Setting, Symbolism and Oppression of Women in The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper: Setting, Symbolism and Oppression of Women Have you ever been locked in a dark closet? You grope about trying to feel the doorknob, straining to see a thin beam of light coming from underneath the door. As the darkness consumes you, you feel as if you will suffocate. There is a sensation of helplessness and hopelessness. Loneliness, caused by oppression, is like the same darkness that overtakes its victim. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in "The Yellow Wallpaper," recounts the story of a young mother who travels to a summer home to "rest" from her nervous condition. Her bedroom is an old nursery covered with ugly, yellow wallpaper. The more time she spends alone, the more she becomes obsessed with the wallpaper's patterns. She begins to imagine a woman behind bars in the paper. Finally, she loses her sanity and believes that she is the woman in the wallpaper, trying to escape. In "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses setting and symbolism to suggest that imprisoning oppression causes a type of loneliness (in women) that can lead to a deadly form of insanity. Gilman uses setting to suggest that imprisoning oppression causes a type of loneliness that can lead to insanity. Gilman's young mother describes the nursery bedroom "with windows that ... [are] barred for little children" (426). In the above passage, the barred windows seem to intensify her oppression, and her perception that she is being imprisoned. Gilman also uses the young woman's description of the summer home to express her feeling of being all alone. "It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of Eng... ...chniques that Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses in "The Yellow Wallpaper" to suggest that a type of loneliness (in women) caused by imprisoning oppression can lead to the deadliest form of insanity. By using setting, Gilman shows how the barred windows intensifies the young woman's imprisoning oppression, the isolated summer home represents the loneliness the young woman feels, and her hallucinations of the wallpaper pattern indicates her transition to insanity. Wallpaper symbolism is used throughout the story the pattern representing the strangling nature of the imprisoning oppression, the fading yellow color showing the fading away of the young woman, and the hovering smell representing the deadly insanity to which she succumbs. Like the darkness that quickly consumes, the imprisoning loneliness of oppression swallows its victim down into the abyss of insanity.

The Two-Fold Thought of Deleuze and Guattari: Intersections and Animati

The Two-Fold Thought of Deleuze and Guattari: Intersections and Animations    Charles J. Stivale, a scholar in French literary and cultural studies, tries to articulate Deleuze and Guattari's philosophical concepts with practical studies on culture, analyzing films, cyberspace, and Cajun dance.   Although he says that the goal of the book is to provide "an initial orientation" to Deleuze and Guattari's collaborative works, it is not a simple job at all for those innocent of Deleuzean concepts to follow the flow of his thought (ix).   He provides short explications of the concepts and quotations from Deleuze and Guattari's books before his application, but only the readers, who are familiar with Delezean concepts, seem to be able to articulate the whole idea.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As the title implies, Stivale considers Deleuze and Guattari's works as "expressing 'thought' that arises from two individual, fluctuating subjectivities"(xi).   He attempts to grasp and animate this two-foldedness, both sorting out two different voices of Deleuze and Guattari and presenting the intersection between them.   This two-fold thought, as Stivale stresses, should be understood not only as an overlap of two particular sensibilities and modes of knowing but also as "one of action and opening outward, of formulations, unheard-of juxtapositions of concepts, monstrous couplings," that is, rhizomatics of n-1 dimensions (24).   In his introductory chapter, he differentiates Deleuze as a philosopher from Guattari as a psychotherapist and political activist: first, he explicates Deleuze's passion of the concept, examining Deleuze's relation with Nietzsche and Foucault and several concepts including "body without organ," "image of thought," and "rhizome"; seco nd, h... ...o his attempt to bridge over the conceptual gap between the "local" and the "global" within cultural studies with Deleuze-Guattarian concepts.   His point-of-view of cultural studies, especially, is valuable in terms that he recognizes the danger within its becoming-discipline: "These geopolitical negotiations of 'forms and feelings' [in Cajun dance] are precisely the proper focus of a 'cultural studies' understood not in a limited, 'territorialized' sense of dueling disciplines between adjoining theoretical and conceptual articulations and strategies" (186-7).   If one can keep his/her own distance in reading this book, it will serve as a great source book for further research on cultural studies. Work Cited The Two-Fold Thought of Deleuze and Guattari: Intersections and Animations.   By Charles J. Stivale.   New York: The Guildford Press, 1998.   Pp. xxii, 361.

Endurance of the Human Spirit

Endurance Of The Human Spirit The Iliad and the movie Precious, based on the novel Push by Saphire, both share a common theme where the main characters depict an uncommon endurance of the human spirit in the face of adversity. Although in The Iliad, war is horrible and bloody, the spirit of Achilles is never broken by this adversity because, like Precious, who suffers physical, mental, and sexual abuse at the hands of her parents, their human spirit is the driving force behind their desire to overcome their challenges. As a result, the endurance of their human spirit is strengthened and they emerge victorious.These two characters reflect the uncommon strength of the human spirit because when their body is defeated, or their mind is loaded with emotion, this drive within them pushes their limits. A character analysis of Achilles and Precious is farfetched because they are two very distinct characters in two very different worlds. According to Greek Mythology Achilles' character existe d long before the biblical Jesus Christ. This means he lived more than 3000 years ago, whereas Precious, is a an illiterate, obese 16-year-old girl with two children who lives in the New York City ghetto of Harlem.However, these two distinct characters have commonality when we look beyond their physical being and look within their souls. Here, Achilles and Precious possess an unyielding human spirit that serves as an engine that keeps them moving forward in the face of impossibility. From a superficial analysis, Achilles and Precious are both warriors in their own ways. It is obvious that Achilles is a warrior because he is one who fights in the armies of Kings and battles enemies for gain. He is no ordinary fighter, but a fearless and skilled one who is recruited for his physical strength and success.Agamemnon enlists him to fight for his army when he goes to war with the Trojans because he is aware of his exceptional skill. Therefore, in his own eyes and in the eyes of others, Ach illes is a warrior. This characterization is not as obvious when we analyze Precious. Precious is a warrior even though she does not know it and others do not regard her as one. She became a warrior because she was born into a family of physical and sexual abuse. At the age of 3, her father started to sexually abuse her and her mother's constant humiliation only served to degrade her.However, it was due to this unfortunate circumstance the she developed into a warrior. Precious is battling her drug addicted, alcoholic, and emotionally unstable mother. In the movie there is a scene where she is at the top of the stairs in her home, with her mother below tossing a pan at her while telling her that she is â€Å"stupid bitch (Precious). † In this case, her parents are the enemies she has to defeat to survive. This can destroy you unless you have a strong will. Each has a reason to develop a drive to prevail.It is this strong desire to overcome in the face of physical impossibilit ies that sets them apart from ordinary people. Achilles and Precious have an inner human spirit that drives them to overcome the obstacles in their lives. Achilles continually strives to be a great fighter because he wants to be remembered after one-thousand years. This is partially his motivation and he demonstrates this when he utters, â€Å"You talk of food. I have no taste for food – what I really crave is the slaughter of blood and the choking groans of men. † (Homer 495).Here, after a successful battle, Agamemnon is commanding that a feast be prepared for the soldiers. Achilles strongly rejects his gift and says that there is no time for eating when he has rage for fighting in his heart. Achilles has only one thing on his mind and that is to fight because his drive is his desire to be recognize. This does not completely characterize Achilles because towards the end of the movie, when he kills Hector, and Priam is begging Achilles for his body, he says, â€Å"No more, old man, don't tempt my wrath, not now! Don't stir my raging heart still more.Or under my own roof I may not spare your life, old man †¦ suppliant that you are †¦. † (Homer 606). It is obvious that Achilles has many characteristics. Here, he is fearless, selfish, and at the same time compassionate. Unlike Achilles, whose human spirit was driven by selfish reasons to be grand and recognized, Precious was motivated by a desire to be remembered. Initially, Precious is an insecure, weak and helpless person. Her father rapes her and cannot depend on anyone to defend her. This incestuous relationship is a heavy weight for her to carry.However, she does eventually gather the strength and stands up for herself. This is very evident when she states, â€Å"The other day I cried. But you know what? Fuck that day. That's why God, or whoever, makes other days. â€Å"(Precious). Here, we have a powerful statement by Precious who has endured so much emotional and physical a buse. By the time she makes this statement, she has given birth to two children by her own father and has endured enormous mental abused by her mother. Her mother states, â€Å"Don't nobody want you, don't nobody need you. (Precious). This type of abuse can cause anyone to commit suicide. It is a crippling experience for most people, but Precious build up the strength to defeat the abuse and believes there is another day. Even though she has given up on the notion of God, she still believes in herself. This is Precious' reflection that her human spirit will survive anything. It may appear that Achilles and Precious do not have anything in common because almost everything about these characters is different, but as their characters develop, we learn otherwise.First, we have one character who physically survives and the other one dies. However, each one is a warrior in their own way and in their own world. As warriors they must choose between fighting or giving up. What makes both of these characters extraordinary is their inner will to fight challenges that appear insurmountable. Achilles is recognized as a great warrior, but his spirit develops even stronger than his own physical body due to his experience in the battlefield.Precious also develops into a warrior as she fights the sexual and physical abuses of her parents. She demonstrates that she is a strong person because she ends up being a survivor and not a victim of her parent's abuse. Both of these characters demonstrate that the human spirit does not surrender and will overcome just about anything in life. Works Cited Precious. Dir. Lee Daniels. Perf. Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey. 2009. Film. Troy. Dir. Wolfgang Petersen. Perf. Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom. 2004. Film.

Task 310.2.1-05

Business ethics can be defined as â€Å"written and unwritten codes of principles and values that govern decisions and actions within a company. † (Love to Know, n. d. )  Behaving ethically is extremely important for businesses in order to cultivate an image of responsibility and grow a loyal customer base. Companies have a moral obligation to help the communities from which they profit to grow and prosper. Company Q, a small local grocery store chain, has recently closed two stores. These stores were located in a high-crime area and the company reported that they consistently lost money. The area’s food bank requested that Company Q donate day-old merchandise, which management denied. The decision was made to throw away the unused food and the reasoning was that revenue might be lost due to stealing or fraud. Customers of Company Q began requesting more health-conscious and organic products years ago. The company decided to offer a limited amount of these high-margin items. Company Q is not acting in a socially responsible way by closing the stores in the high-crime areas. They had created a local brand and employed members of the community. By closing these two stores, Company Q would only be furthering the the decay of the community by creating more empty store fronts. Once the stores close, its employees would be without work. This will also contribute to the decline of the community. The loss of the local stores would be a hardship to residents, because they would have to spend more time and money to travel further to get the essential items they need. This added hardship would most likely have an effect on the community since there would be fewer resources available to help improve the community Company Q could help contribute to the revitalization of the local areas by increasing their presence in the community and expanding programs designed to engage and include community members. One way to help the company deal with the loss of money from these stores would be to create a more visible security presence. The visual deterrent of security guards, cameras and perhaps even increased police presence could help create a safer environment in which the residents could shop. The area food bank’s request for day-old product donations would be an xcellent way for Company Q to prove their commitment to the community. By helping the local food bank, Company Q would simultaneously help the community’s less fortunate citizens and it help improve their own corporate image. Community interaction and support should be intimately associated with the corporate well-being of the company, as good community stewardship is a very important factor in evaluating the value and social â€Å"worth† of the company. Throwing away food instead of donating it to needy food banks conveys the image that the company does not have a commitment to the community and its people. Neighborhood residents see food being thrown away that could help improve their lives and the lives of those around them and have no real incentive to help make sure that Company Q’s stores prosper in their area. The decision by management to not donate food due to fears of employee theft and fraud shows that the company has no faith in the employees that they have hired. By partnering with their employees and leading by example, Company Q could increase employee loyalty and help show the community that the company does care about them. Employees that are loyal to the company could go above and beyond in their pursuit to have their stores thrive. Offering a more robust organic foods and products selection would certainly benefit the community. Since these items are higher-margin items, the company would prosper even more. Acting in a more socially responsible and ethical manner could help Company Q keep the stores open that they are planning to close. It may also allow them to expand. References Love to Know Business (n. d) Retrieved from: http://business. lovetoknow. com/wiki/A_Definition_for_Business_Ethics, on December 8, 2011

Social class and participation in further education

At the first portion of this appraisal I need to indicate out the most of import points discussed at the article â€Å" Social category and engagement in farther instruction: grounds from the Youth Cohort Study of England and Wales † written by Ron Thompson. Before I carry on with my treatment, I have to squeal that this article had a great impact towards my personal thought refering the educational reform that is taking topographic point in Cyprus. I have found a batch of similarities refering our educational systems and its jobs with the one the writer is discoursing. At this paper, the writer examines the category distribution of immature people, aged 16-17 old ages, in colleges of farther instruction ( FE ) by utilizing informations from the Youth Cohort Study. He finds, contrary to popular perceptual experiences of FE colleges as being for ‘lower category people ‘s kids ‘ , middle-class pupils every bit good as propertyless pupils are good represented. In contrast, this does non connote that FE colleges are establishments of pick because middle-class representation is frequently related to take down accomplishment and, for low-achieving propertyless pupils, go forthing instruction wholly is more likely than entry to FE. In recent discourse on the instruction of immature people and grownups, and as Avis reference out, recounts how educational research from the 1980s, on the manner in which pupils ‘ experiences in instruction served to reproduce class-based orientations towards waged labor, came to be superseded by a place that, whilst supplying more complex histories of larning experiences, favoured procedures related to individualisation instead than the structural footing of category inequality. Furthermore, Avis calls for structural histories of societal inequality – including race and gender every bit good as category – to be placed one time more in the foreground, whilst retaining an consciousness of the complexness of educational and societal dealingss. ( Avis, 2006, p.344-345 ) Even though the writer efforts to highlight category in relation to educational patterned advance by concentrating on the engagement of 16-17 twelvemonth olds in farther instruction ( FE ) colleges in England and Wales, nevertheless these colleges are frequently conceptualized as mostly propertyless establishments, both historically and culturally, and as enduring from a marginalisation that belies the recent important additions in authorities disbursement on FE. As Richardson mentions the predominating attitudes to the sector that so far as those in Whitehall and the media are concerned, the cardinal but mute point about colleges of general FE in stratified England remains that they are tiring, difficult to understand and something best suited to ‘other people ‘s kids ‘ ( Richardson, 2007, p.411 ) . Not merely Richardson mentioned this but besides Raggatt and Williams ( 1999 ) are conveying similar points, observing a systemic disregard of FE that is class-based and related to images of FE as a 2nd pick establishment concerned with low-status vocational or reme dial classs. ( 455 ) UK authorities have topographic point a cardinal function refering the FE in the 21st century. The FE sector in England and Wales occupies an uneasy link of policies associating to societal inclusion and planetary fight. FE is holding a cardinal function in the creative activity of future high-skills, knowledge-based economic system and as lending to societal coherence, indirectly through wealth-creation stimulated by high accomplishments and straight by agencies of educational proviso aimed at deprived persons. However, these places have been questioned by many research workers, and the ‘competitiveness colony ‘ has acquired a hegemonic position within instruction and is responsible for much of the rhetoric permeating authorities policy. In pattern, FE is positioned within womb-to-tomb acquisition and as a supplier of academic and vocational classs whose common characteristic is their lower position compared with those offered by more esteemed establishments, such as universities, sixth-form colleges and school 6th signifiers. But as Bathmaker reference, many immature people, inscribing on a class in FE is a silent recognition of their lower position as pupils and of the fact that certain chances are closed to them, they ‘follow a peculiar path, non so much because they know what they want to make, but because they know what they can non make ‘ ( Bathmaker 2005, 86 ) . These pupils are improbable to reflect the authorities ‘s placement of FE within its rhetoric of ‘learning society ‘ . Indeed, their attitudes to larn may be seen as ‘reflecting non so much built-in capacities of single scholars, as a response to their placement in an instruction and preparation hierarchy. ( 252 ) Something that needs to be mentioned at this point is that the category distribution of immature people, aged 16-17 old ages, across the varied locations of post-16 instruction is examined. However, the great bulk are following full-time classs. For the higher societal categories, this is chiefly in schools and sixth-form colleges ; for the lower societal categories, attending at an FE college is non much less likely than attending at a school or sixth-form college combined. In old educational attainment is taken into history, the distribution of immature people in full-time instruction reveals that the category composing of FE is constructed as much from middle-class failure as from propertyless disadvantage. Working-class 16-17 twelvemonth olds in full-time instruction with five or more GCSE base on ballss at classs A*-C are twice every bit likely to go to an FE college as those from the highest societal category with the same scope of makings. At the same clip, 16-17 twelvemonth o lds from higher societal categories with fewer than five A*-C classs are more likely to be in FE colleges than similar propertyless pupils. ( 180 ) In decision, the societal composing of 16-17 twelvemonth olds in FE colleges in England and Wales derives from the interaction of two chief effects: the increasing likeliness of go toing such establishments with falling category place ; and an increasing engagement rate in post-compulsory instruction with go uping category place. These effects are strongly modified by old educational accomplishment, so that high-achieving working-class immature people are less likely to go to FE than their category place might bespeak, and low winners from the in-between category are more likely to happen themselves in a farther instruction college than might be expected. However, a important category consequence remains: in the higher class of attainment, working-class 16-17 twelvemonth olds are more likely to go to FE than equals from the in-between category, whilst in the lower class the contrary is true. Gender differences are besides mediated by category to some extent Furthermore, research that makes seeable middle-class immature people in the FE system alongside their working-class equals could assist to reply the inquiries raised.

Advertising Campaign of McDonalds Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Advertising Campaign of McDonalds - Case Study Example and social issues.First of all, there was a rapid upsurge of public interest to the healthy lifestyle,and together with this tendency there was one more - McDonald's was gradually becoming a symbol of unhealthy eating that causes problems with health and obesity.At the end of the XXth century, Atkin's Diet gained a great amount of adherents,and it also affected the reputation of the fast-food giant, as people were becoming increasingly more concerned as for the volume of fat and carbohydrates,and in number of calories in their everyday meals, and surely, Big Macs, hamburgers,soft drinks with lots of sugar and French fries proved to be 'champions' as far as the content of 'bad' calories was concerned.Though the companies that were competing with McDonald's could not boast to serve healthier food, yet because McDonald's was the most popular chain of fast food restaurants,it played a trick on the company making it a 'collective' symbol embodying all the negative sides of eating junk. It cannot be overlooked that with the world's businesses becoming global and the emergence of various anti-global movements that blame multinational corporations for exploiting people and affecting the economy of the developing countries, McDonald's has also become a symbol of 'the world's corporate evil' that attempts to 'catch' the entire planet into its 'vicious net'. In 2002, the American president G.W. Bush started an anti-obesity campaign that included propagating healthy food among schoolchildren and their parents, and in the course of this campaign the direct connection between eating junk food and obesity was being pinpointed. As a result, there was a significant decrease in the number of McDonald's customers, and many of its restaurants were closed. It was also stressed that there had been a decrease in the number of young people visiting McDonald's, and as soon as the company's analysts noticed that the ratio of teenagers and young people among their customers was decreasing, 'I'm lovin' it' advertising campaign was launched. Taking into account all the above said, this new advertising campaign was meant to enhance the image of McDonald's so that to deal with the crisis the company found itself in. In contrast to the 2001-2002 campaign that targeted mainly children and family audiences ('Happy Meal', Ronald McDonald, playgrounds for children, toys, balloons, birthday parties etc.), the new global task for McDonald's was to attract young people and teenagers. McDonald's advertising campaign whose slogan has become 'I'm lovin' it' was launched in 2003, and proved to be a significant breakthrough as far as the company's branding is concerned. This slogan

Contingency Perspective Of Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contingency Perspective Of Leadership - Essay Example Leadership is considered as a controlling power that is bestowed on a person to achieve certain aims. The leader, having specific aims, is now responsible to achieve those aims. There are a number of leadership perspectives available to individuals. A true and successful leader, however, is the one who realizes the suitability and effectiveness of certain leadership style on the team and environment he is working with. Contingency perspective of leadership provides such a mechanism where leaders have to be flexible in their attitudes, working and demands. This perspective involves the analysis of situation on which the leader has to decide on things. The contingency approach of leadership is associated with the path-goal theory more closely than others (Dubrin, 2001 pp. 32-34). The path-goal theory follows the same idea as defined in the expectancy theory of motivation. The main idea is the relationship or connection between the leaders behaviours on employee participation and perfor mance in achieving the tasks assigned to them. The path-goal theory is more inclined towards the rewards in order to attain higher motivation of employees and higher performance efficiency. Path-goal theory emphasizes on servant leaders, who are less dominating and more helpful. The leaders working under the contingency perspective of leadership are more like coaches, facilitators and guides to the employee team. Directive leadership which points towards the task-oriented leadership. The leader explains the task clearly, provides a framework to follow and describes the standards against which the performance would be measured. This style of leadership use rewards and payments as a tool of motivation. Supportive Leadership may also be termed as people-oriented leadership. The leader following this style is supportive in actions, words and behaviours. A supportive leader is respectful, honest and pleasant with the employees. Having a friendly attitude,