Lord of the Flies Essay

In the novel Lord of the Flies, the author places a group of children in a situation where there are no grown ups to control them. On an island, faraway from civilisation, it is up to the schoolboys to establish a new society with new rules, so that they can live together. But their attempt at an ordered life soon falls apart and each of them is driven by an inner beast, which tempts them into evil. The novel suggests that even though man has evolved over the centuries, becoming civilized and leaving the cave for the city, the savage within him still remains. Disconnected from the restrictions of society, he slips back into a life where the strong dominate through fear, and there is no place for the weak other than as blind followers. It raises a very simple yet important question – do the strong always hurt the weak? Hunting is one clear theme from the text, which implies that the author’s answer to this question is ‘yes’. Since the beginning, the boys get classed according to their strength: Ralph is chosen as the chief, the littluns are left to themselves, Piggy and Simon are largely ignored and Jack becomes the leader of the hunters. Jack wants to be the one to provide ‘meat’ for the tribe. Yet, as time goes by, he seems to become more obsessed by the thrill of killing, feeling a â€Å"compulsion to track down and kill† that is â€Å"swallowing him up. † When the boys hunt the sow suckling its piglets, they choose the weakest and most innocent of preys. The killing is described almost as a sexual act indicating the amount of pleasure it gave them: â€Å"Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her†. In the island’s government, Jack also uses his power to hurt the weak to establish his authority. He shows off his hunting skills to convince the boys that he will be a better leader and give better protection against the feeble. When Roger kills Piggy, Jack screams, â€Å"See? See? That’s what you’ll get! † His set of laws is enforced through fear and punishment, and even when Ralph is alone and defenceless, he wants to hunt him down and kill him. Although Jack and Roger are the most obvious examples of strong hurting the weak, most of the other boys also have the same instinct. Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in! † they chant as they act out their hunt around the bonfire and do a savage dance. The performance seems to carry them into a hypnotic trance, which leads to the vicious killing of Simon. By the end of the novel, even the littluns have gone wild. Carried away by fear and violence, they join the hunt for Ralph. It is easy to see that Lord of the Flies reflects a very pessimistic view of human nature. The author seems to judge that the desire to hurt the weak is an inherent instinct in man. The thesis definitely holds true in the world showed in the book. But to fully understand whether it is true or not, it is important to apply it to the real world as well. There are countless examples in everyday life and history that support the thesis question. In 1996, the sports accessories giant Nike was hauled to court for exploiting children under sixteen to work in their sweatshops in Indonesia (Harsono, 1996). Not only was the company breaking Child Labor Laws, it was making the children work like slaves in terrible working conditions. They were being paid the official minimum wage, which was less that $2. 17 per day allowing Nike to make exorbitant profits. Children form the weakest section of human society and therefore are often hurt and exploited. But they in turn, can also become the tormentor for others weaker than themselves. We have all seen kids throwing stones at helpless dogs or stamping on ants just for fun. Playgrounds are filled with bullies who torment the meek. As Golding would say, the instinct to hurt seems to be present in us from birth. In another sensational example of people using their power to abuse the weak, The Independent (Coonan, 2006) recently featured an article revealing the ‘casting couch’ in the Chinese film industry. A Chinese actress Zhang Yu had blown the whistle on a number of famous directors and producers who only agreed to give roles in exchange for sex. And this is not an uncommon scenario. Life seems to be full of people who use their power to get what they want from those in their control. A recent film, The Hostel, explores this desire to hurt in humans, exposing it as a sickness. It is about a different kind of prostitution, where the powerless victims are sold to buyers who get pleasure torturing them. The movie shows the ‘beast’ in human nature at its worst. And the most terrifying is that the writer claims that its storyline is based on reports of true incidents. Yet, despite such strong evidence of support, one can’t help but find Golding’s worldview to be slightly one-sided as there are plenty of examples, which contradict it as well. It is true that people exist who enjoy hurting the weak. But it is also true that people exist who devote their entire life to protecting them. To accept unconditionally that the strong always want to harm the helpless, is to forget the Mother Theresas and the Nelson Mandelas of this world. The thesis ignores the human rights workers, lawyers, medical aides who work tirelessly for the cause of the weak. In the Genesis (1: 1-25), God is said to create light and darkness, water and earth, bird and beast. And so, just as there is evil, there is also good. It is a duality that is inherent in life. Is the desire to hurt the weak instinctive in man? In the imaginary world of the Lord of the Flies the answer is ‘yes’. But in real life, the issue is too complex for so absolute an answer. We cannot arrive at the truth by simply ignoring the better side of human nature and considering only the worst or vice versa. Golding’s outlook is all-inclusive and too generalized. The novel itself gives the first seed of doubt in the form of Simon. He helps the littluns collect fruit to eat. For every Jack in this world, there exists at least one Simon. If it were a universal truth that deep down all humans feel a desire to hurt the weak, his presence would be hard to explain indeed. Reference http://www.albionmonitor.com/9606a/nikelabor.html

Macbeth: Post Traumatic Essay

Throughout the story, Macbeth seems to show symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Post traumatic Stress Disorder is an emotional illness that usually develops as a result of a terribly frightening, life-threatening, or otherwise highly unsafe experience. He starts experiencing terrifying events after he became a murder. Macbeth’s problem of experiencing symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, when first killed the traitor in the beginning of the Act 1, Scene 2. Macbeth does suffer from PTSD and throughout the story, Macbeth show more symptoms of PTSD, dealing with the death of the traitor, Death of Duncan, and Banquo. In the first act, Macbeth is a soldier in the army. In the Act 1, Scene 2, the captain explains to the king, that Macbeth has killed the traitor. â€Å"Which smoked with bloody execution, like valor’s minion carved out his passage till he faced the slave; which nevr shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, till he unseamed him from the nave to the chops† (Act 1 Scene 2: 18-22). The killing of the traitor was the start of Macbeth’s killing spree, also the start of the post traumatic stress disorder. The way Macbeth killed the soldier, was very gruesome. The gory, intense event shocked Macbeth and left a horrible image in his head. Dr. Roxanne Dryden Edwards says â€Å"People who are exposed to war combat have been diagnosed with PTSD†. After that death, Macbeth’s next victim was King Duncan, so Macbeth could become king. Macbeth kills King Duncan, so he could become king. After the death of King Duncan, Macbeth enters the room, where Lady Macbeth is. His hands covered in blood, meaning that he has completed the deed of killing Duncan. â€Å"I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise? † Dr. Roxanne Dryden Edwards, a person who has PTSD, will experience hallucination. † (Act 2, Scene 2). After the death of Duncan, Macbeth is unable to sleep. In the story, Since Macbeth killed Duncan in his sleep; it also means that Macbeth can’t sleep neither. â€Å"Since it cried â€Å"Sleep no more! † to all the house: â€Å"Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more. † (Act 2, Scene 2: 40- 42). The symptom of PTSD is that after a terrifying event, the person will not be able to sleep. Dr. Roxanne Dryden Edwards says PTSD symptoms are chronic physical signs of hyper arousal, including sleep problems, trouble concentrating, irritability, anger, poor concentration. After the death of Duncan, Banquo was next line for death row, for knowing who killed Duncan. During Act 3 Scene 1, Macbeth talks to two murderers about killing Banquo. Banquo knows that Duncan’s murderer was Macbeth. Macbeth hired two murderers to kill Banquo, so Banquo would not tell anyone. † Have you considered of my speeches? Know that it was he in the times past, which held you so under fortune, which you thought had been our innocent self: this I made good to you in our last conference ;†( Act 3, Scene 1) The two murderers agree to kill Banquo, because if they didn’t follow Macbeth’s order, they would be killed themselves. Macbeth is being manipulative the reason why is that Dr. Roxanne Dryden Edwards says â€Å" PTSD causes a person to paranoid and not want to be around anyone. † After the death of Banquo, Macbeth started hallucinating as if he was seeing Banquo’s ghost. â€Å" Avaunt! And quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; thou hast no speculation in those eyes, which thou dost glare with. † Hallucinating is a symptom of PSTD, usually recurrent re-experiencing of the trauma, for example, troublesome memories, flashbacks that are usually caused by reminders of the traumatic events, recurring day mares about the trauma. Macbeth does suffer from PTSD and throughout the story; Macbeth shows more symptoms of PTSD, dealing with the death of the traitor, death of Duncan, and Banquo. Macbeth did have PSTD. Proving that all of the events that Macbeth was involved in all of the tragic. For the death of the traitor, that was the spark of Macbeth’s major killing spree. Next was the King Duncan’s death and finally was Banquo’s death. Each of these tragic events was the cause of Macbeth having PTSD. Every one of those deaths, increase the killing and made Macbeth go insane leading to his death. Isn’t better to show your true colors, than be black and white?

Bacterial Meningitis

An attack of bacterial meningitis can be devastating because most of its victims are usually children or infants. The symptoms of the disease can also be misread leading to improper or inadequate treatment with fatal consequences. As risks of misdiagnosis are many, it is recommended that the services of a physician be sought as quickly as the first symptoms are noticed. Meningitis is the disease caused by the inflammation of the membranes that surround the brain and the spinal cord (Schultz, 1991).While the cause of meningitis could be a virus, in the majority of cases it is bacterial. Bacterial meningitis is caused by several agents with the leading one being Haemophilus influenza (Schultz, 1991). Haemophilus influenzae is a type â€Å"b† strain and it is so named because when it was first discovered researchers believed that it was the cause of influenza or flu (Schultz, 1991), but scientists have since discovered that the flu is actually caused by a virus. A second cause of bacterial meningitis is Neisseria Meningitides or meningococcus (Meningitis, 2007).While this type of bacterial meningitis could affect people of different age groups, it is mostly evident during epidemics and especially in places where people live in congested or crowded environments (Meningitis, 2007). Recent attacks of meningitis that took place on crowded places are the epidemics in the slums of Brazil that killed 11,000 people in 1974 and the 1996 attacks in the Sahel region that left 16,000 people dead (Meningitis, 2007). A third cause of bacterial meningitis is Strepococcus Pneumoniae which is also known as pneumococcus.(Meningitis, 2007). This kind of bacterial meningitis is most common among adults and is noticeable by pneumococcus infections in various parts of the body (Meningitis, 2007). Such infections will be noticed in the victim’s ears or could appear as sinuses. While these are the main causes of bacterial meningitis, in some cases the disease could be cause d by an attack of tuberculosis or Lyme disease. (Meningitis, 2007). Meningitis has various characteristics depending on the age of the victim and the cause of the infection.In infants, the symptoms of a bacterial meningitis attack will normally be preceded by an attack of diarrhea, a runny nose or vomiting (Hirsch, 2007). Some of the most common symptoms of meningitis in infants are fever, irritability, headaches, photophobia or eye sensitivity to light, stiff neck and skin rashes (Hirsch, 2007). Correct diagnosis of bacterial meningitis can only be done by a doctor and the service of a professional should be sought immediately there is suspicion that a meningitis attack has taken place.This is especially because the symptoms of bacterial meningitis are non-specific. In infants and children, other symptoms that could be indicative of meningitis include nuchal rigidity, opisthotonos, convulsions and anorexia (Miller, Gaur & Kumar, 2008). Other symptoms that Miller (2008) says could b e associated with meningitis are the bulging of the fontanelle, alterations of the sensorium and in extreme cases, coma. In infants, one indication that a bacterial meningitis attack could have taken place is the sound produced when the infant is crying.When the infant cries in an eerie high-pitched voice, it is a sign that it could be suffering from bacterial meningitis (Schultz, 1991). While bacterial meningitis mainly attacks children and infants, it can also attack adults and especially the elderly. Fatalities from bacterial meningitis were common in the past but today, when medical attention is offered at the appropriate time, the fatalities are fewer and mostly happen to very young infants or the elderly (Schultz, 1991).For people above two years of age, the symptoms of bacterial meningitis will include headaches, a stiff neck and a high fever (Schoenstadt, 2008). Bacterial meningitis can be transmitted in various ways but it is not considered a highly contagious disease. The disease is spread from one person to another when there is an exchange of secretions from the throat or other respiratory secretions. (Schoenstadt, 2008). For this reason, the disease can be spread when a person comes into close contact with a victim who is coughing.Additionally, the disease will be spread through kissing although it is not spread as easily as the common cold or influenza. People who have prolonged contact with victims of bacterial meningitis will be at risk of contracting the disease especially when they are in the same house or have direct contact with the victim’s oral secretions (Schoenstadt, 2008). A wife or girlfriend risks contracting the disease from her spouse or partner and vice versa. In addition, bacterial meningitis is airborne and can be spread when one stays close to a victim who is coughing or laughing (Hirsch, 2008).Hirsch (2008) further advises that the sharing of utensils such as drinking glasses and spoons as well as the sharing of sanitar y products such as hand towels can also spread the disease. Moreover, coming into contact with the stool of an infected person can also lead to infection. This puts the children who share many facilities in day care at particularly huge risk of infection from their play mates who could be sick. Hirsch (2008), however, emphasizes that casual contact with victims does not put one at risk of contracting bacterial meningitis.Bacterial meningitis has a reputation for causing fatalities quickly and the measures taken to treat it have to be taken as quickly as possible. Schultz (1991) notes that because the disease is known to spread extremely quickly, the moment it is suspected to have infected a person, treatment with intravenous antibiotics is started immediately, even before the results of the tests carried out to test for the diseases are out. Once bacterial meningitis is confirmed, the patient will be put on medication that will normally last a week or longer.To treat bacterial menin gitis, antibiotics such as cephalosporins are used. The two best-known cephalosporins are Claforan and Rocephin. (Schultz, 1991). Since bacterial meningitis spreads quickly and also puts at risk those who are close to the patient, medication is also provided for those sharing living quarters with the patient. As a preventive measure, those close to the victim will put on a short course of the antibiotic rifampin. Apart from the possibility of fatality that is associated with bacterial meningitis, it is also known for other neurological complications (Schultz, 2008).Such complications, which could include permanent loss of hearing, convulsions and mental retardation, can ruin the life of a victim. This puts the children who suffer bacterial meningitis at very grave risks. To forestall the possibility of these complications, treatment for children includes the antibiotics and an additional corticosteroid, dexamethasone, which is administered to prevent loss of hearing (Schultz, 1991). As with all diseases, preventive measures with bacterial meningitis are more effective than the curative ones.To prevent the development of the disease, a number of vaccines have been developed for the most vulnerable group, children and infants. To guard against the leading cause of bacterial meningitis, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), a vaccine is used (Shultz, 1991). This vaccine is known as polysaccharide and has been in use since 1985(Schultz, 1991). The vaccine has been found to be effective in children aged two years and above and for this reason it is administered as a routine vaccine to children who are two years old.In addition, two more vaccines have been developed for children. In 1987, a vaccine was developed for children 18 months and over (Schultz, 1991). This vaccine, known as â€Å"a conjugate vaccine† was found to have more efficacy than the previously used polysaccharide vaccines for children in this age group (Schultz, 1991). By 1989, the conjugate v accine had been found to be effective in children as young as 15 months and was already being administered to them.Schultz (1991) further notes that a third vaccine was developed in 1989 that could be administered to infants two months old. The development of vaccines for infants and children enables doctors to administer bacterial meningitis vaccines along with the other vaccines as part of a child’s routine immunization regimen. Today, three meningitis vaccinations are administered on an infant before he reaches six months while a fourth vaccination, also known as a booster, is administered when the child is one year old (Bacterial meningitis 2).While research into other forms of vaccines for meningitis goes on, there is a vaccine that has been developed for prevention of Stretococcal pneumoniae which has been found to be effective with adults aged above 65 years (Isom, 2005). Apart from vaccination, bacterial meningitis is preventable in many other forms. One of the easies t ways to contain an outbreak of the disease is to report suspected cases to the relevant state or health authorities to enable treatment of those who might be affected.In addition, whenever people who are not infected share premises with victims of bacterial meningitis, the former should be given antibiotics to protect them against the risk of contracting the disease from the victims (Collins, 1997). Equally important as a preventive measure is the ability to exercise proper travel precautions. While epidemics of bacterial meningitis are unlikely to occur in the US, there are regions that experience outbreaks of the disease frequently and for this reason any overseas travel should be preceded by a visit to the doctor to see if vaccination against bacterial meningitis is necessary (Bacterial meningitis 2).While the prevalence of bacterial meningitis is low in the US, epidemics of the disease have led to massive deaths in parts of Africa and Brazil. An outbreak of the disease killed about 25,000 people in West Africa in 1996 (Hewarldt, 2006). In 2005, an outbreak of bacterial meningitis spread through eleven Chinese cities killing eleven people (Emerling, 2005). The disease has a higher prevalence rate in crowded neighborhoods. In the US, the disease has a higher incidence rate amongst African American and Native American populations while among infants, boys tend to more susceptible to the disease than girls (Collins, 1997).References Bacterial meningitis 2. Department of health promotion education. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from http://www. dhpe. org/infect/Bacmeningitis. html Collins, J. (1997). Cooperation halts meningitis outbreak; leaves positive public perception. Journal of environmental health, 59(9) 20+ Emerling, G. (2005). Bacteria suspected in death of boy, 6; meningitis test results awaited. The washington times, B01 Herwaldt, L. (2006). Bacterial meningitis: When symptoms start, act fast.University of Iowa hospitals and clinics. Retrieved Febru ary 23, 2009 from http://www. uihealthcare. com/topics/medicaldepartments/internalmedicine/bacterialmeningitis/index. html Hirsch, L. (2007). Meningitis. Kidshealth for parents. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from http://kidshealth. org/parent/infections/lung/meningitis. html Isom, W. (2005). A dash to the finish: Young doctor overcomes battle with life-threatening illness. Black enterprise, 35(7), 153 Meningitis. (2007). The Columbia encyclopedia, (6).New york: Columbia university press. Miller, L. , Gaur, H. , & Kumar, A. (2008). Meningitis , bacterial. Emedicine from webmd. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from http://emedicine. medscape. com/article/961497-overview Schoenstadt, A. (2008). Bacterial meningitis. Medtv. Updated July 2008. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from http://meningitis. emedtv. com/bacterial-meningitis/bacterial-meningitis. html# Schultz, D. (1991). Bacterial meningitis; vaccines, antibiotics fight sometimes fatal disease. FDA Consumer, 25(7), 36+

Techniques used in Sustainable Agriculture Essay

Techniques used in Sustainable Agriculture - Essay Example The two chapters below discuss two techniques applicable in sustainable farming; Crop Rotation – it is the mechanism of growing crops in succession within the same field. Currently, it is subject to regard as the most powerful technique of sustaining agriculture, as it helps in avoiding most of the unintended consequences related to putting the same plants in the same soil year in year out. The technique is a key element of both permanent and effective solution to the pest problems. This is because many pasts seem to have preferences for the specific crops, and when there is continuous growth of the same crop, it will guarantee such pasts of the steady food supply, thus increasing on their populations. In this regard, rotation will help at reducing past pressure on all kinds of crops through breaking on the pest reproductive cycles. Through the same farming technique, farmers may plant crops like soybeans and other legumes, which have the capacity of replenishing plant nutrients, thus reducing on the need of utilizing chemical fertilizers. Cover Crops – It is a farming technique whereby a particular crop is planted for the intention of managing the soil. Through this farming technique, farmers have the opportunity of taking the advantage presented by the benefits of having plants growing in the soil at all times, as compared to the option of leaving the ground bare in-between cropping periods. The type of cover crops may include hairy vetch, clovers, or the oats. Plating of such crops helps farmers into achieving the basic goals of preventing soil erosion, suppressing the weeds, and enhancing the soil quality. Employing the use of this sustainable farming technique is worth the extra effort since it helps in reducing the needs for the various chemical inputs, such as herbicides, insecticides, and

Young Alumni Trustee, Senior Class Gift, and Bryant Senior Advisory Essay

Young Alumni Trustee, Senior Class Gift, and Bryant Senior Advisory Council - Essay Example Finally, in September 2006 the Young Alumni Trustee was named but the reorganization had left the members of the Senior Class Gift Committee with no clear responsibility The Young Alumni Trustee is a position on the Board of Trustees that is granted to a graduating senior each year. The successful program had been in effect since 1996 and each member that is awarded the position serves a three-year term. By April 2006, the selection committee had settled on two finalists, Cathleen Doan and Brian Levin. The winner was to be announced at commencement ceremonies on May 20. On April 25, 2006, students received an e-mail re-opening the application process and encouraging students to reapply. The selection committee justified their actions based on low student interest and lack of diversity among the applicants. Doan and Levin were still considered finalists, but Laurie Musgrove, Vice President of University Advancement, said they were seeing if "other students should be joining them as finalists". Robin Warde, Interim Director of Alumni Relations, said the concern was the small number of original student applicants. Warde noted that only 5 members of the class of 661 had been interviewed and said, "something different needed to be done". Doan and Levin resigned their position as finalists in protest of the move to reopen the process. In a letter to the administration announcing their withdrawal they noted that, "we are questioned, not on our merit, but on our diversity". While no one on the campus discounted the need for diversity, committee member Michael Oliveri supported Doan and Levin and contended, "we feel it inappropriate at this point in the process to be forcing it in". He felt the changes should have been made in the following year. It was apparent that the board had been remiss in addressing this problem sooner. According to Warde, they had been concerned over lack of participation in previous years. Musgrove and Warde, however, waited until the finalists had been selected to make the last minute changes. Musgrove had some misgivings and expressed the "wish that timing could be different". She continued to encourage Doan and Levin to stay in the process and viewed their withdrawal with "disappointment and dismay". Doan and Levin stated that the controversial process was a, "blatant contradiction to the values, like character, and ethics that the institution stresses to the students in all aspects of the Bryant experience and community". They also made it clear that they would support whatever candidate that was appointed to the important position and asked only that the Young Alumni Trustee recognize the injustice and commit to questioning poorly made top down decisions. Their hope is that they can prevent this situation from occurring in the future. Before commencement ceremonies, the Board of Trustees took control of the nominating process after overriding the previous decisions made by the nominating board. President Ronald Machtley and BOT Chairman Thomas Taylor headed the new selection committee. No winner was announced at that time. In September 2006, the Bryant University Board of Trustees (BOT) named Saddi Williams as the 2006 Young Alumnus Trustee at their annual meeting during Homecoming Weekend. The BOT also established the Bryant Senior Advisory Council (BSA), a 30 member

INTERCULTURAL Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

INTERCULTURAL - Essay Example Rules of Social Interaction The rules of interaction among the deaf include maintaining eye contact in order for effective communication. The deaf usually use attention getting mechanisms such as turning the lights on and off, stamping on the floor, tapping on the shoulder, or waving. It is important to hug when greeting or leaving. Pointing to give direction is polite among the deaf. It is important to touch during communication. It is also not important to say â€Å"excuse me† when passing between people using the sign language (Lane, 2005). Language The deaf usually communicate using the sign language. This is a visual-gesture language. It encompasses movement, placement, and expression of body and language. Sign language represents the language among the deaf community. This is a complete language that is able to express humor, emotion, and abstract thoughts. The language has its own language principles and grammatical structure. Whiteness Culture Whiteness culture treats those of the white color as more superior than the others. Racism lies at the heart of that culture. Segregation and discrimination is common among the people of this culture (Warren, 1999). This is normally towards the people who are not of the white origin. Those who ascribe to the whiteness culture do not freely inter mingle with those of other races. They greatly value their race and language. They have racial pride and see others as underdogs. They are conservative and do not freely interact with people of other races. They believe that they should not attend similar institutions as other races. This has led many people especially in America to be discriminated. However, with the advancement of the human rights all races are seen to be equal. Therefore, they are entitled to similar rights and privileges. This culture is slowly fading in America and all citizens are seen as Americans and not as white, Mexican or black. They attend similar institutions where there is free inter r acial interaction. Language Most of the people who subscribe to this culture use a variety of languages in communication; the main ones include English, Germany, Spanish and French. Chinese Culture While there are differences in terms of economic, social and political dimensions between different people of Chinese origin, there are certain core cultural values that are common to all Chinese people. These values are unique and consistently held together by several years and similar language. There is only a single set of core values in China that distinguish their culture from western cultures and Eastern cultures. The Chinese culture has three major element; communist ideology, western values and traditional culture. The traditional culture is diverse and includes several schools of thought such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and religious cultures (Fan, 2000). Confucianism forms the foundation of the Chinese tradition. In this case rules are outlined of the social behavior of e ach individual, governing all the interactions in the society. There are five virtues outlined here faithfulness, propriety, righteousness, humanity and wisdom. There are several values and rules of interaction in Chinese culture. Some of them include bearing hardship, governing should be done by leaders rather than the law, egalitarianism /equality, people being naturally good, veneration for the old in the

Fundamental Finance Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fundamental Finance - Research Paper Example Significantly, its financial policy in the funding of its expansion in operational capacity is sound. It has a mix variety of funding sources: (a) from cash from operations, (b) long-term debt instruments, and (c) increase in paid up capital. The growth of revenues and consequently the net income is the result of the company's expansion on its investment on revenue producing assets which are the container vessels and dry-bulk carriers. With 20 vessels, including those under construction in 2006 it had grown to 33 vessels. The revenues increased by 37% in 2007 over 2006, and net income increase of 40% over the preceding year. Moneywise, the investment on property and equipment on vessels alone was $244,684 million in 2007 against $131,720 million in 2006, or an increase in investment totalling $112,974 million. The company had been financing from the same mix of sources. However, since it was listed in the London Stock Exchange it was able to raise larger amounts of funds. Table below is a summary of the funding source and the changes over the last two years: Prior to its listing the company had been funding its operations mostly from cash generated by operations and to a small extent long-term debt. However, in recent years Goldenport Holdings, Inc. has availed more on both the sale of its shares and much larger issuance of long-term debt instrument. ... However, in recent years Goldenport Holdings, Inc. has availed more on both the sale of its shares and much larger issuance of long-term debt instrument. Below is a table showing the relationship of debt and equity and the gearing ratio: (in US$) In US$ 2007 2006 Total debt 193,001,000 93,961,000 Total equity 181,442,000149,528,000 Debt/equity 1.06/1 0.63 /1 The company increased its debt in 2007 to further finance the acquisition/construction of vessels. In 2006 the company had a favourable debt to equity ratio of $.063 debt for every $ of equity. However, in 2007 as a result of additional borrowings the debt to equity ratio or gearing ratio has deteriorated to $1.06 debt to $1 of equity. In a sense, the company went into trading on the equity. The gearing ratio in 2006 was favourable to the firm because it was on that year that it was listed on the Exchange, and has raised funds on this IPO in the amount of $115,465,000. The company has a policy to declare dividends equivalent to 50% of net income during the year, and retained the balance for reinvestment on property and equipment, more particularly its marine fleet of containers and dry-bulk cargo. However, in 2007 the Board decided to declare dividends equivalent to 52% payout on the its net income for the year. This means a lesser retention of income for reinvestment. Dividends The company has a policy to declare dividends equivalent to 50% of net income for the year. However, for the year ended 2007 the company declared 52% of the net come, or an increase of 4% over the preceding year. This policy had twin objectives. It improved its dividend image with its current and potential

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

Anthroplogy - Essay Example There was occasional flooding occasioned by the melting glaciers. Most of the mountains in Idaho still have evidence of these Pleistocene glaciers (Digital Geology of Idaho 1). During this period, many animals roamed the plains and mountains of Idaho. Animals such as mammoth, giant sloths, and Smilodon amongst others roamed the earth. My favorite animal that roamed the world during this time was the mammoth. From the remains I saw at the Museum, the mammoth seemed such a huge animal. It is its mere sight that fascinates me more than scares me. All of these mammoths lived and died during the ice age (IMNH 1). As far as diet is concerned, the mammoth fed on grass, bushes, and sedges. Other foods that the mammoth ate included blue spruce, cactus and fruits amongst others. This implies that the Pleistocene period in Idaho was marked by rich vegetation since the mammoth also browsed. Another factor that makes me conclude that the Pleistocene period was marked by rich vegetation is the fact that the mammoth was much bigger than the present elephant yet it survived. In terms of physical appearance, the mammoth also had long tusks as the modern elephant. It must h ave been furry to that it adapted to extreme cold temperatures when the cold season and glaciers swept down the lowlands. However, it later became extinct due to reduced food availability and the ice age that greatly reduced its food sources. Human activity during this age was just beginning to take shape. The fact that this period was also marked by warm temperatures during certain seasons explains the origin of the early man. Archeological evidence point to the fact that man lived during this age and later migrated out of Africa. The early man during this period was the Neanderthal man, whom is said to have evolved after the Home erectus man. The early man had attained an upright posture during this time. He hunted wild animals, gathered food and learned how to make fire. Essentially, culture

Technology Does Wonderful Things For People But It Also Enables Them Research Paper

Technology Does Wonderful Things For People But It Also Enables Them to Isolate Themselves - Research Paper Example Although technology has helped in the development of the world, the recent arguments accused technology to impose certain ill-effects by isolating people restricting them to socialize. The arguments have mostly been concentrated on the grounds that people get socially isolated owing to their favoritism of game consoles or their experiences of internet bullying (â€Å"How Technology Affects Us†). Thesis Statement The discussion would emphasize on the development of technology and correspondingly on its role in causing social isolation. Stating precisely, the objective of the essay would be to evaluate the reality behind accusing technology to cause isolation among individuals in the current day context. Thus, the discussion henceforth will attempt to analyze the various advantages and limitations of technology which especially concentrates on its functions as a means of communication and a driver of globalization. Discussion Social isolation is referred to the act of developing a gap or distance between an individual and their belonging community which further results in lessened interaction of people with their surroundings. In the modern phenomenon, one frequently attributed reason for social isolation, especially among teenagers has been indicated towards the ill-effects of rapidly increasing influence of technology on modern lifestyles. It has been thus argued that people are getting immensely attached to game consoles as well as social networking sites which cause a negative impact on the society in terms of isolating individuals by limiting their reasons to interact with the outer world (Biordi & Nicholson 68-115). Conversely, from a generalized perspective, the advancement of technology has been signified to facilitate better interaction of communities throughout the world involving web services as well as mobile phones. For instance, the numerous social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, Linkedin, MySpace and Spoke are immense ly popular among people today. These sites are mainly used with the purpose of interacting with people anywhere in the world which apparently presents an opposing perspective towards the criticism of technology acting as a causing factor of social isolation (â€Å"Social Networking Sites; More Harm than Good?†). However, stating for or in favor of the argued statement, human beings are revealed to get immensely attached to televisions and game consoles which restricts them from socializing within the community and their surroundings. Today, people are getting hugely immersed with technological gadgets which cause a negative impact on the socializing activities of individuals. For instance, technology advancements as video games have immensely affected the young generation as well as adults being increasingly preferred as relaxation activities by people. It is in this context that recent researches reveal playing video games continuously as well as deciphering excessive depend ence on it may cause an individual to minimize interaction with their surroundings. Hence, in a way, playing excessive video games may isolate an individual from the society. It may also develop an unfavorable affect on the behavior of an individual as many games may be designed with the inclusion of violent contents. Apart from isolating

Gender in Translation Essay Example for Free

Gender in Translation Essay Abstract Metaphors are taken to be the most fundamental form of figurative language, carrying the assumption that terms literally connected with one object can be transferred to another object. A writer/speaker uses metaphor more often than not with the intentions of introducing a new object/concept, offering a more precise meaning, or simply presenting a more poetic effect to his text/speech. The main focus of this study is image metaphors of color in the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi. The study set out to determine how this particular figure of speech is rendered by reviewing two English translations of the work. The framework of the study was Newmarks (1988a) seven suggested procedures for translating metaphors. In addition to determining which of these procedures have been applied in the two translations, the study also aimed at discovering whether any new procedures might have been applied. The study also attempted to find out whether any exclusive patterns were observed in each translators rendering of the discussed items. The study concluded that out of the seven procedures proposed by Newmark for translating metaphors, Warner Warner applied five procedures and Davis applied all seven of the procedures in the translation of image metaphors of color. No new procedure was observed in their translations. The translators choices of procedures for translating these specific items showed that Warner Warner had a tendency towards the first procedure which resulted in a literal translation of the particular metaphor, whereas Davis had a tendency towards the other six  procedures which all led to explicitation, simplification and the production of a reader-oriented text. Key terms: the Shahnameh, figurative language, metaphor, image metaphor of color, translation procedure 1. Introduction Translation, as Catford (1965) defines it, is an act of transference, in which a text from the source language is replaced by its equivalent in the target language (p. 20). Newmarks (1988b, p. 5) more modern version of the term is often, though not by any means always, rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text. Even the mere thought of inferring from these two definitions that the task of a translator and the whole translation process is a simple one seems a naivete on the part of the inexperienced. Any given source text intended for translation, regardless of its text-type, is required to undergo a close reading in order to understand what it is about, and then an analysis from the point of view of the translator. The analysis stage consists of determining the intention of the text which, according to Newmark (1988a), represents the SL writers attitude to the subject matter – and also the style in which it is written. Being attentive to the selected lexicon, the syntax, figures of speech, neologisms, punctuations, names, and many more is a vital role the translator plays in the process of translation. In the case of poetry, apart from all the above features there is a surplus of sound effects such as rhyme, meter, assonance, alliteration, stress, onomatopoeia. The most common goal among translators is, and always should be, to create the same effect on the target reader as the original writer had intended for his readers. In Nidas own words, the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message (Nida, 1964a, p. 159). Understanding and analyzing figurative language in a text, as mentioned above, is one of the difficult processes in translation. One of these figures of speech is metaphor which is considered by linguists as the most basic where one object is used to describe another object and both objects are essentially disparate entities, but common in one or more attributes. In the following section, the theoretical preliminaries of the study will be presented, which includes an overview of metaphor, concerning its definition, classifications, identification, and also translation procedures introduced by Newmark (1988a) on the translation of metaphors in general. The image metaphor of color in particular will also be discussed along with several exemplifications. Thereafter, a selection of the collected data will be presented, analyzed and discussed. The last section will include the conclusion of the study. 2. Theoretical Preliminaries 2. 1. Definition of Metaphor Metaphor, as stated in the Merriam Webster online dictionary, is etymologically from Greek, from metapherein, meaning to transfer and from meta- + pherein, meaning to bear. It is defined by the same source as a figure of speech, in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them. One of Shakespeares most famous and oft-quoted lines, All the worlds a stage, is an example of a metaphor, where he indicates that the world and stage are analogous. According to Richards (1936), a metaphor consists of two parts, tenor andvehicle, also introduced as object and image by Newmark (1988a), respectively. The tenor is the term to which attributes are ascribed and the vehicle is the term from which attributes are borrowed. The properties of the vehicle which apply to the tenor in a given metaphor are namedgrounds of a metaphor, also known as the sense of a metaphor. Therefore, in the example given above, world is the tenor or object, and stage is the vehicle or image. The ground of this metaphor is more apparent when the next two lines are added: All the worlds a stage And all the men and women are merely players, They have their exits and their entrances This metaphor is extended through adding another pair of tenor and vehicle, i. e. men and women is the second tenor and players is the second vehicle. Therefore, as the actors on stage have an entrance and also an exit, the inhabitants of the world do as well, their entrance to this world being birth and their exit being death. 2. 2. Classifications of Metaphors Metaphors have been categorized in different ways by different linguists. Black (1962a, p. 25) asserts that the only entrenched classification is grounded in the trite opposition between dead and live metaphors. He adds that this is no more helpful than, say, treating a corpse as a special case of a person: A so- called dead metaphor is not a metaphor at all, but merely an expression that no longer has a pregnant metaphorical use. However, he does present a classification for metaphors, but not before declaring that if the actuality of a metaphor †¦ is important enough to be marked, one might consider replacing the dead and alive contrast by a set of finer discriminations; hence, the following classification (ibid, p. 25): 1. extinct metaphors: expressions whose etymologies, genuine or fancied, suggest a metaphor beyond resuscitation (a muscle as a little mouse, musculus) 2. dormant metaphors: those expressions where the original, now usually unnoticed, metaphor can be usefully restored (obligation as involving some kind of bondage) 3.  active metaphors: those expressions, that are, and are perceived to be, actively metaphoric He continues further to discriminate between two types of active metaphor: an emphatic metaphor whose producer will allow no variation upon or substitute for the words used, and a resonant metaphor, which supports a high degree of implicative elaboration (ibid, p. 26). On this account, he calls a metaphor of marked emphasis and resonance a strong metaphor, and in contrast, a metaphor of relatively low emphasis or resonance a weak metaphor. Lakoff (1977) made a revolutionary contribution to the study of metaphors when he suggested a new theory of metaphor which basically stated that metaphors are fundamentally conceptual, not linguistic, in nature (Lakoff, in Ortony, 1993, p. 244), which resulted in the advent of the conceptual or cognitive theory of metaphor. In his proposal of the theory, he does not provide us with any specific classification for metaphors, but rather, he only refers to them in his writings as he explains and elaborates on the theory. He states that conceptual metaphors map one conceptual domain onto another (ibid, p.  229). On the other hand, the novel metaphors of a language are, except for image metaphors, extensions of this large conventional system (ibid, p. 240). Therefore, it can be implied that he believes most metaphors to be conceptual metaphors and some others to be novel metaphors under which image metaphors are subcategorized. However, more than twenty years after Blacks declaration of his standpoint on the categorization of metaphors, Newmark (1988b) was still a faithful believer in the dead/live metaphor classification, as he distinguishes six types of metaphors, beginning with dead metaphors: 1.dead metaphor: this type of metaphor frequently relates to universal terms of space and time, the main part of the body, general ecological features and the main human activities (ibid, p. 106). Dead metaphors have lost their figurative value through overuse and their images are hardly evident. Some examples of a dead metaphor include at the bottom of the hill, face of the mountains, and crown of glory. 2. cliche metaphor: this type of metaphor is known to have outlived its usefulness, and is used as a substitute for clear thought, often emotively, but without corresponding to the facts of the matter (ibid, p.107). Some examples include a jewel in the crown, to make ones mark, and backwater. 3. stock or standard metaphor: this type of metaphor is defined by Newmark (1988b, p. 108) as an established metaphor, which in an informal context is an efficient and concise method of covering a physical and/or mental situation both referentially and pragmatically. He also states that stock metaphors, in contrast to dead metaphors, are not deadened by overuse (ibid). Examples of this type also mentioned by Newmark are: to oil the wheels, hes in a giving humour, and hes on the eve of getting married. 4. adapted metaphor: this type of metaphor is actually a stock metaphor that has been adapted into a new context by its speaker or writer, for example, the stock metaphor carrying coals to Newcastle can be turned into an adapted metaphor by saying almost carrying coals to Newcastle. 5. recent metaphor: this type of metaphor is produced through coining and is spread in the SL rapidly. Examples of this kind are spastic, meaning stupid, and skint, meaning without money. 6.original metaphor: this type of metaphor is created or quoted by the SL writer, and in the broadest sense, contains the core of an important writers message, his personality, his comment on life (ibid, p. 112). 2. 3. Identifying Metaphors The recognition of a metaphor in a certain text or speech may be rather easy for native speakers, but when it comes to a non-native, the challenge begins. The supposition that an expression is a metaphor when it yields a false or absurd meaning when interpreted literally is not reliable because not all metaphors have false literal interpretations (Way, 1991, p.14). This unreliability is proven by Way when she exemplifies through the following lyrics of a song: A rock feels no pain, and an island never cries. This statement is a metaphor, but it is also literally true; rocks do not feel pain, and islands are not the kind of things that can cry (ibid). But how do we identify it as a metaphor, even when the literal meaning seems true? Way (1991, p. 14) explains: Perhaps because, while not actually false, talking about rocks feeling pain and islands crying is certainly a peculiar combination; maybe we can identify metaphors by their odd juxtaposition of ideas. A more classical way of identifying metaphors, which again is not reliable, is the form x is a y. Although many metaphors do take this form, many more do not. As Way exemplifies through Shakespeares Let slip the dogs of war, she states that although this is clearly a metaphor, but it does not fit the form of x is a y, for we are not comparing dogs to war, but rather to armies, something which is never explicitly mentioned in the phrase (ibid, p. 15). She goes on to explain that even the syntactic structure of a metaphor can not be proof of its essence, as it has no consistent syntactic form. She provides an example by Saskice, where it is shown how one metaphor can be rephrased as a statement, a question or an exclamation (ibid): The moonlight sleeps sweetly upon the bank. Does the moonlight sleep sweetly upon the bank? How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon the bank! She also mentions that a metaphors focus can be of any part of speech. In the following examples by Saskice provided by Way (1991, p. 15), it is stated that the focus is first a verb, then a noun, and finally a participle: The smoke danced from the chimney. The trees bowed in the dance of the seasons. Dancing waters surrounded the canoe. According to all the above, there is no reliable method for identifying a metaphor. The more we strive to analyze a metaphor, the more we understand that its creation and comprehension are challenging tasks, specifically for the non-native speaker. 2. 4. Translating Metaphors Newmark (1988b) proposes the following seven strategies for translating metaphors; the examples included for each strategy are provided by Tajalli (2005, p. 107): 1. Reproducing the same image in the TL. Play with someones feelings 2. Replacing the image in the SL with a standard TL image which does not clash with the TL culture I got it off my chest 3. Translation of metaphor by simile, retaining the image The coast was only a long green line 4. Translation of metaphor (or simile) by simile plus sense, or occasionally metaphor plus sense He is an owl 5. Conversion of metaphor to sense To keep the pot boiling 6. Deletion. If the metaphor is redundant or serves no practical purpose, there is a case for its deletion, together with its sense component 7. Translation of metaphor by the same metaphor combined with sense. The addition of a gloss or an explanation by the translator is to ensure that the metaphor will be understood The tongue is fire . 2. 5. Image Metaphors of Color As mentioned earlier, image metaphor is a subcategory of Lakoffs novel metaphor. He distinguishes between conceptual metaphor and image metaphor due to their distinct mapping processes. The conceptual metaphor maps one conceptual domain onto another, often with many concepts in the source domain mapped onto many corresponding concepts in the target domain, whereas the image metaphor maps only one image onto one other image; thus, Lakoff (1977) calls them one-shot metaphors. The following poem, interpreted by Louis Watchman (as cited in Ortony, 1993, p. 231), contains several image mappings: My horse with a hoof like a striped agate, with his fetlock like a fine eagle plume: my horse whose legs are like quick lightning whose body is an eagle-plumed arrow: my horse whose tail is like a trailing black cloud. He continues by explaining that Metaphoric image mappings work in the same way as all other metaphoric mappings: by mapping the structure of one domain onto the structure of another. But here, the domains are conventional mental images (ibid, p. 229). Therefore, image metaphors map one attribute of the source domain onto the target domain. Image mapping may involve physical part-whole relationships, as in the following example extracted from The Descriptions of King Lent, translated by J.M. Cohen (ibid, p. 230): His toes were like the keyboard of a spinet. Lakoff explains that The words do not tell us that an individual toe corresponds to an individual key on the keyboard. The words are prompts for us to perform a conceptual mapping between conventional mental images (ibid). Image mapping may also involve a dynamic image, as in the following lines by Shakespeare (as cited in Hawkes, 1972, p. 46), where the movement of the curtains is mapped onto the movement of the eye: The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,  And say what thou sees yond. Other attributes, such as colors, may also be mapped, which are the main focus of the present study. The following lines by Shakespeare (ibid, p. 47) map the whiteness of the lily and also ivory onto the girl: Full gently now she takes him by the hand, A lily prisond in a gaol of snow, Or ivory in an alabaster band: So white a friend engirts so white a foe. There are many examples of image metaphors of color in the Shahnameh, where the attribute of color has been mapped onto the target domain. The following translation of a couplet in the Shahnameh, produced by Warner Warner, contains four image metaphors (of which two are similes), but only in two of them is the attribute of color intended to be mapped; the whiteness of camphor is mapped onto the characters hair, and the redness of a rose onto his cheeks: His stature cypress-like, his face a sun, His hair like camphor and his rose-red cheeks (Warner and Warner, 1925, vol. 1, p. 191) Also in the following example from the Shahnameh, Davis has compared blood to the redness of wine in this metaphor, even including the sense. But here, the metaphor has been applied simply as a device for making the text more poetic, as Way (1991, p. 33) discussed about the substitution theory of metaphor. He saw Sohrab in the midst of the Persian ranks, the ground beneath his feet awash with wine-red blood. (Davis, p. 205) 2. 6. Formal and Dynamic Equivalence Nida (1964) divides equivalence in two different types in his article entitled Principles of Correspondence, i. e. formal and dynamic equivalence. He depicts formal equivalence as a focus on the message, in both its formal aspects and its content. Thus, in a translation from poetry to poetry, sentence to sentence, and concept to concept (Nida, in Venuti 2000, p. 129), the concern is formal equivalence. In this type of equivalence, the message produced in the TT should match the different elements of the ST as closely as possible. Nida further explains that a gloss translationtypifies formal equivalence. In this type of translation, he states, the translator attempts to reproduce as literally and meaningfully as possible the form and content of the original (ibid). In order to be comprehensible, such a translation would require numerous footnotes (ibid). This structural equivalence seems to be rather identical to Larsonsmodified literal translation, where the translation is basically literal, but with modifications to the order and grammar of the ST, so as to produce acceptable sentence structure in the receptor language (Larson, 1984, p. 16). To a great extent, it also resembles Newmarks semantic translation, which he states, attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original (Newmark, 1988a, p.39). Dynamic equivalence, on the other hand, maintains that the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message (Nida, in Venuti 2000, p. 129). In a translation of dynamic equivalence, the target readership is not necessarily required to understand the SL culture in order to understand the message. Most importantly, this type of equivalence aims at complete naturalness of expression (ibid) , and is also based on the principle of equivalent effect, which maintains that the translator should produce the same effect on his own readers as the SL author produced on the original readers. Similar to Nidas dynamic equivalence is the traditional idiomatic translationdiscussed in Larson (1984). The translators goal should be to reproduce in the receptor language a text which communicates the same message as the SL, but using the natural grammatical and lexical choices of the receptor language (ibid, p. 17). Also rather similar to this type of equivalence is Newmarks communicative translation, which he claims, attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original (Newmark, 1988a, p. 39). According to the above-mentioned, after comparing Warner Warners (1925) and Davis (2007) English translations of the Shahnameh with the original, it was concluded that the first translation is a semantic translation, while the second one is a communicative translation. Warner Warner have translated poetry into poetry and also strived at preserving the archaic tone of the original. Furthermore, they have indicated in their Introduction to the translation that many explanatory notes have been added; hence leading to a semantic translation. Davis, on the other hand, has converted poetry into prose, with occasional lines of verse in some episodes. He also explains in his Introduction to the translation that he has intended this translation for the general reader and not for scholars; thus his version is a communicative translation. 3. Empirical Data 3. 1. Data Collection and Analysis Thirty-three examples of image metaphors of color identified in theShahnameh were located in two English translations, i. e. Warner Warner (1925) and Davis (2007). It is worth noting that over forty-five metaphorical expressions of color were identified in the entire Shahnameh, but as Davis translation is not a complete translation, rather an abridged version, only thirty-three were applicable to this study. The first step in this procedure was to identify all terms/objects in theShahnameh that presented color imagery. This information was found in a list provided by Rastegar Fasaei (1990). Seventy-nine items were listed, but only thirty-three were applicable in this study, because the list was obviously not intended for metaphors of color, but rather a list indicatingterms that denote a color. Many of these terms were basic color terms, e. g. , which could not produce any potential metaphorical expression implying a color. They were mostly used in adjectival phrases describing a particular object or event. Therefore, all color terms were ruled out, as well as other terms which indicated some kind of brightness or shiny effect, e. g. the expression , in which the metaphor implies that the sword is very shiny. Unfortunately, approximately eighteen of the items in this list were of this kind, representing brightness of an object, colors of the air, and colors of the earth, of which the latter two seemed ambiguous and impracticable for this study. As mentioned earlier, the translation by Davis is not a complete translation of the wholeShahnameh, as many episodes have been omitted. Therefore, several of the items in the list have occurred only in the sections not translated by Davis; hence, deleting them from the list was inevitable. Many of the terms in the list, unfortunately again, were observed only in the form of similes, and not metaphors; therefore, they could not be applied either. After settling on these thirty-three items, they were sought in aShahnameh software, in order to locate the couplets which contained these terms. The next step was to review each couplet to see which one had an image metaphor of color created with that specific term. For some terms, the frequency of occurrence was very high, e. g. approximately 400 couplets, which caused some difficulties in terms of being highly time-consuming. A minimum of one couplet carrying an image metaphor of color was chosen for each of the thirty-three instances via the Shahnamehsoftware. These examples were then initially located in the translation by Davis, as his is an abridged translation. Regarding this, he states in the Introduction to his book: Given the poems immense length, some passages have inevitably been omitted, and others are presented in summary form (Davis, 2007, xxxiv). After determining which of the examples were included in Davis translation, one couplet was eventually chosen for each instance, and then the corresponding expression was located in Warner Warners translation. So far, there were thirty-three Persian examples of image metaphors of color, along with their corresponding expressions in the two English translations. These were the steps taken in the data collection stage. The next step was to analyze the collected data, which included determining the translation procedures involved in each of the two translations. The framework applied was Newmarks (1988b) seven procedures introduced for translating metaphors. The goal here was not just determining which translator applied which procedure(s) and the frequency of each procedure, but also finding out whether any new procedures were applied other than Newmarks. The study also aimed atdiscovering any possible translation patterns exclusive to each translator. The following three examples were selected as representatives of the collected data in this study. (?. – ?) The night was like jet dipped in pitch, there lent No planet luster to the firmament (Warner Warner, vol. 3, p. 287) A night as black as coal bedaubed with pitch, A night of ebony, a night on which Mars, Mercury, and Saturn would not rise. (Davis, p. 306) In this ST context, the poet has depicted the scene as though the night has actually covered its face with pitch. Both translators have reproduced the same image in their TTs, thus likening the night to a black stone ( ) that has washed its exterior with pitch. (?. – ) Raised such a dust! But swift as dust they sped Till days cheeks turned to lapis-lazuli. (Warner Warner, vol. 7, p. 67) They rode quickly until the day turned purple with dusk. (Davis, p. 642) The definition provided for is a dark blue stone; its translation by Emami is lapis-lazuli, azure. Britannicas online dictionary definition forlapis-lazuli is a semiprecious stone valued for its deep blue color. Therefore, the first translator has again reproduced the same image through the same metaphor. The second translator, however, has converted the metaphor to its sense, i. e. the color it represents. ? ? (?. – ) This he said, And heaved a sigh. The colour of his cheek Turned from pomegranate-bloom to fenugreek (Warner Warner, vol. 6, p. 25) Having said this he heaved a sigh from the depths of his being, and the rosy pomegranate petal turned as pale as fenugreek. (Davis, p. 455) The mental image of this ST metaphor is mapped onto the kings face, describing the change of color in his complexion. The first translator has interestingly enough converted the metaphor to its sense, which seems rather a rare procedure for a semantic translation. The second translator, however, has reproduced the same image in TT2. 3. 2. Discussion Thirty-three cases of image metaphors of color were identified in theShahnameh and then located in two English translations, i. e. Warner Warner (1925) and Davis (2007). Afterwards, the procedures applied by each translator in rendering these thirty-three items were identified. The framework chosen was that of Newmarks (1988a). The analysis of the data showed that Warner and Warner applied five of Newmarks suggested procedures in translating the specified image metaphors of color. They also presented two cases of wrong translation. In the following table, the procedures applied by Warner Warner in translating the thirty-three image metaphors of color identified in this study and their frequency of occurrence, along with the corresponding percentages are shown. Table 4. 1. Frequency and percentage of procedures applied by Warner Warner Procedure| Frequency| Percentage| Reproducing the same image in the TL| 23| 69. 69| Replacing the image in the SL with a standard TL image| 3| 9. 09| Translation of metaphor by simile, retaining the image| 1| 3. 03| Translation of metaphor by simile plus sense| 0| 0|. Conversion of metaphor to sense| 3| 9. 09| Deletion| 0| 0| Translation of metaphor by the same metaphor plus sense| 1| 3. 03| Wrong translation| 2| 6. 06| Total| 33| 100| As evident in this table, Warner Warner have neither translated any metaphors by simile plus sense, nor deleted any metaphor. The most frequently applied procedure in their translations was the reproduction of the same image in the TL. The translation of the Shahnameh produced by Warner Warner is a semantic translation, which clearly proves the reason as to why their most frequently applied procedure is the one mentioned above. A semantic translation attempts to recreate the precise flavor and tone of the original: the words are sacred, not because they are more important than the content, but because form and content are one (Newmark, 1988a, p. 47). The analysis of the data also shows that Davis has applied all seven procedures introduced by Newmark in translating these items. There was no evidence of any wrong translation. The following table presents the frequency of each procedure which was applied and also their percentages. Table 4. 2. Frequency and percentage of procedures applied by Davis Procedure| Frequency| Percentage|. Reproducing the same image in the TL| 12| 36. 36| Replacing the image in the SL with a standard TL image| 3| 9. 09| Translation of metaphor by simile, retaining the image| 3| 9. 09| Translation of metaphor by simile plus sense| 2| 6. 06| Conversion of metaphor to sense| 6| 18. 18| Deletion| 2| 6. 06| Translation of metaphor by the same metaphor plus sense| 5| 15. 15| Total| 33| 100| As indicated in the table, the most frequently used procedure by Davis is also the reproduction of the same image in the TL. He has opted for deletion of the image metaphor of color in two cases. In one of the two cases, his deletion seems to serve the purpose of a more easy-going, reader-friendly text (where the metaphoric elements seem complex or far-fetched to the target audience), whereas in the other case, his deletion seems somehow arbitrary or unjustifiable. The following table compares the two translations in terms of the percentage of procedures applied. P1 through P7 are the seven translation procedures involved in this study, also indicated in the previous table, and WT stands for wrong translation. Table 4. 3. Percentage of the procedures applied by both translators | P1| P2| P3| P4| P5| P6| P7| WT| Total %| W. W. | 69. 69| 9. 09| 3. 03| 0| 9. 09| 0| 3. 03| 6. 06| 100| Davis| 36. 36| 9. 09| 9. 09| 6. 06| 18. 18| 6. 06| 15. 15| 0| 100| 4. Conclusion Thirty-three cases of image metaphors of color were extracted from theShahnameh and relocated in two English translations, i. e. Warner Warner (1925) and Davis (2007). The main objective of the study was to determine which translation procedures introduced by Newmark (1988a) for translating metaphors in general were applied by the two above mentioned translators. According to the collected and analyzed data, Warner Warner applied five of Newmarks suggested procedures. The two procedures they did not apply at all were deletion and translation of metaphor by simile plus sense. The figures indicated that approximately 70% of the thirty-three cases had undergone Newmarks first procedure, i. e. reproducing the same image in the TL, which was also considered the most frequently used procedure by Warner Warner. This is a verification that their translation is indeed a semantic translation, as the objective in this type of translation is to recreate the ST, both its form and its content. This occurs to a great extent through literal/word-for-word translation, which is rather similar to the above- mentioned procedure. Davis, on the other hand, applied all seven of Newmarks procedures in his translation of image metaphors of color. The most frequently used procedure was again, a reproduction of the same image in the TL (36%). The second aim was to determine whether any new procedures for translating image metaphors of color other than those proposed by Newmark for translating metaphors resulted from this study.

Introduction To The Pragmatics Discourse Analysis English Language Essay

Introduction To The Pragmatics Discourse Analysis English Language Essay As cited in Blakemore, Schiffrin pointed that Harris was the first linguist who proposed the term discourse as the following stage of morphemes, clauses and sentences. In other words, it can be inferred that Discourse Analysis deals with kinds of text above sentences. The study of Discourse Analysis has been widely developed lately; Linguists analyze discourse in several different ways using several interesting approaches, such as: Interactional Sociolinguistics, Ethnography of Communication, Pragmatics, and etc. One of the most challenging approaches to analyze a discourse is in the Pragmatics point of view. Pragmatics, a study of language explaining language use in context, according to Moore (2001), seeks to elaborate aspects of meaning which cannot be explained by semantics. In line with that, in modern linguistics, Crystal (2008) stated that Pragmatics has been studied in applied linguistics from the point of view of the users, especially of the selections they make, the boundaries among the use of language in social interaction, and the consequences of their use of language on the other members of communication. Concerning with speaker meaning and how utterances are interpreted by listeners, Pragmatics draws much attention of many linguists. This new discipline in language science, Pragmatics lies its roots in the work of Herbert Paul Grice on conversational implicature and the cooperative principle (Moore, 2001). Languages have developed continually in the along with the user based on the need of communication. People involved in a conversation want to be able to communicate their messages properly. In the process of communication, people do not create isolated sentences, but try to obey the rules of a general set of norms in which their sentences are organized to make up their entire messages. Grice (1975) defined The Cooperative Principle and the maxims of cooperation as the principles that people abide by for successful communication. Highly interested to cooperative principle, the writer is going to use the theory to analyze a text entitled Dr. Flannel as the case of the final assignment of the discourse analysis class. Furthermore, in this paper, the writer is trying to find out whether or not the principle is used properly in the text. Paul Grice (1989) proposed that speakers and hearers share a cooperative principle in ordinary conversation. Utterances are shaped by the speaker to be understood by hearers. Grice considers cooperation as involving four maxims: quantity, quality, relation, and manner. In the other words, Grices cooperative principle is a set of norms expected in conversation. Followings are four sub-cooperative principles expected in conversation which are proposed by Grice as the maxims of conversations: Quality: speaker tells the truth or something provable by adequate evidence Quantity: speaker tells something as informative as required Relation: speakers response is relevant to topic of discussion Manner: speaker tells something in a direct and straightforward way, avoids ambiguity or obscurity According to Yule (1996), when we communicate each other, we exchange information. Furthermore, when a conversation is taking place, the persons involved are depending on some common guiding principles in order to have a successful communication. In line with that, Levinson (1987) stated that the cooperative principles four basic maxims of conversation denote what the participants have to do in order to converse in rational, efficient, and cooperative way. In the other words, it can be said that to put across a message successfully, those who involved in the communication should share the same common grounds on what is being talked about. Considering the maxims, it is suggested that there is an accepted way of speaking which we all receive as the standard behavior. When we generate, or perceive an utterance, we believe that it will generally be based on fact, have the precise amount of information, be relevant, and imply understandable terms. However, when an utterance does not appear to conform to this model, then we do not consider that it does not have meaning; an appropriate meaning is there to be inferred. Discussion In this part, the writer is going to analyze a text entitled Dr. Flannel based on the theory of cooperative principles proposed by Grice (1989). The text to be analyzed is a kind of daily conversation between three people named Bill, Mavis, and Alex. Analyzing the text, it is found that, instead of following all of the four maxims proposed by Grice (1989), some violations are presented. Obeying the quality maxim, we should tell only when it is true, and we also need to have the adequate evidence about it. To make it clearer, consider this example taken from the text: Dad must have worn them because Im almost sure Mum used to always wash them in the same temperature water like. In the sentence, the speaker is aware of the quality maxim so that he only tells something that is true or that he has the evidence for it (Mum used to always wash themà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). The evidence in this sentence is strong enough for the speaker to make his claim about the topic. Violations toward the maxim of quality are discussed as the first case in this paper. Some parts of the discourse are not fully adhering the maxim of quality. I cant remember whether Dad wore them but I think == he did. In the sentence, the speaker is not sure that his statement is true. Another example of the violation is also taken from the text. I think if you wash them in cold water. If you wash them in warm water youre supposed to rinse them in warm water or something or other sos they. Maxim of quality is flouted in this utterance. In the example, we can observe that the speaker did not have enough evidence to confirm his statement. However, it seems that the speaker was aware about the maxim that he should tell something that is true. Therefore, because of the lack of evidence, the speaker put what it is called hedges in the utterances. As we can observe, the speakers used I think as the signal that he was aware about the maxim. Another interesting violation of quality maxim to observe is in another Bills utterance, Do ya wanta have a look at the hairs on me chest? It is found that this is a totally lie of Bill in fact that he does not have any hair on his chest. However, it is pragmatically explainable that in the purpose of the utterance is to make a joke. On the other hand, we can see that Bill was somehow not adhering the maxim of quantity. The maxim tells us to say something as required, and not more than that. The example can be seen from the first line, the opening speech I had to laugh. I walked into David Jones ´s and theyre always nice people in there, you know. In this example, the speaker actually does not need to add the phrase in italic (people in there, you know). The meaning of the sentence is already clear without the additional phrase. Reading further, the writer also found another sentence flouting the maxim. In one of the dialog, Mavis said And I mean even in those days you didnt have washing machines and everything. Maxim of relation is the third maxim to be flouted in the text. It can be observed that in one part of the text the maxim is violated. Bill said I had to laugh. I walked into David Jones ´s and theyre always nice people in there, you know. The utterance opposed the maxim telling us that what we said should be relevance. As we can observe in the text, Bill said I had to laugh. From the utterance, it is hoped that the speaker will tell a joke or something funny right after that. On the other hand, what is said by the speaker is not funny at all (I walked into David Jones ´s and theyre always nice). The other example of the violation toward relation maxim was presented when Bill told Mavis about his experience, I said ah Good Morning ladies and one of the girls said Thank you. Youre a thorough gentleman. The conversation between him and the counter girls seems irrelevant. Naturally, when someone greets the other using good morning, then the hearer will answer with good morning too. In the text, the hearer answered with thank and appraisal because he called them ladies (a respectful addressing for women). Last but not least, it is also found in the text that maxim of manner was also violated. Instead of being orderly and briefly, it is observable that some utterances are too much prolixity in them. I had to laugh. I walked into David Jones ´s and theyre always nice people in there, you know. And there was two girls behind a counter and I didnt know which where to go, to go to ahh She said. You know the two of them, they said Youve made our day Oh well ah. Oh ah the men. I remember Dad and all the miners wore them. Intake air the air coming trough is colder à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ ss From those two examples above, it can be seen that the words in italics are not necessarily in the text. She said DR FLANNEL! She said Whats that? I said Oh yeah. I said Im not gonna == show you where it ends! I said Well, I said Youre not == gonnna feel it, I can Those three examples above violates the maxim of manner, it is wordy with too much prolixity. In order to follow the maxim of manner, the three utterances above can be shortened. For example, the first example may become (She said DR FLANNEL! Whats that?). The second can be (I said Oh yeah. Im not gonna == show you where it ends!). Furthermore, the last example can be shortened (I said Well, I said Youre not == gonna feel it, I can). Conclusion Analyzing the text, it can be inferred that cooperative principles are not always obeyed in the real communication. However, we can observe that although the utterances are not following the maxims, the meaning is still understandable. The violation of a maxim does not mean that the utterance is meaningless. Furthermore, it is also found that some overlapping occur in the maxims violation. An utterance may violate more than a maxim. References Blakemore, D (2002). Relevance and Linguistic Meaning: The semantics and pragmatics of discourse markers. New York: Cambridge University Press. Crystal, D. (2008). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. 6th Edition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole J. Morgan (Ed.), Speech Acts (p. 41-58). New York: Academic Pres. Grice, H. P. (1989). Studies in the Way of Words. Harvard University Press. Levinson, S. C. (1987). Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Moore, A. (2001). Pragmatics and speech acts. http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/pragmatics.htm Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Robert Frosts The Road Not Taken - The Ambiguous Road Essay -- Road N

The Very Ambiguous Road Not Taken  Ã‚     Ã‚   Donald J. Greiner states, "In the years since his death, biographical revelations and critical appraisals have torn off the mask to expose a Frost the public never knew: a flawed man with more than his share of personal tragedy, a major poet with more than his share of fear"(95). Many people consider Robert Frost to be a great poet with many accomplishments. His work is well known throughout Europe and the United States; however, most people do not know the kind of life Frost led. On the surface, Frost seems to be a skilled writer filled with ambition and determination, yet, on the inside, he is a man constantly tormented by a haunting past and many unknown tragedies. Frost often conveys his feelings in his poetry; thus, just as Frost's life has an underlying meaning, so do many of his poems. Frost's "The Road Not Taken" is a poem that is often studied on its obvious surface level; however, the poem is actually very ambiguous in its underlying meaning. Because the speaker in Frost's work can only take one path, he will never know what the other path holds for him. In the beginning of the work, the speaker states, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, /And sorry I could not travel both" (1-2). This statement supports the fact that the speaker realizes he can not take both paths; therefore, he can never know what each path has to offer him. The speaker often refers to the fact that he wishes to be able to explore both paths. When the traveler says he "kept the first for another day!" (13), he means that one day he intends to come back to the road he did not take and see what he missed. Supporting this fact, the speaker also declares that "knowing how way leads to way, /[he] doubted ... ... way this experience has affected his life. Like a faà §ade, sometimes the surface structure of a poem can be very misleading, and, periodically, one must look deeper into the work in order to grasp its true meaning. Often simple words and phrases are the key to understanding a poem so traditionally studied with one meaning attached to it. As stated before, Frost's "The Road Not Taken" is a poem frequently studied with a traditional insight; however, analyzed and critiqued at a different level this work is actually very ambiguous. Works Cited Frost, Robert. "The Road Not Taken." The North Introduction To Literature. 6th ed. Eds. Carl E.Bain, Jerome Beaty, and J. Paul Hunter. New York: W.W Norton, 1995. 1097. Greiner, Donald J. "Robert Frost." Dictionary of Literary Biography. 3rd ed. Ed. Peter Quartermain. Vol.54. Detroit: Gale, 1987. 93-121.      

Determination †A Learned Trait :: Personal Narrative Experience Essays

Determination – A Learned Trait For some odd reason, the Bolivian military has a tendency to make people grow up. I was almost 18 when I was recruited, but it seems like I wasn’t much more mature than a 13 year old teenager; not that I was much older. I really felt that the world was simply a game where everyone would try to make life easy for me; I thought everything kind of revolved around me. I was well educated and polite, but things like saying â€Å"sir† simply weren’t a part of my life style. The ability to serve others for nothing still hadn’t been born within me. Incredibly that changed, beginning from the very first day of training in the Bolivian Army. Probably one of the things that helped me grow up fast was the sudden departure from my parents and friends. All of the sudden I was alone in a world of loneliness, where my only comfort was the drill sergeant yelling his lungs out at me. It was never a good idea to let anyone know you were homesick, because the drill sergeant would order a â€Å"happy hug† where every single recruit would go squeeze you as hard as they can. The first couple of happy hugs weren’t all that bad, but after 80 of them, a persons ribs feel like they’ve been run over by a truck ten times! Indeed, learning determination, coordination, and punctuality with all the exercises are one of the most challenging times in the military. Those five o’clock morning jogs – rain or shine – made us realize that it is possible to continue doing something no matter what else was going on around us; that’s a valuable lesson to learn in life. We all learned rather quickly not to yawn early in the morning, because if we did the sergeant would order us to do the â€Å"alarm clock wake up†, where the guy in front would turn around and slaps the person behind him. Then that guy would turn around and slap the guy behind him. I still feel kind of sorry for the last guy in line; he never got to smack anyone! Indeed, it is quite an effective way to wake up the troops. Unfortunately, we also learned to not have

Choices and Responsibility in Londons To Build a Fire and Cranes The

Choices and Responsibility in London's To Build a Fire and Crane's The Open Boat Naturalism portrays humans' control over their actions and fate as limited and determined by the natural world, including their very humanity. The freedom described by Jean-Paul Sartre results in all individuals having the ability to make present choices independently. Despite the fatalism illustrated in naturalism, the characters in London's 'To Build a Fire' and Crane's 'The Open Boat' are ultimately responsible for their choices and consequences of their choices. In 'To Build a Fire,' the man's antagonist is nature: London displays the man's journey as restricted by external forces. First, the temperature of the tundra is seventy-five-below zero (978), which naturally exposes the man?s ?frailty as a creature of temperature? (977). Obviously the man is subject to the forces of winter, and can not change his homeostasis as a warm-blooded animal. Similarly, London employs the ?traps? (979) of snow-covered pools of water to show that while humans may presume we are invincible, nature will stealthily remind us of our vulnerability (through invisible germs, for example). Just as the man does not see the ?trap? (981) that soaks his legs, he fails to notice the dog?s apprehension regarding their journey (981). Here London shows man's self-proclaimed superiority is falsely assumed, as he lacks the ?instinct? (978) that the dog possess; later, the man can not kill the dog (985), which signifies the dog is not subordinate regarding survival. After the m an steps in the water, London notes, ?He was angry, and cursed his luck aloud? (981). By attributing his misfortune to ?luck,? the man relieves himself of responsibility, recognizing himself as a victi... ...ependent of anything, including fellow humans, that would influence his decision regarding survival. Sartre would explain that this man dies stuck in a mode of pre-reflective consciousness because of his solitude: the man can not see his mortality until he imagines himself looking at his frozen body with his children (987). A similar irony is seen when Crane's men curse the vision of those attending the fictitious life-saving station; saying, ?They must have seen us by now,? (909) the men do not see that they alone are responsible for their survival. Works Cited Crane, Stephen. "The Open Boat." The Harper American Literature. Ed. Donald McQuade et al. 2nd ed. 2 Vols. New York: Longman, 1993. London, Jack. "To Build a Fire." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 7th edition. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York, NY: Longman, 1999.

Pacific Medical Supply Company

PACIFIC MEDICAL SUPPLY COMPANY| Case 6| | Submitted to | Samy AhmedFaculty Member: MKT 445Sales Management| Submitted by| Medhad Nasser Chowdhury082735530Section : 01| 3/24/2013| Case Background Pacific Medical Supply Company was a prominent supplier in the southern California region. They used to supply medical instruments and all other itineraries using a distribution channel consisting of sales commission based Sales force. Jim Shine, the owner of Pacific Medical, started off his career with a background of a salesman at a beach application store.His first venture into the medical supplies business commenced in a garage and slowly climbed up to be a fully fledged business covering Southern California meaning major cities such as Los Angeles. With the company growing big Jim’s role moved from sales rep to sales manager to now in a position where he focuses into the whole companies operations. Jim had adopted a business model which ensured the company to be in the profit side of the margin. Then there was the Jim’s sales commission policies which clearly stated how the commission percentage was set. He also had a major list which stated how the sales commission would be structured.Everything seemed fine till Jim employed his most recent and the youngest sales employee, a young business grad female person, named Nicole Landis. Nicole was very good at her job as a sales rep and brought a different meaning of the sales commission. She worked hard and climbed up the ladder in making more revenues for Jim and consequently commission for herself. Jim saw his projected figures going up my immense degree and was glad he made the decision in hiring Nicole but as time passed, Nicole’s achievement increased so did the negative perception by the other employees.Soon came a scenario where Jim realized his sales force was in jeopardy and he had failed in the sales manager’s role. Case Analysis Nicole Landis, the youngest sales person in Jimâ€⠄¢s sales force channel, was a young marketing graduate who had evolved into the best salesperson with the highest sales figure consequently making the highest annual sales commission. Nicole was a natural in sales if there ever was one. She could bond and rapport with anyone from purchasing agents to direct customers.Her sales style was to nurture her customers by being honest and prepared. She approached her sales role as an expert consultant who could solve customer’s problems and fulfill needs with her products. Nicole basically put a tick on all the best traits a salesperson could have: Jim Shine’s business model was excellent as per the business’s requirement. He took up the opportunity of Chinese products having very low cost and a high margin of profit. The 80-20 profit model was formed where only 20 percent of the products sold had a 80 percent profit margin.His business model was designed with excellence with a vision very well stated. Jim Shine had hi s business running with a sales force for a distribution channel. He believed his sales commission structure was well to do till one of his employees Nicole Landis maximized her sales productivity and cracks started being visible in Jim’s commission structure. It was seen, while making the structure Jim put up lucrative commission percentages on high quantity of products sold as he never thought any employee would outperform those sales targets.Jim Shine never realized a sales manager’s role stands very effective if there is an unbalance in the sales force. He found Nicole’s extravagant performance very superb as with the sales figures running high his profits increased consequently. Jim made sure all operations were going smooth nevertheless moving a long way from his Sales Manager’s Role. His whole sales force was getting jeopardized and the companies alignment was getting weaker. Case ConclusionFirst Jim Shine should strengthen his Sales managerial rol e and bringing in stability in his Sales force. He should look into Nicole’s situation and bring about a sustainable decision where his best employee Nicole can be retained. He should see if he himself is capable in sustaining the sales managerial role or he should look for a new manager. He should see how can he bring the traits seen in Nicole into the other employees. He should balance the two ideas of making Nicole a manager or bring about a complete re-engineering in his sales commission structure.

Kings of Pastry Review

Kings Of Pastry Throughout history the French have maintained a culture that, when viewed by the outside world, is synonymous with fine cuisine, artistically beautiful architecture, and the overall presence of an elitist attitude to the folks who simply don’t belong within their borders. When discussing artistic craftsmanship and French cuisine in the same note, it is impossible for those who are aware of its existence not to mention the, Meillur Ouvrier de France.Commonly abbreviated, MOF, the Meillur Ouvrier de France, is a prestigious award that is earned by only the best pastry chefs in the business. To win the collar awarded to MOF’s is the ultimate acknowledgment of a pastry chef’s skills. Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker’s film, King’s of Pastry, speaks to the artistic genius in all of us, delving into the mental, physical, and creative ability required to win such a competition. This revealing film leads viewers to the realization that bec oming an MOF is to win the most difficult competition in the entire cooking realm.Following expert French pastry chef’s Jacquy Pfeiffer, Sebastien Canonne and Philippe Rigollot, the viewer is placed in the passenger seat on their obsessive quest for the quaint yet distinct collar that represents more than just a prestigious award. Though universally bided together by the competitions regulations, the candidates experience uniquely different trials and tribulations on their endeavors to have the chance to be declared forever one of the best in France.Not an aluminum, Iron, or any type of malleable metal Chef, not the winner of the fouled mouthed Gordon Ramsay’s train wreck of a show, Hell’s Kitchen, but a Meillur de France. King’s of Pastry begins with various scenes from French cities accompanied by subtitles that function as vocally silent narration. The opening narration is utilized to give background to the award, Meillur Ouvrier de France, and the env ironment in which the competitions are held. As the opening scenes of French architecture and culture subside, the film transitions into an introduction of the French chef Jacquy Pfeiffer.Pfeiffer manages the The French Pastry School in Chicago. Considered to be one of the most prominent cooking schools in the country, and the only one that exclusively teaches pastry, The French Pastry School thrives itself on engaging students while they learn the techniques necessary for mastering the art of French Pastry. As the camera follows Pfeiffer at work, the viewer is exposed to the surgeon like dexterity required to craft tasty and aesthetically pleasing pastry dishes.Along with the help of already renowned MOF’s, Pfeiffer and his team not only teach daily classes but are also in the midst of training for the upcoming MOF competition. In Olympic style, this three-day competition is held every four years and is a mental and physically draining process. After a somewhat long-winded i ntroduction, Pfeiffer finally bids his family adieu and embarks on his journey to France. As the film brings the audience back within French borders, a faster paced tempo is desired but not delivered. At this point in the film, we are introduced to more competitors of the MOF competition in a tangent like manner.Hardly any background is given to these competitors, which makes it difficult for the viewer to feel empathy or any other emotion towards them. Moreover, if it weren’t for the collars on the MOF’s it would be near impossible to differentiate which chefs are actually competing due to the plethora that appear in a single kitchen at any given moment. This middle part of the film also leads the viewer to realize how much preparation goes into such a competition. While I retained respect and understanding of this notion, I still found myself rolling my eyes every so often at the dragging manner in which the film presents itself.Despite the slow tempo and mono toned commentaries, the breathtaking sugar sculptures and mouth-watering pastry dishes suffice as a motive for the audience to be drawn into the film and left in awe at the craftsmanship required to create these dishes. Furthermore, these dishes more aptly resemble art sculptures that would be found in an art gallery rather than something on the desert menu at a restaurant. Consequently, it becomes apparent through commentary that transporting these sculptures is half the battle.At one instance Pfeiffer and company is seen moving one of the sculptures and at an erroneous placement the sculpture crumbles. Why these competitors would have to haul these magnificent sculptures anywhere was elusive at first. However, in light of the fact that the competition does in fact require the competitors to move their sculptures from the kitchen to the gallery was enough to rationalize how the entire competition could be reduced to a balancing act. It is for this reason that the MOF is a long-shot of a competition; one that requires dexterity and creativeness to craft the pastries, but also luck when required to move them.As the practice and preparation stages come into cessation, the competitors are eager for the anticipated three-day event to begin. As the first day of competition commences the competitors are required to work in the same kitchen at different stations. Cheating is unthinkable and impossible as countless MOFs pace about the kitchen scrutinizing every move the participants make. As the film finally transitions into a speedy pace it greatly exposes that in order to succeed, time management, efficient skills, and quickness are all equally imperative factors when creating dishes.The implication is surely one that speaks to most high-level competitions. An implication that a lifetime of skill and practice is not enough, rather a competitors entire repertoire is tested within a matter of hours. The competitors must obtain perfection that day, a task that requires both proficiency and chance. The second day of the competition entails the competitors to create ten cupcake resembling pastries called, â€Å"verrines. † Five of these must have the bride’s name, the other five must include the groom’s. The final day consists of creating the fragile sugar sculpture and then transporting it to the gallery room.