Advertising-clients and consumers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Advertising-clients and consumers - Essay Example ommercial that was somewhat similar between the two programs was an advertisement for cars for sale in which the normal employee discount was being extended to everyone until the end of the month. The difference was in the kind of cars featured. On the Emmys, it was the entire line of Saturns while on the football, the concentration was on trucks and larger sedans. There were amazing differences, though. The Emmy’s showed ads for products that would mostly or even exclusively apply to women. These included hair care products intended for long, silky hair or sparkling color, make-up, age-refining creams and a few female-oriented television shows. The advertisements played during the football game were for products such as men’s shampoo, beer, trucks and male-oriented television shows. The proportion of the ads was different, too. There were more ads for beauty products and shopping on the Emmys while there were more ads for movies and television shows on the football game. From these sorts of advertisements, several key characteristics of the expected audience can be inferred. The Emmys obviously anticipate a mostly female audience. They obviously anticipate older rather than younger women in that they are advertising products designed to make women look younger rather than capitalizing on already young faces and they are probably geared toward a more wealthy social class in that they are advertising more expensive products using classy settings and an elegant tone. The football game obviously expects a male audience, advertising products in terms of tough, strong and powerful. The settings are much more informal and include girls in bikini bathing suits and the emphasis is much more on simply passive observation or full-on involvement rather than a compromise between the two, such as in the shopping targeting the women. The similarities of products – there is an alcohol product in both, beauty products in both, vehicles in both, food in both,

Recruiting and Selecting Employees Who Look Good and Sound Right Essay Example for Free

Recruiting and Selecting Employees Who Look Good and Sound Right Essay Present day business industry is highly dependent on the general success of the people within organizations who are commonly referred to as the human resource. Important to note is that the human resource prospect is defined under two categories within any given organization; firstly there is the employees of an organization themselves and secondly the people in management who are responsible for promoting the values of the organization through ensuring that human aspects within an organization are satisfactorily taken care of (Fernandez-Araoz, Groysberg and Nohria 2009 ). With regards to the aforementioned details, the human resource department is usually tasked with the responsibility of bringing in new employees whose skills sets suit an organization’s mandate and values in general through a rigorous recruitment and selection process. During the recruitment and selection process of prospecting employees, companies usually set out on a hunting mission for the crà ¨me de la crà ¨me who are available in the job search market. How an individual who is in pursuit of a job opportunity dresses and carries themselves in an interview and further their conversational skills greatly determine whether or not an organization will hire them; this is what is described as looking good and sounding right in this paper. How an employee is dressed decimates into how they think and interrelate with customers in an organization thereby offering quality services and creating a conducive business environment in return. The underlying chapters of this paper will be keen on reflecting on the prospects and influences of dressing smart and sounding right with an inference on analysis and compilations from multiple academic literatures on the same topic while at the same time illustrating the influences of looking good and sounding right through the lens or organizational examples. Having a human resource that thinks right and has an exquisite recruitment strategy in place is what defines organization’s competitive edge in the current market; it is every organization’s dream that its employee’s appearance influences how the customers relate to the company on a broader perspective thus promoting their brand in the long run (Warhurst 2012). The prospect of looking good and sounding right within organizations Human resource practitioners will agree to the fact that a great deal of time goes into activities and processes related to recruiting and selecting new staff for a particular position in an organization. Many at times the long durations tied to recruitment are connected to the ideal of companies to not only want to source for staff who are knowledgeable about what their companies deal in but also look the part of any given brand and are easily approachable by customers. Staff selection during a recruitment process of an organization is one of the most vital decisions that the organizations have to undertake to ensure that their normal operations are running smoothly (Taylor 2008). Businesses have to know what they are clearly looking for in an employee before signing them up, not only how red-hot the skills of an individual seeking employment look will determine the long-term success of an organization and recruitment of the correct person but also the most important aspect is how t hey look and how they carry themselves while conversing with customers in an actual business setting (Quast 2012). It is critical that organizations have systems and a recruitment process in place which is capable of accessing how the applicants of a particular job opening portray these traits before their full time absorption by any organization. Take the case of Richer Sounds an electrical retail chain store with over 53 stores across the nation: it has in place a three stage recruitment process for new staff seeking any job opportunities within the company. The first stage of recruitment involves placement of advertisements at the stores windows and also through the company website where people who are interested are requested to e-mail a CV to the company. The former kind of advertisement mainly targets people who pay attention to their brand and customers who are regular visitors to the shop thus are knowledgeable about the products (Fisher 2014). On the other hand, the latter advertisement is aimed to attend to a greater pool of applicants irrespective of their familiarity with Richer Sound s products. Considering the advertisement strategies imposed at this point, it is evident that a great pool of applicants will be willing to be signed; the most integral part of this initial stage is demonstrated through a store manager’s initial interview who is keen on sorting the applicants to remain with those who look the part through analysis of their dress code and personality. Operations director John Clayton suggests that, â€Å"Richer sounds hires on the basis of personality then later train for skills (Martin and Whiting 2010).† These instance posters a scenario where people get accessed on the basis of how they look even before a company takes a look and considers an individual’s qualifications. Second in line of the recruitment strategy is a paid trial day for an applicant which in some circumstances stretches beyond the one day period. Here, the applicant is accessed on whether or not they are consistent in their dressing and how they sound when conversing with customers. Upon completion of the trial stage, other members of a particular store are asked on their opinion of what they think about a new recruit and whether they embody the company’s aspect of looking good and sounding right (Nickson and Dutton 2005). Last in queue of the recruitment process is stage three where an applicant’s qualifications are now accessed to see how suitable they are for the job after considering that the individual’s personality is suitable for Richer Sounds. From the Richer Sounds case, it is evident that the way companies approach their recruitment processes over the years has greatly revolved and now companies are keen on how an individual looks and how their conversa tions sound before customers. Irrespective of the costs of recruitment, companies are willing to dig deep into their financial coffers so that they can get the right group of employees; Williamson argues that, â€Å"it is arguably more expensive hiring wrong people in an organization as opposed to the cost of having a stringent recruitment strategy in place that is time consuming (McMillan 2014).† Richer Sounds is just one among the many companies that are currently inclined towards accessing applicants for job openings on the grounds of how they look and opulence they execute through their conversations with customers. On a broader perspective, how an individual looks has a great influence on the operations of people within different organizations; important in the process of advocating for employees who look good is an employer who serves up to their word of promoting smart dressing for the workplace by leading as the actual ambassador of what their brand should be defined as. Looking good while pursuing a job opportunity has positive impacts and a higher probability one is going to achieve the job, people will ascribe good qualities on the prospect of your perceived appearance thus want to always associate their company with an individual who looks good. A Macquarie University research carried out in both the United Kingdom and United States suggests that looking good improves the chances of one scoring a job opportunity and also is responsible for boosting one’s career once they are employed in different organizations (Arkin 2007). The research further suggested that employees who look go od and sound right are usually rated highly by their employers and the probability of them losing their jobs is usually minimal. In essence, looking good attracts a myriad of premium rewards for both the person and organization at large whereas those who are unattractive and have a poor personality in most situations lose out on several job opportunities (Boxall 2008). Moreover, having in place a clearly defined staff is the key component that ensures customers to a particular organization have a clearly defined experience that warrants their coming back for the same services once again and consequently creates a solid positive internal culture of an organization. It is ideal that organizations have a culture that existing employees are well versed with so that when the recruitment process for new staff is commenced, it is one that runs smoothly. New recruits to any given organization should find in place, a culture where staff are usually well dressed and converse excellently with customers thereby prompting an easier transitioning process for new staff into the operations of an organization. Efficiently articulating a particular dress code for existing staff is key in determining and sourcing for new recruits who will promote the same culture and easily get acclimatized with the practices of any given organization which in return will yield posit ive results for the same company (Churchard 2010). Indeed, some positions within an organization do require employees with a particular set of skills usually defined as experience and qualifications for a specific job but setting out a hunt on this basis is the first step that organizations usually make during their recruitment process; companies should attend to the recruitment process with a different perception where the individual’s character is assessed for they are buying into the person’s character and not their qualifications. Possessing both this attributes is a plus for any prospecting employee and is a sure combined package to score one a job (Faccini and C 2010). Arguably, the perception of looking good and sounding right in a respectable number of business circles usually refers to an individual’s physical appearance, a definition that has triggered a trend of the working class turning to the gym as a means of staying fit. The service sector for instance has rampantly changed over the years where unlike the previous years where service providers never met their customers currently employees are always in constant contact with their customer; a fact that influences the need for staff to dress the part and portray their organization in positive light (Emott 2007). How affluent and efficient an employee’s speech is determines the placement of any given company as a brand to all its customers which is greatly dependent on the employees. The enforcement and prescription for employees to embody both the aspects of looking and sounding good is referred to as aesthetic labour and this characteristics play an integral point of how new e mployees to any organization relate with customers. Companies have learnt that before their recruitment process, that for the success of any business to be achieved, recruitment of workers should be expressively based on labour aesthetics of any individual before they are taken in. Finding and incorporating the right people with this kind of characteristics is a daunting task for many organizations and the only means of recruiting an individual with the right skill set involves having in place a well structured selection system during the recruitment process (Hofstede 1997). However, the daunting recruitment process does not stop at this point, it is equivocally difficult to select out a specific candidate who suits the needed requirements for your organization. Fast forward to the case of Nestle Group of companies which has a human resource policy that the company abides by whenever any recruitment is being carried out in their group of companies across the world (Kaplan 1992). Their recruitment processes is respectful of the varied legislation practices of different countries but above all the recruitment strategy is underpinned under the mantra of looking good and sounding right as a means of selecting new recruits into various positions of their wide range of companies across the globe. Underpinned in the promotion of its human resource policy, is the responsibility for employees of the organization to be capable of satisfying the needs of its customers (Hutchinson 2003). The human resource department is tasked with the requisite responsibility of proposing individuals that suit the aforementioned requirements. Furthermore, the Nestle Group has in place a mentorship programme that offers guidance to new recruits into the organization so that the company’s mission statement can be achieved in the simplest ways possible after assessment of recruits on the basis of how they look and sound good before the customers (Letmathe 2008). This partnership and mentorship programme between existing staff and new incoming staff is an efficient means that has been in use for a very long period of time for people recruitment and their management in general. The recruitment cases of both Nestle Group and Richer Sounds demonstrates that companies are currently turning to the looking good and sounding good trait in applicants as a means of selecting who is suitable for any given position within their organizations (Paton 2008 ). This trend has been fuelled by the fact that there exists a broader pool of unemployed individuals with right qualifications but they cannot secure for themselves any jobs; looking good and sounding right is the ideal means used to disqualify this wide pool of applicants. Looking good and sounding right has become the ideal filtering tool for companies when they are sourcing and on a search for new employees through a well structured recruitment process. Irrespective of the fact that recruitment of new staff by the human resource department is a difficult task, clearly defining what the human resource management is looking for in a customer then crafting a description of the same as a recruitment step is usually in strumental in attracting the right cadre of individuals any given company is keen on hiring despite the fact that there are many people out there looking for jobs. Looking out for these two qualities in individuals is the first step towards narrowing down the wide numbers of applicants for any given job so that any company’s job opening can remain with only potential clients that can meet the values of the company while at the same time promoting the mission statement of the same company. Categorical in the recruitment process and requirements for applicants is the prospect of an applicant having passion for whatever job they are trying to achieve, their commitment to any given company, their general problem-solving skills and lastly any relevant experience they have in the field being advertised (Ritzer 1985). Clearly outlining what as an organization you need in an applicant is instrumental in helping organizations know how attentive applicants are to detail as opposed to only looking at their resume which offers little or rather basic information about an individual. Before conceptualizing and kick-starting any particular recruitment and selection process, an organization must first attune its strategy to be relatively inclined to the values of the organization and is fully supportive of the organization’s culture. Pre-employment testing like the case of Richer Sounds is an ideal way in determining whether or not a company is making a wise decision by investing into an individual with the set capabilities of looking good and sounding right so that an organization can fully accrue its set goals (Gilmore 2000). The people recruitment strategy is a determining factor on whether a company is going to succeed or fail and also influential on how employees develop during their stay in a particular organization thus there general motivation that in return bears fruit through excellent service delivery to customers. New recruits embodying the prospect of looking good and sounding right is highly dependent on how the company itself is culturally inclined towards the promotion these two traits. References Arkin, Anderson. Street Smart . People Management , 2007: 28-29. Boxall, . Purcell. Strategy and Human Resource Management. London : Houndsmills: Palgrave McMillan , 2008. Churchard, Christopher. Power brokers. People Management , 2010: 38-40. Emott, Drucker. CSR Laid Bare . Harper Business , 2007: 14-32. Faccini, R., and Hackworth C. Changes in output, employment and wages during recesrecessions in the UK . Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, 2010: 43-50. Fernandez-Araoz, Claudio, Boris Groysberg, and Nitin Nohria. The Definitive Guide to Recruiting . Harvard Business Review , 2009 : 14-21. Fisher, Annie. How to spot the right cultural fit in a job interview. August 8, 2014. http://fortune.com/2014/08/08/job-interview-cultural-fit/ (accessed January 16, 2015). Gilmore, Stewart. The McDonaldization of Society: New Century Edition. London : Pine Forge Press, 2000. Hofstede, George. Cultures and Organisations: Software of the Mind. London : McGraw Hill , 1997. Hutchinson, Purcell. HR roles and responsibilities: the 2010 IRS survey. IRS Employment Review , 2003: 14-17. Kaplan, Norton. The balanced scorecard. Harvard Business Review , 1992: 71-79. Letmathe, P. Brabeck. The Nestle HR Policy Report . Policy Report , New York : Ndestlesy Inc. , 2008. Martin, Malcolm, and Fiona Whiting. Human Resource Practice . In Recruitment and Selection , by Tricia Jackson, 109-157. London : CIPD , 2010. McMillan, Andrew. Recruitment at Richer Sounds . London : Cambridge University Press , 2014. Nickson, Dennis, and Eli Dutton. The importance of attitude and appearance in the service encounter in retail and hospitality. Managing Service Quality, 2005: 195-204. Paton, Oliver. Gen Up: How the Four Generations Work Together,. Joint Survery Report , London : CIPD , 2008 . Quast, Lisa. Companies Are Using Social Media In The Hiring Process. May 21, 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2012/05/21/recruiting-reinvented-how-companies-are-using-social-media-in-the-hiring-process/ (accessed January 17, 2015). Ritzer, Solomon. Packaging the service provider. Service Industries Journal, 1985: 65-72. Taylor, Kate. Recruiting and Hiring Top-Quality Employees. August 23, 2008. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/76182 (accessed January 16, 2015). Warhurst, Chris. Employee Screening nad Selection . References for Business , 2012: 134-152. Source document

Changes in the Social and Political Fabric in 16th and 17th Century Eur

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were periods of questioning and searching for truth. The practice of challenging traditional institutions, including the Church, was revolutionary. Individuals began to use reason to guide their actions and opinions and realized the oppressive nature of the Catholic monarchy. Individuals strove to act in their own best interest and in the name of what was true to them. The consensus was that society would be better off with an economy that shifted away from agriculture, looked globally, and decreased monopolies and the importance of Guilds, as economic opportunities would surface for all classes of men. This type of economy was only possible in light of religious reform, as religion was the foundation of all traditional aspects of the political and economic world. Religious reformers offered alternatives to Catholicism that attracted men from all social and economic classes. They delineated the problems associated with rule under a Catholic dominated state that the majority of men could relate to. A questioning of the nature of government resulted, and the role that religion should have in politics was addressed. Different opinions surfaced, and because of both differing religious views and an increased awareness of the Church's abuse of political power, religion lost its cohesive ability and diminished in importance in local politics. As individuals experienced life absent of former traditional and religious restraints, benefits were realized, many of which were economic. Additionally, economic ventures led men to encounter other cultures, increasing appreciation of differing spiritual views. Luther and Calvin offered alternatives to Catholicism, feeling that superstition guided man... ... questions considered heresy. In effect, the common man felt deceived by his passivity and realized that his world was quite different from the image constructed by the Church. Two of the most significantly effected aspects of people's lives during the 16th and 17th centuries were their religious practice and economic pursuits. People increasingly used reason to determine what their beliefs were and how they should carry out their lives. Absent of the stringent limitations posed by traditional Catholic culture, individuals could secure themselves better economic opportunities and lifestyles. References Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization: Fourth Edition. Vol. 2: Since 1550. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2000. Walker, Mack. "Guilds." Social History of Western Civilization. Vol. 2. Golden, Richard M. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. 28-39.

The Shipbuilder :: essays research papers

The Name Controversy in The Shipbuilder   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many instances in Ken Mitchell's play The Shipbuilder, where the main character Jaanus Karkulainen, insists on being called by his Finnish name Karkulainen. In the play, many characters call him Johnny Crook. This situation creates controversy about names and shows how important names are to some people. Jaanus and Jukka create most of this controversy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jaanus and Jukka are brothers who are born in Finland. Jukka move's out of Finland and he becomes a Canadian, in name, in body and in soul. Jaanus relocates to Canada several years later, but he's different. When Jaanus moves to Canada he doesn't become a Canadian. He is a Finn living in Canada. His body is in Canada but his name, and his soul still belong to Finland. When Jaanus first enters the play he insists that his name is Karkulainen. This immediately shows that although he lives in Canada he will still go by his Finnish given name.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The differences between Jaanus and Jukka are shown when Jaanus and Jukka first reunite in Canada. Jukka Karkulainen now goes by the name of Yuki Crook, and thinks nothing of it. His name means very little to him. Jukka then tells Jaanus that there are no Fins living in Canada even though Jukka himself is Finnish. Jukka is now a Canadian. His heritage meant nothing to him. Jaanus would never let that happen to himself. He was born Finnish he would die Finnish.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One scene that really shows Jaanus' idea of the importance of names to your heritage, is when Jaanus goes to court. The Judge asks him how he will plead to all of his charges, and calls him Johhny Crook, not Jaanus Karkulainen. To plied his case, all that Jaanus replies is 'I am Jaanus Karkulainen.'; He wouldn't give up his heritage for anything.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One scene later, after two years apart, Jaanus and Bender reunite. Bender is a friend of Jaanus' who met Jaanus when he first came to Canada. When Bender greets Jaanus he calls to him, 'Johnny. Johnny Yer back!'; Bender is excited to see his old friend but Jaanus did not like being called by his wrongful name. The two had been apart for two years and the first thing that Jaanus says to his friend is that he is Jaanus Karkulainen. This shows, once again, how much Jaanus is attached to his name.

Costs and Benefits of Inflation Essay

High inflation has many costs: – Inflation erodes the value of money. When future prices are less predictable, sensible spending and saving plans are harder to make. People increasingly fear that their future purchasing power will decline and erode their standard of living. – Inflation encourages investments that are speculative and take advantage of inflation rather than productive investment. It can also create the illusion of temporary financial success while masking fundamental economic problems. – Businesses and households must spend more time, and money, protecting themselves from the effects of rising costs and prices. Businesses, workers, and investors respond to signs of inflation by pushing up prices, wages, and interest rates to protect themselves. This can lead to a â€Å"vicious circle† of rising inflation. – Inflation can mean particular hardship for those whose incomes don’t keep pace with the rising level of prices, especially people on fixed incomes such as senior citizens who are receiving pensions. Low inflation has many benefits: – Consumers and businesses are better able to make long-range plans because they know that their money is not losing its purchasing power year after year. – Interest rates, both in nominal and real terms, are lower, encouraging investment to improve productivity and allowing businesses to prosper without raising prices. – Sustained low inflation is self reinforcing. Businesses and individuals do not react so quickly to short-term price pressures by seeking to raise prices and wages if they are confident that inflation is under long-term control. This contributes to keeping inflation low.

How to Compose a Strong Domestic Violence Research Paper

How to Compose a Strong Domestic Violence Research Paper Most high school students, as well as nearly all college and university students, are required to write a research paper before their graduation. Because of this, it is vital that all students know the basics of writing such a piece of writing. As the term â€Å"research paper† suggests, one of the major parts of working on this type of project involves doing research on the chosen topic. If you are reading this article, we can assume that you have chosen domestic violence as the issue to discuss, or that you are considering choosing this topic. There are several ways to write a research paper that worth attention. One of the best ways to do this is to stay focused. We recommend that you pick your topic first, then do some research, before making an outline (optional) and creating the first draft of your paper. When you are done with your draft, put it through a spelling and grammar checker, have a professor or peer look it over, and read its outline to find any mistakes that you might have missed either. Once this is done, you can focus on the paper’s formatting and then hand it in! Use Reliable Sources When writing a research paper, it is better to use reliable sources. When looking at them, you may wonder how many of these you need for your paper. This will often be mentioned in your assignment rubric. If the source amount is not listed, you can ask your professor. If they do not give you a required number of sources, it is usually a good idea to have at least one source per page of your assignment. One of the best places to look for reliable sources is your school’s library. It is sure to be full of great books and articles that you can use. Most books (nonfiction) are likely to be reliable sources, especially if they are published by a major publishing company. Knowing if an article is a reliable source can be a bit trickier. When using articles, you should make sure they come from a reliable source like a newspaper or a college publishing. If articles are peer-reviewed, then it is likely that they are reliable. You can also search for scholarly articles using Google Scholar. The articles found there are more likely to be reliable. If you deal with a domestic research paper, in particular, overlook the US Code to get some more valid information concerning the issue. Domestic Violence as a Research Paper Topic When working on a domestic violence research paper, you need to keep in mind that this is a sensitive topic. First of all, you have to learn several definitions of domestic abuse (physical, emotional, verbal, sexual, etc.), the history of domestic abuse, and other related legal terms and examples. If you face any difficulties when searching for this kind of information, the following information could come in handy. Nowadays, domestic violence affects people all around the world making it one of the key issues that worry population worldwide. However, because it affects the lives, you can use first-hand accounts in your paper. Domestic violence can be between parents and children, husbands and wives, and between romantic partners (even if they are not married). If you have no ideas what kind of information to use in your domestic violence research paper or have no idea which topic to pick up, take a look at 10 facts as well as 20 topic ideas we have highlighted for you to use in order to make your writing more in-depth, informative, and interesting to the audience. In conclusion, a research paper is a serious high school or college project that requires serious focus. Make sure your sources are reliable enough, especially when you are to disclose such a difficult issue as domestic violence. Do you need research paper help on domestic violence topics? Our service will assist you with writing immediately.

Tips for Understanding Spoken French

Tips for Understanding Spoken French There are dozens of French phonetics exercises  for letters, words and expressions on ThoughtCo.com. Entries on these exercises lead to pages with  more and more detailed explanations, so keep on clicking through when prompted. They can be excellent resources for learning the basics of understanding spoken French. Also highly recommended are  the many  self-study French audio magazines and audiobooks  on the market. These tools contain extensive longer texts with audio files and English translations that are excellent resources for understanding spoken French. For either phonetics lessons or French audio magazines and books, will you get better results if you listen first and then read the words, or is it better to listen and read at the same time? In fact, both of these methods are fine; its just a matter of deciding which one works best for you. Weve thought about how to make this process most effective and offer a few ideas here aimed at helping you make the most of audio exercises. Each of the sites oral exercises includes at a minimum a sound file and a translation. There are a few possible scenarios for using these to boost your oral comprehension; its up to you to decide which one to adopt. 1. Listen First If you want to test your aural comprehension and/or you feel comfortable with your listening skills, listen to the sound file one or more times  to see how much you understand. Then to fill in any gaps, read the words, either before or while listening to the sound file again. 2. Read First Students who dont feel up to the challenge of listening first might be better off doing just the opposite: Read or skim through the words first to get an idea of what its about, and then listen to the sound file. You can listen while reading, or just listen and then go back to the words to see how much you were able to pick up. 3. Listen and Read This third option is best for students who have a hard time understanding spoken French. Open up the words in a new window, and then start the sound file so that you can follow the words as you listen. This will help your brain make the connection between what you are hearing and what it means. This is similar to watching a French movie while reading the English subtitles.   You Decide Which Method Works Best for You The listen first technique is the most challenging. If you feel confident that  your listening skills are strong or youd like to test them, this method will be effective for you. Less advanced students, however, may find that listening first is too difficult and possibly frustrating. Thus, reading the words first will help you connect concept (the meaning) to sounds (the spoken language). If your listening skills are weak, you will probably find it helpful to see the words before or while youre listening.   No matter which method you choose, your goal here is to improve your listening comprehension. Just keep listening and checking the words as many times as it takes until you understand the sound file without looking at the words. With all three techniques, also try speaking the words yourself as you read the words. Why? Because the more senses you engage when youre learning, the deeper the memory pathways youll be etching in your brain and youll learn faster and retain longer. If you do these kinds of exercises regularly, your understanding of spoken French is bound to improve. Improve Your Comprehension of French You might decide that you need to improve in one, or more likely, several areas of French comprehension. Learning a language, after all, is a long process strewn with subtleties, one that even native speakers contend with. Theres always room for improvement. So decide which area you want to focus on and study a little more to refine your French. Do you want to: Improve your comprehension of spoken French, as weve been discussing hereImprove your French pronunciationImprove your French reading comprehensionImprove your French verb conjugationsImprove your French vocabulary

7 Negative Prefixes

7 Negative Prefixes 7 Negative Prefixes 7 Negative Prefixes By Mark Nichol What determines which prefix is attached to a word to form that word’s antonym? Why unlawful, but illegal? Why infirm, but impaired? You may be surprised that there’s a method to this madness: Negative prefixes come in forms that vary not only according to language derivation but also depending on meaning, and variations occur according to the letter that follows. Here are the ins and outs of in- and un- and their like, and details about their distinctions: 1-2. A-/An- These Greek-derived prefixes mark words expressing an absence of something (atypical, anodyne). A- is attached to words starting with consonants, and an- is the form for words beginning with vowels. An exception is words beginning with h; depending on the root word, either prefix may be present (ahistorical, anhydrous). 3. Anti- Anti-, from Greek by way of Latin, means â€Å"opposite† (antithetical) or â€Å"in opposition to† (antivirus), and can also denote defense (antisubmarine) or prevention (antidepressant). 4. Dis- This Latin prefix, when attached to a word, implies one of several meanings: absence (disaffected) or lack (disabled), opposition (disapprove), or removal (disenfranchise). 5. In- In- and its several variations, all signaling Latin derivation, also denote lack of a given quality. The variations il- and -ir are attached to words starting with l or r (illogical, irreversible). Im-, meanwhile, precedes m (immaterial) and p (impatient) and the lone example for b: imbalance. The rare prefix ig- sometimes comes before n (ignoble). In- appears before root words beginning with all other letters. 6. Non- This Latin negative prefix is the least particular of the class, and can often be found attached to root words so that the resulting term differs in meaning from one formed by the attachment of another negative prefix to the same root word. For example, nonrational means â€Å"not according to rational means or rules,† but unrational refers to behavior that does not conform to these norms. The nonparticular non- is the go-to negative prefix for neologisms. 7. Un- By contrast with the other negative prefixes, the attachment of this Latin-based form to a root word can, in addition to expressing lack or absence (unconcern), denote a reversal (uncoiled). It can also refer to an action not yet taken (unopened). Other Usage Notes The presence of negative prefixes can lead to awkward constructions such as â€Å"nonhearing-impaired people.† The easy solution in such cases is to relax the phrase: â€Å"people who are not hearing impaired.† Note, too, that with most prefixes, the insertion of a hyphen is the exception, not the rule. Prefixed words should be closed except when the root word is a proper noun (non-Euclidean) or in the rare case when confusion with a similarly constructed but distinct word is possible (un-ionized and unionized, for example). Wags have great fun with humorous poems and other compositions featuring invented examples of antonyms for unpaired words (words with negative prefixes that do not have antonyms), such as ept to contrast with inept which actually has an etymological counterpart in apt or ruth in opposition to ruthless. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Apply to, Apply for, and Apply with25 Russian Words Used in English (and 25 More That Should Be)Forming the Comparative of One-syllable Adjectives

Outline the main problems with the biological approach to crime and Essay

Outline the main problems with the biological approach to crime and criminality - Essay Example (1) The main theme of Demonic perspective is that crime was caused largely by demonic influence. Although the â€Å"devil made me do it† is certainly an explanation of criminal behavior, it is not a scientific theory. Supernatural forces cannot be observed, and the demonic perspective (like our â€Å"little green creature† example) is therefore not testable. Toward the end of the 1700s, the demonic perspective was challenged by a group of philosophers who came to be called classical school criminologists. (1) Classical school believed that God instilled in humans the capacity to exercise free will and the ability to choose a course of behavior through reason. Several scholars — chief among them Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham — used this general platform to argue for legal reform. In doing so, these penal reformers also articulated a scientific Theory of criminal behavior. Classical school theory dominated criminological thought into the late 1800s, until it was challenged by a new group of theorists. The influence of the classical school of criminology began to wane in the late 1800s. One reason for this decline was that changes in the legal system based on classical theory failed to reduce crime (i.e., crime rates continued to increase).43 More importantly, the underlying assumption of the classical school—that behavior was the result of rational calculation — was criticized for being too simplistic. Throughout the 1700s, scientists such as Galileo and Newton made great discoveries about the workings of the physical world. These demonstrations of cause-and-effect relationships were made through careful observation and analysis of natural events. It was not long before scholars applied this scientific method beyond the physical world to the social world. Auguste Compte, the 19th century scientist considered the â€Å"father of sociology,† argued that human behavior was

Remembering about Fort Lauderdale Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Remembering about Fort Lauderdale - Essay Example Soon we are at the Fort Lauderdale airport. We check in at a hotel and because is the only noon our restless spirits cannot come to peace with the quietness of the surroundings with go out in the town and start shopping. I am not good at bargaining and the concept of savings has never touched me. I am single and have no responsibility, why save? I am shopping with my friend, buying expensive jewelries, shoes, clothes, souvenirs, for myself. After weariness of shopping we are having an amazing dinner at some Latino restaurant, listening to the music of live guitar player is giving me Goosebumps. It is like this that we spend the first night.My other friends are arriving today and we are picking them from the airport. On the way to the hotel they dare me to race a car in which a couple of boys are rashly driving. We are so thrill-seeking and adventurous. I am about to over take them when the truck coming from the opposite lane suddenly comes into the view and I am forced to swerve at t he last moment. The swerve caused the car to drive over something on the road bursting the tire. Stopping on the side we called for assistance with the rental company sending us a new car. Recovering from the shock we all start laughing! Imagine how careless and irresponsible we are.On the third night we are at Miami, we are having the time of our lives here. We are celebrating Smeja's thirtieth birthday, in the famous Mango bar. We have spent more bucks at the shopping, and ultimately are running out of money by the end of the trip.... We are celebrating Sneja's thirtieth birthday, in the famous Mango bar. We have spent more bucks at the shopping, and ultimately are running out of money by the end of the trip. The beach parties are fabulous and the city on the whole is amazing. I was on a summer break from my work and study at that time. I wanted to become a famous fashion designer like Donna Karen. I was very ambitious. But today when I am thirty four, and I look myself in the mirror wearing a long skirt, with a belt and a soft elegant black shirt with a sports coat on holding my sixteen month old son ready to go in children's museum; I see a very different me from what I aspired to be back then. I run a household and a family, in my free time I am doing small crafts with knitting and sewing which I try to sale on a craft shows. Each one of my projects carries a message of blessing for the person who buys it. I am settled, more serious and more determined to do some good into this world by making small differences. My family and designs are my life now. I get spiritual satisfaction by doing it in this stage of my life, running after the worldly materialism is not everything. I am performing my duties as a mother to the best of my abilities, and looking after my home and husband as a wife should. I hope I am successful with the project at hand. Sources: About Fort Lauderdale. City of Fort Lauderdale. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. Website:

Organizational Behavior, Integrative Paper Essay

Organizational Behavior, Integrative Paper - Essay Example ions, interpersonal conflict management strategies, how groups become teams, leadership different from management, and types of organizational structures. Strategic decisions differ form operational decisions in that strategic decisions deal with long term issues, while operational decisions cover the immediate or short term. Some examples of strategic decisions are decisions to purchase new equipment to implement upgrades, profitability decisions, capital investment decisions, and decisions on how to improve the market share of an enterprise. The executive management team of a company is responsible for the strategic decisions of a company. A few years ago I encountered at my job the difficulties associated with strategic and operational decisions. The crew of employees I was working with made a request for new equipment to be used immediately in the company. The use of the $30,000 machinery would reduce the completion time of the project by 50%. The overall project cost was going to be lower due to the labor savings. The team was very frustrated when the petition was denied. The justification for denying the request was that money w as being reserve to purchase new equipment in the summer of 2013. Our team was not able to produce like they could because the company preferred to save money for the long term strategic decisions than to invest money to improve the current operations of the firm. Strategic decisions are also important. For instance companies such as Microsoft when they release a new product they already have a plan ready on how to substitute the product once it reaches the declining stage of its product life cycle. Conflict in the workplace is an undesirable outcome that occurs due to the inevitable differences among human beings. Conflict occurs when two or more parties disagree over a substantial issue. One of the causes of conflict is people not being able to control their emotions. The four stages of conflict are antecedent conditions, felt

Ethics in Cyberspace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethics in Cyberspace - Essay Example Following the explosion of internet popularity, there is the transfer of power struggles all over the world to the internet. All internet users ranging from businesses, private users, search engines, as well as any probable information source are making an attempt of controlling, manipulating, biasing, while, at the same time, censoring their information found on the internet in case they recognize it or not. As a result, the public gets to view a number of issues or events, which might be altered or not altered at all, thereby easily bending views in frightening manners. There are several computers based ethical dilemma; one set of matter deals with the emergence of various new ethical dilemma, or those taking new form, as a result of increase in Internet and Social Networking. Presently, there are various ways of gaining information concerning others, which were inaccessible, or available with ease, prior to the rise of computers. Therefore, ethical issues concerning storage of pri vate information are presently turning into an ever rising problem; this gives rise to the problem of selling this information for monetary benefit. This leads to distinctive ethical situations with regard to access, security, as well as the utilization of hacking within positive, as well as negative situations. Circumstances relating to the copyright breach of software, movies and music tend to be a hot topic with the increase in file sharing programs like Napster. The ethical questions arising from software piracy are whether it is immoral to copy software movies or even music. ... This happens to be a clear definition of the concept of an Opt-In against Opt-Out situation (Tavani 2010, p.25). Following the explosion of internet popularity, there is the transfer of power struggles all over the world to the internet. All internet users ranging from businesses, private users, search engines, as well as any probable information source are making an attempt of controlling, manipulating, biasing, while, at the same time, censoring their information found on the internet in case they recognize it or not. As a result, the public gets to view a number of issues or events, which might be altered or not altered at all, thereby easily bending views in frightening manners. There are several computers based ethical dilemma; one set of matter deals with the emergence of various new ethical dilemma, or those taking new form, as a result of increase in Internet and Social Networking. Presently, there are various ways of gaining information concerning others, which were inaccess ible, or available with ease, prior to the rise of computers. Therefore, ethical issues concerning storage of private information are presently turning into an ever rising problem; this gives rise to the problem of selling this information for monetary benefit. This leads to distinctive ethical situations with regard to access, security, as well as the utilization of hacking within positive, as well as negative situations. Circumstances relating to the copyright breach of software, movies and music tend to be a hot topic with the increase in file sharing programs like Napster. The ethical questions arising from software piracy are whether it is immoral to copy software movies or even music. Apart from that, questions

Financial Analysis for Planet Fitness Assignment

Financial Analysis for Planet Fitness - Assignment Example es identified under after 42 in the 25th, 50th and 75th percentile in relation to the total annual turnover ranked Clubs were classified by the gross annual revenues in the order from lowest to highest(IBIS World, 2015). Also excluded are the data for enterprise clubs Planet Fitness which is holding as â€Å"outliers", that is, both the position of the worst performing companies (with a gross annual income of 471,219.05 $) and the Club of the most powerful (with an annual gross income of $ 3,649,651.37) (IBIS World, 2015). Especially achieved in terms of gross annual income of the best performing sector, the company does not believe that these results are typical of a Planet Fitness business (Hoover’s Inc, 2015). Membership Sales - EFT / Cash $ 1,189,094. The main source of income Planet Fitness club membership fees (IBIS World, 2015). Membership fees are usually paid in cash or by electronic funds transfer (EFT), and are usually paid monthly. A fitness center is also an additional profit obtained through an annual membership fee and annual maintenance fees. Membership shall remain constant, while the other offered periodically throughout the year. The "Black Card" is the permanent membership package;. It is a 12-month contract The "Black Card" is offered at $ 19.99 / month with an annual fee of $ 39 paid once a year requires June with the "Black Card" is free tanning included, drinks half price, free massage chair use access to another club Planet Fitness and the ability to host a free to bring his clubhouse (IBIS World, 2015). Advertising packages are offered at different times of the year and a franchisee is able to adapt the package to their club based on the benefits that come with the package (Taylor, 2014). Retail: $ 9.773. Add beverage sales, tanning lotions and glasses, Planet Fitness, clothing and helmet. Planet Fitness Photo of interior LiconTotal Income: $ 1,198,867 (Hoover’s Inc, 2015). Of the 42 corporate locations (1) 31 business websites (or

Ethics in Cyberspace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethics in Cyberspace - Essay Example Following the explosion of internet popularity, there is the transfer of power struggles all over the world to the internet. All internet users ranging from businesses, private users, search engines, as well as any probable information source are making an attempt of controlling, manipulating, biasing, while, at the same time, censoring their information found on the internet in case they recognize it or not. As a result, the public gets to view a number of issues or events, which might be altered or not altered at all, thereby easily bending views in frightening manners. There are several computers based ethical dilemma; one set of matter deals with the emergence of various new ethical dilemma, or those taking new form, as a result of increase in Internet and Social Networking. Presently, there are various ways of gaining information concerning others, which were inaccessible, or available with ease, prior to the rise of computers. Therefore, ethical issues concerning storage of pri vate information are presently turning into an ever rising problem; this gives rise to the problem of selling this information for monetary benefit. This leads to distinctive ethical situations with regard to access, security, as well as the utilization of hacking within positive, as well as negative situations. Circumstances relating to the copyright breach of software, movies and music tend to be a hot topic with the increase in file sharing programs like Napster. The ethical questions arising from software piracy are whether it is immoral to copy software movies or even music. ... This happens to be a clear definition of the concept of an Opt-In against Opt-Out situation (Tavani 2010, p.25). Following the explosion of internet popularity, there is the transfer of power struggles all over the world to the internet. All internet users ranging from businesses, private users, search engines, as well as any probable information source are making an attempt of controlling, manipulating, biasing, while, at the same time, censoring their information found on the internet in case they recognize it or not. As a result, the public gets to view a number of issues or events, which might be altered or not altered at all, thereby easily bending views in frightening manners. There are several computers based ethical dilemma; one set of matter deals with the emergence of various new ethical dilemma, or those taking new form, as a result of increase in Internet and Social Networking. Presently, there are various ways of gaining information concerning others, which were inaccess ible, or available with ease, prior to the rise of computers. Therefore, ethical issues concerning storage of private information are presently turning into an ever rising problem; this gives rise to the problem of selling this information for monetary benefit. This leads to distinctive ethical situations with regard to access, security, as well as the utilization of hacking within positive, as well as negative situations. Circumstances relating to the copyright breach of software, movies and music tend to be a hot topic with the increase in file sharing programs like Napster. The ethical questions arising from software piracy are whether it is immoral to copy software movies or even music. Apart from that, questions

Paper discussing the theme and proving it in Sophocles's play Oedipus Essay

Paper discussing the theme and proving it in Sophocles's play Oedipus the King - Essay Example Aristotle (1998) stated â€Å"the tragic hero falls into bad fortune because of some flaw in his character of the kind found in men of high reputation and good fortune such as Oedipus.† In this statement, he indicates Oedipus had a flaw that, because of his high station, would ultimately cause his demise. In this essay I will argue how Oedipus from Oedipus the King by Sophocles is a protagonist driven by the passion of pride and how this largely contributes to his own downfall, placing the discussion within the context of the classical definition of a tragedy. As has been mentioned, the classic definition of a tragedy begins with the driving force behind the action which was referred to as hamartia. Hamartia is commonly referred to today as a tragic flaw (â€Å"Aristotle†, 1998). It is the concept that a noble man will fall not as the result of a vengeful god or violation of the god’s laws per se, but rather as a result of some inherent flawed portion of his character that causes him to act in a specific way or make a particular mistake in judgment. In much of Greek tragedy, this tragic flaw appears in the form of an excessive pride on the part of the protagonist that renders them incapable of listening to the counsel of others or of correctly perceiving the events taking place around them. This behavior or mistake will be the actual cause of ruin thus illustrating that the fall of great people is not necessarily the will of the gods but are instead manifestations of the gods allowing humans to act of their own accord, for b etter or worse. In Oedipus the King, the action opens as Oedipus is approached by plague-stricken masses asking help from him as king. When he sees his people gathered around him as if he were a god, his response to them is â€Å"What means this reek of incense everywhere, / From others, and am hither come, myself, / I Oedipus, your world-renowned king† (4-8). Although the people of Oedipus’ day did turn to

Paper Puppet Essay Example for Free

Paper Puppet Essay Productions in companies may be attributed to activities, such as the paper puppet production. Such productions are normally utilized in the fabrication of electronic gadgets, automobiles, and the like. Being able to experience such activity gave me an entertaining and amusing feeling. The thought of line production has always given me a negative feeling, for the same things were repeatedly done for a specific time frame. The activity, â€Å"Paper Puppets†, was an exercise that gaged the productivity and efficiency of workers, while following a specific order. For this exercise, one would act as the supervisor, while the rest was divided into two groups. The first group was assigned to time the task, at the same time make observations, while the second group was to do the tasks. Two rounds were done so as both groups could be able to perform the activity, before the results were finally compared. There was a delay in the first puppet made, for there was an imbalance in the distribution, resulting to uneven work load. A wallop was formed with the uneven distribution of work assignments, denting the production time. An evenly distributed load resulted in a 1-minute production, while uneven workload resulted in a 3-minute production. This resulted to a 2-minute time difference, decreasing the production to a saddening 60%. In the end, both puppets passed the standards set by the Quality Control and Assurance department. However, the second puppet was better than the first, for adjustments have been made as improvements of the first puppet. From the experience I had, I discovered that line production was focused not only on the efficiency of the the workers, but also on the quantity and quality of the products made. A flimsy mistake committed by a worker would result in the imperfection of one or several products. With the continuous upgrading of technology nowadays, companies tend to prefer the use of systems and machineries other than human workers. This is primarily due to the fact that machines tend to commit lesser mistakes as compared to human workers, since they are programmed to make unflawed products. In addition to this, the decrease in defects also increases the companys production, resulting to more profit for the company. The purpose of line production is to increase their productivity at a specific time frame as much as possible, and not decrease it. The activity made me realize that this kind of work would be uninteresting for someone like me. I cannot imagine myself being part of a line for the whole day, and on a paced motion. I felt that this kind of work was a way to put down the aspirations and dreams of the workers, who were mentally and physically weary of their job. In order for companies to have quality and quantity assured products,I suggest that a rotation in their jobs be made by the management. This would make the workers become more diversified with their line of work. However, this may also result in more complex problems and imperfections in the products, for the workers are not experienced enough to be in a specific field. Everything is a process. I guess with everyones cooperation and support, such a process may be made in order to make high grade products that can be exported to the different parts of the world.

Qualities of a Good Humanitarian

Qualities of a Good Humanitarian This autobiography Three Cups Of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin goes through the life experiences of Greg Mortenson in his quest to build schools for disadvantaged children in the desolate parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. This essay investigates the qualities that Mortenson possesses that have helped make him a contemporary symbol of humanitarianism. How does Mortensons story show the qualities necessary for a good Humanitarian? To answer this question, this essay makes a thorough analysis of this autobiography by analyzing the things that Mortenson has done and what persuaded him to do them. With that in mind this essay is intended to try and decipher which qualities or traits have guided him thus far, qualities which seem extremely beneficial to his quest. In the essay, each trait has been explored in depth, looking at the ways Mortenson has demonstrated that particular trait and how it helped in the end. This autobiography has been supported by some secondary sources from the internet that include book reviews that have been posted along with interviews that have been conducted with him. Therefore with these sources, I have made generalizations as to what qualities make a good humanitarian. Upon conclusion, I discovered that with the right amount of compassion, desire to succeed and being able to blend into different cultures then one can be a good humanitarian. INTRODUCTION Power is the ability to achieve purpose. Power is the ability to effect change; these were words spoken by the legendary Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King and from these words, one can gather that there is some extraordinary power that any individual can possess, as long as they have the ability to make a difference in the lives of others, it does not matter whether on a large scale or not. Throughout history there have been great men and women who have been known to possess this extraordinary power, such as mother Teresa who dedicated her life to helping the poor but amongst these people is Greg Mortenson, a man who from being a mere nurse has risen above all odds and has become a world renowned humanitarian who has done development work in Central Asia (Pakistan and Afghanistan). Most of his work has been the construction of schools for both the Pakistani and Afghani children but it also extends to giving a helping hand at refugee camps in these areas. To date, Mortenson has built over one hundred and thirty schools and some of them catering to just girls. Greg Mortenson, along with the award winning journalist David Oliver Relin have written an autobiography of Mortensons life Three Cups Of Tea one mans mission to promote peaceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦one school at a time from the time he discovered his true calling through all the ensuing events, sharing in detail how he tackles every obstacle that comes his way. How does Mortensons story show the qualities necessary for a good humanitarian? For most people it has been a mystery as to what qualities must be possessed for an individual to become a humanitarian and exercise charity. I think Mortenson is one of the best people to help illustrate these qualities because he started from nothing but has now become a man to whom even the US Military looks to for advice. How is it that this ordinary man who failed to climb K-2 has achieved so much in life? This topic is significant in that as much as most people might want to help the needy, they may not know where and how to start and the qualities that may help them in their quest. Even universities have started offering courses that help create great humanitarians and aid projects, courses like development work and development theory finance. Just the mere prospect of having these courses offered at universities shows that this is a booming industry and observing people like Greg Mortenson can help a lot of people who are interested in helping others. Other humanitarians like Sir Edmund Hilary have seen this advancement in humanitarian efforts coming, and in his book School House In The Clouds, Hilary spoke of the need for aid projects in the worlds poorest places he says, Slowly and painfully we are seeing worldwide acceptance of the fact that the wealthier and more technologically advanced countries have a responsibility to help undeveloped ones (pg 53). Mortensons philosophy is also that of Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen whose idea is that, You can change a culture by giving its girls the tools to grow up educated so they can help themselves (pg 234). In Mortensons case, these schools were not built overnight; Mortenson encountered problems but he persisted and in the end the results were very rewarding. Mortenson has shown that an ordinary person like himself can make a difference in the world by having the right amount of compassion, determination and the ability to rise above prejudices and work within another culture. COMPASSION The poor do not need our sympathy and pity: the poor need our love and compassion. These were words spoken by the Nobel Peace prize winner, Mother Teresa, one of Mortensons idols. From the beginning, our introduction to Mortenson is of a man who doesnt pity the needy but tries to help them as much as possible. The source of this good-heartedness can be traced back to his parents who were also generous people. Irvin Mortenson (Gregs father) was an army veteran-turned schoolteacher in Tanzania who while there threw every molecule of himself into the great achievement of his life-raising money for and founding Tanzanias first teaching hospital, the Kilimanjaro Christian medical center (36). Also, his mother, Jerene Mortenson, laboured with the same single-mindedness to establish the Moshi International School (36). With such parents, it is no wonder Greg Mortenson turned out the way he did. Mortensons compassion is easily noticeable in the sacrifices he has undertaken for the sake of his family. The Mortensons lived in Africa for most of Gregs childhood and although they had done so much for the Tazanians, when they went back to America they were struggling financially and Greg Mortensons compassion is well illustrated when after graduating from high school, he enrolled himself in the army just so he could bring in some money. To show how rare this trait is Mortenson says: The kids at my school were amazed Id even consider the military. But we were broke (40). Christa, Mortensons sister, was epileptic and for the sole purpose of finding a way to help her, Greg studied neurology (42). Not only that but when they were growing up, Mortenson made sure that no one made fun of Christa. After college, Mortenson wanted to start working as soon as possible but because he wanted to spend time with his sister, he took a year off-not many people could do that which is why when Christa died, Mortenson took it really hard but wanted to honour her memory by climbing K-2, a mountain in central Asia infamous for being one of the toughest to climb in the world (42-43). Another clear depiction of Mortensons compassion is when he offered to quit school when his father was dying of cancer so that he could take care of him in his last days (42). Mortensons compassion can also be seen in the sacrifices he makes for others and his desire to satisfy everyone. This whole idea of building schools started in a village called Korphe where Mortenson was taken after he had been lost on K-2 Mountain and had seen about eighty children trying to teach themselves on the ground without a teacher and had made the promise to build them the school (33). While there, Mortenson distributed all he had to the people of that village and had gone out of his way to help their sick, hence earning his name Dr. Greg (30). On his way to fulfill his promise, the people of other villages were trying to bribe him into opting for their village and not Korphe and the guilt that Mortenson felt knowing that he could not help them frustrated him which is why he ended up promising to one day build the school for them, no matter what it took and this signifies his compassion to the extreme (91). Also, going out of his way to organise teachers and paying salaries along with calling in an eye specialist for the children and elderly of refugee camps that strained to feed, shelter and educate hundreds of thousands of people is an extreme act of compassion that clearly shows his big heart (208). Further, whenever there was a war happening, Mortenson was usually robbed of sleep worrying about those poor people (214). He used to spend nights reading about Pakistani history and trying to learn more and this shows a man whose good-heartedness made him even forget the necessities of life like sleeping. Perhaps the best way he has demonstrated his compassion is by fulfilling most of his promises; he promised to build a school for the Korphe people and he did that and even more, he also built them a womens vocational center fully equipped with sewing machines (193). He also promised to build a school for the people of the villages who were trying to bribe him and he did; not only for them but for many other villages. DETERMINATION It is usually said that a leader has a clear idea of what she or he wants and he would do anything to get it regardless of any obstacles that he may face and likewise, Mortenson was a leader who, in his cause to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, has come across a lot of setbacks that would make most people give up but because he had a lot of determination Mortenson just pushed on and can now be identified as a well respected humanitarian. His determination is easily portrayed in the sacrifices he makes in order to raise the necessary funds for the construction of the schools. These acts include struggling to write many requests to as many potential sponsors as possible so that he could build the first school (47). We learn that, he wrote to every U.S. senator. He haunted the public library, scanning the kind of pop culture magazines he would never otherwise read, in search of sponsors and this just shows his eagerness to succeed ( 49). To save money while he was trying to raise funds for the school, Mortenson decided not to rent an apartment and chose to live in his car and to take showers in the bathrooms of a climbing club that he was a member of ( 49). At night he would be bothered by the police so he had to hunt for parking places where the police would not find him (49). What person in their right mind would do something like that, especially for people he did not have exceptionally strong ties with, unless they were really determined to succeed and even going to the extremes of starving himself (51)? In like manner, while he was in Pakistan with the necessary funds for the school, he lived in an eight-by-eight-foot glassed in cubicle on the hotels roof that seemed more like a garden shed than a guest room (57). Here again the image is of a man who is prepared to endure all the hardships that come his way (57). He could have just used the money he had on him and checked into a proper hotel but no, he had to try and save as much as possible. Before he had left America, Mortenson converted everything else he owned into enough cash to buy his plane ticket(56). What if everything in Pakistan did not work out and when he got back, what would he have? Nothing, but because he knew what he wanted he did it anyway. Mother Teresa once said: We ourselves feel like what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean but the ocean would be less without that drop. Mortenson believed in this saying and strived in every way to make sure that the drop he was adding was at its best hence why he even started reading books on development theory finance so that he could be a better manager and along with this he even flew to Southeast Asia so that he could learn more from other programs that did the same job that he did (234). Only a man who really wanted to make things work would go this far. In the time that Mortenson has been in Central Asia, he has taken great risks, risks that had he been somebody else, he would have left without any delays and these risks include exposing himself to the conflicts that are taking place there. In 1996, Bin Laden (a leader of the Talibans Islam extremist) called for an armed struggle against any Americans, and when this happened Mortenson was still there and ended up being held hostage for some time before he was released; but the terrifying prospect that he kept delaying leaving Asia although he knew how dangerous it was, shows his pure determination along with his love for these people (156). Patience is a prevailing attribute that Mortenson seems to possess and in physics; a spring can be stretched and return to its original place, but there is a limit to that stretching (elasticity limit), and when this point is reached then the spring will never go back to its original position. Greg Mortensons patience is synonymous to this spring and the similarities are easily noticeable because throughout, his patience has been tried at different turns and this patience helps to eloquently demonstrate his determination. The fact that Mortenson only received a single reply from the letters he wrote and all his grant applications had been turned down after waiting over six months; the fact that Mortenson still continued even after this major setback is a clear indication of his determination (52) As with the physics analysis, however, at some point Mortenson almost had a mental breakdown because after struggling for over two years to get a hold of the funds required to build the first school, when he arrives at Korphe to begin the building project, he discovers that before they can begin they have to build a bridge to carry across the necessary building materials. This required him to go back to America to get more money for the construction of the bridge. Looking back at the way he had struggled to get the first twelve thousand dollars, obviously it wasnt going to be easy to get the extra funds. Predictably, he did struggle and this failure led to him almost giving up hope. He was just on the brink of giving up but the words of a fellow mountaineer, Dr. Louis Richardt brought him back: Pull yourself together, Greg. Of course youve hit a few speed bumps but what youre trying to do is much more difficult than climbing K2(106). These words gave him the strength to continue. Thi s pure act showed a lot of determination on his part. Again, Mortensons determination can be seen in the problems he faces and the way he overcomes them. After the formation of the Central Asia Institute (CAI) which was founded by a single sponsor Jean Hoerni who covered all the expenses, Mortensons work in Pakistan advanced extremely, but following the death of the sponsor, the company started having monetary problems. Mortenson refused to hire an assistant because of fear of dipping into CAIs funds (228); he also refused an offer of a salary increase along with refusing to hire office space. All these things show a man who is determined to continue in his cause and was desperate to save as much as possible so that his work can continue. During this time of hardships in the company, Mortenson started to hold seminars where he tried to raise awareness for his work and get funding, but sometimes he faced a sea of empty seats (228) but the fact that he still continued to go to every state in America as planned shows that he had hope that at some point he would get lucky and the message would be out and his determination is enormously conveyed in this way. Now, some rich people wanted to flaunt Mortenson to their peers and look good with the promise that they would fund his company and because Mortenson was desperate, he had no choice but to play along. At some point he even went to Canada with one of them but in the end he got nothing in the form of funds from him. He tried everybody, even the people whose legitimacy he doubted. An old lady who said she had money to give called Mortenson over and he obliged because of his desperation but this woman turned out to be just a lonely old lady who just yearned for company (231). A person who would do all this is indeed determined to get to his destination. ABILITY TO RISE OVER PREJUDICES AND WORK WITHIN ANOTHER CULTURE It has been said that Good intentions and money are great, but it is partnerships and great personal relationships at the grass roots level that gets things done in a third world country and from the onset Mortenson has proved himself to be one of those people who are extremely sociable and form partnerships quickly. Throughout his quest, what Mortenson has been doing the entire time is building his rapport and trying to gain the trust of the natives of the countries he was trying to aid. His individualism and non-affiliation with both big NGOs and the political systems in any country are the factors that may have helped him reach so far as compared to all other development charities that have tried to help these people. Of course there were a number of barriers that hindered his progress and these include the language barriers because at first he had not learned their language; the custom barriers that also hindered his progress because if he went against custom, his work may be cut-off; and lastly the religious beliefs. The education of girls in that part of the world is taboo and people in Pakistan and Afghanistan believe it goes against their religion. According to BBC News, when parents were asked why they didnt pay for their female children to go to school, the parents would say Because its wrong, its irreligious, its improper they should stay at home and prepare for their real lives, their married lives. Mortenson was going against this taboo in every way and this caused a lot of problems for him. I have heard that an infidel has come to poison our Muslim children, boys as well as girls; with his teachings. Allah forbids the education of girls. And I forbid the construction of this school. (152) These were words spoken by one Haji Medhi who, along with his men went to Korphe and were trying to stop Mortensons work. Also, Greg learned that the Sher of Chakpo had declared a fatwa against himà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Pakistan is ruled by civil law, but also by Shariat, which is a system of Islamic law (184) . It wasnt only this once that a fatwa was issued against him but twice. After an issue of a fatwa has been made, the courts have to decide what to do, but luckily on both counts he was not implicated but rather the courts saw his work as a gift to their children. From the onset, we see Mortenson as a man who is able to quickly gain the trust of the people around him. George McCown, a board member of the American Himalayan Foundations once said: Greg is a guy you immediately like and trustà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦watching all those people work with himà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦It was obvious they loved him. He operated as one of them and I wondered how in the hell an American had managed that (122-123). How indeed has he managed that? The answer to that mystery might be that Greg has an eagerness to learn peoples ways, he tries in every way not to offend them and he does not distinguish himself from them but sees them as his equals, he sees everybody as his equal. His eagerness to learn their ways is easily noticeable when during his second visit to Pakistan, he asks the tailor who was putting together his outfit to teach him how to pray (62). What business of his was it how these people prayed? This eagerness to pray is also accentuated when he tries to pray with the religious leader of Korphe (67). For him to even enter the compound where the Korphe religious leader lived was a problem because he did not want to offend him; he understood that he was a non-Muslim (infidel) trying to educate the children of Korphe and he didnt know how the religious leader would take it (67). This trait of not wanting to offend is also signified with the guilt he felt when he had worn their traditional dress inappropriately and was therefore scolded for it (62). Again, unlike big organizations that just throw in millions without requesting anything from the locals, Mortenson required that each village donate land and labour and this is one of the things that might have helped him gain the trust of these people involving them. Mortenson says: Ive driven past dozens of schools in Northern Afghanistan that have been set up by conservation Corps or USAID(United States Agency For International Development), and you see a beautiful school building but no one in it Also, although Mortenson was offered large sums of money by the US Military, he had to refuse because he understood that his credibility in that part of the world depended on not being associated with the American government, especially the military (295). Had the people thought he was associated with them, they would shut him out. The American military never really stopped to ask what the people of Pakistan or Afghanistan wanted but just did what they wanted without consulting with their elders. In an interview for MSNBC(a television network), Mortenson says that following an earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, tens of thousands of tents were sent over and most of them implosive and the people would huddle in them with kerosene lanterns for light and hundreds of tents imploded and hundreds of people died and some were burned. But had anybody asked what they wanted they could have said they could make their own canvas tents if they send over canvas and sewing machines Mortenson on the ot her hand asks what they need and he would rather supply them with that than anything they did not ask for. CONCLUSION When investigating this research question How does Mortensons story show the qualities of a good humanitarian? it is easily discernable that by showing the qualities that Mortenson possessed, this story Three cups of tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin clearly shows that it all begins with the amount of compassion that one possesses. If one does not have a desire to help the needy then they would not succeed because how could one do something they do not really have the desire for? Then comes the degree to which they are willing to bend their will in order to help make that particular act a success. They need to be ready to make a lot of sacrifices along the way, sacrifices that could mean they have to live differently from the way they are used to. Mortensons experiences show that in most cases the journey will not be easy but with the correct amount of determination and eagerness to succeed, eventually you will get there. Usually the people who require most help are the people in remote parts of developing or undeveloped countries and most of the time these people have customs that most outsiders are not familiar with and may even be a whole different ethnic group all together and most of the time aid organizations or humanitarians are going to have to try and learn their ways. Finally, listening to them, incorporating them in the decision-making process is also a wise move because that way, their needs are catered for. There have been great humanitarians like Mortenson who have possessed these qualities: Mother Teresa, Fred Cunny, Per Anger, Dalai Lama many others. By reading autobiographies of such people, these artifacts of our culture can give aspiring humanitarians the necessary qualities for being great humanitarians.

Sir Gawain: The Ideal Knight Essay -- Canterbury Tales English Litera

Sir Gawain: The Ideal Knight Throughout the Arthurian legends, Sir Gawain seems to be the epitome of a noble knight. He is always putting his king before himself, repeatedly sacrificing his own life in some way for King Arthur. He is an honorable knight that lives up to his word. This is evident in both Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell." In these stories, Gawain lives up to the expectations of a knight belonging to the legendary Round Table. In "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell," King Arthur is accused of unrightfully giving away Gromer Somer Joure's lands to Sir Gawain. Gromer Somer Joure asks Arthur a question, which Arthur must answer if he wants his life to be spared. Arthur, going against the instructions of Gromer Somer Joure, tells Gawain of his predicament. He tells Gawain that he must not speak of the situation to anyone else. Gawain responds by telling Arthur, "I am not that man that wold you dishonour." ("Ragnell" 150) It is apparent that Gawain is an honorable person that keeps his word. Arthur would not confide in him, otherwise. Gawain's commitment to King Arthur is even more evident as the story goes on. Arthur finds an old hag, Dame Ragnell, who knows the answer to the question he has been asked. She asks in return, "Thou must graunt me a knighte to wed--his name is Sir Gawen." ("Ragnell" 280-281) Arthur cannot agree to this without consulting Gawain. When Arthur tells Gawain about his encounter with the hag, Gawain brushes it off as if it is nothing. He does not fear marrying the hag as long as it will spare the life of King Arthur. He says to Arthur with great confidence: Is this alle? I shalle w... ...s given his land to Sir Gawain. Arthur relies on Sir Gawain to get him out of the predicament that he is in. He also relies on Sir Gawain when the Green Knight confronts him in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Gawain offers to take Arthur's place in the Green Knight's Christmas game. Arthur quickly accepts without a second thought. It is obvious that throughout the Arthurian legends that Arthur and Gawain are portrayed differently. One thing that remains the same is that there is a special bond between these two characters. Gawain is always the knight that is ready to defend Arthur at all times. Works Cited Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams et. 7th Edition, Volume 1. New York: Norton, 2000. 156-210 Sands, Donald B. Ed. Middle English Verse Romances. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc., 1966.

Existentialism in “Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald's fiction presents not only the magic of the Jazz Age but also its immorality, materialism, and degradation of the human spirit. While Fitzgerald was probably not trying to specifically present existentialism in his works, Finkelstein describes Fitzgerald's work as having an existential theme: â€Å"F. Scott Fitzgerald was of this milieu, and at the same time critically detached from it. He expressed its hard-boiled, disillusioned attitude through the deliberate use of alienated imagery† (171).He manages to present the existential theme of alienation along with other existential issues; the characters in his fiction characterize the existential ideas of the absurdity of life, the absolute freedom of choice, and living with the consequence of one's choices. In â€Å"Babylon Revisited,† the freedom of choice leads the characters to exploit wealth and freedom and, eventually, to regret past actions and try to make up for the abuse of this freedom. In â €Å"Babylon Revisited† the reader can see the absurdity of life through the rise, fall and rebuilding of Charlie Wales.He chooses to drink and spend all his money. He loses everything in the stock market crash but attempts to rebuild his life. Charlie is distraught over the tragic loss of his wife but realizes that he must suffer the consequences of his prior actions.Regaining custody of his daughter Honoria serves as a symbol that Charlie has regained control of his life. This paper presents the ideas of existentialism as they apply to â€Å"Babylon Revisited†. The greatest tenet of existentialism in â€Å"Babylon Revisited† is that life is absurd because there is no true meaning.Individuals must create meaning; therefore they are constantly searching for themselves. Charlie Wales was searching for his true meaning and made some choices that led to bad consequences. The ultimate absurdity in this story is that Charlie makes the right decision to turn his life a round, but because he must live with his consequences, he fails to regain custody of his daughter. Although Charlie believes he has moved beyond his previous profligate behavior, his sister-in law does not, and she makes the decision to keep his daughter from him.The most absurd part is that Charlie is better suited now to take care of his daughter but Marion manages to remain in control of the situation. He works hard to build his life back up but one incident (that reflects his past life) turns everything upside down.Charlie Wales made some choices that led to bad consequences. The ultimate absurdity in this story is that even though Charlie has made the right decision to turn his life around, he must live with the consequences of his previous decisions and fails to regain custody of his daughter.The absurdity here deals with the fact that Charlie's experiences run contrary to expectations. If he has indeed changed his life, he should be rewarded for his redemption; unfortunately, he is not. He works hard to build his life back up but one incident (that reflects his past life) turns everything upside down.Although Charlie is now strong, his sister-in-law Marion is not, and she makes the decision to keep his daughter from him. Charlie may be better suited now to take care of his daughter, but Marion manages to remain in control of the situation.Charlie makes the choice to go back to the bar where he had spent much time in the past, and he makes the absurdly innocuous choice to give the bartender the Peters' address, which leads to the incident of Duncan and Lorraine's visit to the Peters' apartment that destroys the entire effort to get his daughter back.The reader, therefore, can never truly know how big of a role Charlie plays in his own downfall. He lives, as we all do, in an absurd world and this absurdity magnifies the impact of even the smallest decision. The existential idea of free will is important in â€Å"Babylon Revisited.† Sartre postulate s a concept of being-in-itself that corresponds to one phenomenal world, and it does not lie within the power of the individual to choose it. Individuals exist by virtue of personal choice. He believes â€Å"there is no universal a priori structure of consciousness, no common human nature, no native set of desires shared by all men that dispose us to project one kind of values to the exclusion of others or to give being-in-itself one kind of meaning rather than another† (Olson 133). Each individual is absolutely free.Charlie Wales exercised his free will prior to Helen's death in a series of wasteful actions that Fitzgerald presents as having a connection to the biblical idea of â€Å"Babylon. † The writings of the â€Å"Fathers of the Church describe Babylon as the ancient center of luxury and wickedness† (Baker 270).Fitzgerald develops the Babylon motif by presenting Charlie's actions as â€Å"catering to vice and waste† (215). Here, Fitzgerald's work c an be seen as assimilating Nietzsche's idea that God is dead and each individual must be the god of himself in a world without a God (Lavine 325).Since the existentialist mentality has as its basis the concept that an individual is free to make choices for the life he or she lives, he or she is absolutely responsible for the world in which he or she lives. The concept of being-in-itself did not cause Charlie to choose this life.If, therefore, he made a bad choice, he cannot hold anyone else responsible. Not until after the stock market crash does Charlie realize the consequences of his actions and feel the guilt of those consequences. He realizes that, like all individuals, he is responsible for everything he does (Toor 157).Charlie is held responsible for his actions in that he loses both his wife and daughter. He cannot reclaim his daughter until he accepts the consequences of his past. Charlie Wales pays the penance for his choice to drink and live the life of Babylon (Eble 42).H e realizes that he must pay the price: It [money] had been given, even the most wildly squandered sum, as an offering to destiny that he might not remember the things most worth remembering, the things that now he would always remember – his child taken from his control, his wife escaped to a grave in Vermont (Fitzgerald 216).For Charlie, the suddenness of the Depression creates a sense of dislocation, a feeling that he is living in two worlds at once. He is committed to the idea of recovery and the new way of life he has created, but he still clings partially to many of the habits he formed during the boom (Way 91).Charlie Wales makes the existential choice to live the â€Å"Babylonian† concept of â€Å"vice and waste. † He now, however, feels the stress of his actions, and he makes the choice to try to reconcile his former failings. The recovery is the important change that Charlie makes.His main purpose is to regain custody of Honoria. Charlie feels as if he has paid the price for his past choices and has sufficiently recovered enough to look after Honoria himself. He tells Marion and Lincoln that he is anxious to have a home and anxious to have Honoria in it.He states that â€Å"things have changed radically† with him (Fitzgerald 220). The memory of Helen drives Charlie to work hard and make himself a better person. He is working to get Honoria not only for his own sake, but for the sake of his dead wife.Fitzgerald is showing the sort of strength in Charlie that the reader does not see in Marion. Charlie has learned to control his drinking. When Marion finds out he had been in a bar before coming to her apartment, she chides him. He responds, â€Å"I take one drink every afternoon and I've had that† (213).He is trying to prove that he can control his drinking habits. He has one drink to enjoy the idea and taste of alcohol but will not allow himself to drink in excess. This is his idea of control, â€Å"I take that drink deliberately so that the idea of alcohol won't get too big in my imagination† (Fitzgerald 221).He knows it will be difficult to persuade Marion to let Honoria go, but he is confident that if he accepts her recriminations patiently and convinces her of his newly acquired steadiness of character, he will ultimately be successful. Another element of Charlie's recovery that Fitzgerald addresses is his renewed relationship with his daughter.Fitzgerald makes it obvious in the beginning of the novel that Honoria was not the first thing on the mind of her parents during their Babylon days. When the barman asks why he is in town and Charlie responds that he is in Paris to see his daughter, the barman replies questioningly, â€Å"Oh-h!You have a little girl? † (211). Someone who knew Charlie fairly well during his drinking days did not even know that he had a daughter. Fitzgerald contrasts this idea of having no relationship with his daughter by showing with tenderness and affect ion the scenes in which Charlie tentatively establishes contact with Honoria.He buys her toys and takes her to the circus, creating once again the atmosphere of love between them. Although he may be buying the love of his daughter, Marion grudgingly admits that Charlie has earned the right to his child (Way 91). Fitzgerald also shows the intense love that the child has for her father.She wants to go with him to Prague and asks when she will get to be with him (217). Charlie has recovered to the point that he wants to be with his child and she wants to be with him. Ultimately, when Marion denies him the child, he again shows strength of character (Way 109).He remains lonely but self-confident, â€Å"He would come back some day; they couldn't make him pay forever† (Fitzgerald 230). Sartre believes that â€Å"there are moments of anguish when life loses its meaning: when the objects that formerly drew our attention fade into oblivion and the desires that had previously guided o ur conduct seem vain or petty† (Olson 131).This creates an ugliness in the world to which people must react. These â€Å"moments of anguish† in â€Å"Babylon Revisited† occur when Charlie's friends manage to show up at the most inopportune times: â€Å"Sudden ghosts out of the past: Duncan Schaeffer, a friend from college.Lorraine Quarries; one of a crowd who had helped them make months into days in the lavish times of three years ago† (Fitzgerald 217). In a foreshadowing of the more crucial intrusion that Duncan and Lorraine will make later in the story, the first encounter with the duo is when they intrude on Charlie's luncheon with Honoria.They invite him to come sit in the bar with them and also invite him to dinner. They cannot accept the change in Charlie. Their intrusion is an unwanted product of Charlie's past, and they are outside forces that affect his life that he cannot control (Cooper 52). Later in the story, Lorraine invites him to dinner, re minding him of their drunken exploits. As a temptress, she has lost her charm for Charlie. He instead goes to meet with the Peters and his daughter (Baker 272). Just as Charlie has regained permission to take his child, the final, and most detrimental, intrusion occurs.Lorraine and Duncan crash the apartment, unmistakably drunk. They loudly and brutishly encourage him to join them for dinner. He tries feverishly to get them out of the apartment, but they are the reminders of his old life that Marion needs to change her mind. Lorraine will not let Charlie forget about his mistakes, â€Å"All right we'll go. But I remember once when you hammered on my door at 4 a. m. I was enough of a sport to give you a drink† (Fitzgerald 227). Charlie knows that he has lost Honoria because of these outside forces that try to make him weaker.Fitzgerald shows that Charlie is stronger because of his life change. Charlie dealt with the encounters by choosing to be strong, â€Å"Somehow an unwelc ome encounter. His old friends liked him because he was functioning, because he was serious; they wanted to see him, because he was stronger than they were now because they wanted to draw a certain sustenance from his strength† (218). This strength has led to Charlie's feeling of isolation. He goes to the Ritz bar in search of Duncan and Lorraine with the idea of finding them and letting them know that they possibly ruined his life.They had done their sorry work and vanished from his life (Baker 273). Existential philosophy includes alienation from the world, from one's fellows, from oneself (Finkelstein), and Charlie suffers this type of alienation. He has lost his family and his life. When he eventually fails to regain custody of Honoria, he questions why life dealt him this hand: â€Å"He wanted his child, and nothing was much good now, beside that fact. He wasn't young any more, with a lot of nice thoughts and dreams to have himself. He was absolutely sure Helen wouldn't have wanted him to be so alone† (Fitzgerald 230).â€Å"Babylon Revisited† opens in the Ritz bar, a symbolic prison for those trapped in Charlie's lifestyle. Charlie spent many nights in the â€Å"prison† of the Ritz bar, when he was in his prime party era. Charlie drinks himself into a sanitarium before he begins to come out of the prison of alcoholism.The story then ends again in the Ritz bar. Charlie has come full circle since the beginning of the story. He found happiness in knowing that he would take Honoria home, and then his past of loneliness finds him. The intrusions lead to his ultimate loneliness again (Griffith 237).He is sitting in the Ritz bar when he finds out that Marion has refused to let Honoria go. He realizes that his loneliness will not end because of the mistakes that he has made: â€Å"Again the memory of those days swept over him like a nightmare†¦ the men who locked their wives out in the snow, because the snow of twenty-nine wasn't real snow.If you didn't want it to be snow, you just paid some money† (229). The prosperity that he once had is now imprisoning him in a life of solitude and loneliness. The sentence that he must pay in this prison is six more months of loneliness before he can try to get custody of Honoria again (Baker 274).LeVot, in his discussion of Fitzgerald's life, notes that this story marks the end of an era. This is the foreclosure of the almost divine privileges Americans had enjoyed before the Depression. â€Å"Charlie Wales feels like a king stripped of his kingdom, his past, his illusions† (256).Ten years after he wrote the story, Fitzgerald stated that the story was his farewell to youth. Just as Fitzgerald is fearful that his own irresponsibility will pass to his daughter, Charlie tries to wipe out the past so it will not affect Honoria. LeVot states, â€Å"A great wave of protectiveness went over him. He thought he knew what to do for her.He believed in character, he wa nted to jump back a whole generation and trust in character again as the eternally valuable element† (256). He wants to revive an earlier virtue, for the sake of Honoria. This revival will help to alleviate the loneliness he feels without his daughter.Fitzgerald felt the loneliness brought about by his addiction to alcohol (LeVot â€Å"Fitzgerald in Paris† 51). Bruccoli states that when Charlie remembers his Paris nights that these were probably Fitzgerald's own memories, â€Å"When Fitzgerald went pub-crawling by himself, it was sometimes hard to terminate his revels† (239).His talent and charm often rescued him from the social morasses he created. Bruccoli shares an incident when Fitzgerald showed up drunk at the Paris Tribune and ripped up copy. He sang and insisted that the other reporters join in. When several friends tried to take him home, he insisted that they tour the bars.He finally passed out, but when they delivered him to his apartment he refused to go in. They eventually had to carry Fitzgerald into to his apartment, kicking and screaming. This account was forgiven, as were most of his other escapades (239).Charlie Wales, unlike Fitzgerald, has not been forgiven and remains separated from his wife and daughter due to alcoholism. He had to work hard to regain his life. The existential absurdity is that he was unable to get custody of Honoria, although he paid the penance for his past sins.Charlie chose to live the life of â€Å"Babylon† and lost everything. After doing everything right to change his life, the outside forces of Duncan and Lorraine ruined his plans to make a home with Honoria. These outside forces are the consequences of the past life that Charlie chose to live.Existentialists not only believe in free will but also living with the consequences of past decisions. Charlie's past decisions led to his ultimate loneliness and alienation. Sartre makes the point that alienation is one of the greatest tenets of ex istentialism.Although Fitzgerald is not an existentialist, his characters in â€Å"Babylon Revisited† are good examples of the ideas of the existentialist movement and how those ideas affect and shape a person's existence.Works Cited Baker, Carlos. â€Å"When the Story Ends, ‘Babylon Revisited. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: New Approaches in Criticism. Madison, Wisconsin: U of Wisconsin P, 1982. 269-277.Bruccoli, Matthew J. Some Sort of Epic Grandeur. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981.Finkelstein, Sidney. Existentialism and Alienation in American Literature. New York: International Publishers, 1965.Fitzgerald, F. Scott. â€Å"Babylon Revisited† and Other Stories. New York: Macmillan Scribner Classic, 1988. 210-230.Griffith, Richard R. â€Å"A Note on Fitzgerald's ‘Babylon Revisited. ‘ † American Literature 35 (May 1963): 236-239.Lavine, T. Z. From Socrates to Sartre: the Philosophic Quest. New York: Bantam, 1984.LeVot, Andr e. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography. New York: Doubleday, 1983.LeVot, Andre. â€Å"Fitzgerald in Paris. † Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual 5 (1973): 49-68.Olson, Robert G. A Short Introduction to Philosophy. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1967.Toor, David. â€Å"Guilt and Retribution in ‘Babylon Revisited. ‘† Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual 5 (1973): 155-64.Way, Brian. F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Art of Social Fiction. New York: St. Martin's, 1980.