Toni Morrison And Recitatif English Literature Essay

Toni Morrison And Recitatif English Literature Essay It is the intention of this paper to look at Toni Morrison as a writer and how she expressed her political views through fiction. The short story by Ms. Morrison Recitatif, written in 1983, will be used as an example of her writing. This short was pulled for this paper from a collection of short stories found in the book Worlds of Fiction (2nd ed.) co-authored by Roberta Rubenstein and Charles R. Larson (2002, pp. 600-612). A biographical perspective will be implied in this paper but not formally addressed. First this paper will give a brief summary of Toni Morrisons biography, including literary awards. Second a summarization of Ms. Morrisons short story Recitatif. This paper will take a critical view of this story from a feminist, a racial, and a historical perspective. Toni Morrison born in 1931, her given name was Chloe Anthony Wofford. Ms. Morrison, the second oldest of four sibling was raised in a working-class black family, in Lorain, Ohio. Ms. Morrison attended Howard and Cornell Universities. She has taught at Texas Southern University, Howard University, and Yale. Since 1989, she holds a chair at Princeton University (Sture, 1997, para 1). Among the many awards for literature that have been bestowed on Ms. Morrison, are the National Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and Noble Prize for Literature. She was the first African American to ever receive a Noble Prize for Literature (Rubenstein and Larson, 2002, p 599). Ms. Morrison list of accomplishments is impressive by anyones standards. She has been a published author since 1970. Ms. Morrison has published seven novels, several children books, and academic texts. Recitatif is one of her few short stories ever published. In a quote from Toni Morrison about this story she stated, The best art is political and you ought to be able to make unquestionably politically and irrevocably beautiful at the same time (Rubenstein and Larson, 2002, p 599). She has become the voice for the Black American experience. The short story Recitatif is narrated in first person. My mother danced all night and Robertas was sick. (Morrison, 1983, p. 600) is the opening line of the story and sets the tone of the story. It is a tale of how two eight year old girls meet in an orphanage and why they became friends. Both girls struggle in school and have an unusual acceptance of their circumstances. It is the friendship between the two girls that makes living in the orphanage bearable. Throughout the beginning of the story Twyla, the narrator of the story, refers to all the things in life that make herself less than everyone else. Both Twyla and Roberta are one of the few children in the orphanage that actually have parents. They are not there because their parents have died, like the rest of children, but because their mothers cant take care of them. This is the glue that binds the two girls together. The narrator of the story recalls a particular day when the two girls are watching the older girls dance in the fields, but on this particular day one of the woman from the kitchen cuts through the field to catch the last bus home. She is physically disabled and mute; the older girls start to taunt the woman. They call her names and knock her to ground. The two young girls just stand and witness the injustice. The second significant thing the narrator recalls is the Easter Sunday when both of their mothers come to visit. She is so excited to introduce her mother to her best friend. When her mother finally arrives for church service she is embarrassed by the way her mother is dressed and by how loud she speaks. When she finally can introduce her mom to Robertas mom, Robertas mom grabs Robertas hand and she rushes away from her and her mom. The story fast forwards in time. Twyla is a young adult working as waitress. One day Roberta comes into the restaurant with two young men on her way to see a concert. This is the first time Twyla has seen Roberta since she left the orphanage. Twyla tries to talk with Roberta but is blown off. Twelve years later the two run into each other again at the store. This time Roberta wants to catch up with Twyla. Twyla is married with a son of her own in school. She finds out so is Roberta. Both of their sons are about the same age. The major difference at this time is Roberta is rich and Twyla is of the working class. Roberta accuses Twyla of having taken part in the incident with the kitchen worker (Maggie) twenty years before. This makes her question her reality. They part on a cold note. Several months later, the two women find themselves on opposite side of fence -on school integration. Twyla did not like how far her son was going to have to travel to go school but was okay with him attending a new high school. Roberta was absolutely appalled at the idea of her son being integrated into a school on the other side of town. Both mothers picketed each other and the school. The picketing last six weeks and then the children are sent back to school. After it all over the two women run into each other once again. Roberta confesses to Twyla that they never kicked the mute woman. The two women end with. Did I ever tell my mother never stopped dancing? And Roberta replied Yes. You told me. Mine, she never got well. Crying Roberta says, Whatever happened to Maggie. (Morrison, 1983, p612) This is still the glue that binds the two women together. The writer never actually gives any specific dates when the events in the story take place. She uses social clues to let us fill in the time period the events take place. During the visit of Twylas mother to orphanage, Twyla reflects how she was embarrassed her mother would wear pants to church (Morrison, 1983, p 601). In the nineteen fifties women began to wear pants instead of dresses and skirts all the time. It was still a social faux pa to wear slacks to church. This would lead to the embarrassment of Twyla over her mothers loud pants. Another time reference in the story is eight years later when Twyla is waitress in at Howard Johnson. When she tries to speak with Roberta, she is told they are on their way to see Jimmy Hendrix in concert. Jimmy Hendrix died of a drug overdose on September 17th 1970 (Morrison, 1983, p604). Therefore one could safely assume the meeting happened in the sixties. Two months after the girls meet 12yrs later they run into each other during a protest over busing students to integrate the school (Morrison, 1983, p608). It was in 1954, that the US Supreme court ruled that equal but separate was not constitutional. In 1965, US Supreme court ruled busing was a legal solution to desegregate public schools. During the 1970s and into the early eighties many schools adopted busing plans to integrate the public schools. This was time of great change and many mothers protested busing their children to a different neighborhood to attend school. This is the historical account that sets up the setting for Toni Morrisons Recitatif Recitatif is the story of two women one black and one white. From the very beginning of the story the reader can pick up on racial clues and come to this conclusion. The one thing omitted in this story is which one white and which one is black. This where the readers own racial prejudices may come in. On page 600, the seventh paragraph it states à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦we looked like salt and pepperà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and thats what the other kids called usà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Morrison, 1983) Although this is not the first clue this the most obvious clue to the race of the two girls. The author intentionally leaves out the racial identity of both girls. She is challenging the reader to follow her clues throughout the story. The readers own racial biases may influence which girl they perceive as being black or white. There are several references to the fact that Roberta is actually black. In the very being as Twyla is recalling their first encounter she mentions her mother warning her that, they never wash their hair and smell funny. Roberta sure did. Smell funny, I mean. (para 2) One of the things the author does to challenge the readers racial prejudices is Twyla is the insecure one of the two. She is the one who feels less than the other children. It is Twylas mother that is snubbed by Robertas mom. It is also Roberta, who does not want her child shipped across town to attend a different school than his friends. It is Twyla who becomes offended that Roberta would not want her son to attend a school that her son attended. It is through excluding their racial identity that the reader can see what preconceived ideas they brought into the story. From a feminist point of view the story is told only from a female perspective. All the characters of significance in the story are female. It was an all girls orphanage with all female staff. Neither Twyla nor Roberta has a father. Both women get married and have sons. Neither the husbands nor the sons are ever actually introduced in any significant way to the story. It is in this fashion that Toni Morrison can actually tell the story without gender bias. (Goldstein-Shirley, 1999, pp 99-101) Leaving out any conflict between men and women she is able to eliminate a gender bias allowing room only for racial prejudice brought to the story by the reader. David Goldstein-Shirley gathered information from 67 college students. The questionnaire reflected the readers ability to pick up racial cues and their personal views. 6 of the 67 students did not pick up on any of the racial clues in the story. These were the exception not the norm. The other 58 students were able to pick up on racial cues given in the story and add personal experience not written but implied to the story. The data provided that it was personal experiences that reader brought to the story and integrated into the story rather than an influences based on gender or demographics (1999, pp 106-107). The study showed the results that were intended by Ms. Morrison. Toni Morrison used her short story Recitatif to show an author could write a political statement and engage the reader at the same time to take a look at their own racial prejudices on the issue. Her experiment to remove racial identity from the characters of story and to remove gender bias was a great undertaking. The study by David Goldstein-Shirley was proof that Toni Morrison completed her task with great success. Recitatif was a perfect blend of in Ms. Morrisons own words unquestionably political and irrevocably beautiful at the same time (Rubenstein and Larson, 2002, p 599). Toni Morrison stayed true to the historical times of the setting, the racial times of the setting, and all from a completely feminist point of view. Annotated Bibliography Goldstein-Shirley, D. (1999), Chapter 7- Race/[Gender] Toni Morrisons Recitatif Women on the edge: ethnicity and gender in short stories by American women Retrieved February 15, 2010, from http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0CHYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falselpg=PA97HYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseots=fSdm0pfKpXHYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni m orrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falsedq=toni%20morrison%20recitatif%20themesHYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falselr=HYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falsepg=PA98#v=onepageHYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseq=toni%20morrison%20recitatif%20themesHYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falseHYPERLINK http://books.google.com/books?id=6llWqBg0RG0Clpg=PA97ots=fSdm0pfKpXdq=toni morrison recitatif themeslr=pg=PA98#v=onepageq=toni morrison recitatif themesf=falsef=false Mr. Goldstein-Shirley poled 67 college students who had read the short story Recitatif. He documented the readers ability to pick up on the racial cues given by the author in the story. He broke this information down by gender and demographics. Morrison, T. (1983), Recitatif,    Worlds of Fiction (2nd ed. 2002).   Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Recitatif by Toni Morrison was pulled from this collection of short stories. This is short story written in first person about the relationship formed between two young girls and how it impacted the narrator of the story as an adult. This short story was examined in this paper from several different perspectives. Rubenstein, R. and Larson, C. (2002) Worlds of Fiction (2nd ed. 2002).   Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. This book is a compilation of fiction stories from around the world. Toni Morrisons short story Recitatif is included in this book to represent a North American writer, a perspective of class, a racial or cultural conflict, relationships of women, and youth maturation. The story was pulled from this book and the Biography written for this was used in writing the biographical summary for this paper. Sture, A (1997), Nobel Lectures, Literature 1991-1995, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. Retrieved February 15, 2010, from http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1993/morrison- bio.html This site provided a bibliography of the author Toni Morrison. This information was compiled when Ms. Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 for her novel Beloved. This biography was used in the biographical summary for this paper.

Planning the Care of Terminally Ill Patients

Planning the Care of Terminally Ill Patients Critical care nursing is a challenging field in which nurses must be frequently confronted with ethical dilemmas. One of the most frequently encountered dilemmas that occur in this field is the management of care for terminally ill and actively dying patients. When providing care to such patients, it can become emotionally burdensome for the nurse to carry out medical interventions that may be uncomfortable or painful to the patient while not providing much of a benefit. Nurses in these environments often feel the desire to relieve the patient’s suffering and a sense of accountability for their comfort. When aggressive medical interventions are implemented for patients that are actively dying, it is important to recognize if any worthwhile benefits are achieved by the interventions. Sometimes in the ICU setting, the provided aggressive medical treatments do not offer notable medical or palliative benefit to an actively dying patient. The question that arises in these situation s may be: Should aggressive treatments be continued when they can be considered medically futile? One of the biggest challenges that surfaces when considering medically futile interventions is that there has been no universal agreement between medical professionals on how futility should be defined. For the most part, futility in relationship to medical interventions is defined as any clinical action which no longer serves a useful purpose in reaching a given patient’s goals and outcomes (Kasman, 2004). If a certain treatment only has the potential to prevent bodily death while not improving the health status of the patient or providing palliative benefit, it may be considered medically futile. When planning the care of terminally ill clients, it is important to weigh the effectiveness of the medical interventions against the benefits the treatment will bring as well as potential harms. The health care team must look at the patient as a whole instead of simply focusing on treating their specific diagnosis. Many factors come into play when considering which treatments may be appropriate and effective for these patients. Each patient’s unique goals should be evaluated thoroughly when the health care team creates their plan of care. For example, if an actively dying patient’s goal is to have a dignified and peaceful death, it may be considered maleficent to implement aggressive treatments such as intubation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) (Kasman, 2004). It is important for the wishes of the patient and the patient’s family to be documented and known to the healthcare team when planning care. The problem of providing medically futile care has the p otential to affect everyone involved with the care on an emotional and intellectual level. This includes the patient, their family members, and members of the health care team involved. There are four ethical principles that must be considered when providing care to critically ill patients. These principles include beneficence, veracity, justice, and autonomy. The principle of beneficence in this context may be described as acting in a way which promotes the wellbeing of the patient. Veracity may be described as the truthful communication between healthcare providers and patients. The idea that all patients deserve to be treated equally according to their needs and that they should receive the appropriate level of care for their conditions describes the principle of justice. Autonomy is the principle that a patient has the ability to make their own individual decisions regarding their medical treatments. Beneficence is a commonly referenced principle in the context of providing interventions that may be considered medically futile. Because this principle is based on the idea of acting in a way that will have a positive impact on the patient, it would not be beneficent to provide care that is considered medically futile. This kind of care may succeed in prolonging the life of the patient, but it will likely have no net improvement on the patient’s quality of life, and may even result in a decreased quality of life. Veracity is a very important principle to implement in the critical care setting. Health care providers should be communicating with patients and their families in an honest manner about their medical condition. In some cases, providers may continue with life-sustaining treatments that will not result in a patient’s meaningful recovery for primarily emotional reasons including having concerns regarding the family’s reaction to the actual medical status of their family member (Suprising reasons for continuing futile treatment, 2012). This is an example in which the provider is not practicing veracity. It is important for the patient and their family to be given realistic expectations on the outcome of any treatment, even if it is a difficult discussion to have. Justice may be practiced in this setting by the careful consideration of each patient’s case individually. The healthcare team should evaluate each patient’s situation and consider what treatments will improve their condition as opposed to simply prolonging the life of their body. Even if a patient has decided they no longer desire to receive aggressive medical treatment, they still should be receiving adequate care and attention to their needs by the principle of justice. Autonomy is a vital component in providing care to critically ill patients. If at all possible, it is important for the patient to make their own decisions regarding their wishes during the end of their life. If the patient is not mentally competent or physically able to declare their decisions, the durable power of attorney would make these decisions if this person has been assigned prior to the patient’s incapacity. If there is no durable power of attorney, then the court will appoint a proxy that must act in a morally valid way and will make decisions with the patient’s best interests in mind (Kasman, 2004). When caring for critically ill patients, it can be challenging to understand the difference between interventions that are actually benefiting the client and interventions that will simply prolong the life of the client’s body. This is a concept that is especially difficult for family members who may not understand the severity of the patient’s medical status to understand. In some cases, the opinions of the healthcare providers and the opinions of the family members differ regarding what treatment options should be carried out for the patient. If this occurs when the patient is unable to make decisions for themselves and they have a surrogate appointed, the surrogate will make decisions on behalf of the patient. If the decisions made by the surrogate are not congruent with those of the physician, the physician may deny to carry out requested treatments if there are concerns of potential risks associated with them. If the surrogate continues to insist on the controversi al treatment, the patient’s case may be presented to other physicians. If the physician has serious concerns regarding the surrogate’s decisions, they have the right to request the court to replace the patient’s surrogate with one that has morals that are more sound. A recent case regarding medically futile care involved a man named David James who was originally hospitalized due to complications that arose with his stoma. During his stay at the hospital, he suffered from multiple organ failure. He was moved to the critical care unit with cardiovascular failure, respiratory failure, and renal failure where he was put on a ventilator. The patients medical condition was so bad that even aggressive medical treatments were unlikely to benefit him. As his condition continued to worsen, the hospital used the principle of beneficence and decided to place a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order in the patient’s medical record. The family disagreed with this decision, and the medical team took the case to the Court of Protection (Griffith, 2013). The court originally decided that treatment for this patient would not be futile and therefore withholding treatment would not be in the patient’s best interest. The ruling was not well accepted, and the case then moved to the Court of Appeal where the original decision was overruled. Here, it was decided that the results that the proposed treatments sought out would not be able to be produced in this patients case. The treatment that could be provided would likely not offer any therapeutic benefit to the patient or palliate the patient’s condition, so it was ruled to be medically futile treatment (Griffith, 2013). The decisions made in the care of critically and terminally ill clients are not usually obvious or straightforward. It seems as though as technology develops further, death appears to become viewed more as an option rather than a fact (Paris, Angelos, Schreiber, 2010). Because of the principle of justice, patients will still receive quality medical treatment for their illnesses even if they have a DNR status. It is important for all patients, especially those who do not have a long life expectancy left, to be knowledgeable about their options for end of life care. Everyone deserves the right to making autonomous decisions regarding their health. For a patient that does not desire to endure aggressive medical treatments at the end of their life, an alternative option could be either palliative care or hospice care depending on their individual case. The client would still be treated and more effort would be put towards relieving the symptoms of their illness rather than implementing aggressive medical treatments that could prolong their life at the risk of decreasing their quality of life. This could allow the client to have a more peaceful, dignified death, rather than having to endure several medical interventions that may be intrusive and painful such as intubation, ventilation, and CPR. It is important for the family to understand that just because many life-prolonging options are available due to modern medicine, it is not always the best choice to implement these options. Some opponents of the idea of medical futility claim that physicians aim to overpower less knowledgeable patients and their families. This leads opponents to believe that healthcare providers who have end of life discussions with families regarding medically futile care are consequently delivering paternalistic care. Some also believe that the idea of medical futility is simply a decoy used by physicians to convince patients and families to withdraw medical treatments in order to lower the costs associated with end-of-life care and to help ration the hospital resources (Kasman, 2004). There are many examples of professional literature exploring this topic, which discuss the reality of medically futile care, some of which have been cited throughout this paper. I believe that aggressive medical treatment should not be carried out if multiple health care providers share the same opinion and have decided that the interventions will not provide any foreseeable therapeutic medical or palliative benefit to the patient’s condition. Through researching this topic, it has become clear that with the advancements in medicine, death is becoming a fact that is not as accepted as it once was. Many people want their loved ones to live as long as possible at any given cost. Death is a fact of life, and once that is better understood and accepted by family members it may be easier for them to let go of their loved ones once the time arrives. The last moments of some actively dying patient’s lives may be of higher quality if they are able to spend time with their families and have the chance to say goodbye, rather than having the health care team fight the inevitability that is death (Ufema, 2001). This decision does not come in any conflict with my value system. I realize that death is an inevitable part of life, and at some point, this should be accepted by patients and their families. The quality of life for patients who are actively dying, yet still receiving numerous medical interventions simply to keep their body functioning as long as possible, does not seem just. I would like to think that patients have the right to die a dignified death without having to suffer from extensive medically futile interventions. Planning the care of terminally ill clients in the critical care setting can be a challenging and emotional process for everyone involved. It is important for providers to be honest with those affected by end-of-life decisions regarding the patient’s medical status. Although death can be very difficult to discuss and accept, all patients deserve the right to die a dignified death. As technology in medicine continues to advance, it is likely that people will view death increasingly as an option. Patients should be educated on deciding and documenting their end-of-life decisions while they have the chance to state their wishes so that they can experience the last moments of their lives in the manner that they desire.

Hamlet Essay -- essays research papers

Perhaps the most famous soliloquy in literature, these words reflect the state of desperation in which Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, finds himself as he contemplates suicide. His father, the King, has died. His mother, the Queen, has remarried within a month of the King's passing, an act which has disturbed young Hamlet in and of it. To make it worse, she has married the King's brother, Hamlet's uncle, who is now the King of Denmark. As Hamlet's despair deepens, he learns through the appearance of an apparition of his dead father; that the old King was murdered by the new King. Hamlet's growing awareness of the betrayal of his mother and evil of Claudius leads to a deepening depression and madness. This soliloquy contains the famous words "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all", hinting that the "dread of something after death"-purgatory, hell, perhaps-is what keeps Hamlet alive to avenge his father. Many people incorrectly interpret those famous words of Hamlet's, not knowing the true meaning or background behind his speech. In his soliloquy, Hamlet contemplates whether or not he should take it upon himself to act accordingly to his uncle's/step-father's crime against his own father. However, later on in the play, Hamlet realizes Fortinbras' resolve and his quest for victory. By witnessing Fortinbras and his actions, Hamlet comes to realize that he has no inner struggle and sees the actions that he must take in order to bring inner peace to him and avenge his father's murder. He is grappling with the difficulty of taking action against Claudius and the fact that he has not been able to revenge his father's murder yet. Hamlet's introspective commentary is interrupted when he sees Ophelia. In his most famous soliloquy, Hamlet ponders whether he should take action against his "sea of troubles" and seek revenge for his father's death or live with the pain of his father's murder. Hamlet's weakness is later illustrated when he passes up the opportunity to kill Claudius by rationalizing that he has made peace with God, therefore sending him to Heaven if he were to be slain. In addition to his proposal of vengeance, he also contemplates whether it is better to stay alive or commit suicide. If he were to sleep, he feels that all his troubles would vanish, and this would not be such a bad thing. However, he says that if he were ... ...very attractive because it would stop all the troubles that one has to put up with in human life. He acknowledges that he doesn't know what that would involve on the fundamental level, continuing on from what he has already said, explain that because he doesn't know what the lot of his soul may be after death, he is unwilling, even afraid, to take his own life. He dreads what comes "after death", probably especially because he could be damned for committing the sin of suicide, in which case his existence after death would indeed be very bad; and he points out that if he doesn't like it after death he can't come back to human life. But, of course, one can be fearful without being a coward; and we see from events in the play that he isn't really a coward. He faces the ghost bravely, faces his killing of Polonius bravely, faces Claudius the powerful reigning king bravely, faces the pirates bravely, and faces death bravely. This whole speech is just thinking, at one moment in his life. William Shakespeare. Hamlet. Trans. Robert Fagles. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Expanded Edition in One Volume. Gen. Ed. Maynard Mack. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997.

The Great Gatsby As A Satire Essay -- essays research papers

The Great Gatsby as a Satire   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Satire is an implement used by authors to point out a flaw of society or group of people in general. There are different levels of satire that the author can use. For example, the author may employ a type a formal satire known as Juvenalian satire. Here, the writer points out a subject with anger and contempt for it in a bitter fashion. There is also the contrasting form of Juvenalian satire called Horatian satire. Here, the writer points out a subject with a gentleness and jovial tenderness. The second main type of satire is informal. This is the type of satire used in The Great Gatsby. Here, Fitzgerald uses Nick to point out the character's flaws and makes each person the butt of the witticism by what they themselves do. The supposed 'guests'; at all of Gatsby's parties are prime examples of satire in The Great Gatsby. Many people who attended the parties were never even invited. This disregard for propriety illustrates the crassness and thoughtlessness that seemed to run rampant among the rich and famous during the twenties. An example of carelessness is when a large group of people at one of the huge soirees, decides to continue the party in the massive, expensive fountain in Gatsby's lawn. They just jump right in and begin to dance without concern for their health, much less concern for the well being of the fountain. After the galas had died down, most of the participants went home, leaving a monstrous mess...

Case Study Analysis: Erp Implementation for Nibco

Unit 6 – Case Study NIBCO’s â€Å"Big Bang†: An SAP Implementation Professor: Richard Yellen Student: Vo Ngo Lan Phuong Course: Ham 23 ID: 217496 Professor: Richard Yellen Student: Vo Ngo Lan Phuong Course: Ham 23 ID: 217496 Hanoi, 11/2012 CASE STUDY Table of Contents I. Overview3 II. NIBCO’s implementation of ERP solution3 III. Pros and Cons of â€Å"BIG-BANG† approach for ERP4 IV. ERP project implementation: lessons and recommendations6 List of Reference9 Case Study – NIBCO’s SAP Application Implementation I. OverviewThe case shows the implementation of SAP ERP solution in NIBCO, a manufacturer of pipe and fittings, a mid-size manufacturer with about 3,000 employees and revenue over 460 million USD. The company has implemented successfully the full package of ERP solution, provided by SAP, the leading solution provider under the consultancy of Boston Consulting Group. NIBCO has gained the success by good management and project team u nderstanding, determination and experiences. The method of implementation of NIBCO for this ERP solution is running all in one day, this brings the company to a quite risky situation if something wrong happens.But the company has run the system successfully, with positive results. The implementation succeeds because of all the planning, personnel, management and the cooperation with application providers and consultants. NIBCO has over 3,000 employees and operates 10 plants, and 17 centers for distribution over US. The databases and information systems are not integrated therefore cannot communicate and collaborate effectively, which causes time and efforts wasting. Also, over the years of development, the business processes change, the information data increase, the old system cannot meet the demands of cross functional operations.With the consultants from BCG, NIBCO has developed a plan for implementation of new ERP system, using professional solution from a leading provider, SAP. The aim of NIBCO is to set up a new, large, integrated information system to replace the old system, connecting and integrating all the IS from factories, plants and distribution centers all over the country. With the initial project duration estimated as over 3-5 years, the management and project team has implemented the whole system in only 18 months, and successfully. II. NIBCO’s implementation of ERP solutionUsing the consultancy services from BCG, the information system of NIBCO was very weak and poor. The system do not support the provision of information for manager timely, did not support process of decision making, especially for functional departments as accounting, purchasing, selling, marketing and customer supports. Due to the lack of real time data sharing the management and manufacturing meets difficulties to improve quality and efficiencies. Over the years of operation, factories and departments have implemented their own modules or application such as order entry, manufacturing, distribution and accounting.Because of the non-systematic application and implementation, in separate factory and department, each user may have their own software, different version, and separate database. Therefore it is difficult to integrate and cooperate among factories and distribution centers. To implement the new system, NIBCO has used professional consultancy services, purchase leading software application from top vendor, and assigned top managers to manage project team, system development, and IS staff for planning, and integrating, designing, installing the new system.Although the BCG determined that there is a need for a change in information system of NIBCO, the current system is â€Å"poor† and needed â€Å"cut loose† to grow the company and become more global. The BCG’s suggestion for three to five years implementation should be too long, somehow, this can cause more cost and efforts for NIBCO than actual need (Brown, 2012, p. 491). III. Pros and Cons of â€Å"BIG-BANG† approach for ERP NIBCO used the approach called â€Å"BIG-BANG† for ERP implementation, or cutover aiming to put the whole information system to run in the same day, at all the factories and distribution centers, especially for common and key modules.All the business units, most of employees will be affected by the new systems at the same time. In fact, the other approach can be doing a pilot implementation at a factory or distribution centers, or only implement for only a few popular units. But this way can cost more time, efforts and cannot test the capability of the whole system. Also, with the investment in consultancy and purchasing the leading solutions from top ERP vendors, the NIBCO aim to get the new system run for all the business unit, and the real time running can also test the performance of the new system, also save cost and time for implementation.Running all at the same time can also help the testing of int egration and cooperation among factories and distribution centers. The big-bang or cut over approach requires the good skilled personnel, and also training for the new systems, working processes and running, maintenance the new system. The productivity was reported a reduction in the first month after the new system running, but improves gradually in the later months. The accounting reports can be done in two or three day, rather than two to three weeks when using the old systems.Also, with the new system, sharing and collaboration helps reduce inventory, as much as 25%, and also increase the fulfillment ratio from 80% to 95%, service quality has improved to 98%. Source: http://www. nibco. com/ The BCG consultants noticed that the legacy environment and databases are out of control, which cause IS and IT staff too busy with fixing the issues more than focusing on developing supporting system for functional activities.The company used professional consultancy services from BCG but do es not follow the suggestion from BGC, the cutover or big-bang approach was implemented because the management leaders do not support multi years plan; also the fund for the project was 17 million USD, and will take one fourth of the company’s members to involve in implementation for the project. The shorter time the project takes, the better and more effective it will be. IV. ERP project implementation: lessons and recommendations 4. 1. Human resource for ERP projectProject was leaded by the CEO, as the project Champion, Rex Martin, who acted as the project leader and project champion. The top manager plays the key role to the ERP project, because this type of project will involve and affect all people and departments and units of company. With CEO in charge, the project will be supported by all the Vice Presidents in decision making and raising the resources for the project. The CEO set up the Executive Leadership Team to act as the screening and monitoring committee, this team plays a key role in managing the project because it help to make sure that all decisions are made at the highest level.The CIO, and also the Vice President, Scott Beutler was responsible for the ERP package, it means that the VP of IT and IS will be responsible for the functionalities of the software application, during process of project. The Information system managers, Gary Wilson, together with all the IS staff (about 30 people), will be involved in project, support the operations and implementation, development, maintenance. The CIO, IS leaders and IT staff will the support of top leaders will play key roles in assessment of ERP packages, testing, demonstration and operating the systems.The key modules of ERP package for NIBCO, SAP R/3, includes: finance, supply chain, material, warehouse management, production planning and management, sales and distribution. Also, the HR module was purchased but will be implemented later. The leaders have played key roles in running the p roject, for example, Beutler manage the business process; Wilson for technology and software packages, and Davis for managing project activities. Because of the scale of project, and it potential effects, one fourth of the company directors have been appointed to the project management board.This shows the commitment of the managers and also provide enough human resource for project to make sure that it can cut time from 3-5 years to 18 months. The participant of leaders and managers will make the project decisions faster and it may be the key reason for shortening the duration of project. 4. 2. Working with solution vendor ERP project requires both software, hardware, networking partners to involve in implementation. NIBCO has selected IBM as third party provider for the system’s infrastructure, SAP as the software solution provider.For the experts and engineer support, NIBCO and partners appoint six consultants for functional and business processes, who work regularly with the project team. Also, the maximum personnel can be raised to as many as 50 consultants at high time. The other personnel are also provided for training, reporting, programming, technical assistance, knowledge management †¦ All the supports are officially stated in the contract with solution providers and partners. In fact, Wilson has an IS department and personnel number up to 30, also he had mainframe application, HP and IBM platforms.The NIBCO has four legacy systems for order entry, manufacturing, distribution and accounting, but the problem is they are bought separately, with separate databases, which make integration difficult or very hard to implement. NIBCO has considered and evaluated seven ERP packages in depth and in details. With the experts and business from functional departments involving in assessment process by testing the modules, from several vendors. They are also sent to visit the previous or typical customers to get the feedbacks from real users.The key c oncern was the finance and supply chain management modules, using the shared database, and should be able to connecting and integrating all the modules together. 4. 3. Project management team The scope of the project is decided for all the factories and distribution centers, the operation was stared on the same day for ten plants and all distribution center. This decision for scope was quite risky but saving time and cost for NIBCO. The project team was released sooner than planned, the productivity was down a little bit but improve gradually, the project cost was a little under budget.All these factors are because of good experience and collaboration in project management. The key to success may be the Tiger triad, which was led by Wilson and Beutler, who was working full time with ERP project. The Martin was added by CEO appointment to joint Beutler and Wilson as a third co-lead project. David with experience in total quality management could help project focus on change managemen t and maintaining quality. 4. 4. Training inside specialist For ERP project, training and technology transfer is key to success.Core knowledge and skills need to be transferred to IS department and all the functional departments for operation and maintenance. Source: http://www. sap. com/solutions/bp/enterprise-resource-planning/solutions-overview. epx Four director leaders and two business system analysis were selected for review roles, working with other leaders from sales and distributions. One fourth or seven out of twenty eight directors of NIBCO have been selected for project as full time. These people must have good business knowledge to see the potential issues and settle conflicts. 4. 5. Project team assignmentThe project managers are assigned for specialized teams, including: sales and distribution, financial, material management, and production management. Each team work together with experts from solution vendor. Business member will consider process, business functions, power users, business process analysis. IS and IT engineers will be responsible for technical sides, including infrastructure, programming, testing, installation and running. Each team has their supporting IBM consultants, with their technical knowledge to that they could make joint decisions, and also transfer the knowledge to NIBCO core team at the same time.Consultants from solution vendor, SAP, also work together with the team. The final project cost was 17 million USD, and one third for infrastructure cost, including the solution software. One anther third for education, team work and the last one third for consulting (Brown, 2012, p. 501). 4. 6. Experience in change management The cutover approach or big-bang implementation of ERP package as NIBCO used requires a good change management in all business functions and department. Because business processes are changed, much or little depends on the nature of business, therefore all the related staff will be affected.Also, the ap plication in wide range, all ten first factories and distribution centers will be affected same day, same time. The key to success of NIBCO implementation can be the careful planning and actions. The analysis and design, communication and management effectively, as well as the good coordination with consultants and vendors’ experts. The support and direction from top management to departments’ heads involving the implementation of ERP can also contribute to the success. Big bang implementation requires change management that was not key strength of IBM.Training was used widely to increase skills and knowledge of users, with 450 different business activities in 15 locations. Open communication by provision of information to project teams, over 1,200 hours of training, over four months before going online or Go Live. The grace period was used for more scenario training, with more focus on business processes. After intensive, effective and serious training, the company co uld be ready to operate R/3 on its own without solution or partners expert working on site. List of Reference 1. Brown, 2012, Information Technology Management – 7th Edition, Prentice Hall

Childhood Poverty Leads to a Life Filled with Crime Essay

Childhood poverty is a growing issue in America as more and more children are living below poverty line of $22,050. 00 a year for a family of four. Because of the recession we are in and dominant single parent families in the country, we have a rising rate of childhood poverty. Many times poverty leads to poor choices both in and out of school for these young kids, mainly because of the lack of accountability in the household. The main reasons that children of poverty turn to crime is a lack of parental supervision, higher unemployment rate and the poor role models the children have in the environment they grew up in. When a family struggles financially it does not only create problems in the bank account, but it can create discomfort between spouses which can lead to a higher divorce rate. â€Å"children who are reared in poor families are more likely to fail in school, dropout of school, get arrested,† says Ron Haskins, co-director on children and families at Brookings institution. Children living in poverty most likely have a parents with very little education. If their parents don’t have value on education the child won’t have the support at home required to succeed in school themselves. Thus as exiting school and trying to get a job that pays enough to survive they will struggle and resort to crime as means to get by. Single mothers are the majority of single parents it can be hard for women to steer their young sons in the right direction which can also contribute to a crime-filled path. With an astonishing percentage of 53. percent of households headed by females its hard for mothers to support their families. Sometimes these mothers work two or three to help make ends meet. With their mothers working and fathers simply not around many kids have no adult supervison and tend to make poor decisions without repercussion. Without learning early on that poor behavior can have a negative consequence, these children are doomed to continue making negative choices. Another reason kids living in poverty turn to crime is that they lack a support system in role models. A lot of time kids coming from low income families or single-parent families live in government housing or assisted housing programs and don’t always have the best environment surrounding them. We would like to think regardless of our income our children would look to athletes and such for mentors, but a lot of time in low income areas, kids see the ones maybe who deal drugs or commit other illegal acts as their role models simply because they have the money and other luxuries. In conclusion, childhood poverty leads to a higher chance of a life filed with crime. With the unemployment rate going up and the single-parent households increasing, it’s easy for kids to fall victim to street crimes to achieve a better life they were dealt. A lot of people don’t witness kids substituting crime for the income their parents can’t provide. However living in the area where I grew up, I witnessed things like this first hand. Kids shop lifting, stealing cars, or maybe even dealing drugs just to survive. Sadly I don’t think it’s something that will ever be controlled. There will always be poverty which will lead people to committing crimes to make it.

Given Danziger’s Claims Essay

Given Danziger’s claims about ‘methodomorphic theories’ and given what you know of quantitative and qualitative research methods and psychology in general, what do you think would be the obstacles to attempt to break free of the ‘methodological circle’? Research methods in modern psychology offer a variety of methodological options for researchers to utilise. However, there are issues associated with all methods. This essay will examine problems associated with the ‘methodological cycle’, such as the monopolisation of statistical methods in social sciences. These ‘issues’ continue to be common practice in psychological research and present obstacles to moving towards a less rigid, constrained method of working. This will be followed by exploring approaches that move forward, towards a more fluid and inclusive method of empirical psychology, such as Theoretical Sampling in Grounded Theory and Relational metatheory. Danziger coined the term ‘methodological circle’, asserting that many psychological researchers adopt methods based on certain assumptions about the subject matter, which in turn â€Å"only produce observations which must confirm these assumptions† (Danziger, 1998, p 1). These assumptions continue to be common practice in current psychological research, and pose as a barrier to moving away from the ‘methodological circle’. Psychology as Pure Science Kuhn (1962) described â€Å"ordinary science† as involving discussion of problematic truth claims and is carried out within the context of implicitly shared metatheoretical frameworks; on the other hand â€Å"paradigms† involve discussion that challenges these metatheoretical frameworks themselves. Psychology operates within both of these frameworks. ‘Ordinary science’, also known as Scientism, involves uncritically accepting that science is both highly distinct from, and superior to, ‘common sense’ and methods for identifying cultural patterns. However, factors that a social scientist may wish to study do involve facets that are not static and are defined by the context in which these facets operate. An example of this could be trauma. Trauma is viewed by individuals in Western society as a concept which individuals or a collective may suffer after a disrupting or distressing event. However, in less developed societies, such as in Rwanda which suffered mass genocide, no instances of trauma are reported (Alexander et al, 2004). Such examples highlight the problems presented by adopting a purely scientific (positivist) approach to a social phenomenon. In addition to this, it must be remembered that even though research will always endeavour to be as objective as possible they will, ultimately, use their common-sense knowledge of how social phenomena operate in order to define and measure these variables for precise investigation (Silverman, 1993). Psychologists who work purely in line with Scientism make the error to totally remove itself from common sense, rather than acknowledging and working with it, adopting, say, a more constructivist approach e.g. Conversation Analysis. Kock (1973) sums this up assumption beautifully by saying â€Å"The entire subsequent history of psychology can be seen as a ritualistic endeavor to emulate the forms of science in order to sustain the delusion that it already is a science† (Kock, 1973, p. 66). Dependence on statistics The use of statistical methods in psychology can be said to have become â€Å"institutionalized† (Danziger, 1998, p. 4). According to Danziger, such institutionalization presents 3 main problems: 1. It assumes that statistical conclusions are the only means of providing reliable and valid results for interpreting and developing theory; 2. It asserts that certain rules and models are constant, and cannot be amended or updated by new evidence; 3. it postulates that methodology must lead theory formation, and not the other way round. Such facets create a rigid environment, which restricts ways in which the social scientist can explore social phenomena which focuses on interactions between figures rather than meanings of interactions. The importance of the meaning behind words was acknowledged as far back as Freud, who stated â€Å"In medics you are accustomed to see things†¦in psychoanalysis, alas, everything is different†¦Words were originally magic and to this day words have retained much of their ancient power†¦Words provoke affects and are in general the means of mutual influence among men† (Freud, 1918, p.12). This statement emphasises the importance in not just, say, overt behaviour in the amount of words one uses (i.e. numerical data) in an interview, but also what one says and the meaning behind those words (i.e. qualitative data). Artificial settings to measure real life Psychology is the science of the real life, cannot be manipulated in artificial models. In its attempt to become a ‘pure’ science, psychological research methods tend to prefer to use controlled, experimental procedures, where one variable is directly manipulated by another variable, controlling for any other influencing factors. While such methods offer detailed and reliable statistical information, details of social, political, economic, and historical contexts can be overlooked (Waitzkin, 1990). The variety within psychology Psychology is a broad discipline with a variety of approaches such as Social and Cognitive Psychology. Social Psychology looks at qualitative interactions in the real world between people, whereas Cognitive Psychology examines the thought processes involved in individual reasoning. The former cannot be effectively manipulated in a controlled laboratory experiment, whereas the latter can be. If one attempts to artificially create and conduct a social experiment which uses solely statistics as a method of obtaining and interpreting results, one will miss the rich data that can be gained through qualitative measurement, looking at meanings and interpretations. A degree of flexibility is required in theory construction and method development, taking care to acknowledge how applied the science is and the vast array of methodological procedures to adopt. Top down vs. bottom up When conducting empirical investigation in psychology, the research question should lead the methodology, not the other way round. However, with the dominant quantitative method, researchers tend impose theories on data and see whether or not the data supports the theory. Upon these results, the researchers either accept or reject their hypotheses, rather than further exploring any discrepancies. Alternatively, researchers who adopt a qualitative method allow the data drive the theory and design models and theory from data. This is unpopular with many as it can oversimplifying complex social phenomena. As we can see, both designs appear to be poloarised, with little or no room for convergence. Deductive vs. Inductive Another assumption that perpetuates the ‘methodological circle’ is the belief that quantitative methods always must use a hypothetico-deductive approach and qualitative methods an inductive approach. Again, this restricts the way in which researchers can work with their subject matter, and rather than adopting an antithetical approach, researchers should endeavor to focus on the rationale of the study and the research question. Realism vs. Idealism In a similar vain to the short discussion above, there is the determinist assumption that all quantitative researchers are realists and qualitative researchers are idealist in their approach. This assumption enforces more restrictions on the way research would be carried out. Indeed quantitative research could do well to accept more subjective and individual attitudes, as qualitative methods could with more objective, measurable approaches. Moving forward Acknowledging the obstacles above, I will now explore ways in which psychology can move forward, away from the ‘methodological circle’ towards an approach that recognises and embraces both ‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’ virtues. Such an approach should not be concerned with paradigmatic purism but more concerned with identifying effective ways of conceptualising and discovering answers to the research questions. Grounded Theory -Theoretical saturation and sampling When using Grounded Theory, researchers use Theoretical sampling until they reach ‘Theoretical saturation’, where researchers collect data â€Å"until (a) no new or relevant data seem to emerge regarding a category, (b) the category is well developed in terms of its properties and dimensions demonstrating variation, and (c) the relations among categories are well established and validated.† (Strauss & Corbin, 1998, p. 212). Such a fluid and flexible approach provides a useful means in theory construction because it builds the theory as it evolves from incoming data, offering an alternate perspective on how the results are interpreted than the restrictive positivist, deductive approaches. Relational metatheory Relational metatheory offers a relational dialectical perspective in which interpretation (a more quantitative, positivist approach) and observation (a more qualitative, construstivist approach) are both acknowledged and used (Overton, 1998; 2003). Relationism metatheory acknowledges that there is interconnection between the person, culture and biology (Hase, 2000), which is a much more fluid and explorative method then a split metatheory (using only quantitative or qualitative). This results in more complex, self creating, self organising, self regulating and adaptive systems that function and develop in relation with sociocultural constructs. In conclusion, there is a range of obstacles researchers encounter when attempting to break free of the ‘methodological circle’. These include both theoretical considerations such as theory construction and practical considerations such as the dependence on statistics. In order to move away from these imposed restrictions, researchers should consider adopting a more inclusive, flexible approach such as Grounded Theory and Relational Metatheory. As Danzgier concludes we must overcome these problems associated with the ‘methodological circle’ in psychological research; if not â€Å"theory testing in psychology will be a matter of choosing among different versions of a theoretical position, the fundamental features of which are in fact beyond dispute.† (Danziger, 1985, p.13). References Alexander, J. C., Eyerman, R., Giesen, B., Smelser, N. J., Sztompka, P. (2004) Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity, University of California Press, CA Danziger, K. (1985) The methodological imperative in psychology. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 15, 1-13 Freud, S. (1918) The Complete Introductionary Lectures on Psychoanalsis, Alden Press, Oxford Hase, S. (2000) ‘Mixing methodologies in research’, NCVER conference, Coffs Harbour, April. Koch, S. (1963) Psychology: A Study Of a Science, (Koch, S. (Ed.). (1959-1963), McGraw-Hill, New York Kuhn, T. S. (1962) The structure of scientific revolutions. University of Chicago Press, Chicago Overton, W. F. (2012) Paradigms in Theory Construction, (Eds L’Abate, L.) Springer; US. Silverman, D. (1993) â€Å"Beginning Research†. Interpreting Qualitative Data. Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction, Sage Publications, Londres Strauss, A. L. & Corbin, J. M. (1998) Basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory, Sage Publications, US Waitzkin, H. (1990) On Studying the Discourse of Medical Encounters, Medical Care. 28:6, 473-487