Neoottomanism in Turkey and the Role of Turkey in the new formation of Essay

Neoottomanism in Turkey and the Role of Turkey in the new formation of the Arab world - Essay Example Thus, ottomanism transformed into the ideology of pan-Turkism. The Turkish leaders of the late XX - early XXI century, especially Recep Tayyip Erdogan, updated the doctrine of ottamanism-pan-Turkism, turning it into so-called neoottomanism. Modern Turkish leaders advocated the creation of an integrated economic and cultural-linguistic space that has commonality of interests; it is the main essence of this ideology. However, neo-Ottomanism implies the dominant influence of Turkey not only on Turks, but even more - non-Turkic peoples and countries that were part of the Ottoman Empire at different time. The doctrine of "neoottomanism" was not completely comprehended even by its originators. Nowadays a lot of European and American politicians are greatly concerned about the given ideology and they do not want to stay away from it. United States, for example, hatch the plans to create a unified Turkic political space dominated by Turkey, and are interested in supporting the sovereignty of newly independent states of Central Eurasia. A heavy blow to this "subtle pan-Turkism", i.e. neoottomanism, was stroke by the Collective Security Treaty Organization, members of which were two Turkic states - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the Islamic one – Tajikistan. Uzbekistan led its own political game for a certain period, but then, joined the CSTO. Turkmenistan's foreign policy tends to neutrality at the present time. Under the auspices of the U.S., such projects as The Black Sea Cooperation and GUAM were developed. If earlier the U.S. was more interested in strengthening Turkey's influence on the Balkans, nowadays - on Northern and Southern Caucasus, Crimea, Ukraine, Bessarabia, as well as Syria, Lebanon and Iraq - as vectors, amplifying the Turkish-Russian confrontation. "Political and operational" role of Turkey in these regions is the most attractive for the U.S. But practice shows that the U.S. is not confident in the effectiveness of such role-based participation of Turkey, even in these projects. Yes, Turkey could play a leading role in the formation and activity of GUAM, but Western politicians are in no hurry to pedal its role. Turkey activities in Georgia, especially in some regions, such as Ajaria and Abkhazia, as well as in Dagestan and Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygeya, Krasnodar territory, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo Macedonia, and Bessarabia can only be seen in part of a joint Turkish-American project. All other joint plans of the United States and Turkey in Central Asia are minor, in fact. Issues, related to the presence of Turkey military machine in the Balkans, the Caucasus and Crimea, are always discussed between the military and intelligence services of both countries. Turkey's position in these regions is much stronger than that in Central Asia. Only the situation in Iran, especially in its north-western regions, can be compared with Turkey positions in the above regions. In 2001, the present minister of foreign affair s of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu published his voluminous work â€Å"Strategic depth: the international position of Turkey†, in which he analyzed the regional and geopolitical interests and priorities of Turkey; he also put forward a series of theoretical assessments and propositions. After

Global Forces Essay Example for Free

Global Forces Essay Introduction This case highlights how the European Brewing Industry is striving to grow and gain competitive advantage worldwide. In line to achieve this there have been a lot of innovation, acqiusitions, mergers and of course rebranding of beer products in the Industry. Companies are further trying to reduce operational costs for improved profit. It is therefore imperative that we analyze the global forces in this industry. 1.A PESTEL ANALYSIS (i)PESTEL FACTOR: Political: Firstly I noted that there have been strong campaigns by Governments to stop drunken driving. This might affect the consumption levels for the beers. More especially when there are functions such as weddings and parties, because during such functions Drivers are tempted to drink as functions unfolds. Also people may start avoiding taking beer from Pubs and restaurants since they are required to drive home from such places. Political effects are further emanating from the Government campaigns against binge drinking or overindulgence on alcoholic beverages, hence discouraging consumers from pubs or any social clubs. This may act as catalyst in the reduction of business opportunities for the brewing companies. I further noted that Governments regulate on how packaging for beer should be done due to environmental issues. For example Denmark the use of Bottles is instead of cans. Politically some this may affect the profitability of some brewing companies in Europe. Economic: The Government’s regulations to restrict alcohol consumption in terms of drunken driving and excessive consumption have really helped in increased sales of beer in supermarkets. As indicated in the case statistics shows that sales increased to 66% in 2005. The shift to Chain Stores has worked to the advantage of the brewing industry as the use cut-price on beer which, attract people to buy the commodity. This scenario or should I simply economically the brewing companies would survive as they are assured of more sales though this is indirect business. However there have been little growth in consumption of alcohol or in a nutshell a shift in demand to the developing economies such as China and Brazil. This requires that the brewing industry in Europe should move its investments to overseas markets. Social Factor: Discouragement of binge-drinking affects some people socially as they are denied happiness that comes with alcohol consumption. Furthermore the highly publicized issues of alcohol effects on Health and fitness cause consumption levels to go down. Due to such awareness people chose to socialize without taking any alcohol in some set ups. Technology: I note from the case the due technological advancement has led to the introduction of new products tailored to peoples tastes such as fruit flavored beers and extra cool lagers. In European brewing industry, it is the technology that makes the products attractive as labeling on packages communicates how good the beers on sales may be and also changes to packaging styles is made easy with technology. It is also clear in the case that there have been economies of scale in brewing and distribution of alcoholic beverages as machineries as readily available due to advancement in technology in Europe. Environment: As stated above the Government’s regulations toward environmental protection affect the brewing industry in the European markets either positively or negatively as they have to change packaging to the preferred bottles than cans. The aim is to sustain the environment hence even consumers are always conscious of such laws as they buy beers. Legal factors: My analysis is that the Brewing Industry in Europe is affected negatively as there are laws to curb binge drinking and drunken driving. I have noted that brewing companies have had low sales a result as people are required to buy their products from chain stores and consume it from homes instead of social clubs or pubs. My conclusion after carrying out the PESTEL analysis is that the Brewing Industry in Europe has potential to grow as there are well established companies that able to merge with other organasations either overseas or locally. Also most brands are well known world over hence able to survive any effects that may impact them negatively due to PESTEL factors. (ii) FIVE FORCE ANALYSIS Threat of New Entrants: The threats of new entrants is low in the European markets due to the following reasons campaigns by governments to curb drunken driving and strong awareness about the effects of alcohol on people’s health makes the business an attractive. It is also a known fact that in areas where there are business leaders who are well established it is difficult for the new entrants to survive as customers switching costs maybe very high. Also the high packaging costs for the product makes it unpredictable as to whether the new entrant will be able to survive. Also the switching cost of customers may be high due to ready established relations and confidence that customers have in some existing brands. Further the upcoming economies such as China or Ukraine makes it very unattractive to establish such a business in Europe as there could less business opportunities. Threats of Substitutes: The threat of substitutes is very high. This is because raw materials are readily available such as barely and other fruits, therefore very is for any orgsanisation to come up a product that my act as substitute. Further Water Industry is taking its shape such that they are now supplying bottled water. This acts as substitute to quench someone’s thirsty, considering that there campaigns for health living and people are now avoiding alcohol to keep fit. Also Laws that govern drunken driving compel customers more especially motorists to take water as a substitute instead of Beers. Moreover due to technological advancement it is very easy to produce substitute products such as Juices that may be appealing to consumers and such is obtaining in the European Markets as these can be consumed in clubs and Pubs. Lastly the move to high consumption of wines in the United Kingdom than usual beers makes it very clear that the threats of substitutes are high. Supplier’s Bargaining Power: It is clear that the suppliers bargaining power is high. For example it noted that the Packaging industry is highly concentrated in Europe and is dominated by international organizations, as such there are no substitutes to packaging hence suppliers of such materials are on the advantageous side. In addition suppliers are on good side in Europe due to the fact that production costs in the Brewing Industry are there is need treat the supplier’s well in order to operate effectively and efficiently. This gives supplier high bargaining power. Buyer’s Bargaining Power: I can simply say buyers are consumers of the products under discussion. In this context their bargaining power is very. This is because they have a wide choice of such products, this means they able to choose which brand or change at any time. Since there are a lot of substitutes available the switching costs are low hence no impact on them. Further customers would survive whether they consume the product or not. They choose when to buy and when not to, this mean that there is no concentration of buyers. Hence their bargaining power is low. Competitive Rivalry: The competition in this industry in the European Market is high. This is due to the fact that consumption levels have been reducing hence all producers have to sell their products to a reduced number of customers. Furthermore there are a lot of new brands arising from emerging markets such as fruit flavored and other exotic beers from international markets. What make competition much high are the distribution channels. The beers are distributed through supermarkets and it’s up to the brewing companies to do a lot of advertising in order to catch the consumer’s eye while shopping in supermarkets. In my conclusion I have noticed the Brewing Business in Europe is very ugly for the new entrants. It is therefore incumbent upon the existing companies to take up survival strategies such merging with others or acquisitioning of shares in the emerging markets such as Russia, China and Baltic Countries. They should also endeavor to re-brand themselves and try to enter other international markets such as Africa where customers are easily attracted to beers from overseas and there are less entry barriers. 2.Impact of trends on the four companies (a)Heineken in Netherlands: This company is named the biggest in European Beer Industry. However in order to survive the flooded market its target is to go in to international markets and use the local companies that they may acquire to introduce their beer. Transferring of Knowledge and technology is another way it aims to strengthen its new markets. The impact is that this company would grow they take up survival measures in the manner outlined above. (b)It’s strength : It holds five percent of sales in Asia-Pacific and 17% in Americas this puts in a good position when it comes to business share in a market where there is high competition. Heineken is better placed in terms of strength has it is the producer of worldly known brands such Heineken and Amstel. Due to family controlled aspect it becomes stable and independent in terms of business growth even in international markets. Economies of scale gives makes it strong considering that brewing is costly in Europe and in a nutshell it is secondary to non in brewing industry in Europe hence claims its strength in these area. Form the case I have deduced that the other strength is that they have a vision or simply where they want to be regardless of the competition industry where they operate from. I also noticed that another strength that Heineken has, is financial capacity to implement new projects as fast as possible as funding is always available for such. Heineken’s Weaknesses: Firstly weakness that, I have picked that they are unable to be innovative due family controlled. This means they may lack new ideas as the family may always influence decision making to suit their investments thus may be compelled to do things in the same manner hence lagging behind. This may result in non existence of new product development in the organization. A high price of Packaging Materials is another weakness at Heineken. They have no control or other sources for such materials this more reason why they complained of 11% price escalation. (ii)Grolsch (The Netherlands) (a)The impact if these existing business trends will cause Grolsh to push for mergers with other international organizations as it commands other brands such as US Miller and flavored beers such as grapefruit. It is also clear that it may require channeling much of resources to branding and innovation since that’s its strategy in line to survive. They believe that better looking product will attract a lot of business such green bottles and swing tops. (b) It’s Strength and Weakness One of its strength is long existence. It is on record that it was established in 1615 hence experienced hence may attract customer royalty as issues of closure may not easily arise. It has further embarked on centralization hence increase in terms of production volume which results in reduced cost. Grolsch also supplies variety of products this is strength as it gives it competitive advantage in the market in which it operates. Furthermore the other strength is its innovation in order to achieve its strategy. It’s Weakness Though its brewery is centralized it is single, thus pose a high risk in that in case of any challenges there can be no production at all. It also lacks financial muscle for example in 2005 when their colleagues Heineken made amassed 11.8 billion British Pounds Grolsch’s income from sales was only 313 Million Pounds hence very easy to fold. (iii)InBEv (Belgium/Brazil) (a)Impact of these trends: Even though InBev is the largest brewer in the world with a huge financial power it cannot survive with the existing trends in European markets. How can it survive? For it to stay alive it should strive to acquire other well established companies in the world. Since the world is more global now its strategy should be to built more global brands and increase it efficiency via purchasing and technology. The trends have impacted positively on InBev has it now sets its direction to growth through the above. (b) InBev’s Strengths The first strength is that it is the largest in the world; it is ranked either number one or two in about twenty lands. It has a sound financial position hence able to establish businesses anywhere in the world. In addition InBev is already established in emerging markets such as Chine and Brazil though acquisitions. It has well known brands such Beck’s and Stella Artois InBev’s Weaknesses Lack of analysis before acquiring other companies, for example it acquired a certain company whose brands were declining in terms sales, such acquisitions may turn out to be loses. (iv)Scottish and Newcastle (UK) (a)Impact of trends on the organization: Due to the business trends Scottish and Newcastle should be able to a lot of acquisitions in the UK being the market in which it operates; this would act as a point of growth. In line to gain competitive advantage the changing trends has pushed this company to invest in the fast growing markets such as Baltic Beverages where it has put fifty percent and China in CBC twenty Percent. (b) Scottish and Newcastle’s Strengths: It gains its strength by possessing strong brands such as John Smith, Baltika and Fosters. The strength are also drawn from its investments in fast growing economies such as China and Baltic nations, this may result in profitability regardless on competition in Europe. They are also market leaders in France, the United Kingdom and Russia as observed this is a very good strength for Scottish and New castle as competitive advantage is not easily achievable in these areas. It’s Weaknesses: Scottish and Newcastle’s financial position is not adequate for the high completion it is exposed to in this industry. My conclusion in to this assignment is that the Brewing Industry in the European Markets is highly competitive hence the need for companies to be innovative them to survive. There is also need for bigger companies to adopt strategies of acquisitioning of small ones so that they may expand their brands. Companies in this industry also need to spread their web to other countries if they are to gain competitive advantage. Bibliography HUNGER DJ/WHEELER TL (5th ed) (1992) Essentials of Strategic Management Global Forces. Online available from: www.opp.com. [Accessed 13 September 2012] 3H Strategy and international business. Online available from: www.dur.ac.uk. [Accessed 13 September 2012]

Apple Competitive Advantage Case Study

Apple Competitive Advantage Case Study A competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and service that justifies higher prices(Porter 1980:26 ). In this case, Apple Inc has a net advantageÂÂ  over its competitors such as Blackberry, Google Android, Palm pre and HTC.ÂÂ  Their success lies in its competitive advantages includingÂÂ  the firmsÂÂ  cost structure, product offerings and customer service. Furthermore, Apple are able to differentiate themselves from its competitors and have been able to gain successful customer satisfaction, in the same way they can charged a premium price. But using its competitive advantage does not mean that the company should ignore other competitors, simply because the trend of technology continuously keeps progressing with new products and innovations. Product differentiation Apple products are significantly costly, they targeted a certain segment of the market by producing high quality products which are potentially durable and unique for example the iPhone range and newly launched iPad in 2010. Businessweek investigated that apple are planning to cut the price of their computers considerably low and far more affordable to all individuals, the iMac and MacBook laptops were designed for the purpose of multimedia, most media companies uses the apple products to run their businesses as apple provide loads of incentives from its software Mac OSX. Aggressive competitions from Microsoft with windows 7 multi-media may have lead Apple to reduce their prices to gain market-share. (Businessweek.com, 2010) Core Competencies and Growth Strategy Apple`s customer orientation is to introduce the iPhone series and recently the iPad. Both devices are made at high specifications, enabling users and businesses to access their data easily and efficiently. It was reported that these high tech devices were faster than any others products in the market. The products are unique at this stage as Apple are reputably known as innovators (Macworld.com, 2010). Following this trend, Apple company structure has always been an example. They are often known as re-designing or re-structuring their organisation for instance hiring new employees of high competencies such Mark Papermaster from the IBM Company who joined Apple in 2009 (Networkworld.com, 2010). Apple value chain has also been analyzed as effective, Crompton (2010) retrieved that Apple has reworked their value chain to create manufacturing, which improved the quality of its product in the end of the 1990`s. Their production plants are outsourced from china in which they have exclusive relationship with suppliers and chip-set manufacturing companies such as Foxconn Limited from China (Businessweek.com, 2010). Apple marketing strategy is planned on a geographical segmentation; in the UK for example they have subsequently sub-contracted their products to network providers such as O2, Vodaphone, Orange and Three networks. These telecommunication mobile providers offer amazing discounts on pay as you go and sometimes delivering free iPhones to customers with a contract on a pay monthly basis. Secondly Apple has a massive advertising campaign on private TV Cable and Newspapers (The Guardian UK, 2010). On the other hand, Apple`s activity and main core competencies comes with its RD. According to Datamonitor (2010) the company believed an investment in RD (Research and Development) should keep them at competitive advantage within the industry (Datamonitor, 2010). In brief, in order to maintain and acquire its position in the market, the Apple Company has developed its o nline support in delivering updates in its software applications also known as (Appstore) accessible via iTunes for example updates on its operating systems and useful applications to home users and businesses. (Datamonitor, 2010) Growth Matrix Steve Jobs commented recently on the launch of the iPhone 4 and quoted It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apples history with iPhone 4. The iPad progressed slowly onto the market with more people buying Machinstosh than ever before, and amazing new products still to come this year (Apple.com/investor, 2010). With such confidence, the company has reassured their position into the market, their new device iPad which has made remarkable total sales of $3.27 million (Apple.com/investor, 2010). Accordingly the iPad would fit clearly as star product in the BCG matrix for the moment as it is hard to imitate. On the other hand the iPhone4 launched in the beginning of 2010 has also made considerable sales on its launch with a figure of 1.7millions units sold worldwide on the 26th June 2010 according to Reuters (2010). Despite of its high sales, the iPhone4 could be positioned as being a question mark product i n the BCG matrix because after the launch of the product in June 2010, some complaints were perceived from customers and professional technicians stating that the product is built as faulty; that is a lack of reception for incoming and outgoing calls which could result a decline in sales worldwide in which buyers will have the tendency to look for other alternative Smartphones such as Google Android or Palm Pre. To compensate its customers, Steve Jobs the CEO has proclaimed that he will be giving free cases to all Iphone4 owners (FT.com, 2010). Some Apple products have been discontinued such as iBook G3 which can be classified as Dogs in the BCG matrix, the product has came to an end in 2006 (Apple.com/support, 2010). Other products called such as the iPod classic music player can be positioned as a cash cow under the BCG matrix as they are known as mature in the market, the iPods series have been released in 2005 and has now a slow growth in the market due to competition from other companies such as Sony producing Mp3 players and Microsoft with its Zune Mp3 Players (Apple.com/hotnews, 2007). Apple has emphasized on product diversification from its iPod classic to iPod Touch which relatively stands within its market share for the time being.

Grapes of Wrath :: essays research papers

Migrant workers went through a lot of struggles. They went through life and death situations, prejudice, and one of the most important things of all they had to keep their family and people together and keep believing that they would make it to a better life. The things they go through while immigrating change their views on life forever. Some for the good some for the bad. â€Å"They said, these god dammed okies are dirty and ignorant. They’re degenerate, sexual maniacs. They’ll steal anything. They’ve got no sense of property rights† (Steinbeck 363). One of the hardest things that immigrants went through was prejudice. Cops and towns men where always after the okies because they where dirty and didn’t have a stable home. The immigrants from Mexico experienced the same hardships. The farm owners hated them. They just wanted them to do their job and leave. The farm owners didn’t care that they had a family to feed, they wanted to screw them over and pay them as less money as they could. It’s weird how the same prejudice is still around. No matter how nice a person is if they don’t dress the same or have the same interests they are disliked. â€Å"As usual there had been violent incidents on the picket line. A union member had been run over† (Del Castillo, Garcia 84). People everyday that went on strikes put their lives on the line. They knew there was a threat when they protested. It was a life and death situation. Fight for your rights, or keep working for the minimal amount and not be able to support your family. Every immigrant has tough choices to make. In the early days they had to make life and death choices. In both stories they have strikes to give the immigrants what they deserve. In the grapes of wrath as well as Cesar Chavez, somebody dies from a strike. â€Å"The heavy club crashed into the side of his head with a dull crunch of bone, and Casy fell sideways out of the light† (Steinbeck 495). Casy died because he protested against how much money people should earn. The men came after him and the rest of the protesters. They killed them in fear of having to raise the prices. Casy was tired of working for 2 cents an hour. He could live off that. The only choice he had was to protest.

Movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” Essay

An amazing movie, The Pursuit of Happiness illustrates through the examples of Chris Gardener’s life that anyone has the opportunity to achieve their own pursuit of happiness, if they have self-motivation and determination. Happiness is not something that can be pursued. We already have all the capacity for happiness that we need. Happiness comes from within, and from being content with oneself. People can choose to be happy or choose to be miserable. But to be happy or to be sad they need to have particular motivation or self-determination for it. Motivation is defined as a desire or need which directs towards a goal or something that someone wants. Motivation is an inherent response; it comes from inside and cannot be imposed from the outside, and comes from wanting to do something of one’s own free will. A motivating condition may be defined as an emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as an animating to action and is the set of processes that moves a person towards a goal. Motivation consists of five basic theories. The last theory is called humanistic theory and this is perhaps the most important of all. According to Abraham Maslow, an inventor of humanistic psychology, humans are driven to achieve the maximum point of goal at some point of their lives regardless of any obstacles and hindrances. Maslow developed a pyramid called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and it argues about five levels of needs beginning with physiological needs and ending with our need for self-actualization. In the movie Pursuit of Happiness, the main character Chris Gardner was played by Will Smith, who had lost everything in some financial crisis. He ended up living in homeless shelter with his kid. He was jobless to support his kid and his wife, so his wife leaves him. Motivation drives him to struggle until the very end to get rid of this situation. Chris had motivation, he had to feed and care for his child. To feed your child and raise them properly is probably about the strongest motivation a person could have. Chris’ son reminded him daily of his need to succeed and get control of his life. Not only did Chris have motivation, he had an  incredible attitude and was confident in himself. If not for his confidence and attitude he most likely would have never become the successful stock broker he ended up being, much less even made it into the internship. Chris, after falling on hard financial times his son was left homeless. Chris manipulates working a full time unpaid internship, bringing his son to daycare, and finding a bed to sleep each night in Church. Chris and his son are not leading an easy life. One day, Chris finds some free time and decides to play basketball with his son. Where he tells his son that his dream to play basketball as an NBA player will never become true, and he can never be a good player, so he should stop playing. Yet Chris has a sudden change of heart and gives his son a speech to encourage him to always try his hardest and not let anyone shuts him down. Chris tells his son, â€Å"Don’t let anybody tell you, you can’t do something. Even me,† â€Å"You gotta dream, you gotta protect it†¦ You want something? Go get it. Period (_The Pursuit of Happiness.)†_ In first Chris decreases his son’s expectancy by telling him that he wouldn’t be able to play as a basketba ll player. In this movie the character of Chris is shown an extremely determined person. According to psychology, in order to be determined you have to let your mind make the decision that you have to get to the very end. It’s like a goal that you have to achieve it. It’s the end of your work. It could be either good or bad. A very good example which proves that Chris Gardner is determined person is when Chris did not have any money left to pay for his rent. He didn’t just say I don’t have any money and give up on everything, he rather told his land owner that he will pay him the money and so he did, he was so determined to pay for his rent, so determined that he painted the walls of his apartment to make money so that he could pay off his rent. The another great example of being determined is when Chris trusted the hippie girl with one of his bone scanners and when the hippie ran away with the scanner, he did not just sit back and lose his faith. He runs after that lady and finally gets his scanner back. The third example of being determined is when Chris kept calling although many people such as his manager keep distracting him from his work and turned him down, but he never gives up and ended up getting business from a CEO of a big company which  shows that what determination brings to him. Chris Gardner had hope and motivation not to give up. He was very hopeful and optimistic individual and never gave up throughout his life. He decided what he wanted to do and he actually went for it. Even though his motivations for being in the stock market were not the correct ones, but it still even didn’t drag him to despair. An admirable illustration that proves Chris Gardner really is a hopeful and Optimistic person is when Chris’s wife had left him and he did not break down. He in fact was totally optimistic and did as far as conceivable to take care of his child as a single parent. Further example for Chris Gardner’s optimistic nevertheless hopeful individuality is when he took a chance of an internship that offered no salary, and he took that job even though he was literally broke. The third impressive example would be when one of his scanners that Chris was selling got broke. He did not get disappointed and lost his hope. He actually took some notable action and donated blood to the hospital so he could get paid for that. With that money in his hand he bought the bulb for his machine and repaired it. According to Maslow’s pyramid Chris was hanging on the very bottom of it, because he did not have a permanent shelter where he could live with his son, and he has very little money for the food. Since he had no job so he was not secured either. With all these negative things Chris’ self-esteem was very high as is shown in the movie when he showed up into interview with no shirt on and paint all over his body and hair and he still gets selected. The reason why, is because he was very and confident and he had firm belief in himself, so he gets respected by others too. They didn’t just judge him the way he looks but how well he can perform his job and they offered him the internship job. Even though the job was no salary based he still accepted it and worked very hard till the end to get the actual job at same place. In the end, your motivation to change something about yourself may come from a variety of sources, perhaps a little because of pain, a little because you’re inspired to be a better person, and a little because your spouse  would like you to stop a habit that’s driving both of you crazy. Becoming aware of your primary motivation to change is the best source for setting off a new path, a new direction of life. No matter who or what the circumstances are, every person who is considering changing something about her or himself has a reason; a motive to change that can reinforce and strengthen the resolve to change when change becomes difficult. WORKS CITED â€Å"Motivation in Psychology 101 at AllPsych Online.† _Psychology Classroom at AllPsych Online_. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. . â€Å"Literature Class Ppt.† _Google_. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. . â€Å"Motivation in Psychology.† _Encyclopedia of Psychology – Psychology Websites_. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. .

Beowulf: The Man, the Legend, the Hero Essay

Beowulf is an epic poem whose earliest surviving copy was written in 1000 A.D. The story consists of three thousand one hundred and eighty two lines that follow the life of the title character. The original author of the epic poem is unknown mainly because it started as a verbal tale passed down orally through the ages. Finally someone wrote it down in a document now called the Nowell Codex. The epic tale is centered on Beowulf and his actions in an adventure to repay a debt owed by his father to Hrothgar, a Danish king. A gargantuan monster that is terrorizing Hrothgar’s mead hall is Beowulf’s target and Beowulf sails across the sea to aid his father’s friend. Doesn’t he already sound like a hero? Well that’s because he is. Beowulf is a hero in every sense of the word. From his moral code to his actions, and beliefs this Geatish legend fits the archetype of a hero down to the finest points. All heroes set out on a quest. For what is unique to every story, but a quest is made all the same. This legendary hero of English lore sails across an ocean to take on a seemingly impossible task. For twenty four hours straight he and fourteen companions brave the oceans waters but reached their destination without a hitch. This seems odd for a classic hero. A journey going exactly as planned? Not likely. This alludes to the fact that this journey across the sea wasn’t the actual voyage he set out to make. The ultimate goal is Grendel. True heroes value their reputation. Beowulf’s reputation precedes him, as the Danes already know of many of his mighty feats. The value of a good reputation is also immeasurable in Anglo-Saxon society. When someone introduces themselves they say their name, son of their father. In Beowulf’s case when initially landing on the shores of Denmark, he says â€Å"The son of King Healfdene, have come here to visit.† This let the guard on the coast know that Beowulf came from good blood. Dishonor in one’s lineage in this time period meant dishonor for many generations in the future. The importance of a legacy leads toward the hero that Beowulf is, being shown in his actions. The King remembers Beowulf and acknowledges the fact that his lineage is an impressive one and believes that the hero, Beowulf has been sent by God to save the Danes from the wicked monster Grendel. Beowulf’s strength and endurance are legendary. Upon his arrival to Herot he recants the tale of his competition with Breca. All but one of the Danes is impressed by his tale making them believe that they will be saved. Unferth challenges Beowulf’s feat but, never to be put down, Beowulf clarifies the real story. The Danes are astonished by Beowulf’s adventure and rejoice at his presence. This admiration by his peers motivates Beowulf to do the task he has set out to do. The battle with Grendel also ill ustrates Beowulf’s might. He is initially looked at as a fool for even contemplating such a thing as not using a weapon, but in the end it pays off. His bare hands can dole out more damage than any sword in Herot and in one day of being there the monster is defeated. The Danish people begin to worship Beowulf. This almost cult following fills Beowulf’s ego just like a balloon, yet he doesn’t let it get out of control. He knows the people love him and is happy that his reputation held up. Yes, he works for the repayment of his father’s debt but also for the admiration of his fellow man. The people of Herot feed Beowulf’s desire to be recognized as a hero and therefore he agrees to revenge the death of Halga. He feels that it is his fault that Grendel’s mother has come to terrorize the city. The hero in Beowulf comes out and he protects the people. The protection of the weak is another archetypal hero characteristic that Beowulf exhibits. The people he protects for the first half of the epic, aren’t even his own. He still stands strong even for Hrothgar’s people, just to ensure his father’s debt is entirely paid back. Though he has almost surely done enough to maintain his father’s good name, he stays to make sure the people who have so generously accepted him into their town, are safe forever. Going in to the swamp himself showcases Beowulf’s leadership style. He wants to make sure all of his men return home safely, and the only way to do this is to only endanger one life, his own. This also lends itself to the idea that Beowulf is in his line of duty for glory. Here in this scene he takes the approach of â€Å"If I want it done right I will do it myself.† As the leader of this band of Geats he wants them to live to recant his legacy in the off chance of his death; to be immortalized in history as a brave warrior who died in the line of battle. The swim down to Grendel’s mother’s lair exemplifies Beowulf’s super-human qualities. It was said that he swam for the better part of a day, a deed which by human standards is impossible. Once at the bottom he faces the swamp hag in a battle which once again ends with his victory. When has a story ever had the hero die in the middle of the book? The fact that Beowulf just happened to see the giant sword on the wall shows that he is a hero because things go his way. As one of the oldest written stories of a warrior hero, Beowulf was the basis for all male warriors from this point on. Everything goes their way, the adversaries are defeated, and a celebration is had. The men on the surface had given up on Beowulf. They walked away from the edge of the swap and returned to Herot. But even with the odds stacked against him, Beowulf managed to defeat his enemy, and return safely to his men. The people under Hrothgar’s rule are ecstatic upon his return. Their savior has come back alive and with a trophy to display his victory. The scene that follows his return is also typical for a hero. He is showered with gifts and the admiration of the people. He receives gifts of great significance, not only monetarily, but also symbolically. Hrothgar gives Beowulf’s men gold and other treasures. To Beowulf himself, however, he gives much more than that. He gives armor, which any great hero will need in battle, and horses with golden bridles. On one of the horses lays the most symbolically important gift; a saddle specially fashioned for a King to ride into battle. This saddle shows that Hrothgar knows Beowulf is a hero, and one day will be a king. The hero always gets put up on a pedestal, this case a throne. Beowulf is king for fifty years before his next adventure, but he is the best king the Geats have had. Heroes seem to always come out well rounded, they are fantastic warriors, amazing kings, and great leaders. Beowulf fits all three of those throughout the epic, but especially in the last battle scene. The dragon is Beowulf’s final adversary. The dragon is a symbol for all evil, much like Grendel, and his mother were. This time however Beowulf has aged past his prime, yet hasn’t abandoned his strategy of diving in, headfirst, without back up. At last Beowulf has met his match. The dragon mortally wounds Beowulf but before he dies Beowulf puts up one last fight and lays the death blow onto the dragon. He defeated all of the monsters he was put up against but this last one got the best of him. He died the way he wanted to; in battle, living his warrior lifestyle for one last moment. The way Beowulf’s life ended forever solidified him in the category of a hero. In conclusion, Beowulf is a prime example of an archetypal hero. His valor in battle is only part of the equation. A true hero must also show the importance of leadership, reputation, protection, and strength. Throughout the epic poem, the title character exhibits all of those characteristics of a hero, and others as well. Beowulf is a hero no matter which way his character is examined, and a model for all warriors to come.

Share Your Skills with Schools †and Get Paid!

Share Your Skills with Schools – and Get Paid! Writers like you possess special, sought-after skills. You have gold dust to offer! Literacy ranks high on school agendas, and teachers often find creative writing a stumbling block. No wonder that many schools gladly pay experts to come in and inspire their youngsters. Could this be you? I’ve been running workshops in schools for years, and find them an ideal accompaniment to writing. Not only can they provide a healthy income boost, but the work is enjoyable too, and the children’s enthusiasm fires up my own.   It’s a win-win all around! Promotion Opportunities What’s more, school visits provide excellent promotional opportunities. If you have a book to sell, mention it to the schools you approach, with price and links, and take an armful along on every visit, whether for children or staff. If its a kids book, ask your school if they can notify parents in advance, so their children can bring requisite money. I sell lots of books this way. A discount helps, and for a further incentive, I set a simple price requiring minimal coins or notes for child-handling. Fee Fees widely vary. Set it low to start with and build up. I’ve reduced mine to about $200 plus travel to accommodate tightening school budgets in the UK; your schools may have more funds. You might like to apply to an agency or organization that specializes in such appearances, and let them arrange everything. In any case, agency websites provide useful information, including an insight into the range of workshop content authors offer. Here are a few to browse (selected and listed randomly), in Canada, the US and the UK: 1. Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, Writers in the Schools Program: http://writers.ns.ca/programs/writers-schools-wits.html 2. Seattle Arts Lectures: Writers and Schools, https://www.lectures.org/wits/writers_n_schools.php 3. Writers in the Schools, Houston: http://witshouston.org/ 4. Pen/Faulkner Foundation, Washington DC, Writers in Schools: penfaulkner.org/writers-in-schools/wins-blog/ 5. Authors Abroad, UK: authorsabroad.com An online search under â€Å"authors for schools† will reveal many others in these countries and around the world. Boost Your Bookings To earn more, consider widening your age range or content. I drew fresh interest Fit to Suit Fit your bookings round your writing, using the lulls in one to take advantage of the other. Opportunities may be intermittent at schools as their diaries fill fast and even big budgets run dry sometimes, or you might be between book releases. Here are few tips to see you on your way: Arrangements: Confirm booking details in writing, including content (poetry/story-writing/drama/journalism) and fee. Lesson plan: Prepare a mix of activities to keep kids on board, including some physical ones like artwork, singing, drama, or an outdoor performance, depending on age, space, time and facilities. In the classroom: You’ll have a staff member with you, so don’t panic! Keep calm, and maintain a lively pace. If you enjoy it, they will as well. Working with children: Check requirements in your area for working with children. You may need a criminal history record check to confirm you are eligible. Oh, and one more thing: Get a good night’s sleep before that alarm goes off! Children are energetic!

Argentina In Turmoil essays

Argentina In Turmoil essays In recent months, the international economy has been adversely affected by the serious slowing of the U. S. Economy, which has had considerable macroeconomic and financial effects. However, the Argentinian crisis is not just the result of unbridled management of the economy. Some people argue this failure to solve the economic problems reflects lack of a common political understanding about which fundamental economic direction the country should take. Despite this, it is my contention that this crisis is the reflection of a countrys corrupt economic, social and political system. Many people believe the precipitate fall in Argentine economic activity is due to the countrys inability to compete internationally. They argue that a 10-year system of pegging the nations currency to the U. S. Dollar helped gain control of inflation but could not remain effective because the countrys economy was not able to keep pace with that of the United States. It is also believed that globalisation has pushed Argentina to the verge of collapse. It is said that the globalising world has divided its rewards unevenly by widening the gulf between rich and poor people. This idea is based on the fact that around half of Argentinas 36 million people now live below the poverty line, unable to buy basics like food and clothing, while unemployment is approaching 25 percent. Some other people would argue that one of the most critical causes of the Argentine crisis is banking system. Banks, which must be committed to guaranteeing depositors predictability and liquidity, lack the confidence of people whose savings have been trapped in the corralito the banking restrictions that were imposed when the economy faltered. In spite of the previous arguments, I strongly believe that corruption is the main cause of the economic problems that have destroyed Argentinas wealth, impoverish ...

Analysis of the Old Love Tradition Illustrated In Poems by Chaucer

Analysis of the Old Love Tradition Illustrated In Poems by Chaucer Courtly Love in Chaucer’s poetry Chaucer’s literature was spread across many different spheres of interest throughout his life, often focussing on society and religion. An observer of his own social group, he wrote satirical interpretations of those surrounding him, subverting the traditional writing styles of Beowulf (900AD-1100AD), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (14th century) and even Petrarch (1304-1374), into something that was almost similar to social commentary. Chaucer’s relationship with the courtly love tradition is interesting to examine because of its fluctuating nature; his attitude to courtly love in his earlier writing is very different to the presentation of courtly love in The Canterbury Tales . The woman presented in A Complaint to his Lady is very different for instance to the woman of The Miller’s Tale (who arguably is not so much a heroine of courtly love) in that she is very distant, and rebuts his advances, whilst Alison in The Miller’s Tale is open to the men†™s proposals to gain her affections. Therefore one can assume Chaucer’s intentions in writing the poem are ambiguous at best; it is challenging to decide whether Chaucer uses a satirical presentation of courtly love, or whether he is genuinely adhering to the concept of both courtly love and the chivalric tradition. The tradition of courtly love is based around five elements, which define the relationship between the two participants. The love was primarily a relationship between aristocratic men and women, and was often adulterous. The relationship would be conducted in secret and would often involve the ritualistic exchange of gifts. The final defining element of the affair was the flouting of rigid courtly marriage, which was often only formed for political and financial reasons. Glorification of this kind of extramarital affair was found in songs of gallant knights and their fair ladies, and led to the spread of this kind of relationship in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The poem itself represents the prescribed courtly love heroine; however its adherence to the protocol of the tradition is variable. The portrait of the traditional courtly love heroine can be found in Prologue of The Canterbury Tales In the description of the prioress, we are told her ‘nose was elegant, her eyes glass-grey; Her mouth was very small, but soft and red, Her forehead, certainly, was fair of spread†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. This represents her noble features, and her eyes are a metaphor for her treatment of her lover; the courtly love heroine rarely acknowledged the advances of her lover and instead, gives only the merest hint that she shares his feelings. The ‘glassy’ nature of the heroine’s eyes shows a degree of superficiality in the relationship between the man and woman; perhaps even an emptiness of character, even a lack of personality where the heroine becomes a mechanism for the man to project his idealistic feelings upon. A Complaint to his Lady is a poem written from a man directly to a woman whom he clearly adores, detailing his struggle for her affections, and how she is causing him a considerable amount of torment. For example the line ‘so desepaired I am from alle bliss,’ shows an almost self-pitying lamentation that continues until the beginning of part III. The third part of the poem sees the narrator confessing that ‘I can but love hir best, my swete fo;’ which symbolises a sweetness previously absent, a sweetness connected to his love for her, which changes the tone of the poem. The poem takes the form of a monologue; whilst he appears to be talking to his lady, it becomes obvious that she is not there, or is at least unresponsive, and therefore one can presume he is alone. The main element of the poem is distance and suffering, created by this woman, regardless of his devotion to her. Chaucer here represents love as a kind of poison, shown by his statement ‘Th us am I slayn with Loves fyry dart!’, and subsequently leaving the protagonist unable to understand her treatment of him; ‘love hath taught me no more of his art’. The perspective of the protagonist changes as the poem progresses, beginning with establishing the circumstances in which he is in love with her, and then moving on to describe the manner in which she treats him. The quotation ‘The more I love, the more she doth me smerte’ represents the paradoxical effect of the courtly love; the woman will appear to grow more distant. At the beginning of part III, the protagonist describes his woman as ‘Faire Rewtheless’; this is revealing about her mannerisms and ‘Rewtheless’ represents a cold attitude, is very similar to the eyes of the prioress which are described as ‘eyes glass-grey’. The fourth section of the poem is the longest, and represents the efforts of the protagonist to glean some kind of response from his woman. He compares his own shortcomings with her ‘gentileness and debonairtee’, and almost sarcastically states that he is not worthy of her service. Chaucer states tha t ‘Thogh that I be unconnyng and unmete, to serve, as I coude best, ay your hynesse,’ says that even though he is uncouth and unkempt, he would serve the woman as best as he could. This over exaggerated display of emotion implies that the poem could be satirical; however because there is no comparative character, or change of theme, one cannot be sure of Chaucer’s intention regarding the poem. It is interesting that he refers to the lady as a queen, therefore of higher status than himself reinforcing the idea that she has become almost demigod-like, given it is likely that they would have belonged to the same social strata. Part of the attraction of courtly love was the extravagance and exaggeration of action; for women of this period, they would have been repressed for most of their lives, constantly adhering to rules enforced by the crown, or perhaps their own family, and this affair was a rebellion against normality for them, almost a liberating experience. Th e final stanza of the poem, the protagonist proposes an ultimatum of sorts; to grant him some kind of pity, (i.e. respond in some way to his advances), otherwise nothing, no bliss, nor hope will dwell in his troubled heart. From a modern day point of view, the poem becomes repetitive, and the concept appears false; however at the time of writing, this level of extravagance was not uncommon and therefore from a historical perspective, the poem is likely to be a good example of typical courtly love poetry, such as that of Petrarch and Boccaccio. The presentation of the heroine in this poem is comparable with other courtly love heroines in Chaucer’s tales, in particular Alison, from the Miller’s Tale, Pertelote, The Nun’s Priests Tale, The Prioress, The Prologue and Criseyde, Troilus and Criseyde. Criseyde is very similar to the Prioress in many ways; however is assertive in her role as a courtly love heroine, playing an active part in the poem, demonstrated by book III, verse 115. She states ‘Alas, I would have though, whoever told, such tales of me, my sweetheart would not hold, Me false so easily’, showing perhaps a more effective, realistic heroine than the woman in A Complaint to his Lady. In contrast, courtly heroes often use hyperbole to attempt to convey the depth of the affection they feel towards their women, for example when Chaucer’s protagonist says ‘But I, my lyf and deeth, to yow obeye’ (My life and death, to you obey). This essentially states that she has total control over his heart; a fairly typical declaration within courtly love poetry; Boccaccio used many similar assertions in his novel Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta . The courtly love hero is often of a noble disposition, as demonstrated by book I, verse 27 of Troilus and Criseyde. The knightly element of courtly love can be exemplified by earlier literature, such as the description of King Arthur in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written in the fourteenth century, around the same time as A Complaint to his Lady. The nobleness of the courtly gentleman is described in Lines 85-88 of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, when the author describes Arthur himself, as ‘Bot Arthure wolde not ete til al were served, He was so joly of his joyfness and sumquat childgered, His lif liked hym light, he lovied the lass’ (Line 85-88). Paraphrased, the above means â€Å"But Arthur would not eat until all were served. He was so youthfully gay and somewhat boyish, he liked an active life .† The general sense of courtly love therefore is a noble relationship outside convention, between a lady and gentleman; the woman is typically more distant while the man ritualistically tries to ‘woo’ her, using any means necessary, and in the case of A Complaint to his Lady, suffers immensely due to the depth of his love for her. Throughout A Complaint to his Lady, the protagonist changes his opinion concerning who is to be blamed for his affliction; in the first two stanzas, he blames himself for becoming so attached, but then unsatisfied with this, blames the emotion of love itself for his sadness. Eventually however he reaches the conclusion that it is her ruthlessness, described as ‘thogh ye never wil upon me rewe, I moste yow love and been ever as trewe’, that causes him so much pain. Chaucer here portrays a hero who will eagerly fall in ‘love’ with a woman, however will be unable to control his own emotions. This degree of instability coupled with obvious exaggeration of his feelings causes us to question whether he is a satirical figure, but also if the nature of this love is genuine as opposed to merely a whim. His status as a courtly love hero is also questionable, because he is portrayed as an ineffectual character as opposed to a gallant, noble member of the court. Assuming there are five main elements of courtly love, many of those should be found in the poem. The most prominent element of courtly love in the poem is the aspect of aristocracy, presented by the protagonist’s placement of himself in servitude to the woman. On numerous occasions he places himself below her, begging her not to ‘from your service dryve’. There is very little in the way of ritualism in the poem to suggest that the couple share gifts or even any kind of relationship at all; Chaucer uses language in such a way that it infers she barely is aware of his existence. This presents the reader with a quandary especially regarding the purpose of the poem. Secrecy of their affair is not alluded to at any point in the poem; this perhaps represents the ambiguity of what has thus far occurred between them, and perhaps therefore it does not follow the tradition in that the relationship (if it can be defined as such) is not adulterous, as far as we can tell. In order to establish this, it may be useful to examine Chaucer’s own life, and his personal situation at this point . In 1368, Chaucer was married to Philippa Roet, a lady in waiting to the Queen, and was an esquire to the house of Edward III. He had also had a son, named Thomas, born in 1367. This information is useful in terms of a biographical perspective on the poem. Chaucer was still a young man at the point of writing A Complaint to his Lady (aged 24) and it is conceivable that the poem was written on a personal basis, detailing some kind of affair he himself was having at the time. This knowledge is useful, because therefore if the poem is autobiographical, the lady he is speaking of is obviously not his wife, thus fulfilling the extramarital nature of a courtly love relationship as presented in the poem. Without any biographical knowledge however there is no mention of any other relationship, which causes the reader to question the very essence of ‘fine love’ in that we can find very little evidence for it from the poem alone. There are however some isolated elements of the trad ition found in the poem, however whether they culminate in a traditional courtly love ritual poem is dubious. The structure of the poem is revealing in terms of the intention behind its writing; the changing forms, and inconsistency present the reader with an almost unfinished poem, sufficiently unrefined to justify this assertion. There are three main changes of form; parts I and II are written in rhyme royal. Part II however does not strictly adhere to the concept of rhyme royal and contains elements of terza rima. Part III sees the complete transition from rhyme royal to terza rima; iambic tercets make the poem sound more rhythmic than it had been previously. After part III however the form of the poem turns into decasyllabic lines, with stanzas being largely ten lines long, with the exception of stanzas eight and nine, which are nine and eight lines long respectively. The final part of the poem is the least rigidly formatted, and has an irregular rhyme scheme. One of the main rhyme patterns of the final section is AABAABCDDC, however not all stanzas follows this pattern. This inconsisten cy therefore is important in ascertaining the writer’s literary capability, almost the level of sophistication his work had reached at the time he’d written the poem. If one were only to examine the structural cohesion of the poem, then one could conclude he was still very much a developing poet. The rhyme scheme of parts I-III is fairly regular because it adheres to two poetic forms, rhyme royal and terza rima . The use of rhyme royal was a fairly common pattern to use during this period, and often was used in less sophisticated rhyming poetry of the time. Chaucer’s use of terza rima however allows the reader insight into the influence of the courtly love tradition on the poem in that in order to use the form, Chaucer would have had to be exposed to it, in its original format by its patrons, at some point during his missions to Europe. In Italy at this point, Petrarch and Boccaccio especially were writing poetry that was very heavily focussed on the tradition of courtly love, experimenting with terza rima; exposure to this may have prompted Chaucer to write A Complaint to his Lady, and to view the poem as an experiment would add credibility to the idea that Chaucer was still developing as a poet, and therefore his ideas were still unrefined, thus explaining the poemâ €™s content. Why Chaucer did not choose to finish the poem in this manner is unknown. There was usually no prescribed rhyme scheme used in the courtly love tradition, except the obvious assumption that it should rhyme. From the composition of the poem one can assume that Chaucer’s influences were mixed; his travels to Italy influenced his work, as demonstrated by the use of terza rima and the protocols he follows when addressing his lady. Another influence of folklore becomes apparent through the emotions he claims to feel regarding her, and the influence of the knightly tales as demonstrated by the noble tone of ‘For neither pitee, mercy, neither grace’. The structure of this poem in comparison with later works shows more of an experimental motivation; for instance, in The Miller’s Tale the structure is simple; rhyming couplets and one long, extended stanza. This structure therefore adds far more focus to the plot as opposed to the intricacies of rhyme. The Canterbury Tales were also intended for an audience, to be performed verbally; wheth er A Complaint to his Lady was intended for public consumption may affect whether the tradition of courtly love actually forms the basis of the poem, because usually, poems written for personal courtship would not be shared with the wider public. The lack of aural consideration in the poem creates the impression that the poem was not supposed to be performed for the general public, even though the concept of ‘fine love’ was very popular in folklore of the time. The Canterbury Tales were however written to be performed verbally; several paintings of Chaucer performing his poetry exist, including â€Å"Chaucer at the Court of Edward III† . Graphological interpretation of the poem is difficult because by modern standards, it is fragmented and inconsistent; however, there are some features of the poem that define certain elements. For example, Chaucer frequently uses commas, which adds to the internal monologue effect he uses, causing the reader to feel as though we are entering conversation with him. This presents a paradox in terms of stylistic quality because the reader almost feels intrusive, whilst being ‘spoken’ to at the same time. ‘This hevy lif I lede, lo, For your sake’ for example is paradoxical because Chaucer is apparently addressing his lady, and yet appears to be addressing the reader in a simplistic sense because of the use of the second person, personal pronoun of ‘you’. There are also several questions used in the poem, which again engages the reader, making it more accessible to an audience. An example of this is ‘Allas, whan shal that harde wit amende?†™ which is a kind of ponderous question. It includes no specific address however invites the reader to respond in some way. In terms of language and lexical choices, the poem is far easier to comprehend than when considering grammar. Broadly, the poem uses three semantic fields; that evolving around the tradition of courtly love, beauty and other such finery, one of religion based ideas, and one of servitude and self deprecation. These are of course very broad spectrums. The field of courtly love is the central theme of the poem, as demonstrated the assertion of ‘gentilnesse and your debonairtee?’ The language used is obviously connected to the overriding theme of the poem. The use of religious imagery is perhaps more interesting; it represents a deep rooted relationship with the social values of the period and perhaps the element of Christianity that was undoubtedly present in the courtly love tradition. The demigod-like presentation of the woman only serves to enhance the enchanting aura that appears to surround the woman in Chaucer’s poem, and because of the depth of religious focus at the time, this was a very powerful feeling to manipulate within poetry itself. The comparison however with the godlike features of the woman, such as his idealisation of her, as in â€Å"Myn hertes lady and hool my lyves queen†, with the position of servitude he finds himself in is bizarre because from a historical point of view, a man is wholly authoritative over a woman. In modern literature, the woman is often seen rejecting the idealisation of the opposite sex due to love, and instead is becoming more internally directed by her own thoughts and emotions. The semantic field of servitude is one common across much of the courtly love poetry experienced; Petrarch, for example regularly wrote so that the role of the man and the woman were reversed; servitude moved from the role of the woman to that of the man, thus subverting tradition and therefore making the concept almost strange to read, if one is in the contextual mindset as the poem demands. The significance of connotation is surprisingly small in this poem because Chaucer was not a great user of metaphor, especially in his earlier poetry; the emergence of figurative language emerged during the age of prescriptivism, from around 1450, some years after his death. Chaucer does use figurative language in some of The Canterbury Tales, however in terms of The Nun’s Priests Tale, the idea of anthropomorphism is more prevalent than metaphor per se. Chaucer’s meaning is very much found at face value; there are wider implications of what he says, however there is little linguistic subtext, in comparison for example with William Shakespeare. There is however much more contextual connotation, in his exploration of the woman and her role in his life, and the religious connections this has. Overall, the poem follows many aspects of the tradition of courtly love, however investigations into form and Chaucer’s personal life may be more revealing about the motivations of the poem; whether the poem was intended for public consumption is unclear, however since the poem appears to be intensely personal, it seems unlikely. Contextually however, rambling tombs of poems dedicated to one’s ‘true love’ were not uncommon; exaggerated gestures of undying love were commonplace particularly in the aristocratic circles in which Chaucer placed himself, and therefore he may have been persuaded to write in this manner by a variety of ‘peer pressure’. The differences between the tradition of courtly love and the poem will be further explored in Part Two, as well as Chaucer’s personal life which may have influenced the degree to which the poem adheres to tradition, and how far it diverges in comparison with The Canterbury Tales.

The role of the school principals in the care of gifted students Dissertation

The role of the school principals in the care of gifted students - Dissertation Example Now, there are many ways of assessing how children perform, interact with their learning and solve different problems, beyond just reading and writing, to find out who is gifted (Murray, 1994). The definition of giftedness according to Marland report (1972) as cited in Klein, et. al (2007, p. 574) is "Gifted and talented are those ... with demonstrated achievement and/or potential ability in ... (a) general intellectual ability, (b) specific academic aptitude, (c) creative or productive thinking, (d) leadership ability, (e) visual and performing arts, and (f) psychomotor ability.† This definition now include skills which are not easily manifested, and to successfully and credibly label someone as â€Å"gifted† many processes are necessary than mere parental observation. Research indicates that the gifted individuals form a diverse group and it is not something which can be associated with a single trait. The giftedness of a child is associated with the psychological well -being of a gifted child, the matching of his skills with education provided, and the personal characteristics of the child, for example, his life situations, his nature and/or self-perceptions (Niehart 1999, p. 15). 1.1 Context Saudi Arabia puts a premium on education based on their belief that one’s principal duty in life is to acquire intellectual and spiritual perfection in his thinking, perceptions and belief (Gulen 2004, p. 202). Hence, the Ministry of Education was established in 1953. It sets overall standards for the country’s educational system and assumes responsibility for policy making and planning curriculum, teacher and superintendent training and special education (Al-Hamdan, n.d., p. 2). The system consists of twelve years. The educational ladder begins with six years of elementary school, three years of intermediate school and three years of high school. The educational aim of schools is to develop students’ different skills, abilities and crea tivity (Al-Hamdan, n.d., p. 3). Gifted education is incorporated in the system stemming from two administrative branches in the Ministry of Education that are tasked to identify and serve the gifted. They consist of four units namely the programs unit; the planning, coordination and training unit; the identification unit and the administrative communication unit. Special programs are provided for the identified gifted students. These include Thursday programs, summer programs and enrichment programs for the gifted within the school day (Al-Hamdan, n.d., p. 3). As stated by Aljoghaiman (2007) one example of enrichment programs is the one developed for elementary schools. Programs include teacher training for gifted students so specialized programs can be effectively implemented through appropriate teaching methods for the enhancement of gifted abilities in all areas. One example is the grouping of gifted students for a period of time during the school day when they engage in activiti es while passing through four levels of the program. â€Å"The first level concentrated on preparation and it included basic thinking skills, such as brain storming, some of the skills in the CoRT Program for Thinking, and Scamper Strategy. The second level included teaching the Creative Problem Solving Program. The third level consisted of the Future Problem Solving Program, and in the fourth and last level, gifted students went through the research program: a comprehensive program of self regulated learning that included different thinking skills. This program

Hand Washing to Reduce the Spread of Nosocomial Infection Research Paper

Hand Washing to Reduce the Spread of Nosocomial Infection - Research Paper Example Through research and healthcare studies, it is evident that nearly 5 percent of the population of patients becomes is infected in the course of hospitalization. Furthermore, increased invasive procedures have also led to an increased rate of nonsocomial infections. Currently, nearly 8% of patients who undergo invasive procedures acquire nonsocomial infections of some kind. Problem Description Healthcare professionals do not always follow the standard of hand washing when providing care to hospitalized patients. The problem of healthcare professionals not using standards of hand washing when taking care of patients has long been recognized as one of the most widespread, as well as dangerous behaviors in healthcare. Among the most common forms of nonsocomical infections include among others urinary-tract infections, pneumonia, bloodstream infections and surgical-wound infections. These infections are particularly pursuant to inventions necessary in the patient care, but which conversel y impair bodily defense mechanisms. In 2004, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) republished the definitions of health-care-associated infections. Healthcare institutions do not always use CDC definitions in their identification of nonsocomical infections such institutions use the basic definition, which does not include infections acquired after medical treatment. Sources of Microorganisms In the course of healthcare delivery, patients are exposed to a number of pathogenic microorganisms such as protozoa, fungi, viruses, and bacteria. These pathogens can be transmitted from other patients, visitors or healthcare personnel. Other sources of pathogenic microorganisms include patient flora such as those residing in patients’ mucous membranes, respiratory tract, skin or gastrointestinal tract. These pathogens are typically quite difficult to control and deter. However, other sources of microorganisms that can be easily controlled include those that reside within the hospital environment. These include touch surfaces in patients’ rooms, equipment, and medications. Infections that emanate from such external microorganisms are easily preventable through viable healthcare practices. This paper focuses on best practices employed by healthcare professionals in the prevention of nonsocomical infections in patients. Means of Transmission As earlier cited, microorganisms are spread among personnel, patients, and visitors. This is primarily done through numerous routes such as direct and indirect contact, airborne spread, respiratory droplets and common vehicles. Contact transmission is one of the most important, as well as frequent transmission modes within the healthcare fraternity. Direct contact between patients and healthcare personnel. According to the CDC, contact is the main means of transmission and can be curtailed through simple healthcare practices if implemented effectively in all healthcare institutions. Prevention Practices Prev ention practices encompass modules and behaviors aimed at the deterrence of infections in patients, especially as a result of contact.

Airbus-From Challenger to Leader Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Airbus-From Challenger to Leader - Essay Example According to Subhadra (2003), the aerospace industry is broadly divided into three categories: space programs, defense contracts, and commercial aircraft. The main players in the commercial market include Boeing and Airbus Industrie (Airbus). The major threat to aerospace industry in today’s world is terrorism (Wensveen and Wells, 2007). Most airlines went bankrupt and filed for bankruptcy after the September 2001 terrorist attack. This led to decline to the world’s air passenger traffic. Another problem was that Boeing accused Airbus of choosing to use heavy price cutting in order to beat off the competition. The other problem was that they were also accused by rival Boeing of manufacturing aircrafts that it had not received orders for thereby creating a glut in the market. Furthermore, in the early 1980s Airbus was faced with financial hardships for the A-320 project. This was attributed to the fact that the government of Airbus’ partners had not approved the program. Secondly, when Airbus actually wanted to bring in more partners, no new partner was willing to invest money due to uncertain financial health of the consortium (Subhadra, 2003). Thirdly, problem regarding the products already in the market was that the consortium had not yet made money on them. Another negative feature of Airbus was its slow decision-making process and lastly, the global economic crisis, which also affected the aviation industry. To overcome its problems, Airbus uses computer software to develop its products. To alleviate slow decision-making process, the firm encouraged good cooperation among partners with manufacturing plants spread allover Europe. Since the partners were reluctant to invest due to uncertain financial health of the consortium, in early 1998, the Airbus partners re-commenced discussions on revamping the organizational structure of the consortium. Lastly, before initiating the production of a new

Watching TV Makes You Smarter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Watching TV Makes You Smarter - Essay Example While Johnson makes several relevant points about the new TV shows, there is also missing information about the concept of TV allowing children and adults to be smarter. Even though TV may have new and different focal points, the mass media and popular culture is still focused on aspects of dumbing down society. Johnson’s main ideology is one based off the opinion of TV providing a smarter outlook through various programs; however, there is not significant information or definitions on intelligence and the effects that TV has. The main thesis of Johnson’s article is based on the concept of TV and programs which children and adults watch. Johnson believes that, despite the popular analysis of TV that states that programs lead to higher levels of violence and a lack of intelligence, TV is actually helping to provide children and adults with higher levels of intelligence. Johnson believes that this is coming from ideas of approaching difficult situations and questioning how to make right decisions that are attributed to TV. For instance, looking at perspectives of women who have to face an unwanted pregnancy, individuals who are placed in violent or compromising situations, are relevant to turning toward the correct moral decisions. Johnson states â€Å"There may indeed be more negative messages in the mediasphere today. But that’s not the only way to evaluate whether television shows or video games are having a positive impact. Just as important – is the kind of thinking you have to do † (Johnson, 3). The relation to this is based on morality as well as intelligence within the pop culture and TV. The concept of morality and thinking about issues then relates to intelligence that Johnson believes occurs on several levels. There are several statements about concepts such as newer technologies, intricate plot lines and the associations with

Final Project Milestone Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Final Project Milestone - Assignment Example This painting illustrated the difficult childhood life of an isolated, young, black, Bermudian male. Another painting, mixed media on canvas, referred to as the Trickle Down Economy, 2012, also caught my eye. This interesting art piece was a representation of plants on the ocean rocks dependent on rain and sun for their survival. This was symbolic as most Bermudians are dependent on outside sources-international business and tourism-for their survival. The most interesting art piece, apart from the ones mentioned above, was the mosaic sculpture, Frozen Time, done by Jackie Stevenson. This sculpture illustrates one of Bermuda’s exotic fish species, the parrot fish, which is the most colorful reef fish. The medium of mosaic used in this sculpture has in some way, brought to shore, the magic, the colorfulness and the inspiring nature of the fish. In her work, the Frozen Time sculptor piece, Jackie Stevenson curves out Bermuda’s famous, exotic fish, the parrot fish-red reef fish. In this art work, Jackie Stevenson uses small square pieces of glass of various colors as the sculpture’s motif. Jackie Stevenson uses white, green, blue, and clear pebbles to design the fish’s tail. ... It is worth noting that, in the sculptor, the white pebbles are dominant as opposed to the clear, green and light-blue pebbles used in designing the fish tail. The artist uses mirror-like, square piece to decorate the wing of the parrot fish. Using white, sand-like substance, Jackie Stevenson, designs the fishes mouth. This substance is tightly packed on the external surface to create a parrot-like beak just as that of a real parrot fish. It is clear that, Jackie Stevenson first curved the parrot fish using stone or concrete and later, mounts the multi-colored glass-like pieces and pebbles to illustrate the color pattern exhibited by real parrot fish. This sculpture is close to 40 cm in length just as the size of the majority of parrot fish in real life. It is amazing how Jackie Stevenson has managed to illustrate the color pattern of this magnificent, high catching fish-parrot fish. However, there are critical question that arise with regards to how the artist has mixed various colo rs (Martin & Jacobus, 2011). Around the head and the mouth of the fish, the artist uses more green, and shades of green marble-like pieces and thus making the head area more green. This can be explained by the fact that, most parrot fish species have a green colored head, and as such, Jackie Stevenson aim might have been to illustrate the most popular type of parrot fish, the green hump head parrotfish, which are known to live in reefs since they feed mostly feed on corals. As noted earlier, the choice of using tightly packed, white, sand-like substance for the design of the fish mouth is to create a parrot-like beak just as that of a real parrot fish. Jackie Stevenson uses a wooden

Airbus-From Challenger to Leader Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Airbus-From Challenger to Leader - Essay Example According to Subhadra (2003), the aerospace industry is broadly divided into three categories: space programs, defense contracts, and commercial aircraft. The main players in the commercial market include Boeing and Airbus Industrie (Airbus). The major threat to aerospace industry in today’s world is terrorism (Wensveen and Wells, 2007). Most airlines went bankrupt and filed for bankruptcy after the September 2001 terrorist attack. This led to decline to the world’s air passenger traffic. Another problem was that Boeing accused Airbus of choosing to use heavy price cutting in order to beat off the competition. The other problem was that they were also accused by rival Boeing of manufacturing aircrafts that it had not received orders for thereby creating a glut in the market. Furthermore, in the early 1980s Airbus was faced with financial hardships for the A-320 project. This was attributed to the fact that the government of Airbus’ partners had not approved the program. Secondly, when Airbus actually wanted to bring in more partners, no new partner was willing to invest money due to uncertain financial health of the consortium (Subhadra, 2003). Thirdly, problem regarding the products already in the market was that the consortium had not yet made money on them. Another negative feature of Airbus was its slow decision-making process and lastly, the global economic crisis, which also affected the aviation industry. To overcome its problems, Airbus uses computer software to develop its products. To alleviate slow decision-making process, the firm encouraged good cooperation among partners with manufacturing plants spread allover Europe. Since the partners were reluctant to invest due to uncertain financial health of the consortium, in early 1998, the Airbus partners re-commenced discussions on revamping the organizational structure of the consortium. Lastly, before initiating the production of a new

Final Project Milestone Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Final Project Milestone - Assignment Example This painting illustrated the difficult childhood life of an isolated, young, black, Bermudian male. Another painting, mixed media on canvas, referred to as the Trickle Down Economy, 2012, also caught my eye. This interesting art piece was a representation of plants on the ocean rocks dependent on rain and sun for their survival. This was symbolic as most Bermudians are dependent on outside sources-international business and tourism-for their survival. The most interesting art piece, apart from the ones mentioned above, was the mosaic sculpture, Frozen Time, done by Jackie Stevenson. This sculpture illustrates one of Bermuda’s exotic fish species, the parrot fish, which is the most colorful reef fish. The medium of mosaic used in this sculpture has in some way, brought to shore, the magic, the colorfulness and the inspiring nature of the fish. In her work, the Frozen Time sculptor piece, Jackie Stevenson curves out Bermuda’s famous, exotic fish, the parrot fish-red reef fish. In this art work, Jackie Stevenson uses small square pieces of glass of various colors as the sculpture’s motif. Jackie Stevenson uses white, green, blue, and clear pebbles to design the fish’s tail. ... It is worth noting that, in the sculptor, the white pebbles are dominant as opposed to the clear, green and light-blue pebbles used in designing the fish tail. The artist uses mirror-like, square piece to decorate the wing of the parrot fish. Using white, sand-like substance, Jackie Stevenson, designs the fishes mouth. This substance is tightly packed on the external surface to create a parrot-like beak just as that of a real parrot fish. It is clear that, Jackie Stevenson first curved the parrot fish using stone or concrete and later, mounts the multi-colored glass-like pieces and pebbles to illustrate the color pattern exhibited by real parrot fish. This sculpture is close to 40 cm in length just as the size of the majority of parrot fish in real life. It is amazing how Jackie Stevenson has managed to illustrate the color pattern of this magnificent, high catching fish-parrot fish. However, there are critical question that arise with regards to how the artist has mixed various colo rs (Martin & Jacobus, 2011). Around the head and the mouth of the fish, the artist uses more green, and shades of green marble-like pieces and thus making the head area more green. This can be explained by the fact that, most parrot fish species have a green colored head, and as such, Jackie Stevenson aim might have been to illustrate the most popular type of parrot fish, the green hump head parrotfish, which are known to live in reefs since they feed mostly feed on corals. As noted earlier, the choice of using tightly packed, white, sand-like substance for the design of the fish mouth is to create a parrot-like beak just as that of a real parrot fish. Jackie Stevenson uses a wooden

The Great Gatsby Essay Example for Free

The Great Gatsby Essay Both Fitzgerald and Gatsby vowed early in life to be successful and prosperous. The underlining symbolism in The Great Gatsby is well presented and can be analyzed through deeper literal examination of quotes such as (pg. 16) I didnt call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone he stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness. This chapter therefore comes to an end with the symbol of the green light that is mysterious. The readers first knowledge of the green light is depicted when Gatsby tries to reach out towards it, like he is worshipping it. As we progress, we discover that the green light is at the end of Daisys dock and is a symbol of Gatsby dream and hope for the future. On page 115, Fitzgerald proceeds to compare Gatsby green light to the green beast of the world. This demonstrates that even though Daisy is a symbol of power and wealth, there are underlying evil aspects that surround the beauty and comfort and envisaged by Gatsby. The word time appears 450 times in the novel either by itself or in a compound word. Fitzgerald obviously wanted to emphasize the importance of time to the overall design of the book. Time is most important to Gatsbys character. Gatsbys relationship with time is a major aspect to the plot. He wants to erase five years from not only his own life but also Daisys. Gatsbys response to Nick, telling him that he can repeat the past, is symbolic of the tragic irony that is behind Gatsbys fate. Gatsby exclaims (pg. 116), Cant repeat the past? Why of course you can! Gatsby cannot accept Daisy until she erases the last three years of her life by telling Tom that she never loved him to his face. Gatsby fully believes what he says and thinks or desperately hopes, that is true about Daisy. At one part of the story he actually tells Nick how, as soon as Tom is out of the picture, he and Daisy were going to go to Memphis so they could get married at her white house just like it were five years before hand. In another scene, when Gatsby and Nick go to the Buchanan’s for lunch towards the end of the book, Gatsby sees Daisys and Toms child for the first time. Nick describes Gatsbys expression as a natural surprise and suggests that Gatsby probably never before believed in the girls existence. Gatsby is so caught up in his dream that he becomes vulnerable to the worlds brutal reality. Daisy like so is characterized as a symbol of wealth and power; Fitzgerald distinctively creates a time symbolism in the scene when Daisy and Gatsby meet for the first time in five years. As Nick enters the room where Daisy and Gatsby have just met, Gatsby is leaning nervously against the mantelpiece while resting his head upon the clock on the mantle. At an awkward pause in the conversation, the clock starts to tip as if to fall off the mantle. Gatsby dramatically catches the clock before it falls and all three characters are speechless, stricken with a strange awe of the precious clock. Nick, narrates, I think we all believed for a moment that it had smashed in pieces on the floor. The clock was symbolizing time and Gatsbys head resting on it was all the pressure that Gatsby was putting on time. Time could not support the demands that Gatsby was making. Gatsby gingerly catching the clock and his resultant apology symbolizes the sensitivity of his plan and how necessarily delicate his methods were. The main theme of Scott F. Fitzgeralds book The Great Gatsby is the demonstration of how Americas culture of material wealth and sophistication desire has gone beyond the complete search for comfort in life to levels of worship. This ends up in harmful consequences outlined by the flaws in life. Fitzgerald used not only himself but also people he met and knew. Fitzgerald’s message in writing The Great Gatsby was the life of the â€Å"Jazz Age†. And the book tells about riches and glamour, as well as the materialism and the lack of morality of the Jazz Age.

Michel Foucault In Discipline And Punish Sociology Essay

Michel Foucault In Discipline And Punish Sociology Essay Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish and The History of Sexuality, demonstrates that the tools of disciplinarity (which emerged in the confluence of critical, historical upheavals immediately preceding the modern age, such as geometric demographic expansion, reconfiguring global financial and mercantile apparatuses, the redefinition of territorial boundaries through global explosion and the ensuring establishments of empires, the ad hoc onset of the Industrial Revolution, etc.), upon being brought into proximity to about the only things that presently we are able to bring to it, such as a proclivity towards petty moralizing, our social prejudices, our racial intolerances, the petty agendas of the bourgeoisie empirical lifestyle enclaves, etc., operate what they have been designed to do, namely the re-proliferation, expansion, multiplication, amplification, production of manipulated strategies for administering populations, under the guise of it redounding to the so-called public interest, which on the whole underwrite unconscionable amounts of paralysis, social dissatisfaction and numerous suffering. At the heart of Michel Foucaults epistemic discussions on the reorganization of knowledge in the human sciences is his argument during the 1970s that such reshaping established contemporary arrangements of power and domination. Power, he defines, is the multiplicity of force relations immanent in the sphere in which they operate and which constitute their own organization.  [1]  His comprehensive historical analysis on the advent of disciplinary apparatus in Discipline and Punish and discourses on compartmentalization of sex and sexuality, and bio-power in The History of Sexuality postulate an apparent political positioning of power in the sphere of modernity, hence, paving way for a dynamic interpretation of his own understanding of it and the encompassing entity of knowledge. This academic paper aims to expound on the place of power and knowledge in Foucaults historical studies on prison and other modern forms of disciplinary institutions, and scientific discourses about sexuality and its deployments. The paper is divided into two parts and will proceed accordingly. The first part comprises the reiteration of Foucaults claims on tools of disciplinary institutions as polymorphous, hence the interwoven appearance of new forms knowledge and power during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By having constructed the reciprocity in the entrainment of knowledge and power in the context of the penal system, Foucault tries to demarcate the bounds of these two entities, but also ensures that each converge on the confines of modern disciplinarity (such as geometric demographic expansions). In other words, Foucault does not concern himself with distinguishing the identity of knowledge against power, or vice versa, but having and understanding knowledge and power in a mutual reinforcing relation so that each is sustaining the authority of the other.  [2]   This paper also argues that what drove the tools of disciplinarity as new forms of knowledge and power to operate the way they do, as in seemingly paralyzing humanity on its actions, is because, in the first place, they were programmed to act as the antithesis to the utopia vowed by the Enlightenment; hence are hostile to begin with, yet have been stabilized by mans hopeless state to resist them, as implied in the works of Foucault. The second part is a critical analysis on two viz. (1) pedagogization of childrens sex, and (2) socialization of procreative behavior of what Foucault labels as four great strategic unities that formed specific mechanisms of knowledge and power centering on sex at the start of the eighteenth century whence the proliferation of the production of sexuality started to surface and became a historical construct. Their ontological and epistemological position allowed them to function in autonomy by which they imposed an explicit but restricted methodology in the generation and dictums of new knowledge saturated with sexuality through which these deployments asserted their own perilous power.  [3]   I The underlying theme of the reorganization of knowledge in Foucaults works was broadened and highlighted by the introduction of the contemporary prison system in Discipline and Punish. By having the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries explicitly set in the realm of discipline, observation, and chains of restriction, Foucault made it possible in his book to produce new knowledge even as they created new forms of social control.  [4]  The new penal system has [i]ts fateà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦to be redefined by knowledge.  [5]  Davidson argues that Foucaults modern prison also serves as a reference point for his scrupulous analytics of power;  [6]  hence, the horrific revelation and comparison of the spectacle of the early eighteenth century punishment over the subtlety of the new penal structure exemplifying the scope and the measure of steadiness of power throughout its transformations under different circumstances. This is one of the most crucial points that Foucault purports. As mentioned above, the prevailing prison system became his reference point in the analytics of knowledge and power, and it is not hard to deconstruct why. As it were, it can be seen that Foucault was indulging himself in the line that separates the violent yet sporadic carrying out of detrimental force that targeted the body (e.g. public tortures and eventual public executions) and the imposition of a mass of juridical absurdities  [7]  by the modern-day form of discipline: It was a question not of treating the body, en masse, wholesale, as if it were an indissociable unity, but of working it retail, individually; of exercising upon it a subtle coercion, of obtaining holds upon it at the level of mechanism itself movements, gestures, attitudes, rapidity: an infinitesimal power over the active body.  [8]   The imposition of discipline reconstructs power in the manufacture of new behavior newfound techniques, newborn gesticulation, new actions and ultimately, new breeds of people. Now, power is not merely power per se in its traditional sense, but it is a power that involves obedience on influence and exploitation. This is what Foucault meant in his discourse on docile bodies. Indeed, the human body was entering a machinery of power that explores it, breaks it down and rearranges it.  [9]  It is a power that is autonomous, ad hominem and utilitarian. Allen argues that those who discipline, apart from having a hold over the mobilization of others bodies, become compelled in always ricocheting back on specialist knowledge, whence knowledge and power come into a mutual crisscross to finally augment each other. Everything comes in tandem: there can be no criminology without prisons or medicine without clinic for knowledge is only possible in its compromise with the reciprocating patte rns in the exercise of power.  [10]  Borrowing the words of Robinson and Davies, disciplinary apparatuses, indeed, cater to a compulsory captive audience.  [11]  Thus, Foucault says, discipline produces subjected and practiced bodies, docile bodies.  [12]   The above mentioned means of subjection, along with the time cards, bundy clocks, expected movements, documented schedules, etc., operated subtly through the shake-up of space and time by which peoples perform; hence, the formulation of an indirect flow of action, cellular segmentation, and organic control, given by the partitioning and distribution of activities. They served to economize the time of life and to exercise power over men through mediation of time, leaning on a subjection that has never reached its limit.  [13]   The above interventions paved way for the turn-around between power and perceptibility. There was a swing in political strategies from the presentation of power as spectacle to its employment in perceiving the target thoroughly, i.e., to see and hear him, to monitor and evaluate him, even at a distance. Surveillance, or panopticism, which proved to be far more complex than the sheer exhibition of force, became the autonomous impetus that massively drives action. By being everywhere, surveillance forces the target to always stand on attention as he is constantly located; it allows the disciplinary power to be absolutely indiscreet and to be exercised without division: an automatic functioning of power.  [14]   Rouse provided a physical description of surveillance. According to him, surveillance was not only manifest as affixed to the walls or structures of institutions, whose primary aim, again, was to enrich the capacity to perceive, but also in the creation or extension of rituals, particularly examinations such as psychiatric tests, job interviews, meetings, and even military exercise wherein the commander only stands aside to witness the passing of a marching troop instead of actually being its forefront figure.  [15]   Foucaults argument of panopticism and how it is improbable for people to not be observed shows its extent in The History of Sexuality. He argues that with the assimilation of the discourse of the sins of the flesh in the Catholic confession after the Council of Trent (Counter-Reformation), and even just traditional confession per se, the Church created a hold on its faithful by subjugating them to perfect obedience. Even through the screens of confessional boxes, one is compelled to allow himself to be audible, hence perceived, by an authority. Foucault argues: We have since become a singularly confessing society. The confession has spread its effects far and wide. It plays a part inà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the most ordinary affairs of everyday life, and in the most solemn rites; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦one goes about telling, with the greatest precision, whatever is most difficult to tell. One confesses in public and in private, to ones parents, ones educators, ones doctor, to those one loves; one admits to oneself, in pleasure and in pain, things it would be impossible to tell to anyone else, the things people write books about. One confesses-or is forced to confessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦man has become a confessing animal.  [16]   Such manifestations of panopticism and process of keeping records chains behavior exactly by the manner in which it creates more and more access for things and phenomena to be known. Yet, digging more deeply, it must be argued that such new forms of knowledge also assume new sets of constraints, which in turn allow peoples movement to be perceived. Rouse asserts that such more specific knowledge makes room for also a more omnipresent constraint on peoples actions cycling towards the vast probabilities for more intrusive inquiry and disclosure.  [17]   These knowledge and power techniques have two-fold insinuations. First, they operated to control, or, to a higher extent, neutralize, societal factors that are deemed perilous and threat to what has already been established. Second, having controlled such unusual and abnormal elements, they provide an avenue for the enhancement of productivity and utilization of their subjects. By doing so, the use of these knowledge and power that was initially applicable only to quarantined institutions, such as prisons and mental wards in other words, exclusive and extreme entities was slowly emancipated and incorporated into an assortment of new contexts; hence allowing the expansion of their application. Foucault named this as the swarming of disciplinary mechanisms and argues: While, on the one hand, the disciplinary establishments increase, their mechanisms have a certain tendency to become de-institutionalized, to emerge from the closed fortresses in which they once functioned and to circulate in a free state; the massive, compact disciplines are broken down into flexible methods of control.  [18]   He adds that On the whole, therefore, one can speak of the formation of a disciplinary society in this movement that stretches from the enclosed disciplines, a sort of social quarantine, to an indefinitely generalizable mechanism of panopticism. Not because the disciplinary modality of power has replaced all others; but because it has infiltrated the others, sometimes undermining them, but serving as an intermediary between themà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and above all making it possible to bring the effects of power to the most minute and distant elements.  [19]   These present-day techniques ought not to be understood as a place-over upon prior structure/s. Instead, these practices ought to be realized as constituting wholly different objects for knowledge to be tickled. Amongst these new sets are strategic statistics and inputs, such as geometric demographic expansion, and the redefinition of territorial boundaries according to the continuing progressive development in International Relations; structures that incessantly tackles development, as in reconfiguration of global financial and mercantile apparatuses, or age-group and pedagogical attainments; distribution patterns, like income distribution in households, and a history of familial diseases like cancer and diabetes; and indications of the state of life like cholesterol and sugar count. Consequently, such practices generate redefined, if not new enough, types of human subjects in consanguinity with another phase of production of new knowledge, objects, and power modalities. These political practices constitute a very methodical comprehension of the individual, of course through the assistance of the elements that compose panopticism. Foucault, in Discipline and Punish, argues that such knowledge engraves a barrier that maintains the targets individuality in his very own individuality. Hence, there is a permanence of knowledge, a knowledge by which the progress of the individuality of the target is always under scrutiny and evaluation.  [20]   The more important thing, though, is that this knowledge of individuality, individuating comprehension call it what you may plays a crucial role in the economization and politicization of the population. In The History of Sexuality, Foucault argues that peoples have also been singled-out, i.e., instead of dealing with people or subjects, the government has now shifted its attention and focused on dealing with a population with all its encompassing features that, just like the individual, had also been subjected to surveillance: mortality rates, healthiness, history of diseases, immunity to them, etc. All this individualizing of the people as a population always involve a reflux into the politic and economic in the population, i.e., population as labor force, population and efficiency in resource allocation, etc.  [21]   Foucault associates the above knowledge on individuality with the regulation of the individualized people, or population, with the concept of normalization, which purports mutuality with the knowledge and comprehension of populations by determining distributions. Lorentzen argues that norms occupy the whole of society, yet impose the greatest influence on institutions like church, school, and household;  [22]  in short, the ones that hold specific populations, such as students and families. Hacking, in his book The Taming of Chance, defined normal distribution as something that tries to promote constancy in numbers as implied in the survey of Europeans on their populations.  [23]  Along with certain populations, the individual also aids in the production of knowledge by being listed under a category; hence, he is epistemologically located without degrading into the standard. For Foucault, normalization is individualization because, although it imposes homogeneity, it also ind ividualizes by making it possible to measure gaps, to determine levels, to fix specialties and to render the differences useful by fitting them one to another.  [24]   In conclusion, it can be said that the influx of newly constructed knowledge and power operate today the way they do because they were meant to counter the premise and promise of the Enlightenment. Enlightenment was the advance of thought  [25]  that aims, in this case, to cultivate the prison and/or penal system as humanly as demanded by the modern society, and to emancipate mankind from sexual repression. But Foucault has presented it with a sense of hostility, if not real contradiction. As formerly vastly discoursed in this paper, the civilized prison and liberated sexuality further entangles humanity, and Foucaults presentation of these entities addresses the materializing need to resist them as contemporary modes of knowledge and power. Yet, to go with this, he also insinuates that such resistance has no solid framework to come into existence, hence creating that in-between where there is a shocking paralysis engulfing man, and suffering and dissatisfaction looming amongst t hem. II Some of the increase in child abuse is due to the publicity itself.  [26]   Ian Hacking The History of Sexuality portrays the interrelation between knowledge and power through a historical account of the origin of the context of sexuality. It is not a given, but rather a historical construct of discourse. Its mode of deployments created new power relations parents on their offspring, psychiatrists and doctors on patients, men on women, youth and old, etc. and exercise further control on also extended areas; hence, were able to legitimize the knowledge it purports.  [27]   Foucault discusses four great lines of attack which the politics of sex advanced for two centuries,  [28]  yet are still prevalent in the society today. Two of which shall be discussed shortly, viz. the pedagogization of childrens sex and socialization of procreative behavior. Pedagogization of childrens sex. The convergence of knowledge and power in and on the bodies of children allows the gathering of data on what is medically appropriate for them, in congruence with what is also necessary for their educators and parents to maintain that medically appropriate environment, influence, and other factors in which they are deemed to operate upon. A journal in 2008 by Kerry Robinson and Cristyn Davies regarding the relationship of sexuality with the childhood of Australian children ought to shed light on this first deployment under the scope of this paper. According to Robinson and Davies, the means by which Australian kids ought to acquire knowledge on sexual related phenomenon have been transformed into something controversial by the great debates whether the pedagogy on sexuality ought to occur at home, under the supervision of parents, or at school by the childrens educators. Finally, for various reasons, the school was selected to address sexuality to children, yet Robinson and Davies argues that by the continuous denial of the education curricula on sexuality as an important part of childrens identities, childhood and sexuality become compartmentalized as purely social constructions by which there is a naturalization of heterosexuality as the norm of sexuality and hence strengthening heteronormativity amongst children.  [29]   By having children perceived as docile bodies, schooling became a disciplining state apparatus, whence the knowledge-power nexus operates through the imposition of knowledge-regulating documents, such as Health Curriculum and Health and Personal Development/Health/Physical Education (PH/H/PE), which constitute the heteronormativity of children as subjects.  [30]  The practices involved in these documents gradually become assimilated in the general physical state of children, and whatever knowledge regarding sexuality was allowed to penetrate into the childrens minds was always highly regulated by social norms and religious taboos that depersonalised the processes for both the children and the teachers.  [31]   Earlier in 2007, Philo analyzed a radio broadcast that involved Foucault referencing to childrens games like tents around gardens or those that are played on top or under their parents beds. He argues that, indeed, what these games imply is an attention to the reverberating theme of wider trans-disciplinary field of social inquiries into children, especially with sexuality, although he was apprehensive about some of Foucaults claims.  [32]   Both of the assertions of the above mentioned intellectual studies resonate to the underlying assumptions made by Foucault. On the one hand, Philos article is a proof of half of the assertion of the deployment of sexuality currently at hand that children have the natural inclination to participate in sexual activities; whilst, on the other, Robinson and Davies study constitute the significant other half that institutions, such as, in this case, school and families, are the intermediary entities that limit the dangerous sexual potential immanent in children.  [33]   Given the above assumptions, it is easy to go back to the premise of Foucaults disciplinary apparatus and relate this pedagogization as one of its most influential tools. Putting into context Hackings argument which was cited at the opening of this chapter, it can be said that such pedagogization does not much have of an impact to its intended target in children as much as it does for the people revolving around the target. With the prestigious promise of pedagogical, as well as medical, knowledge about sexuality on children, it has functioned as a regulatory tool in reshaping, and perhaps instilling imaginations that never surfaced until then, the minds of people in the hierarchy of societies that looks onto the childrens. By knowing the constraints of teachers, doctors, and parents on maintaining the childs framework towards his sexuality, it has become easier for other people to imagine otherwise; hence, child abuse became and continues to become increasingly prevalent. In short, though the pedagogization of childrens sex allows children to be oriented in a pre-defined structure, it has had become more of a tool for disciplinarity on the outside audience; therefore, another state of limbo, of paralysis, perpetuates around the surface of human action. Socialization of procreative behavior. As it was scrupulously discussed at the earlier parts of this paper, population is one of the central themes of The History of Sexuality. Knowledge and power also converges on couples, allowing their growth on their circulation through the procreative capacity of the married pair. What could be the perfect example of this deployment other than the components of the current debate on the Reproductive Health Bill? Yet its discussion remains to be written on another academic paper. The issues on fertility, regulating procreation through contraception and abortion, and enhancing human propagation through modern reproductive technologies circumscribe the married pair to function accordingly in this deployment of sexuality. Indeed, often that this deployment of sexuality is understood in the context of the medical field and economic. How, for example, has impotence evolved from being technically uselessness and meaninglessness before to something that can be remedied by the science of medicine today? Having no children before yields into an immediate notion of non-productivity, but today one may think otherwise. Yet, one of the many implications of this deployment that is not necessarily given that as much attention as compared to medicine is sex differences, the very indicator of procreativity. Cook, in her work The Personality and Procreative Behavior of Trial Judges, attempted to look into sex as an emerging concept in the sphere of political participation, approaches, and socialization of men and women trial judges. For example, women trial judges decision on what political arena they would immerse themselves into is affected by socio-cultural factors like obligations at home or with children. Men j udges, on the other hand, have a higher rate of participation in the political sphere, not only because of less pressure in terms of the constraints of household and domestic obligations, but also of less structured functions (i.e., as compared to womens political role being translated from their home-making role, men judges have definite and straight-to-the-point objectives in the realm of politics)