The Lady with the Pet Dog Essay Example for Free

The Lady with the Pet Dog Essay The versions of the â€Å"The Lady with the Pet Dog† by Anton Chekhov and Joyce Oates are considered different largely due to the fact that the authors took different perspectives in narrating the story. The earlier maximized on the guy’s point of view, thus providing a clear interpretation of his actions, while the latter focused on the woman’s. However, in general, the story spoke of the same two persons and a dog; a man and a woman, both within the sanctity of marriage taking a vacation, meeting each other and getting into a dalliance. Then again, the authors showed different realizations from the man and the woman at the end of the story. Another main difference that can be observed, if one reads both stories, is the illustration of the personality of the female character, Anna Sergeyevna.. In Chekhov’s account, she was barely described, so simplified, typical, one can only see her through Gurov’s perception of her, if not for her major participation as Gurov’s mistress she might as well be just one of the women generalized in the story. Thus, after reading the story, one would definitely identify her as just the lady with the pet dog. On the other hand, although Oates took the view of the female character, she did not maximize on the actions, rather on what Anna feels; her inner emotions. Thus, she was able to show the female protagonist as having a hysterical character, has suicidal tendencies, full of self-loathing and with a melodramatic self-image. It was also shown in this version what seemed to be almost neglected in the original narration, the female protagonist’s thoughts of the situation she was in. If one would observe how Anna reacted on the circumstance based on Chekhov’s narrations, it would be unclear how she felt about what was happening. One may somehow recognize the struggles but not to the extent of truly identifying with her. In fact, it may be possible to jump to a conclusion that she was not tremendously affected by the obviously wrong conduct that they were doing. As can be seen in the situation where Gurov went to visit her, she was described as astonished about his sudden appearance but showed no remorse for they continued their escapades and promised to meet discretely (Gioia, 1998). This can be misleading for readers may interpret her reaction as a complete acceptance of the situation they were in. However, in Oates’s account, it can be seen and felt how much Anna was confused about the situation. The conflict inside her was clearly illustrated which made it easy to relate with her struggles. Thus, it can be understood why she had inclination to end her own life. Moreover, being able to focus on her perception makes readers understand that she actually desired for things to be in the right place. She wanted her marriage to be better so that things would be corrected. This confusion was emphasized more by Oates’s circular presentation of events, which made it seem like it was actually the main idea of the story. Moreover, in the depiction of the characters, one can see how the Gurov of Chekhov’s version and Anna of Oates’s story have quite different perceptions of marriage and adultery. Through Chekhov’s, we identify that the main protagonist do not think highly of his marriage, staying within it but not respecting its real essence. It has actually became instrumental in perpetuating his quest for women, thus, adultery can be said as a second nature to him. On the other hand, we learned through Oates that Anna has fair regards to her marriage, which made her feel guilty about her affair with Gurov. She was not comfortable with adultery the same way that her partner was; therefore, she had to deal with her conscience throughout the story. (Fulford, 2004). Further differences unfold at the end of each story. On Chekhov’s note, since it was on Gurov’s view, he presented how he realized that he can actually still find true love; that despite the fact that he despised women in general, here is a woman who was able to show him that he can still feel that form of affection. On the other hand, Anna also found love at the end of Oates’s story, however, it was a different one for it was a love for herself. It was an acceptance of what she is and what she has become in loving â€Å"the stranger†, which made her acknowledge that she cannot live without him and that her marriage would not be able to keep her from being with him. Through this realization, it showed that she has finally decided to take the path that would make her happy, disregarding other matters, just making a decision that would satisfy her needs and wants. Her identity has been found and she has learned to love it (Edrich, 2003). If profoundly analyzed, one would identify that the theme of both stories revolve on the stereotypical idea of love, marriage and adultery. Men tend to find love on another person, often on women, while women always seem to be lacking self-acceptance which translate to not loving themselves; women has higher respect and gives more importance to marriage as compared to men and society seems to have a better acceptance of men being adulterous but women are judged awfully for it. As a matter of fact, men who commit adultery are at times admired but women are abhorred for doing so. The story is somewhat an illustration of society’s double standard. Chekhov was a genius in coming up with a story with a theme like this and the way that he presented it was very exceptional. Oates should also be commended for her brilliance in making an interpretation of the woman’s character. Thus, even though these are different stories, they are able to present different perspectives and understanding of issues that are rampant in the society but are not often addressed. I cannot completely decide on which of the versions is better because both have their own merits, although I have a slight inclination to the original. Perhaps, a good deciding factor would be to which character one could relate to, the man or the woman? Works Cited: Edrich, M. M. (2003). The Lady with the Pet Dog Essay. Retrieved May 31, 2010, from: http://www. edrich. us/files/own/c_engcheckhov. pdf Fulford, R. (2004). Surprised by Love: Chekhov and The Lady with the Dog. Queens Quarterly, 111, 300+. Goioa, D. (1998). Anton Chekhovs The Lady with the Pet Dog. Retrieved May 31, 2010, from Ecclectic Literary Review: http://www. danagioia. net/essays/echekhov. htm

The Demographic Factors For A Business Commerce Essay

The Demographic Factors For A Business Commerce Essay According to Michael Mattson John Ivancevich, the key factors influencing the differences in human behavior patterns are demographic factors, perception, ability and skills, personality and attitudes as follows: 1. Demographic factors: Demographic factors depend on someone Education, background, age, nationality, race, gender, etc. Organizations prefer those individuals who promote good socio-economic background, etc. and who are educated young people as they can better perform tasks. The young and dynamic professionals with good knowledge and communication skills are perfect and always in high demand by organizations. The study of demographic factors is important because it helps managers to select the qualified candidate for a job. 2. Ability and skills: Capacity is the physical capacity of an individual to do something. Skills can be defined as the ability to act in such a way that allows a person to do a good job perfectly. Individual behavior and performance is strongly influenced by the level of skills and competencies. A person can perform well in the organization, if his or her abilities and skills are matched with the job requirement. The manager has a very important role in the selection and assignment of individuals with particular job. 3. Perception: Perception is a process by which an individual reaches the sensory awareness or understand the information. The perception comes from the Latin word perceptio, percipio, which means receiving collecting. Â   There are many factors that affect the perception of an individual. The study of the perception plays a vital role for managers, as they know how to create a favorable atmosphere for work so that employees perceive them in a better way. Employees are probably give better results if they are going to perceive it in a positive and justified. 4. Attitude: According to psychologists, the attitude can be defined as the tendency to react positively or negatively to certain people, objects or situations. Factors such as family, culture, society and organizational factors influence attitude formation. Employees can do better for the organization if it is a positive attitude. It contributes to business growth and development 5. Personality: Personality comes from the Greek word personawhich means mask is defined as the study of personality characteristics and distinctive personality traits, the relationship between them, and how a person reacts and adapts to other people and situations. There are a number of factors that influence the personality of the individual i.e family, heredity, society, culture and situation. Its a fact that people differ in their way, responding to the organizational environment. Personality can also be termed as the most difficult aspect of human beings, which affects their behavior in a big way. It is shown that the study of personality traits offers an opportunity to understand peoples. This helps them to properly channel their efforts and motivate them to complete the organizational goals. Each organization requires a certain type of behavior from its employees and such behavior can be detected by monitoring, training, education, exposure, etc. Task for P4 Organization theory refers to the study of the phenomena of organizational functioning and performance of the behavior of individuals and groups working in them.The main theories to study the organization are as follows:- Classical theory: Efficiency productivity can be enhanced by improving the efficiency of the workers. F.W.Taylor is considered as the father of scientific management. According to him men are like machines, as good maintained machines production is more likewise healthy men can work more. He assumed there is one best method for every job. He introduced standardization of tasks, division of labour, analysis of work time measurement. He introduced the concept of fair day wages for fair days. According to him production is improved by teamwork and not by conflict. The goal is maximization of output and not limitation. The best means of doing a job needs for appropriate tools, motivation and fair wages. Bureaucratic theory: Organization designed to carry out large scale administrative tasks by thoroughly coordinating the work of many individuals. A German sociologist Max Weber introduced the idea of Bureaucracy. Salient features A person is said to have power or authority, If within the social framework his will can be imposed on others despite resistance for structuring human groups, becomes a special instance of power called authority or domination. Systems theory: Organization is as a system in which coordinated personal activities of two or more persons, held together by the potential for creating a common purpose, by willingness on the part of its members to participate in its processes and effective communication. Contingency theory It is a class of behavioral theory that claims that there is no best way to organize a corporation, to make decisions or to lead a company. Instead, the optimal course of action is dependent upon the internal and external situations. It is also called a situational theory. Functions of Management: Planning: This is the first tool function in the management process. The difference between successful and unsuccessful manager is within the planning process. Planning is the logical thinking through the goals and decision making on what needs to be done to achieve organizational goals. Â  Organization: The manager must know their subordinates and that they are able to arrange the most valuable company resources, ie its employees. This is achieved through proper management of personnel of the division, the acquisition of resources, establishment of training and organization of work groups in a productive and creative team. Â  Leading: organizational success is determined by the quality of leadership. A leader can be a manager but the manager is not necessarily a leader, says Allen, Gemmy. Leadership is the power of influence of one person over another, to encourage action aimed at achieving the objectives of the company. Â  Controlling: A process that ensures plans are implemented correctly and precisely. As said by Gemmy Allens Controlling is the last link in the chain of functional management activities and brings management cycle full circle. Managerial Roles: According to Henry Mintzberg there are ten managerial roles which are briefly developed here: FIGUREHEAD: The manager performs ceremonial symbolic duties as head of the organisation. LEADER: To develop an appropriate working atmosphere and motivating and developing subordinates. LIASION: Develops maintains a network of external contacts to gather information. MONITOR: Collects internal external information relevant to the company. Distributor: Pass a realistic and important information to their subordinates. SPOKESPERSON: communicates with the outsiders on the performance policies. OWNER: Designs and initiates changes in the company. VIOLATIONS handler: Deals with unexpected events and operational failures. RESOURCES distributor: Management and allows the use of organizational resources. NEGOTIATOR: Participates in negotiation activities with other individuals and organisations. Managerial authority: Managerial authority is the position that empowers a manager to exercise command and control over those individuals placed under him for realization of the assigned role in an organisation. Originally, the overall authority is centrally given in person of the manager. However, it is quite hard for a man to effectively execute and monitor each and every task. Therefore, various functions with a suitable authority are devolved downwards to concerned low levels for better output. The practice also provides a foundation for organisational tree specifying various powers and responsibilities in both vertical and horizontal hierarchy.

The Product Brand Line Of Maggi Marketing Essay

The Product Brand Line Of Maggi Marketing Essay Part 1 Introduction In 1863, Maggi was founded by Julius Michael Johannes Maggi in Switzerland. Julius Maggi developed a flavours recipe to bring added taste to meals. This signified the establishment of the Maggi brand and its product line that is convenient products. In 1882, due to his well-known for nutrition-oriented approach, a physician called Dr. Fridolin Schuler and the Swiss Government met up with Julius Maggi and told him about the problem of the labouring classes who were suffering from malnutrition. After that, he was asked to seek for a solution in order to improve the nutritional values of meals. Therefore, he created the protein based vegetable food products, which were two instant pea soups and an instant bean soup. These two products were quick to be prepared, easy to be digested and sold in a low price. The products were successfully overcame the problem of woman who were lack of time in preparing meals as more and more woman were working outside. By the turn of the century, the Maggi company also produced other types of products such as bouillon cubes, sauces and flavorings. In 1947, Alimentana S.A., the manufacturer of Maggi seasonings and soups merged with Nestlà © to form Nestlà ©-Alimentana S.A. Today, MAGGI ® has been offering high quality, convenient, innovative, and nutritious products. MAGGI ® products help us to prepare nutritious and delicious meals. Its bouillons, soups, seasonings and sauces are useful while cooking and add flavour into our food. The product brand line of MAGGI ® Culinary products is the product brand line of  MAGGI ®. Now, in the year of 2013, the products produced by MAGGI ® basically can be categorized into four different groups which are noodles, MAGGI ® flavour world, sauces and light meals. Among all these products, different kinds of flavours were provided so that the consumers have a variety of choices and select what they want based on personal needs and favourites. The table below showed all the products produced by MAGGI ®: Category Products Noodles 1. MAGGI Hot Bowl Instant Noodle 2. MAGGI Hot Cup Instant Noodle 3. MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles 4. MAGGI Mi-Goreng MAGGI ® flavour world 1. MAGGI Stock Cubes 2. MAGGI CUKUP RASA 3. MAGGI Liquid Stocks 4. MAGGI HARI-HARI FAVOURITES Sauces 1. MAGGI Oyster Sauce 2. MAGGI Seasoning 3. MAGGI Red Sauce Light meals 1. MAGGI Soup 2. MAGGI Porridge The MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles Curry MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles was first introduced in India by Nestle India Limited in 1982 and act as a market leader in selling instant noodles. Therefore, it becomes a well-known instant noodles brand among all the consumers and many people call noodles as Maggi. MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles Curry is one of flavour in the series of MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles. It is sold in a pack of five. The servings size of each small pack is 79grams for one serving. The noodle contains 48.6 grams of carbohydrate per serving that provides the energy that we need. It is a convenient product that can be easily found in any marketplace. The package of this product was changed from time to time. The latest packaging carries the new Protein dari Gandum seal as each pack MAGGI 2-Minute Noodles serves as source of protein from wheat. MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles Curry Inferior Product Inferior products are the products for which there is a direct relationship between changes in income and its demand curve. Based on our understanding, we categorized MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles Curry is as a inferior product because the purchasing rate of the consumer is basically based on the income of the consumers. When the income of consumers rises, the demand will be reduced and the amount of buying this product will become less as they will choose to buy a more value based product that deliver higher quality. Conversely, the demand of consumers will increase when there is a fall in their income. Complement and substitute goods for MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles Curry Complementary goods are the goods that jointly consumed with MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles Curry. The complement goods are as follow: eggs sausages fish balls crab meats prawns carrots tomatoes vegetables bell peppers caraways Whereas, substitute goods are the goods that competes with MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles Curry for consumer purchases. The substitute goods are as follow: Sajimee mee curry flavoured instant noodles Ibumie Mi curry flavoured instant noodles Adabi curry flavored instant noodles Mamee curry flavoured instant noodles Cintan curry flavoured instant noodles Tesco choice curry flavoured instant noodles Market structure of MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles Curry Monopolistic Competition Part 2 Comparison of the price of MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles Curry with _________________ Based on the research found in Tesco, Kampar, Perak, MAGGI 2-Minutes Noodles Curry are sold at the price of RM4.39. Part 3 Advantages and disadvantages for MAGGI ® company of being monopolistic competition firm Advantages Easy Entry and Exit Monopolistic competition is an easy entry and exit market because this market face low barriers to entry Unlike a monopoly market, MAGGI ® easily entered into a monopolistic competition market and start the business because the products produced are not sole control of any other company. Therefore, MAGGI ® can attract the consumes to buy its products as long as they can satisfy the consumers needs. Besides that, while entering into this market, MAGGI ® does not face much problem on government franchises and licenses as well as the patents and copyright as the company will not be restricted to enter into this market. Price takes MAGGI ® has the authority to set the price for its products in order to maximize its revenue. For example, MAGGI ® can increase the selling price when they increase the quality of products to the consumers. The company also can increase the selling price when the input price becomes higher so that they will still earn a constant revenue but not facing a loss. Unlike in the perfect competition market, the consumers might still choose to buy its products even though the price has been increased as long as the products can satisfy the consumers. Differentiated products will attract buyers to stay loyal The differentiated products of MAGGI ® will attract more buyers and maintain the current consumers to stay loyal since the products have the unique features compare to others. Normally, the consumers will not easily switch to another brand when they are attracted by its special characteristic of the products. This will result in a constant revenue since the consumers might consume the products continuously for a long period of time if they do not find any substitute that is better than the current consuming products. Disadvantages Many competitors Since monopolistic competition market is easy to entry and exit, many companies might enter into this market and thus MAGGI ® has to face many competitors. For example, the competitors for MAGGI ® are Sajimee, Ibumie, Adabi, Mamee, Cintan and Tesco. The consumers might easily switch to buy the same type of products from another brands if they think it is worth to buy it from other brands rather than from MAGGI ®. Therefore, MAGGI ® has to consistently observe the strategies of its competitors so that MAGGI ® can make suitable action to face the competitor and make its customers to stay loyal. Higher cost and expenses Since MAGGI ® face a huge numbers of competitors, it is compulsory for a monopolistic competitor to take suitable strategies to attract more buyers. One of the ways is via advertising its products. We can see that MAGGI ® advertise its products through television and do many different types of promotion such as buy one get one free, give food testing to the customers, give discounts and organise a contest for the consumers and give out something else as prizes. All these advertisement and promotion required a lot of cost and expenses. Need to produce differentiated products In order to compete with other close substitutes, MAGGI ® has to come up with differentiated products, which is the products that have real or apparent differences with other substitutes. MAGGI ® must be creative and innovative enough to make their product more distinctive and differentiate their products from other competitors in order to attract more buyers and also maintain its current consumers. MAGGI ® also has to do certain research and improve its products from time to time to make its products more unique no matter is on the quality, price or packaging. Earn zero-economic profit in long-run Unlike a monopolist, MAGGI ® will not earn an economic profit but earn a zero-economic in long-run. In long-run, more and more firms will enter into this market structure and the some of the current market share of MAGGI ® might be taken away by those new firms. This shows the decrease in the consumers demand. Therefore MAGGI ® will do more advertising to recapture the market share. This will results in the increase of the long-run average cost. The decrease of demand and increase of long-run average cost will continues in long-run until MAGGI ® earns a zero economic-profit. Advantages and disadvantages for a customer of buying a product under monopolistic competition market Advantages More innovative product In the monopolistic competition market, there are many competitors and buyers. In order to attract a large scale of customers, the company needs to produce more innovative product continuously so that they can compete with other competitors and survive in the market place. MAGGI ® as monopolistic competition firm will choose to produce more different flavour of instant noodle instead of just produce one type of noodle because it needs to fight against massive of competitor forces. Therefore a customer can enjoy having different types of MAGGI ® products and have more choices. Comparable prices There are many sellers in the monopolistic competition market. The buyers can compare the prices of the same type of product among different producers so that they could choose to buy the products that offered in an affordable price. For example, consumers can choose either to buy MAGGI ® instant noodles or other brands of instant noodles like Mamee and Mi Sedaap. Convenience for buyers to know the details of the product Sellers in the monopolistic competition tend to create more advertisements to deliver the information about their products to the public and also develop a stronger position in consumers mind. Usually the detailed information about the MAGGI ® products such as the new flavour, price, and places that are available to buy the products. The information given will provide convenience for consumers in the process of choosing and buying the product. Disadvantages The price of products might not matched with the quality of products The sellers in monopolistic competition market are free to set the price of products. The seller might set a higher price to earn more revenue but they do not produce the products with higher quality. Therefore the consumers are forced to buy the products expensively. For example, if MAGGI ® might produce the same instant noodles but they raise the price to a higher level. Consequently, the consumers have to buy it at an expensive price but they still enjoy the same quality of instant noodles. Negative impact of advertising In monopolistic competition, the sellers spend a lot of money in advertising their products. It is a benefit for the consumers to know more about the product but it also has negative impact on customer supremacy. Customers are going to be manipulated by the advertisement and about what they want. For example, customers become attracted over the perception of differentiation, they believe information in the advertisement and buy the product without compare the price or quality.

Greenspan: The Man Behind Money Essay -- Essays Paapers

Greenspan: The Man Behind Money In Justin Martin's book Greenspan: The Man Behind Money, the life of Dr. Alan Greenspan, a man whose expertise in economics has dramatically influenced the state of the U.S. economy, is told from a historical perspective and in a semi-chronological order. Alan Greenspan grew up in New York City's Manhattan. After his parents divorced he went to live with his mother and her parents. Greenspan's father rarely visited, yet when he did, Greenspan was extremely happy. This detail struck an emotional cord in that it was evident Greenspan strived to succeed not only for himself but also for the approval of his father. Greenspan's father was a NY Stock Broker and published a book entitled, Recovery Ahead, a book about President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and the state of the economy. The book had the following inscription: "May this my initial effort with a constant thought of you branch into an endless chain of similar efforts so that at your maturity you may look back and endeavor to interpret the reasoning behind these logical forecasts and begin a like work of your own. Your Dad." (4) This would eventually become Greenspan's mission in life. Although he saw his father few times during his adult life, his father surely new of his son 's success through all of the media attention Greenspan received over the years. Greenspan was influenced by his mother, books, and by mentors in his life. While in attendance at Columbia University, Greenspan took a seminar on business cycles, taught by Arthur Burns. On the first day of class, Professor Burns asked the following question, "What causes inflation?" then said, "Excess government spending causes inflation." Greenspan having read John Maynard Keyne... ...strife of the poor was received with boo's and anger. He quickly realized the insensitivity of what he had said and apologized. The book mentions that from his educational background, work experience, and his time at his Economic firm Alan Greenspan was destined to become Chair of the federal reserve, but regardless of the career he had chosen, it seems that Greenspan was destined to succeed-period. After reading this book, I am not only thoroughly impressed by Chairman Greenspan, but I also understand Economics from a historical standpoint and its affect on my life-past, present, and future. Justin Martin went to great lengths to, in detail, explain the principles behind economics in such a way that made it easy to understand and enjoyable to read. Works Cited Martin, Justin. Greenspan: The Man Behind Money. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus Publishing, 2000.

Essay --

This Ocean energy is found around the world. 70% of the oceans surface is covered in water. According to alternative-energy-news website â€Å"Ocean energy is recovered when the wave power farm operates on the wave energy that is created when a float/ buoy flows with the natural movement of the waves.† The equipment needed is a very big buoyant crafted buoy, a long reliable cable wire and a heavy weight so the buoy does not float away and ruin your research. â€Å"The concept is simple†, says John Lienhard, a University of Houston mechanical engineering professor: â€Å"Every day the moon’s gravitational pull lifts countless tons of water up into, say, the East River or the Bay of Fundy. When that water flows back out to sea, its energy dissipates and, if we don’t use it, it’s simply spent.† The stronger the waves the more energy can be taken from it to power our world. We as humans use and waste this energy doing everyday work. Yes, you do need special equipment for processing wave energy from the ocean, main thing you need is a buoyant buoy to throw into the ocean and weigh it down with one solid weight, so you don’t lose almost 3 million dollars. Our energy sources is formed when the tidal energy is produced through the use of generators in the ocean. The generators are large under water turbines that are placed in areas with the highest tidal energy.The turbines’ job is to take in the kinetic motion of the withdraw and flow of the ocean's tides (shallow water) to get electricity. The tidal turbines are best used for shallow waters, because it is stronger than and most stable than casting it into the ocean where you would have to check on it everyday in almost deadly weather. They help because turbines rotates slowly so ships and passing ani... ...ards fuel and on going operation that represent upwards of 80% of the plant’s cost of energy. The greater availability of wave energy in areas means that devices will be able to absorb more energy and convert that to power at a greater rate that devices in areas with low wave energy density. Ocean power technologies will to live initially in areas with wave energy density.† As you read this excerpt from the website what are your opinions. Early-stage prototype government backed funding. We can conserve ocean energy by not polluting the ocean, save energy (use less lights and electricity). We can also conserve other natural energies. Ways to conserve energy would be: walking, biking, carpooling, using the mass transit. You can turn your refrigerator down, wash clothes in warm or cold water, turn down water heater, and the big thing we can do is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Kanthapura, a Cultural Study

Kanthapura as a novel of village or rural sensibility: Raja rao’s Kanthapura is a tale of atypical south Indian village in the kara area of Mysore. The novel is a saga of village life with a political bias. There is no conventional hero or heroine in it. The village of Kanthapura itself; with its presiding deity Kanchamma, with its live giving river Himavath, with its rustic topography, crops, weeds and diseases, with its characteristics, superstitions and customs is one of the main character.The people of the village with Moorthy as the Gandhi man of the village, under whose leadership the villagers of her non-violent resistance, take up the work of village uplift. In depicting Kanthapura, the novelist has presented to us a real India in microcosm. What happens in Kanthapura is what happens everywhere in India, particularly in rural India. That Kanthapura is novel of village life is evident from its topographical details. The novel opens with a graphic description of the phys ical features of Kanthapura.In the beautiful valley of the river Himavathy, the village lies curled up like a child on its mother’s lap. As the novel opens we here the grinding and rumbling of carts, indicating the busy agrarian life. The hills, valleys and rivers which form the setting of the village, are most vividly depicted. Raja Rao has an eye for the details of nature’s phenomena which he presents with vividness. It’s said of Thomas Hardy by David Cecil that he could realise the different noises made by the wind when its blows through a hollow a heather and bare stones.Raja Rao, too, is unique in his precise yet poetic depiction of the outdoor rural life. In the month of Vaisakh men of Kanthapura plough the fields. The rains come and skip over the bronze mountain, tiptoe the crags, and leaping into the valley go splashing. The coconuts and the betel nuts and cardamom plants choke with it and hiss back. And there, there it comes over the Bebbur hill and Kan thur hill and begins to paw upon the tiles, and the cattle come running home. The people pray to Kenchamma, â€Å"There, there the rains have come, Kenchamma; may our house be as white as silver†.In the Kartik festival of lights, lights glow from banana trunks and mango tweaks behind yellow leaves, greens leaves: ‘Kartik is a month of the Gods’. In scenes like this, rural life in all its concreteness gives the novel its essential rurality. The novelist describes the caste wise quarters for Brahmins, Pariahs, Porters, Weavers and Sudras. The economic distinctions between one villager and another are precisely described. Post master SuryaNarayana has a two storied house, Patwari Nanjundaa has put glass panes to the windows. Pock-marked Sidda has a real thoti house.Thus the persons who stand out among the men and women of the village are the moneyed people like Kamayya, a coffee planter and Range Gowda. Even a casual glancing through the names and nick names of the Kanthapurians is a thing of great interest. The villagers wear tell-tale nicknames. The names contribute greatly to the individualisation of the village character and places to the evocation of proper rural sensibility. The untouchable quarters, full of the stench of the hide and pickled pigs where Moorthy dare to step in for the uplift of the village people are also described.The dramatist persona in the novel includes a good number of villagers. They work as coolies on the coffee estates and are poor. The harrowing (suffering) tale of the half-naked, starving, spitting, weeping coolies is touchingly told in the coffee estate episode. The villagers are not depicted as epitomes of virtue nor are they condemned as useless creatures. They are as they usually are. Their character evokes the rural atmosphere in the novel. Their life is not complete without the perennial presence of God or Goddess. Goddess Kanchamma is installed in a temple right in its centre.A river a hill and a temple with the presiding deity complete the picture of the village. The villagers offer the Goddess their first rice and first fruit of a tree; they appease her by singing song. The Goddess is the protector, the life and the breath of the village. She gives meaning to every activity of the villager and is a witness to all affairs in the village – birth, death, marriage, funeral, sickness, ploughing and harvesting – and what not. Vows are made to her. Oaths are taken in her presence. She protects the villagers through though famine and diseases.Except Goddess Kanchamma, there are also often local Goddesses like Talassanamma and Kanthapureshwari mentioned in the novel. Even their jurisdictions are fixed. Religion has a firm hold on the villagers’ mind. The villagers observe Shankar Jayanti and listen to the recital of Harikathas and celebrate the festival of Lord Krishna and Lord Ganesha. The evocation of village life is accomplished apart from the inter relation of th eme and characters, through means like description of festivals, ceremonies, social customs, superstitions and the apt use of rustic idioms.Various ceremonies and rituals such as hair- cutting, rice-eating, wedding, consecration and the seventh month ceremony finds a place in the novel. The novel shows how the villagers cling (hold tightly) to their age-old faiths for succour and relief. Beliefs and superstitions govern the sensitive minds of the Kanthapurians. There is a scene in which the treasures of core are counted as â€Å"Three-Hm-Four-Hm –Five† and because of the superstition which forbids the mention of six, it becomes, â€Å"God’s extra†.Moorthy’s horoscope doesn’t agree with that of the daughter of Ramayya and hence the bride’s family get disheartened. The clucking of the wall-lizards indicate propitiousness, auspiciousness. On seeing a shooting star seeping across the sky, the villagers say: †Some good soul has left the earth†. When someone has been attacked by Malaria, they used to do some rituals instead of taking quinine pills believing that those rituals will eradicate the disease.Before filling the earth the â€Å"peasants throw handfuls of puffed rice in the eight directions for warding off evil and for a good harvest†. Again it’s through the use of the rustic idiom a flavour of rurality is captured. The idiom and rhythm of the regional language are sometimes reflected in their novel. There are similes, comparisons and vituperative (harsh/abusive) terms which smell of the agrarian soil and culturet. Fine and detailed agrarian imagery is seen in many descriptions throughout the novel.

Pros and Cons of No Child Left Behind Act Essay

On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). This law represents his education reform plan and contains changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) since it was enacted in 1965. It is asking America’s schools to describe their success in terms of what each student accomplishes. The act contains the President’s four basic education reform principles: stronger accountability for results, especially in reading, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and teacher and staff quality. Schools will be held responsible for improving the academic performance of all students, and there will be real consequences for districts and schools that fail to make progress. Within twelve years, all students must perform at a proficient level under their state standards. But, states will set their own standards for each grade–so each state will say how well children should be reading at the end of third grade. Interested parents, families, and taxpayers can look to their state for detailed information about its academic standards. No Child Left Behind combines and simplifies programs, so that schools can get and use federal funding. Schools and teachers will get a boost for more than $4 billion in 2002 that allows schools to promote teacher quality through training and recruitment. Parents with a child enrolled in a school identified as in need of improvement will be able to transfer their child to a better performing public school or public charter school. No Child Left Behind gives districts new flexibility and freedom with Federal funds so children with disabilities can be better served. States will receive the freedom to target up to 50 percent of federal non-Title I dollars under the Act to programs that will have the most positive impact on the students they serve, including students with disabilities. Students will be assessed and assessments must provide for adaptations and accommodations for students with disabilities as defined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Though, there must be a separate measurable annual objectives â€Å"adequate yearly progress† (AYP) for continuous and substantial improvement for the achievement of groups of students, including students with disabilities The purpose of the No Child Left Behind Act is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments. President Bush states, â€Å"every school — every public school in America is a place of high expectations and a place of achievement.† So far, five states have taken the lead in assimilating the requirements of the Act into their current accountability systems and have received approval for their proposed accountability plans from the Department of Education. The states receiving approval are: Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio. When asking regular education and special education teachers about the No Child Left Behind Act, I realized many did not know much about it. I approached the principal at the school I work at and asked her about it but I received very little information. It was apparent that not many people knew what this act was about; they just knew that it exists. Luckily Anita the assistant to the Director of Special Education returned my phone call and had some more information for me. To Anita this challenges the educational system. As for students with disabilities, it makes the teachers be more responsive and assess special education students. It tries to bring up these students to state standards. She said that it may not be very realistic for students who are mentally retarded and have Learning Disabilities. She states that these students may not even be at the 50th percentile. â€Å"It’s a struggle to get these students to a hire level. Finally, the last thing she said was that thi s act is pushing for kids not to be exempted from testing.