Lorenzo’s Oil Reaction Paper Essay

George Miller’s film â€Å"Lorenzo’s Oil† demonstrates the vital importance of extensive research. If you do not conduct proper research you will never gather enough information to make smart decisions. The moving film is about a little boy named Lorenzo Odone and his two parents Michaela and Augusto Odone who conduct a relentless search for a cure for their son’s Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) through extensive research. The Odones found their so prognosis unacceptable and amazingly, they did something to change it. Both Mr. and Mrs. Odone set out to educate themselves to tackle a complex medical mystery, and take on the slow-moving medical establishment in the process. On their own, they undertook the job of determining what, if anything, would keep their son alive. This film discovers a different kind of courage than the quality that is usually displayed on drama movies. â€Å"Lorenzo’s Oil† is not the sentimental television-movie version of such a tale. There are no false miracle and no self-congratulatory triumphs. The movie displays tremendous compassion for all three Odones and what they have been. The Odones organize their own medical symposium doing extensive research work that leads to the title discovery, a miraculous substance that is mostly olive oil. The most evoking scene in Lorenzo’s Oil comes when Augusto Odone is challenged about the oil. â€Å"I am not a scientist, I am a father and nobody can tell me what dressing I can put on my kid’s salad, O.K.?† Due to the Odones extensive research about ALD they were able to create an oil to prolong the life of their son that was diagnosed to die within two years.

Renaissance humanism

I naively assumed that none of this would be controversial, and I was quite unprepared for the hostility it provoked among some legates to the congress, chiefly from Northern Europe, who represented what I came to perceive as the Lutheran Establishment. This group was concerned to insist on the total originality of Luther and the uniquely German Origins of the Reformation. The paper would, I think, be more generally accepted today . It was first published in Luther and the Dawn of the Modern Era: Papers for the Fourth International Congress for Luther Research, De.H. A. Barman, Studies in the History of Christian Thought, Volvo. 8 (Elided: E. J. Brills, 1974), up. 127-149. It is reprinted here by permission of the publisher . Since the peculiar mixture of responsibility and presumption in the title of my paper will scarcely have escaped the notice of this distinguished audience, I feel some need to explain at the outset that it represents an assignment on the part of those who planne d our meeting.The significance of the problems to which it points is suggested by the great historians who have grappled with it in the past, albeit (a fact that should constitute something of a warning) with somewhat contrary results, among them Michelle, Diluted, and Throttles. [l] Its practical importance lies in the need of most of us to place our more limited inclusions in some broader historical framework; we must therefore reconsider, from ? 226 ? time to time, the relationship between Renaissance and Reformation.In spite of this, the subject has recently received little systematic attention, and many of us are still likely to rely, when we approach it, on unexamined and obsolete stereotypes. Obviously I cannot hope to remedy this state of affairs in a brief paper. Yet the progress of Renaissance studies in recent decades invites a reassessment of this classic problem, and I offer these remarks as an essay intended to stimulate further concussion. What has chiefly inhibited l arger generalization has been the extension and refinement of our knowledge, and with it a growth both in specialization and in humility.Thus we are increasingly reluctant to make broad pronouncements about either the Renaissance or the Reformation, much less about both at once. For as scholars we are divided not only between Renaissance and Reformation, or between Italy and Northern Europe; even within these categories most of us are specialists who would claim competence only in a particular aspect of Renaissance Florence or Venice, in one phase or another of Renaissance humanism, in Machiavelli or Erasmus, in later scholasticism or the history of piety, in Luther or Calvin or the sects.Under these conditions few students of the Renaissance have cared to look as far as the Reformation; and although Reformation scholars have been somewhat bolder, they have rarely pursued the question of Renaissance antecedents farther than northern humanism. Humanism is, indeed, the one subject tha t has recently encouraged forays into the problem of this paper; but although Barren, Devour, Spits, Libeling, and especially Charles Trinkets, among others, have made valuable intrusions to discussion,[2] the problem is still with us, primarily, I think, because we have not fully made up our minds about the meaning of Renaissance humanism.A result of this difficulty has been a tendency to focus special attention on Erasmus as a touchstone for the Renaissance, a role for which?for reasons that will emerge later in this paper?I think he is not altogether suited. It is, however, one measure of the complexity of our subject that we cannot approach the question of the relationship between Renaissance and Reformation without somehow first coming to terms with the implications of humanism. I should like to do so, however, obliquely rather than directly.It seems to me that although humanism, which assumed a variety of forms as it passed through successive stages and was influenced by diffe ring local conditions, was not identical with the more profound tendencies of Renaissance culture, it was nevertheless often likely to give them notable expression, and for reasons that were not accidental but directly related to the rhetorical tradition; whatever their ?227 ? differences in other respects, most recent interpretations of Renaissance humanism have at least identified it with a revival of rhetoric. ] What has been less generally recognized is the deeper significance of this revival. The major reason is, I think, that in our time the term rhetoric has become largely pejorative; we are inclined to couple it with the adjective mere. But for the Renaissance there was nothing shallow about rhetoric. Based on a set of profound assumptions about the nature, competence, and destiny of man, rhetoric gave expression to the deepest tendencies of Renaissance culture, tendencies by no meaner confined to men clearly identifiable as humanists, nor always fully expressed by men who h ave generally been considered humanists.I shall try in this paper to describe these tendencies, which seem to me to have exerted intolerable pressures on central elements in the medieval understanding of Christianity. And I will suggest that similar tendencies underlay the thought of the great Protestant Reformers. Thus the significance of Protestantism in the development of European culture lies in the fact that it accepted the religious consequences of these Renaissance tendencies and was prepared to apply them to the understanding of the Gospel.From this standpoint the Reformation was the theological fulfillment of the Renaissance. I Fundamental to the cultural movements of the Renaissance was a gradual accumulation of social and political changes: an economy increasingly dependent on commerce rather than agriculture; a political structure composed of assertive particular powers; and a society dominated by educated laymen who were increasingly restive under clerical direction and increasingly aggressive in pressing their own claims to dignity and self-determination.A commercial economy and the more and more openly uncoordinated conduct of politics supplied the social base for a new vision of man's place in the world, and of the world itself. Social experience rooted in the land had perhaps encouraged a sense of broad, natural regularities ultimately responsive to cosmic forces and inhibiting to a sense of the significance of change; but the life of a merchant community and the ambitious operations of independent rulers made all experience contingent on the interaction between unpredictable forces and the practical ingenuity and energies of men.Under these conditions the possibility of cosmic order seemed remote, but in any case of little relevance to human affairs; and the obvious rule of change in the empirical world encouraged efforts at its comprehension and eventually ? 228 ? stimulated the awareness of history, that peculiarly Hebraic and Christian?as opposed to Hellenic or Hellenic?contribution to the Western consciousness.Meanwhile new political realities and the claims of laymen undermined the hierarchical conceptions that had defined the internal structure of the old unified order of the cosmos, within which the affairs of this world had been assigned their proper place. [4] It will also be useful to observe at this point that these developments were by no meaner confined to Italy; I will touch briefly at a later point on the implications of this fact for the Renaissance problem.It is not altogether wrong to emphasize the positive consequences of these developments which, by freeing human activity from any connection with ultimate patterns of order, liberated an exuberance that found expression in the various dimensions of Renaissance creativity. Bureaucrat's insight that the autonomy of politics converted the prince into an artist of sorts may require modification; yet the new situation made all human arrangements potentiall y creative in a sense hardly possible so long as the basic principles of every activity were deduced from universal principles.The notion of the state as a work of art points to the general process of colonization and reminds us that the culture of the Renaissance extended far beyond its brilliant art and literature, and was perhaps even more significant in its implications than in its accomplishments. It had, however, another and darker side. It rested on the destruction of the sense of a definable relationship between man and ultimate realities. It severed his connection with absolute principles of order, not so much by denying their existence as by rejecting their accessibility to the human understanding.It deprived him of a traditional conception of himself as a being with distinct and organized faculties attuned to the similarly organized structure of an unchanging, and in this sense dependable, universe. Above all, therefore, it left him both alone in a mysterious world of unp redictable and often hostile forces, and at the same time personally responsible in the most radical sense for his own ultimate destiny. For he was now left without reliable principles and? because the directive claims of the church also depended heavily on the old conceptions?reliable agencies of guidance.These darker aspects of Renaissance culture eventually squired, therefore, a reformulation of Christian belief, and we shall now examine them a bit more closely. Renaissance thought has sometimes been represented as a reassertion of ancient rationalism against the supernaturalism of the Middle Ages. The formulation is, of course, both inaccurate and misleading. In the thirteenth century some intellectual leaders had been notably hospitable to Greek philosophy, and had tried to coordinate it with revelation.But ? 229 ? it was precisely the possibility of such coordination that Renaissance culture?insofar as it differed from what had preceded it?characteristically denied; in this se nse Renaissance thought was less rationalistic (if not necessarily less rational) than that of the Middle Ages. In fact it was inclined to distinguish between realms, between ultimate truths altogether inaccessible to man's intellect, and the knowledge man needed to get along in this world, which turned out to be sufficient for his purposes.Thus the Renaissance attack on scholasticism had a larger implication as well as a specific target; it implied, and occasionally led to, the rejection of all systematic philosophy. From Patriarch, through Salutation and Villa, to Machiavelli, Pompano, ND the Venetians of the later Renaissance, the leaders of Renaissance thought rejected any effort to ground human reflection or action on metaphysics: and at the same time they insisted on the autonomy of the various dimensions of human concern and the relativity of truth to the practical requirements of the human condition.In this sense, although truth was robbed of some grandeur, it was also made more human; and if Aristotle was less and less respected as a vehicle of eternal wisdom, he could be all the more admired as a man. [5] Under such conditions philosophy could evidently contribute nothing to theology; indeed, its virtual effects were likely to be adverse since it encouraged malice and pride. Related to the attack on metaphysical speculation was an attack on hierarchy, which rested ultimately on metaphysically based conceptions of the internal structure of all reality.The repudiation of hierarchy was most profoundly expressed in Nicholas of Cuss's conception of the infinite, which made every entity equally distant from?and thus equally near to?God;[6] a similar impulse perhaps lurks behind Villa's rejection of Pseudo-Dionysus. [7] But partly because the formulations of Susan smacked too such of metaphysics, partly because the problem of hierarchy was peculiarly related to social change, the attack on hierarchy was likely to receive more overtly social expression.It to ok a general form in the effort to substitute a dynamic conception of nobility through virtue for the static nobility of birth,[8] a specific form in the impulse (often expressed in legislation and the practical policies of states)[9] to consider the clergy in no way superior to other men but, on the contrary, as equal in the obligations of citizenship (if generally less competent in practical affairs), at least as alienable to sin, and in as desperate a need for salvation as other men, whom it was their obligation to serve rather than to command.This suggested at least that social order was unrelated to cosmic order, but it also raised the possibility that order per SE was of a kind quite different from what had been supposed. For the age of the Renaissance was by no meaner oblivious to the ? 230 ? need for order, which indeed historical disasters had converted into the most urgent of problems. But its very urgency intensified the necessity of regarding order as a practical rather than a metaphysical issue. Bitter experience seemed to demonstrate that order had to be brought down to earth, where it could be defined in limited and manageable ways.And, as the occasional intrusions of the clergy into politics appeared periodically to demonstrate, the attempt to apply ultimate principles to concrete problems was likely only to interfere with their practical solution. This was a central point not only for Machiavelli and his polities successors; it also molded the numerous constitutional experiments of the Renaissance, with their repudiation of hierarchically defined lines of authority in favor of order through a balance of interests and their appeal to immediate local needs and the right of local self- determination.The best arrangements, in these terms, were not those that most accurately reflected some absolute pattern but those that best served the specific and limited human purposes for which they were instituted. But although a sense of the limitation of the human intellect was basic to the thought of the Renaissance, this negation had a positive corollary in a new conception of the human personality which also seemed to correspond better to the experience supplied by a new social environment.Men whose lives consisted in the broad range of experiences, ontogenesis, and human relationships that characterized existence in the bustling and complicated modern world could no longer find plausible an abstract conception of man as a hierarchy of faculties properly subject to reason; instead the personality presented itself as a complex and ambiguous unity in which the will, primarily responsive to the passions, occupied a position at the center.One result of this conception was to undermine the contemplative ideal; if man's reason was weak but his will strong, he could only realize himself in this world through action, indeed he was meant for a life of action. Another was to reduce suspicion of the body; in the absence of the old psychologica l hierarchy, the body could no longer be held merely base and contemptible. Action required its use, and the new integrity of the personality reduced the possibility of attributing the human propensity to evil primarily to the physical or sensual aspect of man's nature.Human passions now also acquired a positive value, as the source of action. [10] This new anthropology, articulated by Patriarch, Salutation, and Villa, required a reconsideration of the problem of immortality and led eventually to the ardent discussions of the soul in which Pompano figured. It also pointed to the political and historical conceptions of Machiavelli and Caricaturing, who emphasized the primacy of will and passion, as well as to the psychological interests of a host of Renaissance writers. 11] ? 231 ? In addition man was defined as a social being; if he lost one kind of participation in a larger reality, namely his abstract position as a member of the human species in the cosmic hierarchy of being, he, obtained another with, perhaps, more tangible satisfactions: his membership as a concrete individual in the particular human community in which he lived, now an essential rather than an accidental condition of is existence. Thus the values of human community now achieved full recognition.Human virtue was defined not as an abstraction but as a function of relationship with other men; man's active nature was understood to achieve full expression only in a life of social responsibility, and indeed his happiness was seen as dependent on human community. Furthermore, since effective participation in society required some wealth, the conception struck another blow at medieval asceticism. On the other hand the demands of life in society also stimulated a vision of human existence very different from that implicit in the contemplative ideal.For life in society was patently marked by a conflict of opposing interests that could rarely (if men were honest) be identified with absolute good or e vil; and to incessant struggle with other men was added, in social existence, the temptations that inevitably beset anyone who chooses to engage with rather than to withdraw from the world. The life appropriate to men in this world was thus not repose (however desperately one might long for it) [12] but a constant and morally ambiguous warfare, with the outcome ever in doubt. By the same token earthly life had also to be seen as dynamic, as subject to change in all its aspects.Human communities could be seen to rise, flourish, and decay; and the philological investigations of Renaissance humanists supplemented common experience by revealing the general outlines of ancient civilization and thus demonstrating how much had changed during the intervening centuries. [13] They also wrote histories that communicated not only this perspective on the past, with its implication that human culture is not an absolute but relative to its times, but in addition other aspects of the Renaissance vi sion of life: the active and social nature of man, the values of community, the incapability of conflict and change.This vision found its fullest expression in the rhetorical culture of the Renaissance. Humanist oratory was based on the conception of man as a social being motivated by a will whose energies stemmed from the passions. This conception led in turn to a distinctive concern with communication as the essential bond of life in society, as well as to a new human ideal of the well-rounded, eloquent, and thus socially effective man of affairs.The purpose of communication, in this view, could not be the transmission of an absolute wisdom, which the human mind was incompetent to reach, but the attainment of concrete and practical ends. Ђ? 232 ? Such communication had above all to be persuasive; it had to affect the will by swaying the passions, rather than merely to convince the mind; in short it needed to penetrate to the center of the personality in order to achieve result s in visible acts. And the significance of the need for persuasion should also be remarked.It implied a life in society that could not be controlled by authority and coercion through a hierarchical chain of command but depended instead on the inward assent of individuals. It was therefore no accident that the rhetorical culture of Italian humanism achieved its fullest development in republics. In addition the needs of broad communication pointed eventually to the development and use of vernacular languages, a more important concern of Renaissance humanism than has sometimes been recognized. 14] II It should be immediately apparent that this set of attitudes imposed great strains on traditional Catholicism. [1 5] It undermined the effort to base earthly existence on abstract principles identified with divine wisdom, and to relate the visible and changing world of ordinary experience to the invisible and immutable realm of the spirit. Both the comforts in this relationship and its imp lications for the guidance and intro of lower things by higher were seriously threatened.From a Renaissance perspective the arguments by which it was supported seemed at best frivolous, at worst a specious rationalization of claims to power in this world on behalf of a group of men whose attention should be directed exclusively to the next. And behind such suspicions we may also discern the perception of man as primarily a creature of will and passion. In this light intellectual claims were likely to be construed as masks for motives that could not bear inspection; dogma itself might be no more than an instrument of tyranny.In addition, since a contemplative repose now seemed inappropriate to the actual nature of man, as well as a breach of responsibility for the welfare of others, the ideal form of the Christian life required redefinition. Finally, the problem of salvation was transformed. Alone in an ultimately unintelligible universe, and with the more fundamental conception of s in and the problems of its control opened up by the new anthropology, man could no longer count on the mediation either of reason or of other men in closer contact with the divine than himself.His salvation depended on an immediate and personal relation with God. Here it is necessary to pause for a more searching look at one of the key terms of our title: Renaissance . The conceptions I have so far reviewed ? 233 ? have been based largely on developments in Italy, and this would suggest a vision of the Renaissance, or of Renaissance culture, as initially and perhaps primarily an Italian affair.But this audience is well aware that the tendencies I have described were also present in a variety of movements outside Italy, if in somewhat different forms. It is obvious, for example, that later medieval piety exhibited similar impulses; ND that, in spite of the antipathy of humanists to scholastic speculation (though here we need to be more precise about what was actually under attack), t he later schoolmate played a major if largely independent part in bringing underlying assumptions to the surface and in attempting to accommodate theology to them. 16] Perhaps, therefore, the time has come to expand, as well as to make more specific, our conception of what was central to the age of the Renaissance, and also to abandon the traditional contrast between Italy and the North, which seems to me to eve been in some measure the result of a failure to get beneath surface differences.If I have concentrated on Italian thought in this sketch, I have done so partly to bring out the fundamental unity of European spiritual development, partly because the affinities between Protestantism and later Scholasticism have been more regularly a concern of Reformation scholarship than the parallels with the Renaissance in Italy. What is nevertheless increasingly clear is that the process of redefining Christianity to bring it into correspondence with the new assumptions about man and the w orld as gradual, and that it was taking place simultaneously throughout Europe.Largely because of the recent profound book of Charles Trinkets, it is unnecessary to review in detail the process by which the pressures for religious change implicit in the assumptions of Renaissance culture operated among the humanists of Italy. They are already discernible in Patriarch, and they seem to have reached a climax in Lorenz Villa. In a general sense they may be attributed to the special loneliness and despair of men who could no longer regard religious truth as a body of knowledge of the name order as other knowledge that was communicable through similar kinds of intelligible discourse.Nor could the institutional fiddles encouraged by ecclesiastical authority as an alternative to rational theology provide a satisfactory solution to the problem. Not only did the idea of implicit faith clash with the growing sense of individual spiritual dignity among pious laymen; in addition, discredited by its impotence, its worldliness, the presumed irrelevance of its abstract theology, and a sacramental and disciplinary externalities increasingly inadequate to assuage the secularly intense guilt of the age, the church could no longer be regarded as a dependable guarantor of truth. Ђ? 234 ? Thus, driven by a profound yearning for immediate contact with the eternal,[17] the humanists of the early Italian Renaissance moved perceptibly toward a simple religion of grace based on the Scriptures and apprehended by the individual through faith. Patriarch typically began with insights into his own inner conflicts and the discovery that these could only be resolved by throwing himself on God's mercy in a faith that was at once the highest form of knowledge and at the same time different n kind from all other knowledge; confusion on this point seemed to him the most dangerous error.Salutation, concerned as a sterner moralist to protect human freedom and responsibility within a religion of grace, wrestled with the problem of predestination. And with Villa Justification by faith received an even fuller exploration, the role of priest and sacrament in the economy of salvation was correspondingly reduced, and that of Scripture, the Word whose authenticity could be established by philology and which spoke directly to the individual, was enlarged. 18] Corresponding to the distinction between philosophy and faith was the demand or a sharper distinction between the church and the world; the separation of realms in one area seemed to lead naturally to separation in others. In its demands for a spiritual church, the new historicism of the Renaissance collaborated with the insistence of the Italian states on freedom from clerical interference and with their grievances against Rome as a political force. [19] The study of the historical church revealed the spiritual costs of the confusion of realms. 20] At the very least, as men of the Renaissance with some political experience were in a position to know, the effective use of power in the world was always morally ambiguous;[21] and meanwhile the growing participation of popes and prelates in secular politics had been accompanied by an increasing neglect of the spiritual mission of the church. Thus, if reform required a return to the past, the reason was above all that the early church had been true to its spiritual characters. [22] Only a spiritual church, devoted to that which does not change, could stand above history and thus resist decay.Villa's attack on the Donation of Constantine was not an isolated document;[23] it fleets a concern with the church, its earthly role and its spiritual mission, that runs through much of Renaissance historiography, from Muscat at the beginning of the fourteenth century to Machiavelli, Caricaturing, and Far Paolo Carpi. [24] The rediscovery of grace was closely related to the new vision of man; philosophy, as Patriarch recognized, was incapable of converting man at the crucial center of his being. â€Å"It is one thing to know,† he declared, â€Å"another to love; one thing to understand, another to will. What was required was a transformation not merely of the intellect but of the ? 235 ? hole personality, so that Christian conversion would find appropriate expression in a life of love and active responsibility for the welfare of others. And, as in the world, the essential meaner for such a transformation was not rational appeal to the intellect but rhetorical appeal to those deeper levels in man that alone could move the will. Thus Patriarch argued for the superiority over rational philosophers of moral teachers who could sow the love of virtue in the very hearts of men. 25] For Villa rhetoric was thus the only branch of secular learning (except for philology) applicable to theology. 26] The implications of this position for the importance and character of preaching seem clear. A new conception of man was also reflected in a changed conc eption of God, in accordance, perhaps, not only with Renaissance emphasis on man's creation in God's likeness and image but also with Calling's recognition of the reciprocal relationship between man's understanding of himself and his knowledge of God. 27] Like man, God could no longer be perceived as a contemplative being, as Aristotle unmoved mover, operating in the universe not directly but through a research of intermediate powers. [28] Laymen active in the world required a God who was also active, who exercised a direct and vigilant control over all things, like that to which they aspired for themselves.God too had therefore to be perceived as primarily will, intellectually beyond man's grasp yet revealing something of himself? all, at any rate, that man needed to know?in his actions, above all as recorded in Holy Scripture. And from Patriarch's sense of the free, mysterious, and incalculable nature of God,[29] Salutation went on to defend the anthropomorphic representations f G od in the Bible as a form of communication appropriate to men's capacities. [30] Villa was, as one might expect, even clearer that the God of philosophy could not be the God of faith. 31] In spite of all this, it is nevertheless undeniable that the culture of the Italian Renaissance did not culminate in Protestantism, although even on this point our old sense of the immunity of Italy to the impulses of the Reformation is no longer altogether tenable. [32] Yet it remains true that the religious thought of Renaissance Italy remained no more than an incoherent bundle of monumental insights, and it was unable to rid itself of fundamental contradictions; again, however, the contrast with Northern Europe seems hardly absolute.Above all it failed to complete its conviction of man's intellectual limitations, which pushed him only part of the way into the realm of grace, with full conviction of his moral impotence. Even here its vision of man suggests a deepening in the understanding of sin and the human obstacles to salvation; and there is abundant evidence of a pessimistic estimate of the human condition in Patriarch, Salutation, Pogo, Villa, and later, in a different form, in Machiavelli andCaricaturing. Yet Renaissance emphasis on the central importance of the will frequently served chiefly to nourish the moralist that so deeply permeated later medieval piety,[33] contributing both to the notion of Christianity as the pursuit of moral perfection and of the church as essentially a system of government; [34] Renaissance humanism remained, in Lather's sense, Appealing.The consequence was, however, that Renaissance culture in Italy, like Scholastic theology in the north, helped to intensify, from both directions at once, the unbearable tension between he moral obligations and the moral capacities of the Christian that could at last find relief only in either a repudiation of Renaissance attitudes or the theology of the Reformation. But it could not resolve the problem itself, and we must ask why this was so. Part of the explanation is connected with the fact that some among the figures we have cited were lacking in theological interests, while the rest were amateurs whose major activity lay elsewhere.The result was an inability to develop the full implications of their assumptions, which was supplemented by prejudice against intellectual labor too closely resembling the Scholasticism they despised. In addition, closely attached to particular societies in which, traditionally, no distinction was made between Christianity and citizenship, they were unable to ach

A Report Into Consumer Behavioural Theory

Understanding consumer behaviour allows us to engage more effectively with our target market and increase sales * It is vital we understand the needs of our target market and their motivation for purchasing Benecol or alternative products. * Giving Value to a product after we understand our consumers’ needs and motivation for purchase can increase positive interaction with our market. * When marketing a product, it is advised that the advertisement attaches itself best to the needs and value of consumers with relevant and engaging information. Creating a psychological struggle for customers as well as curing it can be vital to increase market share and customer satisfaction. * Overcoming pre-purchase alternatives to Benecol is a great challenge due to the highly saturated market the brand finds itself in, although this is not impossible as promotion of the products health benefits can lift it. * Consumers can be conditioned to relate to Benecol both consciously and unconsciously through various marketing and production techniques. Marketing strategies can be put in place which are directly or indirectly linked to the purchase or use of the product that gain short or long term boosts in sales or customer satisfaction such as sales promotions or school giveaways to promote health in children which improves brand reputation. * Taking advantage of every point of interaction between the product and the consumer can greatly increase the likelihood that a customer will become loyal to the brand and perhaps even aid the increase of market share. Introduction Consumer behavioural theory gives marketing departments the opportunity to gain a more effective understanding of the customers they have or wish to attain. The theories attached to this subject emotional, cognitive and psychological reaction to marketing and brand management. The following is a report on consumer behaviour related to the Benecol brand with the intention to gain a better organisational understanding of marketing theories and methods relevant to the specific brand. Due to the market segmentation of Benecol, the report largely aims to focus on consumer behaviour closely linked to health and food products, as well as applying more general consumer behavioural theory where relevant. As the relevant theories to consumer behaviour in the case of Benecol are outlined, recommendations will be made in order to aid the company in customer acquisition, retention and satisfaction. Motivation and Need Recognition In assembling this report it was understood that many theories of behavioural aspects of marketing are derived from an organisation’s awareness and understand of its target markets’ needs and desires and those who utilise this most effectively are often the most successful brands. For instance, Coca-Cola has no health benefits, therefore it is marketed as hedonistic product and the more its target market become increasingly health-conscious the more Coke will play on its slogan ‘enjoy’, whilst also increasing its market share in other ways, i. e. hrough the purchase of shares in drinks companies that promote health (Macalister & Teather, 2010). The need or desire that is recognised by Benecol’s products is clearly the reduction of cholesterol, the motivation for this is increased health as well as Benecol’s ease of use. The motivation for buying a product that increases the health of the consumer is self-evident in many ways. Value Theory Many researchers have suggested that consumers are ‘value driven’ and find that the enjoyment of a product is balanced between what is given and what is received (Torben, 2005). In short, this theory argues the following factors are counted when a future purchase is considered: From this, it could be argued that Benecol’s price and quality are subjective to the customer as the benefits from use of said product are only noticeable long-term and the economic cost of the range are noticeably, although not unreasonably, higher than alternatives. However, the value the product gives to the consumer from a marketing perspective will be discussed in greater details through other behavioural theories as the above chart is too rudimentary to give explicit argument to Benecol’s potential without more exploration. Information Processing Something highly intrinsic to the product value of Benecol is the emphasis on being ‘the only range of foods to contain Plant Stanol Ester, a unique cholesterol lowering ingredient. ’ (Rasio Plc. , 2011). Getting this information to the public through advertising happens through the brand website, but on television the advertising is focused on basic prompts that will motivate the audience into believing in the benefits of using the product. One example is the latest UK advert which places stress on the convenience of the product with a line in fairly small print about the plant stanol ester underneath the visual of how easy it can be to help lower cholesterol. The information of stanols is considered secondary in marketing the convenience product and therefore is only likely absorbed by those already interested in the product or the advertising. Dissonance This theory is based on a consumer’s cognitive struggle where two beliefs that are reasoned to be true are not consistent. This process of a cognitive clash brings about a motivation to come to a positive conclusion where a psychological compromise can occur to bring an end to the inconsistency, therefore ending the dissonance (Torben, 2005). By advertising the negative effects rival products can have on a consumer’s health, Benecol creates a struggle within the consumer’s mind that whilst they enjoy their regular food and dairy products, they are damaging to their health by creating large amounts of cholesterol. Benecol is then introduced as an alternative to health-damaging products that bridges the psychological inconsistencies in the consumer’s mind by offering a products that helps prevent cholesterol whilst not taking enjoyment away from eating. By offering advertisement reinforced with clinically proven information, the customer is also limited in averting the dissonance caused by Benecol’s initial information about rival product. Benecol therefore markets by initiating dissonance and then promoting a solution to end the consumer’s self-conflict. Balance Theory and Modelling This motivational theory argues that ‘people desire cognitive consistency in their drive to achieve psychological balance in their thoughts, feelings and social relationships’ (Dacko, 2008). In relation to marketing, consumer can be attracted or put off of a product due to a linked influencer even if it is not directly linked to the product, also known as modelling. For example, a woman could be attracted to an anti-wrinkle cream if she sees it endorsed by Dame Helen Mirren because she is a fan of the actress’ work and beauty. Similarly, if an organisation were thinking of using Accenture, a deal could have been negatively affected due to the unrelated infidelities of Tiger Woods, had the latter not ceased to sponsor him when they did. The theory promoted by Benecol is the trifecta of a person balancing convenience, taste and health. Ergo, Benecol is promoted as a product that does not impede on the consumer’s convenience from daily routine in preparing food, manages to taste as good as unhealthy products whilst being a product that promotes good health. Although it has done in the past with Carol Vorderman, Benecol currently does not market its product using celebrity endorsement, something that its rivals, Activia and Actimel do in the UK. Although these products are not exactly the same as Benecol, they produce many products in the same market advertising similar benefits, such as yoghurts and mini-drinks that aid well-being. Pre-purchase Alternative Evaluation This theory bases its argument on the focus that a customer makes a cognitive and emotional decision on the alternatives to the product in question before a purchase is made. Through judging the price, quality and branding of the products in question cognitively, a consumer will then make their decision based on the positive or negative effects that the previous factors will have on their life. As Benecol is marketed as an alternative to unhealthy dairy staples such as yoghurts and spreads, it is undeniable that the market that Benecol is placed in is highly competitive. Benecol spread is nearly twice as expensive as similar products including own brand olive spreads that cost under half the price for twice the weight of product (Ocado, 2011). The following is a statement from international brand analysts Datamonitor in a report for the UK dairy industry: ‘From the consumer's point of view, dairy products may be used directly as food or beverages, or ingredients for other home-made foods. There are a wide range of foods and drinks that can be used in similar ways to dairy products, so if dairy prices raise too high, it is easy for consumers to replace them with alternatives. This reduces the pricing freedom of retailers and market players. Some of the alternatives may have advantages for retailers, such as cheaper storage or higher margins. The threat of substitutes is assessed here as strong, although dairy products are important parts of most peoples' diet and are unlikely to be completely replaced’ (Datamonitor, 2008). From this we see that Benecol has the challenge to promote the positive effects it can have on a consumer’s life rather than any economic benefits it may possess, unless it was marketed in a way that suggested it could save customers money in the long-term as a prevention of high spending due to ill-health. This however is playing on consumer fear and would not be recommended as a means of increasing customer acquisition, retention or satisfaction. Classical Conditioning This theory refers to an argument that consumers can be programmed into acting without being conscious of their conditioning. Through classical conditioning it is argued that by stimulating different emotional states in a consumer through the use of marketing, product placement, packaging or use, the consumer’s approach to the product becomes altered to act immediately with a certain approach to a product that is involuntary (East, Wright, & Vanhuele, 2008). With Benecol, it could be argued that consumers are conditioned into both positive and negative emotional reactions through our marketing. The deep mint green logo surrounded by a heart blended with soft, sky blue backgrounds in our packaging and advertising is warming and few products in the same or similar markets share the same colour scheme so not only are we unique in our packaging so when customers do see similar colours, they are quickly linked back to Benecol which aids them to buy more. As mentioned in relation to other theories of consumer behaviour, fear plays a large part in motivating one to purchase an item which promotes health. Although as a company it would not be ethical to play on fear to boost sales, there is no denying the very real possibility that consumers are motivated to purchase goods when they are conditioned to understand that not doing so could lead them to health problems down the line.

Discuss the main causes and effects of gun crime in the USA Essay - 1

Discuss the main causes and effects of gun crime in the USA - Essay Example As the thief’s and robbers have to get a more ‘effective’ weapon to facilitate the robbing, they have chosen the gun as, to them, is the most efficient and convenient weapon to use. This paper will be discussing the causes and effects of gun crime in the US. For some time now, people believed that owning a gun made someone more secure. In this regard, those that felt that they were in any form of threats from robbers and so on would get a license so as they can purchase a gun and use it to protect themselves (Killias 1993). The belief that guns make a nation safer has been refuted by US doctors after they have noted that areas with high rates of people owning guns record many gun-related deaths than in countries where owning a gun is rare. Their findings were published in the American Journal of Medicine â€Å" (Miller & Hemenway 19). While compared to the Japan, the US has the most death related to gun and has the highest rates of individuals owning guns while compared to Japan. Several discussions have been around to discuss what specifically causes gun crimes in the US. Some of these reasons will be discussed below. In this case, it can be concluded that the mental condition of an individual is a threat to the population if the person comes across a weapon as powerful as a gun. Still, this underscores how much gun ownership can be a threat to the society since the patients involved in the mass killings would not have found a gun to commit the crime in the first place. One primary cause of gun crime is ownership of guns itself. In the US, for example, there are about 10.2 guns per every 100,000 people while the UK has 0.25 guns per every 100,000 people (Airi, et al 2009). When the two countries are compared in respect to the number of gun-related crimes reported in the country, the data shows that the US has extremely high firearm-related deaths while the UK record very few cases of firearm-related deaths. Although these countries, like any

Discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Discussion - Assignment Example This strategy shows that the company is socially responsible. Another demographic group that the firm warns should not smoke its product is pregnant women. Once again the label of the cigarette box states that cigarette smoking is dangerous for women that are pregnant. These two packaging warnings are examples of how Phillip Morris has adapted to the social cultural environmental force. The demographic target market of Phillip Morris is smokers between the ages of 18-35 years of age. The creation of the Marlboro Man is an example of character that was created by the company to adapt to the social cultural force by creating a character the common person could relate too. These smokers are more receptive to changes of brand. Older smokers tend to purchase the same brand of cigarettes every day. It is important for cigarette companies such as Phillip Morris to achieve customer retention due to the fact a daily smoker that stays with your company and purchases a daily box at $6 generates $2,190 in retail sales yearly. Older smokers are important as well and the firm should show appreciation for their business. In the future the company may make further cultural adaptations to comply with the needs of different cultures

Marketing plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing plan - Essay Example This is because Carl’s Jr. was selling the same type of hamburgers but at half the price. Others offer that the accompaniments that were served with the hamburger, mustard/mayo sauce on potato roll to be specific resulted to the failure. The mega campaign which failed was also partially blamed for the product failure as it targeted the adult population only. Still, some customers offer that the high calorie in the burger was the reason behind the product failure to capture the market. Background McDonalds is undoubtedly one of the fastest growing companies in the fast food industry, which is dominated by a host of players. Some of these players include Carl’s Jr, Burger King, KFC, and Pizza hut. These competitors pose a threat to McDonalds as they have conduced to the decrease in profits. This is because of the alternative products that these competitors continue to offer to the customers. McDonalds is a franchise of many companies with only 19% owed by the company. The company has over 33000 restaurants spread across the globe, serving close to 58 million customers. The company also has dozens of branches situated in 119 countries. McDonalds collected an average of $22,744,700 million in revenues from its global branches in 2009 with operating profits standing at $ 6,841000 million. Market Analysis Analysts predict that the fast food industry is growing at a first rate as customers’ demands for fresh quickly served meals surges. One of the dominant key players in this market is the McDonalds. The company is currently at its maturity level in the product life cycle. However, the fast food market faces constant decrement because of factors such as limited expansion sites, increasing operation costs, and market saturation. Vivid competition in the market has led to production promotion techniques such as price cuts, which have resulted to a diminution in profitability in the industry. Normal Forecast Most of the products that fail to capture the attention of customers in the market are not always inferior. In order for a company to succeed in launching a product, management has to undertake an in-depth research on the market. Through such an initiative, the organization can come up with creative ideas on the areas of packaging, market communication, and pricing. All these activities are facilitated through brainstorming with all the departments in the organization. Failure to consult will result to the release of uncompetitive products in terms of price, packaging, and market communication, into the market. The same applied to McDonald’s Arch Deluxe, which despite massive campaign, failed to sustain the market forces. As mentioned above, some of the reasons were high market price, mega campaign fail and poor market presentation. The other reason behind product failure is intensive competition. When many producers offer the same product to the market, the resultant effect will be edacious competition, where only t he superior products in price, packaging and advertising, end-up being selected by the customer. A good example is Carl’s Jr., which blocked the entry of McDonald’s Arch Deluxe. According to Brand marketing (2006, p. 3), Jack Greenberg McDonalds’ CEO, on an interview with the Financial Times consented that the company spent too much time deciding on when to launch the product. Most of the company’s marketing and branding decisions are made at the headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. As such, the

Should U.S. Military keep staying in South Korea Essay

Should U.S. Military keep staying in South Korea - Essay Example Contrary to the claims of the Bush Administration, they did not perceive of the U.S. military as a force of liberation and a symbol of freedom but as an aggressor who violated international laws through uninvited entry into a sovereign nation. While the Iraqi scenario is, arguably, typical of attitudes towards foreign military presence in a sovereign nation, the case of South Korea is somewhat different. South Korea is a sovereign nation whose sovereignty is not threatened by the U.S, military but ensured and protected through its continued presence. Despite the fact that some within South Korea are arguing in favour of the departure of the American military, the historical contribution of the U.S. military to South Korea and the role that it plays in the securitization of the nation support its continued presence. The majority of South Koreans, including President Roh and his government, are in favour of a U.S, military withdrawal from South Korea. The United States, according to Richard Halloran (2006), the military correspondent for the New York Times, is complying with the South Korean demand for withdrawal and has already begun phasing out its military forces in the country. The United States argues that its decision is based on a number of considerations. These include the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the resultant pressure they have placed on US military forces; the United States' belief that South Korea is finally in a position to assume responsibility for its own national defence; and South Korean public opinion (Halloran, 2006). Indeed, a recent public opinion poll has indicated that the majority of South Koreans are strongly in favour of U.S. military withdrawal and both the President and the government have repeatedly expressed the imperatives of U.S. military withdrawal from the country (Holloran, 2006). It is for these reasons that the United States has commenced military withdrawal from South Korea. A review of the historical contribution which the United States military has made to South Korea's stability, national security and evolution into a democratic nation supports arguments against withdrawal. The history of the US military presence in South Korea stretches back to 1945 when, at the conclusion of World War II, the American forces liberated the Korean Peninsula. As Yang, a Korean political scientist and author of North and South Korean Political Systems: A Comparative Analysis explains, prior to the American military liberation of Korea, the Peninsula had suffered 35 years of brutal Japanese military occupation. During those thirty-five years, the Japanese attempted to obliterate the Korean identity, exploited the nation and abused its population and, more importantly, completely undermined and annihilated the very notion of Korean sovereignty. While conceding to the fact that the United States hardly attempted to intervene in this situation prior to World War II, the fac t is that its eventual comprehension of the Japanese military threat motivated intervention in favour of the Korean Peninsula. Indeed, were it not for the United States' military, the Korean Peninsula is quite unlikely to have regained its sovereignty and independence as early as 1945 (Yang, 2004). In other words, US military intervention has played a profoundly constructive role in the country's history. Apart from its

Toy Central-Accounting Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Toy Central-Accounting Issues - Essay Example The researcher states that the presentation of financial statements should disclose transactions for related parties, accounting policies of the organization, and conflicts of interest between Troy Central Corporation and the transacting parties. The periodic financial statements need to be reviewed to ascertain adherence and enable the necessary revisions in the organization with respect to corporate requirements. Capitalized costs or licensing fees of Toy Central Corporation should be expensed when incurred considering the fact that assets are used up. Expenses are considered as money flowing out and liabilities are being incurred. The costs are incurred in the process of manufacturing toys, carrying out other company’s activities that involve the ongoing central operations and offering other related services. Amortization of costs over the life of a contract is appropriate, since Toy Central Corporation is an ongoing business. It is only acceptable for a period of not more than sixty months after the commencement of the business, the period of investigation of the probability for a new business that is being started. With regard to general business rules for expense deductions, it is not allowable to deduct the expenses of a new company, since expenses are assumed to be incurred prior the company’s birth. It is outlined that only expenses for a company that has been in operation for a long time can be deducted. It is however appropriate to amortize the capitalization costs of a new company if start up expenditure results in an operational entity and the equal installments deductions are started within first month of the business (Stickney, Weil, Schipper and Francis, 2009, p. 426-430) This process enables new companies to deduct the business investigating creation costs and the costs incurred in creating and starting up the business. It is important to note that the businesses can only deduct those costs that are deductible by business that exi sted and those that qualify for election. Expenses incurred in investigating business opportunities are deducted over the period of 60 months and are inclusive of expenses that relate to general and specific business situations like marketing, research, and development to determine the viability of the business opportunity. Other costs such as site identification and selection costs are included in amortizable costs. Amortizable costs of developing a new business may include costs such as advertising costs, consultancy fees, licensing fees and salaries. Costs that do not qualify for amortization include incorporation costs; start up costs for interests, experimental costs and property acquisition costs subject to depreciation (Carmichael and Graham, 2010, p.126). Delgo Movies accounting issues arise from Hollywood accounting, which is rather inconsistent with the generally accepted accounting principles. Delgo Movies use Hollywood accounting to budget and keep records of film produc tion financial gains. The issue of concern in Hollywood accounting is that expenditures of film production are often inflated to significantly reduce profits of the productions to decrease the burden of profit sharing agreements with respect

Essentials Mangement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Essentials Mangement - Essay Example â€Å"Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant, they is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks† (Johann Gottfried Von Herder, n.d) Motivation is accepted as the driving force behind every human action and organizational principles; whether it is traditional or new, also give much importance to motivation in a business setup. Human actions are primarily for certain goals and anything which helps them to achieve these goals will motivate them. Organizations are spending a substantial period of time in researching about the possible methods or strategies which can motivate the employees. Traditional methods like the rewards and punishments are not enough at present and the employees are thinking something beyond that because of the changing culture, social norms and life styles. The question of a generalised theory of motivation is on card for long time and many business experts are divided in their opinions about the above issue. This paper crit ically analyses the possibility of a generalised theory of motivation at work place. From the above diagram it is clear that achievement, recognition, nature of work and responsibility are the key motivating factors whereas how the business is run, supervision, work conditions and pay scale are the main areas which can demoralize or prevent the workers from achieving job satisfaction. An employee will be definitely motivated, if his achievements are recognized and complemented by the organization. For example, a worker who completes a project efficiently, economically and before the schedule should be complemented by some rewards which will boost his energy for improving his productivity further and further. On the other hand, if the organization fails to respond such outstanding piece of works will definitely prevent the employees from making a conscious effort

Incarceration of African American Males Essay Example for Free

Incarceration of African American Males Essay Introduction The trend of African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 has seen a dramatic increase of incarceration. Attention has been focusing on areas of housing, education, and healthcare but the most prominent problem for African American males is the increase in the incarceration rate. African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 incarceration rate has been thought, by many, to be caused by economic factors such as under employment or unemployment, poor housing, lack of education, and lack of healthcare. Yet, others believe it is due to the imbalance of minorities within the criminal justice system, such as judges, lawyers, and lawmakers. This paper will explore two different outlooks; society has come up with so far, as to why African American Males between the ages of 25 and 29 are increasingly incarcerated. Finally, the information will give awareness to the problems that is faced by African American Males between the ages of 25 and 29. Prevalence – Problem 1 More than 40% of all American prisoners, men and women, are African American men, yet they make up just 13% of the U. S. male population (Roberts, 2004). This statistic does not include those African American men who are in local jails nor does it include those African American men under custodial supervision (Table 2). They enter the state and federal prison system, at the prime of their economic and reproductive lives and yet they exit prison behind both economically and socially. The high rate of incarceration among African Americans has been noted by the interconnection of poor economy, lack of affordable housing, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, absence of a strong black male role model, lack of access to education, or some type of combination of these factors. Statistics don’t even give African American males a good chance to stay out of jail. They have a one in four chance of being incarcerated, while Hispanic American males have a one in six chance, and white males only have a one in twenty three chance of incarceration. The color of African Americans sets them apart and makes them targetable. Prevalence – Problem 2 There is evidence, in our American Justice System, of structural inequality as seen in the percentages of minorities to the percentage of majorities employed in high ranking positions, within the system. The percentage of United States judges by race are 79% Caucasian, 12% African American, and 2% Hispanics American (Federal Judicial Center, 2012), as for the thousands of lawyers in the United States it is approximate of 3% are African American (National Law Group, 2010-2011), and about 1 in 4 police officers are members of a racial or ethnic minority in 2007 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013). An investigation into racial profiling showed that African American and Hispanic American offenders, who often are young unemployed males, are more likely than their white counterparts (Spohn, C. , 2000). Their prison sentences are also typically longer or they receive differential benefits from guideline departures than do similarly situated white offenders (Spohn, C. , 2000). We must acknowledge the problems of racial disparity within the criminal justice system, communicate racial disparity within the criminal justice system with those we who are not informed of the problem, and stay committed to changing racial disparity within our justice system for change to begin. Causes In researching the high rate of incarceration in America it is more likely than not that the increase in African American Males being incarcerated is due to the War on Drugs (Table 1). It is public knowledge that drug crime ranks high among the effects of poverty. These poor neighborhoods not only endure crime they have poor schools, poor food, cramped living areas, and shortage of jobs if any jobs at all. Drugs and drug crime has become regularity in low income communities, arrests of Hispanics made up 55% of cocaine powder offences and 52% of marijuana offenses and 49% involving opiates: African Americans were suspected in 75% of crack cocaine cases; White males were suspected in 41% all methamphetamine cases (Motivans, M. , 2011). Decades of failed public and private remedies for chronic disparities and disadvantages in communities of color invite us to reexamine systems and institutions that provide and restrict opportunity in new ways (Lawrence, K. , 2011). The causes seem to be intertwined being poor equals, equals a poor education, equals lack of employment, and ultimately equals an increased rate of crime. Consequences The causes seem to be intertwined being poor, equals lack of education, which equals lack of employment, which equals increased rate of crime which equals impossibility to join criminal justice system. Also, many of these men are incarcerated while all the other non-incarcerated American young men are finishing school, starting careers, earning seniority at work, marrying and having children thus gaining capital. Even when released from prison, these men return back to their communities with a felony record that will pose extreme problems for them. The incarceration leads the released convict into a lower social class even if they were considered lower class Americans prior to their incarceration; they now are lower in social class standing in most instances. This leads to a poor African American community, perhaps as many as 50% of the male population will have been in prison. These incarcerated African American Males, who are in their prime of life, also are leaving half the families in this community facing such things as poverty, lack of affordable housing, mental illness, substance abuse, violence, absence of a strong black male role model, lack of access to education, or some type of combination of these factors. The community ultimately will become poverty stricken, struggling to survive, and ultimately vulnerable to the situation repeating. Solutions – How can this be changed? There are four key aspects to addressing racial disparity, in my opinion: 1. Acknowledge 2. Communication 3. Setback = Strength 4. Commitment Not only is the problem of racial disparity under recognized by society it is not being communicated effectively to make change. Majority groups needs to acknowledge racial disparity and minority groups need to communicate their knowledge regarding racial disparity. As each group majority and minority begins to become share their information with each other and work together for a common solution acknowledging there will be setbacks but with continued commitment systemic change will happen. Conclusion By refusing to tolerate disparate treatment of people of color or anyone within the criminal justice system we empower ourselves and our country. It is time that everyone including our legislators, law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges work collectively and courageously to eradicate this negative stigma. Despite, America being known for its equal rights we are living proof that in this era inequality is a factor that cannot be taken lightly. The statistics that are surrounding African American males is astounding. We need to empower African American males with the knowledge that they have a one in four chance of becoming incarcerated. It is also important to know that Hispanic males have a one in six chance, and white males have a one in twenty three chance of incarceration. All of these statistics need to be addressed to empower each and every one us. Throughout history we have not seen a change in majority groups (White, Male) and minority groups (Women, anyone that is not White) although we have seen numbers of minorities increasing at a fast pace. Today, however, the election of Barack Obama, not once but twice, may set the new ideal of what an American actually is. As we embrace different cultures and their ethnic backgrounds society will prosper. As society increases their knowledge, in regards to each person’s differences, they will acquire greater strength and prosperity. The only issue, that can occur, will be in the short term empowering others to embrace diversity. When we look beyond short-term, focus will shift to diverse empowerment through embracing the knowledge of our differences thus making us stronger as a society. TABLE 1: BLACK PROPORTION OF DRUG ARRESTS, EXCLUDING MARIJUANA POSSESSION YEAR BLACK % 1999 40. 1 2000 39. 3 2001 39. 1 2002 35. 8 2003 33. 8 2004 33. 1 2005 33. 2 Data calculated from drug arrest figures by race provided by the Uniform Crime Reports division of the FBI TABLE 2: FBI CRIME REPORT Arrests By Race, 2006 [11,249 agencies; 2006 estimated population 216,685,152] Total White Black American Indian or Alaskan Native Asian or Pacific islander Total White Black American Indian or Alaskan Native Asian or Pacific Islander TOTAL 10,437,620. 7270214 2924724 130589 112093 100. 0 69. 7 28 1. 3 1. 1 Drug abuse violations 1376192 875101 483886 8198 9607 1000 63. 6 35. 1 0. 6 0. 7 DUI’S 1034651 914226 95260 13484 11681 100 88. 4 9. 2 1. 3 1. 1 Liquor laws 466323 398068 50035 12831 5389 100 85. 4 10. 7 2. 8 1. 2 Drunken-ness 408439 344155 54113 7884 2287 100 84. 3 13. 2 1. 9 0. 6 Dis-orderly conduct 5117264 325991 179733 7606 3934 100 63. 0 34. 7 1. 5 0. 8 (The FBI: Uniform Crime Report, 2010) References Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013, http://bjs. ojp. usdoj. gov/index. cfm? ty=tptid=71 The FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 2010, Table 43, http://www. fbi. gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u. s/2010/crime-in-the-u. s. -2010/tables/table-43 Federal Judicial Center, 2012, Overview of the United States Court System, http://www. fjc. gov/public/pdf. nsf/lookup/FJC_Standard_PPT_English_June_2012. pdf/$file/FJC_Standard_PPT_English_June_2012. pdf Lawrence, K. , 2011, Race, Crime, and Punishment: Breaking the Connection in America, http://www. aspeninstitute. org/sites/default/files/content/docs/pubs/Race-Crime-Punishment. pdf Motivans, Mark, 2011, Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, http://bjs. ojp. usdoj. gov/content/pub/pdf/fjs09. pdf National Law Group 2010-2011, http://blacklawyers. net/ Roberts, D. , 2004, Measuring the Social and Moral Cost of Mass Incarceration, in African American Communities, http://www. law. fsu. edu/faculty/2003-2004workshops/roberts. pdf Spohn,C. ,2000, Thirty Years of Sentencing Reform: The Quest for a Racially Neutral Sentencing Process, http://www. justicestudies. com/pubs/livelink3-1. pdf.

Benefits of Activity Based Costing, ABC

Benefits of Activity Based Costing, ABC Activity Based Costing (ABC) is an accounting method that assigns costs to activities according to their use of resources, rather than products or services. This enables resources and other related costs to be more accurately attributed to the products and the services which they use. It does not change or eliminate any costs, in the other way; it provides detailed information on how costs are consumed. The main benefits of Activity Based Costing are providing understanding into the fastest growing and least visible element of cost-overhead. We can also improve profitability by monitoring total life-cycle cost and performance so that we can improve the effectiveness of budgeting by identifying the cost of different service levels. In addition, ABC costing does encourage continuous improvement and total quality control because control and planning are directed at the process level and it links the corporate strategy to operational decision making. By using ABC costing, we can also eli minate waste by providing visibility of non-value added activities. Besides that, ABC costing help to improve make or buy, estimating, and pricing decisions which based on product cost that reflects the manufacturing process. Although there are many benefits of ABC costing, there are also a few limitations. (J. Antos) Limitations of Activity based Costing There are a few limitation of using ABC costing. First, we may consuming more time to collect data for example data concerning numerous activity, collecting data, checking data, and entering them into the system. Besides that, once implemented, the activity-based coting is costly to maintain for example the cost of buying, implementing, and maintaining activity-based system. This system may make waste visible which some executives and managers do not want their boss to see because it may be difficult to set up and establish, particularly if that organization is using more traditional accounting method. Furthermore, it can be time consuming if all activities are to be costed and also it may provide too much details which obscuring the bigger picture. Activity-based costing data can easily be misunderstood so it must be used carefully especially when it is used for decision making. Before making any significant decisions using activity-based costing data, managers must recognize the co sts which are really relevant for the decision at hand. (Ray H. Garrison, 2008) Value-Added versus Non-value-Added Activities Every organization requires information to allocate resources, monitor the actions taken, set priority and make decisions. Activity-base costing provides the accurate cost information by allocating overhead costs. However, activity-based management is focusing on enhance the use of ABC from product costing to a comprehensive management tool that concentrate on decreasing the costs and concurrently improving processes and decision making. After that, a refinement of ABC used in activity based management is the classification of activities to value-added and non-value-added. A non-value-added activity can de defined as the production or service related activities that can be eliminated with no deterioration of product attributes ( Miller, 1992). Non-value-added activities are activities that simply add cost to or increase the time spent on a product without increasing the market value of the products. Activities such as the storage of inventory, building maintenance; inspection and inv entory control are examples of non-value-added activities in manufacturing companies. Examples of non-value-added activities in service industry consist of bookkeeping, billing, traveling, advertising, cleaning, taking appointment, reception and etcetera. According to David and Robert (1995), making non-value-added activities visible is one of the advantage of activity based management but it is the most difficult to achieve. Value-added activities are activities that increase the worth or market value of a product or service to customers. For instance, activities like engineering design, machining, packaging, performing surgery, providing legal research for legal services and etcetera are categorized as value-added activities. When people understand and accept the reasons why an activity is classified as non-value added or value added then the clarity and understanding between value-added and non-value-added activities are achieved (Miller,1996). Cost Hierarchy In Activity-Based Costing A cost hierarchy classifies costs into different cost pools on the basis of different type of cost driver or cost allocation bases or different degrees of difficulty in identifying cause-and-effect or benefits-received relationships(Horngren et al. p 142, 1999). There are four levels to identify cost allocation bases or cost drivers, the classification is shown as follow: Unit-level activities: these activities can be defined as resources sacrificed on activities performed on each individual unit of a product or service (Horngren et al, 1999). For instance, manufacturing operating costs such as energy and repair which have relationship with the activity of running a machine are unit-level activities. Batch-level activities: Activities performed for a group of product units or services rather than to each individual unit of product or service (Horngren et al, 1999). Examples of batch-level cost in manufacturing are setup cost and procurement costs. Then, the number of setups or setup time is examples of cost drivers in batch-level activities. Product-sustaining activities: These activities are defined as resources sacrificed on activities that performed in support of an entire product line, but not performed every time when a new batch or unit of products is produced (Horngren et al.,1999). Design costs and engineering costs are examples of product-sustaining activities in manufacturing industry. Facility-level activities: Activities required to support or sustain the organization as a whole and cannot be traced to individual product (Horngren et al, 1999). The example of this activity includes home office general administration costs. In fact, the successful classification of these activities provide managers a structured way of thinking about the relationships between activities and the resources they consume. Activity Based Costing for Service Industries and Small Business It is widely known that activity based costing has been used by most of the large corporation such as manufacturers. In fact, activity based costing has been widely implemented by small business and service industries such as banks, airlines, hotels, hospitals, insurance companies, financial services firms, accounting firm, railroads and etcetera. However, activity based costing has seemed to be more successful when implemented in large corporation rather than using in small business. According to Henrick noted, he mentioned that companies with not so much products and markets are not seemed to get as much advantages from basing costs on activities as companies operating with diverse products, service lines, channels and customers. Actually the primary objective of activity based costing in small industry is no different with manufacturing company. The objective is to figure out the key activities that generate costs and to record how many of those activities are performed for each service provided. Then, managers are able to generate data to provide better budget and concurrently the expenses of a company are known better. The prevalent approach to identify activities, activity cost pools, and cost drivers is the same for manufacturing company and service companies. In addition, the classifying of activities as value-added and non-value added, and the effort to decrease or eliminate non-value added activities are used in service industries too. Since service industries and manufacturer companies are using the same objective of activity based costing, then why sometimes it is difficult in adopting activity-based costing in service industries? The difficulty of implementing activity-based costing in service comp anies is that a larger proportion of overhead costs are company-wide costs that cannot be directly traced to specific services provided by the company. (Weygant.) Besides that, many of the expenses in service industries are caused by product (services) such as savings account and home mortgage. However, many expenses for service functions are caused by demands by individual customers rather than service demands. Thus, customer behavior which is the feature distinguishing these systems from activity based costing as used in manufacturing companies has to be taken into account when implementing ABC system in services industries( Cooper and Kaplan, p. 467, 1991). Service companies offer differentiate services in order to satisfy customer needs. Each service, with its characteristics, makes different demands on the organizations resources. Thus, service companies have to improve their service quality and the variety in service line. Concurrently, service companies have to focus on customer economics far more than manufacturing companies. The cost of marketing, selling, delivery and serving of the products might be customer specific in manufacturin g companies. In contrast, for service companies, even the basic operating costs of standard service are determined by customer behavior (Cooper and Kaplan, pp234-235, 1998). Therefore, a fine ABC system for Service Company will provide the information for the measurement of costs and profitability at the customer segment level and market level. Since small business and large companies are using the same objective of activity based costing, then why does small business get less benefit from using activity based costing compare with large corporation? In fact, lack of knowledge and technical people in adopting the activity based costing system in small business may lead to unsuccessful of using this system in small business. Moreover, activity based costing software is expensive.   Most ABC practitioners find that special-purpose ABC software is required to make the task manageable. At $6,000 and up for one package sold by ABC Technologies, software can add significantly to outlays for this type of accounting technique ( Mark Henricks, 1999). So, small business considers using ABC is wasting of money due to not so much profits and products differentiation for their products. Thus, they omit using ABC. Developing Of New Approach to ABC Activity-based Costing system used in large corporation and service industries for the current grouping of costs and analysis of profitability of product (service) tend to be complex, costly and hard to adjust to quickly changing business environment. For example, ABC system used in several years ago in large financial service firm required seven hundred employees at more than one hundred facilities to submit monthly survey of their time. Thus the company employed 14 full time people just to collect and process the data and concurrently prepare management reports which took more than thirty days to prepare (Kaplan Anderson, p 3, 2007). Some employees questioned the accuracy of product and activity cost calculations due to long time to prepare reports and complexity of ABC system. As a result, operation, marketing and sales managers spent time to argue the correctness and accuracy of calculations instead of making decisions improving effectiveness of processes, profitability of produ cts and customers and capacity utilization. Therefore, Kaplan and Anderson developed new formulae of activity-based costing namely Time-Driven Activity Based Costing (TDABC). It was designed to eliminate the problems in ABC system implementation and operation in large entities. Thus, Kaplan and Anderson who was the author of the new formulae identified the following problems with conventional ABC model: ( Kaplan Anderson, p 7, 2007) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ It was costly and long time had to be taken for interviewing and surveying process. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Data for the ABC models were subjective and hard to validate. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ It was expensive to store, process and report the data. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Most of the ABC model were local and did not provide an integrated view of company-wide integrated profitability opportunity. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The ABC model could not be easily uploaded in order to accommodate the quickly change of business environment. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The model was incorrect when it ignored potential for unused capacity. Conclusion A Traditional Costing System is an accounting system that assigns overhead to products on the basis of predetermined plant wide volume of unit based output rates such as machine hour and direct labor. (Jerry J. Weygandt., Donald E. Kieso., Paul D.Kimmel., 2002) In contra, ABC system is using the different way to identify activity cost pool by allocating overhead, after that, the costs are assigned to products using related cost drivers that measure the activity consumed. ABC system bring a few benefits for managers in a company which provide more accurate product costs, better cost control and better data for decision making .(Ray H. Garrison., Eric W. Noreen., 1997) However, this system also has several limitation which is the difficulty involved in gathering data relating to cost drivers and activities centers. Although there are a few limitations, ABC system is a useful accounting system under certain conditions and it is a suitable costing system to use. The redesign and setting up a new costing system is a very important decision to a company because these require substantial cost and much more effort to achieve. Therefore, managers should be very careful when implementing new changes in costing system. (Jerry J. Weygandt., Donald E. Kieso., Paul D.Kimmel., 2002)

The symbolism of fire in literature

The symbolism of fire in literature Looking Past the Smokescreen â€Å"Fire represents many things to many people and cultures. It is recognized as a purifier, a destroyer and as the generative power of life, energy and change. It represents illumination and enlightenment, destruction and renewal, spirituality and damnation† (Varner). Throughout history, fire became a very significant element in the principle of human development because of its versatility, such as lighting, communicating, and protection from predators. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury takes the representation of fire to a whole new level. Imagine living in a world where people are not in control of their own thoughts. Imagine living in a society populated by non-readers, people with no sense of their own history, a government that has banned books. Imagine being Guy Montag, a fireman in Fahrenheit 451 who burns books for a living. In Montag’s world, firemen produce fires instead of eliminating them to destroy any works of literature, for they promote creativity and free thinking, which is a threat to the government. Set in the 24th century, in the midst of a nuclear war, this dystopian novel tells the story of a futuristic period of time when books are illegal, and the punishment for whoever holds one in possession is to have his books and house burned to ashes. While walking home from work, Montag meets a young, bright girl named Clarisse. She tells him that firemen once used to put fires out instead of starting them, which he thinks to be nonsense. Later on, Montag realizes that fire can mean much more than what he uses it for. Throughout the novel, fire is present to imply several meanings that can be made explicit by referring to destruction, warmth and beauty, and resurrection. Fire seems to have many symbols throughout the novel, but the most recognisable is destruction. At the beginning of the book, Montag is shown as a fireman that is filled with pleasure as books are burned. The very first passage in the novel states, â€Å"It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed† (Bradbury, 1). This narration by Montag expresses his love for fire and the ruin that follows. Fire is destruction, fire is power. One flame can burn a whole house down to the ground. After meeting Clarisse, she asks about his job, his marriage, why he burns books, and if he is truly happy. Being faced with these questions, Montag realizes that he is not happy with his life, and he thinks that books might contain answers for the reason of his unhappiness. Although he is an enforcer of the law of books being banned, Montag is found a lawbreaker himself. Later in the novel, Montag starts stealing a couple of books from collections he is sent to burn. He brings these books home and hides them in the furnace, secretly reading them day by day. However, his wife Mildred has a different point of view when it comes to books; she did not quiet agree with her husband’s actions. One day, Montag leaves for work, not knowing that his wife has other arrangements. While on the job, the alarm goes off, meaning another house to burn. Montag realizes that the address shown on the screen of the alarm, is his own. Once he arrives with his co-workers at their destination, he sees his wife driven away in a taxi with a suitcase. He realizes that his wife must have called in the alarm on him. Beatty, the captain of the fire department, orders Montag to burn his own house with his flamethrower. In the process of burning the house, Montag narrates, â€Å"The house fell in red coals and black ash. It bedded itself down in sleepy pink gray cinders and a smoke plume blew over it† (Bradbury, 54). At that moment , it is evident that Montag sees fire as a negative force, a destructive nature of firemen. Although Montag sees pleasure in burning in the beginning of the novel, his view of fire changes to destruction when he loses his books and home. In contrast to destruction, in the course of the novel, Montag’s opinion on fire changes once more, making him interpret fire to be beautiful and a source of warmth. It is beauty. â€Å"He hadnt known fire could look this way. He had never thought in his life that it could give as well as take. Even its smell was different† (Bradbury, 68). In his eyes, everything about fire cried beauty, from its intense colours to its dancing flames. Another way fire is expressed to be beautiful is when Beatty says, â€Å"Its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences. A problem gets too burdensome, then into the furnace with it† (Bradbury, 53). The reason to why books are burned is because the government wants its people to not worry about problems, for it is believed that with too much knowledge comes responsibilities and complications. After breaking the law, Montag runs away and finds a camp fire where he meets a man named Granger and many other intellec tuals. He realizes that the camp fire was welcoming, much different than he has always known it to be, destructive. He is surprised by his thought when he sits around the fire with the others by narrating, â€Å"It was not burning; it was warming! He saw many hands held to its warmth, hands without arms, hidden in darkness [†¦] How long he stood he did not know [†¦] He stood a long time, listening to the warm crackle of the flames† (Bradbury, 68). Through the symbol of ‘the hearth’, which is usually found in the centre of homes as a source of heat, it is revealed that fire can be warming as well. Although at the beginning of the book, Montag has a love for the destructive side of fire, by the end of his journey, he is able to see a beautiful, warming side to it. Equally important, fire gives a symbolic meaning of resurrection when referring to the Phoenix. There was a silly damn bird called a Phoenix back before Christ: every few hundred years he built a pyre and burned himself up. He must have been first cousin to Man. But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Bradbury, 76). After the nuclear war and the bombing of the city, Granger associates mankind with the Phoenix bird that burns itself up in flames and is reborn out of its ashes. â€Å"It looks like were doing the same thing, over and over, but weve got one damn thing the Phoenix never had. We know the damn silly thing we just did. We know all the damn silly things weve done for a thousand years, and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it, someday well stop making the goddam funeral pyres and jumping into the middle of them. We pick up a few more people that remember, every generation (Bradbury, 76). The difference between humans and the phoenix is that humans have the ability to identify their mistakes, and are aware of not committing them over and over again. The fire brings the death of old, and the birth of new. This similarity is effective because it provides the reader with a sense of self-renewed hope for humankind. In the last section of the novel, fire is represented as the rebirth of mankind by building another society where man would embrace knowledge instead of be afraid of it. Destruction, warmth and beauty, and resurrection are three of the most noticeable representation of fire in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. At first, Montag only knows the damaging power of fire, yet gradually comes to appreciate that fire can be engaging and renewing. The author uses the symbol of fire as a destructive force by burning books and homes of characters in the novel. When Montag realizes that fire can be used for more than just destroying houses, he associates it with warmth and beauty. Last but not least, the Phoenix signifies fire because it destroys itself in flames and is then reborn, just as Montag’s world is destroyed by the nuclear weapons in order to start a new beginning. Ray Bradbury was telling us that fire impersonates the actions of the characters, and how they view fire to be a negative or a positive force. The author successfully shows the various interpretations of fire through the development of Montag’s mind, and the same fire that h ad control over Montag before, will now assist him in creating a new intellectual world. Works Cited Primary Sources: Bradbury, Ray.Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Book Club. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. http://lhsblogs.typepad.com/files/complete-text.pdf>. Secondary Sources: Varner, Gary. Fire Symbolism in Myth and Religion. AuthorsDen, 2009. Web. 12 July 2014. http://www.authorsden.com/categories/article_top.asp?catid=62id=43114>.

Reference to a Proposed Production of a play All My Sons :: All My Sons Plays Drama Theatre Essays

Reference to a Proposed Production of a play All My Sons Dear Mr Smith, I am writing to you with reference to your proposed production of my play 'All My Sons'. I, like most authors, have standards and expectations for productions of my writing, which is why I have decided to write to you and inform you of some criteria that might help you in the production of 'All My Sons'. In the 1920's after the First World War, many countries were bankrupt because of the amount of money they had invested into the war. The USA came to their rescue by loaning them vast amounts of money to pay off debts. In 1929, share prices fell and so the USA called back for the loans that they had lent but the countries were still in debt. Many Americans tried to take their money out of the banks but the banks hadn't any money to give to customers. This contributed to the Great Depression, which made a massive increase in unemployment. One of the people who became unemployed was my father, a coat manufacturer. This was the initial inspiration of writing 'All My Sons'. Another reason that inspired me to write 'All My Sons', was the way that events during the Second World War were making Americans live and treat each other differently. I experienced the wave of patriotism and I also saw how fellow Americans were exploiting the war and making profit from other's suffering. By writing this play, I felt that citizens of the world would finally be able to see an image of the real American Middle Class character, reflecting their self-interest. In 'All My Sons', Keller talks about "little men" when describing Steve Deever. This is ironic because Keller himself is a little man. "Little men" are people that always compete with each other so that they would be better than the next person, they don't really think about what they are doing as long as they are successful. When something bad happens, the "little men" don't have the courage to own up to the big men. "Little men" are a problem in today's society, as they don't care to have responsibility over their actions even when the problems could be sorted out simply (Keller could have told Steve not to give the parts to the army and then death wouldn't be the result. The audience can now see Keller in two different ways. To some people Keller may seem selfish and irresponsible and too others Keller may be loving and hard working. Keller's two sides are all at the expense of other people and cause their suffering such as Steve and the airman.

Reflective Essay: The Writing Process -- Reflective Essay

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." - - - Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the semester I have had to write a number of essays using a variety of techniques. Before college, I would write assuming that the only reader, or audience, would be my teacher. Composition helped me realize the many steps that are involved in the writing process from free writing to making a final copy. In order to create a good paper you need organize your ideas. Also, I realize what needs to be in a essay and what doesn’t.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have improved in my writing but organization has been my problem, and even though I’ve made a progress. I still believe I have not fully succeed on this area but I’m going to improve on it. The process of using multiple drafts has improved me to over look on my mistakes. Before I would never go back and have someone else to revise on my papers. The most valuable lesson I have learned about the writing process this semester is mostly editing and revising drafts to lead to a perfect final paper. Able to write on college level, I am going let other people revise my papers. Then I can improve myself as a writer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My favorite assignments was the rhetoric and advertising because it was something I have never done before. I found that describing the same scene in different circumstances was difficult because they all had a similar scene. I be...

A Comparison Between Two Complementary Poems Essay

The two complementary poems ‘Old Father’ and ‘Island Man’ are based on the subject of two diverse men who are coping with an experience of migrating to another country. In this coursework we will discuss these poems, then compare, and contrast their theme and language. Hugh Boatswain’s ‘Old Father’ appeared in an anthology called ‘Writing’ in 1978. Boatswain’s work speaks to the condition of the racial tensions in the 70’s and engages, in sparse poetic form, in much of the cultural analysis. Boatswain’s poems demonstrate the importance of creativity, cultural transaction, and transition in the historicizing of West Indian migration and settlement in Britain. The poet has used a narrative description in the poem to portray his views and thoughts to the members of the audience. The poem relates to a series of events of old father in a chronological order of his life. The poem depicts the livelihood and culture of a person from a distant atmosphere and surrounding who goes through a lot of hardships in the beginning due to the unknown environment. The poet has then given a brief sketch of his adaptation to the society and how he changes to accept those adaptations. The poem creates a depressing feeling in our hearts as the poet describes how old father forgets his culture and roots by his behaviour. The poet has described his views in rather an ambiguous way; no information obtained by us can be strongly evident. It tells the story of an old or older figure in the black community, how old is not known but can be presumed to the mid thirties or more. The title ‘Old Father’ depicts a personage of high value, a person who would hold up and support the beliefs and values of the society. The title describes a man of experience, ingenuity, and responsibility. In the beginning of his shift to England the Caribbean man craved to return to his homeland. The poet then discusses how old father bought a turning point in his life and started changing his lifestyle to get more accepted in the society. This is indicated by the words ‘Old Father feet begin to shift. His roots have no meaning now’ (Line No. 10 and 11). This is also an example of one of many metaphors in the poems, i.e. his feet are not actually shifting but his attitude is changing and he is accepting his situation in the society and is trying to improve it. In this process he is leaving nothing out, to the extent that he is ready to change his values, beliefs and ethical values to receive acceptance. He then discusses about old fathers personal and love life, he also brings up the point of how he changes his attitude towards his own friends of his race. Boatswain has added a variety of characters to the poem. Even though the vagueness of details of the character we can say that ‘Old Father’ was undignified to an extent. From the following line ‘Bouncing down the road with a blonde’ (Line No. 17) we can presume his indecency, as walking with a blonde is considered inappropriate due to the negative image they have created in the society. The whole image is cojourned by the term ‘blonde’ relieving his change in attitude and lifestyle to be considered indecorous. The poet has chosen his words very particularly and has also considered the arrangement of these words. He has used a varied range of figures of speech like metonymy and personifications but has highly considered the use of metaphors. These figures of speech and choice of worlds create a rhythmatic design; this maintains the reader with an interested attitude. A lot of attention is given to the use of punctuations. Boatswain’s way of describing and explaining imagery is noteworthy. For example ‘Cold bite him hard’ (Line No.2), this shows how painful the weather is to this Caribbean man in the beginning of his arrival. We can see how Boatswain’s use of language is very descriptive but concise and effective. The other poem ‘Island Man’ is a piece of poetry written by Grace Nichols. She was born in Guyana and came to Britain in 1977. She writes this poem in context to a Caribbean man who has settled in London but still wakes up to the sound of the sea and the tranquillity of his native island. ‘Island Man’ consists of a wide range of sounds and images to express the Caribbean man’s feelings and thinking. For example ‘the sound of the blue surf’ and ‘the steady breaking and ‘wombing’ (Line No.3 and 5) are good examples of his use of language and images for the description of his feelings. This poem is also told in a narrative manner but unlike ‘Old Father’ the poem is more spontaneous. The poem is bought out in the form of a dream. A number of images are described to show how he imagined himself in his native island where there was no hindrance or disturbance but peace and tranquillity, whereas the atmosphere in London was completely contradictory to his dream. Therefore when he wakes up and enters the world of reality where he is back in London and hears the roar of the cars and screeches of the wheels instead of the sound of the sea he just says ‘Another London day’ (Line No. 19). He probably says this as he has been living in London since a long time and is now frustrated with his usual rut and wants to get out of it and return to his paradise like island. His attitude towards this new environment is not so enthusiastic. This is indicated by the words ‘groggily groggily’ (Line No. 11). He has already seen the usual busy days of London and has accepted them in his life and has acknowledged this new surrounding. But a sense of frustration has aroused and his crave for his native island just became greater than before. Both the poems hold a lot of similarity of cultures and attitudes towards the new migration. Both of them share unhappiness in this new environment of theirs. Both of them also discuss the bitter weather. But old father moves on in his life whereas in ‘Island Man’ we will notice that there is not much of progression in the story. It is just a dream whereas the whole life of old father is discussed in the other poem. Hence a lot of contradictions are in the poem. Also the language and use of punctuations is very different. In ‘Old Father’ punctuations are given a lot of importance and are very proper whereas in ‘Island Man’ the poem consists of no punctuations at all. It forms more of a spontaneous attitude and also considers the lazy morning attitude of a person. Therefore as this is a dream the poet has very well described this quality and has also set a sense of spontaneous feelings and emotions. ‘He is an example to his people’ (Line 41, Old Father), these were the words used to describe old father and his behaviour. It is the opinion of a white English racist person. This opinion can be adapted in two contradictory perceptions. The white people may say it in the context that every person from another country, another culture should act like him. They should also adopt the behaviour and culture of the country they live in. The contradictory statement to this would be that the white people are saying that he was a person who was ready to change for his benefit of himself and in the end of the day for h is own betterment he would forget his friends. Hence they jump to the conclusion that he is just an example of those people who are of his culture and each would do anything for their own personal benefits forgetting their personal beliefs and culture. In the end I would conclude saying that both the poems state a moral towards us. In ‘Old Father’ we can say that a man should adapt towards his surrounding but that does not mean we should forget who we are, what is our identity. Whereas in ‘Island Man’ we can see that a man has come to another country but still has not let go of the memories of his own countries and hence is not able to move on and adapt the good qualities of the country he is living with. Hence we should learn from this poem that thinking about our past and not moving on would just lead to frustration and everything would go wrong. Hence we should keep up the pace in life and never look back and ponder.