Of Mice And Men coursework (Theme Of Loneliness And Friendship) Essay

Consider the theme of loneliness in ‘Of Mice and Men’. How does it affect the friendships and relationships in the novel? This novel was written by John Steinbeck which was set in the 1930s in Salinas Soledad which is in California. The novel consists of many historical factors which have affected the characters in this novel and one of them includes, â€Å"The great depression† Which leads the novels inspiration for the famous writer John Steinbeck which he mainly based on his own experience. In those days people travelled a lot differently to how we travel now. In those days migrant workers travelled extravagant distances looking for a job. There are many different themes in which are based throughout the whole book, such as loneliness, happiness, nature, dreams and reality: – Which even lead to catastrophe. Many of the people in this novel have very lonely lives mainly because they are migrant workers and as we know they don’t have time to make an y friends or have any time to spend with their families. There are many characters that are lonely due to age, sex, and race. Two good examples would be Candy because of his age and Crooks because of his race. This novel consists of two main characters George and Lennie, who are an anomalous pair of migrant workers that look after each other. They are completely the reverse of each other. George is the one who has the communicative face and thinks of all of their problems and ideas and tells the other one what to do. Being like this all of the time, in what ever the story it is, always pictures that you would be the small quick one with sharp features. Lennie is the guy that is tall and always does what he is told and has an ill-defined, solid, and powerful body and does not know his own strength. Steinbeck describes him as the one with no shape in his face and his body. Lennie drags his feet when he walks and acts like an animal. In the descriptions of these two men their appearance is completely different. George dresses neat and tidy, while Lennie dresses very scruffy. Just by the description of George and Lennie, you can clearly see that Lennie is the child out of the two men, as you can tell how he talks and acts around George and throughout the whole book. Being a man Lennie lacks a lot of language, which I think that he never attended a lot of school. Examples â€Å"look George, look what I done!† this is immature language. This kind of behaviour makes George the father type figure, so he would be the defender. John Steinbeck relates to Lennie, in the theme of nature, by describing his walk, and some of the things he does in relation to the animals like the way he drinks from the lake as Steinbeck describes him as a horse that puts its whole head into the water and slurps. This links in to the theme of natures, because of the use of animal descriptions that Steinbeck uses throughout the book, which is very important to this novel because in the beginning of the book, Nature was introduced straight away. Steinbeck’s describes the surroundings in such detail, that he uses a whole page to describe the forest (which is in the beginning of the book) which gives the readers a good imaginative view of what Steinbeck is writing. George and Lennie have an abnormal relationship. They are two friends, one needs the other more .George often gets very frustrated towards Lennie, which also shows that George cares. George loves Lennie very much and will always be a friend to him and so does Lennie. Lennie could not live without him because George does everything for him. Between George and Lennie, George is the one that is mainly in control, he cooks, finds them jobs finds them a place to sleep and because of this, they always travel together, where one goes, the other one follows like a duck and her ducklings. George travels with Lennie because Lennie would not be able to survive on his own. These two men share the same dreams but George knows in reality, it is not going to happen. Later on in the story Candy has now been introduced to the book as the old swapper. He is tall, stooped shoulders and has white whiskers. When you first see him, he is very friendly, although he is a little weary of newcomers. His only friend is his dog that he has had since he was a little boy which symbolises that he is very lonely which refers to the theme of loneliness. When he gets to know people, he begins to trust them; he opens up and strikes a conversation with his new friends just as he did with Lennie. A little further on in the story as they become very close together and even share each others dream. In the future he looses both his dog and Lennie and can’t really prevent Lennie’s death but tries to prevent his dog’s death, but this fails. This shatters Candy’s dreams because he cannot share his dream with his long companion. In Chapter 4, Crooks is introduced. He is the only coloured (black) person on the ranch and this is where the theme of loneliness comes into play. Crooks is a stable buck. He has a crooked spine, and his eyes lay deep in his head, he is lined with deep black wrinkles and has thin tightened lips. Again relating to the theme of loneliness, Crooks lives by himself in a shed because he is the only Black man, this is why he can afford to leave all of his belongings lying around. He has got his own collection of items like books, shoes and his own copy for the California civil code which indicates that he knows his rights and does not want to be taken advantage of. Eventually Crooks and Lennie are talking about if Lennie could live without George and about crook’s childhood explaining why his father never let him play with other kids and why he is so lonely. When he is speaking with Lennie about his childhood, he is speaking like it is still happening or it has recently happened. This is a very similar story to his life at that present time. Being the only coloured man, Crooks is treated as an outcast, as racism was very high in those days which forces him to spend his time reading while the others are playing card games. Crooks become very bitter due to the fact that everyone ill treats him which makes him feel hurt. In the next chapter Curley is introduced to the story. He is the boss’s son, he has a wife, she has dark hair that reaches down to her shoulders, her eyes are quiet close together and has pink small lips with very pale skin. The book does not mention anything about her name which suggests that she does not know who her parents are and does not have an identity. She behaves like she is not Curley’s wife and that she is single so she flirts with a lot of the men behind Curly’s back. She would say things like â€Å"now that we’re alone what do you want to do†. To try and tempt the man. In doing this, all the men try as hard as they can to stay away from her because they know that she is trouble and know how Curley feels about his wife. Curley’s wife does this because she wants attention, again, related to the theme of loneliness. All the farmers speak really bad of her because of her being flirtatious they also are frightened to talk to her because they fear Curley, and he would think that something is going on; plus he has the authority to get them fired or to shoot them. She married Curly to get some sort of status and to have an identity but she never liked him anyway. When she describes her life on the ranch, she says that her life is boring, that no one pays any attention to her and that she gets treated like a little girl. Curley’s wife often dreams about herself becoming an actress. At the end of the novel, her loneliness causes Lennie’s death. Before Lennie’s death, Curley’s wife and Lennie were talking in the barn whilst everyone else was playing games. They began talking to each other about each others dreams. They both talked about each others dreams and what they wanted to do in their life. Lennie has a fascination of stroking things. He was stroking Curley’s wife’s hair, he began to stroke her hair so hard, that he lost control and broke her neck. This has a big impact on George, Lennie and Candy’s relationship, as Curley wants to kill Lennie. As a result to this, George has to kill Lennie before he gets killed by Curly. Loneliness will always end in tragedy and dreams will rarely become reality. True Friendship never ends.

Ap Psych Free Response Essay

As the Smith-Garcias are planning for their baby, they have to decide which principles from each of the theories they have researched that they will practice. The first of these theories is Skinner’s Operant Conditioning in which an element of reinforcement and punishment is utilized to shape the child’s social and behavioral skills. It will be the parent’s job to reinforce wanted behavior and punish unwanted behavior. For example, if the child throws a temper tantrum, her parents might put her in time out to show that this type of behavior is not acceptable. The punishment therefore reinforces that if she acts this way again, she knows she will be placed in time out. Essentially the child learns from these reinforcements and punishments. The second principle is Bandura’s social learning theory which deals with vicarious reinforcement and vicarious punishment. Essentially the child will learn by observing others and is not affected directly. Bandura believed that direct reinforcement could not account for all types of learning which explains why his theory is rooted in the idea of observation. Overall There are three core concepts at the heart of social learning theory. First is the idea that people can learn through observation. Next is the idea that internal mental states are an essential part of this process. Finally, this theory recognizes that just because something has been learned, it does not mean that it will result in a change in behavior. To illustrate Bandura’s theory in their parenting style, the Smith-Garcia’s might provide a model for sharing or even increase sharing through vicarious reinforcement. The third theory they have studied is Ainsworth’s attachment research in which he addresses the idea of secure attachment, insecure attachment, and other such ideals. The idea is that securely attached children are more likely to perceive their primary caregiver as a secure base. This is illustrated in the fact that once this child is born, she will feel an emotional security and attachment to her parents who are her primary caregiver. She will feel most comfortable around them. An example of this would be if they were to promote secure attachment to increase self reliance. These behaviors may include nurturing, support, encouragement, and many more. The fourth and final theory they will address and practice is Baumrind’s research on parenting styles. In Baumrind’s research, he

Competency, Alliance Building, and Character

â€Å"Competency† is technically defined as â€Å"the behaviors that employees must possess or must obtain to input into a situation to be able to complete high levels of performance† (Le Deist et. al., 2005). â€Å"Alliance Building†, on the other hand, is technically defined as â€Å"the ability to work with other members of the workforce† (Competency.., n.d.). Explaining further, an employee should be able to: 1) exhibit capabilities within the group; 2) respect or value other co-employees or co-workers in spite of cultural and individual differences; 3) assume multiplicity of tasks and functions while working with other people; 4) listen, contribute ideas, show inventiveness, acknowledge other peoples’ inputs/involvement/contribution; 5) identify and describe group responsibilities; 6) accept constructive criticisms; 7) distinguish conflict;8) utilize â€Å"conflict management skills† including: identification of conflict, knowing the iss ues, taking into consideration other employees’ points of view, thinking of solutions, brainstorming the results, explaining the resolution process appropriate to the job, justification of the option selected, application of the choice picked, as well as, reflecting on the result/effect; 9) etc (Competency.., n.d.). â€Å"Character†, however, technically refers to â€Å"the positive characteristics that an employee should possess to be able to carry out his or her task and functions excellently† (Competency.., n.d.). These positive characteristics include the following: 1) confidence; 2) willingness to accept responsibilities; 3) capability of working realistically; 4) ability to develop great beliefs consequently reflecting an excellent character; 5) capacity to relate with other employees who â€Å"show signs of character†; 6) honesty; 7) tolerance; 8) wisdom; 9) â€Å"selfless service†; 10) hardworking; 11) concerned with others and not just him self or herself (Tartaglia, 1999).â€Å"Competency†, â€Å"alliance building†, as well as, â€Å"character† contribute largely to success (Tartaglia, 1999). All the aforementioned are needed in order for a person to succeed in any given endeavor (Tartaglia, 1999). Let us take for instance, in the workplace, specifically in a restaurant, an employee should possess competency so that he or she will be able to perform at his or her best (Tartaglia, 1999). He or she should always strive to cook and serve the best dishes (Tartaglia, 1999). Furthermore, alliance building should also be included in his vocabulary, because if for instance, he or she feels that he or she is always right or blames/resents others, he or she is impatient or intolerant, he or she is a fault-finder, then he or she does not have the capability to work with others (Tartaglia, 1999).In addition to that, if he or she has excuse for every mistake or failure he or she commits, then he or she does n ot have the â€Å"character† to make it or to succeed in his or her chosen endeavor (Tartaglia, 1999). Similarly, if he or she is dishonest, as well as, if he or she is unwilling to go the extra mile to serve others, for instance, he is only willing to work during his or her schedule and does not voluntarily help others especially if he or she feels that his or her work is already done for the day, then he or she does not have the â€Å"character† needed to succeed in his or her chosen career (Tartaglia, 1999).Another field where â€Å"competency†, â€Å"alliance building†, and â€Å"character† is necessitated is in the â€Å"Research Consultancy Firm† (Tartaglia, 1999). Here researchers should have competency to perform very well; this in not only to keep their jobs but to be promoted as well (Tartaglia, 1999). They should be able to satisfy their clients with their research works, thus competency is really required (Tartaglia, 1999). Allia nce building is also important in the Research Consultancy Firm, for instance, the researchers need statisticians to do statistical analysis for them to be able to complete their research works so they really need to be flexible enough to work with others (Tartaglia, 1999). Last but not least, doing research takes a lot of time, energy, and patience, thus â€Å"character† is needed in order to succeed in it (Tartaglia, 1999). Also, since satisfaction of clients is very important in this field, it is important that researchers learn to accept constructive criticisms, negative feedback, and great understanding to be able to improve, if not perfect, their work (Tartaglia, 1999).ReferencesCIPD. (2007). Competency and Competency Frameworks. Retrieved September 1, 2007 fromhttp://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/perfmangmt/competnces/comptfrmwk.htmCompetency-Based Performance Standard for Ability to Work with Others. (n.d.). RetrievedSeptember 1, 2007 fromhttp://www.ed.state.nh.us/education /doe/organization/adultlearning/Guidance/rubrics/work-others.htmLE DEIST, F.D. and WINTERTON, J. (2005). What is competency? Human ResourceDevelopment International, 8(1), 27-46.Tartaglia, L.A. (1999).   The Seven Marks of Character. Retrieved September 1, 2007 fromhttp://home.earthlink.net/~denmartin/fla.html

Final case Analysis for Richardson Drilling Essay

Final case Analysis for Richardson Drilling - Essay Example After some months, when Jacob took over as the sales person in Latin America, he discovered certain facts by going through files of the earlier sales representatives. The Latin American area under Jacob also included some US territory and when Jacob went over the old reports, he noticed that quite a few US companies had stopped purchasing Richardson equipment; there was no apparent explanation for these customers to have moved away from Richardson. After some enquiry with these clients, Jacob discovered that these companies had suffered accidents, almost seven years back, due to a failed liner from Richardson. However, in spite of the companies complaining to the sales rep and the fact that Richardson’s President had also visited, no corrective measures had been taken. In all the above three cases sited here, the common factor is that Richardson has taken advantage of the less restrictive rules (compared to US) in other places such as Mexico, Brazil, and other Latin American countries, to bribe, and push substandard supplies, which they would not be able to sell inside the US or to other countries, for example in Europe, who would have strict quality regulations. So, these are ethical issues. Though Jacob had not reacted about the bribes, he was morally upset by the loss of lives and decided to talk to his boss, Hillary; she thanked him for the information but advised him to keep quite till the seven year statute, regarding limitations, was over. As recourse Hillary also said that in case this became known, then Richardson would download the inventory on Venezuela or Brazil where laws were less restrictive. Both these again were ethical issues. Sometime after, Jacob went to finalize a deal in Mexico with ARMCO; the deal was for $50 million and after it was signed Jacob again bribed an ARMCO person with $50 thousand. Hillary congratulated Jacob and promised him a bonus and a probable promotion. Both of these again raise ethical concerns. While all these

Analysis of Jack Sheltons Im Just a Bill Assignment

Analysis of Jack Sheltons Im Just a Bill - Assignment Example There needs to be a strong majority on certain bills before the bills can go to the White House to be signed by the president, and become law. There needs to be a majority in both houses before the bill can go to the White House to be signed into law by the president. â€Å"I’m Just a Bill† did not inform viewers of the time it would take for a bill to go from a thought to a bill, to become a law. Sometimes, Congress votes on a bill because of its urgency. Some bills are less important to national security and the safety of Americans. â€Å"I’m Just a Bill† did not inform viewers it could take less than 30 days for a bill to pass through Congress. Sometimes, like with the United States of America Patriot Act Congress put all other bills on hold, and passed the United States of America Patriot Act within 30 days of September 11, 2001. â€Å"I’m Just a Bill† says it takes months, and years for Congress to debate over a bill. Congress has a rule that all bills introduced during one session of Congress need to be voted on before the end of that session. Congress does not allow bills to sit around from session to session. If someone watches â€Å"I’m Just a Bill† this person is led on to think that it takes more than several months for a bill to go from a thought, to a bill and to law. If someone watches â€Å"I’m Just a Bill† this person may think it could take years for a bill to be discussed in Congress. Question Number Two When Saunders, Abramowitz, and Williamson discussed the level of sophistication as it pertains to the study of voters from 1996 the data in the table appears to prove the hypothesis by Saunders, Abramowitz, and Williamson. However, Saunders, Abramowitz, and Williamson received the data for the table using data from the voting machines. The data in the table; therefore would be inconclusive. Every district has a socioeconomic status. The voting machines can count mixed ticket s; therefore the data reflects the number of mixed tickets was cast in the 1996 election. However, some sophisticated voters may live in underprivileged areas such as an urban area.  

American Children Addicted to Fast Food Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

American Children Addicted to Fast Food - Essay Example There are many types of fast food outlets that are providing the consumers with burgers, soft drinks, French fries and other such types of items that are considered as non-healthy. Some popular brands of fast food outlets are McDonalds, KFC, Burger King, Hardees and other such types of outlets. The reason why the young generation gets attracted towards the fast food outlets are they like hanging out with friends and partying all the times, fast food items are available almost everywhere and it is also inexpensive. Students are able to buy the fast food with their pocket money. In school canteens if we observe, majority of the items sold to students are of junk food and unhealthy items such as chips, fries, burgers and other such items. These types of unhealthy food affect the ability of the child for attaining proper nutritious food. Due to constant intake of fast food, the consumers and especially students may have to face situations of malnutrition. Unhealthy food has a lot of consequences. It affects the health very badly for both young and old consumers. Unhealthy diet tends to be the cause of many diseases that an individual may have to bear due to unhealthy eating lifestyle. Fast food products use a large quantity of oil and as we know fried food is not good for the health. The constant use of fast food products by students tends to make them habitual of constantly enjoying fast food and they develop this habit at their adulthood level as well which is not a good sign at all. Fast food may lower the self esteem of an individual as these types of food may make a person feel too full to think actively or do anything active for that matter. Therefore, as we can see many side effects are present for having fast food products by children and especially in America as we know a huge amount of fast food products are consumed by the children. The children may suffer from

Child adoption law Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Child adoption law - Dissertation Example However, by giving paramount importance to the welfare, this paper will be analysing whether the parental consent and the rights of the natural parents deserve equal weight and attention or whether it has been relegated to the backside by the Adoption and Children Act 2002 in an exhaustive manner1. Whether Child Welfare alone is to be given of a paramount significance thereby disregarding the parental consent and the rights of the natural parents under the Adoption and Children Act 2002? - An Analysis The law on adoption was completely transformed with the effect from 30 December 2005 through the introduction of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 in UK. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 tries to address the question of parental consent of the natural parents and the question of the best interest of the child which are tackled at an early stage. ... As held in Webster v Norfolk County Council2, adoption is a process which engrosses the separation of legal relation between the natural parents and a child thereby creating a new kinship with the adoptive parents. Under ss 50,114(4) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, the definition of those who could adopt a child which includes unmarried couples also, and the 2002 Act3 has made the welfare of the adopted child as a paramount while in the 1976 Act 4, welfare of the child was the first priority of an UK’s court. Under the 2002 Act5, the procedure for the adoption has also been changed6. Section 1 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 is a dominant provision that will be applicable whenever an adoption agency or a court is taking any conclusion as regards to the adoption of a child. This comprises any choice by the court about the waiver of permission by parent or to pass an order under section 26 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 for a contact order. In subsection (4) of the Act7, a welfare checklist is detailed out ,which must be taken into account either by the agency or by the court in deciding the best interest of the child in any choice pertaining to adoption. Paramountcy standard connotes that child’s welfare is supreme when making any choice about the upbringing of a child. Due consideration should be given by the court also about the feelings and wishes of the child and shall refrain from making an order of placement and adoption unless no other option is available .Thus , every initiative should be undertaken to protect the child’s family and home associations8. Section 1 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 states that paramount significance should be given to the following factors by the adoption agency

Subject is American Government. Topic is Socialization Essay

Subject is American Government. Topic is Socialization - Essay Example The strength of the political culture of a country depends on the extent at which these agents of socialization can help to teach the people about certain societal rules, values and expectations (Anderson & Taylor, 2007). Generally, the masses tend to follow the agent of socialization that inspires them politically (Brinkerhoff, White & Ortega, 2007). The mass media for example helps to disseminate information about the things that go on in the political mainstream of the country and it is what they give to the people that the people take. Thus, agents of socialization play a great role in shaping an individual’s political culture. The agent of socialization that has had the greatest influence in shaping my views about the government is the family. The reason is not far-fetched. They say charity begins at home and my perception about the government actually begins with the opinion of my immediate family. This is due to the fact that, my family is the closest agent of socialization to me and I hear their views and opinion about the government through our dinner talks and general discussions at home. Thus, any opinion that I have formed about the government could easily be traced to the discussions and debates I have had with my family. My parents have had a major influence in my perception of the government and this shows the extent at which, the family as an agent of socialization has had the greatest influence in shaping my perception about

International economics ECON-370 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International economics ECON-370 - Assignment Example By definition, intra-industry trade arises when a country imports and exports related types of goods or services simultaneously. Considering two countries as an example, Germany and France, if Germany exports cars to France and simultaneously imports cars from England, then intra-industry trade occurs. (b). When the US imports the labor-intensive parts and not finished goods and exports the capital-intensive finished cars, then this would be a clear indication of intra-industry trade whereby the country will be acting simultaneously in the imports and exports of the same product. This scenario is similar to that of the example of Germany discussed in part (a) above. The finding that imports are labor intensive means that most individuals won’t be employed in the US as the imported goods come when they are already near finish. Nothing much is done on them. Capital intensive exports on the other hand means that we send a lot of employment opportunities outside of the country hen ce we create jobs outside and not inside the US. In my view, such a situation due to trade will lead to job displacement. 2. (a). A country is capital-abundant if its endowment of capital is more compared to other †¦. ... labor-intensive because its price in the labor-abundant country will lead to a bid price that is lower relatively to the price of that good in the country. Therefore, a capital-abundant country will export the capital-intensive good because its capital endowment is large compared to other countries, and the labor-abundant country will export the labor-intensive good. From this illustration, US is the capital-intensive country while EA are labor-intensive. US has less workers as compared to EA. This is in line with promoting trade between countries. (b). (c). In Stopper-Samuealson is’s a heory states that a â€Å"rise in the comparative price of a good raises the relative price of the factor used intensively in its production. Opening trade between countries will increase the award to the abundant factor and lower the reward of the scarce factor.this theory clarifies one reason for the controversy about free trade (Krugman et al 75). The US is expected to be the loser as this theory advocates that the relative factor endowments ; creating incentives for owners, nothing ever happened to support free trade. The EA on the other hand, are expected to gain since they are labor-intensive. On the other hand, since production of each good involves using different proportions for individual. Changing output combination altrers relative demand for the goods produced in both countries. Trade liberalization of trade leads to more inequality. (d), when there is no free trade and labor can migrate fully, from one country to another. at intra-industry Trade, the simultaneous import and export of goods for trade. Migration of workers is based on whether a country is capital –intensive or capital extensive. If capital intensive then workers will migrate from it to the labor intensive

Human Resource Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Human Resource Interview - Essay Example We are supported by the state government and our staff strength comprise of 440 full time and about 200 part time faculty/employees. While leading a non-profit organization my role is to supervise the smooth running of the institution and objective try to achieve the goals set by the vision and mission statement. I am responsible for managing the Human Resources and to arrange and organize funding, training and administration of this division. I report to the Principal. The mission statement: We identify and meet the educational needs, primarily of adults, in our principal geographic service area of northeast Dallas, Richardson, and Harland. We offer courses, programs, and services to enable students to achieve their educational goals, and become lifelong leaders, community builders, and global citizens. We enable employees to model excellence in their service to students, colleagues, and community. A2: We own several properties that have been converted into campuses. Richmond is located in Dallas and is the largest amongst them. It comprises of ten buildings surrounded by lakes and parks. Being environment friendly is one great challenge. The other is dealing with a great number of nationalities that constitute our students. Managing cultural diversities harmoniously is another great challenge. All this requires that the faculty and staff be very considerate and this is a great HRM challenge to ensure an amicable atmosphere all around. But this human capital needs monetary capital for training and compensation and that too poses a great challenge for me. A3: Of course there are other challenges that one faces in such a diverse and large organization. All problems relate to people in the end. However I see to it that I restrict my activities to my department only without bringing personal feelings or value judgments into actions or decisions. A4: My job requires for me to be

Politics Comment 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Politics Comment 1 - Essay Example â€Å"Even after visiting the likely hiding places around Baghdad, the coalition found no convincing proof that Iraq retained stocks of chemical and biological weapons, or that Saddam had been trying to build a nuclear bomb† (Richie, p. 91). And still American troops remain in Iraq and as a result terror is being felt by the people, not from a dictatorial regime, but from being unnecessarily caught up in the crossfire between insurgents and American troops. U.S. invasion of Iraq has been an instrument of manipulation with underlying reasons not related to discovering and disarming weapons of mass destruction. â€Å"U.S. soldiers has no right to occupy a sovereign nation, outside of international law, and doubly so because it was done under false pretenses† (Tremblay, p. 203). Such false pretenses, experts claim, mask the ulterior motive of the U.S. of wanting to maintain control over Iraqi oil fields and to placate political conservatives who want to make the Middle Eas t safe for Israel (Mueller, p. 137). When the U.S Congress authorized the sending of troops to Iraq, it agreed to do so in order to â€Å"defend the national security of the US from the threat posed by Iraq† (Congressional Resolution 296-133 in the House; 77-23 in the Senate, as quoted by Levin, Editorials). With the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq no longer poses a threat to US security. Many experts argue that when illegal troops occupy a country, any violent means adapted by the country’s citizens to depose illegal occupants can be classified as guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla warfare is a war waged by the people to express their protest and outrage against forces that threaten their independence and sovereignty. â€Å"It is a defensive type of war against a foreign invader† (Eland, as quoted by Knickerbocker â€Å"Specials†). And interest groups emphasize that this type of warfare usually does not stop until the

Boring day Essay Example for Free

Boring day Essay My computer was broken so I couldnt browse the internet or socialize. My friends have gone on a vacation for summer break together while I had to go to summer school. Now its the weekend and It couldnt have got any more boring. My mom asked me to walk to the plaza down the street to buy some milk. I went upstairs to my room and got dressed. I decided to wear a shirt I got for my birthday. It had a cartoon duck face on It and on top of It; It said HI! In big bubble letters. I also wore a pair of blue Jeans, went downstairs, and then put on my shoes and walked out. Im walking down the street and Its been about ten minutes. A normal person would have reached the plaza In five minutes, but I wasnt a normal person, I was a bored person. Being a bored person, I tend to notice and observe things happening around, Like a bee gathering the nectar out of a flower on my neighbors garden, or an airplane in the sky miles away. While I was walking I noticed this old man kicking his son out of house. Dont come back till youre ready to apologize! he yelled in a gruff voice while his son was running round in his boxers. I chuckled; he must be looking for something to cover himself up with. I would have felt so embarrassed if that were me. I continued on toward the plaza with a smile. I finally arrived at the plaza; it was a fifteen minute walk because I was walking really slowly, eve n though it really felt like thirty. Taking my first steps I noticed the plaza was more crowded than Ive ever seen it. There was this supermarket that really wasnt that popular when it first opened. I remember coming here with my friends a while ago and it was the most dissected place Id ever seen. Now it was completely packed with customers, cars coming in and out of the parking lot. It kind of made me happy to see the plaza doing well. I walked in to the milk store and was it ever crowded. There must have been some special event going on. The line was really long too. I looked at the newspaper stand because I like looking at the covers of newspapers to see what the headline is, and I noticed the sign beside it. It said Milk sale 50% off The cashier then looked at me, Hey, you better run to the milk section before it runs out! I ran to the milk section, which Just happened to be located all the way at the back of the store. While running there I saw that there were two milk cartons left, with relief I started walking toward It. I opened the fridge door that had the milk in it and reached for It. Just as I was reaching for It another hand reached In with me and picked up the other can. I turned to see who It, and It was Carol, a girl from my school that I had a crush on. She was a really smart and beautiful person, although she has this problem of not being able to read In her head, Instead she would Just read out loud. Every time I saw her reading a book at he library, the people around her would get mad at her for not being quiet. She looked at me and said Hil in a really loud voice. I was in the girl Ive been crushing on has finally spoken to me. My heart wouldnt stop beating quickly and my hand wouldnt stop twitching. Looking at her face, I noticed her eyes were on my chest, she must have notice my muscles I thought to myself. I yelled Hil back along conversation Just ended, but at least she finally noticed me. I purchased the milk can and I walked out of the store a happy man. I had five dollars worth of change after purchasing the milk can, so I decided to head to the corner store further in the plaza. This corner store was the best; it was always the place to go when I was younger. All my friends and I would buy loads of candy and pop cans here when we younger, since the cost of it was as cheap as they come, ranging from five cents to a dollar. It was candy heaven for a kid. The only problem was the cashier; he was foreign and tends to have fun with every customer that walked in. For him it would be either laughing with you or laughing at you. I walked inside the store and went straight to he back where all the pop was. The pop in this store was only 60 cents. I walked up to the cashier and he looked at me with a smile on his face as I gave him a dollar for the drink. 40 cents change for the hobo! he said mischievously as if he planned out what he was going to say right when I walked in. The words didnt faze me though as I knew he was going to say something. As I was walking out an older woman walked in, Dont forget your wife! he said while laughing. I Just ignored his random comments and walked out of the store. I opened the drink and drank some. Its been ver an hour and it was going to get dark soon. l should get going I thought to myself. Right when I was about to take my first step towards home, I heard a commotion coming from the supermarket. Two men were fighting over watermelon. The watermelon was definitely big compared to the rest of the watermelons. One of the men had blond hair, with tattoos all over his arms. His Jeans had rips in them, he was wearing a wife beater, and he was wearing a head band. The other man was bald, he was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and his goatee hung down to his chest. This watermelon is mine! the blond man yelled. The bald man didnt reply and let go of the watermelon. Directly after he punched him in the face, took the watermelon and yelled Sucker! without even paying for it. There was crowd watching the whole incident go down as well. It was pretty serious for someone to hit a person and then steal something. My facial expression at that time showed a teenager with a straight face, but my in my head, Im laughing about the whole incident. I headed home, taking my time while observing my surroundings, as the sun was setting. All of the sudden, I heard a high pitch sound like someone was crying for help. I stood still so I could hear better, but the sound didnt come again. I continued walking, wondering what the sound could have been. It could have been someone from the plaza, but I really doubted that as Im a pretty far away from it. Chirp chirp! the sound came back again but much louder. It sounded like a bird. I stopped to look around and I found a bird behind a tree. The bird was stuck under a pile of branches and was crying for help. I put the milk carton down and I moved the branches off the bird. The branches were bigger than most branches and it was pretty heavy, as heavy as a pile f text books stacked together. The bird flew away while chirping. This time the chirping sounded very grateful like it was thanking me for helping it. The bird flew into the branches of the tree hidden in the leaves. All of the sudden an apple fell from the tree. I thought maybe it was a reward for helping it, so I took it graciously, picked up the milk can and continued on home while eating the apple. Im home! I said strongly as I walked in. Welcome home, Ill take the milk, do you want anything? while hurrying to my room. I decided to go straight to bed to catch up on some sleep, n a boring day, I guess I wouldnt want to spend the rest of it any other way. I went straight to sleep. The next day I woke up and I looked at the time. 8:30!? Im going to be late for summer school! I screamed. I got ready as quick as I could and ran out the door and barely managed to get on the bus. I sat down on the seat next to the bus doors. One of my classmates from my summer school happened to be sitting on the seat next to me and we started talking. I introduced myself and told him about my trip to the plaza. Wow! he said while laughing. mfr lucky, you had a really fun day!

Development of Strategic and Comparative bases over time

Development of Strategic and Comparative bases over time Thinking big and applying scale is where we focus, we cant think about just one package or one brand, we have to think about this large portfolio and this large system that we work with Butler, D. (2009), the Vice President Global design, the Coca cola Company Introduction This report involves a brief description of strategic and comparative advantage. It also involves different kinds of strategies under taken by Coca Cola Company that have led it to be one of worlds market leaders compared to other multi-national companies. The strategic and comparative bases of advantage discussed based. The item that shall be looked is coca cola marketing strategy that has been developed for years and based on situations. The marketing strategy shall involve advertising, market segmentation, Equity investment and Branding. Though these strategies seem to be common in other companies either local or international, Coca-Cola Company implements them in a special way. Keywords: Strategy, comparative advantage, market segment, Branding Definitions Strategy Strategy refers to the creation of a unique and valuable position involving a different set of activities (Porter, 1996) whereas comparative advantage sometimes refers to a location of specific advantage that influences the decision of where to source and market (Kogut, 1985). A well-defined definition and a brief description are defined later after strategic advantage. Strategic advantage Strategic advantage occurs when there is equilibrium between three elements, when the brand, the consumer and the market fit together in the best way possible (Xavier,M.J. 2003) Brand-consumer fit is the extent that the brand values coincide with the consumers psychographic make-up. The psychographic elements are measured by the overall scoring and weighting of brand performance in terms of matching consumer needs, motivations, values, self-concept, and lifestyle. Brand -market fit is measured by the extent that price falls into the consumers acceptable price range, the to which the brand is cushioned against budget/trade/distribution influence, the rank-order of importance of the product in the budget/shopping list and finally the ease of access of the product. Consumer market fit: There is a third fit relationship that occurs, fit between consumer and market. This involves the needs and behaviors of consumers under certain market conditions such as specific price points. This relationship between consumer drives and market forces often has direct effect on brand choice. For example a brand might be considered as a good choice to fulfill a particular need or behavior at a particular price that the consumer is prepared to pay, while another brand might not be considered as a good choice for specific combination of need, behavior and price point. The company sets strategies so that it can outperform rivals and it can only do that by establishing a difference in delivering great value to customers or by creating comparable values at a lower cost or do both. Delivering greater value allows a company to charge a high average unit prices and efficiency results into lower average unit costs. All differences between companies in cost or price is derived from hundreds sets of activities required to create, produce, sell and deliver their products or services such as calling on customers, assembling final products and training employees (Porter, 1996) Comparative basis of advantage Deardorff, A. (2003, p. 6) defined Comparative Advantage as the relative cheapness of a good or service in a country that enables that country to export it. More precisely, a country has a comparative advantage in the good whose price in the absence of trade (autarky), relative to other goods in the same country, is lower than the relative price of that same good on world markets. Ricardian Model states that countries have comparative advantage in goods whose labor cost, relative to other goods in the same country, is lower than the relative labor cost of that good abroad. Therefore countries are said to have comparative advantage in a good if its labor requirements are relative to the labor requirement abroad. Ricardian model outlines two theoretical implications of Comparative Advantage and these are: firstly if countries are permitted to trade freely then they are undistorted markets and competitive, they will export the good or goods in which they have comparative advantage and import those in which they have comparative disadvantage, secondly under the same conditions, all countries will gain from trade, in the sense that those individuals who gain from trade within each country will gain enough that they could potentially fully compensate those individuals who lose, within the same country, and still remain better off than in autarky(Deardolff,2003). Business overview Coca-Cola is the largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of concentrated syrup which is used for the production of non-alcoholic beverages. The company has a span of operations covering over 200 countries since its inception in 1886. It has an annual net income of 6.8 billion and employs the services of around 92,400 associates throughout its operations worldwide (Coca-Cola annual report, 2009). Advertising Advertising can be defined as as any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services through mass media such as newspapers, magazines, television or radio by an identified sponsor (Kotler et al, 2008 p.737). Advertising is a practical way of informing and persuasion as well as a means of stimulating response from a target audience. The response could be perceptual where the consumer develops, believes or views about the product or it could be behavioural where the consumer purchases the product or increases his purchases of the product in question (Kotler et al, 2008). Advertising is a process which gives information to the public about the product. It is persuasive, controlled, and identifiable as well as influences the target audience. The basic objective of advertising is to increase sales volume and profit. We shall look at several types of advertising which runs hand in hand with the advertising objectives. Informative advertising appears at the early stages of a particular product and is meant to develop the primary demand of the customers. Persuasive advertising is applicable at the competitive stage where a selective demand is built for a particular category of product (Kummer and Mittar, 2008). Comparison advertising is used to establish the superiority of a particular brand through the use of evaluation with one or more other brands in the product line. Reminder advertising is used to refresh the memory of the consumer regarding messages, ideas etc of a particular product. Reinforcement advertising is used to assure the current buyers that they made the right choice regarding their decision to buy the product. The advertising objective should not be arbitrary but should be developed after a thorough evaluation of the current market situation (Kummer and Mittar, 2008). Coca Cola advertising Advertising is a major element of the promotion mix. Personal selling, sales promotion, publicity and advertising are the four elements of the promotion mix. Advertising has been thought of as the best method of promotion because it stimulates sales, creates demand and reaches customer quickly and effectively (Kummer and Mittar, 2008). Coca-Cola has over the years consolidated its leadership position as the worlds most famous and largest beverage company with huge investments in advertising targeted at its existing and potential consumers worldwide. Coca-Cola works in partnership with leading advertising agencies and market research institutes the world over to develop effective advertising campaigns that conforms to current trends in information technology like the use of internet based mediums like face book and twitter to connect with technology loving target audience (Coca-Cola annual report, 2009). The successful advertising strategies used by Coca-Cola over the years in their operations shall be analysed.( Wieden and Kennedy,1996 ) an advertising agency that worked in partnership with Coca-Cola for the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta Georgia came up with four main advertising strategies designed for Coca-Cola for the summer games namely: a home based strategy, a fan based strategy, a global growth strategy and the Olympic torch relay. The home based strategy used by coke was primarily as a result of the fact that Atlanta is the main headquarters of Coca-Cola and so people in Atlanta would readily identify with the brand since they are well familiar with it. Coca-Cola launched several advertisements for the games which include installing 70 new billboards, several street-pole banners and signs in 9 Marta stations (the citys public transportation system). Coca-Cola created a theme park known as the Coca-Cola Olympic city with countless different coke advertisements including a 165 feet coke bottle in the canter of the park (Wieden and Kennedy, 1996). The companys signature colour red was the main colour seen throughout the Coca-Cola Olympic city. Coca-Cola deviated from the traditional practice of using athletes for advertising for the games to focus instead on a fan-based strategy where commercials, print advertisements and posters where used to demonstrate the difference made to the outcome of the games by the enthusiasm of the fans. Coca-Cola used the games as a global growth strategy used to target the worldwide audience tuned in for the games. Coca-Cola also used one of the most efficient strategies for gaining exposure in advertising history which is the sponsoring of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic torch relay (Wieden and Kennedy, 1996). The impact of Coca-colas advertisements during the Olympics was so immense that people dubbed the event the Coca-Cola Olympics. The event served as a means for the company to effectively advertise its brand to a worldwide audience. In 2003, Coca-Cola used the marketing platform tagged real to enhance the image of the brand through the use of television advertisements. This particular advertising strategy was specifically targeted for the teenagers and young adults with resounding success. In the same year, the tropical sprite remix television advertisements which was intended to increase and reconnect the sprite trademark was also targeted at the young, urban consumer base (Coca-Cola annual report, 2003). In 2006, the make every drop count advertising in the United States was purposely designed to create awareness among consumers on the health benefits of Coca-colas beverage portfolio in a response to growing concerns by consumers regardless of age on health concerns like calorie intake and obesity. The coke side of life campaign which was the first ever integrated marketing campaign for trademark Coca-Cola was intended to signify the unifying role of Coca-Cola in daily life and has performed better than previous Coca-Cola advertisements and was launched in almost 100 markets in 2006 with great success. The happiness factory television commercial is part of this global campaign (Coca-Cola annual report, 2006). In 2009, Coca-Cola commenced the design for advertisement strategies to be used for the 2010 Fifa world cup campaign which included colourful television advertisements for the soccer fiesta in South Africa in 2010 as a means of uniting Coca-colas exuberance with the worldwide love of soccer thereby utilizing the soccer fiesta as a veritable means of connecting with consumers worldwide who have immense passion for the love of football (Coca-Cola annual report, 2009). Coca-Cola develops its advertising campaigns based on a communications strategy that uses means to end research to gain greater insight of current and potential customers and other factors like product attributes, keeping specific marketing goals in mind, taking into account competitive advertising and positioning as well gaining attention and interest by connecting with real needs(Reynolds and Olsen,2008) Market segmentation Market segmentation has been described as essential to marketing(Sheth 1967).Market segmentation implies the division of large heterogeneous markets into smaller segments that can be reached more efficiently and effectively with products and services that match their unique needs(Kotler et al, 2008 .p.410) There is no single way to segment a market. A marketer apparently has to try different segmentation variables alone or in combination in order to come up with how best to view the market. Markets could be segmented into either business markets or consumer markets. Consumer markets entail those markets that deal on products and services that are used directly by the consumers whereas business markets have to do with transfer of products and services from one point to the other. Market segmentation could be based on the following major variables: demographic, psychographic, behavioural, geographic etc. Demographic segmentation entails segmenting the market based on age, gender, income and education. Psychographic segmentation is based on personality, lifestyle and motives of the population involved. Geographic entails segmenting the market on the basis of regions, city or country. Behavioural involves segmenting the market on benefits sought, product usage, price sensibility or situations (Kotler et al, 2008). Coca cola market segmentation Coca Cola Company has been conquering markets worldwide overtime, through its network of Bottlers, distributers and whole sellers, and later joint ventures. The market network has grown to include most of the world territories and this market has been divided into market segments. Coca-Cola the worlds most famous and leading beverage company has been shown in their operations to vary the sweetness level of their product, its size as well as effervescence on local conditions and preferences which implies that the company employs the use of behavioural and geographical variables in their market segmentation strategies the world over (Hart et al,2008). Coca-Cola Company has operating segments on continental basis involving Eurasia and Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America and the pacific areas. This strategy is clearly a geographical approach in terms of market segmentation by Coca-Cola which is influenced by the fact that these different geographical areas will have diverse preferences and wants (Coca-Cola annual report 2009). Coca-Cola market segmentation strategies regarding diverse consumers base starts with a process of understanding consumer trends within the multicultural marketplace and then developing depth and breath communications which is based on that knowledge. The Coca-Cola Company has a diversity business development team which serves the purpose of providing diverse consumers with the right beverage portfolio. In 2009, the diversity business development team worked closely with the multicultural marketing team to develop marketing strategies as well as integrating multicultural elements into general market programmes for greater reach (Coca-Cola annual report 2009). The diversity business development team during this period also identified significant opportunities in emerging markets including Asian and disabled consumers. The Asian consumers were subsequently integrated into the existing framework of communications. Coca- colas multicultural consumer marketing team develops and carries out relevant marketing plans targeted at multicultural consumers while working closely with brand and customer teams as well as the bottling system. Coca-Cola North America had their multicultural consumer marketing team refocused on African-American marketing as well as expanded its reach to Hispanic consumers (Coca-Cola annual report 2009). The company is now in the process of implementing a long term strategy targeted at consumer markets on the basis of ethnicity in the United States. Coca-Cola in North Americas operating segment reported in 2009 positive results in its works with its bottling partners to create price and package strategies that will ultimately strengthen their financial results, provide value for customers and provide consumers with choices that meet their needs. This strategy is apparently based on behavioural variables which puts price and preferences of the consumers into consideration Coca-Cola Company introduced the coke zero brand in response to consumer health concerns regarding excess calorie intake (Coca-Cola annual report 2009). The product did well in the market and in 2009, the company made sales on the product on an excess of 600 million cases globally. Currently there are over 800 low and no- calorie beverages in the Coca-Cola portfolio (Coca-Cola annual report 2009). In 2008, the company and foundation spent around 9million dollars to support active, healthy lifestyle programmes. These strategies by Coca-Cola are geared towards effective market segmentation of the target population on behavioural and psychographic basis putting into account the health choices and lifestyle of the consumers. In order for Coca-Cola to meet the diverse and ever changing beverage needs of its consumers worldwide, the company has intensified efforts to add more value for customers in its portfolio of beverages ranging from added benefits of vitamins and minerals to calorie reductions, new ingredients, sweeteners and taste depending on the preferences and wants of the consumers concerned (Coca-Cola annual report 2009). Coca-Cola also has another segmentation strategy which entails different strategies for developing and developed markets. The companys main strategy for the developed markets like the United States is to maximize value and profit which can be achieved by delivering more value to consumers so that they will continue their patronage of the companys products at a premium price. In this regard, Coca-Cola are growing the core beverages-trademark namely: coke, sprite, fanta, powerade and improving their benefits and value to the customers through adding vitamins and nutrients to reduced or no calorie options(Coca-Cola annual report 2009). In developing markets Coca-Cola devised a strategy of making the products affordable to the consumers; in Brazil the company offers consumers 26 package options for brand Coca-Cola at different brand points to meet the needs of an economically diverse consumer base (Coca-Cola annual report 2009). In 1963, the product tab was launched and was specifically targeted at the female consumers but subsequently the company in order to broaden its customer base by appealing to the men folk as well as the entire family had to introduce diet coke to achieve the above mentioned objectives. In 1983, Coca-Cola introduced the caffeine- free versions of Coca-Cola, diet coke and tab which were specifically targeted at health conscious consumers. Coca-Cola also introduced the minute maid soda which was positioned to attract a market segment that prefers fruit juice as well as health and nutrition conscious consumers (Mochmen and Maze,1998). The Coca-Cola Company today through its market segmentation strategies offers a diverse portfolio of products to identified market segments based on different consumer preferences for flavours, calories and caffeine content effectively which continues to add to their success story globally (Lamb et al, 2008). Equity investment Coca Cola Company has over time been making equity investment in selected bottling companies with the intention of maximising companys strength and efficiency in its systems, production, distribution, and marketing capabilities around the world. The level of investment generally depends on the bottlers capital structure and its available resources at the time of investment. Coca cola Company in some instances finds it necessary to acquire a controlling interest. Such controlling interest allows coca cola Company to compensate for limited local resources and enables it to focus on bottlers sales and marketing programs. Equity investment also assists in the development of bottlers business and information systems and the establishment of appropriate capital structures. One of examples of coca cola equity investment is that of Coca Cola Enterprise Inc. (C.C.E) In 2009, Coca Cola Companys ownership in Coca Cola Enterprise Inc.-bottling company, was 34%. Coca cola Enterprise Inc. is the worlds bottler company of trade mark beverages. The sales of concentrates, syrups, mineral waters, juices, sweeteners and finished products by coca cola Company to C.C.E were approximately 6.6 billion by the year end 2009. The Coca Cola Enterprise Inc. estimates its market beverage products to retailers which include a portion of 46 states of USA, Columbia district of USA, Virgin Islands, Caribbean islands, Canada, Great Britain, Continental France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and Monaco. Therefore Coca Companys investment strategy in CCE was to take advantage of this vast market for it to sell concentrates, syrups and different coca cola product brands through C.C.E (Coca cola annual report,2009). Branding Coca cola has many kinds brands sold worldwide. In developing a company brand, coca cola conducts product and packaging research to establish brand positioning, develop precise consumer communication and solicit consumer feedback. The Coca-Cola brand development strategy emphasizes on price, preference, and persuasive penetration (Annual report, 2009) The Coca Cola Company main brand products are Coca cola classic, diet coke and coca cola zero whereas the main branding strategies at Coca Cola Company include but not limited to Joint brand strategy, brand diversification strategy, personal branding strategy, and packaging/redesigning strategy (Annual report, 2009) Joint brand strategy involves a situation in which two different brands are linked to form joint promotion, as a consequence one product may sell the other examples in early 1990s Bacardirum and Coke cola brand were jointly marketed together. Coca cola, the common known brand was used to market Barcadirum, the new product on the market. The benefits of this strategy is that if the first brand name gives a certain quality signal, then the second brand quality signal is believed to be as powerful as the first one, hence attracting more buyers. (Akshadf and Ruekert, 1994) Brand portfolio/diversification strategy: Coca Cola Company continues to diversify its portfolio and growing sales with new and acquired brands. The some of the diversified brands are vitamin-enhanced water energy brand, and its star water brand Glaceau. The powerade and Nestiea iced tea brand products, a joint venture of Coca Cola Company with Nestle. The importance of this strategy is that multiple brands allow the company to offset cokes gradual decline with newer, more appropriate brands while removing future potential rivals through acquisition. The strategy also allows coca cola to maintain relatively large market share irrespective of how market changes (VanAnken and Derick Daye, 2007) Personal branding strategy refers to a set of human characteristics as associated with a brand. Users view it as a key way to differentiate a brand in a product category as a central driver of consumer preference and usage that can be used to market a brand across cultures. In coca cola company personal traits associated with coca cola are Cooling, all-American, and real. These three personal traits differentiate coca cola from its competitors. Besides these traits, Coca Cola Company uses slogans, graphic designs, color schemes and trademarks. As a result of personal branding, different categories of people from different denomination find themselves attracted to the brand hence increasing its demand (Aaker, 1997). Packaging/redesigning strategy: Coca Cola Company keeps on redesigning its packaging and visual identity systems. One of examples is its newly identity visual system for its flagship brand introduced in 2008 and contour aluminum bottle initially commercialized in 2005. The nonalcoholic beverage in this new aluminum bottle attracted many buyers especially in 2005 Olympic Games in Beijing-China. (Butler, 2009) Packaging redesigning also continues making coca cola brand a new product in the face of consumers. Comparative advantage The most crucial comparative advantage is that the company has over time built a network bottling partners, wholesalers and distributers spread over in many parts of world. These act as marketing agents of coca cola company products worldwide. Bottling partners pray two major roles, Firstly they act as consumers of the concentrates and syrup which they use in manufacture of coca cola products and later sell these products locally or in foreign market, secondary they act as marketer of company brands. (Annual report,2009) Through a network of bottling companies, Coca Cola Company has been able to access cheap raw materials, for example the high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener, one of the component used in manufacture of concentrates and syrups is available at a cheaper price in all countries where coca cola factories are.(Annual report 2009) The company is the owner and marketer of more than 500 nonalcoholic brands sold over the world, giving the company a wide range of customers. With these brands, consumers are provided with a wide variety of choices to meet their desires, needs and their life styles. As the sole manufacturer of coca cola concentrates and syrups, the company enjoys world monopoly Conclusion The Coca Cola Company has a unique network of bottling partners, distributers, wholesalers and joint ventures spread all over the world which act as channels through which the company promotes and markets its brands. Coca Cola as a result of operating in partnership or in cooperation with foreign companies, it enjoys economies of scale such as cheap labor, land and transport costs. Transport costs are reduced due to the fact its brands are brought closer to customers through a network of bottling partners, wholesalers and distributers. The coca cola companys leading brands with high level of acceptance, a worldwide network of bottlers and distributers of companys products, sophisticated marketing capabilities and talented group of dedicated associates are unique companys achievements overtime compared to other multi-national organizations. (3970 Words)

A Brief Description Of The Kuwait Culture

A Brief Description Of The Kuwait Culture Culture consists of behaviors, beliefs, and language among other characteristics that are common to people who are members of a particular society or group (Peterson 2008). Through the culture, people conform to societys shared values, define themselves and contribute to the society that they find themselves in. every culture has its own distinct characteristics that differentiates it from the others. One of such culture of the world is the Kuwait culture. This culture exists in the Middle East which borders the Persian Gulf, sandwiched between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. This research will endeavor to focus on cultural aspects of the people of Kuwait drawing similarities and differences with the Australian culture. The main aspects of culture that this research will focus on include religious beliefs, language and appropriate cultural behaviors governing interactions. A Brief Description of the Kuwait Culture The Kuwaiti culture is dominant in Kuwait where the people originate. These people have a unique culture especially given the fact that the country was never colonized. This means that the culture was never exposed to dilution that comes with colonization. The people have therefore been free with regard to managing their affairs and develop their unique cultural characteristics. Kuwait is therefore touted as the Arab worlds cultural city (Brown 2004). This culture places a lot of emphasis on the family units role in passing values from one generation to the next. This contributed in developing a close knit culture that has retained a distinct identity to this day. Similarities and Differences between the Australian and Kuwaitis Culture The Kuwait and Australian cultures have very differing religious beliefs. The Kuwait culture is dominated by the Islamic faith while the Australian culture is dominated by the Christian religious faith. The Islam faith governs the Kuwaitis personal lives. According to their religious belief, Prophet Mohammad was the last of Gods emissaries to bring revelation to all mankind. According to this faith, the people are supposed to fast and pray especially during the holy month of Ramadan. On the other hand, the Australian culture mainly practices the Christian faith. Prayer and fasting are not coordinated. Even though they engage in fasting, it is left on every individual to decide if and when to do it. There are no specific times when people are obliged to fast and pray. According to the Kuwaitis Islam faith that characterizes their culture people are obliged to pray five times a day. On the other hand, according to the Australian Christian religion that characterizes their culture, ther e are no obligations as to the number of times an individual is supposed to pray. The holy day for the Australian people is on a Sunday while that for people in Kuwait its on Friday. The other aspect that differentiates two the cultures is the language. The first difference relates to the dominant languages used in the two cultures. In the Kuwaitis culture, Arabic is the dominant language (NEA 2005). Arabic is used in usual conversations in social settings. Most importantly, the language is most important in the religion. Arabic is important to the people as they learn their Islamic doctrines through the language. On the other hand, in the Australian culture, the dominant language is English (Department of Foreign Affairs 2011). Unlike in the Kuwaitis culture, there is no heavy link between understanding the language and religion. The Australian English is heavily characterized by slang and shortening of words. The people have a penchant for shortening words and giving new names to people and animals. It may be difficult to get the meaning of their conversations if one is not conversant with the connotations attached in their slang language. The first example of their slang is You right? which meaning if you need any assistance. The other example of a slang that characterizes their language is good on ya. This slang means well done. One similarity with relation to language as an aspect of culture is that both cultures use English. The English language spoken in Kuwait is not characterized by abbreviation and shortening as in Australia. Even though Arabic is the main language of communication in Kuwait, English is sometimes used and is the second compulsory language in schools. The Kuwait people use English widely for business purposes just as their Australian counterparts. The other aspect of the culture relates to the manner of greetings. The two cultures have differences in their manner of greetings. To begin with, in the Kuwait culture, greetings in form of a handshake are normally restricted to people of the same sex (Maria Spilling 2008). This is different from the Australian culture where people of different sexes can shake hands. The other difference relates to the enthusiasm. In most cases, greetings in the Kuwaitis culture are given with a lot of enthusiasm. The greetings are supposed to deeply express an individuals pleasure of meeting again. This is different from the Australian culture where greetings with as much enthusiasm. The other difference relates to the exchanges that go with the greetings. In the Kuwait culture, the Kuwaitis take the time in the course of the greetings to find about the other persons family, health, acquaintances, mutual friends and all matters that are of general interest. This is different from the Australian cu lture where greetings are generally relaxed. Greetings may just entail a simple hello (Kwint 2011). In formal settings, greeting entails just good morning or good afternoon depending on the time of the day. One similarity about the two cultures in terms of greetings is the fact that a handshake forms part of their greetings albeit for people of the same sex in the Kuwaitis culture. The other key difference relates to gender separation among members of the society. There Kuwait culture has strict interaction expectations among the member of its community as opposed to the relaxed Australian approach. In Kuwaits culture, men and women gather separately during social functions such as marriage dinners and parties. This is different in the Australian culture as men and women are allowed to interact freely with each other. Among the Kuwaitis, people of the same sex constantly show a lot of affection and friendliness. In fact, it is common for a man to kiss another man in the cheek (UFL 2011). In contrast, among the Australians men cannot kiss another man on their cheek. This practice may be there among females but not in Australian men. In the Kuwaitis culture, it is considered impolite for a man to kiss a lady on the cheek. This is regardless of how much friendly they are. This is very different from the Australian culture when it is common for a man to show affect ion to a woman through a kiss on the cheek. In a nutshell, there are huge gender boundaries in Kuwait than in the Australian culture. The Australian and Kuwaitis religion culture guides the people in their every day life. Although the two cultures have different religions, the ideals they advocate are the same. In Kuwait, religion is based on respect and tolerance. This helps people to live and coexist in peace despite tensions that may arise in the course of their every day life. Religion guides the people in their social and even political activities. In the Australian culture, the church also emphasizes on tolerance on other people view points. The Australian cultural perspective in relation to God is that of a transcendent and perception of an interventionist. The perception of the Australian culture of God is based on the security and strength of the mateship myth (Porta 2007). This indicates reliance in God among the Australians in their day to day life. As a result, both cultures have a lot of reliance on religion in their everyday life. The family plays an important role in learning of its members of the Australian and Kuwaitis culture. The family offers the initial learning environment for the infants. In the Kuwait culture, the family is held with a lot of respect (Lairi 2009). The young are taught how to behave and respect the older people. This is the same with the Australian culture where parents and members of the immediate family have the responsibility of laying the foundation for their young ones. They have to ensure appropriate behavior that project positively to the whole society. Hospitality and contributions are esteemed values in both cultures and are nurtured right from the family level. It is the pride of the family when the child prospers. The similarity in learning environment in both countries is that their language of instruction is English. The main language among the Australian culture is English. The language extends to the learning environments. Instruction is carried out primarily in English which is the uniting language among all the tribes in the culture. Just as in Australia, English is the language of instruction in Kuwait. This is despite the fact that Arabic is the language that is widely used in the normal communications. This is because English is the most popular language in the world and as a result the Kuwait learning environment tries to prepare the learners in a way that they can fit in a world beyond their culture. The difference between Kuwait and Australian learning environment relates to cultural diversity. The learning environment in Australia is more culturally diverse than that in Kuwait. The Australian system has many foreign students from all parts of the world. As a result, there is a conglomeration of cultures in the learning environment. Students therefore have to learn to accommodate each other and be more adaptable. On the other hand, the learning environment in Kuwait is not as diverse. There are fewer foreigners and therefore the learning environment is dominated by people who share many aspects of the same culture. Conclusion Australia and Kuwait are two cultures that share some similarities and differences. This research has found that there are more differences than similarities between the two. One of the factors that define a culture is its religious beliefs. While the Kuwaitis culture gravitates towards Muslim practices, the Australian culture leans towards Christianity. The other aspect that distinguishes the two cultures is language. The main language among the Kuwaitis is Arabic that in the Australian one is English. Gender separation is the other cultural aspect that differentiates the two. While the Australian culture allows for free interaction of people of different sexes, the Kuwaitis one does not. The manner of greetings is also different between the two cultures. The salient thing is the enthusiasm in the greetings among the Kuwaitis something missing in the Australian culture. The first similarity between the two is the fact that religion advocates for tolerance and respect for others. Add itionally, the family plays a critical role in creating an environment for learning acceptable behavior.

Civil War :: American America History

Civil War Writing about recorded history should be a relatively easy task to accomplish. Recorded history is based on facts. Regardless of what time period one may write about, one will find enough information about that time of period. The key is to put everything in a logical and understandable manner. This paper will be about the Civil War. I will try, to the best of my knowledge, to discuss the North's and South's positions and Arguments for going to war, their initial military strategies and their strength and weaknesses. The paper will actually be a summary from chapter 10 of the book Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era By: James McPherson, "Amateurs Go To War". Before discussing the war itself, one must understand the Union's and the Confederate's arguments and reasons for going to war. Let's start at the beginning, when the South was first showing animosity for the North, which eventually led to sessionist ideas by the South. The Compromise of 1850 was drafted in response to the threat of a Southern Convention, because of Zachary Taylors decision to carve out two huge territories in the Far West and to admit them in the union as free states. Henry Clay drafted the compromise, which includes eight parts. "The first pair would admit California as a State and organize the remainder of the Mexican cession without "any restriction or condition on the subject of slavery". The second pair of resolutions settled the boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico in favor of the latter and compensated Texas by federal assumption of debts contracted during its existence as an Independent Republic. Clay's third pair of resolutions called for abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia but a guarantee of slavery itself in the District. As if these six proposals yielded more to the North then to the South, Clay's final pair of resolutions tipped the balance Southward by denying congressional power over the interstate slave trade and calling for a stronger law to enable slave holders to recover their property when they fled to free states" Battle Cry of freedom: The Civil War Era, McPherson James, (p.70-71). The Northerners hated the fugitive slave law, because in the past it was never enforced and it never gave a trial by jury to any runaway slaves. The only testimony heard was that of the slaveholder and he usually recovered his slave. Civil War :: American America History Civil War Writing about recorded history should be a relatively easy task to accomplish. Recorded history is based on facts. Regardless of what time period one may write about, one will find enough information about that time of period. The key is to put everything in a logical and understandable manner. This paper will be about the Civil War. I will try, to the best of my knowledge, to discuss the North's and South's positions and Arguments for going to war, their initial military strategies and their strength and weaknesses. The paper will actually be a summary from chapter 10 of the book Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era By: James McPherson, "Amateurs Go To War". Before discussing the war itself, one must understand the Union's and the Confederate's arguments and reasons for going to war. Let's start at the beginning, when the South was first showing animosity for the North, which eventually led to sessionist ideas by the South. The Compromise of 1850 was drafted in response to the threat of a Southern Convention, because of Zachary Taylors decision to carve out two huge territories in the Far West and to admit them in the union as free states. Henry Clay drafted the compromise, which includes eight parts. "The first pair would admit California as a State and organize the remainder of the Mexican cession without "any restriction or condition on the subject of slavery". The second pair of resolutions settled the boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico in favor of the latter and compensated Texas by federal assumption of debts contracted during its existence as an Independent Republic. Clay's third pair of resolutions called for abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia but a guarantee of slavery itself in the District. As if these six proposals yielded more to the North then to the South, Clay's final pair of resolutions tipped the balance Southward by denying congressional power over the interstate slave trade and calling for a stronger law to enable slave holders to recover their property when they fled to free states" Battle Cry of freedom: The Civil War Era, McPherson James, (p.70-71). The Northerners hated the fugitive slave law, because in the past it was never enforced and it never gave a trial by jury to any runaway slaves. The only testimony heard was that of the slaveholder and he usually recovered his slave.

Nursing and Biomedical Research :: Health Care, Nurses

With unparalleled technological advancement, nursing and bio-medical research, and the present healthcare environment, nurses must be cognisant of their professional and personal views of ethics. Ethics are standards of behaviour, developed as a result of ones concept of right and wrong (Judson & Harrison, 2010), and are intended to influence the actions of healthcare professionals. Ethical principles help guide the decision-making process among healthcare workers in complicated situations. [Therefore] we cannot understand nursing unless we also understand ethics (Gallagher & Wainwright, 2005) There are many different ethical theories which can mainly be divided into three groups. These are Duty based, Goal based and Rights based theories. Deontology is a duty based ethical theory. This means that a moral person must always do their duty and must perform them â€Å"without exception, whatever the consequences† (Seedhouse, 2001). However, this theory has limitations and objections because it does not allow for conflict between duties, flexibility or compromises and these are all essential for health work. (Seedhouse, 2001) Goal based theories such as Utilitarianism, believe that what is morally right is determined by the good that is produced as the consequence of the action. The acts that achieved this were defined as â€Å"good† and those that produce â€Å"pain† were bad. (Rumbold, 2000) An objection with Utilitarianism is that because it is only concerned with the consequences, then even if an action was taken that was intentionally bad, it would still be ethically right if the eventual consequences were favourable. (Seedhouse, 2001) Dunbar (2003) states that there are four main ethical principles, these are beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and autonomy. The principle of beneficence is to do good for patients and to put their needs before your own (Rumbold, 1999 p217) and with beneficence comes the principle of non-maleficence meaning to do no harm. Rumbold (1999, p222) describes how in many nursing duties nurses have to â€Å"do harm† to our patients but only when it is alongside beneficence and the long-term goal is to do good by the patient. In not giving a patient assistance to eat their meals we are acting in a manner that these principles don’t support as there is no good that could arise from this. Beneficence is considered to be the caring ethic, as it guides us to work in the best interests of the patient but at the same time for the benefit of other patients, considering their rights to justice and fairness with their care (Kennedy, 2004).

Poems from the ‘Book of matches’

I have decided to use two poems from the book of matches, ‘Those bastards in their mansions', ‘I've made out a will' and the poem ‘Kid' to compare and contrast. Simon Armitage wrote ‘Book of matches' in 1993. It is a selection of poems without titles. Each poem is meant to be read in the time that it takes for a match to burn down. There is a pun in the title, a packet from which we tear out the matches a book, but this is also a book in the normal sense, with words for us to read. Both of these poems are fourteen lines long, but they are not strictly a sonnet in form. ‘I've made out a will' has irregular rhymes, both full and half rhymes. It is split so that there is a first block of eight lines, then a second block of six lines, which is split into a four and a two. The final section is split so that it ends in a couplet like a Shakespearean sonnet. Some may argue that this poem is not a sonnet because it does not follow a conventional sonnet form, such as a Shakespearean sonnet or a Petrarchan sonnet. ‘Those bastards in their mansions' has some weird features to its structure. Ten of the first eleven lines end in an unstressed syllable, and there are some rhymes such as â€Å"ditches/britches†, â€Å"porches and torches†, and there is the part-rhyme in â€Å"shackles/ankles†. At the end of the poem, there is short lines and true rhyme on one syllable, â€Å"sun† and gun†. This may suggest the power of the shadowy outlaw, who eludes his wealthy foes. Like ‘Those bastards in their mansions', in the poem ‘Kid', every line ends with an unstressed syllable. Every line ends with the ‘-er' sound. The poem starts off with heavy syllables to emphasise that Robin, the persona of the poem is annoyed. The heavy syllables are almost like Robin is shouting, and they show that he is in a mood. It is almost comical how the poet manages to end every line with ‘-er'. As the poem progresses, the reader wonders how the poet is able to continue with this pattern. The poem is ideally suited to be read aloud, as the ending lines accumulate, the listeners wonder how the reader will keep up. ‘I've made out a will' is about an organ donor with a reservation. The speaker in the poem explains how he has decided to donate his body to the National Health Service. He says how he is going to donate everything apart from his heart. Not only is he going to donate his organs, but he has also ‘made out a will' so that his wishes are taken out after he has died. He lists all of the parts that he is ‘sure they can use', but some things would only be useful for research, such as veins and nerves. In ‘Those bastards in their mansions', the persona of the poem has a grudge against people. He mentions words such as ‘mansions', ‘palaces' and ‘castles'. Here this is probably a large exaggeration, but it could be taken literally as the poem could be set in the past, there is mention of ‘burning torches' and ‘cuffs and shackles'. Like in ‘Those bastards in their mansions', in ‘Kid', Robin has a grudge against Batman. Simon Armitage imagines that Robin has separated from Batman and that he has succeeded and that Batman has turned into a failure. It says how Batman has ‘nothing in the walk-in larder'. This is the opposite to ‘Those bastards in their mansions' because in that poem the persona has nothing compared to the people he has a grudge against and is jealous. At the end of the first eight-line section, the speaker concludes his list with the one exception, ‘but not the heart, they can leave that alone'. And at the end of the poem, he repeats this, ‘but not the pendulum, the ticker/leave that where it stops or hangs' he does not say why he does not want his heart to be used again, maybe it is because it is the part of him that keeps him alive, and he does not think that it would be right if someone else used this part. To the national health, the heart is the most valuable organ, so we do not know why the reader wants so much to hold onto his heart, he emphasises how much he wants his heart by the amount of times that he says that he does not want it to be used. This poem has a vivid series of metaphors, which are in lists. The metaphors portray different things. Some of the images have medical overtones, ‘tubes', ‘stitches' and ‘wounds'. These are quite graphic words and show us that the reader predicts dying maybe in an accident, and that he could receive surgery. There are words to do with workshops such as glues and chassis. Others respond to food or cookery such as ‘jellies', ‘syrups', ‘loaf' and ‘gallon†¦of bilberry soup'. There are a lot of different images only for one thing. The skeleton is known as the ‘chassis', ‘cage', and ‘cathedral of bone'. Throughout the second part of the poem, there is an extended metaphor. This is one of a clock. Here there is ‘loops and coils and crockets and springs and rods, the twines and cords and strands, the face, the case, the cogs and the hands,' ‘the face' and ‘the hands' are already words for parts of the human bo dy, but other parts of this phrase can be worked in to go along with other parts of the human body. In the last two lines he says how he does not want his heart to be touches, he compares this with ‘the pendulum, the ticker'. These are the parts of the clock that makes everything work, just like the human heart. In this passage, Simon Armitage uses lots of metaphors. This is to emphasise points. For example, he uses not only ‘pendulum', but also ‘ticker' to talk about the heart. Throughout this poem the poet describes the human body merely as lots of parts, he shows no emotion towards anything apart from the heart. This could be because the speaker sees the heart as being the most important part of a mechanism, like a pendulum in a clock. It also maybe that he values the heart as a symbol of all things that make life worth living, a heart is the symbol of love, affection, energy, desire, and much more. Or, perhaps he feels that he is inside his heart, and it is like a soul, and if he gives up his heart then he is giving up his immortality.

Greek conception of woman, citizen and family Essay

The Greek tragedy ‘Medea’ by Euripides examines the Greek conception of woman, the foreign, family and citizenship. He emphasize on the subjugation and the oppressive condition of women in general in Greece. Thus he reveals the existence of ancient cultures (other than Greece) that were more generous in their treatment of women. Medea is also in some respect, different from general Greek women. She is clever and resourceful and also has the courage in her endeavor to take revenge on Jason for his wrong deeds. Also, through the character of Medea, Euripides exposes the bankruptcy of popular Greek ideas of heroism. My granting a woman the qualities that were considered heroic, he questions the sacred ideas of heroism. The element of the foreign in the play comprises of the foreign, the exotic, the unknown and the feared. He also showed that the foreign is not external to Greek and there is much for the Greeks to know about themselves. Medea represents the foreign, the attractive and the priceless possession of Jason. The foreign also represented the adventure undertaken by the Greek heroes. The foreign also symbolized danger and which could lead to chaos. Medea, a foreigner and an outsider to the normal order is free to behave without restrain or morality. Thus she manages to commit the dreadful crime of murdering her own children. Through the elements of the foreign, uncivilized and barbaric, Euripides questions the concepts and definitions of civilizations, primitiveness, ethics and morality. Whereas Jason seeks power, Medea, the foreigner longs for love and caring. Greek valued family and the exile from his was horrible to the ancient Greek. A person’s city-state was his home and protector and to wonder without friend and shelter was thought as a fate as horrible as death. Medea exiles herself because of her love and passion for her husband. Her position in Corinth is double grave as she is both married to be exiled from family and also as she herself has broke connections with her family to be with Jason. Also, she is a foreigner who will remain a barbarian in the eyes of the Greeks. However, Madea forces Jason into exile by wiping off his entire family. Greek law forbade Greek men to marry any other than Greek women. Also the children of Greek man and foreign woman were not considered as official citizens of Greece. Similarly, the children of Jason and Medea were not official citizens of Corinth, but Creusa and Jason’s offspring would fully enjoy the benefits of Corinthian citizenship. So Jason is justified in his argument that to gain power and position and to protect and their position, he married into the royal family. Thus these elements of the foreign, plight of Greek woman, citizenship and family combine to propel the action of the tragic play ‘Medea’. In the Greek tragedy ‘Medea, Euripides elaborates on the status of woman in Greek society. The Greek women in general had few rights. According to the men, the purpose of women in Greek society was to engage themselves in household duties like cooking and cleaning and giving birth and taking care of children. They did not have the right to vote or own property. They could not go outside without an escort. They had to be represented by men in all legal proceedings. Greek women only under exceptional conditions could obtain a divorce, but any Athenian man could get rid of his wife by simply publicly renouncing his marriage. Marriages were arranged by the parents without any participation of the daughter; thus Medea’s flight with Jason was scandalous. If the family was wealthy, the daughter came with a substantial dowry. After marriage, the woman served her husband the entire life by caring for the children and slaves, the legal property of her husband. They were not given any education and lived in separate quarters, away from their husbands. The ideal woman â€Å"spoken little as possible among men, whether for good or for ill†. Greek women never experienced independence during their lives and in some respect they were just like slaves. Medea accurately describes the conditions of married life for women when she says how a woman has to adjust to the new rules and customs of the new home and work hard to understand her husband and consequently live in peace. However if the marriage does not work, then death is the only solution for the woman. When Jason decides to terminate his marriage with Medea and marry the princess of Corinth, Jason cast aside Medea as if they were never married. This type of action was accepted by Greek standards, which reveals the subordinate status of woman who did not have any say in these matters. Even though some actions of Medea are not similar to that of average Greek women, she posses certain attitudes and emotions which are common among women. Medea in her first speech to the Chorus (when she comes out of her house) expresses the plight of women in society: â€Å"For a divorce loses women all respect, yet we can’t refuse to take a husband†, (Euripides, lines 271-272). She further adds that when a man gets tired of the company at home, he can seek relief outside the home, but a woman have to always look at one man. It is likely that this attitude was shared by most Greek women as evident from the reaction of the Chorus Leader who sympathize with her: â€Å"I’m not surprised you grieve at these events†, (Euripides, Line 310). The nurse reveals the fact that Medea out of her love and deep passion for Jason has retrieved the Golden Fleece for him and defied her household. In return, she is deserted by Jason who betrayed her by breaking the vows of marriage and now â€Å"She calls out to the gods to witness/ how Jason is repaying her favours†, (Euripides, lines 30-31). However, her situation worsens further when Creon informs her that he is forcing her into exile. The Chorus identifies with the pitiable condition of Medea. It recognizes the heroic traits of Medea and admires her as an avenger for all women. Chorus soothes Medea’ sorrow by saying that God will be with her in her endeavor. Thus the chorus believes her cause is good and worthy of God’s support. Medea as a victim of ill fate is supported by the Chorus. Even though the Chorus makes this statement before finding out Medea’ brutal scheme, it should be noted that the Chorus reaffirms its support for Medea after she reveals her plan. After the monologue of Medea, where she reveal her plan and think of ways to implement it, the chorus delivers an ode on the oppression of women: â€Å"The waters in the sacred rivers/are flowing in reverse. /And all well-ordered things/are once more turning on themselves. / Men’s plans are now deceitful,/their firm trust in the gods is gone†¦. /Honour’s coming to the female sex. /slander will no longer injure women, (Euripides, Lines 487-496). Through this ode, the chorus condemns the oppression of women and encourages Medea to carry out her plan. It views her plan as a rare opportunity for women to avenge all the wrongs done by men on them and to turn the hierarchy around, putting the men at the mercy of women. In the play it is evident that the Chorus support Medea in her endeavor to avength the betrayal of Jason till the section where she thinks of ways and machinery to make her plot successful. But the Chorus withdraws their support the point where Medea reveals her plan to murder her own sons. After the verbal fight between Jason and Medea, the Chorus asks for moderation: â€Å"I pray that moderation,/the gods’ most beautiful gift,/will always guide me†, (Euripides, Lines 756-758). After they come to know Medea’s plan to kill her children, they try their best make her understand her folly in her taking such an action and they urge her not to commit such a crime : â€Å"I want to help you,/holding to the standards of human law†, (Euripides, Lines 963-964). Euripides by examining the treatment of women in the play ‘Medea’, points at the injustices of his society. He recognized the fact that the subordinate position of women to their male counterpart is impossible to extricate from the core of social order in Greece. The typical explanation offered by the admirers of Greece is that all ancient societies were sexist and dependent on slave labor. This generality is untrue as there were many societies who were more generous in their treatment of women than the Greeks and many societies functioned in the ancient times, without slave labor. Euripides who was aware of these hypocrisies, often pointed out how Greek society attempt to excuse the injustices perpetrated by them. Jason tells Medea that no Greek women would have done as she has done. In this respect, the Chorus should be considered who stood by mutely and allowed the slaughter to take place. However, Medea shows some heroic qualities that were not common among Greek women. Medea is clever, resourceful and has the courage to stand against Jason and take revenge for his betrayal. She does not stay long inside her home as a subjugating housewife lamenting and shedding tears for wrongs incurred on her. She comes out her hearth and faces the Chorus and Creon. She acts like a man and plots and execute her plan. Euripides goes farther, through the character of Medea, he exposes the bankruptcy of popular Greek ideas of heroism. Medea has many traits that would be admirable, if only she were a man. She is ruthless, brilliant, cunning, and powerful. But she is in a weak position: she is not a ruler or a warrior of any battlefield. Euripides gives the qualities that are considered heroic, in a woman and thus reduces the scale. He makes the playing field one of marriage and spurned love. The fine Homeric speeches of warriors on the verge of combat are reduced to the bickering of an enraged wife and a petty husband. Euripides in this play, questions our sacred ideas about heroism. Consider, for example, the character of Agamemnon as portrayed by Aeschylus in the Oresteia. Agamemnon also kills his own child; and although he is not admired for this act, after his death Aeschylus grants him his due of a great man and hero. The reaction of the audience to Medea’s infanticide is that of horror. Euripides gives unlimited self-absorption and ruthlessness to a woman and thus exposes the true worth of these traits. The audience becomes aware of the double standards that we use for heroes and heroines. In Greek mythology Medea was princess of colchis and the granddaughter of Helios the sun God. She had affinities with magic and was the priestess of Hecate. Medea helped Jason to steal the Golden Fleece from her father and even dismember her brother to delay the pursuers of her lover. Also, she turned the daughter of Pelias into murderers to win back his rightful place in Iolcus, In return, Jason betrayed her trust and re-married into the royal family. The fact that Medea is a foreigner is emphasized from the beginning. The Nurse, in the opening lines, tells the audience that Medea hails from a distant and exotic land. Certain points should be remembered while reflecting on this aspect of the play. The foreigner or the Others is a complex and multifaceted concept: it comprises of the foreign, the exotic, the unknown and the feared. The foreign is also essential for self-definition of the Greeks. The Greeks ascribe certain traits to barbarians in opposition to certain traits about themselves. Barbarians are savage but Greeks are not. Barbarians are superstitious while Greeks are rational. But Euripides through the play undermines these easy binaries. He shows that (the foreigner) is not something external to Greek. Also, there is much for the Greeks to understand about themselves Moreover, the (the foreign, the exotic, the terrifying) is an essential for adventure. Jason’s quest, and also the quests of other Greek heroes, would not be possible without their visit to strange and fearsome lands. Medea’s foreignness may be the reason behind Jason’s attraction for her. Although we cannot be sure if Jason was really attracted to her or used her for his own ends or both. May be Jason was drawn to her by her uniqueness. The play stresses on the fact that Medea is different from Greek women. Jason’s marriage to Medea can be seen as an attempt on his part to bring the adventure home. Medea describes herself as â€Å"something he won in a foreign land†. The marriage can also be seen as Jason’s attempt to subordinate the foreign to the Greek, woman to man. In Medea, the foreign lead to chaos. Medea as a foreigner is also terribly free. As she is an outsider to normal order, she behaves without restraint or morality. Her genius is thus used for personal revenge. She sends gifts of a finely woven robe and a tiara of twisted gold smeared with deadly poison and succeeds in killing both Creon and his daughter. Next she murders her two sons to teach Jason a lesson that the oppressed can also take actions against the oppressors. Medea as a foreigner comes from a tribal nativity, where sophistication is not the normal thing. She does not know how to â€Å"well behave† and speak â€Å"with a soft tongue†. Her culture and race is primitive and for this she is often blames by Jason. However, while Jason seeks power, Medea longs for love and caring. She leaves behind her culture, native land, parent, and the family as a sacrifice to marry Jason. So the ‘uncivilized ’Medea cannot accept nor understand Jason’s argument in favor of his second marriage and Jason posses all the skills required to argue in his favor. This raises several questions regarding the concepts and definitions of civilizations, primitiveness, ethics and morality Another factor is the Greek conception of family and the separation or exile from them. Modern audiences can find it difficult to understand how important family and how horrible exile was for the ancient Greek. A person’s native land was his home and protector and to wander without friends or shelter, was thought of as a fate horrible as death. The chorus chants: â€Å"there’s no affliction worse/ than losing one’s own country†, (Euripides, Lines 774-775). Medea made herself as exile for the sake of her husband. Medea tells about her plight to the Chorus: â€Å"you have a city, /you have your father’s house, enjoy your life/with friends for company. But I’m alone. /I have no city, and I’m being abused/by my own husband. — I have no mother, brother, or relation,/to shelter with in this extremity†, (Euripides, Lines 291-299). Additionally by her overzealous advocacy of her husband’s interest, she made their family exiles in Corinth. Due to her actions in Iolcus, Jason is unable to return home and so their position is vulnerable. Jason who is the hero of the Golden Fleece (of course with the help of Medea) became a wanderer. He is very shrewd and calculative in his decision to marry into the royal family. The Tutor points out in the beginning of the play that men always act for their own interest: â€Å"What mortal man is not? Don’t you know yet/all men love themselves more than their neighbours†, (Euripides, Lines 107-108). Thus the character of Jason is revealed as an opportunist, a selfish man and the anti-hero who manipulates others for his own ends. Euripides in his play ‘Medea’, links the elements of exile and the lower position of women by emphasizing on the circumstances that women faced after marriage. She has to leave her home and family and live among strangers. In this respect, Medea reminds us of the conditions of exile. However, her position is doubly grave, as she is an exile in this sense as well as in the sense that she herself has broke all connections with her family. Also, she is a foreigner and will remain a barbarian in the eyes of the Greeks. Greeks valued their family and the close blood relationship they share with the family members. Also they had certain expectation from their family. Similarly I the play, Jason want his sons to grow up and become leaders in Corinth along their new brother, the sons he wishes to beget from his new bride. He also wants his sons to mature into young men and win victory over his enemies. On the other hand, Medea has few expectations as well. In return for her pains of child birth and the hardship she faced in raising them, she hoped that they will look after her in old age and prepare the corpse with their own hands as all parents’ wishes. However, she sacrifices her expectations and also separates Jason from his family by killing her two sons and Jason’ new bride. She takes her revenge on Jason by poisoning the royal bride and thus depriving Jason of his wife and the children he wished to beget from her, his family. Also she kills her sons and prevents the fulfilling last hope of Jason, his wish to unite with his family, his sons. She also deprives him of the burial rights of his sons. Instead she performs the rights. In this way, Jason is exiles from his family as Medea was exile from her native land and family. Medea lost her family after she married Jason, in similar way, Jason losses his family at the end of the play. Another element emphasized in the play is the Greek conception of citizenship. Greek law forbade Greek men to marry no other than Greek women. However, it was common practice among Greek men to keep foreign concubines who were often more educated than the Greek women in general. But the children born from these unions were not considered as official citizens of Greece. Similarly, the children of Jason and Medea were not official citizens of Corinth, whereas Creusa and Jason’s offspring would fully enjoy the benefits of Corinthian citizenship. Jason may be a shrewd and manipulative man and it is also true that he betrays Medea by breakings the vows of marriage and re-marrying into the royal family. However, the fact remains that Jason was a wonderer and he wanted to gain power and position by creating a relationship with the royal family. Moreover, he was aware of the fact that his children were deprived of the benefits of Corinthian citizenship. As he mentions to Medea, it may be true that he married Creon’s daughter not because he felt attracted towards her as a woman but rather to protect Medea and their children. Also that he wanted to serve their own interest by having children (royal princes) from his royal bride and thus securing their position in Corinth and giving their children similar power. The Greek conception of woman, the foreign, citizenship and family as examined in the play help in the progress of the tragic action. Medea represents the suppressed and oppressive condition of Greek woman who is cheated by her husband. The foreign element in her character, the exotic, the dangerous and the barbarian instigate her take revenge against Jason. Jason’s argument in favor of his action is the power and position he wants to achieve for himself and for Medea and their children. He is aware that his and Medea’s children will be deprived of the benefits of Corinthian citizenship. Her separation or exile from family because of Jason infuriates her further and she in turn separates Jason from his family. Work Citation: â€Å"Analysis of Medea as a Tragic Character†. 8 December 2002. Michael Kliegl. 9 July 2008 â€Å"The Concept of Citizenship†. 9 July 2008 â€Å"Euripides by Medea†. 9 July 2008 â€Å"Medea (Criticism). Carole L. Hamilton. 9 July 2008 â€Å"Major Themes†. 9 July 2008 â€Å"Medea (Indian adaptation of the greek classic†. 9 July 2008 â€Å"Summary and Analysis of Lines 1- 356†. 9 July 2008