Religious persecution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Religious persecution - Essay Example In regard to these, there exist three different forms of religious facets that are of particular vitality in defining religion (Gunn 392). These are: religion as a belief, religion as an identity and religious as a way of life. In any religious persecution or discrimination, any of these three facets might come into play. On the other hand, a combination of all the there faces might sometimes take the center stage. Although the three facets are the ones most commonly associated with religious persecutions and conflicts, other facets of religion not identified here can also be of some relevance. The definition of faith as a belief is based on the convictions that people have concerning God, honest, truth or faith doctrines (Hamlet 265). A religion based on belief emphasizes the adherence to doctrines such as the five pillars of Islam, the transmigration of souls and the Nicene Creed among others. Typically, belief religion is characterized by the emphasis on understanding religious doctrines. Belief based religion is enhanced by conversion and adoption of new doctrines of belief. According to Gunn, from the perspective of the persecutor, the religious behaviors of others are considered as heresy and blasphemy and are therefore superstitiously held. Consequently, the religious leaders of the targeted religion are considered as false prophets, cult leaders and tricksters. In some instances, the whole group is subjected to persecution even if the group shares the same ethnicity with the persecutors. Good examples are cases from countries like Pakistan, Egypt and Iran (Gunn 394). The definition of religion as an identity is based on affiliation to a particular group (Hamlet 267). In this instance, a given religion is associated with a family, a tribe, an ethnic group, race, nationality or statehood. In identity religion, followers believe that they were born in their religion and did not just subscribe to it as

Organizational Structure Essay Example for Free

Organizational Structure Essay This research focuses on the job satisfaction level of employees at Emirates Technical Thermal Systems (ETTS), a construction company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The data collected was examined in relation to the existing organizational structure within the business, which is primarily a hierarchal one. The study includes information collected from three employee levels at ETTS, which include management, employees, and laborers. The relationship between position in the work organization and job satisfaction for every level of the hierarchal distribution has been studied carefully; both primary and secondary research has been conducted in order to best indicate where the problems lie, and the best ways of improving the current situations. The outcome and findings from this research have indicated a clear imbalance across the current structure of the company. Job satisfaction is high amongst management, and consistently decreases at the lower levels of the employee ladder. Job satisfaction plays an important role in the overall productivity of any given industry. Given the growing concern within ETTS regarding the aspect of performance, quality of work, and workforce issues, little attention has been paid to workers at the lower levels of the organization hierarchy. Introduction: There are many aspects of an organization and job role which come into play when analyzing the contributing factors to job satisfaction. In this research paper, a focus was placed on company structure, and the contribution of hierarchal distribution in an organization to job satisfaction. Research Aims and Objectives: The aim of the research was measuring job satisfaction, in all its aspects, across the various segments within the organizational structure, in order to gain better understanding of where the gaps lie, the factors contributing to dissatisfaction, and the best ways of reconciling the issues. The reason why ETTS was selected is due to perceived issues in the organization in regards to communication and harmony across the various levels within its hierarchy, and perceived job dissatisfaction in lower levels. In conducting the research, job satisfaction at ETTS was examined, and primary research was segmented to include sample groups from every level of the organizational structures hierarchy. Key Variables The research paper will analyze the issue by discussing the dependent variable (Job Satisfaction) in relation to the contributing independent variable (Organizational Structure). Job satisfaction will be measured by discussing contributory aspects, including employee engagement, job involvement, organizational commitment and perceived organizational support. The levels which were examined in relation to the organizational structure are: management, employees and laborers. Company Background: ETTS is a company specialized in electro-mechanical contracting. The company offers a full range of services related to all types of heating, ventilating, air conditioning, refrigeration, electrical and plumbing systems. The company was established in 1995, and has a definitive hierarchal structure. As detailed in the company’s profile and stated hereunder: Management: The board of directors of the company, general manager, operations manager and managers of all departments, branches and projects form the core management group. Employees: Personnel who conduct various tasks in different disciplines and report to the above-mentioned managers. Labor force: Consists of the manpower that carries out physically demanding work at construction sites. Hence, a definitive hierarchal structure is in place. At the top of the pyramid are those holding management positions, followed by employees, and finally laborers. Report Structure This report will primarily delve into the literature review, which will detail the findings from secondary research on the topic of structure in relation to job satisfaction. A thorough description of the primary research findings will follow, in order to give an insight on issues that exist at ETTS, and a comparison of these, and previous findings from secondary sources, on the issue will be made. Next, a detailed conclusion based on the findings of the research will be discussed. Recommendations will be given in order to map the best ways of dealing with the existing issues within the organization. Methodology: The research methodology required gathering relevant data from both primary and secondary sources in order to analyze the material and arrive at a more complete understanding of the effect of organizational hierarchy at ETTS on overall employee job satisfaction as illustrated below. Secondary Data The bulk of the secondary data used to conduct this research was collected from the UOW online database. A Total of nine scholarly research articles were derived from the university library database, adding to three which were obtained from the internet. One example of the articles used was published in the African Journal of Business Management in 2009 and is titled â€Å"Job satisfaction: Does rank make a difference?† by S. Z. Eyupoglu and T. Saner. This study was used to relate job satisfaction to employee ranking. Another example is research which was published in the Career development international journal in 2010 titled â€Å"Impact of career plateau and supervisory support on career satisfaction† by V. Wickramasinghe and M. Jayaweera. This research was examined to reflect the effect of supervisory support on the overall job satisfaction. Besides the scholarly research articles listed in the reference section, the textbook â€Å"Organizational Behavior† 15 th edition by S. Robbins and T. Judge was utilized as a general guide.

Ebonics :: essays research papers fc

EBONICS Ebonics, also known as Black English, is a nonstandard dialect spoken in many homes in the inner cities of America. This nonstandard language is often looked upon as low-class or lazy talk. This is not the case, however. Due to consistencies found in the dialect, there seems to be an order. It has been found that, when learning English, African-Americans adapted the language using some of the structure and rules of their own native tongue. This Black English has carried on through slavery and then freedom for hundreds of years. Although there is a coexistence of more than two dialects in our society, those in power forget the flexibility of our language and see no other way than the use of Standard English. Although many Americans tend to scorn any careless variation of the Standard English, flexibility of the language is, perhaps, a main reason for its survival. In 1905, a Danish scholar and great authority on English, Otto Jespersen, wrote: English is like an English park, which is laid out seemingly without any definite plan, and which you are allowed to walk everywhere according to your own fancy without having a fear a stern keeper enforcing rigorous regulations. (MacNeil 141) This freedom has created the English we speak today. Although a little behind the times, Oxford changes the rules as to what is correct English due to what is being spoken. In English Belongs to Everybody, Robert MacNeil, feels that English has prospered and grown because it was able to accept and absorb change (140). So change in the English language helps it grow, yet the dialect of the inner city blacks in our country is looked upon as a problem. To those in charge, there is no more room for growth. It is apparent that there are many types of dialect within American English. The coexisting of two or more languages, either serving together in the same area or servicing different areas, is as old as language itself (Pei 106). This has happened throughout time and appears to be inevitable. It is impossible to believe an entire country could conform to one language, and then only one dialect of that language. Throughout history societies have survived for some time using different languages until these language barriers tore territories apart. It is apparent how, in America, barriers between dialects separate black men from white men even more than physical conditions.

Racism and the American Dream in Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun Essay

A Raisin in the Sun is written by a famous African- American play write, Lorraine Hansberry, in 1959. It was a first play written by a black woman and directed by a black man, Lloyd Richards, on Broadway in New York. The story of A Raisin in the Sun is based on Lorraine Hansberry’s own early life experiences, from which she and her whole family had to suffer, in Chicago. Hansberry’s father, Carol Hansberry, also fought a legal battle against a racial restrictive covenant that attempted to stop African- American families from moving in to white neighborhoods. He also made the history by moving his family to the white section of Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood in 1938. The struggle of Lorraine Hansberry’s family inspired her to write the play. The title of the play comes from Langston Hughes’s poem which compares a dream deferred too long to a raisin rotting in the sun. A Raisin in the Sun deals with the fact that family’s and individualâ€⠄¢s dreams and inspirations for a better life are not confined to their race, but can be identified with by people with all back grounds. A Raisin in the Sun is a set in 1950s after the Second World War which was an age of great racism and materialistic in America. It is about a black family living in south side of Chicago and struggling through family and economic hardships, facing the issues of racism, discrimination, and prejudice. The family consists of Lena Younger known as Mama; Walter Lee Younger who is an intense man, Ruth Younger who is wife of Walter Lee, Travis Younger who is son of Ruth and Walter, and Beneatha Younger who is Walter’s younger sister. The whole family lives in a two bed room apartment and don’t have money to live a better life. youngers are tired from their struggle to ... ...llow." Ruth replies by saying, "He’s rich!" That is exactly Beneatha's point. She does not want to be in a relationship with George (boyfriend) simply because he can support her financially. That is how Beneatha proves her point about looking beyond the surface. He seems her obstacle in fulfilling her dream of becoming a doctor. She is a strong woman who faces the negative attitude of people with great patience. For example, when Mrs. Johnson (neighbor) says, â€Å"I know--- but sometimes she act like ain’t got time to pass the time of day with no body ain’t been to college. It’s just--- you know how some of our young people get when they get a little education† (Hansberry 527). Work Cited Hansberry, Lorraine. ?A Raisin in the Sun.? Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Eds. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin?s 2008.

Reflect on the importance of a child centred approach in the Early Years Essay

A – Reflect on the importance of a child centred approach in the Early Years A child centred approach in early years settings is important as it makes sure the children’s needs are met fully and it helps them reach their full potential. Children reflect their interests through their learning and different experiences. It is important for practitioners to encourage this so they can find out what the children are interested in and then later use the information when planning activities. Having a show and tell gives practitioners a chance to find out about what the children like and enjoy. They are also showing the children that they are interested in what they get up to when they are not at school. (Also relates to C) Another way of finding out more about the children is by getting them to take a toy home for a period of time then getting them write a diary of activities they did with the toy. Knowing what the children like can also help the practitioner improve their tea ching methods. For example, if they know some of the children like the police, they can turn the home corner into a police station. This would encourage the children to take part in more activities because they would enjoy what they are doing. (C) It is important to have different ability groups in an Early Years setting because it can help the children reach their full potential as they would be going at a pace that is suitable for them and not for someone else. This also gives the children the chance to help each other in the group because they would be at the same stages and most likely get caught out at the same sections. According to Vygotsky, â€Å"By letting students of similar but differing abilities work in groups, they can help each other: often a lot more effectively than a teacher would be able to.† (Urbano, 12/07/12, Scaffolding and Peer-learning: Thinking about Vygotsky’s â€Å"Zone of Proximal Development†) Performing observations can also help children reach the ir full potential because practitioners can see if the children are at the expected development stages for their age, and if they are not, they can support the children in the specific areas they need help with. It is important to work in partnership with parents because â€Å"parents have the most knowledge and understanding of their child† (Beaver et al, 2008, pg 27) so practitioners can learn from them about how best to help the children and encourage them to improve their abilities. The planning cycle is a useful guide for helping practitioners look at the different types of development in a child. Using the cycle can  help practitioners respond to the children’s needs because they can work out what needs to be observed, then after the observations they can analyse their findings and make plans that would benefit the child. When the plan has been put into motion another assessment can be done on the child to see if there have been any improvements. The cycle can be repeated to continue helping the child.

Free Essays on My Inner Shrimp Essay Anaylsis

in the quote are fancy - sounding and diffi... Free Essays on My Inner Shrimp Essay Anaylsis Free Essays on My Inner Shrimp Essay Anaylsis To make one’s writing more effective, the author must utilize a variety of elements of style. Examples of these styles include schemes, tropes, word style, and specificity. The essay, â€Å"My Inner Shrimp,† by Garry Trudeau, uses a high style of writing and a multitude of tropes. Word style makes use of the author’s choice of word usage. High style contains complex sentences and sophisticated words. Most formal writing is composed in high style. This style is not used in conversation due to its formal nature. Because of its complicated nature, it has a tendency to confuse the audience and clutter the writings of inexperienced authors (Mulder 61). The story, â€Å"My Inner Shrimp,† contains many examples of high style. â€Å"I feel the pain of the diminutive irrespective of whether they feel it themselves, because my visit to the planet of the teenage midgets was harrowing, humiliating, and extended† (Trudeau 507). This particular quote displays the high style of writing. The elaborate word usage shows the author’s intent to portray a formal essay. All of the adjectives describe the mood of the author’s time spent in an intolerable world. Another example of high style writing is, â€Å"Almost as an afterthought, I ascended the staircase to inspect the loft, ducking as I entered the bedroom† (Trudeau 507). This arrangement of words would not be used in casual conversation. The content of this sentence depicts the use of proper english. Through Trudeau’s choice of the words ‘ascended’ and ‘afterthought’, instead of less descriptive words, he formalized the passage. The high word style is once again shown in the following passage, â€Å"My first week of school, I was drafted into a contingent of students ignominiously dubbed the ‘Midgets,’ so grouped by taller boys presumably so they could taunt us with more perfect efficiency† (Trudeau 508). The words in the quote are fancy - sounding and diffi...

Crime and Punishment, the idea of suffering essays

Crime and Punishment, the idea of suffering essays Suffering in Crime and Punishment The idea of suffering plays a major role and guides the reader attracting his attention throughout the entire novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Suffering is the dominant theme of this work. It twists and contorts itself into so many aspects of the story, that any other classification of it would simply not do it justice. The main character Rodion Raskolnikov is the one who suffers form the very beginning of the novel until the end as psychological forces eat away at the thoughts and actions of their victim. He feels very pessimistic about his own life the things and people that surround him. Rodion doesnt really appreciate the way he lives and what does he come to. He suffers a big deal because of the poverty and his helpless. Raskolnikov hates that his mother and his beloved sister Dunya have to save money so that they could help him, and he suffers because he could not help them instead. The letter that he receives from his mother makes his suffering even wor se. Raskolnikov understood clearly that his sister who is a proud, virtuous girl wouldve never sold herself (marrying without love) for her own gain, she would better starve from hunger than do such a thing. But she could easily sacrifice herself for somebody else whom she loves a lot and in this case her dear brother. And his mother is willing to sacrifice her own daughter just for his sake. Rodion suffers a lot because he couldnt take this immolation. It made him feeling angry he was the man in their family, he was the one who was supposed to support them and it happens the other way around which humiliates him making his self esteem go down. Thats when Raskolnikovs idea to kill the pawnbroker torments him most of all. To prove his own theory which is that there are two types of people those who are good to reproduce only and the extraordinary ones, who have to ...

4 Reasons to Study Geography

4 Reasons to Study Geography The question of why one should study geography is a valid question. Many around the world do not understand the tangible benefits of studying geography. Many might think that those who study geography have no career options in the field because most people do not know anyone who has the job title of â€Å"geographer.† Nonetheless, geography is a diverse discipline that can lead to a myriad of career options in areas ranging from business location systems to emergency management.   Study Geography to Understand Our Planet Studying geography can provide an individual with a holistic understanding of our planet and its systems. Those who study geography are better prepared to understand topics impacting our planet such as climate change, global warming, desertification, El Nino, water resource issues, among others. With their understanding of political geography, those who study geography are well-positioned to comprehend and explain global political issues that occur between countries, cultures, cities and their hinterlands, and between regions within countries. With instant global communications and media coverage of geopolitical hotspots around the world on twenty-four-hour news channels and on the Internet, the world might seem like it has gotten smaller. Yet centuries-old conflict and strife remain despite huge technological developments over the past few decades.   Studying Geographical Regions While the developed world has developed rather rapidly, the â€Å"developing† world, as disasters frequently remind us, has yet to benefit from many of those advances. Those who study geography learn about differences between world regions. Some geographers devote their studies and careers to learning and understanding a specific region or country of the world. They study the culture, foods, language, religion, landscape and all aspects of the region to become an expert. This type of geographer is desperately needed in our world for the better understanding of our world and its regions. Those who are experts in various â€Å"hotspot† regions of the world are certain to find career opportunities. Being a Well-Educated Global Citizen In addition to knowing about our planet and its people, those who choose to study geography will learn to think critically, research, and communicate their thoughts through writing and other means of communication independently. They will thus have skills that are valued in all careers. Finally, geography is a well-rounded discipline that provides students not only with ample career opportunities but it also provides students with knowledge about our rapidly-changing world and how humans are impacting our planet.   Importance of Geography   Geography has been called the mother of all sciences, it was one of the first fields of study and academic disciplines developed as humans sought to find out what was on the other side of the mountain or across the sea.  Exploration led to the discovery of our planet and its amazing resources. Physical geographers study the landscapes, landforms, and the terrain of our planet while cultural geographers study out cities, our transportation networks, and our ways of life.  Geography is a fascinating discipline that combines knowledge of many fields to help scientists and researchers better understand this amazing planet.

On current news Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

On current news - Essay Example The image that an audience holds of the individual will influence how they will react to the information, whether they will accept or reject it (Edlund and Pomona, 2012) Drawing a difference between kairos and chronos has been achieved through examining the effect that each has on an audience. Whereas kairos focuses on an opportune moment in time, and is more relevant to an audience, chronos focuses on a longer span of time, thus not being appropriate for general audiences (Edlund and Pomona, 2012) The four basic components of visual design are: type of text used in making an appeal, space or layout used, use of color and the use of images and graphics. With regards to type, large font type has been use to make the text easily readable, considering that the text is lengthy. Space or layout within the course has been useful in showing the importance of the discussion and also in creating a clear relationship among the parts. The use of plain color within the course has helped in creating an academic impression. Finally, the lack of images within the course is reasonable, considering that images are only useful in condensing information, whereas the content within the course is of fair

Povert delibrating impacts on U.S urban communitiesa Essay

Povert delibrating impacts on U.S urban communitiesa - Essay Example For example, The World Bank sets poverty consumption levels as an individual living on less the $2.00 a day, this is a world total. In the U.S., the poverty level is listed in the table below provided by the Federal Register: Even though the U.S has a strong economy in comparison to other countries that does not mean much, as a significant percentage of the population is struggling to survive. The United States has the largest national economy in the world, with a GDP for 2005 of 12.41 trillion dollars. In this mixed economy, corporations and other private firms make the vast majority of microeconomic decisions, and governments prefer to take a minimal role in the domestic economy. Because of this, the U.S. has a small social safety net, and business firms in the U.S. face considerably less regulation than those in many other nations (Facts About the United States, Worldfacts). On the global level, poverty has been estimated that in  2001, 1.1 billion people had consumption levels below $1 a day and 2.7 billion lived on less than $2 a day (Economics of Social Issues, 2006, page, 3). At the same time, the Census Bureau released its latest estimate of the fraction of Americans living below the poverty li ne. It was higher in 2001 (11.7 percent) than in 1973 (11.1 percent). The official measure indicates that a greater portion of families and children live in poverty in America today than three decades ago. Poverty alleviation dominates the global agenda in the 21st century, as is featured in the Millenium Development Goals of the United Nation. The effect of poverty on the society varies across the urban and rural areas as it does across countries. It is estimated that, with urbanization, nearly 40 percent of the world’s population live in cities and by 2020, the growth in urban population will be faster in low-income countries than in high-income ones, leading to an even higher incidence of urban poor

The impact of the crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The impact of the crisis - Essay Example It has been found out that the cause that resulted in such a drastic financial condition was the excessive borrowing that the countries belonging to the Euro zone had undertaken. Adding on to this problem there was lack of competitiveness in specific countries of this zone which resulted in the imbalances in the trade of these countries and also an increase in the current account deficit. This led to a weakening of the financial condition of the banks and they had problems in getting any further funding. Hence the credit and cash crisis in the country set in. While in Greece the problem surrounded every aspect of the economy in the countries like Spain and Ireland the problem was solely linked with the crisis that took place in the banking sector due to the unavailability of credit. This essay would look into the various aspects of the financial crisis that have taken place in the European Union and the effects of such liquidity crisis on the financial markets of these countries. The crisis in the Euro zone had far reaching effects on the entire world. Background of the crisis Most of the economic systems of the world are interconnected and therefore any adverse situation in one country would have its effect on the other countries as well. ... 726-741). The major problem that the countries faced was a common monetary policy but a different fiscal policies for each of the countries since the countries had different sets of government. The European Union was formed with a motive of maintaining a uniform monetary policy in all the member nations of the EU. The nations included in the list of the nations in the EU would have a common currency known as the Euro and it would be circulated over the borders of these nations. The main motive behind this process was bringing in all the countries of Europe in the same platform for international trade and to increase the intensity of competition. This in turn would increase the domestic production of the countries and would add to the GDP of the individual nations. In the previous days most of the East European countries followed the communist ways of governance. The EU would ensure that that the market economies structure along with free trade and competitive atmosphere is introduced in the country. The Euro Crisis was a combination of a debt crisis, lack of competitiveness and a banking sector credit crisis. The credit condition of the countries during this time was at a worse situation. The Monetary union of the European nations made a provision to the countries for guaranteeing loan for each other (Galil and Soffer, 2011, pp. 3101-3119). Since most of the nations lacked the creditworthiness due to the shortage of immediate cash and the financial conditions of the countries were intertwined, the entire Euro zone fell under this debt trap. Therefore along with the countries with adverse budgetary conditions, the ones which had proper condition of public

Emerging Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Emerging Markets - Essay Example While developing economies are usually flooded with emerging markets, the concept is not novel to developed economies. It is these emerging markets, which when successful in the future, become economic giants in the industry (Garten, 1997). The emerging markets need to consider a lot of geographical and economic concerns before setting in a foreign country. They may be small enterprises or large projects. This paper seeks to evaluate the industry of emerging markets in the United States and see how successful it has been over the years. It would also analyze how these emerging markets have affected the economy of US and all related economies. Emerging markets have had positive impacts and some negative setbacks and this paper would state both sides of the picture. The US is the third largest country in the world comprising an area of 3.79 million square miles. It accommodates over 300 million people in fifty states, and being so, it remains the most populated region in the world. The US is the most ethnically diverse nation in the world with people from all over the world staying there for work, study or leisure. It has a GDP of 14.3 trillion US dollars which proves that it is a relatively economically stable country in the world. However, about 11% of the US population lives below the poverty line (Juster, 1997). It has a very high rate of productivity and high rate of scientific developments and innovations. Also, the unemployment level in the US is fairly low and inflation is under control too. The US is bordered by the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans making it a favorable site for water travel. Also, it has sufficient nuclear weaponry and a strong army to ensure its defense against the worldly enemies. The US also enjoys fairly good relations with most economies of the world and it stands as a much unbiased nation with a lot of

The nature of organizations and the environment Essay

The nature of organizations and the environment - Essay Example Here are some of the factors that can undermine the operations of any international firm. As we all know that communication is as important for any business as finance or profit returns. Miscommunication can devastate any firm slowly but surely. Here are few communication problems in a global firm. This problem arises when managers see things differently (according to his own thinking and upbringing) and things are quite different in reality. So, it can push managers to act little wrongly in international environment to which they are unaware of. This whole set up of looking at things differently or if we can put it correctly through his own perception can make things haywire. In this problem, managers assume things relying on the information which they have beforehand or which they learn in their own business environment. For example, Americans generally think or assume that British are generally bull-headed people. This is their general perception. But, working in an international environment, these kinds of set assumptions can create great grievances. You have to deal with every set of people after meeting them, not just by your own stereotype assumptions. It is utterly wrong and unhealthy for an organization. Ethnocentrism refers to the sense of superiority that members of a particular culture have. The Russians generally claims that Americans consider themselves 'always right' kind of people. This behavior can shut down all possible communicative avenues and even create hostility and grudge against each other. In international environment, managers need to work more in an open manner. Role of power distance: This problem lies in the sphere of motivation. All cultures have different opinions about role of power in certain cultures. In some cultures, people like to be ordered, whereas, few cultures consider it very odd to behave like a boss. It can create hell of a problem for managers, because if manager works in a little authoritarian style and that consider very ineffective in that particular region, then manager needs to bring a change in his style of operating with his colleagues. For example, people in United States, Britain, and Scandinavian find it very tough to adjust with manager who works like a typical boss. Whereas, people in Indians, Mexicans, Japanese and South Koreans find it quite normal to work in this of environment.Leadership expert Warren Bennis stated somewhere that," Given the nature and constancy of change and the transnational challenges facing American business leadership, the key to making the right choices will come from understanding and embodying the leadersh ip qualities necessary to succeed in the volatile and mercurial global economy". The role of leadership in an international environment is extremely important in more of the pronounced terms. Across cultures, managers need to change some sound differences in their behavior to make it more effective and feasible. Managers in alien atmosphere need to be more liberal and more open for all kind of options. Personal values: Managers need to inculcate few major changes in their personal values to

Emerging Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Emerging Markets - Essay Example While developing economies are usually flooded with emerging markets, the concept is not novel to developed economies. It is these emerging markets, which when successful in the future, become economic giants in the industry (Garten, 1997). The emerging markets need to consider a lot of geographical and economic concerns before setting in a foreign country. They may be small enterprises or large projects. This paper seeks to evaluate the industry of emerging markets in the United States and see how successful it has been over the years. It would also analyze how these emerging markets have affected the economy of US and all related economies. Emerging markets have had positive impacts and some negative setbacks and this paper would state both sides of the picture. The US is the third largest country in the world comprising an area of 3.79 million square miles. It accommodates over 300 million people in fifty states, and being so, it remains the most populated region in the world. The US is the most ethnically diverse nation in the world with people from all over the world staying there for work, study or leisure. It has a GDP of 14.3 trillion US dollars which proves that it is a relatively economically stable country in the world. However, about 11% of the US population lives below the poverty line (Juster, 1997). It has a very high rate of productivity and high rate of scientific developments and innovations. Also, the unemployment level in the US is fairly low and inflation is under control too. The US is bordered by the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans making it a favorable site for water travel. Also, it has sufficient nuclear weaponry and a strong army to ensure its defense against the worldly enemies. The US also enjoys fairly good relations with most economies of the world and it stands as a much unbiased nation with a lot of

Financial Markets & institutions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Markets & institutions - Assignment Example (LurÊ ¹e 15) Example; 100.00 Euros are provided by a company for a period of one year at rate of 3 per cent. At the end of the year it expects to receive 1030.00 Euros. However, the bank supposes 10 per cent rate inflation in the next year it will want 1133.00 Euros. The interest rate expected by the bank will sum up to 13.3 per cent. Treasury Bill (T-Bill) are simple market securities issued by the government. T-Bills are short-term securities used by the government to collect money from the public. In purchasing of T-Bills, the holder will pay a price that is less than the face or par value of it. (Kawai 16) T-Bills mature after three months, half a year or after a year of issuance. The government will then pay the holder the full face value. T-Bill provides guarantee and safety returns because it has full back and faith of the government. Investors lending money to the government get their money back with interest. Limited access is one of the drawbacks of T-Bills. Investors who need to withdraw their money before the maturity dates are reached have to pay a penalty. T-Bills have little returns because of lees maturity period mostly not more than one-year thus low amount of interest. (Kawai 21) The banks or credit unions issue certificates of deposit (CDs) to holders who have deposited funds to the bank. CDs limit the holders from withdrawing the funds when in need of cash until a set period of time elapses. When one has to withdraw fund from the bank a penalty is incurred. CDs are secured form of investments and they offer high amount of returns. CDs are not prone to risk, pensions and instability. Disadvantages of certificate of Deposits are that they require a high amount of initial capital than that for saving account. Investors obtain little returns from CDs thus a drawback. Companies create corporate bonds by giving debts with the aim of raising capital. Bond provide fixed amount of income and

People Play Important Roles in Our Lfe Essay Example for Free

People Play Important Roles in Our Lfe Essay The most significant people in your life would normally be your parents followed by siblings and extended family members. We are first sons or daughters before we take on the role of brothers or sisters. Our role will then be of husbands or wives and then fathers or mothers as we grow in our lives. We become grandfathers or grandmothers and with God’s blessings, become Great Grandfathers or Great Grandmothers. Our role will then become whatever role we take on in life. Our parents would definitely be the most significant people in our lives. How we grow up as an individual goes back to the cornerstone of our family unit. When there is love amongst the family members, this is where we are nurtured when we were young and we take our values from the family. Siblings that come along in the family unit are our companions and when we grow up being supportive of each other, that is where we can have support and encouragement from our siblings as well. As we grow up in society, we have friends and teachers along the way. Teachers who have motivated us during our school days play a significant part in our growth as well. As the saying goes, â€Å"No man is an island and hence our dependence on others and how they contribute to our lives by their presence gives meaning to our ambitions, our values, our way of thinking and so much more. In turn, we give a helping hand, a listening ear to our friends who need support and encouragement or just someone to understand them. When we have been touched by others in our lives and in normal cases, would be the family members. People without this family support such as orphans or kids being fostered out or adopted by their adoptive parents find themselves being cared for by others who make every effort to see to their needs and love them. These people then play a very significant role in their lives. It is very important that we appreciate the people in our lives and if we can thank them for being in our lives, it is a beautiful moment to cherish. Often enough, many of us take our loved ones for granted. Let that not be the case and let us be aware that we want to appreciate our loved ones and make every effort to let them know that we appreciate, care and love them. We need not do great things for our loved ones. Remembering them is one way to show our appreciation of them and we can do so by taking the time to be with them, talk to them and just be with them. Let us all take time to love our close and beloved so that they know they are loved and appreciated in their lives. It is something we can do and let us all make an effort to do so. Being appreciated and loved adds meaning to one’s life and it is up to each one of us to do so.

The Decline of Education in America

The Decline of Education in America The United States is the greatest country in the world is a clichà © asserted everywhere. One would reasonably expect the greatest country in the world to have the worlds most educated citizens-except just one thing: that simply is not true. Author Mark Bauerlein in his book The Dumbest Generation lays out a compelling argument backed with a dizzying number of statistics that America is on the decline educationally, threatening the future of our country. How can United States be the greatest country in the world when it is ranked 29th in math and science? Or when 53% of high school seniors scored below basic in historical knowledge on an NAEP history exam (Bauerlein 17)? Think of what will happen when those high school seniors meet the real world. They will be the voting block and pool to draw from to become our elected officials who make life and death decisions for our country, and what will happen then? Bauerlein blames these seemingly terrifying statistics on the digital age mil lennials were born in, and how students today no longer feel the need to retain as much knowledge when they can just flip out their iPhones and go look it up online when they need to. This is a symptom of the declining social and political potency Neil Postman talks about in his book Amusing Ourselves To Death, and that the value of knowledge on the decline. The generation of today does not care as much today about the Arts, Science, History, and Math; they are more interested in things like what Kim Kardashian is doing today, or when Beyonces new album is coming out. You can ask almost any millennial who the Kardashians are and they will almost always give you the correct answer, however when you ask serious questions such as what powers the executive branch holds-many will draw a blank. This is because the millennial generation requires advanced stimuli due to our digital age. The human brain has plasticity in the sense that it will adapt to the environment it is placed in, and the millennial brain has molded to the instantaneous access of knowledge from our computers, televisions, and phones; because of that millennials demand that same level of stimulation everywhere else in their lives. In Steven Johnsons book Everything Bad Is Good For You, he argues for what he calls the Sleeper Curve: that the digital age of popular culture and w ith it the internet, movies, tv, and video games are actually intellectually nutritional (9). The technological popular culture of today can be very beneficial, such as how videogames can improve problem solving, or how television dramas can improve critical thinking. That probably seems like it is in stark contrast to what was said previously, however the arguments of all three authors are not mutually exclusive. Bauerlein, Postman, and Johnson all ultimately represent extremes. They do however get a few things right; Bauerlein is correct in stating there is a growing overall knowledge deficit, Johnson is correct in saying popular culture has positive benefits, and Postman is right about our increasingly connected society diminishing the value of information. Reality is within a happy medium of all three. In short, the digital age is not necessarily bad for you; however, it is impossible deny the educational decline in our society. In Mark Bauerleins book The Dumbest Generation, one of his dominant pieces of evidence to show our decline in knowledge is how fewer people today read than ever before, and he is partially correct; according to Pew Research the percentage of Americans who read at least one book in the last year fell from 79% in 2011, to 71% in 2015. Not only that, 27% of the people polled had not read a single book in the last year (Raine). These statistics seem troubling, book reading is declining, however overall reading is not, rather it has increased. Reading does not necessarily have to come from a book, and this is what Bauerlein misses. Young adults in 2015 spent twenty seven hours and thirty six minutes a week online a week on average, triple the mere ten hours and twenty four minutes a week recorded in 2005 (Anderson). To be a proficient user of the internet you have to be reading constantly; the main reason reading of traditional books is declining is because books are being supplemented by other forms of reading. Mark Bauerlein is incorrect in stating reading as a whole is declining, however the fact people are steering away from books is in itself a serious concern. Even Steven Johnson, the author by far most supportive of digital media out of the three of them, says in his book Everything Bad is Good For You: The very fact that I am presenting this argument to you in the form of a book and not a television drama or video game should make it clear that I believe the printed word remains the most powerful vehicle for conveying complicated information (21) Johnson is one hundred percent correct; books are the best medium for conveying complex ideas, as well as strong detail and content. Not only that, the ease of access to books cannot be matched as of yet by any other form of media. For movies, television, video games, and the internet you need to buy all kinds of hardware and services which limits the potential recipients of those forms of media. With books, all you need to know how to is read; even money is not necessary to read, anyone can go to their local library and check out a book for free. Books are still ultimately the heart and soul of culture, without them the other forms of media would not be possible; somebody had to write a book on how to make movies, television, video games, and how to code for the internet. While books are still the best medium for passing on information to the next generation, other mediums are getting more advanced to the point where they can be true fulfilling compliments to books, rather than a re placement for books, such as video games. Video games are the newest medium to enter our digital age, and what started as a simple a few pixels on the screen bouncing around in virtuality like in the game Pong, has blossomed into a full fledged new form of media capable of endowing knowledge, and cognitive benefits such as improving problem solving, attention, memory. This is the narrative Johnson supports; Bauerlein and Postman would balk at that assessment, saying video games infringe upon a proper education or that the information in games has no real world use and is a pseudo context. However, a study done by RMIT University lends a great amount of support to Johnsons claims. The results of the study indicate that online gaming can sharpen math, science, and reading skills amongst teenagers. RMIT Associate Professor Alberto Posso investigated the study results, stating: Students who play online games almost every day score 15 points above the average in math and 17 points above the average in science When you play online games youre solving puzzles to move to the next level and that involves using some of the general knowledge and skills in math, reading and science that youve been taught during the day. (Science Daily) Going even a step further, he said Teachers should consider incorporating popular video games into teaching so long as theyre not violent ones. This is a rather stunning assessment which supports Johnsons Sleeper Curve argument that television, movies, and video games are in fact good for you after all (9). Video games can stimulate the mind in similar ways books do, and perhaps in some ways far more than books. Video games tend to have a non linear structure in the sense that you can go from point A to point B however you want, unlike books you are fully immersed in the experience not just mentally, but audibly and visually as well, and you must make choices that affect the outcome of the game. This is the key as to why video games have all of these positive benefits. Let us take a look at a strong example of a video game series that truly stimulates the mind: Metal Gear. The Metal Gear storyline is one of the most complicated in any game, rivaling many books, movies, and TV shows; the lore stretches from 1964 to 2014 taking place in a slightly alternate reality across nine canonical games, each of which take many hours to complete in addition to hours devoted to cutscenes explaining the story. One of the games, Guns of the Patriots, has a guinness world record breaking seventy hours of cutscenes and over 400,000 words in the script, more words than some books; to fully comprehend the depth of the story, the characters, the factions and all the relationships between them, the player has to think very critically and very deeply. The games deal with complex and serious themes such as race, revenge, language, nuclear proliferation, genealogy, global politics, etc. to name a few and the games pull off those themes in meaningful ways. Not only is the s toryline mentally stimulating, so is the gameplay. In the newest iteration, The Phantom Pain, players are placed in an open world sandbox and are tasked with missions to complete, ranging to everything from collecting intelligence on the enemy, to rescuing prisoners of war. The open world nature and the plethora of weapons and tools gives the player freedom to conquer any objective as they see fit. Should the mission occur during the day or at night? Is going in silent with suppressed weapons and choosing a path of least resistance best, or is going in and out as fast as possible guns blazing preferable? These are all questions posed to the player. To achieve desirable outcomes the player must exercise his or her brain and think critically to employ an effective strategy. As Steven Johnson says in his book, this critical thinking exercises the brain similar to how algebra does and translates to reality in the form of improved planning skills, problem solving, attention, logic, and m ore (40). It is clear that video games do offer meaningful benefits, though video games are not always totally beneficial in nature. To give an example, a hot topic of debate that has gone on for many years is whether or not violent video games contribute to violence, aggressive behavior, and desensitization to violence in the real world. The American Psychological Association came out with a report in 2015, stating: The research demonstrates a consistent relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive cognitions and aggressive affect, and decreases in prosocial behavior, empathy and sensitivity to aggression (Calvert) In all fairness, the report does not link video games to criminal behavior, and does not include outside factors such as pre-existing psychological conditions and the environment the person playing the game lives in, all of which may have been influential to the outcome of the report However, it establishes a link between violent video games and aggressive behavior, though indirect at best. Another important factor not included in the study is the age of the player. Children are very easily influenced; a child growing up is learning important skills like how to determine right from wrong, empathy, and moral values. It is fairly easy to see how incredibly violent games like Grand Theft Auto where a player can go carjacking and run over as many pedestrians as possible in a crowded city on a whim can have a negative effect on a child growing up. To reduce this effect, young children should not play video games, and video game developers should be careful in how they utilize violence. Th at being said, violence can have a positive impact on a storyline if there is a good reason for it to be there, such as to make the death of an allied character more impactful; unlike games such as Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat which have violence for the sake of violence with no real purpose to it other than for pure shock value. The deciding factor as to how video games will benefit society depends on how they are utilized, the medium in itself is not foredoomed. One of the mediums that preceded video gaming was television, and it provides many of the same benefits video games do such as improved planning skills, problem solving, attention, logic etc.. Television engages the viewer to think with its programming with everything from documentaries, to dramas. In talking about the television drama 24, Steven Johnson argues in his book you have to focus to follow the plot, and in focusing you are exercising the part of the brain that maps social networks (115). Again, this is much like algebra in a sense; most people will never need to know things like the quadratic formula in their lifetime, however those things are still required material in high school because they are a mental exercise, improving reasoning skills, problem solving, and more. It isnt so much about the content of these shows as it is about the cognitive exercises involved in watching them. Mark Bauerlein does not acknowledge these benefits, arguing essentially that television is merely a distraction from real educational subject matter. Neil Postman has a similar view, stating in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death: televisions way of knowing is uncompromisingly hostile to typographys way of knowing; that televisions conversations promote incoherence and triviality; that the phrase serious television is a contradiction in terms; and that television speaks with only one persistent voice-the voice of entertainment. (80) Perhaps this is a correct assessment regarding some televised media like reality shows and cable news, though the blanket assessment that all television is incoherent and trivial is wrong. Sure it is true one of televisions goals is to entertain, however so are literary works of fiction that have been around for millennia. What makes novels sold for profit not incoherent and trivial? For the most part, excluding programming like news and sports, television is just literature put on the screen. Think of how many shows and movies you could rewrite as a book; in fact, many of the greatest works of television originated from books. For example, the 1962 novel The Man in The High Castle by Philip K. Dick was adapted as a television drama by Amazons streaming service in 2015, and it is far from being incoherent or trivial. The show takes place in alternate reality 1962, where the Germans and Japanese win World War Two and conquer the United States, with the victorious axis powers splitting up the country between the Greater Nazi Reich and the Japanese Pacific States. The show goes to great lengths to display the brutality of the Germans and Japanese people have come to expect with no political or personal freedoms, torture, summary executions, persecution of minorities, etc. brilliantly showing the struggle for everyday Americans to survive. It punches the viewer right in the gut reminding people of what could have been, and the harrowing path fascism leads us by drawing out our emotions. Sure all of it is done for entertainment, however the messages are nutritional, positive, and even educational. The underlying message is coherent and never trivial: be grateful for the world we live in, even with all its problems. Television can be an incredible tool to provide people with knowledge, though it can just as easily be a poor influence. The entertaining tint of television can have negative effects depending on the content, Neil Postman was not entirely wrong in his assessments. Take for instance reality television with shows like Keeping Up with The Kardashians, these shows are marketed as being reality unlike shows such as 24 which any viewer knows is entirely fictional.An article from Scholastic Scope had this to say about some of the false stereotypes propagated by reality television: And then there are the stereotypes. Are all girls obsessed with clothes and spray tans? Are all boys obsessed with getting toned abs? Thats what many of the most popular shows would have you think. Plus, some experts say these shows send a dangerous message: that being stupid and selfish is fun. It can make you rich and famous! (Scholastic Scope) This is the reality of reality television. Now what happens when your average teenage girl sees the plastic surgery laden figures of the Kardashian sisters? They can get the false ideas on how the female body is normally supposed to look, contributing to things like eating disorders and other psychological issues: the very same issue modeling magazines have struggled with for years. This is just one of many examples of how television can be dangerous and send the wrong messages when used improperly, especially to our youth. So if technology is ultimately not the cause of our downhill spiral in knowledge, what is? The answer is our millennial generation is so seemingly dumb because they feel they can afford to be dumb. Neil Postman, Mark Bauerlein, and Steven Johnson all miss the larger historical context; they focus too heavily on immediate societal trends. Our decline in knowledge and education is merely a small part of a generational cycle of societal moods in what is called The Strauss-Howe Generational Theory; a theory of generational phases called turnings in American history outlined in the book The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe. According to the authors, there are four turnings each lasting an average of twenty years; the high, the awakening, the unraveling, and finally the crisis, after which the cycle is reset and an enlightened high generation is born. To see how this ties into our educational decline, let us go back in American history to The Great Depression and World War T wo. Due to a series of poor political decisions building on themselves and outright ignorance to the issues of the world, The Great Depression and World War Two came to be; life was tough with people crowding soup kitchens, shortly followed by men going off to Europe and the South Pacific to fight and die- a crisis. The generation who lived through those hardships vowed never again, and valued knowledge and culture as a means of never repeating the mistakes of the past- a high . Next, the baby boomers were born, and they were raised having not experiencing just how terrible life can be like their parents did; this ended up becoming an era of peace and enlightenment. We know this generation best for the hippie movement, John Lennon, Woodstock, the civil rights movement, etc.- an awakening; a time of spiritual exploration and rebellion against the now-established order (Hines). These baby boomers had children, whom we now call generation x. An unraveling began, with an increasingly tr oubled era in which individualism triumphs over crumbling institutions (Hines). The very foundations of our culture were questioned with ignorance and political extremism on the rise. Today with the millennial generation, Strauss and Howe claim we are now entering the fourth turning- the crisis, a time of turmoil and uncertainty. We saw a glimpse of this play out most recently in the 2016 presidential elections, one of the most hotly contested elections in American history; both sides of the political aisle spewed ignorance, and extremism with the result dividing our nation further apart to an almost unprecedented level. In short, hard times create strong people, strong people create good times, good times create weak people, and weak people create hard times; and perhaps Bauerlein would agree that the millennial generation is weak. The strength and educational ethic of every society in the world is directly tied to the hardships that society has had to endure, and the lessons learn ed from them. There may be no better example of this than with the Jewish People; a people that have quite possibly endured more hardship than any other culture over the course of thousands of years. Today less than .02% of the global population is Jewish, yet 22% of Nobel Prize winners are Jewish (Schuster), and the tiny country of Israel puts out more engineers and scientists per capita than any other country in the world (Florida). As a Jewish person myself, I was taught from a young age that education and respect for the past is ingrained in our culture because if it werent, the consequences could be catastrophic. History shows us that education is essential for the continuity of any society. Perhaps Strauss and Howes ideas are somewhat simplistic; however they do show an unmistakable pattern in history, and how these cultural and educational declines form. Bauerlein was correct when he said in his book If you ignore the traditions that ground and ennoble our society, you are an incomplete person and a negligent citizen(233). Respect for history and culture is an integral part of any healthy society, and we are ignoring the past and the cultural traditions that grounded our United States. As the hardships of history seem more and more distant, we end up feeling entitled, and with that sense of entitlement the drive to do better and learn more decreases. Ultimately our digital age is not the cause of our decline in knowledge, as the cycle will manifest itself in any way it sees fit. That is not to say our downward spiral in knowledge is uncorrectable; Neil Howe when asked of the implications of the turnings on education, offered his solution as to how education should chan ge for the millennial generation: The answer lies in getting away from at-risk and damage control in education, and moving to a new model based on confidence and teamwork and mastery of the future. Thats what young Millennials want. Thats where we all should want to go. (Howe) Perhaps this is the basis for our happy medium between Bauerlein, Postman, and Johnson. An educational system tailored for the specific needs of the millennial generation, in which basic academics such as the arts, math, science, and history are sustained and taught while keeping in mind the technologies of today so we can be the masters of our future. One thing however, is clear: if we do nothing, our societal knowledge deficit will only increase, and therefore our hopes and dreams for a prosperous future will decrease. Works Cited Anderson, Elizabeth. Teenagers Spend 27 Hours a Week Online: How Internet Use Has Ballooned in the Last Decade. The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 11 May 2015, www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/11597743/Teenagers-spend-27-hours-a-week-online-how-internet-use-has-ballooned-in-the-last-decade.html. Accessed 21 Mar. 2017. Bauerlein, Mark. The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future: or, Dont Trust Anyone under 30. The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future: or, Dont Trust Anyone under 30, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, New York, NY, 2009, pp. 17-233. Calvert, Sandra, et al. APA Review Confirms Link Between Playing Violent Video Games and Aggression. American Psycological Assosiation, 13 Aug. 2015, www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2015/08/violent-video-games.aspx. Accessed 21 Mar. 2017. DeSilver, Drew. U.S. Students Academic Achievement Still Lags That of Their Peers in Many Other Countries. Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 15 Feb. 2017, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/. Accessed 21 Mar. 2017. Florida, Richard. The Worlds Leading Nations for Innovation and Technology. CityLab, The Atlantic Monthly Group, 3 Oct. 2011, www.citylab.com/tech/2011/10/worlds-leading-nations-innovation-and-technology/224/. Accessed 21 Mar. 2017. Hines, Andy. Generational cycles predict a coming crisis. The Futurist, July-Aug. 1997, p. 14+. Academic OneFile, libproxy.pcc.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.pcc.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONEsw=wu=pccv=2.1it=rid=GALE%7CA19980267asid=38e088024faf67596109c7bf0061be90. Accessed 20 Mar. 2017. Best-selling generations author: Neil Howe to speak and release new book at ACTE Orlando Convention. Techniques, vol. 78, no. 6, 2003, p. 50+. Academic OneFile, libproxy.pcc.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.pcc.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONEsw=wu=pccv=2.1it=rid=GALE%7CA107896862asid=07a32adf7390680b62b43a336c026119. Accessed 20 Mar. 2017. Johnson, Steven. Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Popular Culture Is Making Us Smarter. Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Popular Culture Is Making Us Smarter, Riverhead Books, New York, 2005, pp. 9-115. Schuster, Ruth. Why Do Jews Win so Many Nobels? Haaretz.com, Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd., 9 Oct. 2013, www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.551520. Accessed 21 Mar. 2017. Postman, Neil. Chapter 5: The Peek-a-Boo World. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Showbusiness, Penguin Books, New York, 1985, p. 80. Rainie, Lee, and Andrew Perrin. Slightly Fewer Americans Are Reading Print Books, New Survey Finds. Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center , 19 Oct. 2015, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/19/slightly-fewer-americans-are-reading-print-books-new-survey-finds/#. Accessed 21 Mar. 2017. RMIT University. Online gaming can boost school scores: Video games sharpen math, science and reading skills among 15-year-olds, but social media reduces test results. ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 August 2016. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160808115442.htm. Is Reality TV Making You Stupid?. Scholastic Scope, vol. 59, no. 3, 11 Oct. 2010, pp. 14-15. EBSCOhost, libproxy.pcc.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3daph%26AN%3d54315625%26site%3dehost-live.

Othello: Iago Makes Othello Believe His Wife Is Having An Affair Essay

Othello: Iago Makes Othello Believe His Wife Is Having An Affair In Shakespeare's "Othello," Iago carefully and masterfully entraps Othello into believing that his wife, Desdemona, is having an affair with Cassio. He does this through a series of suggestions and hesitations that entice and implant images into Othello's head that lead him to his own demise. More importantly, Iago gives Othello the motive to murder his own innocent wife Desdemona, satisfying Iago's immense appetite for revenge. The motive for Iago's devious plan is initially made clear in the first of three major soliloquies, in which he proclaims Othello has had an affair with his wife, Emilia: "And it is thought abroad that t'wixt my sheets/ He's done my office" (I.iii.381-383). The irony behind this line is where he continues: "I know not if't be true/ But I, for mere suspicion in that kind; / Will do as if for surety"(I.iii.383-385). Iago is so exceedingly paranoid and insane that he will go far as murdering, and deluding even a general into murdering his wife. Iago simultaneously conducts a devious plan to obtain Cassio's position as lieutenant, using Desdemona's prime weakness; her naivety. He disgraces Cassio by intoxicating him enough so he strikes Roderigo. Othello then discharges Cassio of his Lieutenancy when he says: "Cassio, I love thee,/ But nevermore be officer of mine" (II.iii.242-244). It was therefore understandable that he would fall to the mercy of Iago, completely oblivious to the inevitable effects. Iago reveals his plan to the reader in his third soliloquy when he states: His soul is so unfettered to her love, That she may make, unmake, do what she list, even as her appetite shall play the god With his weak function... And she for him pleads strongingly to the Moore, I'll pour this pestilence into his ear: That she repels him for her body's lust, And by how much she strives to do him good, She shall undo her her credit with the Moor (II.iii.330-350). &n... ...xpress their love and passion for each other: Othello: O my fair warrior! Desdemona: My dear Othello! Othello: It gives me wonder great as my content To see you here before me. O, my soul's joy (II.i.175-180)! Perpetual love and affection and contrasted with lusting animal attraction. What does Iago feel when he sees Othello and Desdemona together? How his mind must associate the same atmosphere with Othello having had an affair with his wife, enticing the "green-eyed monsters" within him. The feelings Iago feels is common jealousy. But to have it without surety, and to take it to such a great extent as to only describe it as being "mad." In an attempt at revenge, he does more than Othello supposedly did to him. By putting Othello through the same feelings he himself had gone through, he does not rid or relieve his feelings, but merely gains sadistic pleasure from brutal revenge That is not to say Othello is not a compelling and flawless character. Generally, it can be said that is more the function of our imagination and understanding of our own nature through which we determine Iago as who he is.

Drama and Theatre Studies structured records

‘Use of space' explored the broad topic of social and professional satisfaction and happiness. In order to highlight the universal implications of our piece, we decided that it was necessary to use diverse characters allowing the audience to identify with aspects of each persona's issues. Initially, we brainstormed several different problems that could affect an individual's happiness in the work place, and came up with the fundamentals for five characters. The original basis of my character came from my own anxieties towards life. During devising we were contemplating university choices and starting to arrange our lives after college. As a group we all felt anxious and many felt a lack of direction. This insecurity we felt towards leaving the secondary education system, led to the creation of Pamela (the character I played. ) After discussing Pamela's initial characteristics, focusing on her feelings of anxiety and confusion we had to decide her plot. Her lack of control and direction led us to create her objective to gain a secure role in the work place to solve her anxieties. After creating the fundamentals of each character we discussed as a group their characterisation. The role of Pamela primarily emerged through a series of role-plays. Firstly, I performed as her character in different situations allowing me to develop her personality. The remaining members contributed as supporting characters in the role play and often suggested ways to present her. I feel that my understanding of Pamela's persona emerged during the staging of her box monologue. Through this monologue we hoped to communicate to the audience Pamela's feelings of anxiety and confusion towards her professional future. As a group we felt the most effective way to portray this was through the use of physical theatre, therefore, the remaining members of the group adopted the role of a maze in which Pamela was metaphorically trapped. During the staging of this sequence I had to deliver my monologue whilst struggling through a figurative maze. As a performer I was sensitive to my characters claustrophobic feelings allowing me to successfully communicate her anxieties to the audience. Throughout the staging of this monologue the remaining group members concentrated on the performing space I was given. Although it was frustrating for me to be contained to a very small performing area, it allowed me to sympathise with my characters feelings of confinement and eventually resulted in a very successful portrayal of Pamela. During devising our characters, we were aware that each individual had to adopt a dream persona in the ‘fantasy' scenes. We hoped to communicate to the audience contrasting characteristics in these persona's, to highlight their desire to escape the frustration they feel towards reality. Whilst creating the character Angela's ‘fantasy' persona we analysed the reality Angela. Angela shows boredom towards her monotonous life. Through her character we hoped to communicate to the audience the necessity of having hobbies and dreams. The fantasy Angela emerged through the improvisation of a Latin American soap opera. We created the vivacious and dramatic character Maria who starkly contrasted Angela. As a group we agreed that the performance of Maria should be melodramatic and exaggerated to further contrast Angela's tedious reality. It was important to introduce a character for Maria to interact with to inject more energy into the scene. Through discussion we settled with a clichi love story and decided to introduce a male character who Maria is having an affair with. It was essential for this scene to maintain intense energy levels to contrast with the previous office scene. Firstly, we researched typical novella characters to influences our roles. I suggested that the group members in this scene (Helia and Payam) should highlight the sexual attraction between the characters. Initially this provoked awkwardness between Payam and Helia; therefore, we felt it was necessary to introduce an activity to make the two more comfortable with each other. We used several team building exercises to make Helia and Payam more physically comfortable with one another; the most successful was the leading the blind exercise. Through this exercise the participants were forced to be more sensitive towards each other, in partners one partner was chosen to lead the other blindly by the tip of the nose. Through constant contact and reliance this was very successful in making Payam and Helia more at ease. Similarly, it helped to distance the novella character to the actor. Through exaggerated physicality and melodramatic acting techniques the actor was dissociated with the character. Costumes successfully contributed to the portrayal of my character in the murder mystery fantasy. I played a stereotypical, stock detective character originally based on the Agatha Christie character Hercule Poirot. Initially I struggled to effectively portray this character because it was such a contrasting role to my reality. Physicality was a very important aspect of this character because of the desired effect we hoped to achieve. We had chosen to use melodrama and clichid anecdotes, therefore, it was important that the audience drew parallels between my character and Poirot for comedic effect. Through further independent research I discovered Poirot's defining feature was a French trench coat, and I decided to rehearse wearing this item. Surprisingly, the trench coat allowed me to connect with Poirot's physicality and personality, through wearing the coat my characterisation improved and allowed me to successfully perform as a response to Poirot. How the group planned for a range of responses from the audience. Initially we intended to present a serious production highlighting the importance of life satisfaction parodied through working life, based in an office. However, during the initial devising stages we decided to introduce fantasy scenes to contrast the monotonous office scenes and highlight the significance of dreams and ambition. As a group we showed interest towards comedic genres and felt that these would juxtapose the natural and static nature of the office scenes. However, although many of our fantasy scenes were intended for humorous effect a few were interpreted by the audience as humorous without intent. Fortunately, we decided to perform a dress rehearsal to a mock audience to gain an understanding of the successful aspects of humour the results were unexpected. Through devising the silent movie fantasy scene, we were expecting humorous results due to the slapstick nature of the comedy, however, we had to take into account the clichi and overexposed format of the silent movie. As a group we discussed the possibility that the audience would not react well to this scene due to the lack of originality. Throughout popular culture for the past fifty years in some opinions this genre has been exhausted, therefore we had to be prepared for an underwhelming reaction towards this particular scene. In order for the humorous response to be successful we decided that the content of our silent movie had to be obviously inspired by original content. As a group we decided that we were not going to aim to be original in this scene but aimed to create a polished and skilful tribute to silent films. It was important for us to consider different attitudes towards comedic genres. In particular silent films and slapstick comedy often generate various opinions. Through discussion we discovered that in our group of five alone there were several different opinions regarding slapstick comedy. Personally, I contributed an annoyance towards the genre explaining that I found it tedious, patronising and often crude. However, contrastingly, Payam presented his enthusiasm towards slapstick comedy and defended his fondness towards slapstick comedians such as Lee Evans and Charlie Chaplin. Therefore we were initially prepared for an audience varied responses to the slapstick moments throughout our piece. This discussion led us to consider our target audience. Due to the content of our play we discussed that it transcended a fixed target audience, any age group could respond to the implications and the messages we were hoping to portray. However, because of the universality of our play we discussed different attitudes towards aspects of the play. Firstly, we evaluated that a younger audience would react better towards the humorous aspects especially ages between 12 and 19, therefore we decided to target the humour to this age group. We initially decided to do this by exaggerating our humorous stereotypes and characters physicality to the extreme. However, during a viewed rehearsal run it became apparent that our characterisations needed to be exaggerated, especially in our silent movie scene. Through discussion we came to the conclusion that older audience members would react well to the stereotypes used in out murder mystery fantasy. In particular the detective stereotype took inspiration from the fictional character Poirot. Generationally, we were aware that a younger audience member would be alienated by the introduction of this stock character because they would not be able to identify with the original. The characterisation of the detective also played a large reliance on the audience members, creating a pantomime like effect. Whilst playing the detective character I often made eye contact with the audience and projected jokes to them, therefore their reactions were very important at these stages. We used lighting to gain more audience reaction during this scene by up lighting the audience subtly allowing the performers to see their reactions and in turn play off their reactions to the humour. During the novella fantasy scene, melodrama was employed. An argument between Carlos and Maria the Latin American characters led to Maria slapping Carlos around the face. This prompted a shocked reaction amongst the audience because they were not expecting it. Difficult reactions from the audience- racist generalising Latin American, stereotyping French maids, stereotyping in general we had to be sensitive towards the audience whilst approaching these scenes. Explore the impact of social, cultural and/or historical conditions on your devised piece. – Vicki Marks. Our devised piece ‘Use of Space' is socially and culturally influenced by traditional conventions of popular culture. Foremost, we decided to exploit the familiarity of these conventions to highlight social perils. Most poignantly we decided to highlight the implications of a female in the workplace and comment on the fact that women still earn substantially less from their employment than men. We chose to emphasize this by going against traditional clichis. Primarily, the character of Nicky symbolised an ambitious business women hoping to succeed in the workplace. To highlight her characters struggle to be successful we altered the traditional female clichi. We felt that typical stereotypes of women came from medieval genres; furthermore the clichid format was a damsel in distress being rescued by her knight in shining armour. For this social comment to be accessible to the audience we simply chose to invert the roles of the typical damsel in distress and knight in shining armour. This resulted in highlighting the fact that women are capable of metaphorically ‘rescuing' themselves, in turn reaching success without help, showing the capability of women and hopefully promoting sexual equality in the workplace. Additionally, through our research into the presentation of women in conventional medieval drama, we learnt the historical relevance of female roles. In a traditional damsel in distress story women are patronised and demeaned. To emphasise the inequality between the sexes we chose to use contrasting levels. For example we chose to place the damsel on higher levels than the knight; this allowed the damsel to take a more commanding role. However, throughout we made constant references to the traditional format through humour, by showing the characters awareness of the reversed roles. I feel that this was very effective because we were culturally aware that a modern day audience would be aware of the clichi allowing it to become humorous in itself. Whilst devising another characters fantasies we settled on the concept of a traditional Latin American soap opera. We chose to use this format to contrast the tedious nature of the characters work life. This idea initially was influenced by the popular television series ‘Ugly Betty' showing clips of traditional Latin American soap opera's or novellas. This genre was particularly useful because of the melodramatic acting techniques used, to give this scene authenticity we chose to have the characters speak a few words or phrases in Spanish and maintained a Spanish accent throughout. Surprisingly, the use of accents and clichid Spanish phrases created a comedic effect, the audience reacted well to this humour. To further the humorous effect we exaggerated the Spanish personalities getting inspiration from the Mexican cartoon character ‘Speedy Gonzales' which allegedly depicts a stereotypical Mexican. Through popular culture we were aware of many of the love clichis also apparent through this scene, in particular the over poetic declaration of love using the analogy of the ‘fake red rose. ‘ Initially, we wanted to explore the format of a silent film in order to highlight the importance of communication, but were anxious to use such a challenging convention on stage and were worried that the audience would become confused. However through research we were able to adopt this style very successfully. Silent movies were made before technical advances allowed an audience to view a film with both images and sound. We wanted to make our silent scene as authentic as possible therefore through our research into silent movies we noticed the projection speed and decided to significantly slow the scene down; some scenes were intentionally slowed down further in order to accelerate the action, particularly in the case of the slapstick moments. One of the main messages of our production was the importance of job satisfaction. There have been many recent surveys and articles surrounding job prospects and the amount of people dissatisfied in their current job placements. We therefore decided to show a group of characters that want to break free from the confinements of an unsatisfying job to highlight the importance of passion and dreams. We feel as young adults embarking on our working lives and starting to make important decisions that will shape our futures, it is very relevant that we have shown our anxieties towards working life. Work related stress is also socially rife especially in western culture therefore; through one of our characters we showed the importance of maintaining hobbies outside of a job to hopefully indicate that money is not the most important thing. Use of Space is an escapist piece; the fantasies represent each character hoping to escape the constraints of their tedious, impassionate lives. Dream worlds are a commonly used plot device in fictional works, most notably in science fiction and fantasy fiction. The use of a dream world creates a situation whereby a character (or group of characters) is placed in a marvelous and unpredictable environment and must overcome several personal problems to leave it. The dream world also commonly serves to teach some moral or religious lessons to the character experiencing it a lesson that the other characters will be unaware of, but one that will influence decisions made regarding them. When the character is reintroduced into the real world (usually when they wake up), the question arises as to what exactly constitutes reality due to the vivid recollection and experiences of the dream world. How acting techniques or design elements and the use of dramatic form were consciously employed to achieve intended effect. The dramatic form of ‘use of space' was inspired by abstract theatre. Our devised piece does not follow a typical chronological time sequence; it has a warped sense of time due to our introduction of ‘fantasy' scenes. Dreams allow the repressed parts of the mind to be satisfied through fantasy and let the mind express things that would normally be suppressed in the waking world. Dreams may also offer a view at how future events might proceed; this is similar to running future events through the mind, for instance a work presentation or a job interview. As a group we identified dreams as an interaction between the unconscious and the conscious. Therefore we wanted to highlight the contrast between reality and fantasy. To begin with we discussed using contrasting lighting effects to show an obvious transaction between reality and fantasy. To express the abstract, fantasy scenes we felt the audience would react well to pink colour fill lighting. This was successful because, the unnatural pink lighting allowed the audience to be aware of the abstract format of the scene. We also relied on the audience's familiarity with clichi dream scenes shown in popular culture. Dream worlds are a commonly used plot device in fictional works, most notably in science fiction and fantasy fiction. Lighting is often used similarly when representing a dream, often flashing lighting is used and mists to show the audience the unreality. As a group we took this into account and decided to use soft lighting throughout the ‘fantasy' scenes by using a flood effect to fill the whole stage. Flash lighting was also used subtly during the transaction from a reality scene to a fantasy scene. We decided as a group to only use subtle flash lighting during the transition because we did not want to reproduce the clichi formats of a dream sequence, we felt that this would undermine the intended serious messages we were trying to relay to the audience. Firstly each fantasy scene is triggered by an action and a simple freeze frame to link the office reality to the dreams. This use of gestus was an acting technique developed by Bertolt Brecht which reflects the characters emotional conflict through a brief frozen action. Gestus was employed during the transaction from my characters monologue to her fantasy scene. As a group we discussed our desired effect of the gestus and decided to show an obvious link between the character's emotional conflict and the freeze frame, for the audience's accessibility. We therefore decided to each come up with a simple freeze frame highlighting the principal emotions of my character, due to the lack of direction my character was feeling we chose to physically interpret the emotion confusion. Coincidentally, each member of the group similarly replicated a curled up freeze frame with their hands clasping their heads. As a group we decided that this composition showed the audience the characters basic feelings of confusion. Sound plays a big part in our production. Our opening scene begins with a metronome to highlight the artificial nature of the office scene and the rhythm of a monotonous life. We decided to open with a metronome to cause a feeling of anticipation through the audience; the ticking rhythm exaggerates and builds tension therefore immediately engaging with the audience before the action begins. The metronome rhythm also acted as a beat to keep our opening routine in time. The beat and the routine showed the audience the typical rhythm of an unsatisfying job. Due to the intimacy of our staged environment we decided not to use microphones because we wanted the sound to be raw and natural even in the fantasy scenes to accentuate the fine line between dreams and reality. This also made the audience feel close to the actors and therefore able to relate to the performers more easily. However to contrast this effect we chose to show all costume changed on stage employing the popular Brechtian technique Verfremdungseffekt through using this we hoped to communicate that the audience's reality was, in fact a construction. During the silent movie scene we used clichi silent movie music. We wanted to stay authentic to a conventional silent film therefore we had a pianist. This music contributed to the atmosphere and gave the audience vital emotional cues. Silence is also an important tool in our production because it is in contrast to the loud interludes of music for example in the silent movie fantasy. Silence was often used after intense sections of dialogue or monologue. For example during my characters monologue the volume levels of my voice were used to create intensity building up to a climax. The silence during my characters gestus freeze frame is poignant because when the sound is taken away the audience begins to focus more on the movement and the emotion of the character, the silence intrigued them. There are many different characters and settings in our play; therefore we decided that our set should remain very neutral. We designed our set in a deliberately ambiguous way, so we could move easily between fantasy and office scenes. We decided that altering the layout of the stage and the set between each scene would prove noisy and would distract the audience's attention. We were however very aware that a permanent set would become boring and the audience would lose interest, nevertheless we decided through rehearsals and a practice production that the intensity of the action made up for the lack of set changes. We used two black oblong boxes as the fundamentals of each scene, occasionally changing the positioning of them to create a different atmosphere. We chose not to have a specific setting contributing to the representation of free-flowing images within the characters mind. However, we decided to introduce an element of decaying society preoccupied by work ambitions and promotions through the use of broken computer monitors, keyboards, mice, and disks positioned around the stage. This gave the stage an overall look of disarray and immediately introduced the audience to the conflict within the characters in the production. How research material was gathered and used within the process. – Vicki Marks To begin the devising process our group was presented with five quotes that took inspiration from different aspects of life, this supplied us with an excellent starting point for developing a challenging piece of theatre, however our initial responses to the stimuli shaped our early work and many aspects were later changed as the piece matured. Firstly each member of the group decided separately which quote inspired them and worked towards abstractly analyse the meaning of these quotes. As a group we were drawn towards the quote â€Å"fear is a dark room where negatives are developed. † We felt that this quote gave us enough scope to produce a brainstorm surrounding the analysis of it. After analysing the quote through a brainstorm we decided to focus on the idea of fear. These fear aspects of the quote lead our group to research and gain an interest surrounding common phobias. As an initial response to phobias we decided to explore phobias that restrain and dominate everyday life. As a group we were interested in the psychological effects of irrational fears, through discussion, we realised one of our member's arachnophobia and decided to research real life stories showing the influences of phobias. We began to gain an understanding of the psychological effects of living with an irrational fear, this allowed us to contemplate the way a person living with a phobia views the world. This topic particularly appealed to our group because three of the members were studying a course in psychology and took a specific interest in phobias. Through research we were drawn to highlighting different perceptions of the world, this is initially why we decided to show a dream or fantasy of each character. I was currently studying Margret Atwood's dystopian novel â€Å"A Handmaid's Tale. † And inferred parallels between dystopian societies and living with a life altering phobia. As a group this led us to discuss the concepts of normality and initially directed us to create a dystopian society to base our phobic characters in. However, we felt that through creating a dystopian society we were overcomplicating the piece and decided in order to create an accessible message we would have to simplify the plot. Many of our responses to the quote were detached and impersonal; therefore we decided to take a more personal approach to the analysing the quote. We wanted to create a more abstract approach to analysing, consequently, rather than brainstorming we played a word association game. Our earlier research indicated to us the potential of exploring fear; for that reason we opened by associating responses to the word ‘fear'. This resulted in a discussion of our apprehension and anxiety towards our futures, each member of the group was in the process of applying to university and planning the next step of their lives. It was important for us to follow our dreams and mistakes in choices at this stage worried us and we were sensitive to the idea of being stuck doing something we were not passionate about. This discussion allowed us to infer parallels between our fears towards losing our passion and job satisfaction in the work place. This led us to create a work place scenario, highlighting different characters problems with the way their lives have transpired. Although we had created an initial scenario we had to decide how to highlight the importance of job satisfaction and dreams. This is where our ideas surrounding an exploration of dreams and fantasies linked in with our running idea. How group skills contributed to the development of the drama. – Vicki Marks As an ensemble, we had many different approaches to the production of our devised piece. Firstly, after the initial discussions of the basic structure of ‘use of space' we decided that each member should separately prepare an initial suggestion for a fantasy scene. Subsequently as an ensemble we modified each member's idea to fit the characters objectives incorporating each group member's requirements. Two of the four fantasy scenes required only two characters, therefore allowing the two remaining members to direct. This particularly put pressure on the team and initially certain members of the group did not respond well to being directed, however, we had to be flexible whilst blocking a scene and be open to criticism and changes. Considering the ensemble approach to devising we wanted each member to experience directing each scene, this also allowed us to incorporate more than one member's objective for a particular scene. Therefore, we often resorted to switching roles mid scene to appreciate the way each member would perform certain characters and situations. I feel that this successfully allowed us to create two dimensional characters and by including aspects of everyone's ideas created an overall satisfaction towards each scene. Each member of the group had a monologue allowing the audience to understand each individual characters state of mind. The preparation of a monologue is often very personal, initially, Helia and I scripted each monologue, but we worked as a group throughout the blocking and performing, however, this proved difficult. Due to the individual approaches of a monologue, taking control of scripting them was ineffective. This approach resulted in confusion and the monologues were less emotionally effective, because members struggled to connect with them on a personal level. Therefore, firstly, we each took our monologues separately and worked on the content through closely analysing our characters objectives and intentions. After we were happy with the essential content of our monologues we worked as a group to develop them. Group timing was essential during the silent movie fantasy, due to a lack of dialogue the scene required carefully choreographed action, which required the group to work carefully in relation to one another. At one stage of this scene, Helia was required to jump on Payam's back and knocked to the ground. In order to prevent any injuries we applied a partnering system, involving a free member of the group shadowing Helia, providing support during the initial stages of rehearsals. During the later stages of devising the murder mystery scene we became uninspired with the outcome An evaluation of the ways in which ideas were communicated to the audience. – Vicki Marks Throughout the devising process we focused predominantly on comedic genres, to allow the audience to access the central messages through humour. Although we were aware of the comedic value of each scene it was difficult to predict the audience's reactions, therefore we decided to perform it to a small audience during our rehearsal to evaluate which areas of humour were successful and which were less effective. Consequently, we realised that many of the melodramatic fantasies such as the silent movie were physically being underplayed resulting in a misrepresentation of our desired style. This resulted in a member of our group to employ a technique that we had used on a physical theatre work shop. Performing our characters physicality on levels from one to ten, ten being the most physically expressive allowed us to evaluate which level of physicality was successful. As a group we decided that the audience reacted best towards the silent movie scene when we employed a physicality level of ten. Due to lack of dialogue, physicality and expression allowed the audience to follow the storyline whilst also creating humour. As a result of working with a limited number of actors it was necessary to multi-role; however, through multi-rolling it is often easy to confuse an audience. We therefore decided to employ the Brechtian technique of changing our signifying costumes on stage. This allowed the audience to understand the style of our piece, and the abstract nature of the fantasy scenes. We also decided to place each change of costume on stage from the opening scene to intrigue the audience and allow them to become more involved in the action. We also had to take into account the wide range of characters we used. For example in one fantasy scene Payam took on the role of a Spanish soap character and during the next fantasy scene his character changed to a medieval knight. As a group we realised that a change of costume would not be sufficient to demonstrate to the audience a change in character, therefore we had to ensure that each actor varied their physicality according the role they were playing. As a group we consciously casted many of the characters as stock characters and stereotypes, allowing us to successfully communicate to the audience a significant change in role. Naturalistically it was difficult to vary each member's character therefore by using melodramatic genres we were able to separate each members character. Originally, we intended to highlight the importance of job satisfaction through juxtaposing the office scenes with the fantasy scenes. We hoped to communicate to the audience the monotonous routine of being unsatisfied in a job. In order to convey this to an audience we decided to use opposing theatrical styles for the fantasy and office scenes. We decided on a naturalistic approach for the office scenes to highlight the dissatisfaction of the characters, similarly we decided to use abstract and melodramatic genres for the fantasy scenes to show the positivity. The accessibility of the humour in our piece relied on the audience's knowledge of the common clichis we drew inspiration from. I feel we did not fully take into account the age range of our audience and miscalculated the universality of the clichis. After discussing with our audience their reactions towards our piece many of the younger members did not understand the humorous aspects on every level. For example in our murder mystery fantasy we took inspiration from the popular detective character Poirot, however many of the younger To open our piece we decided to have each character on stage the composition involved my character facing the audience frozen in a spotlight and a visible shadow of the four other characters in the background, to show individual stories and the universal message that applied to each character. t. How rehearsal and the production process contributed to the final performance. – Vicki Marks During the rehearsal process, we encountered many difficulties with the staging of certain idea's and aspects. Initially we had decided to each perform a separate monologue as our office characters to highlight the objectives of each individual, we felt that it was important to portray to the audience an interesting insight into the characters feelings and wanted each monologue to project different forms. After the initial scripting of the monologues, we brainstormed the different approaches to staging them. Fortunately, each monologue adapted distinctive structures which allowed us to manipulate and create visually appealing scenes. During the staging of Payam's monologue initially aimed to block the physical placement, this required him to be free to travel across the stage, and therefore, a remaining member of the group read his monologue whilst he attempted to block it. Surprisingly, this created an interesting effect of daydreaming; therefore we decided to continue having his monologue projected from off stage. At one stage during our rehearsals we were challenged to find an original and inspiring way to present our idea. We had already decided that we wanted to contrast reality and fantasy. We had devised the fundamentals of ‘office scenes' created to depict our original character Dylan's disconnection with a dystopian society. Because we had created a leading character we struggled to introduce equal roles. Therefore, we decided to create a structured brainstorm addressing our themes and the ideas we hoped to communicate. Through this we discovered a situation where Dylan's disconnection with society linked to a modern day scenario. Dylan's alienation towards an unfamiliar society was transformed into a group of office workers unsatisfied with their situations. Luckily, through former improvised scenes we had created characters which fitted this scenario. Throughout the devising process we were interested in developing an interpretation of parallel universes. We were initially drawn to this idea through different interpretations of phobia's and the way an individual interprets fears. This idea led one member of the group to compare parallel universes to dreams, and fantasies. As a group we decided that we were interested in highlighting the importance of following your dreams, therefore began to research different fantasies and dream scenarios. We began to discuss different genres and settled initially on medieval clichis drawing on the typical female fantasy of being rescued by a knight in shining armour. As a group we decided that our acting techniques should mirror this genre therefore we settled on melodrama. Previously, we had only attempted naturalistic acting techniques, and as a group we were aware of the contrast between naturalism and melodrama. In order to familiarise ourselves with this acting technique we attended a physical theatre workshop, it was apparent to us that in order to effectively portray a melodramatic genre we would have to introduce exaggerated physicality. Initially this felt unnatural to most of the group members due to our back ground in naturalism, therefore, the support we received from the workshops group leader was very helpful. We benefited from the group leader knowledge surrounding physical theatre and he introduced us to a technique which allowed us to exaggerate the physicality during rehearsals. How the influence of ideas of other playwrights and/ or directors, designers and performers have been used. Originally, we hoped to achieve a depressing and desolate office scene highlighting the impassionate emotions of the characters. We initially decided that the characters would remain deadpan to express their negative attitudes towards their work environment; however, we wanted to employ a more exciting abstract format to express this further. We therefore turned to ‘Machinal' by Sophie Treadwell which one of our group members had previously studied. The opening scene to Machinal is a powerful expression of a monotonous office scene. Treadwell uses an expressionist form employing repetitive dialogue and action and harsh audio effects to create a tedious and mechanical impression. Inspired by Treadwell's use of repeated dialogue and action we began to improvise scenes using similar techniques. Firstly, we chose words and phrases linked to an office environment and repeated them, overlapping each other and increasing in volume throughout to create an intense atmosphere. Unfortunately, due to the small group, this did not achieve our desired effect. This then lead us towards a more physical representation, as an alternative to repeated dialogue we chose to highlight the routine of the office through repeating typical office actions. The use of stylised actions reminded a member of the group of a performance of ‘absolute beginners' through which the director had expressed the rigidity of the office through women typing in unison creating a routine effect. Considering the size of the group we were not enthusiastic to have each character simultaneously performing one action, we therefore, took inspiration from the over exaggerated nature of each movement. Instead of using a routine we highlighted a sense of artificiality by introducing a metronome to emphasise the mechanical and artificial nature of the scene. Characterization was very important to the success of our performance. Because we had chosen to show many stark and stereotyped characters throughout it was important to exaggerate the physicality of the characters in certain places. Physicality was expressed most poignantly through the silent film fantasy. Because this was such a challenging format to express due to the lack of dialogue it relied fully on each actor's physical representation of the character. Inspiration was originally taken from Charlie Chaplin. Through research we learnt that as a Silent film actor he emphasized his body language and facial expression so that the audience could better understand what his character was feeling and portraying on screen. However, simply watching and attempting to replicate Chaplin's style was not enough. As a group we decided to participate in a ‘Jet' physical theatre company workshop. This not only allowed us to work on our physicality as performers in general but gave us excellent scope to improve our silent film scene. Costumes were not hugely significant in our performance. We did not want to over complicate things and circumstantially our performance consisted of many short scenes and an array of different characters, similar to the conventions of epic theatre employed notably by Bertolt Brecht we decided to do all of the costume changes on stage. These changes only consisted of small variations to costumes such a hats a jackets that symbolised each character Brecht employed the use of techniques that remind the spectator that the play is a representation of reality and not reality itself, which he called the Verfremdungseffekt. Such techniques included changing costumes on stage. Through this Brecht hoped to communicate that the audience's reality was, in fact a construction and, as such, was changeable. Another Brechtian technique used in our performance was the use of song. We decided that this allowed the audience to distance themselves from the action hopefully making the social comments throughout more accessible and setting the abstract theme from the beginning notably the entire performance was strictly episodic and many scenes were in isolation from each other. Each fantasy scene is triggered by an action and a simple freeze frame to link the office reality to the dreams. This use of gestus was also an acting technique developed by Bertolt Brecht which reflects the characters emotional conflict through a brief frozen action. Gestus was employed during the transaction from my characters monologue to her fantasy scene. As a group we discussed our desired effect of the gestus and decided to show an obvious link between the character's emotional conflict and the freeze frame, for the audience's accessibility. We therefore decided to each come up with a simple freeze frame highlighting the principal emotions the character. The initial idea to dress each character in their own variation of full black was inspired by a performance of ‘attempts on her life' at the national. The director Martin Crimp chose to dress each character in their own interpretation of completely black. We adapted this idea to our performance because it allowed each character to show their own individuality whilst still highlighting the monotony and dull nature of the office and their negative emotions towards their situations. We took a large amount of inspiration from the melodramatic acting techniques employed by soup opera's. We particularly focused on the style of acting used in traditional Novella's or Latin American soups. Whilst approaching this style we researched the soup opera ‘Days of our lives. ‘ To help us adopt similar persona's. How the stimulus material was developed through the drama process. To begin the devising process our group was presented with five quotes that took inspiration from different aspects of life, this supplied us with an excellent starting point for developing a challenging piece of theatre, however our initial responses to the stimuli shaped our early work and many aspects were later changed as the piece matured. Firstly each member of the group decided separately which quote inspired them and worked towards abstractly analyse the meaning of these quotes. As a group we were drawn towards the quote â€Å"fear is a dark room where negatives are developed. † We felt that this quote gave us enough scope to produce a brainstorm surrounding the analysis of it. After analysing the quote through a brainstorm we decided to focus on the idea of fear. These fear aspects of the quote lead our group to research and gain an interest surrounding common phobias. As an initial response to phobia we decided to explore phobias that restrain and dominate everyday life. As a group we were interested in the psychological effects of irrational fears, through discussion, we realised one of our member's arachnophobia and decided to research real life stories showing the influences of phobias. We began to gain an understanding of the psychological effects of living with an irrational fear, this allowed us to contemplate the way a person living with a phobia views the world. This inspired us to contemplate feelings and emotions surrounding living in a different mindset to the norm. We therefore decided to create five different freeze frames, abstractly exploring the physicality of emotions.