Saturday, August 31, 2019

Hickey Fate Versus Free Will Oedipus Rex

The downfall of Oedipus was due to free will rather than fate shown in his De minding of information and his immediate, irrational actions. Oedipus being the arrogant king he is, was constantly looking for information when others had informed him that it would not be useful, even damaging to Oedipal use's current life and well being. In an exchange between Oedipus and Tires, Oedipus had deem need Tires to him palace to tell him his prophecy and who was the one who had killed Alias and plagued the and.Tires responded to these demands with â€Å"l will cause neither me nor y o distress. Why do you vainly question me like this? You will not learn a thing from me,†. Tires clearly tells Oedipus there is no benefit to this knowledge giving Oedipus the opportunity to stop questioning the blind prophet but it was Oedipus choice to continue to pester the old ma n until the devastating truth was revealed to him and in his ignorance questioned â€Å"Who t old you to say this? Rather tha n face the truth he had demanded.Oedipus later seeded inform nation to whether e killed his father and who his birth father truly was. His wife, and later to be discovered mother, stated â€Å"In the name of the gods, no! If you have some concern for you our own life, then stop! Do not keep investigating this. I will suffer that will be enough†. Though J coasts begs him, he continues to freely search for information that would bring him no be unfit when he could have ended his search right then. Due to his choosing, Oedipus looked for info urination when he could have listened to those around him and lived out a nice, yet ignorant life to the truth.Though Oedipus could defeat the sphinx with his intelligence, intelligence coo old not stop him from the irrational actions he chose. Once the pieces of information had finally matched up and he revealed the truth he had searched for, Oedipus and his mother took t heir fates into their own hands. Oedipus found his mother hung in th eir bedroom, dead and then decided to take her jewelry and stabbed his own eyes out. Though the news was devastating, these e actions were overly dramatic, considering both beings had known their prophecy but it was their choice to sake such harsh actions.Though it was fate who had propelled Oedipus to sat b his eyes out, it was Oedipus choice to do so rather than think rationally about how to go ABA out such a horrid situation. Oedipus had known his fate from the beginning but it was his choice to contain u to look for the information he had been warned not to find and stab out the eyes that t had blinded him from the truth all along. Fate is something that is inevitable but it is the choice of the one whose fate is determined to how they go about the destined events that will occur.

Evs project information and topics

Possible ways to reduce river pollution. Use of public transport for reducing purchase of fuel. How to reduce use of electricity? Awareness in students about dangers of tobacco consumption. Hawkers along the streets: Problem or convenience? Flood control measures on bank of river Mitch. Select any one topic from part A Project – Report is to be written on both the sides of two ruled sheets (AY size paper). Write:- a)Tied of project b)illumination /History c)Observation d) Advantages e)Recommendations Part B: Journal 1 (Topics) VI. Recycling of treated sewage.Chip movement. Save the silent valley movement. Effect of agriculture on area of natural CEO-systems (grass/ land ‘forest). Importance of green surroundings in well being of people. All species have their own right to live life. Composition / vermin composition organic waste at home. Change in the onset of flowering of tree in different seasons over last decade. Part C: Journal 2 (Topics) Future of nuclear power proj ects in India. Ether Dam project campaign. Plastic waste: Its effects on environment. Effect of fish harvesting on diversity of fish locality.The factors affecting cost of farming. Use of integrated pest management techniques. Different steps / mechanisms to reduce electricity consumption. Ministry of environment and forest. All topics are compulsory in journal 1 and Journal 2 Each topic must be hand-written on ruled AY size paper (on both sides of paper) Use one AY size paper for each topic Write title of each topic Index page, Project-Report, Journal 1 & Journal 2 must be stapled together and cover it with brown paper of same size Write Student's name, Class, Stream, Division, Roll No.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Econ extra credit

The family constellation, or structure of the family, the relationships within the family, and the characteristics of the individual children all impact sibling relationships. Family constellation refers to the number and sex of the adults and children including the birth order, type of relationship (biological, adopted, stepparent or sibling), age, and spacing of the children. Although all relationships in the family are important, the parent-child relationships have the greatest impact on sibling relationships.Individual differences among siblings also impact their relationships. When children are younger, temperament is important in sibling relationships but for older children, relationships are influenced by their personality and social and cognitive skills. Family life varies greatly and many factors influence the outcome for children. Birth Order The relationship between birth order and an individual's personality has been debated since Alfred Adler (1928) described specific ch aracteristics of children according to their birth order. He also coined the phrase â€Å"sibling rivalry. Although a number of factors affect the outcomes for children, many authorities believe that hildren's birth order plays a special role in their destiny. Firstborn Children Firstborn children, who are often surrogates for their parents as caregivers, teachers, and models, enjoy a greater status/power position in relationship to their younger siblings. This difference becomes more pronounced as the age gap increases for at least up to four years. In children's eyes, status/power is conferred most heavily on the eldest son (Furman and Buhremester, 1985).Older girls are more often good teachers and nurturers for younger children (Cirirelli, 1972). Older boys, on the other and, tend to be better stimulators and models (Cirirelli, 1972). The oldest sibling feels more rivalry over the birth of the second child than other birth orders do toward a new baby. This is because the firstbo rn has had the full attention of parents and now has to share their affections. The adverse effects of this dethronement can be modified if parents prepare the older child for the changes and give her or him special attention after the new baby arrives.In this case, the older sibling often becomes protective of the new family member (Adler, 1928; Teti, Sakin, Kucera, Corns, and Eiden, 1996). Firstborn children tend to have distinct personality traits. Many studies depict these children as more adultlike, achievement-oriented, verbal, conservative, controlling of subordinates, and displaying a higher self-concept, but more anxious and less popular with peers than children born later (Lahey, Hammer, Crumrine, and Forehand, 1980; ZaJonc, 1983). Success seems to fit firstborn children. Many firstborns show leadership qualities. Alfred Adler said firstborns were in a to be more clever (1928).In studies as early as Galton's English Men of Science (1874), disproportionate numbers of firstb orns have achieved eminence. A higher percentage of firstborn children have become scientists, professors, presidents, Rhodes scholars, and astronauts. More firstborns have been finalists in the National Merit Scholarship tests compared to any other birth order (Muzi, 2000). This advantage may be explained by the fact that firstborns have only adults for language models and social interactions in the most formative period while their siblings are influenced by their predecessors in the family.Only Children It is not surprising that only children have many of the characteristics of firstborns with siblings (Falbo and Polit, 1986). Their relationship tc their parents is similar and both are responsive to adults. Parents provide an adul† intellectual environment for these children. In the case of the only child, this environment remains unchanged by the presence of younger children. Although both groups surpass other birth orders in intellectual and academic achievements, only ch ildren, as a group, score higher than other firstborns.They also complete about three additional years of schooling, achieve higher occupational prestige, and earn more money than firstborn children with siblings (Blake, 1989; Falbo, 1984; Falbo and Polit, 1986). However, a study on birth order by Steelman and Powell (1985) shows no correlation between birth order and academic success. Only children miss the experiences of sibling relationships and of having to share their parents with siblings. However, the stereotype of only children as more lonely, selfish, spoiled, and maladjusted than children with siblings is not true. A study of only children placed them into three groups.Some were normal and well adjusted, others were impulsive and acting out, and others were similar to the stereotype of only children (Rosenberg and Hyde, 1993). Middle Children Middle children are more sociable and harder to classify than the firstborns. They are sometimes called the â€Å"overlooked child. † It is more difficult to be the middle child when all siblings are of the same gender. If second-born children are closer in age to the oldest, they tend to take on some of these characteristics. This is especially true when the second-born is the oldest girl in a large family.On the other hand, middle children tend to be less adaptive to parental values, perhaps because they want to avoid competition with the older child. Because firstborn children mirror their arents in searching for their identity, middle children turn to peers, often adopting some of their values. In contrast to the first-born the middle child may be more friendly, cheerful, placid, and less studious with lower self-esteem. According to Adler (1928), the middle child is ambitious, rebellious, envious, and better adjusted than either the first born or the youngest child.Youngest Child When growing up, the youngest child is smaller, weaker, less knowledgeable, and less competent compared to older siblings, and often turns to attention-seeking. At a very arly age, the youngest are more outgoing, exploring toys, making responses to people, and initiating more play with strangers. Youngest children are significantly more successful socially than other birth orders (Steelman and Powell, 1985). The younger or youngest sibling is more dependent on others for help.Their dependency, however, deprives them of status/power and may lower their self- Most children are born within two or three years of the last sibling's birth (Dunn; 1995). Spacing of less than two years or five or more years is beneficial for the child's adjustment to a new sibling (Dunn, 1995; Tet', et al. 1996). A child under age two cannot realize all the implications of another sibling to their special position. In addition, young children closely spaced spend more time together than with their parents during these years and learn to understand each other intimately Gaffe, 1997).After age two, resentment and rivalry increase until children reach age five or six. By this time their world outside the family has expanded and they are better able to cope with and/ or avoid some of these feelings (Dunn, 1995). All children, including the newborn, benefit from larger intervals between births. Parents have time to give them more individual attention. Age differences, gender, and the ages of children in the family account for differences in the quality of their sibling relationships. Younger siblings admire most their siblings who are four or more years older.As already mentioned, the warmth-closeness characteristic appears greater between same-gender siblings and increases with the closeness of their ages. (Furman and Buhremester, 1985). On the other hand, conflict and competition are also more intense when siblings are close in age and, particularly, the same gender. Sibling ivalry is most intense in the early years and diminishes, at least on the conscious level, as siblings approach maturity. Family Size T here are differences in growing up in a small family (one or two children) as opposed to a large family (over four children).The larger the family, the greater is the number of relationships for a child to experience, which can be enriching or frustrating or both. Discipline in large families is more rule oriented, less individualized and there is more corporal punishment (Wagner, Schubert, and Schubert, 1985). Children in small families have fewer experiences in relationships ut do have more individual time with their parents. According to some studies, they also have slightly higher test scores, more schooling, and achieve more academically and in their occupation than children from large families (Blake, 1989; Hauser and Sewell, 1985).Parent-Child Relationships The quality of the relationship between each child and parent and between parents affects the sibling relationships. Parents who are constructively responsive to their children foster good feelings and cooperative behavior among their children (Furman, 1995; Bryant and Crockenberg, 1980). In homes where fathers are affectionate and helpful there are more positive sibling interactions. On the other hand, conflict between mother and each child is associated with increased sibling conflicts (Volling and Belsky,J. 1992). The child's temperament, sex, health, or hereditary traits also affect sibling relationships.Parents sometimes understand one child better than another. The child's temperament gender, health, or hereditary traits affect this relationship. When children perceive parental partiality, it increases feelings of competition, conflict, and Jealousy among siblings. Most children believe that their parent has a favorite child, which may not be true (Zervas and Sherman, 1994). Sibling rivalry is a normal emotion growing out of the need to share biological and affectional ties of the two most important people in a child's world, his or her parents. When a baby comes along, a child's world changes greatly.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

MGT(3900) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MGT(3900) - Essay Example She says that a smile is very valuable in her job because it makes her look very approachable and likeable which is very advantageous to the business. According to Sharon, one of her jobs is to ascertain customer’s needs and this is perhaps the most important part of her job because when the customers are satisfied with the quality service the company provides through the salesperson, the company grows as a result of clients being faithful to the company and also may help by recommending the company to friends and relatives. She also presents company products and services to the customers. She is always exposed to a lot of people from different walks of life and Sharon says that this makes her job most interesting. She is a natural sociable person and communicating with people is one of the things she loves because she learns a lot from them. However, she says that the job is tiring especially during holidays and summer vacations because these are the times they have many clie nts. She says that technology makes her job a lot

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Landmark Decisions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Landmark Decisions - Essay Example Maine was admitted as a free state, so the Senate remained equally stacked between free and slave states. Ostensibly, the line drawn at 36 degrees 30 feet of the territories acquired in the Louisiana Purchase would forever preclude slavery from existing within their boundaries. Three decades later, on May 30, 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the controversy over slavery in the territories was reopened. Congress tried repeatedly to organize a single territory for the area west of Missouri and Iowa, but was unsuccessful. Stephen O. Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill dividing the land into two territories. His proposal left the issue of free state or slave state up to the people. Thus, ushering in the concept of â€Å"popular sovereignty†. Paul Finkelman in Dred Scott v. Sanford, A Brief History with Documents, describes the debates, the bickering and how the displeasure fermented among the pro and anti-slavery proponents, as the residents of Kansas became vi olently divided over the free state or slave state issue. He goes on to describe how the concept of â€Å"popular sovereignty†, was proving to be a nemesis, as the pro slavery and anti slavery proponents engaged each other in many guerilla warfare battles. He speaks of how Kansas became known as â€Å"bleeding Kansas†. (Finkelman)

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Ingle-family detached residences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Ingle-family detached residences - Essay Example Now is a great time to invest in a home in Dallas. This is the position that is going to be argued for. According to Dallas Dirt Magazine, â€Å"Despite the worst about [various neighborhoods in Dallas],folks always clamor to live there† Property values are apparently suffering because of unethical treatment to animals in the area. Additionally, Dallas has difficulties with its housing market due to the fact that sometimes, commercial areas are notorious for not being separated from residential living areas. This poses a serious problem and must be ameliorated, or else the community will suffer. SLP 1 Question 2) Identify an area you believe to a sound area in the Dallas MetroPlex for real estate investment. (Don't just say "Dallas" or "Dallas Area" - try to be more specific - identify a particular area of town.) Explain why you chose this area. http://recenter.tamu.edu/ (100 words) According to Dallas Dirt (2010), some of the more desirable neighborhoods include â€Å"who is doing the best in this market†¦[including neighborhoods such as] Park Cities, Westlake, Southlake, North Dallas/Preston Hollow, despite the Dallas City Council [problems]. Also[, other good areas in which to live include] Coppell, Irving, Oak Lawn† (pp. 1). These cities are preferred by the people who chose to live in them due to their high popularity. Basically, people currently prefer to live in areas where the people in the neighborhood are understanding, compassionate, and feel like genuine neighbors who care about the person moving in next door. SLP 1 Question 3) Discuss your selection in (2) based on price ranges of homes in the general geographic area.   Give specific values on the ranges and tell me where you found the data to support the range you cite.   (131 words) The certified estimated value report for 2010 based on market value of real estate in the University Park neighborhood in Dallas is estimated to be â€Å"$6,863,828,520,† according to the Dallas CAD (Central Appraisal District) Estimated Value Report (2010, pp. 1). The average value of a home in University Park, for example, is $856,797; of course, this is not necessarily representative of the area. Homes in Dallas tend to range between $53,000 and $200,000 in general, although there are some homes ranging up to $200K to over a million dollars (Dallas CAD Average Values for Single-Family Detached Residences, 2010, pp. 1). â€Å"One of the most desirable neighborhoods in all of Texas, University Park (UP) is known for having some of the most beautiful Dallas homes† (Dallas Texas Real Estate, 2010, pp. 1). SLP 1 Question 4) Discuss your selection in (2) based on affordability of homes in the general geographic area.  Ã‚   Affordability refers to the cost of the home relative to the earnings of the local populace.   You may want to reference the Texas Real Estate Research Center Housing Affordability Index. (100 words) The Texas Housing Affordability Index ( THAI) Publication 1926 helped determine the housing costs relational to income. â€Å"With mortgage interest rates at historically low levels and a large supply of available properties for sale, afford- ability for the next several years should be at a favorable level [in Dallas] for households that can qualify for financing†¦ Even down times have an upside. Decreasing home prices, the higher volume of foreclosed homes available, tougher mortgage lending standards and reluctant buyers are combining to make Texas homes more affordable than anywhere in the United States† (THAI Publication 1926, 2010, pp. 3). SLP 1 Question 5) Discuss your selection in (2) based on anticipated future appreciation in value and/or rents.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Anterograde Amnesia in 50 First Dates Movie Review

Anterograde Amnesia in 50 First Dates - Movie Review Example It is proposed that a regular facet of anterograde amnesia is damage to part of an extended hippocampal system that consists of the hippocampus, the fornix, the mammillary bodies, and the anterior thalamic nuclei (Mayes & Downes, 1997). This instigates deficit in the recall of episodic information. The film illustrates that Lucy’s head injury impaired a part of her brain, although details are not explicitly explained. In a review published in the Medical Journal in 2004, According to clinical neuropsychologist Sallie Baxendale (2004), â€Å"it bears no relation to any known neurological or psychiatric condition†. Although dysfunctions in different brain regions can result in anterograde amnesia, the contribution of individual structures and their relationships still remains a matter of uncertainty and debate (Mayes & Downes, 1997). The failure to resolve this central issue is partly due to lack of amnesic subjects with specific patterns of pathology. It may also be due to the complexity of the relationships between those regions contributing to amnesia.Anterograde amnesia â€Å"diminishes between ECT treatments and accumulates across treatments† (Squire & Chace, 1975). It is difficult to identify exactly the point at which new learning ability reaches normal levels. Patients with anterograde amnesia following bilateral ECT in a number of studies seem to have recovered by 6 months after treatment and there is no good evidence that new learning ability is still deficient at this time.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Politcal Science 240 Comparision Report Canada Essay

Politcal Science 240 Comparision Report Canada - Essay Example hough the Aboriginal people originally inhabited the country, the eastern region Canada was a French settlement for more than a century before the white man discovered it. In the late eighteenth and nineteenth century, the country received most of its immigrants from Britain and the United States where some of the people who settled from the US were called Loyalists since they were loyal to the interests of the British. By the late 1800, the country had a countrywide railway system that was able to transport settlers who had European origins and most of these settlers were the underprivileged or those running away from religious or political persecution. Nonetheless, particular groups of immigrants, such as the Jewish were subsequently denied entry into Canada during the consequent world wars as well as the Great Depression. However, since the late sixties, a greater part of the country has developed more tolerance in accepting more political refugees and immigrants from different countries all over the globe. Canada experienced a return of prosperity after World War Two as a result of the continued Liberal governments that allowed national policies to address social welfare such as universal health care, pensions for the older members of the population as well as for the veterans. The financial crisis associated with the Great Depression, along with the extensive corruption in the country, had resulted I the people of Newfoundland relinquishing responsible government 1n1934 making the country a crown colony under the rule of a British governor. Success was restored when the United States military came in with more than ten thousand soldiers together with massive investments in various bases. Popular sentiments started to favour the United States and this alarmed the Canadian government, which wanted the Newfoundland to enter into a confederation rather than joining the United States. In 1948, the people of Newfoundland were given three referendum choices by the

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Read the article, then provide a critical review of the article, Assignment

Read the article, then provide a critical review of the article, summarize the article and provide your critical interpretation of the article - Assignment Example Unproven recent house bubbles and low-interest rates have brought about froth in house markets and result in a financial instability. The task remains for central banks to maintain a balance between igniting another house price bubbles and a need to raise economic status from the ground. Riksbank also experienced the dilemma. Fluctuations of the house prices and their effects on real outcomes of the economy, households spending, health of financial intermediaries and the mortgage borrowing have been re-examined majorly on their sources. Macroeconomics has recently questioned the role of the housing finance and also the implication of house price and monetary policy on house price fluctuations. Data from such long history has been collected, the first covers non-financial businesses for 17 economies, disaggregated bank credit data and real estate lending. The second data covers 14 to 17 economies unearthed long-run house prices from 1870-2012. Policy trilemma of international macroeconomic is used, to provide sources of exogenous variation in domestic monetary conditions and perturbations of domestic interest rates. Also to estimate the impact of monetary conditions on real estate on house prices an instrument variable, IV strategy, was used (Jorda, Schularick & Taylor 5). Trilemma is used to identify perturbations of domestic interest rates that are unrelated to domestic economic conditions. Only one or two of the three trilemma policies will be selected, capital mobility, fixed exchange rates or monetary policy. Exogenous fluctuations effects on the link between mortgage credit price on house price busts and booms are measured using strategy IV. Trilemma when measuring exchange rates uses a base year of some country such as the U.S that does not take into consideration other economies when formulating their foreign monetary policy choices. As a result of the

Friday, August 23, 2019

Causal Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Causal Analysis - Essay Example Thus, economic freedom characterized by an individual's increased autonomy in making decisions regarding his income and an increase in wealth-creating opportunities made available to him; is an important means to achieving political freedom because of its dispersing effect in the concentration of power (Freidman 9). Friedman illustrates this through historical evidence where capitalism, an economic arrangement focused on free markets and economic freedoms, effectively restricted centralized power from abusing its control on the political and civil liberties of citizens (10). Hence, individuals who experience economic freedom through controlling the means of production and owning private property are given a share in the political power of that society, taking power away from the central government. This shift in power structure creates incentives for governments to give in to demands for civil and political liberties, creating the necessary conditions to achieve political freedoms an d democracy (Friedman 11). Economic freedom is therefore a necessary cause of political freedom and democracy.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Education and Freedom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Education and Freedom - Essay Example De-monopolizing public educational institutions would ensure that standards are raised, students and teachers are better motivated, greater innovation would be allowed, costs would be brought down and specific needs of children would be met (Ayse, 2012). Public education is not consistent with responsibility and freedom. Public education in fact wears away personal freedom and that is why it should be replaced with market solutions, competition, and parental choice. Since parents are charged with their children’s education, then it means families would be best suited in a free market to decide which educational institutions are best suited for their children. Education being an economic commodity should be bought in the marketplace dictated by valuation and preferences of consumers. Thus in an education market that is free, students and parents would be at liberty to make a decision on the basis of perceived benefits and costs of each available option. Essentially, education procurement does not vary from acquiring any other private commodity. Schools that are market-based have got incentives that provide quality education at a price that is competitive. Thus the separation of education and state would reinstate academic inte grity, intellectual freedom as well as individual accomplishment. The free market can best furnish the public with high quality education services. The finest school choice plan therefore is the one based on free market (Harry, 2013). Colleges should prepare people to be good citizens. The purpose of education has been debated world over by teachers, scholars, statesmen and several considerate men and women. There has always been one predictable answer; knowledge acquisition. Even more complete is the utterance made by the Archbishop of York that â€Å"the true purpose of education is to produce citizens.† This statement sounds true not only the day it was uttered but also today. However in the modern day society, it’s a main

Hamlet and Othello Essay Example for Free

Hamlet and Othello Essay The two plays by William Shakespeare, Hamlet and Othello, reflect the Renaissance philosophy, with its most important schools- Platonism, Aristotelianism and Humanism, especially in their treatment of human nature and human condition. The works of the two philosophers – Plato and Aristotle, which formed the basis of the two movements that took the names of their initiators, were reinterpreted by many scholars of the Medieval and Renaissance period, and of the later periods. Platonism and Aristotelianism were opposed philosophies in their first articulation. The Platonists believed that there is a world of abstractions, the pure world of ideas. The characteristics of the material objects, formed an abstract world, which was moreover, the true word. For example, the Platonist school of thought implied that the material world was only a reflection of the perfect world of ideas, that is, a beautiful object is only the reflection of the idea of beauty. Aristotle revised these ideas that Plato had first initiated, and proposed an opposed view, which was based on an empirical way of knowing the world, and which constituted the first step towards natural science. The two doctrines referred obviously to both ontological and epistemological facts about the world. On the other hand, the Renaissance humanism which was actually the most characteristic philosophy for this period, emphasized the nobility of human nature, and the powers of human intellect and spirit, while joining the two main philosophies – Platonism and Aristotelianism. As Brian Copenhaver and Charles Schmitt observed in their Renaissance Philosophy, both Platonism and Aristotelianism presented many problems for the humanists and for the theologians as well, like, for instance the transmigration of souls and other beliefs which seemed incompatible with Christianity: â€Å"Why should an upwardly mobile scholar or bureaucrat sympathize with Platos elitism? Were humanists not troubled by his scorn for poets and rhetoricians? Platos advocacy of communism and advertisement of homosexuality invited political and social complaint. Even his renowned piety seemed out of tune with a philosophy that made matter eternal, the human soul preexistent and migratory, and the gods and demons many, powerful, and worthy of worship. As the Renaissance came to know Plato better, discussion of his thought could not have been other than complex and divided, and the controversy had been prepared by an anti-Platonic tradition long sustained by pagans and Christians alike. As early modern thinkers developed new modes of reading unknown to antiquity and the Middle Ages, Platos compatibility with Christianity remained the leading question. â€Å"(Copenhaver, 129) However, many of the ideas of the two philosophies were either kept or reinterpreted as the main philosophical views at the time of Renaissance, and this is very well reflected in the plays of William Shakespeare. In Hamlet, which is one of Shakespeare’s plays that most approaches a metaphysical view of human nature seems to waver in its essential purport upon the edge separating Platonism from Aristotelianism. One of the greatest dilemmas in Hamlet is that of individual action. Shakespeare’s prince of Denmark is called upon to revenge the murder of his father. As critics have observed repeatedly, on of the most essential and telling things in the play is Hamlet hesitation when he has to take definite action against the murderer. One of the essential differences between the humanists who advocated Plato’s theory and the ones who adopted Aristotelianism, was that between the contemplative life that was characteristic of the Platonic movement and that of active life as presented by Aristotle. Various philosophers of the Renaissance took up one or the other of the two doctrines, and encouraged either contemplation or action: â€Å"Ficinos work () also glorified the contemplative life and professed an ascetic contempt for the material world not in keeping with the pragmatic interests of the civic humanists. But to see the Aristotelian Argyropoulos as champion of the active life and the Platonist Ficino as prophet of contemplative quietism is too simple. For one thing, Argyropoulos seems to have intended no activist propaganda in his teaching, and, even more important, Ficinos theory of the contemplative life kept his philosophy attractive to the politically and economically vigorous Florentines who supported him. Always urging the ascent of the soul, Ficino presented the contemplative life as the final step in a hierarchy of human action that led people to surpass the active life without utterly denying it; lived well, the active life becomes a step on the way to escaping matter and uniting with God. It was the genius of Neoplatonism to open channels between the divine and the mundane that transcended the world while preserving it as a platform for ascent to the godhead.† (Copenhaver, 144) Hamlet seems to be a contemplative character altogether, for whom the ideal world of abstract moral values constitutes the guiding principle. When he is faced with the baseness of the many crimes that occur in his own family, he postpones taking action and revenging his father. Moreover, the revenge takes place almost accidentally at the end of the play.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   His hesitation in front of these â€Å"material† problems is relevant for his Neo- Platonic frame of thought:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"How all occasions do inform against me,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And spur my dull revenge. What is a man   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If his chief good and market if his time   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sure he that made us with such large discourse,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Looking before and after, gave us not   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   That capability and godlike reason   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To fust in us unus’d. []† (Ham. IV. 4. 32-39) It becomes obvious from Hamlet’s speech that his reflections regarding human condition and human nature are based on main principles of both Humanism and Platonic thinking: man is seen alternately by Hamlet as a superior being endowed with â€Å"godlike reason† and a beast, whose main concerns are its primary needs. That is, Hamlet’s own ideas about the world and about man, which are essentially idealistic and Platonist, meet with an obvious obstacle in the material world, where he sees the baseness of character of both his uncle and his mother. An even more poignant example of how he is repelled by the idea of a purely material world in which the spiritual realities he believes in are hardly perceptible is his unjust condemnation of Ophelia, whom he blames without proof for the frailty he sees in his own mother. Hamlet ponders himself on his own hesitation in when he is supposed to take action, and realizes that his wavering comes from what he calls â€Å"thinking too precisely on the event† ( Ham. IV. 4. 41), that is to say, his own contemplative nature and the need to understand first and meditate on the event, as well as to judge it, prevent him from taking action. At the end of the monologue however, he determines that his â€Å"thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth†( Ham. IV. 4. 66), that is, he chooses action over contemplation, as he feels he is compelled by the events to mend things and do justice to his father’s death. Thus, it can be said that Hamlet has to take action and reestablish the ethical order in the world, which had been so terribly disturbed by the crimes which took place in his family. This structuring of the events reflects the Renaissance philosophical context, which blended Platonism with Aristotelianism and Humanism. First of all, according to the Platonists man should tend to contemplation of the ideal world, and live in the purer world of the spirit, not be limited to the material one. The protagonists in Hamlet, that is the king and the queen, have sinned against these precepts by giving in to desire of power and to lust. The fact that Hamlet feels that he needs to take action is in tuning with the humanist idea that man can reestablish the divine order and that, in order to do that, he must play the part that is required of him in the material world. Thus, the two worlds- the material and transcendental are not completely separate, and the Renaissance man believed that the spiritual perfection can be reached through action as well, insofar as this would imply reestablishing the divine order. In Othello, similar ideas appear about individual action. Othello too is called upon to take action against what he believes was the betrayal of his wife Desdemona. However, the first significant difference between Hamlet and Othello is that the latter is a moor, that is a colored man, of a different race and religion. The Renaissance views on the subject of race are very significant in the context of the play, and are reflected especially in Othello’s character, which appears to be the very opposite of that of Hamlet. If Hamlet is of a contemplative nature, given to musings about the nature of man and his place in the world, Othello is a rough, impulsive man who acts without hesitation, but also, acts when he shouldn’t. He is easily deceived by Iago and therefore he believes him when he tries to inflict him with false ideas about Desdemona’s love. Thus, Othello, who like Hamlet, can be said to perform an act of revenge, actually does something which is useless and, moreover, unjust. Othello’s character is also evident at the end of the play, after he kills Desdemona and confesses the manner in which he loved her: one that loved not wisely, but too well (V.2.340). Thus, his own statement reveals the nature of his impulsive and tempestuous character and emotions: he was capable of true and strong love, although he did not love â€Å"wisely†. This proves essentially that Hamlet and Othello are two opposite characters, both acting in the name of revenge, although for different reasons, Hamlet in his attempt at reestablishing the moral order and Othello in the name of love. However, if Hamlet hesitates to take action for most of the play, and moreover, chooses the device of the staged play to commence his revenge, that is, another intellectual, contemplative device, Othello takes action without judging the events for himself, but being merely influenced by what Iago was telling him. Othello is a military character in a way, who is prone to take action and fight:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content! Farewell the plumed troops, and the big wars That makes ambition virtue! 0, farewell![] The royal banner, and all quality, Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war! And O you mortal engines, whose rude throats Th immortal Joves dread clamors counterfeit, Farewell! Othellos occupations gone. ( Othello, 3.3.347-57) It is interesting to notice that both Othello and Hamlet may be paralleled to Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Hamlet lives interiorly in a Platonic world, which could be likened to Don Quixote’s confusion of the books of romance with actual reality. Don Quixote lives in the world of the stories he has read, and moreover, those stories are chivalric romances, that is stories of quest and exemplary deeds which aim at mending the world and which are always fraught with symbolic meaning. But, he needs to accomplish the deeds that fill his fantasy, and although it can’t be said that he does so, he does act. In Don Quixote thus, action is itself unreal, since his chivalric deeds are not what he believes they are: â€Å"Were those mud walls in thy fantasy, Sancho,’ quoth Don Quixote, ‘where or thorough which thou sawest that never-enough-praised gentleness and beauty? They were not so, but galleries, walks, or goodly stone pavements—or how call ye ‘em?—of rich and royal palaces.† (Cervantes II, 489) The chivalric romances which are Don Quixote’s faith are also that of Othello in a way, because of the latter’s military character, and his search for adventures. Othello’s love for Desdemona also has something of the chivalric about it. Thus, all the three characters, Hamlet, Othello and Don Quixote evince the same Platonist and Aristotelian dilemmas of contemplation and the spiritual versus action and the material.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The Restoration Period Of Jonathan Swift English Literature Essay

The Restoration Period Of Jonathan Swift English Literature Essay Jonathan Swift was born in the Restoration Period and reflects it in his verbal violence, hyperbole, and explicit sexual and excretory terms (Rogers, 1987, p. 231). Rogers explanation to Swifts writing is revealing. A number of people seem to not know who Jonathan Swift was; what he wrote; what he did; anything. They had been missing out on one of the best satirists of his day, possibly all time. From his satires of England ruling Ireland to his satires of Mans weakness, he created some of the greatest stories anyone has ever read or heard. Jonathan Swift lived from 1667-1745. Swift was born in Dublin and lived in Ireland for most of his life, but his parents, Abigail Erick and Jonathan Swift, were English. His father was an attorney at Kings Inn. His father died seven months before he was born, which led many to speculate that it had an influence on his writing (Group, 1998, p. 190). He was very sick as a child and developed Menieres disease, which affects the inner ear. He lived with his nurse in England for a few years when he was young due to his mothers meager earnings (Merriman, 2008). After his stay in England, Swift went back to Ireland and lived with his uncle who sent him to Kilkenny Grammar School from 1674 to 1682 where he met William Congreve. He then received a M.A. degree from Oxford University in 1692. He attended Trinity College in Dublin the following years. Trinity College almost denied him his degree due to misconduct (Kilvert, 1997, p. 1196). He was ordained as a priest in 1694. He was employed as a secretary to Sir William Temple (Rogers, 1987, p. 231). In 1695, he became Prebend of Kilroot. He first published under the pseudonym Lemuel. By 1700, he became Chaplain to Lord Berkley. He was awarded his Doctor of Divinity degree in 1701 (Kilvert, 1997, p. 1196-1197). At age thirty-seven, Swift published  A Tale of a Tub  and  Battle of the Books. As he grew older, he became more involved with political issues and his satires became more savage (Merriman, 2008). Part of this was the many scandals and behind-closed doors activities of the aristocracy (Rogers, 1987, p. 231). He published  Gullivers Travels  at age sixty, which has been adapted to both stage and film, and spawned multiple sequels. In 1728, a woman he had been a mentor to, and some believe a lover, died, resulting in a decline in Swifts health.  Swift donated a third of his income to charity and when he died, left all his money to build a hospital. He was quite philanthropic for the time he lived in (Wikisource, 2010). Section 3 In  1667, the Dutch fleet defeated the English in Medway River. The treaties of Breda among Netherlands, England, France, and Denmark were made. The following year, a  triple alliance of England, Netherlands, and Sweden formed against France and Newton built his first reflecting telescope (Group, 1998, p. 191). During the new decade, the  Secret Treaty of Dover between Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France to restore Roman Catholicism to England was made. From 1672-1674, the  third Anglo-Dutch war continued. William III became ruler of Netherlands the same year. By  1673, Test Act aimed to deprive English Roman Catholics and nonconformists of public office. 1675 saw the construction on St. Pauls Cathedral begin (Rogers, 1987, p. 231). In  1677, William III, ruler of the Netherlands, married Mary, daughter of James, Duke of York, and heir to the English throne. Two years later, Act of Habeas Corpus passed, forbidding imprisonment without trial and Parliaments Bill of Exclusion against the Roman Catholic Duke of York was blocked by Charles II (Merriman, 2008). The Whigs reintroduced the Exclusion Bill and James II was King of England and VII of Scotland. Johann Bach was born the same year. James II disregarded the Test Act and appointed Roman Catholics to public office. Then he issued the Declaration of Liberty of Conscience, which extended toleration to all religions (Group, 1998, p. 191). England had its Glorious Revolution and Parliament issued Bill of Rights and established a constitutional monarchy in Britain. William III and Mary II became joint monarchs of England and Scotland until 1694. The Toleration Act granted freedom of worship to dissenters in England (Rogers, 1987, p. 231). Over in America, the Salem Witch Trials began in Massachusetts. 1707 brought about the union of Scotland and England to form Great Britain (Merriman, 2008). Section 4 Gullivers Travels,  A Tale of a Tub,  A Modest Proposal,  Battle of the Books,  Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers,  The Drapier Letters, The Journal to Stella, Writings on Religion and Church Vol. 1, Three Sermons and Prayers,  and  English Tongue  are all written by Swift. Perhaps Swift wrote the satires he did because of growing up in such an arduous time and place in Ireland. Being a poor child, with no father, and being under English rule would certainly influence most writers. A Modest Proposal  is a satire of the English rule of Ireland in which Swift forms a calculated decision to have certain people be designated breeders whose children would be eaten for the good of the people. Clearness, cogency, masculine simplicity of diction, are conspicuous in the pamphlet, but true creative power told the  Tale of a Tub. Good God! What a genius I had when I wrote that book! was his own exclamation in his latter years. It is, indeed, if not the most amusing of Swifts satirical works, the most strikingly original, and the one in which the compass of his powers is most fully displayed (Britannica, 1911). Gullivers Travels  is a story about a man who becomes a doctor, travels around the world on ships, and learns new information about different kinds of culture. However, the main focus of the story is when the ship, on which he resides, crashes into a rock and he swims to shore, passing out a mile onto the island. When he awakens, he discovers he has been bonded to the ground with rope and that the inhabitants of the island are only six inches tall! Their king then sends for him to be brought to the kingdom and this is where his satirical abilities begin to show. Section 5   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jonathan Swift, despite his childish sense of humor, manages to poke fun at the aristocracy and show the commoners through allusions and hidden references what their superiors are really like.  Gullivers Travels  is one of the best books and finest satires by any author. The use of fake events in the story, which just so happen to relate to a real life event that happened between the Whigs and Tories in England, was genius.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Swift had a troubled childhood to say the least, not as strange as Edgar Allan Poes, but certainly not normal. He had an interesting life crammed with religion, but not love. His, as some believe, love died a few years before he did. He wrote more works than a lot of authors and published quite a few under pseudonyms. Jonathan Swift, in many minds, holds the title of Greatest Satirist of All Time.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

An Analysis Social Media Media Essay

An Analysis Social Media Media Essay We have witnessed lots of changes in the communication field over the past few years. Different types of communication media have been emerging and making their way into the market and have made the communication needs of the customers cheaper owing to competition. Internet is one of those things that contributed to the revolutionary changes in the recent times. There have been many changes and different stages of evolution in the said field even with the use of internet. Different methods and technologies have been evolving to use the internet in a better way. Social networking is one of those that have and have been making the internet exciting by the day. The latest buzz Social Networking added to make users more interactive with their friends (Ivanauskas, 2009). Social Networking sites like Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, and Twitter are already in to the market and making their presence felt by having lot of members join their networks and communicate with their friends and buddy list through their websites. The above mentioned social networking websites have bridged a lot of gap between friends who are priory difficult to stay in touch. They also have many users friendly and value added features such as sharing media and playing online games etc. The increasing demand for these websites meant the marketing companies have started focussing on these websites to attract the unique customer groups these websites represent. The latest buzz in marketing that reaches customer directly has been social networking. Aim: Main aim of this dissertation is to know how the social networking influences the current generation through the extensive utilisation of social networking for marketing purposes and evaluating the social networking sites as a medium of advertisement. Objectives: To study the effect of social networking websites on the current generation. Researching latest marketing strategies of business by using Internet Technologies including social networking sites Conducting a consumer survey about the usefulness and effectiveness of advertisements in social media networks. Context: First online community created was SixDegrees.com in the year 1997. And it used allow users to create their own profile and make them available to their friend by adding to their friends list (Adrian, 2008). The first ever social networking website however did not stand the tide of time and was closed due to reasons which are out of scope of this dissertation. The time spent by the netizens on the social networking sites is increasing by the day and the recent studies only go on to show the same. The community websites hold major part of Internet traffic and it increased 230% since from 2007 (Diana, 2010). The time spent on the internet increased by around 65% by the users in UK from 2007 to 2010 (Burrows, 2010). The statistics also show that the average age of the users of the social networking sites is predominantly low like in the 20 to 30 and 30 to 40 groups due to various reasons. (Michael, 2008) The projections also indicate a billion users for the social networking sites by the end of 2012. The increasing strength of these websites makes the marketing departments rethink their marketing strategies. After going through lots of articles and statistics related to online communities, it has been observed that the latest market trend was revolving around these networking sites and making most of this to their business advantage. Acknowledging the fact that teenagers do spend a lot of time online, it would be interesting to take advantage of this new trend and utilize it for the classroom more specific to the teaching and learning process. (Pingdom, 2010) Experts predict that between 2007 and 2011, U.S. ad spending on social networks will grow 180% from $900 million to $2.5 billion, as illustrated below in Figure II, which is attributable to increased revenue projections of the popular social networking site Facebook and increased spending on niche social networks (Zarina, 2009). It is indeed surprising to observe the share of internet marketing in the youth related companies. Modern marketing companies started making tools to make use of this trend and the same can be observed by studying these websites. In fact many companies adopted marketing in social networking websites as their major outlet of advertising and publicity. (RedBridge, 2008; MLC, 2008) The companies are also undergoing a major change technologically like adopting technologies such as web 2.0 to use the marketing space and opportunity in the modern websites such as Facebook, twitter etc which are mentioned above. According to Bakardjieva (2004), technologies of communication media were instrumental factors in building up successful communities that exists today. The increasing demand for the online communities and social networking websites is making new companies enter the arena. The investments of major IT companies in the already existing social networking websites (Google invested $900 million in MySpace and Microsoft $240 millions in Facebook) goes on to show the obvious which is the potential of these sites for the future (Ivanauskas, 2009). The investment is looked upon not as a business opportunity but rather as a marketing venue for these big companies to promote their already existing products. Companies on the other hand besides grabbing big opportunities such as above also are not missing out on being on the user side of these websites and being part of the plan when it comes to their target population. Almost everyone these days seem to have their presence in almost all the social networking sites which are most common in those respective regions. An account in Facebook, MySpace and Twitter seem to be the most common thing to most companies to reach out to customers on a direct basis. The customers are rising their doubts and the interaction is what is making the use of these websites so unique compared to other marketing strategies (Grunert, 2009). The above unique facts about the social networking and the new trends of marketing that are starting to spread making use of the same made the choice easier. It was decided that the area has lot of scope for research. Literature Review: According to Linda Peters (1998), the Web presents a fundamentally different environment both as a medium and as a market from traditional communication channels perspective. Itcreates the Marketspace a virtual realm where products and services exist as digital information and can be delivered through information-based channels (Rayport and Svikola, 1994). The companies and consumers quickly adopted the new concept of the new interactive world for their own benefits. These interactive channels allowed companies to reach new markets or have a grater influence in the existing oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s (i.e. example media companies transferred their news papers in order reach new audiences) and the consumers had an opportunity to save time and money by communicating, looking for information or buying product and services online. The concept of interactivity has been extensively researched in advertising and marketing literature and was summarized by Johnson (Johnson et al, 2006) According to Liu Shrum (2002) emergence of new media (Internet), brought new models of interactivity: user-to-user and user-to-message. Contemplating about user-to-user interactivity Ha and James (1998) suggested that the more communication in a computer-mediated environment resembles interpersonal communication, the more interactive the communication isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-. Steuer (1992) defined users-to-message interaction as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢the extent to which users can participate in modifying the form and content of a mediated environment in real timeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-. Lee (2005) summarized the main components of online interactivity Commercial online services and the introduction of the Web have created the potential for a mass interactive dialogue between exchange parties (Peters, 1998). The world have witnessed the evolution of a universal interconnected network of audio, video, and electronic text communications that blurred the distinction between interpersonal and mass communication and between public and private communication (Neuman, 2003). The new market space changed the behavior of the people and the communication models. The shift is then from a one (firm)-to-many (consumers) model of communication to the many-to-many model where contribution to the medium and the message may come from both directions (Hoffman and Novak, 1996). Chaffey (Dave Chaffey et al., 2007) argues that such kind of communications allows mass customization and personalization and the messages send trough Internet can be targeted more effectively. Moreover, the Web is changing the traditional marketing communications concepts as t he consumers can go all the way from awareness to interest to desire to action (AIDA Framework), all within the same medium and within the same session (Economist, 2008a). Andrew L. Shapiro (1999) argues that the emergence of new, digital technologies signals ia a potentially radical shift of who is in control of information, experience and resources. One of the key features of the new electronic communication media is the ability of consumers to control both contact and content (Peters, 1998). Sohn and Lackenby (2002) suggest that individuals participation in social communication processes is the crucial factor for increasing the perceived interactivity of the Internet (citied in Stafford and Ronald, 2005). Moreover, according to Normann and Ramirez (1994) the consumers become co-producers, because the value is constantly created in interaction with many different players, including consumers, suppliers, employees and managers. As a result, marketers are losing control over the communication messages their trying to deliver to their consumers. According to Gatarski and Lundkvist (1998) when communication, in the meaning of sharing information, meets i nteractivity, it creates not simple massages but forms two-way conversations. These conversations can be applied in production as implementation of mutual ideas (consumers and producersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸) in order to create new enjoyable products or services. 2.1 Introduction to changing media and communications landscape The last century was a gold age for the media development. The new technologies as Telephone, Radio and Television have changed peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s lives forever. The new ways of communications have been successfully adopted and become a norm. The last decade of the century brought the new innovative technology Internet. As predicted by Newman (1991) Internet: Altered the meaning of geographic distance. Allowed the huge increase in the volume of communication. Provided the possibility of increasing the speed of communication. Provided opportunities for interactive communication. Allowed forms of communication that was previously separate to overlap and interconnect. Grieco and Holmes (1999) (citied in Combe et al, 2003) identifies three powerful features of Internet: 1. Disintermediation or the removal of brokers by allowing direct communication across spatial and sociometric distance; 2. Asynchronicyty of the removal of temporality as a barrier to communications; 3. Oculacy or the ability to communicate messages through images. According to Hermeking (2006) The global spread of modern technology, including information and communication technology (ICT), is commonly regarded both as an indicator of the postmodern era of globalization and as the very precondition for that era of intensive worldwide interactions of people and exchanges of goods, services, information, and capital. Hoffman (Hoffman et al., 1995) argues that the popularity of the WWW as a commercial medium (in contrast to other networks on the Internet) is due to its ability to facilitate global sharing of information and resources, and its potential to provide an efficient channel for advertising, marketing, and even direct distribution of certain goods and information services. In the recent years Internet witnessed amazing growth, according to Internet Consumption Report (Soumukil, 2008) the 21% (1,407,724,920) of the world population (6,676,120,288) are internet consumers. Most of them live in well developed regions as North America where internet penetration is as high as (73.1%), Australia (57.0%) and Europe (47.7%). Peters (1998) suggest that no other technological innovation has captured the imagination of users with the speed and impact of the Internet (Graph 1). According to Linda Peters (1998), the Web presents a fundamentally different environment both as a medium and as a market from traditional communication channels perspective. It creates the Marketspace a virtual realm where products and services exist as digital information and can be delivered through information-based channels (Rayport and Svikola, 1994). The companies and consumers quickly adopted the new concept of the new interactive world for their own benefits. These interactive channels allowed companies to reach new markets or have a grater influence in the existing oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s (i.e. example media companies transferred their news papers in order reach new audiences) and the consumers had an opportunity to save time and money by communicating, looking for information or buying product and services online. The concept of interactivity has been extensively researched in advertising and marketing literature and was summarized by Johnson (Johnson et al, 2006) (Appendix 1.1). According to Liu Shrum (2002) emergence of new media (Internet), brought new models of interactivity: user-to-user and user-to-message. Contemplating about user-to-user interactivity Ha and James (1998) suggested that the more communication in a computer-mediated environment resembles interpersonal communication, the more interactive the communication isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-. Steuer (1992) defined users-to-message interaction as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢the extent to which users can participate in modifying the form and content of a mediated environment in real timeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-. Lee (2005) summarized the main components of online interactivity (Table 1). Commercial online services and the introduction of the Web have created the potential for a mass interactive dialogue between exchange parties (Peters, 1998). The world have witnessed the evolution of a universal interconnected network of audio, video, and electronic text communications that blurred the distinction between interpersonal and mass communication and between public and private communication (Neuman, 2003). The new market space changed the behavior of the people and the communication models. The shift is then from a one (firm)-to-many (consumers) model of communication to the many-to-many model where contribution to the medium and the message may come from both directions (Hoffman and Novak, 1996). Chaffey (Dave Chaffey et al., 2007) argues that such kind of communications allows mass customization and personalization and the messages send trough Internet can be targeted more effectively. Moreover, the Web is changing the traditional marketing communications concepts as t he consumers can go all the way from awareness to interest to desire to action (AIDA Framework), all within the same medium and within the same session (Economist, 2008a). Peters (1998) suggests four main changes in communication model compare the new and old media: 1. Communication style tend to have little or no time lag between the giving, receiving and responding aspects of communication between the parties. 2. Social presence or perceived personalness, the feeling that communication exchanges are sociable, warm, personal, sensitive and active. 3. Control of contact Early research into the willingness of consumers to utilize technology in shopping behavior concludes that the ability to control the pace and presentation of product information has the strongest influence on willingness to engage in computer-mediated marketing activity (Carson et al., 1996). 4. Content The content can be customised either by users or by senders. Where users are able to control the content, or presentation, of the message it is said to be interactive. Andrew L. Shapiro (1999) argues that the emergence of new, digital technologies signals ia a potentially radical shift of who is in control of information, experience and resources. One of the key features of the new electronic communication media is the ability of consumers to control both contact and content (Peters, 1998). Sohn and Lackenby (2002) suggest that individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s participation in social communication processes is the crucial factor for increasing the perceived interactivity of the Internet (citied in Stafford and Ronald, 2005). Moreover, according to constantly created in interaction with many different players, including consumers, suppliers, employees and managers. As a result, marketers are losing control over the communication messages their trying to deliver to their consumers. According to Gatarski and Lundkvist (1998) when communication, in the meaning of sharing information, meets interactivity, it creates not simple massages but forms two-way conve rsations. These conversations can be applied in production as implementation of mutual ideas (consumerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s and producersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸) in order to create new enjoyable products or services. 2.2 Social media and Web 2.0 2.2.1 Social media The real power of people can be noticed in the new revolutionized media channel social media. According to Mayfield (2008) social media is best understood as a group of new kinds of online media, which share most or all of the following characteristics: Participation Engagement: social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested. It blurs the line between media and audience. Openness: most social media services are open to feedback and participation. They encourage voting, comments and the sharing of information. There are rarely any barriers to accessing and making use of content password-protected content is frowned on. Conversation: whereas traditional media is about à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾broadcastà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ (content transmitted or distributed to an audience) social media is better seen as a two-way conversation. Community: social media allows communities to form quickly and communicate effectively. Communities share common interests, such as a lov e of photography, a political issue or a favourite TV show. Connectedness: Most kinds of social media thrive on their connectedness, making use of links to other sites, resources and people Drury (2008) suggests that when analyzing social media marketers too often concentrates on the media factor, when social element is the key, because marketing within social media is about building a relationship and conversation with the audience, where the simple message delivery is changed by ongoing exchange of perceptions and ideas between company and the consumer. Haven (2008) suggests that social media key elements are not entirely new as features of sharing, connecting, opining, broadcasting and creating has been long in our lives, but there are several characteristics of new technologies and behaviors that set them apart from the past: Reach Historically, audiences for the common person have been limited: a tribe, family, friends, neighbors, or the local community. Todays technologies pr ovide scale and enable anyone to reach a global audience. Accessibility The means of production for most media used to lie in the hands of enterprises with unlimited resources (financial or human). Todays technologies for media creation are available to anyone at little or no cost. Usability The means of production typically required specialized skills and training, both technically and creatively. Todays technologies simplify those processes, or in some cases reinvent them, so anyone can create and operate the means of production. Transparency People, especially Americans, historically kept personal information to themselves and had a general distrust of authority (enterprises, government, etc.). Today, people are willing to share anything about themselves (interests, location, family situations, health condition, etc.) in a public venue, and todays technologies make that both possible and purposeful. Recency When people did have the means of production and distribution in the past (albeit limited), the time lag between communications was typically long (days, weeks, or even months). It was a limitation of the technology or system in which it operated. Todays technologies enable instantaneous responses and dialog where only the participant determines the delay in response. The interactivity gains a new meaning when it is applied through Web 2.0 platforms and Social media channels as dialogue between consumer and company becomes much more active and interactive. As summarized in the media landscape analysis the past decade was all about two-way communicationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s and interactionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s models. Most of the marketing academics (Kotler, 2003; Pettit and Brassington, 2005) recognized the importance of creating two-way marketing channels between consumer and company for brand building, CRM, sales (and etc). Social media, itself, does not change this idea, but redefines interactivity and takes it to another level. Armano (2008a) argues that social media goes beyond the interactive marketing which is facilitated by computer-human interaction, and introduces human-to-human interaction enabled by technology (Appendix 2.1). The main difference is that the companies instead of pushing the content (i.e. automated e-mailà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s) through online channels empower people to engage and interact with other people and produce new content about the company (blogging, commenting, social networking and etc.). Free production of content and voluntary distribution is the key elements of the social media. Meadows-Klue (2008) suggests that in social media marketing engagement replaces interruption; diversity and self-expression replace conformism and unity; the media of the masses replace mass media; granular insights and rich data replaces generalization and conversations in marketing replace control. Another major change from the marketing perspective is the shift from persuasion to influence. Past decades marketing practitioners were using the communication mix in order to attack consumers with pervasive messages to make them buy goods and services offered, but in the age where 25 percent of search results on Google for the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s 20 largest brands links to consumer-generated content (Nielsen Buzz Metrics, 2007 ), to do this is too late, not practical or impossible, as the messages are already floating out there. According to Mitchell (2008) this process is facilitated by the change of information flows from top down (B2C) to bottom up (C2B) what redefines marketing environment as marketers do not own the message anymore (Figure 2.2, Apendix 2.2). Armano (2008) suggests that people can be divided in different grouping according their strength as the massagers (Apedix 2.3) The User Generated Content (UGC) can become influential message of the consumer to the consumer (C2C) about the company and therefore should be carefully monitored. In fact, the content is the new message in social media channels. According to Eikelmann (Eikelmann et al, 2008) the best marketers can do in this environment is to try to engage with the consumers through social media in order influence these messages. Drury (2008) suggests that instead of sending simple messages, marketers should provide the content which would be relevant for consumers and would generate conversations among them. Therefore, influence will become a standard measurement in Marketing 2.0 (Dowdell, 2008). As blogger and social media strategist Douma (2008) put it: The age of persuasion is over. Welcome to the age of influence. Marketers are forced to look for alternative communication strategies to market in the social media environment, because advertising clutter, growing advertising literacy and changing consumer behaviour drives down the return on investment (Biegel, 2008; Constantinides and Fountain, 2008). These strategies have to consider the increasing fragmentation in the markets. 2.2.2 Web 2.0 Social media and Web 2.0 are two terms which are often used interchangeably in the marketing literature, even though they are not entirely the same. From the marketing perspective, the Web 2.0 should be perceived as the new tools for the marketing communication mix and facilitator and enabler of social media. The Web 2.0 term was introduced by Tim Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸Reilly in 2004, it has originated from talks about social software and the communities surrounding these applications. According Tim Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸Reilly (Tim Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸Reilly, 2007) the companies that survived the dotcom boom had something in common; these companies realized that the Web is much more useful for delivering service than being used just as a platform for packaged products (i.e. software). Constantinides and Fountain (2008) defined Web 2.0 as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Web 2.0 is a collection of open-source, interactive and user-controlled online applications expanding the experiences, knowledge and mar ket power of the users as participants in business and social processes. Web 2.0 applications support the creation of informal users networks facilitating the flow of ideas and knowledge by allowing the efficient generation, dissemination, sharing and editing / refining of informational content . Hoegg (Hoegg et al, 2005) suggests that Web 2.0 is the philosophy of mutually maximizing collective intelligence and added value for each participant by formalized and dynamic information sharing and creationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-. Both definitions share similar concepts of maximizing the collective intelligence, self-regulating community, network effect, transparency of the information creation and sharing process, but the key element in these terms is the user. From technological perspective, there are not many changes in the Web 2.0 compared to Web 1.0 applications; the real value is created by people not only using this social software but participating in the creation process of it (by creating and editing the new content or even in some cases modifying the application itself). According to Constantinides and Fountain (2008), the key innovative elements typifying this new family of web applications can be summarized as three main principles: 1. Focus on simple, service-based open-source solutions in the form of online applications. 2. Continuous and incremental application development requiring the participation and interaction of users in new ways: not only à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-consumingbut also contributing, reviewing and editing content. 3. New service-based business models and new opportunities for reaching small individual customers with low-volume products. As Web 2.0 applications are still in the development stage, the grouping of them varies according to the purpose and field of the research. Hoegg (Hoegg et al, 2005) groups web 2.0 applications according the services they provide (Figure 2.4). Tim Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸Reilly (2005) argues that Web 2.0 doesnt have a hard boundary, but rather, a gravitational core which could be visualized as a set of principles and practices that tie together a veritable solar system of sites that demonstrate some or all of those principles, at a varying distance from that core (Appendix 2.4). Therefore it is difficult to classify the Web 2.0 into the precise groupings, because the applications are interrelated and most of the time a few Web 2.0 features works on one platform. The mixture of Web 2.0 applications working under one site are known as Mash-ups. According to Mayfield (2008) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢this combination of two or more pieces of content (or software, or websites) is one of the phenomena in social media that make it at once so exciting, fast-moving and sometimes bewilderingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-. But even more important feature of Web 2.0 applications is the adaptability in the different platforms. Social applications are becoming more and more popular on mobile devices (Phones, iPods (via podcasts)). In fact, according to BBC News (2008) one of the reasons the Internet usage on the mobile devices is increasing Web 2.0 applications. According to Drury (2008) social media applications has an ability to bring Head (Professional) and Tail (UGC) content together in all the formats (audio, video , text). As more and more professionally edited websites incorporates social media content some companies (i.e. Joost) are trying to apply Web 2.0 principals (live participation) for even bigger media platforms as TV. These applications are being tested in the Internet TV and in the near future have a good chance to redefine TV experience completely. All theses changes open new opportunities for integrated marketing campaigns, where marketers are enabled to reach larger audiences of consumers at all their touch points with mediated world at one-stop shop. Blogs and blogging Web Logs (commonly knows as Blogs), according to Tredinnick (2006), are arguably the oldest Web 2.0 applications and have been in the web space since mid 1990à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s. Constantinides and Fountain (2008) states that it is the most know and fastest-growing category of Web 2.0 applications. According to McCann report (2008), 184 million people World Wide have started a blog and 346 million read blogs, which means that 77% of active Internet users read blogs. Furthermore, 17.8 m have read a blog and around 4.3 m have created their own blog in the UK (McCann, 2008). The most recent Technorati research (2008) confirms this phenomenon as they tracked blogs in 81 languages from 66 countries around the world, it suggest that blogging have made a major influence on media ecosystem as bloggers are collectively creating almost one million posts every day and have representation in all top-10 web site lists across all key categories. In general a Blog is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video where entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order and has permalinks (Daily Blog Tips, 2008), but Pomerantz and Stutzman (2006) argues that for every blog author and consumer, the precise understanding of a blogà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s use is different, therefore it is difficult to define its true meaning. Dearstyne (2005) summarized the definitions and blogging opportunities provided by major companies: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Microsoft defines blogs as frequently updated personal web journals that can dramatically help both small and large companies communicate their product messages. They increase peoples ability to share ideas and information exponentiallv, and on a worldwide scale. Accenture says blogs are an interactive website that allows the owner to publish ideas and information. Users can read and evaluate material and add new content, creating a conver sation that spans lime zones and continents. Research Design and methodology: We are left with mainly two options for the way and approach for gathering the research data- primary and secondary in the broadest sense. The primary research methodology involves direct interaction with the subjects where as the secondary research involves collection of data from sources such as literature, magazines etc. While the primary research methodology is more current, it includes interviews, questionnaires, targeted groups, personal interviews etc which is a time taking and tedious process. There needs to be a trade off regarding the extent of primary research data to be included in the research. The main empirical study will be carried out based on the primary data which was collected as per the study requirements. Based on the requirement and research find

Monday, August 19, 2019

Two Characters from J.B.Priestley’s play, An Inspector Calls :: English Literature

Choose two characters from the play. With careful analysis of relevant sections of An Inspector Calls, show how Priestley wants us to react to them in different ways, and give reasons for these differences Priestley’s socialist views are reflected in his play-written in 1945 but set in 1912- just before the first of many imperative and decisive events such as World War 1, World War 2 and who could forget , the sinking of the not so resilient cruise liner; Titanic- â€Å"An Inspector Calls†. Priestley wants everyone to work together and have no boundaries between them any longer. Believing that we are all responsible for each others actions and that we should learn from lapses in the past and act upon them is a key element in Priestley’s socialist beliefs. By learning these mistakes it would create a superior and more established hope for the future. â€Å"An Inspector Calls† is a moralizing glance at the site and situation of one family, the Birlings. Priestley uses his play as a vehicle to express his moral and social concerns; that if we do not begin taking responsibility for each others actions, there will be no hope, no foundation and most importantly no future. The characteristics of this family are chosen carefully and accurately. The â€Å"older generation†, Mr Birling is described as a â€Å"prosperous manufacturer† who believes that â€Å"a man has to mind his own business and look after himself† and should not get involved in â€Å"community and all that nonsense†. He is a very pretentious, egotistical and typical man of 1912. The moment in time when Priestley decided to write the play couldn’t have been more perfect, and is where he uses Mr Birling to express the naà ¯ve and pugnacious capitalist views in his rather long and â€Å"portentous† speeches. His speeches consist of how none of these things will ever happen. â€Å"†¦I say there isn’t a chance of war† and the Titanic is â€Å"†¦unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable† and not to overlook that the world would have â€Å"forgotten all these Capital versus Labour agitations†, which are obvious signs of dramatic irony. Whereas Sheila, the â€Å"younger generation† is rather â€Å"pleased with life†, which shows her vulnerability to be easily divorced from her engagement festivity. Because she is young and still learning new and â€Å"squiffy† terms, Priestley chooses her to change and develop, in hope that people will become more socialist in the near future. Sheila is a more compatible person who eventually changes her views as the play progresses. In the beginning of the play â€Å"the general effect is substantial and heavily comfortable, but not cosy and homelike†. We are made to feel that this is an environment with an array of surprises lying ahead.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Establishing a Therapeutic Alliance Essay -- Health Care, Treatment

Research has shown that a strong therapeutic alliance is necessary for establishing a beneficial contact between the therapist and the client. If the therapist does not encourage the creation of a reliable therapeutic alliance from the beginning of the treatment, it will be hard to develop a constructive relationship with the client later. Establishing the therapeutic alliance will increase the chances of achieving the goal of the treatment because the clients will be willing to cooperate if they trust and respect the therapist. Clients are not likely to cooperate with therapists who impose their authority aggressively. Instead of imposing their authority on the patient, therapists should develop work with their patients by building a mutual relationship based on trust, understanding, and respect for the client. According to Jeremy Safran and Christopher Muran (2000), psychiatric research shows that the quality of the therapeutic alliance is the most important factor in determining the therapist's success. â€Å"Some therapists are consistently more helpful than others; differences in therapist ability seem to be more important than therapeutic modality, and the more helpful therapists appear better able to facilitate the development of a therapeutic alliance† (Safran & Muran, 2000). However, the main problem is that it is difficult to teach the skills necessary for the creation of a therapeutic alliance. In fact, psychotherapy research stresses the importance of the development of human qualities in the therapist. According to Safran and Muran (2000), the therapist need to constantly develop themselves and become involved in personal growth through inner work. Without this feature, the therapists will not be able to devel... ...ate with their therapists. â€Å"A systematic relationship between the therapists' personal reactions to the patient and the quality of their communication, diagnostic impressions, and treatment plans† (Horvath & Greenberg, ). While positive attitudes from the therapists are more likely to result in a successful treatment, negative attitudes will not develop the necessary cooperation from the clients side to successfully reach the goal of the therapy. Regardless of the treatment method, the findings of scientific research stress the importance of a relationship-based treatment which operates on trust and openness. All researchers claim that developing a strong therapeutic alliance in the beginning influences the course of the treatment and its success. The early development of this kind of relationship with the patients will improve the therapists' chances of success.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Death of a Saleman †Happy Loman Essay

Happy shares none of the poetry that erupts from Biff and that is buried in Willy—he is the stunted incarnation of Willy’s worst traits and the embodiment of the lie of the happy American Dream. As such, Happy is a difficult character with whom to empathize. He is one-dimensional and static throughout the play. His empty vow to avenge Willy’s death by finally â€Å"beat[ing] this racket† provides evidence of his critical condition: for Happy, who has lived in the shadow of the inflated expectations of his brother, there is no escape from the Dream’s indoctrinated lies. Happy’s diseased condition is irreparable—he lacks even the tiniest spark of self-knowledge or capacity for self-analysis. He does share Willy’s capacity for self-delusion, trumpeting himself as the assistant buyer at his store, when, in reality, he is only an assistant to the assistant buyer. He does not possess a hint of the latent thirst for knowledge that prov es Biff’s salvation. Happy is a doomed, utterly duped figure, destined to be swallowed up by the force of blind ambition that fuels his insatiable sex drive. Character Analysis Happy might as well be Willy Jr., because this apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Though he is relatively successful in his job, he has his dad’s totally unrealistic self-confidence, and his grand dreams about getting rich quick. Like Biff, but to a lesser extent, Happy has suffered from his father’s expectations. Mostly, though, his father doesn’t pay that much attention to him. Willy was always a bigger fan of Biff. Happy, maybe because he always felt second best, has more of a desire to please his father. Despite his respectable accomplishments in business, and the many, many notches on his bedpost, Happy is extremely lonely. Happy is competitive and ambitious, but these feelings are misdirected. Unable to compete on his own terms in the business world, Happy blindly pursues women – taken women – purely for the sake of doing so. Looks like he’s taken his sense of competition to the realm of sex. Of course, this, much like the world of business, fails to satisfy him. Most disturbing for Happy is the fact that he can’t figure out why all this isn’t working. He’s followed the rules, done all the right things, yet Happy just isn’t happy. His name highlights the irony of his predicament. If you consider the fact that parents name their children, you could say that Willy foolishly bestowed the nickname on his son in yet another display of misguidance and delusion. Nice. Just as the saddest part of Willy’s suicide is his continued delusion, the saddest part of Happy’s ending is his own persistent misbelief. Still driven by what he feels he should want (money, a wife), he sticks to Willy’s foolish dreams to the bitter end. Happy Loman Hap is the Loman’s youngest son. He lives in an apartment in New York, and during the play is staying at his parent’s house to visit. Hap is of low moral character; constantly with another woman, trying to find his way in life, even though he is confident he’s on the right track. Hap has always been the â€Å"second son† to Biff and tries to be noticed by his parents by showing off. When he was young he always told Willly, â€Å"I’m losin’ weight pop, you notice?† And, now he is always saying, â€Å"I’m going to get married, just you wait and see,† in an attempt to redeem himself in his mother’s eyes. Hap also tries to be on Willy’s good side and keep him happy, even if it means perpetuating the lies and illusions that Willy lives in. In the end of the play, Hap cannot see reality. Like his father, he is destined to live a fruitless life trying for something that will not happen. â€Å"Willy Loman did not die in vain,† he says, â€Å"†¦He had a good dream, the only dream a man can have – to come out number one man. He fought it out here, and this where I’m gonna win it for him.† Death of a Salesman By Arthur Miller Character Analysis Happy Loman Happy is a young version of Willy. He incorporates his father’s habit of manipulating reality in order to create situations that are more favorable to him. Happy grew up listening to Willy embellish the truth, so it is not surprising that Happy exaggerates his position in order to create the illusion of success. Instead of admitting he is an assistant to the assistant, Happy lies and tells everyone he is the assistant buyer. This is Willy’s philosophy all over again. Happy also relishes the fact that â€Å"respectable† women cannot resist him. He has seduced the fiancà ©es of three executives just to gain a perception of pleasure and power. He thrives on sexual gratification, but even more than that, Happy savors the knowledge that he has â€Å"ruined† women engaged to men he works for and also despises. He states, â€Å"I hate myself for it. Because I don’t want the girl, and, still, I take it and — I love it!† Happy is similar to Willy in two ways. Both deny their positions and exaggerate details in order to aggrandize themselves, and sexual interludes are the defining moments of both of their lives. Willy’s life revolves around his attempt to forget his affair with the Woman, while Happy’s life revolves around an active pursuit of affairs with many women. Death of a Salesman addresses loss of identity and a man’s inability to accept change within himself and society. The play is a montage of memories, dreams, confrontations, and arguments, all of which make up the last 24 hours of Willy Loman’s life. The three major themes within the play are denial, contradiction, and order versus disorder. Each member of the Loman family is living in denial or perpetuating a cycle of denial for others. Willy Loman is incapable of accepting the fact that he is a mediocre salesman. Instead Willy strives for his version of the American dream — success and notoriety — even if he is forced to deny reality in order to achieve it. Instead of acknowledging that he is not a well-known success, Willy retreats into the past and chooses to relive past memories and events in which he is perceived as successful. For example, Willy’s favorite memory is of Biff’s last football game because Biff vows to make a touchdown just for him. In this scene in the past, Willy can hardly wait to tell the story to his buyers. He considers himself famous as a result of his son’s pride in him. Willy’s sons, Biff and Happy, adopt Willy’s habit of denying or manipulating reality and practice it all of their lives, much to their detriment. It is only at the end of the play that Biff admits he has been a â€Å"phony† too, just like Willy. Linda is the only character that recognizes the Loman family lives in denial; however, she goes along with Willy’s fantasies in order to preserve his fragile mental state. The second major theme of the play is contradiction. Throughout the play, Willy’s behavior is riddled with inconsistencies. In fact, the only thing consistent about Willy is his inconsistency. From the very beginning of Act I, Scene 1, Willy reveals this tendency. He labels Biff a â€Å"lazy bum† but then contradicts himself two lines later when he states, â€Å"And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff — he’s not lazy.† Willy’s contradictions often confuse audiences at the beginning of the play; however, they soon become a trademark of his character. Willy’s inconsistent behavior is the result of his inability to accept reality and his tendency to manipulate or re-create the past in an attempt to escape the present. For example, Willy cannot resign himself to the fact that Biff no longer respects him because of Willy’s affair. Rather than admit that their relationship is irreconcilable, Willy retreats to a pre vious time when Biff admired and respected him. As the play continues, Willy disassociates himself more and more from the present as his problems become too numerous to deal with. The third major theme of the play, which is order versus disorder, results from Willy’s retreats into the past. Each time Willy loses himself in the past, he does so in order to deny the present, especially if the present is too difficult to accept. As the play progresses, Willy spends more and more time in the past as a means of reestablishing order in his life. The more fragmented and disastrous reality becomes, the more necessary it is for Willy to create an alternative reality, even if it requires him to live solely in the past. This is demonstrated immediately after Willy is fired. Ben appears, and Willy confides â€Å"nothing’s working out. I don’t know what to do.† Ben quickly shifts the conversation to Alaska and offers Willy a job. Linda appears and convinces Willy that he should stay in sales, just like Dave Singleman. Willy’s confidence quickly resurfaces, and he is confident that he has made the right decision by turning down Ben’ s offer; he is certain he will be a success like Singleman. Thus, Willy’s memory has distracted him from the reality of losing his job. Denial, contradiction, and the quest for order versus disorder comprise the three major themes of Death of a Salesman. All three themes work together to create a dreamlike atmosphere in which the audience watches a man’s identity and mental stability slip away. The play continues to affect audiences because it allows them to hold a mirror up to themselves. Willy’s self-deprecation, sense of failure, and overwhelming regret are emotions that an audience can relate to because everyone has experienced them at one time or another. Individuals continue to react to Death of a Salesman because Willy’s situation is not unique: He made a mistake — a mistake that irrevocably changed his relationship with the people he loves most — and when all of his attempts to eradicate his mistake fail, he makes one grand attempt to correct the mistake. Willy vehemently denies Biff’s claim that they are both common, ordinary people, but ironically, it is the univers ality of the play which makes it so enduring. Biff’s statement, â€Å"I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you† is true after all. Miller often experiments with narrative style and technique. For example, Miller includes lengthy exposition pieces that read as stage directions within The Crucible. At first glance, it seems that an audience must either read the information in the program or listen to a long-winded narrator. Upon further inspection however, it becomes apparent that Miller’s inclusion of background material allows actors and directors to study character motivation and internalize the information, thereby portraying it in the performance. Miller provides audiences with a unique experience when it comes to Death of a Salesman. In many ways, the play appears traditional. In other words, there are actors who interact with one another, there is a basic plot line, and the play contains standard dramatic elements such as exposition, rising action, conflict, climax, and so forth. However, Miller’s manipulation of time and space creates a very non-traditional atmosphere that is unsettling but effective because it mirrors Willy’s mental state, thereby allowing the audience to witness his mental instability and take part in it. Stage directions call for a complete house for the Lomans. An audience will not simply watch the action take place in the kitchen but can observe several rooms within the home. This sounds as if it would be distracting since an audience can view several things at once. After all, what should the audience look at? If more than one character is on stage, whom should the audience pay attention to? Miller solves this problem through lighting. Only characters that are talking or involved in direct action are lit on stage, all other rooms, characters, and props remain in shadow. The result is a vast number of rooms and props that can be utilized immediately. The audience does not have to wait while a new set is erected or an old one torn down, but instead moves directly and instantaneously into the next scene. Such movement without the benefit of time delays or dialogue transitions produces a disjointed and fragmented sequence of events, much like a dream. In fact, the stage directions in Act I describe the house as follows: â€Å"An air of the dream clings to the place, a dream arising out of reality.† Miller does not stop there. Even though the action of the play can shift from one part of the house to another without delay, the action is still limited to the present. Willy’s dreams, memories, or recollections of past events must be revealed in a manner that is distinct from actions taking place in the present. This is important for two reasons: First, the audience must be able to differentiate between the present and the past in order to follow the action of the play; second, Willy’s increased agitation must be apparent to the audience, and there is no better way to reveal it than to have the audience observe his inability to separate the past from the reality of the present. Miller achieves this effect by manipulating the space and boundaries of the rooms. When action takes place in the present, characters observe wall boundaries and enter and exit through the doors. During Willy’s recollections of the past, characters do not observe wall boundaries, and the action generally takes place in the area at the front of the stage, rather than inside the house. As a result, the audience can distinguish present events from Willy’s memories. For example, in Act I, Scene 3, Willy pours a glass of milk in the kitchen, sits down, and begins to mumble to himself. He is in the present. He then remembers a past conversation with the teenage Biff and resumes the conversation. Since this is a past event, Willy directs his speech through the wall to a point offstage. This cues the audience that Willy is digressing in the past. Sound is also used to create a dreamlike state for both Willy and the audience. A flute melody is associated with Willy, Ben has his own music, laughter cues the Woman, and so forth. Once the sound is introduced with the appropriate character, the audience automatically associates the sound with that same character. As a result, Miller is able to prompt reactions and expectations from the audience, whether they are aware or not. For example, in Act II, Scene 14, it appears that things have finally been settled between Willy and Biff. Even though Biff is leaving in the morning, he and Willy have reconciled. This puts the audience at ease, but once Ben’s music is heard, it is evident that the play has not reached its final conclusion. In fact, Ben’s appearance may create anxiety for the audience because it suggests an alternate, more disturbing, end to the play. As the play progresses, the action shifts to the front of the stage. In other words, the audience becomes increasingly aware that the majority of the action is taking place inside Willy’s head. It is difficult enough to watch an individual lose his or her identity. It is extremely unsettling and disturbing to be forced to experience the individual’s memories, illusions, or perhaps delusions resulting in mental instability. Miller takes that into consideration and then pushes his audiences to the extreme. As Willy’s mental state declines, the audience is forced to watch and to react. As a result, the play may be called Death of a Salesman, but it is a death observed and experienced by every member of the audience.