American Revolution vs. French Revolution essays

American Revolution vs. French Revolution essays The French Revolution was one of the most significant turning points in French History. It may not have given France a proper democracy or have given France a good reputation with the Reign of Terror and all the deaths, but it did unify the French people together, which helped them over throw their cruel monarch. But when compared to the American Revolution, the French Revolution would be considered a big circle, with death in various parts of it. Why did each revolution start? Was it because they needed attention? Or was it because they were bored? Maybe it was it because they werent being listened to, and they wouldnt take it any more. That sounds a little better than the first two. I know that the American Revolution started because there was no representation of the original thirteen colonies and the British taxed them on every minor thing, for example the stamp tax. The French on the other hand started their revolution because they lived in poverty, in hunger, and in a land were the monarch will do nothing about it. As the poor peasants starved, the noblemen and clergy lived comfortable lives and had enough food for them. It sounds as if the French Revolution had a better reason to be started. Both wars were fought with different strategies that led to there over all victory. During the American Revolution, most standard military procedures were dropped and guerrilla warfare was used. Guerrilla warfare is like a hit and run but without the car and more causalities form the one that was hit. The British during revolution also gave the Americans the home felid advantage and gave them easy targets by wearing their red coats. Also the, Americans had a lot of outside help from Native Americans and the French (Irony). The French Revolution was fought without very many weapons and a lot of people. There were few guns to be found but there were probably a lot of farming tools like pitchforks and axes maybe even swor...

An Interview with an Entertainment Manager The Way Corporate Laws Work. A Report

An Interview with an Entertainment Manager The Way Corporate Laws Work. A Report Introduction: Business and Technology Seize the Power There can be no possible doubt that technologies rule the modern world, and that business is one of the most efficient ways to take one’s place under the sun.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on An Interview with an Entertainment Manager: The Way Corporate Laws Work. A specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the present-day world, the role of social networking and modern leadership theories cannot be overestimated – with efficient management and a good use of social network, one is likely to reach the peak of his/her business career. Taking a closer look at the way business works and learning more about its mechanisms can help understand the way business theories can be applied into practice. One can possibly see the best way to handle a company and to succeed in the fast-changing world, learning about the typical mistakes that managers make to void them in future. As for the business field which is most preferable to consider, it seems that the sphere of entertainment is the most popular at present, which makes it a perfect target for further exploration. Analyzing an interview with a leader in the field of entertainment, one will be able to see the mechanism of the XXI century business and see what practices are the most efficient. The Social Impact of Technology: When Media Rules the World The impact of social media on the modern world is truly huge. Since social networking is one of the key means to learn more about a specific product, people rely much on online reviews, which can both pose quite a threat to a certain company and contribute to its success.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Facebook as the ultimate evil plan: people and their opinions According to what the interviewee claimed, social networks such as Facebook and the like pose a considerable threat to the development of business. When socializing online, the interviewee claimed, people can easily post negative comments about the company and its production without being detected, which can dent the customers’ confidence in the quality of the services. Indeed, the concerns raised by the interviewed can be easily understood – there are certain pieces of evidence which show that people do post negative reviews about certain services which they have tried and which have not met their standards and expectations. Although one might think that a humble opinion of a certain user will definitely sink in the avalanche of other more engaging news and hardly anyone will ever notice the negative review; yet there are proofs that negative product reviews in blogospheres and social networks have considerable impact on people’s idea of a company: â€Å"An employer’s business reputation can be damaged by negative c omments by individuals on their own social networking pages, or, more problematically, because of the issue of anonymity on those specifically formed networking groups† (Pickard, 2008, 68). Therefore, it seems that social networking can be easily used against entrepreneurs and their business, causing considerable drops in the company revenues. Counterarguments: about the rights to speak openly Indeed, if considering the positive aspects of social networking, one must admit that it can work for the benefit of business and even promote the products of a certain company with tremendous success.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on An Interview with an Entertainment Manager: The Way Corporate Laws Work. A specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Indeed, if using the social networking wisely and think of the effect it can produce, one is likely to reinvent people’s perceptions of a certain company. As Hartley (2010) exp lains, Social networking is the game changer for business. If you own or run a business of any kind, whether it’s a solo consulting practice or a worldwide enterprise employing thousands or workers, social networking is quickly becoming a key connection point between your business and your customers. (Hartley, 2010, 1) Therefore, the negative effects of the social networking can be easily questioned; and, even though there are certain factors that can harm an enterprise, they can be easily counterpointed by the numerous positive effects. Therefore, the idea expressed by the interviewed can be considered only partially valid. For a company which is going to stand firm on its feet, it is necessary to take into account not only the threatening factors, but also the issues which the given company can make a good use of to become even more successful. Business and Professional Practice: Concerning the Managerial Issues It goes without saying that team management is one of those pi llars which corporate management stands on; the key principle of successful company leadership and an excellent way to bring the members of the company together, team management helps to make the working process flawless clockwork (Altfeld, 2010). Thus, learning more about the advantages of working in a team and managing a team of employees rather than the work of individuals, one can possibly reach another stage of business enlightenment. Bound by the same chains: motivation and team building As the interviewee claimed, the idea of team management is the only possible way a company can work; once all employees work for the sake of the customer’s satisfaction, success is just around the corner.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Indeed, as Margerison (2002) says, the success of a company depends on the â€Å"overall team management contribution† (Margerison, 2002, 10). The reverse side of team management: when togetherness fails Thus, it is reasonable to suggest that the management by objectives can be used together with team management. According to what James (2003) claims, the given approach can help reach the company’s key goals without putting the employees under the pressure of team work. Conclusion: There Is Still a Long Way to Go Therefore, it is clear that at certain point, the conventional approach does not prove as efficient as it could. Unlike one might have thought, numerous social media which have become a part and parcel of the modern life can be both a huge benefit and at the same time a great disaster for the image of a company, depending on the information posed in blogs and social networks. Likewise, the idea of team management might seem somewhat redundant and not necessari ly suitable for all types of staff, since one might simply dislike all sorts of team-sprit-building activities, yet it does bring results to the company, increasing its revenues and making the people working there more devoted to the company. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that the given results can be easily questioned when being used in a certain environment with very specific elements that do not fall under the conventional standards. Hence comes the ambiguity of the given decisions and the conclusion that the situational management must be the ultimate and the most appropriate way to handle the company business, as well as the relationships among the staff. Once choosing the right track is not enough – as time goes, the company must change. Reference List Altfeld, H.-H. (2010). Commercial aircraft projects: managing the development of  highly complex products. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing. Hartley, D. (2010). 10 steps to successful social networking for bu siness. Alexandra, VA: American Society for Training Development. James, D. (2003). Team and personal development. Canterbury: Global Professional Publishing. Margerison, C. J. (2002). Team leadership. Stamford, CN: Cengage Learning. Pickard, M. (2008). Facilities management legal update 2008: Special report. Cambridge, UK: Workplace Law Publishing.

McDonald's Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

McDonald's - Assignment Example They have done an appropriate marketing mix strategy over the product, price, place and promotion in order to satisfaction of customers. The promotional activities may have attracted but delivering according to the advertisings is the most critical part of a company. McDonald’s has created a strong brand value by keeping their brand promises. The quick service, get-up of outlets, product quality has kept the things simple for the organization. People choose McDonald’s for several reasons like corporate meeting, family and friends get together, celebrating birthday parties and many more (Schroff and Tresnowski, 2012, p. 113). They had some issues related with health as the maximum Mac food products are junk food that affects human health. McDonalds has efficiently overcome the problems by introducing the health food items like salads and many more vegetarian items in its menu card. Now-a-days people perceive that burger means the Big Mac burger of McDonalds as the compan y has efficiently drawn the brand promises in customers’ mind. Brand Personality A set of human individuality that is qualified to a brand name is known as brand personality. There are five different traits which measures brand personality such as excitement, sincerity, competence, sophistication and ruggedness. The study will help to reveal McDonald’s different traits of brand personality. The positive brand personality helps the company to increase the customer base and core competency of company. McDonald’s is the fast food giant globally. McDonald’s has the supportive which will favor differentiation. Since long time it is the number one brand within the fast food industry due to the strong dimension of excitement and competence. The massive brand image has impacted on customer’s perception and the favorable competitive traits among all the competitors like Wendy’s and Burger King Increases the br4and personality globally. Compared to th e competitors the sales-promotion and advertising strategy has emphasized the youthfulness and action. These efficient efforts evoked the McDonald’s to a higher sense of excitement among the loyal customers. Seeing these competitive traits competitor like burger king has tried to implement the strategies in order to gain the similar brand personality. Brand Values The mission of McDonald’s is to make the Mac outlets as the peoples’ favorite place for having foods. In order to meet with mission statement every organization has to create effective values in customer’s mind. McDonald’s brand value can be finding in their business operation. McDonald’s provides high quality of food in healthy environment in order to satisfy their customers. According to the business policy of McDonald’s the customers are the reason for company existence (Scholosser, 2012, p. 225). Therefore they provide quality service to each and every time. The business model of them depicted by three-legged stool that of owner, supplier and employees. McDonald’s believes that these are the foundation and in order to operate successfully it is vital to balancing the interest of these three groups. The company does its business practices by strong ethical model and they contribute in social welfare activities. Moreover, the corporate social responsibility like zero solid waste, water and plastic recycle has increases the moral and ethical value of brand. The social welfare program such as

How did the Normans consolidate control of post-conquest England Essay

How did the Normans consolidate control of post-conquest England - Essay Example Following King Edward’s death, a council of influential men commonly known as Witan settled on Harold Godwin to take charge of England. This decision did not augur well with several people including William, who was the then King of the Normans and Harold’s brother Tostig. William particularly took issue with the fact that Edward had promised him the crown of England when he retired, and swore to that in 1063. King Harold’s, first obstacle was to face his brother Tostig, who had combined forces with the then King of Norway to overthrow Harold’s rule. Tostig’s desire to rise to power nevertheless, came to an abrupt end in September of that year when the English army won against them (Warren 1987, pg. 18). Buoyed by the victory he had just had over his brother, Harold marshalled his troops to carry on with their match, with their next destination being King William’s sphere of influence, located within the northern region of France. In October of 1066, the two warring parties met near Hastings, and the great battle over the English crown began. At first, Harold Godwin’s men were destined to beat the Normans. However, their weariness became evident when the situation changed suddenly and Harold was killed in the process . The battle did not stop until such a time when all of Harold’s loyal bodyguards were all eliminated (Warren 1987, pg. 19). William the then Norman king ascended to the English crown, and with it came the Norman invasion of England. As mentioned in the section above, the Norman conquest of England began in 1066, following the invasion of the Kingdom of England by William the Duke of Normandy. Moreover, William’s victory during the battle of Hastings heightened his claim for the English crown. Though it came with a mixed bag of reactions, the Norman conquest of the English Kingdom proved vital for the history of England (Roche 1995, pg. 46). This is majorly because the invasion linked England more

Green Supply Chain Management. 2250 words Essay

Green Supply Chain Management. 2250 words - Essay Example Baojuan also called the same as Environmentally Conscious Supply Chain Management which meant the use of new means to biologically design â€Å"raw materials purchasing, manufacture organizing, distributing and supplying, consuming, and recycling† (2009:122). Green supply chain is a growing trend among companies worldwide as part of their customer responsibility effort to weave environmentally sound practice into their business operations (Barnett 2011). There are several issues that the green supply chain aims to deal with. The most obvious issue is environmental concern where companies are reducing their carbon footprint to the effect of mitigating pollution with the ultimate objective of keeping carbon emission within the regenerative capacity of ecosphere. This is aligned in the consideration of the growing number of customers who are now conscious of the environmental practice of business enterprise coupled with the benefit that effective green supply chain management can in fact increase operational efficiency and reduce operational cost that made green supply chain a business imperative (Zhu 2012). 2. Compare the differences between the traditional supply chain and the green supply chain. ... It could also add value in the process by creating the competitive infrastructure such as monitoring supply chain activities with the aim of creating net value for the company. This would also include leveraging the worldwide logistics, matching anticipated demand with supply monitoring the same. It is also in the supply chain that involves specific functions in an organization such as customer support and after sales services. The traditional supply chain falls into two categories which are internal supply chain and external supply chain. The internal chain involves activities within the organization which includes the production and distribution process involved in the purchasing department, production department, warehousing, sales network composed of supply and demand. The external supply chain on the other hand relates to activities without the organization that includes procurement of raw materials from the suppliers â€Å"manufacturers, storage, transportation, retailers and, ultimately, the network of supply and demand of consumers. It consists of two streams: upstream and downstream† (Lai et al 2012:113). These activities can be summed up in the figure below. Figure 1. Traditional Supply Chain (Google.com) Green supply chain The green supply chain is the integration of a company’s effort to make its traditional supply chain â€Å"green† or environmentally friendly including all the processes in the company. These activities would include the previously mentioned â€Å"product design, purchases, product design, purchasing, manufacturing processes and the delivery of ?nal product to end customers (Lai et al 2012:113). The biggest difference in green supply chain from the traditional supply chain would be the inclusion of

Chronotopic Identity In Invisible Man English Literature Essay

Chronotopic Identity In Invisible Man English Literature Essay Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man is a novel of deliverance from darkness to light, a resequencer of cognitive awareness and differential patterns of conformity. It rejects imitation, deeming it as nothing more than a form of limitation, a burden hampering the doctrine of artistic creation. The novel appeals to the indirect participation of its readers in determining the mechanisms which constitute a collective conscience, a moral voice which communicates for us and through us. The author commits to his duality as a mainstream educated, patriotic American insider and his often frustrating position as a repressed minority, a victim persecution, the racial outsider. His status has the potential to propagate a significant amount of perceptual liberation as he is granted insight, unrestricted access into both fundamental facets of the American cultural construct. Ellison is an outspoken denouncer of extremism in all of its forms and manners of content, placing great emphasis on accurate depictions and justifiable service control, banishing impulses or other manifestations of emotion which tend to either embellish or diminish the narrative. The novel functions by utilizing a strong internal voice attempting to claim the spoils of jazz and random materialization of captured imagination. Generating the narrative voice is not however an entirely independent endeavor as Ellison must preoccupy himself with exhibitions of intent that mark familiarity in terms of style, character development and literary form. He manages to capture random synchronicities in the fabric of language and tame them under the banner of intention and literary design. Language is thus able to ascend to a tier where it is no longer restricted to simply expressing ideas; it begins to generate independent thought, become the forger of identity as an instrument of both creation and deception. From this standpoint, one is almost obligated to view Ellisons writing as an act of patriotism and national pride. But he is by no means a celebrator of the founding fathers or other such bribers of destiny. He bows to the common man, the carrier of tradition and the giver of love and enlightening humanity. Powerful men are perceived as the enemies of equality and freedom inside the American experiment. This pseudo-communist view and manner of interpreting deeds, individuals and events will trigger an internal conflict inside the mind of Ellison himself who viewed communism as a corrupt and bankrupt ideology and treated it as such, indirectly of course through his portrayal of the Brotherhood in Invisible Man. The perception of Afro-Americans is modulated to encompass not only their immediate predicaments, but also the trigger-elements of their past that had obstructed their development as a group and as individuals. Slavery is the key element inside a shameful national battlefield whose remnants still included segregation, unwarranted racial presuppositions and a lack of equal opportunity and respect. Yet Ellison does not let rage or Black Nationalism get the better of him. His solution for mending the hearts and minds of all parties involved is based on love, tolerance, affirmative action, exploring the elements that unite us rather than embracing those which have the capacity to tear our shared humanity asunder. Ellison is one of Americas gatekeepers of moral history. His influence on the Afro-American novel and the American novel as a whole may have hastened the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement. He carried inside his writing the intellectual turmoil of his generation and set the standard for a new moral and artistic comprehension of 1960s America. His objective was not to portray a coherent image of individual identity, or of black identity but the identity of the American rainbow, the melting pot of intimidating complexity. His verbal flow and communicative fortitude served as a release valve for the creative energies of his countrymen. The great American writer acknowledged Faulkner, Melville or Hawthorne but above all he paid homage to the almost sacred pieces of paper (the Constitution and the Bill of Rights) which had dictated the moral imperatives shaping the beautiful destiny of his beloved America. His patriotism was not uncommon for an individual living in 1940s and 50s Ameri ca; what was oddly inspiring however was the fact that he managed to unreservedly love a country that had at times rejected and humiliated him because of the color of his skin. Invisible Man is a novel of trust and belief in the ideals for which America stands. Had it not been for Ellisons patriotism and trust in Americas pledge of liberty and justice for all his novel would never have been written; because despite his faà §ade of irony and pessimism Ralph Waldo Ellison is a true believer that change will come, that he himself can make a difference through his work and generous humanity. The novelists responsibility and debt to society cannot be overlooked or ignored towards the realm of perdition. Both form and content must coexist and serve the authors creative infrastructure, a convergence hub where literature and democracy become intertwined creating not only mentally endowed characters but also intelligent, opinionated citizens/readers who have the courage and mental clarity t o change society for the better. Imagination does not run its course individually and independently. In Invisible Man for example it responds to the needs and compensative prerequisites of American life. This complex and immensely creative subroutine of the human mind governs the flux of the yet undiscovered or under-discovered recoils of fate, regulates preoccupations of solitude fills in the blanks of our existence as all true creation begins with imagination and if we seek to better ourselves we must first envisage it with our minds inner eye. The protagonist in Invisible Man is meant to become the perfect American citizen but he is still in beta testing. A more congealed version is set to surface after the author has fully experimented with his test dummy and exhausted all potential behavioral simulations generated by his mental resourcefulness. The final version of the character should be very astute in reflecting not just destiny or possibility but also Americas variations and complexity, referring here of cou rse to its cultural heritage, racial, gender and class interactions. Invisible Man must not be approached solely based on its intrinsic value. Like any work of art its dedicated objective is to move, transport or transform even abstract concepts such as democracy or perceptions of freedom. Ellison was well aware of this reality and also mentally converged on the topic of control by the artist versus the readership over the resulting cultural product: the work of art begins to pulsate with those meanings, emotions, ideas brought to it by its audience, and over which the artist has but limited control (Ellison qtd. in Callahan 1995:94). After setting in motion multiple perspectives dealing with creation as an act of control, he attempts a power play through which the author must fully detach himself from his work, set all personal subjectivity aside and become his own personal appraisal specialist by taking on the role of the reader who must objectively assess a work in progress. This creative method is deeply rooted in imagination, and the ability to i mmerse oneself inside a fundamentally different role caresses the realm of empathic intelligence, setting about to comprehend the hidden truths behind socially assigned roles and adaptive, intellectual democracy. The rampant success of Invisible Man ignited a vast whirlwind of undignified criticism and unwarranted, feeble justifications. The fact that the book was well ahead of its time concerning matters of race, gender or social affiliation caught the attention of many critics of that time who were unfortunately locked inside a limited mindset, unable to comprehend a visionary such as Ralph Ellison. They interpreted the defiance of norms, categories and labeling as nothing less than literary, social and cultural heresy. The random, free-flowing, fluid literary style Ellison had perfected from his adaptations of jazz was also deemed precarious, seen as lacking in consistency and proper planning. The writer justly and calmly defended his novel, explaining, justifying and clarifying all issues related to his novel regardless of time constraints or argumentative relevance. His eloquence and patience as well as his ability to enhance predictions partaking in an astonishing pre-revelation of the American collective eventually earned him the praise, respect and recognition he most undoubtedly deserves. The novel comes as a response to a creative higher calling, a repayment of spiritual debt, a brave statement of honor and dignity. Ellisons working notes and letters have rendered clarification relevant to the conceptual and structural apparatus behind Invisible Man. The first part of the Working Notes analyses not only the causes of invisibility but also its subsequent manifestations and the impact it has on all parties involved. He uncovers two main sources of invisibility which are strongly rooted in the American cultural paradigm. The first generative element of invisibility is human nature itself. Man is instinctually pre-programed or pre-conditioned to interpret all physical, mental or spiritual differences as signs of inferiority and potential threats. This unfortunate reality enforces unnecessary clustering and segregation, separation and even conflict. Invisibility is not only a prerogative of race, gender or religious orientation. Individuals have often found themselves in a state of conflict or just ignorance because of trivial differentiations such as being from another city, speaking with a slightly different accent or supporting a different sports team. The conclusion is that no matter how small or big the differences, people are more than willing to surrender their personal identity to that of their respective arbitrary collective. They incapacitate themselves from seeing members of the rival faction as fellow, kindred beings and embrace a path of antagonism and dismal competition. The second factor of invisibility would be what Ellison identified in his notes as the great formlessness of Negro life. Cultural values here are highly volatile and exposed to a continuous stream of transformation and evolution. Afro-Americans are also subjected to often debilitating and diverse hardships from which only powerful individuals emerge with their personality, identity and sanity intact. Therefore it is difficult to create a stable, visible version of oneself inside a shifting and diverse ethnic universe whose objective is to heap disorientation rather than provide a marginally functi onal moral compass. The issue of compromise has largely gone unseen in the novel. On the surface it is a concept or deliberate lack of action which leads to a passive resolution of conflicts. Taking a more in-depth look however reveals that compromise merely postpones a brutal reaction or conflict. This method leads to the accumulation of tension, an overwhelming increase in the parameters of rage and self-loathing. Compromise draws its energy not from wisdom but from weakness because the truly powerful do not compromise they just make merciful enlightened concessions from time to time. The unnamed hero in Invisible Man joins the Brotherhood and later serves its nefarious plans not out conviction but out of necessity. This ruthless left wing organization which is nothing more than a literary expression of the real life Communist Party uses the main character as he allows himself to be manipulated. He catches rare glimpses of what goes on behind the curtain but he refuses to see and acknowledge the truth . And herein lurks his predicament: the truth cannot and will not set him free, not the weakened version of himself anyway. The truth always reaches everyone no matter how strong or elaborate the deception might be, yet it is always meant for those who have the power to accept it. Weakness and compromise can also lead to the dissolution of family values. The protagonists sexual indiscretions with a married woman are overlooked by her husband in the interest of politics. The fact that there is no vindication for this dastardly act confirms that our character is indeed for all intents and purposes invisible and also that modern day society is severely dehumanizing as under the false and frail mask of a pseudo-enlightenment a man is forced to himself find, accept and provide justification for adultery and sentimental betrayal. Devising his female characters spawned a great deal of compromise for Ellison himself. Most women in the novel are depicted as prostitutes or secret agents of deception and misrepresentation. Mary Rambo is the only positive female character in the novel, a nurturer, a benefactor for the protagonist, a mother figure. Despite all her qualities however she can never be a true partner for the invisible man as she utterly lacks eroticism or passion. She cant complete him; she can only tend to a limited amount of wounds. From Ellisons Working Notes we are made aware of what could have been the unnamed characters significant other. Sadly enough she never made the roster. Louise was envisaged as seductive, charming the flagship of American ideals of freedom, democracy and fertility. Her relative perfection sort of defeats the purpose of the whole novel. The main character must be assaulted, tested and prodded from all directions. His hardships are transformative, motivating, the defining ini tiators of his true identity. Give him love and redemption and you might end up with a Garfield-type character, too lazy and unwilling to seek transformative confrontation. So sadly enough we ended up with good old Sybil, Ellisons little compromise, who happens to have a bad case of jungle fever and whom the main character regards as nothing more than an obstacle and possibly a source of non-essential information. The end of the novel commandeers a corpus of interactive integrity where Ellison appeals to both novice and specialized readers. He reveals the representative voice of his narrative, a raft of hope carrying with it the encoded pride of our shared humanity: Being invisible and without substance, a disembodied voice as it were, what else could I do? What else but try to tell you what was really happening when your eyes were looking through? And it is this which frightens me: Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you? (Ellison, 1995:581) 1.3. Ralph Ellison: Between Addiction and Tradition Ralph Ellison underscores the linkages and connections between Afro-American Culture and mainstream American culture, based on a hope of potential synergy, choosing to disregard arbitrary bonds of restrictive servitude. The limitations to his method are very few as he manages to create new worth through the exploration of the infinite possibilities conferred by folk tradition, jazz or the tales of old. He promotes his narrative as a stable and truthful presence in the discontinuous, swiftly changing and diverse American culture. His body of work expresses a blues-like absurdity in accepting a personal desire to defy limitations, seeking not simply a portrayal of tradition, but a translation, a decryption of its wider, more precise meanings. Ellisons blues attest to the agony of life and the distinct possibility of overcoming all adversity through sheer wealth of spirit and desire to carry on by using pain as a catalyst rather than succumb to its destructive charms. Several essays in Shadow and Act call attention to the purpose of folklore and its inner workings, as they strive to preserve the repeated situations that had once formulated the existence of a well-defined group of individuals, capturing the beauty of thoughts and emotions. The wisdom and spiritual wealth of a group, its symbols, icons and heraldic legacy and ultimately its desire to live long and prosper, generated according to Ellison, an essential truth which captured the spirit of all blacks. Folk symbols can utterly annihilate time through their simplicity, and an entire culture can revolve around a raw image, a universal rhythm. When addressing the black experience Ellison is a firm believer that folklore confirms the Negros willingness to trust his own experience, his own sensibilities rather than to permit their oppressors and masters to decide these fundamental things for them. Folklore therefore becomes not only a source of cohesive identity but a resource for freedom as w ell. Black American folklore functions as an integral part of American and Western culture. Ellison recognizes the merits of a black tradition in confronting new American and global issues, by extracting from life new and profound definitions of joy. Black culture makes wide use of characters who represent folk cultural archetypes functioning inside a wider context of strategic symbology, representing various forms of art, music, religion or folk poetry. In Invisible Man the characters provide contrast and conflict with the lost nature of the invisible narrator who hovers above the storyline observing and sometimes triggering events which consolidate the narrative drive. The slave woman appearing in the prologue is meant to confirm centuries of victimization and hardships, and announce a propulsion towards embracing and understanding freedom. The grandfather who appears several times throughout the novel is a toxic character. He embodies the ambiguity of the past, a monument of bitterness and spiritual limitation which can have potentially crippling and debilitating consequences. The old mans gregarious survival strategy of allowing the so called self-destructive nature of the white man to run its course confirms a false and contagious grasp of what is real and functional. His yessing strategy worthy of the great Napoleon himself has nearly fatal repercussions for his grandson who adopts the strategy of his elder not out of belief but out of confusion and desperation. From a cultural point of view Invisible Man only has two characters who encompass both folk and contemporary black tradition: Trueblood and Mary. Jim Trueblood is on a very basic level an expectant father, a family man, a maker and supporter of life. Yet he is also a rapist, a pedophile and a performer of adultery and incest. The sins of this father cannot be justified through oniric dementia. His heinous act does not prevent him from finding redemption through music: I looks up and sees the stars and I starts singing. He also reaches a very dangerous Popeye the Sailor type conclusion, an empty statement that allows justification for just about anything I aint nobody but myself. Putting aside the repugnant nature of this character one cant help notice that he is deeply rooted in tradition; his humor, storytelling and manner of speaking exemplify the turmoil of his ethnic, racial and social legacy. Trueblood is also a part of Western tradition. He acknowledges his weakness and the sins of the flesh and in his twisted way he tries to be a family man: Im a man and man dont leave his family. From a psychological standpoint, Truebl ood is part of the Western tradition of incest entering the realm of Freudian psychoanalysis and dream interpretation. Mary Rambo is the only character in Invisible Man whom Ellison depicts in a positive manner. All other women are either prostitutes, crazy, sexually deviant, manipulative or lack a moral compass. Mary however is a kind, nurturing individual with a tremendous potential to eliminate the pain and suffering of those around her. She benefits from a robust humanity deeply anchored in the beauty and common sense of folk wisdom and time honored traditions. This female character manages to perfectly integrate into the crazy life of the metropolis without abandoning her individual complexity. She is never tainted by what festers around her and remains true to her pure and genuine calling. Ellison is able to comprehend both the splendor and the horrific nature of black culture. He uses language for example as a verbal facilitator for the most noble of human thoughts. The rich language of the South, the blooming spoken word of the North, the joyful verbal flow of 50s Harlem are all pitted against the ability of language to manipulate, to control, to create riots and inspire fear. Folk traditions, associated with other mechanisms of human comprehension, invite both the writer and the reader into the intimate life of blacks in America, allowing us to discover and observe them in celebration or tribulation, gripped by bliss alongside family and friends or in their darkest hour of need. Ellison employs cultural tradition without overusing external connections. His dramatic recoil is often based on a system of illusions which in the end exposes the betrayal of blackness while at the same time expounding a traumatic treatment of folk values. Folklore does not exist for its own sake. Its governing principle is to override futility within the confines of strict thematic structuralisation and dramatic undertones. Ellisons conceptual apparatus overpowers outdated representations of the southern folk community deeming them obsolete and leaning towards a more pre-individual approach to the matter at hand. He accomplishes an in-depth look into the mind of the individual or their respective collective. His characters are by no means nonsentimental or monosentimental, exploring previously untapped levels of the Afro-American psyche, reaching a point of cognitive no return. This tinkering about with both collective and individual representations of black society is done with flair and a great deal of humor and irony and herein lies the intrinsic value of Invisible Man. He makes the exploration of personal and group identity appear simple, natural and free flowing. Ellison has a very firm grip on the obvious and strives to implement cultural representations bearing in mind the potential of folklore to bring forth both enlightenment and spiritual unease. His intention is not to call down the proverbial thunder on the established order of perception as he is by no means a revolutionary writer. The milestone he sets out to complete is simply to interconnect Western symbols and mythology with black culture and folk wisdom in the hope of understanding and accepting the rules that govern this particular paradigm. Ellisons connection to the West, the systemic support in Invisible Man, offer an almost mathematical precision between creative consistency and cultural pronouncements. Larry Neal credited Ellison with a broad spectrum of theoretical sense, an intimidating corpus of knowledge regarding the explosive tensions underlying the Black mans presence in the United States. (Neal, 1968:9) Invisible Man resonates as a powerful pledge which is fully committed towards grasping the depths and complicated splendors that forge the definition of blackness. Ellison appears hungry to exploit the functions and dedicated objectives of language. He is not burdened by his cultural responsibility, but rather he views it as a method of release, embracing a higher calling of both a universal writer and a black writer. His hunger for definitions, the study of mannerisms and collective deductions stake their claim on a narrative that is offered with apparent ease and an almost godlike understanding of the black condition. There is music and ease behind his equanimous imagination and desire to embrace the noesis of his forefathers. A clinical presupposition would therefore entail an absolute independence inside the creative laws which define his conceptual apparatus. His examination of blackness though perfectly expounded and formulated is not without precedence. William Faulkner laid t he foundation for Ellison through a manifold of emblematic devices and astonishing accomplishments in capturing the proverbial zeitgeist of the South. Although Faulkner asserts himself as the deepest of the southerners, a larger than life communicator through symbols, Ellisons work should not be misconstrued as imitation or worse, as being written from an anxiety of influence. Ralph Ellison is an adequately developed writer, one profoundly original writer who is able to provide us with fresh new insight into Afro-American culture. His tree of literary knowledge casts a large enough shadow enabling him implement a black focus that gathers success in its encounters with an audience immensely appreciative of his creative undertakings. Ultimately Ralph Ellison produces a genuine and stimulating complexity when it comes to writing based on Afro-American culture and folk traditions. He commandeers cryptic messaging, appearing almost intoxicated with the power of his own written word and duty towards creative instruments of mental debt and depth. Folk tradition for Ellison is not proliferated as an end in itself, the author is severely self-conscious and bewildered by the overwhelming merits of simple traditions that have stood the test of time and enabled their carriers to maintain a coherent sense of identity. True folk forms provide us with a celebration of life, a righteous use of the flexible service instruments which fuel hope in the name of tradition, a proud remembrance of the past that is bound to secure the future. 1.4 Chronotopic Identity in Invisible Man Mikhail Bakhtins systemic apparatus of emblematic devices comprises cognitive depths which function beyond arbitrary boundaries of simple cultural relevance. Therefore applying Bakhtinian mechanisms of comprehension to Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man is a fully warranted undertaking encompassing both structure and a stern analysis of desirable and justified content. Bakhtins conceptual framework can be held accountable for altering cultural realms outside its borders of encounter, supplementing external ideas, improving and completing them. All disseminated elements are interconnected, lacking in explicit manifestation, adhering to implicit introduction and dialogic confrontation. Bakhtin asserts that no work of literature can exist as a separate, independent entity. Any literary text is in a state of flux, maintaining communication with other literary voices or streams. The influence can reside in imitation, modular transformation or adaptation, or even rejection which is nothing more than a reversal of method. A text is always informed by other texts and at the same time it has the duty to inform its readership. The connection between two texts is by no means constrictive or parasitic in nature. Its symbiotic orientation capitalizes on interdisciplinary dialogue and voice structure, honoring social complexity and linguistic wealth: The internal stratification of language is a prerequisite for the novel. The novel orchestrates all its themes, the totality of the world of objects and ideas depicted and expressed in it, by means of the social diversity of speech types and by the differing individual voices that flourish under such conditions. The links and interrelations lead to the novels heteroglossia and dialogization. (Bakhtin, 1981: 263) Identity formation, cultural memory and religion are paramount in the understanding of blacks and whites not as mere individuals but as complex, interconnected cultural entities. Bakhtins approach is atemporal and universal, allowing us to not only see or understand Afro-American culture but also to expand its deeper meanings, adapt and improve our own culture, enable a positive cross-cultural contamination by upgrading our shared humanity and collective heritage. Certain Bakthinian matters of interest such as power and control, materialism, (re)structured social and ethnic relations, dialogism, spatial and temporal paradigms provide the necessary competence to outline patterns of relevant functionality in Invisible Man. Ralph Ellisons displays a considerable amount of dialogic audacity as a method of integrating social strategies in his novel. His principles are governed by mental alacrity and argumentative observations which often foster resentment and playful overtones of deceptive chaos. Ellison and Bakhtin possess a dedicated, shared infrastructure, a common ground where their variations in discourse can become intertwined and intervene in the establishment of philosophical augmentations and consistent power structures. The boundaries between the two become nothing more than non-cohesive, penetrable conventions which allow transcendent voices to define the desires of randomly assigned trust and determination. Envisioning Invisible Man as a Bakhtinian novel one cant help but detect the ubiquitous Carnivalesque elements of perception which generate and govern the social environment. The Carnival entails a state of absolute liberation and subsequently a state of pseudo-anarchy, capricious libertinism and equality. It exists outside political, economic and social restrictions, suspending the status quo, living up to ideals of randomness and improvisation. It is a festival which celebrates the annihilation of individual hierarchies and the dismemberment of forged and unjust equilibriums. There is little room for political ambitions or extravagant portrayal of mediocre deeds. The Carnivaleque is a counter reaction to those abusive systems which strive to acquire our humanity with thirty pieces of our own silver. Another essential Bakhtinian concept that is of great importance to Invisible Man is that of the chronotope. Time-space describes the dual matrix behind the emergence of Ellisons novel, understanding both history and the topos on which it occurs. Ralph Ellison bends time to his liking offering nonlinear and often simultaneous projections engaging the readers attention and selective intelligence, inviting him to experience: [A] slightly different sense of time, youre never quite on the beat. Sometimes youre ahead and sometimes behind. Instead of the swift and imperceptible flowing of time, you are aware of its nodes, those points where time stands still or from which it leaps ahead. And you slip into the breaks and look around. (Ellison, 1995:8) This enigmatic passage distorts the accepted perception of time, offering a multilayered temporal construct which seeks to achieve transference of control while at the same time generating a climate of insecure reclusiveness and underprivileged substantiations of unclear history. The chronotopes initial manifestation in Invisible Man is done through the use of the fictional present. We are informed with great equanimity and familiarity that the narrator dwells in a coal cellar which is designed as a cocoon of self-banishment, an in-between world, a self -imposed Purgatory from which he can be emerge a new man, ready to confront his previous oppressors and the flawed systems that had spawned them. Time here contracts fissuring the containment of common meanings, creating a brave new nexus of darkened topography and supporting a cronosphere of intimidating and deliberate variation. The chronotope is the fulfiller of tradition, an astute element/method which defines our sense of community and social history. According to Mikhail Bakhtin, The chronotope is where the knots of narrative are tied and untied []. Time becomes, in effect, palpable and visible; the chronotope makes narrative events concrete, makes them take on flesh, causes blood to flow in their veins []. Thus the chronotope, functioning as the primary means for materializing time in space, emerges as a center for concretizing representation, as a force giving body to the entire novel. All the novels abstract elements philosophical and social generalizations, ideas, analyses of cause and effect gravitate towards the chronotope and through it take on flesh and blood, permitting the imaging power of art to do its work. (Bakhtin, 1981, 250) Time and space are inextricably intertwined with respect to the fundamental acknowledgement of uni

Rotation of the letter R :: Essays Papers

Rotation of the letter "R" Psychologists have been interested in the processes that go on in the mind for centuries. However, a new method for assessing the various processes emerged in the 1970's. Several researchers predicted that mental imagery was treated by the brain similarly to actions performed on physical objects. Thus, performance in tasks involving inspection, rotation, and comparison of mental images according to size should be similar to results obtained using actual objects. Kosslyn, Ball, and Reiser (1978) asked participants to scan a mental map after studying a map of an island with several landmarks. They predicted that the further the distance between the landmarks, the longer it would take participants to scan from one to the next, whether using the actual map or a mental image created by intensive study. Their hypothesis was supported by their results. The closer positions took less time to locate on the participant' mental maps than the more distant places. In 1973, Cooper and Shepard asked participants to perform a mental rotation task. They gave the participants an image, and asked them to rotate it mentally by a certain angle, and then match the rotated image with one of several choices. Their prediction was that the greater the angle of rotation, the longer the task would take. This was because it would take longer to physically rotate a figure more degrees than fewer degrees. The evidence supported this hypothesis: The closer the angle is to 180 degrees, the longer the reaction time. Angles greater than 180 degrees do not take longer because the subject will rotate it in the other direction. So the angle distance from 180 degrees, called the angle of disparity, is directly related to the reaction time. The experiment done by the class involves looking at the letter "R" on a computer screen, and determining whether it is forward or reverse. The "R" is rotated at varying degrees, and participants must mentally rotate the "R" in order to determine whether it is forward or reversed. A forward "R" is the letter "R" in its usual orientation. The reversed "R" is backwards from its usual position. There were several predictions made by the class before the experiment was run. The highest reaction time was predicted to be at the 180 degrees condition, with the lowest reaction time at 0 degrees, increasing in both directions toward 180 degrees. Also, the average reversed-figure reaction time was expected to be higher than the average normal time.