 2- Almost all respondents are agreed with the concept of close supervision for their subordinates. Interpretation: It is on referring to the above obtained data that has clearly depicted a united outlook of almost all the respondents that has been presented in context to a bestowed statement of close supervision of employers on their employees. With respect to which, 1 has represented a strong agreement towards it with another who is merely agreed to it. Whereas, there existed 2 such respondents who are at a neutral stage of acceptance for this statement. Theme 3- Majority of responders have not approved by the self motivation sense of their employees. Interpretation: On the basis of above conducted primary research, it has been found that only 1 out of 4 respondents are in favour of their self motivated employees. However, the other 3 have specified a clear no towards it

Analysis of The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers :: Carson McCullers Literature Love Essays

Analysis of The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers is a story of love illustrated through the romantic longings and attractions of the three eccentric characters; Miss Amelia, Cousin Lymon, and Marvin Macy. McCullers depicts love as a force, often strong enough to change people's attitudes and behaviors. Yet, the author seems to say, if the love is unrequited, individuals, having lost their motivation to change, will revert back to their true selves. The allure of the different characters, which is never revealed by the author, seems to indicate that feelings of love and attraction are not necessarily reasonable or understandable to others.Miss Amelia is self-reliant, outspoken and very much a loner. She stands six foot one inch tall and has a strong, masculine build. Her grey eyes are crossed, and the rest of her features are equally unattractive. Yet, the people of the small, southern town of Cheehaw accept her quirkiness because of the equisite wine that she sells in her store and for her free doctoring and homemade remedies. Still, everyone is shocked when the handsome outlaw, Marvin Macy, falls in love with her.Marvin is a "bold, fearless, and cruel" man who changes his unlawful ways to win Miss Amelia's love. Rather than robbing houses he begins attending church services on Sunday mornings. In an effort to court Miss Amelia, he learns proper etiquette, such as "rising and giving his chair to a lady, and abstaining from swearing and fighting". Two years after Marvin's reformation, he asks Miss Amelia to marry him. Miss Amelia does not love him but agrees to the marriage in order to satisfy her great-aunt. Once married, Miss Amelia is very aloof towards her husband and refuses to engage in marital relations with him. After ten days, Miss Amelia ends the marriage because she finds that she is unable to generate any positive feelings for Marvin. Several months after the divorce, Marvin reverts back to his initial corrupt ways and is "sent to a state penitentiary for robbing filling stations and holding up A & P stores".Just as love had changed Marvin, so too did it change Miss Amelia. In the mid 1930's, several years after Miss Amelia's divorce, Lymon, a hunchback, comes to Miss Amelia claiming to be a distant cousin. She readily provides Cousin Lymon with food and board, and eventually any material object that he desires.

Ethics Paper -- essays research papers

Everyday we each face questions of what we ought to do. We sometimes ask ourselves, â€Å"What if everyone did that?† Every time you decide to pick up a piece of trash because you want the city to look nice, you are not doing it because of the aesthetic effect of one piece of trash, but rather what the city would look like if no one picked up their trash. Kant uses this everyday question in his system of morality as part of the categorical imperative. For Kant, the morality of an action can be determined by the categorical imperative. Kant would like to determine the morality of stealing, therefore Kant wants to examine the morality of â€Å"I will steal anything I want to satisfy my desire for it†. Then Kant rephrases the statement to ask the question of what if everybody did it, â€Å"Everyone will steal anything they want to satisfy their desire for it.† Then Kant makes that statement a maxim, a law which must be followed by everyone in Kant’s test world. Kant examines the world and asks if you can consistently will your maxim in a world in which that is a law? But if everyone steals anything they desire, how will there be property rights since it is okay for anyone to take anything at any time? There can’t. Since there are no property rights, the maxim breaks down since stealing only occurs when someone takes property from its rightful owner. Since there is a contradiction in the 1 conception of the maxim, you are prohibited from acting on that maxim. Imagine Ice Man, a cold, rational person that does not find inner satisfaction in spreading joy and cannot take delight in the satisfaction of others. Does Ice Man have a duty to help others when they are in need? Ice Man is wealthy and not in need of help from others? Ice Man wants to determine the morality of â€Å"I will not help others when they are in need of help.† Therefore, what if everyone did not help others when they are in need of help. Despite this being an unhappy world, there is no contradiction in conception in this maxim unlike above. But does it pass Kant’s contradiction in willing test? Ice Man is defined as a rational being. As a rational being, Ice Man knows that one day he too will be in need. Since he is a rational being, he will prefer that someone would help him and as a rational being, cannot will that no one would help other when they are in need. Since it fails the contradiction in willing test, ev... ...by universalizing the situation and removing your own self interest, then we judge the consequences to our actions without prejudice or preference. By ignoring the question of â€Å"What if everyone did that?†, we can 3 justify murder, lies, and other unmoral acts that can hurt much more than we realize in the heat of the moment. If I leave a piece of trash on the ground when I am in rush or otherwise pressured and believe that is okay, that piece of trash on the ground means that someone else will have to pick it up and that other people will feel more free to drop their trash there.1 Many actions may seem to hurt no one, but in the aggregate do cause pain to others. By ignoring the question of â€Å"What if everyone did that?†, we ignore the infinitesimal effects our actions have on everyone we come into contact with it or simply feel the secondary effects. Therefore, the universal question of â€Å"What if everyone did that?† should be a part of our ethical thinking. 1I did an informal study on this in my social room last year with both dirty dishes in the sink and paper towels on the floor. The difference in dirtiness after an hour was impressive. Real studies have been done on this as well.

History of Broadway Essay

There have been many debates on whether or not Broadway musicals are considered â€Å"serious† art forms. People feel that a musical can never be taken seriously if the character is always singing sporadically, which is very unusual in real life. However, musicals have been around for quite some time now, many musicals are being adapted into major motion pictures, many children are raised on the famous Disney musical cartoons and everybody( whether they’ll admit it or not) has seen at least one musical in their lifetime and are able to sing some of the songs from it. It seems that musicals have made an impact on society but yet are still not taken seriously. The history of musicals dates back to the Greeks. It is a common known fact that the Greeks incorporated song and dance into their stage comedies and tragedies as early as the 5th Century B. C. Some used existing songs but it is known that Sophocles wrote his own. The Romans are also known for taking the Greek musicals and expanding on them. The Romans liked the idea of musicals so much that they attached metal chips to their shoes, creating the first tap shoes, so that there would be more focus on the dancing throughout the play. Of course musicals and the idea of telling stories through song and dance really became popular through the Renaissance era. During the 1700’s the two main types of plays were ballad operas and comic operas. Many people think that musicals evolved from operas however if you follow the history of musicals and operas you will learn that it is the other way around yet operas are much more respected than musicals. Musicals came to America during the mid-1800’s as saloon shows. They were also known as variety shows and consisted of everything from clowns, singers, dancers and chorus girls. In Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York (Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, New York, 1991, p. 92), historian Luc Sante, claims that variety shows were born in Manhattan’s Bowery saloons during the 1840s. One of the first and most famous variety houses was Koster and Bial’s on West 23rd Street in New York City. The variety shows were very distasteful and were later cleaned up and renamed vaudeville then in the 1900’s the shows were cleaned up even more and were then known as minstrelsy. While the minstrelsy shows were much cleaner than the original variety show they would still be considered extremely raunchy by today’s standards. Musicals later came to take the form of the misunderstood form of Burlesque performances. Burlesque shows became popular and kept America entertained from 1840 through the 1960’s. Many people identify burlesque with strippers or scantily dressed women. The burlesque shows however covered many topics of interest from Shakespeare to spoofs of the famous operas of the moment. In 1860 Burlesque made its appearance on Broadway with Lydia Thompson’s British burlesque troupe and their first hit entitled Ixion. It became clear that respectable people would pay lots of money for a sexy performance. The theatre group would use popular songs of that time and parts of operas to perform too which made some of the audience try to say made the Burlesque show more classy and easier to relate too. Soon the offended audience members began to raise their voices in protest of the performances saying that they were extremely inappropriate and tasteless. This of course only made people more curious about the performances and the crowds began to grow for the show. With the success of the shows people began to copy them and bring them back to their own communities. The majority of the managers and choreographers were women and finally women were beginning to gain respect in the theatre business. Men quickly began to see the success and start their own shows. The point of the shows were to hint at the idea of the women being naked and to show as much skin as was considered acceptable. The Burlesque shows, while being popular, were considered to be the lowest form of theatre, many of the actors would move on to vaudeville shows which were considered to be the top of the line where if a vaudeville actor would appear in a Burlesque show it was considered a step down and the actor was labeled as â€Å"washed up†. Burlesque soon took on comedy routines and would make fun of the current issues that the middle and lower class were dealing with. However in the 1920’s there began a raid and the police felt the need to shut down all of the Burlesque shows which was a major hit to the Manhattan society where most of the theatres were at the time. While the Burlesque scene was popular musical comedies were beginning to rise without the help of the nudity factor. The musical comedy was born on Broadway between the years 1878-1884 by the famous producers Edward (Ned) Harrigan and Tony Hart. Harrigan would write the lyrics and songs with some of the music he had taken from his father and add them to plays that would feature characters and situations that the everyday lives of New York’s lower class. They had one particularly famous bit entitled â€Å"Mulligan Guard’s March† which started in San Francisco and was quickly spread all across the country and reached New York where it ran for over a year in the most popular theatres. With the success of their short bit they expanded into a 40 minute performance which was greatly accepted and kept playing for a month which was considered a good run for that time. Their show became so popular that it started a seven year run of different shows with Harrigan directing, producing, performing and writing the scripts and lyrics. Their shows ran with much success on Manhattans downtown streets and overpopulated theatres. People quickly saw the success and began to try to create their own versions of this new style known as musical comedies. Some had success but were quickly forgotten or overlooked with Harrigan and Hart’s success. The more light-hearted and â€Å"cheesy† musicals began to pop up all over the Broadway scene in 1940. The Broadway producers felt that with America at war and people still suffering from the Depression audiences just wanted to be entertained and no longer wanted to see their troubles and everyday situations acted out on stage because they were no longer comical. There were still a few comedies left however, one of the most popular being This is the Army a comedy which spoofed the army life. This particular play had a huge success in America and also had successful run in London. This is the Army became so popular that they even made a motion picture out of the play which earned over $9 million and donated to the Army’s Emergency Relief fund. The 1940’s were filled with famous musicals all with the hopes of just being pure entertainment and losing the idea that only the most artistic performances would be well received. Two of the most famous musical writers in the history of the business made their debut during this time, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Rodgers and Hammerstein were friends in college and both agreed that the best way to approach a musical was with the lyrics first, which was rare for the time. When the two were ready to debut their loved musical Oklahoma the Theatre Guild was bankrupt so the two took the major decisions in their own hands. They took some major risks one being to not open with a big catchy theatrical number and the other being to cast smaller unknown actors instead of the guaranteed success of the more popular actors of the time. The play was something that had never been seen before; it was a well rounded well written musical. On opening night in New York the show however was not sold out, since there were no major known stars, however the show quickly became a huge success. The success of Oklahoma changed the quality of musicals forever. It was soon realized that musicals could contain more than just â€Å"cheesy† dance numbers; musicals could contain drama, comedy and all around quality acting. Future musicals had higher standards and required better and more talented actors. The actors had to be skilled dancers, singers and actors. There was a lot of talent discovered all over the theatre community during the 40’s while everybody tried to compete with and follow the success of Oklahoma, however most of the talent was quickly forgotten. The 1950’s were soon open the musical community and show tunes were considered the main source of entertainment. Even the smaller musicals that did not have the most talented actors could be very profitable because the audience hoped to discover another winning team like Rodgers and Hammerstein. The fantastic duo were still ruling the musical world of Broadway, at one point they had 4 successful musicals running at the same time. In 1959 one of the most famous musicals of all time was created and praised, The Sound of Music. Everybody loved the music and the story and it was an immediate success, however it is also remembered as their last great success together as Hammerstein died just a few months after it opened which brought the end of their ruling. The 60’s and 70’s also had some great success in the musical worlds with the idea of bring rock music to the stage. In the 60’s show tunes could not be found in musicals and were replaced by edgier rock songs. The 60’s are of course known as the years of sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll and those ideas were put into story lines and portrayed on the stage. The 70’s had two major hits with Grease and The Wiz. However, the 70’s ended on a bad not for musicals because many people were tired of the shoddy performances being produced and their change in taste of music. There were some other great musicals that were produced in the 70’s but unfortunately they went overlooked. At the end of the decade revivals were beginning to pop up with famous actors playing the major roles in the musicals to boost up ticket sales. In 1980 the success of Broadway was revived with the huge success of Cats. The success and word of Cats spread all across the world and totally revived the spirit of the musical theatre. Many American composers debuted works after the success of Cats but sadly many failed. One of the biggest failures, Carrie, made its debut in 1988 which many considered the death of the Broadway rage of musicals. The main source of entertainment was now and movies and nobody paid much attention to Broadway anymore. Broadway however had one major hit left in The Phantom of the Opera. Andrew Lloyd Webber gave Broadway one last major success which is still running today. The Phantom brought in a new crowd and sold tickets at outrageous prices that the audience did not mind paying for at all, they also spent ton of money on the souvenirs. The 90’s saw a pretty bad drought in musical success except for the mid-90’s when it seemed like musicals were back with the success of Rent, Chicago, Cabaret and Bring in Da’ Noise, Bring in Da’ Funk. The success carried into 2000 and is still working it’s was on a comeback with a hot streak. With the huge success of Chicago being adapted into a major motion picture with huge stars like Rene Zellweger, Richard Gere, Taye Diggs and Catherine Zeta-Jones a new interest and spark was ignited in musicals. The theatre has also seen success recently with The Lion King, Hairspray, Aida, The Producers and Mamma Mia!. Musicals have overseen many changes and has a great history of success and failures just like any other type of theatre. As stated in the beginning many children are raised on musicals and grow up surrounded by music yet musicals are not seen as serious pieces of art. While the most popular musicals are the entertaining ones that don’t deal with any major issues that doesn’t mean that they can’t be serious as well. There are many types of musicals but why does that make them less important? Should comedic plays be seen as less artistic than dramatic pieces? Musicals have just as an important background and history as plays so I feel they should be viewed just as valuable to our society as any other piece of theatrical art. While it may be unnatural for a person to just burst out into song throughout their everyday life I don’t think it’s that far of a stretch if it did happen. How many times are we reminded of a song we hear earlier that day and sing it in our head? The only real difference between musicals and everyday life is that when we do sing our songs throughout our lives they aren’t always originals, everybody around you doesn’t join in and automatically know every word and we don’t have perfectly choreographed dance numbers to go along with them, however if we did have all that I think it would make life a lot more exciting and interesting. I am personally jealous of musicals for those reasons and wish they were given more respect.

Environmentalism and Deforestation Activities Essay

Deforestation is a severe environmental destruction which cannot be revived easily if changed at current rate. Therefore, I totally agree that deforestation causes a lot of environmental problems. Deforestation includes the cutting down, burning and destructing of forests. The deforestation affects the ecosystem and disrupts the oxygen and carbon oxide cycle. People have an impression that if the trees were cut down, it will grow back in a few years. Everyone knows the trees are very important in our daily life because it can produces oxygen to people can breathe with fresh air. However, the trees become less because deforestation. We can plant more trees around the environment to prevent the deforestation. Furthermore, plant more trees also can prevent our health and the global warming. In short, we can plant more trees to stop the deforestation. On the other hand, we can recycle the anything that we can recycle it. The paper that we use every day was makes from trees, so, we cannot waste the paper and we must reuse the part that can be used. We also can buy the variety of recycled items likewise papers, toilet paper, note books, and shopping bags. When we start use the recycled things, we can save many the demand of raw material replaced by the recycled products. We can join the environmental group to prevent deforestation and and protect our environment. When we join the group, we can make some notice boards about the serious of deforestation. For example, we can write the ‘Please save our earth!’, ‘Stop cutting the trees!’ and the others. The notice board can placed at the college, school, or the road side to remaining people that our earth was dangerous now. In fact, people can realize the deforestation was very harmful to our earth. In conclusion, the deforestation was cause many environmental problems. Therefore, we need some way to stop all such deforestation activities immediately for our earth future become very well.