Conflicting Perspectives Essay

Composers are able to evoke in the audience certain reactions to characters or events in their texts by presenting conflicting perspectives on different issues through the manipulation of the language forms and features of their medium, often communicating their own ideas about issues in question, which results in the creation of meaning within their texts. (?). David Guterson in his 1995 novel Snow Falling on Cedars (Snow) and Henry Bean in his 2001 film The Believer (Believer) demonstrate conscious choices made regarding structure and techniques in the construction of their texts in order to represent conflicting perspectives exploring ideas on racial prejudice and hatred and cultural contrasts and thus engage the audience. Composers can examine racial/religious prejudice brought on by war by using form specific techniques to present conflicting perspectives on the same event, designed to incite certain audience responses. Guterson, in Snow, purposely presents conflicting perspectives between Arthur Chambers and Hatsue and other members of the white community on San Piedro, particularly Etta Heine, in order to draw sympathy for the treatment of the Japanese after Pearl Harbour is bombed. Arthur is empathetic towards them, saying in his local paper the San Piedro Review, â€Å"†¦ those of Japanese descent on this island are not responsible for the tragedy at Pearl Harbour. Make no mistake about it.† The high modality language and short, direct sentences used by Guterson highlights Arthur’s deeply-held opinion of the innocence of the Japanese on the island. In support of Arthur’s argument, Hatsue, through the narrative’s non-linear structure, recalls her pain and confusion at the treatment of her people, saying, â€Å"It just isn’t fair – it’s not fair. How could they do this to us, just like that?† The emotive appeal in addition to Arthur’s article triggers audience support of the Japanese community. Guterson, however, also presents the contrasting racial hatred of the white islanders towards the Japanese. Etta Heine justifies the deportation of the Japanese with blunt, monosyllabic sentences – â€Å"They’re Japs†¦ We’re in a war with them. We can’t have spies around.† The use of the derogative term â€Å"Japs† and the distinct differentiation between â€Å"them†, the Japanese, and â€Å"we†, the white people, illustrates her bigoted hatred of the Japanese. Through the conflicting perspectives of Etta against Arthur and Hatsue, Guterson sways the audience to feel for the ill treatment of the Japanese, and shows them his own opinion on the negative effect of racism in wartime on the perceptions and conduct towards certain groups. Conflicting perspectives are established by Bean in Believer between Daniel, a neo-Nazi who is paradoxically a Jew himself, and a number of Holocaust survivors pertaining to the strength of their actions during WWII which aims to convey a pro-Jewish sentiment to audiences. At a sensitivity training session, Danny is enraged at a Jewish man’s lack of action while watching his son being murdered by a Nazi during the Holocaust. Rapidly cutting over-the-shoulder shots between Danny and the Jews indicate their opposing views. A close-up of Danny when he is asked by the Jews what he would have done in the situation shows his contempt and incredulous disbelief of the Jews’ weakness as he replies â€Å"Not what he did. Just stand there and watch?† Bean immediately employs a close-up reaction shot of the female Jew who rebuts with, â€Å"How do you know? You’ve never been tested like he has. Here in his rich, safe, stupid country it is so easy to imagine oneself a hero.† The personal address through 2nd person and the accumulation of adjectives to build a negative image of America strongly opposes Danny’s prejudiced conviction that Jews are pathetic, and also appeals to audiences the idea that religious prejudice towards Jews is unjustified. As Guterson does in Snow, conflicting perspectives are represented by Bean in order to sway his audience to respond negatively to unfounded sentiments of prejudice. Conflicting perspectives between characters can be used by composers to control the way in which an audience perceives them by exploring the cultural clashes that exist in the text as a reflection of societal (or social?) behaviour. In Snow, Guterson presents conflicting perspectives between Kabuo and the jury during his murder trial. In the opening chapter, a vivid description of Kabuo’s posture and expression is given from the jury’s perspective; he is shown as â€Å"proudly upright†¦ rigid†¦ detached.† This initial portrait portrait of Kabuo makes him suspicious not only to the jury but also to the audience, as Hatsue tells Kabuo using a simile that he â€Å"looks like one of Tojo’s soldiers.† However, Guterson, through the novel’s non-linear structure, refutes this perspective by explaining Kabuo’s behaviour to the audience via a flashback. Through his father’s teachings that â€Å"the greater the composure, the more revealed one was†, the audience learns the reason behind Kabuo’s unemotional stance. Third person omniscient allows the audience to sympathise with Kabuo’s emotive explanation that â€Å"he sat upright in the hope that his desperate composure might reflect the shape of his soul.† Guterson, through conflicting perspectives, influences his audience to understand Kabuo and the impact of contrasting cultural values on the perception of an individual. In Believer, Bean likewise shows contrasting opinions between Danny, who cannot fully repress his secret Jewish identity, and his anti-Semitic ‘skinhead’ friends to create audience sympathy for Danny’s inner struggles with the opposing aspects of his identity. When Danny and his friends break into a synagogue, Daniel shows a surprising respect for his religion which clashes with those of the other neo-Nazis. This directly conflicts with Danny’s character established at the film’s opening, when he violently beats up a Jew for no apparent reason. Wearing a brown shirt symbolising the Nazi SA (brown-shirts), Danny’s dark costuming contrasts with the light coloured one of his Jewish victim, highlighting the evil in his nature. Bean, however, challenges the audience’s view of Danny in order to allow them to understand his conflicting identities. In one frame, Danny is in the foreground walking down an aisle, which is juxtaposed with the othe r Nazis vandalising the synagogue. Their loud, raucous whooping contrasts to that of Danny’s respectful silence, highlighting their different treatments of the Jewish culture. When one of the Nazis tears up a Torah, a sacred Jewish text, after much opposition from Danny, a reaction shot of him shows sadness and pain accompanied by melancholy music, underlining Danny’s unspoken deference for Judaism. Bean’s portrayal of conflicting perspectives on Jewish culture incites the audience to respond more sympathetically towards Danny, and to understand that his veneer is a product of cultural differences in his society. The composers in Snow and Believer have effectively utilised techniques within their medium to represent conflicting perspectives about racial or religious prejudice and cultural differences in order to provoke certain audience responses to the characters, events or situations in their story. This includes reactions of sympathy for a certain perspective or disbelief and even dislike of opposing perspectives. In this way, the composers connect to the audience and generate meaning within their texts. In Snow, Hatsue is confined by the traditions of her culture, as shown when her mother Fujiko says to her â€Å"don’t allow living among the hakujin to become living intertwined with them. Your soul will decay†¦ rot and go sour.† The change in language to refer to the Americans as hakujin and the emotive metaphor of Hatsue’s breakdown of purity highlights Fujiko’s dislike of American culture. This

Mice and men Explore the themes of loneliness in ‘Of mice and men’ Essay

The story ‘of mice and men’ had lots of lonely people with no family and no friends; that’s the reason why Lennie and George are different is because they have got somebody who cares for them. Most of the characters in the novel feel scared of showing their true emotions. For example, when candy’s dog was about to get shot candy didn’t tell the other workers that he needed the dog and that is was a friend to him. I don’t think any of the characters want to show weakness. The title of the novel is ‘of mice and men’ was written in the 1300s. At the time of the novel there were many workers who travelled form ranch to ranch looking for jobs. The most isolated group at the time were Negroes be cause they were considered inferior and no one wanted to be with them. There were no laws against racism and it was tolerated all over the country. Crooks is the stable buck and he is a Negro so he is also the loneliest man on the ranch. His race and colour made him isolated from all the other members of the group. A lot of people bully crooks; Curley’s wife says, ‘Well, you keep your place, then, nigger. I could get you strung up to a tree so easy it isn’t true.’ Crooks is a proud man and also the most educated as well; he reads lots of books but the most important book is the 1905 California civil code. This book says that Crooks is no slave and can do what he wishes with his life but nobody takes this into consideration because he is still treated as a slave, which they can push around. Once on Christmas day the workers forced crooks to fight even though he had a bad back. All the other workers think they can make Crooks do what they want. He is isolated from the others; he doesn’t go to talk to them and they don’t come to talk to him. There is only one person that come s into Crook’s hut and that is Slim. Crooks is very proud because he knows that he is free and he keeps himself aloof from all the other workers. He doesn’t talk to any of the other workers, he says, ‘Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody-to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody’. This is from a conversion which he has with Lennie. Crooks spent the most time working on the ranch and the only person he tells his true feelings to is to Lennie. Because Crooks knows that Lennie would probably forget. Near the end of chapter four crooks starts to get along with Candy. Crooks even offers to work on the ranch which George ,Candy and Lennie are going to go to but after Curley’s wife threatens Crooks and then he says ,’ well, just forget it . I didn’t mean it. Just fooling’. This shows the reader that crooks knows that he will never be treated differently.

Traditional and Patient-centered Outcomes with Three Classes of Asthma Article

Traditional and Patient-centered Outcomes with Three Classes of Asthma Medication - Article Example By ‘clinical variables’, the authors mean traditional end-points like symptoms, reliever use, forced expiratory volume in one second percent predicted, morning peak expiratory flow and airway hyperresponsiveness; ‘subjective variables’ mean patient-centred benefits like quality of life, patient global assessments and the feeling of improvement as determined by asthma control questionnaire. There are 2 hypotheses in this study which are: 1) Some traditional measurements (clinical variables) of improvement during asthma treatment may not reflect the estimation of benefit by the patient. 2) Patients may benefit (subjective variables) from a specific class of asthma medication in ways which were not captured by the measurement of lung function. Measures of asthma control are a much-debated topic in the recent times. This is because there are various measures to determine the efficacy of treatment. Most researchers use lung function and clinical improvement as criteria for improvement; even the international guidelines are based on these. However, what the researchers perceive as improvement may not be the same in case of patients. Patients may have their own meaning of improvement and only if they feel that a particular class of medicine is effective will they adhere to treatment. This is the basis of the hypotheses in the article under study. This study included 58 subjects from three sites in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. Only those with mild to moderate asthma, who had previously used a short-acting ß2-agonist with/without an inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) 500  µg beclomethasone equivalent and in the age group 16 to 75 years, were included in the study. In all subjects, ICS treatment was ceased at an entry to the study. Those with mild to moderate asthma were only considered because, in reality, these patients need only monotherapy and they are symptomatic enough to show a treatment response.  Ã‚  

Case Analysis.Corporate Sustainability Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analysis.Corporate Sustainability - Case Study Example Key issues and such as the melting of the polarized caps, global climate change, the impacts and facts of CO2 emissions, increased awareness for the impacts of oil and gas drilling, and a host of other factors all contribute to the increased awareness and concern that consumers are reflecting towards business with regards to sustainability issues. Within such a context, it is readily noted throughout the corporate sustainability piece in question that UPS has actively engaged in seeking to promote a further level of green business and sustainability at each and every stage of their corporate structure. All the way from maximizing efficiency by utilizing advanced computer programs and metrics to plan and pack each and every plane or product that carries packages for the efficiency to utilizing LPG as a low impact/low CO2 fuel for the transit of packages and many other factors, the firm has shown a clear and definitive concern both for the demands of the consumer and the future prospec ts of the environment. KPI: relevance and use as indicators Key performance indicators are a means by which UPS can seek to track whether or not it is been successful over the past several years with regards to the key determinants of efficiency and other metrics that it has defined. Within such an understanding, UPS has defined these KPI as the following: water consumption, energy consumption, gallons of fuel per ground package, aircraft emissions per payload capacity, CO2 emissions, number of reportable spills, aviation gallons burned per 100 available time miles, CO2 pounds per available time miles, total charitable contributions, full-time employee retention rate, employee choice index, injury rate, and lost time injuries (Santiago, 2011). Within such an understanding, it can be concluded that these KPI’s are the ultimate metrics by which UPS seeks to measure itself with regards to how it has improved over the past several years and where it seeks to take the development of the firm in the very near future. Benefits of utilizing and leveraging a sustainability report Although there are many benefits that can be definitively realized as a result of the creation and analysis of a corporate sustainability report, such as the one which is been analyzed within this brief essay, the two most important benefits that such a report can provide our with respects to the internal and external benefits that can be garnered. With regards to the external benefits, the delineation and discussion of metrics, KPI’s, and other determinants are useful in encouraging shareholders of the firm to have a degree of faith that the entity is fully cognizant of the realities of the current market and is actively working to provide resolution to some of the key challenges and/or problems/opportunities that face it within the next several years (Soupata, 2011). Similarly, the benefits can also be understood with regards to the internal ramifications that such a summary ca n have. Whereas it is not unnatural for the higher of salons of corporate management to come up with reports such as the one which has been analyzed herein, it is something of an anomaly when such reports are engaged by middle management and sought to be promoted at all levels throughout the

Using Application Gadgets for Teaching Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Using Application Gadgets for Teaching - Essay Example As such, teachers should learn the various technology-based instructional products available on the Web. This paper identifies an application gadget that teachers of all levels and subjects can use. In the software industry, computer applications are likewise called gadgets. Application gadgets aid in various classroom activities, such as teaching, research, portfolio-making, and evaluation. They provide creative ways to promote multiple intelligences through a variety of interactive activities for students. One very interesting application gadget is the Xtranormal Studio. This application gadget allows the teacher to make their own short movie clip that could serve as a springboard activity to the lesson. Xtranormal Studio can be found easily on the Web. To create a movie, first, one has to sign up for free membership. Second, the user chooses the characters, background setting, and sounds. There are lots of options to choose from, thus teachers handling different subjects can easil y find one that relates to their subject. Third, the user types character dialogues, and assign facial expressions and gestures to the characters as they talk. Some options for facial expressions include happy, surprised, sad, and so on. ... Movies made in the Extranormal Studio can vary according to the author’s intent. For example, for Social Science, teachers can make up a scene in a talk show where a politician or a socially prominent person is being interviewed by a host. For teaching ESL, teachers can create a movie with two friends having dinner together. Likewise, for Mathematics, they can have cartoon characters or animals to state problem to be solved instead of having the problems written on the board. These activities make learning fun and exciting, thus motivating learners to participate and listen well to the lessons. For my eighth grade Science class, I created a short movie to introduce the lesson, thus the movie served as a motivational activity to arouse interest and elicit reactions from my students. The lesson was all about energy. Normally, Science teachers would ask students to enumerate some objects that function through energy. However, in my class, I use a series of short movies I made wit h Extranormal Studio to make students understand concepts, for instance, matter, energy, etc. In the movie, there are two friends who are sharing a room in a dormitory. One of the characters is older than the other, thus the younger one asks help from her friend on topics she needs to understand. The other one gives examples and at the end addresses the audience to give other examples or explanations regarding the present topic. This way, students are motivated to join in the discussion. Likewise, I use the gadget for informal assessments and synthesis. As an assessment material, I ask students in groups to make their own movie to answer some questions about our topic. Likewise, for synthesis of the lesson, I ask students to make a short movie to illustrate what they have learned

A report of the recent performance of a banking sector in a country of Essay

A report of the recent performance of a banking sector in a country of your choice - Essay Example In the case of the British banking industry, the repeated failures of banks to meet the market rules led to severe losses, a fact which has traumatized the British economy, which is still in a period of recovery. The recent performance of banking industry in Britain is examined in this paper. It is revealed that banks across the country have managed to stabilize their performance, even if the relevant process has not, yet, ended. Another important finding of the research developed for this paper has been the following one: banks which have been well established in the British market have been able to face more effectively the pressures caused because of the crisis of 2007-2009. Also, the support of the state to the banks has been of critical importance for the recovery of the British banking sector, even if efforts are still required for the performance of banks in Britain to be stabilized. It should be noted that the paper is highly based on the material published in governmental an d non-governmental organizations. Also, recent articles from newspapers across Britain – worldwide also – have been used in order to show the current performance of banks in the particular country – aiming to reflect the current conditions of the country’s banking sector. 2. ... England can control the stability of the country’s financial system, the FSA has certain powers, as described in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 while the HM Treasury can overview the performance of relevant legal rules and report their violation, if such activity is identified, to the Parliament (Bank of England 2011). Traditionally, the role of banks in the British economy has been quite important. In fact, banks in UK have been considered as ‘the most respectable organizations’ (UK Banks 2011); however, this was a view related to the pre-2007, i.e. before the development of the crisis. Since the appearance of the global financial crisis, in 2007, the performance of British banks has started to be reduced – this trend is continued, even more slowly, up today. An indicative example of the effects of the crisis on the performance of the British banks has been the following one: because of the crisis the profits of Halifax Bank were reduced by 72 %, while in Lloyds-TSB, the reduction of profits reached a level of 70% (UK banks 2011). The British bank less affected by the crisis was HSBC with a limitation of profitability of approximately 28% (UK banks 2000). The effects of the crisis on British banks were controlled through the intervention of the British government (in October 2008) who offered ‘an amount of ? 500 billion’ (UK banks 2011) for helping British banks to exit the crisis with the less possible losses. In January of 2009 the British government offered an additional amount of ? 50 billion’ (UK banks 2011) to support the country’s banking sector. The reference to the above facts is necessary in order to evaluate the current performance of British banks, as explained in the next section. 2.2. Recent performance of banks in the British

Contract law part 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Contract law part 2 - Essay Example A meeting was arranged for Monday Spet. 14th to discuss the matter. At the meeting Brian told Alley that if alley did not accept to pay the  £14,000 claim food galore will no longer agree to make delivers on credit to alley and that the delivery for the next day will not be made. Alley was convinced that the claim by foods galore is unjustified; however, as he needed the credit arrangement offered by foods galore and since he did not have enough time to look for alternative supplies, he signed an agreement admitting that he owed foods galore  £14,000. Part of the agreement was a schedule for payment installment on a weekly basis. Alley paid the full amount of  £14,000 over a period of two years. One year later he commenced proceedings against Foods Galore seeking to recover the money on the grounds he signed the agreement under duress. Advise Foods Galore. Foods Galore has already intimated Alley regarding the invoicing error that happened two years back and gave advanced notice for the same. However, Alley was not convinced for this additional dues claimed by Food Galore. According to English court of law, the buyer (Alley) or seller (Foods Galore) has the choice to appeal his case if the terms of the contract are violated (Pollock, 1952)) between two persons or parties. The violation of terms of contract in tender calls is governed ultimately by English contract law. In the present case study, it is clearly apparent that Alley has already agreed that he was having due to Foods Galore and hence the Alley committed a mistake by agreeing to pay in accordance with the contract law provisions. However, Foods Galore was challenged for its claim by Alley after two years which is a matter of concern. There is every possibility that Foods Galore may be drawn to court of law for reconsideration of his decision. Hence necessary legal steps hav e to be taken by Foods Galore to get protection. Foods Galore has not

Business Process Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Process Management - Assignment Example as an overall aim of controlling and monitoring the organization’s processes while seeking to enhance effectiveness of its workflow (Perficient, Inc 2014, p. 1). Moreover, organizations abhor BPM with an aim of enhancing its capacity to adapt to the numerous changes in the business environment. Indeed, Business Process Management has been an effective methodology in ensuring that the organization responds to challenges in the business environment in an efficient, cost-effective, and reasonable manner (AIIM 2014, p. 1). To enhance the implementation of Business Process Management, organizations must integrate information technology and management. Notably, BPM has been very fundamental in setting out the methods, techniques, and tools that organizations must use in designing, controlling, implementing, and analyzing effective business processes (AIIM 2014, p. 1). As such, it is clear that Business Process Management has an optimal goal of fostering communication and establishing rational business process that guarantees the overall success of the organization. Most importantly is the fact that for any business to succeed, it must rely on business process management, which equally relates to people change management. Indeed, we can establish that business process management entails people, applications, documents, people, and various sources of information. Ideally, people change management relates to business process management in any organization within the business environment. It is factual that business process management entails a combination of processes, technologies, and people to enhance the overall performance in the organization and boost customer value (Perficient, Inc 2014, p. 1). People change management relates to the people’s perception on organizational change in a business environment. Indeed, business process management allows the management to design and implement people solutions that relate to the environmental and organisational culture

Data Storage Technology Options for Business Need Essay

Data Storage Technology Options for Business Need - Essay Example For computer systems technology to cope with these intensifying storage and processing needs, the demand for performance and storage capacity has risen acutely. This has contributed to the manufacture, invention, and uses of a variety of physical storage devices for computer systems. These physical storage mediums in the contemporary computing world range from the familiar usual floppy disk, hard disk, flash drive, DVDs and CD-ROMs, and tapes that are commonly used in Information Communications Technology business and organization sectors. It’s also important to note that these storage devices have different file allocation methods and size allocation. This is therefore what is going to form the discussion basis of this paper. Additionally, this paper will also evaluate the concept of fragmentation of file systems on the storage devices and how best they could be managed (Parsons & Oja, 2009). The computer storage devices are divided into three major classes including Magnetic , Optical, and Semiconductor. Computer storage systems are also widely referred to as secondary storage media or devices. Magnetic storage devices basically record and store information in the form of magnetized spots. These magnetized spots are represented by binary codes with a magnetized head that slightly hangs freely above the surface of the storage device that reads and records information by use of electric charges. The data hence can be retained, erased or replaced by the use of new magnetic spots. Examples of magnetic storage include the Tape, referred to as magnetic tape that is used to read, write and store information up to a terabyte. They are generally used in magnetic tape recorders or machines to record and write data after which the tapes can be connected to gadgets that can read the  information.