Beowulf Motifs Paper Essay

In classic literature, one will often see traces of literary devices that enhance the reading fluency as well as entertainment for the reader. Often, the reader will enjoy literature because of the writer’s attention to bring humor, suspense, drama, and many more genres to life. In a narrative a motif is any recurring or consistent element/entity that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition a motif can help produce other narrative or literary aspects such as a theme or mood. They are defined as â€Å"entities/symbols that reoccur throughout a literary work; sometimes appearing in multiple forms.† In the epic tale, Beowulf, many motifs bring together the characters and the plot. Consequently, three significant motifs that enhance its theme are loyalty, revenge, and envy. One of the central themes of Beowulf, embodied by its title character, is loyalty. At every step of his career, loyalty is Beowulf’s guiding virtue. Beowulf comes to the assistance of the Danes for complicated reasons. He is interested in increasing his reputation and gaining honor and payment. Beowulf does become king and rules with honor and fidelity to his office and his people for 50 years. In his final test, the burden of loyalty will rest on other, younger shoulders. Preparing for his last battle, with the fiery dragon, Beowulf puts his trust in 11 of his finest men, retainers who have vowed to fight to the death for him. Although the now elderly king insists on taking on the dragon alone, he brings along the 11 in case he needs them. When it is apparent that Beowulf is losing the battle to the dragon, however, all but one of his men run and hides in the woods. Only Wiglaf, an inexperienced thane who has great respect for his king, remains loyal. Wiglaf calls to the others, but realizing that they will be no help and that his king is about to be killed, he stands beside the old man to fight to the death theirs or the dragon’s. For Beowulf, sadly, it is the end. Although he and Wiglaf kill the dragon, the king dies. As he dies, Beowulf passes the kingdom on to the brave and loyal Wiglaf. Revenge serves as a motivating factor for several characters throughout the poem, initially stirring Grendel and his mother. Grendel seeks revenge upon mankind for the heritage that he has been dealt. He delights in raiding Heorot because it is the symbol of everything that he detests about men: their success, joy, glory, and favor in the eyes of God. Grendel’s mother’s revenge is more specific. She attacks Heorot because someone there killed her son. Although she is smaller and less powerful than Grendel, she is motivated by a mother’s fury. When Beowulf goes after her in the mere, she has the added advantage of fighting him in her own territory. As she drags him into her cave beneath the lake, her revenge peaks because this is the very man who killed her son. Only Beowulf’s amazing abilities as a warrior and the intervention of God or magic can defeat her. Finally, Despite Unferth’s jealous rant at the first banquet, the most serious embodiment of envy in the poem is Grendel. The ogre who has menaced Hrothgar’s people for 12 years is envious of the Danes because he can never share in mankind’s hope or joy. The monster’s motivation is one of the few undeniably Christian influences in the epic. Grendel is a descendant of Cain, the biblical son of Adam and Eve who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy (Genesis 4). The legend is that the monsters of the earth are Cain’s descendants and eternally damned. Grendel resents men because God blesses them but will never bless him. The bright lights and sounds of joy emanating from Hrothgar’s magnificent mead-hall, Heorot, especially annoy the ogre. The scop’s â€Å"Song of Creation† angers Grendel because it reminds him of the light and hope of God’s creation and the loss he suffers because of Cain’s sin. Grendel stomps up from the mere to devour Danes and rule nightly over Heorot as a form of revenge stemming from this envy. Coming from a highly valued family name, Beowulf must earn his own reputation within his own family. Throughout his battles, Beowulf personifies the motifs of loyalty, revenge, envy, reputation, vengeance, and fate which contribute to the overall epic theme. Each of these contrasting themes contributes as to why Beowulf was such a tremendous epic hero.

This dead Butcher… is this a fair assumption of Macbeth?

I believe that Macbeth s not a dead butcher as you do see him have a sign of guilt when he murders characters in the book. Although he is a very ambitions man resulting in consequences both for him and people around him. In the play you see Macbeth influenced and persuaded by super-natural forces, like the three witches which you see at the beginning of the book. This brings out the ambition in him and slowly turns him into a power ridden man. But at the end he turns into the loyal soldier he was at the beginning of the book, before he meets the witches. In the first act you see the loyal soldier, Macbeth meet the three witches just after over powering the Thane of Cawdor's army. This suddenly brings out the ambition in him as they say he will eventually become King. It says, â€Å"All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King here after†. Read this â€Å"The Secrets of Haiti’s Living Dead† Through the act in the book the readers view of Macbeth changes completely. The character who entered the stage at the beginning is, in the eyes of the audience, completely different person from the character at the end of the first act. He transforms from a good man, a loyal soldier honest to one who is prepared to kill to be king. Even before Macbeth himself appears on stage, he is discussed as a good man by the king and the king's eldest son ‘Malcolm'. They speak of Macbeth as a great soldier after his recent success in the battlefield, while in the service of the King. The King then talks to Macbeth and tells him how the Thane of Cawdor was a loyal friend to him. It is a bit ironic as you see that Macbeth becomes Thane of Cawdor and then stabbed in the back by him. After this you see his ambitious side come out as he writes a letter to his wife saying he will be King. This brings the woman's evil side out as she tries to take all the good in her and replace it with evil as she says, â€Å"unsex me here, and fill me from head to the toe top-full of direst cruelty.† After this the King says he will have dinner at Macbeths house which seems strange as it give them the perfect time to kill the King making a step closer to being King. That night they plan out to ill the King which they do but you see Macbeth arguing about not wanting to kill him. It says, â€Å"First, as I am his kinsman and his subject.† This means that he is my king and my guest and shouldn't kill him. Macbeth mucks the plan up though as he feels very guilty for what he has done. Fortunately his wife manages to make it seem that it was the guards fault as she had drugged them. Kind Duncan's two children Donaldbain and Lennox are very curious about this and flee to England and Wales. Further on in the play he becomes more ambitious and wants to make sure he stays King doing anything to stay there. To this he knew he had to kill his loyal friend Banquo as when he met the witches they said he would be a farther to a line of Kings. So while he was at a party he hired murderers to kill him and his son for him so he would be king. The murders were unable to kill Banquo's son but killed him. Later at the party Macbeth saw the ghost of Banquo at the party here he should have been sitting. No one else could see it as he was the only one that knew what had happened to him. The ghost is a sign of his guiltiness showing that he isn't a bad man after all. By this point Macbeth's wife died because the evilness inside her gets the better of her. At the end of the play Macduff, one of King Duncan's followers, has got an army together to try and gain power of the crown once again as he had enough of Macbeths evil ways. To the reader you see Macbeth turn back into the soldier he once was at the beginning of the book, ready to fight like a true and loyal soldier would. He fights Macduff who said just surrender but Macbeth says no I wish to fight you like a true soldier. Overall I believe that Macbeth is not a dead butcher as at the beginning at ending of the book he is a good and loyal soldier but ambition does get the better of him in the middle where he does want to become king. Not just down to him but his wife aswell. When he does kill people like the King and his loyal friend Banquo he always argues a case on why he should not kill them and then after he feel guilty for killing them by messing up plans or even seeing a ghost.

Cross Cultural Perspective †Nike Corporation Essay

Pakistan and Cambodia have strict child labor and slavery laws, however, the government has done very little to regulate it. Contracts for production are still being granted in areas of Pakistan where there is not sufficient monitoring or regulation to make sure that child labor laws are being observed and enforced. The United States Constitution deems that child labor is not only illegal but also inhumane and that any organization caught practicing or even encouraging forced labor or violating child labor laws will be prosecuted. The general thought process of Nike and many other global organizations is that they can operate their production with the lowest cost of labor. This leads the organizations to enter into violations of child labor laws. An investigation was conducted where Nike was found to have a large number of cases that involved forced labor or child labor law violations in some of the large apparel factories of Nike. In a particular factory in Malaysia, it was found that Nike was operating production in terrible working conditions for the employees in addition to the forced labor. It was found that Nike had underage children working in sweatshops up to seventy hours a week in unhealthy conditions making their products. Pakistan has a population of approximately 1 million people and it is also an important location or â€Å"hub† per say for the production of goods that are to be exported to international markets, this is especially true of the production and export of sporting goods which brings in revenues in excess of 300 million dollars a year. When confronted with the findings, Nike issued a statement stating that they would take corrective action to make sure that the child labor laws were followed and that they would not continue to operate forced labor and bad working conditions within any of their factories. Nike started focusing on their social responsibility efforts in areas in which they can have the greatest impact and create the greatest value for the organization and for the communities that the various factories are in. Nike has initiated the social responsibility efforts in the materials they design for their products, as well as the process of making those materials and products. An analysis of the ethical and social responsibilities Nike faced with global expansion had many factors that needed consideration. The first consideration was the cost of making their products. To stay competitive in their prices while not reducing the amount of employees, Nike, decided to outsource some of their manufacturing and suppliers on a global scale. This provided Nike cost advantage over their competition and it also allowed Nike to expand into emerging markets. Some could view this as unethical practice because it could take jobs away from manufacturing plants in the United States; however, Nike was acting in the best interests of the organization including its employees overseas and the employees back in the United States. If an organization does not maintain a competitive edge in their respective markets when expanding the organization not only in the United States but also worldwide, there would be no room for growth and jobs would be lost. When a company is no longer competitive in their respective industry, it can eventually cause them to shut down factories in their communities, which in turn can cause people to lose their of jobs. Nike’s social responsibility to the community includes the Nike Foundation. The Nike Foundation focuses on adolescent girls in developing countries. Nike has established custom product lines, marketing, events that have raised donations from consumers. Nike strongly believes that every young person in should have access to sports and has developed various programs and activities. Aside from the Nike Foundation, Nike has also developed several other programs as part of their social responsibility such as the Homeless World Cup (HWC), ninemillion and Let us Play in China. The Homeless World Cup (HWC) has supported locally-run football programs for homeless community members in more than 60 countries globally. In addition, 34 of these nations either plan or already have active national street soccer leagues running throughout the year (Nikebiz. com). The HWC training programs include technical training as well as assist the players with drug or alcohol dependency programs, finding jobs, finding homes and receiving education to name a few (Nikebiz. com). In 2006, NIKE, Inc. , partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) and Microsoft to launch the ninemillion campaign through ninemillion. org to give more than 9 million children living in refugee camps access to better education, sports and technology (Nikebiz. com). The let us play in China program has partnered with China Children and Teenagers’ Fund, under the government-organized NGO Women’s Federation, on a program that empowers migrant youth and introduces more child-centered teaching methods through sports (Nikebiz. com). The Nike Foundation’s mission is to provide innovative programs that offer solutions for girls, by partnering with larger organizations to get girls’ issues on the international agenda and to mobilize resources to support them (Nikebiz. com). This promotes learning skills and the ability to work as a team. It creates the ability to adapt to situations that could arise in the work environment and in life; it also promotes confidence in playing sports. This is one of the most ethical things that a company can do to help develop the next generation. In conclusion, Nike has accepted that they have done some things in the past that have been rather unethical and have been damaging to their image, not to mention that it could have really altered their profitability.

Equal Opportunities versus Managing Diversity Essay

Equal Opportunities versus Managing Diversity - Essay Example In the rapidly growing world, when legal aspects of such facets in organizations are highly managed, it becomes even more important to ensure that diversity and equal opportunity are maintained. The paper is aimed at discussing of two elements in which equal opportunity and managing diversity are evaluated, and a comparison is given as to what is more important and why. The theme of the paper is to evaluate two elements against each other and build a case as to what is and what should be more important for organizations. Equal Opportunity Equal opportunity relates to fair treatment of groups of employees in order to ensure that there is no discrimination. Various categories or groups of employees against which discrimination can be implied include gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, disability, previous offenses and arrests and even sexual orientation. This discrimination may be direct or it may be indirect as well. To illustrate, discrimination against race in the direct sense woul d be when one set of people are treated unfavorably against others. Indirect discrimination would be when a particular group of people is treated unequally by promoting equal rights to all other groups of people, for example bans on different types of clothing for a particular group of people. ... ote that concerns for equal opportunity are at all stages of employment, from hiring to transfers to training and from promotions, benefits, perks, procedural actions, like grievance handling and disciplinary actions, as well as dismissal. In each scenario, it is important that discrimination is avoided within the organization as it affects productivity and efficiency within the organization (Braham et al., 1981). It is worth noting that there are various areas in which discrimination is a regular feature. For example, studies indicate that on an average, a woman earns relatively less in terms of salary and benefits in comparison to a man. This is primarily because of segregation in choosing a woman for a job, stating that there are various other benefits assigned to a female like maternity leaves, etc (Smith, 1979; Vickers, 1991). In addition, women are considered mainly for temporary or part-time jobs while high end jobs are discriminated against and preference is given to the male counterpart (Gilory, 1993). Several researchers indicate typical conditions for women that are considered to be unskilled labor, services, little overtime, more vacation days and days-off, part-time work etc. This is generally considered as to how women work in organizations. Typically, other discriminatory factors are aimed at race and ethnicity, for example people from the thirdworld countries are typically blue-collar workers, are less skilled and can be given less payment to work more hours (Sloan &Siebert, 1980). Various researchers have conducted studies where it has been revealed that racial and ethnic minorities are discriminated against, where unemployment, particularly long-term, is high, because they are considered as less skilled or qualified and, as a result, this

College assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

College - Assignment Example 10. The following 10 data values are systolic blood pressure readings. Compute the mean, range, standard deviation, and variance for these data using StatCrunch. Copy and Paste your work from StatCrunch into your Word document submission. 12. The following data designate whether patients in two groups (experimental and control) complied with a medication regimen. The experimental group participated in an intervention designed to promote perceived mastery over health events: Using StatCrunch, construct a contingency table for these data, computing both row and column percentages for each of the four cells. Copy and Paste your StatCrunch table into your Word document submission. Using StatCrunch, construct a scatterplot that shows the relationship between the two variables. Copy and Paste your work from StatCrunch into your Word document submission. Verbally describe the direction and magnitude of the relationship. Using StatCrunch, construct a scatterplot that shows the relationship between the two variables (carbon dioxide concentrations and the measured change in Global temperature). Calculate the r value using StatCrunch. Copy and Paste your work from StatCrunch into your Word document submission. Verbally describe the direction and magnitude of the relationship you find. What does this tell you about Global

Building Effective Team Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 181

Building Effective Team - Essay Example While forming a team out of group members that have never worked with each other different team members have to play different roles. The leader needs to provide direction, assign responsibilities and communicate effectively and efficiently. The members need to develop healthy relationships and avoid power and political tactics. They need to trust each other and work closely with each other while spending some time in different entertaining activities with each other as this will further strengthen their relationships. In order to sort out conflicts that arise between team members, leaders have to play a major role. The leader first needs to realize and accept that a conflict is taking place. Then he/she should call a meeting between team members. In this team meeting he should give every members of the conflict to provide their side of the story. This will help parties in understanding the issues from each other’s point of view. Then the leader needs to allow the members to f ind solutions and identify a solution that is in the best interest of the entire team and implement th ­e solution to solve the conflict. ­Bruce Tuckman has provided a stage-wise plan for building effective teams and has outlined different activities that leaders and members need to perform to develop such teams (Schneider 17). Tuckman states that in order to develop effective teams leaders need to provide guidance, assign roles and responsibly and delegate authority. While the members need to build relationships with each others, develop hardworking attitudes and believe in the aims and objectives of the leader and the organization. In order to develop effective team’s leaders need to lead by example and delegate power and responsibility, while the members need to trust each other and work hard and refrain from political tactics. Ineffective teams are developed when leaders do not trust their members, and members try to overpower other members  and form groups within t he team.

Understand the Organisational Purposes of Businesses Essay

Understand the Organisational Purposes of Businesses - Essay Example Understand the Organisational Purposes of Businesses There are three common types of organizational structures, including traditional, divisional, and matrix. However, other kinds of structures also exist, including pre-bureaucratic, bureaucratic, team, and network structures (Thomas and Coe, 2003:124). The commonality between all the different organizational structures is that they aim to improve the organizational efficiency, as well as provide a clear framework of operation and reporting. Nonetheless, they differ in a number of factors. The traditional (functional) structure divides the organization into groups or departments according to their purposes. For instance, an organization with a functional structure may have a production department, a sales department, and a marketing department. This type of structure suits small businesses because each department can rely on the knowledge and talent of its employees. Nonetheless, the main drawback of the structure is the limited communication and coordination between departments by the organizational boundaries. On the other hand, divisional structures are common in larger firms that operate separate smaller organizations under the main umbrella group or in a large geographical area, covering different types of market segments and products.For instance, a manufacturing company may have a compressor division, a small engine division, and a parts division in different geographic locations. Each division specializes in a particular type of need. The main advantage of this type of organizational structure is the rapid and effective resolution of needs. Similar to the functional structure, this form of structure also limits communication as employees work in different divisions. Additionally, this type of structure is expensive because of its scope and size (Salaman, 2002:167). Lastly, the matrix type is a hybrid of the functional and divisional structures. Often adapted in multinational companies, the structure enables an organization to enjoy the benefits of both th e divisional and functional structures simultaneously. In most cases, this creates power struggles as most organizational areas are under dual management: a divisional and a functional manager, both working at the same level and occupying the same management territory. The other common organizational structure is product-based structure, common in companies with multiple product lines. Essentially, each part of eth structure focuses on an individual unit within the company (Walker et al., 2003:124). This structure allows flexibility in the organization, but suffers from lack of achieving company-wide goals and objectives. Structure Advantages Disadvantages Functional (Traditional) a. Division of labour b. Development of team spirit and cooperation c. Mass production a. Emphasis on specialization b. Leads to conflicts c. Weak disciplinary controls Product-Based a. Simple b. Unified control c. Better discipline a. Lacks specialization b. Overburdening of management c. Favouritism Divi sional a. Dispersal of power b. Increased efficiency c. Delegation of duties a. Delayed decision b. Lack of accountability c. Minority tyranny Matrix a. Greater efficiency b. Coordination c. Non-autocracy a. Conflicts between functional and divisional managers b. Authority dependent on management c. Poor administration Decades of research show a link between organizational performance and organizational culture. Despite the lack of

Strategic management case on Penn National Gaming Study

Strategic management on Penn National Gaming - Case Study Example The report will be primarily divided into three sections. The first section will be presenting a brief overview of the company. Apart from that, this section will also shed light on the history, competitors, mission and vision statement of the company. The second section will discuss and analyze the current strategies of the company. In addition, the financial data will also be covered. The last section will emphasize on the findings from all the strategic and financial analyses. Finally few recommendations will be provided to improve the efficiency of the company. Penn National Gaming: History Penn National Gaming is a gaming operator, which is currently headquartered at Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, United States. The root of the company dates back to the early 1970s when the company opened its first venture ‘Penn National Race Course’ in the year 1972 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. ... Penn National Gaming (PNG) with its subsidiaries also operates in the field of racing and gaming industry. Company Overview: Penn National Gaming PNG or Penn National Gaming is a multi jurisdictional, diversified and manager and owner of pari-mutuel properties and gaming. According to the recent report, the company operates with around 29 facilities throughout 19 jurisdictions. The list includes Mississippi, Texas, West Virginia, Florida, Maine, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, New Mexico, Indiana, Maryland, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, and Ontario. Apart from that, Penn National Gaming also manages a casino in Canada. The total operated facilities of the company nearly accounts to 850 table games, 36,800 gaming machines, 2,900 hotel rooms and a gaming floor space of 1.6 million square feet. The company presently operates with around 17,000 employees. As of 2011 the net revenue of the company was US $ 2, 742.25 million. The major products and services of the company include Casino gaming, Off-track wagering facilities, Horse racing and Slot machines (Plunkett, 2009). Some of the company owned properties include Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, Hollywood Slots Hotel and Raceway, Hollywood Casino Aurora, Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, Off-track Wagering Facilities, Argosy Casino Riverside, Hollywood Casino Joliet, Argosy Casino Alton, Account Wagering/Internet Wagering, Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge, Pimlico Race Course, Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis, Hollywood Casino Tunica, Sioux City, Argosy Casino, Boomtown Biloxi, Black Gold Casino at Zia Park,

Social work- serious case review practice issues Essay

Social work- serious case review practice issues - Essay Example ppened, it would also be that such events occurred because these guardians themselves were mentally-incapacitated to provide comfort and support to the children (Lyons-Ruth, et al., 2004, p.70). In this regard other agencies could have mitigated the effects of the debilitation of the parents or caregivers of children, by having them assess the capability of these adults to provide care and support (Phillips, 1997, p.609). Most often agencies such as social welfare, schools, health practitioners and other authorities are able to give provide the necessary assistance to children in high-risk families or neighbourhoods, and the help are able to give positive results, especially when the children in question are provided with proper medical attention as well as psychiatric counselling (Faver, et al., 1999, p.90). However, there are also times when these same agencies are unable to work together in solving cases of child maltreatment or neglect, especially when the parents or guardians involved are rather resistant to any outside help, which could result to the children getting injured or even ending up dead (Rzepnicki & Johnson, 2005, p.393; Wulczyn, et al., 2010, p.5). Such events are likely to be the result of the miscommunications or the lack of correspondence among agencies, as well as not understanding how the interrelationships between welfare agencies could prevent occurrences of children getting injured inside the home. Such a case has been documented by the Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board, when a child in a rather problematic family died due to onset of infections that were attributed to lack of proper nourishment, among other things (Radford, 2010, p.5). In hindsight, the problem could have been alleviated if the agencies which were attending the family were much more proactive in truly finding out the state of the family, as well as the ability of the mother and the partner adult to care for the children. However, the communication gaps between the

Asian American Essay Example for Free

Asian American Essay America has grown very much over the past couple of years when it comes to the representations of race, gender, class and sexuality. In America today many people are aware of the issues that different people have faced and the problems they are currently dealing with. Breaking a stereotype is a hard thing to do for any minority but it has been especially hard on the Asian community. From the early days of media Asian men and women have been portrayed a very specific way in film and television. In the 1950’s and 1960’s Asian women were portrayed as sexual objects, they were evil goddesses with slanted eyes or smiling, cunning, sexual deviants. This objectified Asian women to only two choices, be naive and hopeless or untrustworthy and devious. Now a days the media has obviously tried to eliminate these stereotypes. Their attempts have worked to some extent however there still are not many big name Asian women actresses. One of the biggest Asian actresses in Hollywood is Lucy Liu. Although is she a very successful actress all of her roles are very sexual. Is this a good or bad thing for the Asian community? Yes she is very famous but is she playing right into Asian women being sexually exploited in the media. Asian males have faced a very similar problem over the years. Although the term Asian American covers about 30 different ethnicities, in the media they are almost all portrayed in the same way. In the early days of American media you barely saw any Asian males on T. V. One of the most prominent Asian characters on T. V. in the early 30’s and 40’s was the character of Charlie Chan. Charlie Chan was a detective who appeared in over 40 different films, his character was very wise, smart and witty. The only problem was this Asian character was played by three different white actors over the years. The reasoning behind this was that all the good characteristics Charlie Chan had were because the actors were white and all of his negative characteristics were due to the fact that the character was Asian. Once again in todays society we have progressed significantly since the days of Charlie Chan. However Asian males today have been predominantly reduced to two major roles. One of these two roles is pretty easy to figure out, that role would be the kung foo action role. If I said, name a couple of Asian American actors the first that come to mind are Jackie Chan and or Bruce Lee. Everybody knows or has seen a couple of the films these two stars have been in. Another role is the role of the villain. Many Asian characters do not have big roles unless they are the bad guy. They are often linked with gang activities such as prostitution, gambling and murder. Here are some examples of these stereotypes and representations. The first one is the movie trailer for The World of Suzie Wong. This movie is about an American writer who is struggling in life and falls in love with a Chinese prostitute. Although it is a love story and Suzie Wong is the main character you can just tell by the trailer what American men think of Asian women at the time. www. youtube. com/watch? v=jnepiAcqb_g The next clip is a more modern movie. It stars Lucy Liu who is a very successful Asian actress. This movie is obviously a step forward, in the 1960’s an Asian woman fighting crime would have been thought of as blasphemous. Although her role in this movie is a strong woman who fights crime there is still a little bit of sexual objectivity here and in many other scenes of the movie.www. youtube. com/watch? v=cjyqWsrpQAA This next image is an image of Charlie Chan. You can tell by the picture that the actor that plays Charlie Chan is white. They use make up and he talks with an accent to make the character Asian. This truly makes no sense to me at all. The character is Asian but could not be played by an Asian because his good values would not seem realistic, but all of the negative qualities he has is because the character is of Chinese decent. http://beyondmediaonline. com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/chan. jpg. This next clip is from Rush Hour 3 and it pretty much plays into all the stereotypes I was talking about before. Jackie Chan is the star of this movie and he is a detective who specializes in martial arts and the man they are interrogating in this scene is a French/Asian gangster. Now once again not every Asian actor is a martial arts star or portrays a gangster in a movie now a days. It just seems that the major roles Asian actors get are ones like this. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=tfEZwRukZOo Nittle, N. (2013). Asian American Stereotypes. Retrieved from http://racerelations. about. com/od/hollywood/a/Five-Common-Asian-american-Stereotypes-In-Tv-And-Film. htm Is Lucy Liu a heroine or a curse? (2003, January 29). Gold Sea Asian American Daily. Retrieved December 4, 2007, from http://goldsea. com/Air/Issues/Liu/liu. html. Chan, C. (1988). Asian Stereotypes. Retrieved from Chan, C. (1988). Asian American women: The psychological responses to sexual exploitation and cultural stereotypes. The Politics of Race and Gender in Therapy. Ed. Lenora Fulani. Haworth, 31-38.

Factors Affecting Life Insurance Agent Turn Over Commerce Essay

Factors Affecting Life Insurance Agent Turn Over Commerce Essay This case study aims to explore factors commonly believed to affect life insurance agent turn over. Several factors has been affected to life insurance agent turnover. The factors are demographic, organizational and selling skill factors. Factor demographic are age,length of service, family size and responsibility, education,martial status and . Second the organizational factors consist of employee commitment, employee satisfaction, compensation. training and development, supervisor-agent relationship and organizational Culture. Third factors are seling skils consist of running out client list, lack of interpersonal skills,lack of salesmanship skills. Impact of all factors has been positive significat to turn over. Keywords: Life insurance agent, turn over, demographic, organizational, selling skill Introduction Turnover of life insurance agent is a classic problem that occurs in almost all insurance companys, therefore it is becomes important for them because it associated with the development of the companies. Agent development was surved by many research companys and one of them is LIMRA Life Insurance Marketing and Research association (LIMRA). They publication in 2005 has been results, 68% of agents to end his career in the insurance companies in the first 2 years on their career .(Honans, 2006). Honan pointed out that some agents often voluntarily leave from one company to another for company or make own business for themselves. Beside that agents are asked to leave due to not achived minimum target requirements, than there are agents turn over 31% with a 4-year retention rate of 14% according LIMRA survey. In Indonesia survey for agent development very periochial, we only found about growth as insurance companies. Base on survey Indonesian economy in 2010, as reflected in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 14.4% from Rp5,614.3 trillion in 2009 to Rp6,422.9 trillion in 2010. Within the same period, gross premium income of insurance industry increased by 17,5% from Rp106.4 trillion in 2009 to Rp125.1 trillion in 2010. Thus, the ratio of gross premium to GDP increased in 2010 from 1.90% to 1.95%. As of the end of December 2010, there were 377 companies having business licenses to operate in Indonesia which consist of 142 insurance and reinsurance companies, and 235 insurance business supporting companies. The insurance and reinsurance companies consist of 46 life insurance companies, 87 non life insurance companies, 4 reinsurance companies, 2 companies administering social insurance program and workers social security, and 3 companies administering insurance for civil servants and armed forces / police. The number of life and non life insurance companies per 31 December 2010 is the lowest for last five years (Indonesia Insurance 2010). The other hand survey all staff turn over has been done by the global management consulting firm Hay Group Hay Group .Base on their survey rate of staff turnover in Indonesia was increased The research was shown that the Indonesian insurance industrys turnover in 2007 is at 10.7% and 12.7% in 2008. The research indicated that salary increase is the most cited reason for job hopping. The study suggests that companies must make a continuous effort to create an attractive working environment to retain employees. In general, people have bought insurance product based on 20% of the benefits of the product, 20% was seen the background of the insurance companies and 60% depending on agent offered. Because the Indonesian people in general are prefer interacting and their want to get more detailed information directly from agent. Hence to said insurance agent is the vanguard of the company. The purpose of this study is to explore factors commonly believed to affect life insurance agent turn over in the JV Insurance Indonesia. Furthermore, a case study of turn over is presented to show the impact of turn over in the JV Insurance Indonesia. In order to ensure the confidentiality, the name of company has changed, so that the informations indicated do not affect the reputation of the company The JV Insurance Indonesia. The JV Insurance Indonesia belongs to JV Group of Companies, the largest life insurance group in Singapore and Malaysia with its two distribution channels the tied agency and bancassurance.The JV Insurance Indonesia started its operation in Indonesia in1996, with headquarters in Jakarta and several Sales Offices in big cities in Indonesia. The JV Group is a subsidiary of O Bank, the second largest financial services group in Southeast Asia by assets. It is among the worlds highest rated banks, with a long term credit rating of Aa1 from Moodys. It is also ranked by Bloomberg Markets as the worlds strongest bank. Since 1908, The JV Group has a strong legacy of putting you first. We make life great by providing financial security, and promoting good health and meaningful relationships. With our comprehensive suite of plans to meet your every need, you can be assured of true peace of mind. Literature Review Insurance Agents Insurance agents are primarily responsible for searching, collecting, selling insurance products and other financial services. Knowledge agents on selling product have been considered equal to company knowledge. Misconduct of an agents are responsibility of the company; This are bind company to clients. Notice from clients to insurance agents, as same as to the insurance company. (http://www.aaji.or.id/InfoCenter/Dictionary.aspx) Turnover Turnover is defined as the number of people who leave a job or organization (DeNisi Griffin, 2008). Cascio and Boudreau (2008) said that a more appropriate way to define turnover is to consider, not only separation, but also the replacement of employees leaving. Turnover in the organization has become a very investigated area (eg, Marsh Mannari, 1977; Mobley, 1977,1982; Bluedorn, 1982; Horner, Hollingsworth, 1978. Cotton Tuttle, 1986; Mathieu Zajac, 1990; Babkus, Cravens, Johnston, Moncrief 1996;; Gaertner, 1999; Hom Griffeth, 1995; Rhodes, Eisenberger, Armeli, , 2001; Meyer et al, 2002; Alleyna, 2002; Zacharatos, Herschcovis, Turner, Barling, 2007; Hong, Wei, Chen, 2007; Clark, 2007). Turnover can lead to loss of productivity, quality of service interruption, lost of business opportunities, and demoralized employees who live (Hom Griffeth, 1995; Mobley, 1982). Limiting turnover would be beneficial to organization. Insurance Agents and Turnover Empirical research on the insurance agents and turnover is limited. Current statistics indicate the turnover rate of 85% for women and 81% for males four-years model (Huffman, 2007). This statistic is an increase from two years earlier that showed the overall turnover of 89% in 2005 (Brown, 2004) and 86% in 2004 (Higgins, 2003) using a 4-year retention rate. While the turnover rate has increased, losing more than 80% of the industrial workforce for the past four years is quite expensive. Muise (2007) showed that 28% of U.S. insurance agents hired in early 2006 were not employed with the same company at the end of 2006. Moreover, the greatest loss occurs before the second year employment is complete. Huffman (2007) determined that 62% of women and 53% men are no longer employed by the same insurance company at the end of two years. Berris and Jackson (2008) notes that turnover was the biggest frustration for managers, owners and employees of the insurance companies. It is clear that i nsurance agents are a valuable commodity in the field of insurance. Sadly, there are not sufficent agents to adequately serve the community. In addition, retention is at a staggering low level while recruitment cannot compete with the speed of the insurance agents leave the industry. In addition, turnover is a consistent problem that inhibits the insurance industry. Determining the factors that increase retention and minimize the necessary intention to leave for the insurance industry to continue to thrive. There are many factors that cause an employee to intent to leave the organization. The research was not all encompassing. This study only offered additional information to the body of knowledge. Prior studies and research in the future will continue to add to the body of knowledge considering employees intent to leave the organization. Problem Description The company is a complex organization that consists of many resources, one of which is human resources. One of problems in corporate human resources is inten to leave of employee impress of agent turn over, If agent has a sense of satisfaction in work or enviroment of company, then the agent would demonstrate good personally in companies. Base on theory, job satisfaction is negatively related to employee turnover, higher job satisfaction associated with low turnover, whereas the less satisfied employees show higher turnover. But in the current conditions of the country of Indonesia with a high unemployment rate and lack of alternative work, will lead to a lot of people would think twice about leaving their job, they prefer to stay in their job even though it may in fact employees are not satisfied with the work. Based on the pre-survey in the JV Insurance Indonesia was found in 2011 a common problem associated with the employee is the employee dissatisfaction on commision factors and the relationship between superior and subordinate that makes some employees who are not satisfied will resign his job. It marked the turnover rate of employees in the BL Insurance Indonesia in 2011 is higher in the amount of 20.60% depend on 5,76 % in 2010. This is certainly very interesting to study further. Is there job satisfaction associated with employee turnover rate in the companys current condition? Based on the mentioned hence the issues will be investigated in this study are: 1. What factors that can influenced turn over rate of insurance agents of The JV Insurance Indonesia? 2. How is improvement efforts need to be implemented by the JV Insurance Indonesia to enhance employee satisfaction and reduce the levels of turnover occurring? STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Considering all these issues study determines its Factors Affecting Life Insurance Agent Turnover (case study in The JV Insurance Indonesia ) FINDING Demograpic analysis Demographic factors may influence the occurrence of turnover. Those factors are age, length of service, education, family size and responsibility and marital status. Age The result of these study show that the majority of respondent are young agent. Young agent indicate a higher turnover rate than workers with older. Previous research shows there is a strong negative relationship between age and turnover, The negative relationships that exists in these studies mean as age increase the rate of turrnover decreases, Older agents are reluctant to move because of work and family responsibilities and they do not want to work from the beginning in a new place. They do not get comfortable even though their will get a new salary and more facilities more bigger. The length of service The length of service as define by Bluedorn (1982;140) is the amount of time an individual has been a member of organisation. The result of these study has been indicated a negative relationship between length of service and turnover, Its mean the agent with shorter length of service with an organisation are more likely to leave Family size and responsibility Stone and athelstan (1969) who studied turnove among famales shows that there is positive relationship between increses in family size and increased tendencies to turnover. This contrast in the findings on the impact of family size among male and female turnover can be simply explained by the typical rule of traditional sex-role differentiation in the family Education Recent studies dealing with education, suggest that there is evidence to link better-educated agents with higher rates of turnover than less-educated agents. The result of these study has been indicated a positive relationship between education and turnover Marital Status Several previous studies have demonstrated the relationship between marital status and labor turnover. Unmarried agent are more likely to leave a job compared to married agent. The result of these study has been indicated a positve relationship between marital status and turnover. That means single agent have higher turnover than that of married agent. Organizational Factors analysis Several researchers have examined the turnover problem as a consequence of high turnover or excessively costly to the organization (North et al., 2005). Previous research has shown that many considerations affected to the decision to leave a company. Quantitative and qualitative research studies have shown correlative patterns that can both explain and predict agent turnover. The literature on agent turnover is very broad. The shortage of workers significantly impact overall organizational effectiveness and employee spirit (Bame, 1993; Fitzpatrick, 2002; Harrington, Zimmerman, Karon, Robinson, Beutel, 2000). When agent turnover becomes excessive , productivity suffers, decreased services, increased cost, and leaves the knowledge of the firm (Drucker, 1998; Fitzpatrick, 2002; Shaw, Gupta, Delery, 2002). Employee Commitment The relationship between agent commitment and tendency to either stay with or leave an organization has been the source of much academic inquiry (Blau, 1985; Meyer, Allen, Smith, 1993; Morrow, 1983). Commitment to job or the employer has been the subject of confusion because of different definitions for the concept of commitment (Morrow, 1983). Meyer and Allen (1991) define organizational commitment as a psychological state that (a) the character of the relationship between employees and the organization, and (b) has implications for the decision to continue or discontinue membership in the organization (p. 61). This could take shape in the way employees become emotionally attached to or identify with an organization, the fear of losing their commitment and identity with an organization, or a sense of obligation to an employer (Meyer Allen, 1991). Based on emotional commitment, two main directions of research that appears (a) studies examining agents emotional commitment agents and (b) studies examining attitudinal commitments. Agents commitment has affected the turnover rate. in these study showed little their commitment to an company. Employee Satisfaction Employee satisfaction has the effect of work-related outcomes such as job performance, commitment to an organization, discretionary activities, absenteeism, turnover, and delays (Hulin Judge, 2003; Johns, 2001, Judge, Parker, Colbert, Heller, Ilies, 2001; Warr, 1999) Employee satisfaction is one that affects the turnover can be divided into three sub-categories: (a) dispositional, (b) situational, and (c) integrational (Arvey, Carter, Buerkley, 1991; 2001 Judge et al.) In these study suggests there is a tendency not fulfilled employee satisfaction Compensation Compensation affected the agent retention strategies (Corporate Leadership Council, 1999, Williams Sunderland, 1999). Many studies show that compensation was a key determinant retention (Dreher, 1982; Gerhart Milkovich, 1992; Griffeth, Hom, Gaertner, 2000; Harrison, Virick, Williams, 1996; Porter Lawler, 1968; Schwab, 1991; Steers Mowday, 1981). there are variations of several studies have shown that compensation for increased performance (Milkovich Newman, 1996). Other researchers have questioned the premise that retention is connected to compensation (Kim, 1999; Kohn, 1993; Pfeffer, 1998). Pay-for-performance structures have been studied for their impact on individual performance improvement (Jenkins, Mitra, Gupta, Shaw, 1998) and organizational performance (Gerhart, 2000). Because a lot of insurance companies pay their agents based on commission, not salary, they do not making enough money from commission may realize that they will not be able to fulfill their basic necess ities and may need to look elsewhere for work. In these study compensation has affected the performance of the agent to remain in a company. Training and Development According to some previous studies the effects of training and development programs have reduced turnover. That program on employee development has shown that improving agent skills as a result. Martin (2003) asserts that there is a complex relationship between turnover and employee development. Martin found that increased the skills of workers on the job resulted in a lower rate of turnover for the organization.. Supervisor-agent Relationship This study is the relationship between agent and supervisor. The quality of that relationship affects the commitment of the agent (Galagan, 2000; Kaye and Jordan-Evans, 2000; Kinni von Hoffman, 2000; Tulgan, 2001). These study has shown that voluntary turnover is due to the low quality of the supervisor-agent relationship (Dobbs, 2001; Kaye and Jordan-Evans, 2000). Supervisor-agent relationship quality assessed by the effectiveness and communication styles between the two sides. In the supervisor-agent studies and their impact on motivation and job satisfaction, the differences in communication styles have been neglected to date (Mayfield, Mayfield, Kopf, 1995, 1998; Sharbrough, Simmons, Cantrill, 2006 Organizational Culture The study of effects cultural organization have been at the retention of employees show there is a strong correlation between organizational culture and turnover (Galagan, 2000; Kaye Jordan-Evans, 2000; Kinni von Hoffman, 2000; Salopek, 2000). Work environment or organizational culture where relationships are based on trust and integrity, the staff is treated as a unique individual, and personal relationships taken care positively impact employee turnover. Good relationships between supervisors and agent or between agents and agents affect the decision to stay or leave a company (Friedrich, 2001; Morrison Chan, 2000). Instead, the results showed that the stress levels of employees, lack of support from supervisors or management,, and non-empowering work environment had negative effect on turnover (Friedrich, 2001; Hemingway Smith, 1999). Sales Skills Sales skills factors caused insurance agent turn over. There factors are consist of Running out client list Running out client list due to agents have been limited relationship held and the lack of ability to build relationships with new people. They were afraid ask for references from their clients Lack of interpersonal skill Agents are not motivated due to lack of support from managers to provide encouragement and the assistance required. They were not given enough motivation to remain in the company. Lack of salesmanship. Agents had been unable to selling product because they were not received training on how to selling a good product, lot of agents do not have a background in marketing and insurance so that they had difficulty in adapting the marketing environment Discussion Turnover agent has been affected by job satisfaction. Job satisfaction can be broken down into short-term assessment and long-term assessment. Short-term assessment is the intention to leave the company before 1 year. Long-term assessment in relation to intention to leave in the next 24 months. Respondents indicated that the commission, rewards and benefits are part of the top level in the short term. Gifts of money, non-monetary rewards and appreciation even considered as an important reason to consider when deciding to leave in the short term. Factors such as operating procedures, the nature of work, organizational communication, co-workers, and supervisors are most strongly associated with intention to leave in the short term. Factors of working enviroment, good career opportunities, and communication around the organization in the long term will occurred for agent, they will be becomes important when considering leaving within the next two years. Operating procedure is still the most important and minimal supervision can still be considered in turnover. Overall, in the short term, the five strongest factors to consider reducing the intention to leave in the next year including affective commitment, commitment to sustainability, contingen awards, commissions, and benefits. The five least important factor for respondents in the short term include normative commitment, operating procedures, justice, information, monitoring, and nature of work. Suggestions for minimizing turnover Companies should improve the recruitment agent system. companies create training programs that aim to meet the needs of agents such as how to increase ability to sell products and good approach to clients. The company should require agents to have an agency license Companies must improve operating system procedures, so that agents can smoothly in administrative affairs. Designing forms used for agent activity in selling products The company should improve the system of compensation, bonuses and awards. The company established a corporate culture for all employees, especially convenient for the agent. Improving relationship between supervisor and agent, thus forming a mutually beneficial relationship between two parties Conslusion These study revealed interesting results regarding intent to quit before 1 year. Most agents were satisfied and had no intent to quit in 6 and 12 months. Several economic and demographic factors like comission and age did not affect agent intent to quit before 1 year. In marital status factors almost half of unattached employees, such as single, widowed, and divorced agent had intent to quit before 1 year. The result shown that a higher percentage of unattached agents intent to quit before 1 year and had lower organizational commitment. In organization commitment factor was lack of organization commitment that contributed to the external factors, such as downsizing and outsourcing. Also, unattached agent have minimal risks with intent to quit due to less years invested and limited retirement investments. The results revealed that married agent no intent to quit due to high organization commitment, in order to maintain family responsibilities and future retirement. The relationship between commision and turnover is significant. Agents anticipate their sacrifice of time, energy and completion of job responsibilities to be demonstrated through rewards, such as reward and bonuses. When rewards and bonuses are not sufficient, then employees feel unappreciated and dissatisfied. As a result, negative attitudes and behaviors are demonstrated through minimal job performance and productivity like low achived premium target . In addition, negative attitudes and productivity increase agents intent to quit from company for additional experience and skills for potential career advancements. Similar to commision, promotions contribute to agents intent to quit in 1 year. However, insufficient commition and limited promotions increase agents intent to quit from organizations, in order to obtain additional experience and skills for higher commition and future career advancements. Future research and Limitations The limitation of these research identified the collection of data from a small site in Jakarta Indonesia to generalize to a large population of employees in the insurance industry. Future research is needed to obtain feedback from a larger sample rather than a smaller sample of the population. Future research will enable levels of management and human resource programs to enhance existing and incorporate additional programs to accommodate a diversified population of employees. Another area of future research includes modifications with the demographic survey. The survey used in the study did not include variables, such as status of education.

Memory as a Constructive and Active Process

Memory as a Constructive and Active Process Memory is a constructive and active process. Evaluate this claim. Simon Andrew Agnew To evaluate the notion that memory is a constructive process an assessment of some of the research[p1] on the exploration of memory is required. Brace and Roth (2007) argue that memory is a constructive and active process rather than a â€Å"passive mechanism for recording external information† (Brace and Roth, 2007, pg.130). However, it can be argued that memory is not exclusively constructive and active but also includes passive elements. This can be seen through the constructive reconstruction techniques and a study conducted by Godden and Braddeley (1975), which demonstrated that active learning alongside passive environment interaction that create extra retrieval cues for context reinstatement. These techniques show that linking passive processing of an environment can aid in the active process of memory retention and recollection. Memories are formed from information perceived through all the senses, after which information is coded and stored. Memory can be broken down into three components, Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval. Encoding is the process (in) by which information is stored in a person’s memory. Sensory information, information from the outside world, is transferred and coded into memory systems. There are at least two ways that sensory information can be coded. Visual codding, where shapes, words and/or objects, are received through visual receptors which in turn form the bases for the meaning of said objects and acoustic coding, which codes particular sounds, like a word or the sound an object makes, similarly linking this information to the meaning of specific sounds, either of words and/or objects. This process of encoding suggests that there is an active process in learning the association between specific sounds or objects and their specific meanings and interpretations, which are subse quently stored in a person’s memory[p2]. Memories are crucial for everyday human functions. Without memory all interactions and experiences would not be stored in memory systems inhibiting the development as individuals and a society. Erik Erikson’s research claimed that identity and memory were directly related to the development of individuality and society (Phoenix, 2007, pg.53). Erikson[p3] stated that â€Å"a conscious sense of individual uniqueness†¦ an unconscious striving for continuity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Phoenix, 2007, pg.53). This suggests that memory is an active process in which helps in the development toward the idea of ‘who we are’. Storage processes are the means through which information is (coded and) then stored within a person’s memory. Memory is a function that psychologists are long trying to understandThe first psychologist to conceptualise memory as involving different systems was William James (1890). James proposed that the primary memory system involved conscious use of mental activity while the secondary system was for storing knowledge and experiences. James’ theory of different memory sub-systems is still being used, however other research has since been conducted that shows that memory can be broken down into three main processes, Sensory Memory, holds sensory information from the outside world for a brief moment. Short-Term Memory holds coded information for a few seconds or minutes, and Long Term Memory holds coded information in a robust form for many years. (Brace and Roth, 2007, pg.115). There are different ways to study memory function, from methods such as laboratory experiments, quasi-experiments and field experiments (Brace and Roth, 2007, pg.117). . Brace and Roth state that â€Å"memory is an active, selective, and constructive process rather than a passive mechanism for recording external information.† (Brace and Roth, 2007, pg.130). However, this can be challenged through techniques like ‘Retrieval-Enhancing Techniques’. (These‘ are the techniques) used by police officers when interviewing witnesses to aid in memory retrieval of a particular event. The different retrieval-enhancing techniques that are adopted are context reinstatement, where a person is as to recall the physical surroundings, including light, temperature and smells. Recalling everything where a witness is asked to recall everything from a particular incident, whether they think it is relevant or not. This is because retrieving one piece of information, impo rtant or not, can assist in the retrieval of other pieces of information that may not be as easily remembered. . Recalling in different temporal orders where trying to recall an event either from start to finish, or in reverse, starting with the last memory, using salient aspects of the event and working either forward or backward from that specific point (Brace and Roth, 2007, pg.125). There is sufficient evidence that supports memory retrieval through cognitive interviews. It demonstrates the ability to recall information that would not otherwise be actively processed, but could be perceived, in at least one way or another, through particular senses, such as smell, sounds or tastes. Godden and Braddeley (1975) researched Context Reinstatement (Godden and Braddeley) They designed a study that required participants to learn a list of 40 words while underwater or on land. The results showed that the word (were) recall was 40% higher when the recall situation was the same as the learning environment, compared to (that) when the environments were different (switched) (Brace and Roth, 2007, pg.127). It can be argued that these results show that memory is in fact active in some respects and passive others in that it demonstrates links between the passive interpretation of an environment to the active process of storing and recalling words[p4]. Subsequently participants that were asked to recall the word list in (the opposite) a different environment remember less as the opposite environment provided no cues. (such). Endel Tulving (1983) explained the relationship between storing and recalling as stronger when â€Å"retrieval overlap or match with cues that were registered at encoding† (Brace and Roth, 2007, pg.126). However, memory is pliable and recollection can be influenced by post event information as well as previous mental images and thought processes. Bartlett (1932) described these changes in recognition and recall as being â€Å"unwitting[p5].† Research by Bartlett illustrated that when actively recalling new information, in order to make sense of it, a person relies on past knowledge and experiences. . Bartlett designed an experiment which highlighted influences of social factors on memory. . The experiment included participants reading an extract and then asked to recall as much of the extract as possible. . It was found that when new information was recalled the recognition was different to the original information. . He noted that unusual descriptions were changed into standard descriptions, for example, â€Å"something black came out of his mouth† became â€Å"foamed at the mouth†. . Other changes occurred through rationalisations and omission of materials (Brace and Roth, 2007, pg.132). . Bartlett explains this as ‘effect after meaning’ in that past experiences, unconsciously and/or passively, intertwine with new information to help interpret and make sense of the new information. . These particular observations supported the idea that memory adopts both active and passive processing when processing new information making memory pliable and influential (Brace and Roth, 2007, pg.133). Another example that demonstrates that memory is able to passive process information is through the works of Craik and Lckhart (1972). . Craik and Lockhart proposed two different levels of processing, shallow and deep. . They suggest that ‘shallow’ level processing is simple coded information in terms of physical characteristics, shapes and sounds. . ‘Deep’ level coding is information that is processed is assigned a meaning (Brace and Roth, 2007, pg.119). This theory led Craik and Tulving (1975) to further investigate these different levels. . A study conducted by Craik and Tulving demonstrates the abilities of incidental learning against intentional learning. . This required participants with in the study to try not actively remember the words in the stimuli, as to ‘only’ demonstrate the capabilities of incidental learning. The results found that people were more likely to incidentally learn words that they came across during the semantic task (word that fit into sentences), and less likely to incidentally learn the words in the structural task (words in block capitals), and an intermediate amount of acoustic learn words (words based on rhyme) (Brace and Roth, 2007, pg.120). This notion of incidental learning would suggest that the memory processes are also being passively stored to memory systems, as one of the main requirements was that participants were asked to try not actively learn anything during testing and yet their memory still subconsciously encodes and stores the information. In evaluating the notion that memory is a constructive process the assessment on some of the research in exploration of memory systems suggests that memory is not only constructive and active process, but a passive one as well. . It cannot be stated that memory is not an active process, as this is evident in the active process of visual and acoustic encoding, and that encoded information is key everyday human function, development and interactions. However it can be argued that memory is also a passive processes, in which sensory information is taken in and linked with active memory processes through environmental interactions or already established schemas. . This can be seen and argued through multiple studies. The results of Godden and Braddeley (1975) demonstrate that memory is active and passive in that it highlights links between the passive interpretation of an environment to the active process of storing and recalling words. Which is explained by Turlving that when â€Å" retrieval overlap or match with cues that were registered at encoding† (Brace and Roth, 2007, pg.126). . However Bartletts discussion of the pliability of memory, due to the notion that memories are processed and understood using already established schemas, and that Incidental and intentional learning, further supports the argument that memory adopts both an active and passive process when processing and/or applying meaning to new information. Words: 1637 References Brace. N, Roth I., (2007) ‘Memory: Structures, Processes and Skills’ in D. Miell, A. Phoenix, K. Thomas (Eds.), Mapping Psychology (2nd ed., pp. 113-160). Milton Keynes, The Open University. Phoenix. A. (2007) ‘Identity and Diversity’ in D. Miell, A. Phoenix, K. Thomas (Eds.), Mapping Psychology (2nd ed., pp. 45-92). Milton Keynes, The Open University. [p1]Though you have explain the issue to some extent– this cannot be said to be an introduction, as you are referring to terms and studies that have not yet been explained, You also need to inform the reader you mean to answer the question, and how it is to be organised. [p2]Though things can be stored in memory passively, without us attending to them. [p3]This quote is not really relevant to the question, and as above, there are elements of memory storage that occur without consciousness. [p4]I didn’t understand this point in the introduction, but it makes sense this time! [p5]Note that recognition is matching something to what is already in memory, whereas recall is retrieving something stored in memory.

Free College Admissions Essays: Try, try again! :: College Admissions Essays

Try, try again! Bedraggled, disheartened and blanketed with mud, I sat on the sidewalk blubbering while the tears dripped down my knee. As I watched the salty droplets trickle down my dingy leg and meld with the crimson driblets oozing from my ragged shins, I felt a certain overwhelming feeling of helplessness, of defeat. After a comfortable amount of time was spent wallowing in self-pity, my relentless attitude proficiently mustered the nerve to get back on my very first bicycle and give it another try. I was on my way to conquer one of my first acquaintances with adversity. " Excellence and success is not achieved in perfection but in knowing you tried your best." This is definitely the most powerful virtue that I've cultivated throughout the years. From learning to walk to learning to drive and all the obstacles that I faced in between I was always able to employ this adage and trust that belief in it would get me through whatever challenge I faced. As an innocent, radiant slip of a girl I embark ed on my first steps of life. I fell, and fell again until my bottom was bruised, I'm sure. Nonetheless, I never gave up, and was up and running around in no time! I was ready for bigger and better things. Before long it was time for school. This, by far, has been the most challenging endeavor midst the years. No matter what I always gave it my all and managed to remain a high honors student throughout a majority of my academic career until I was faced with an even larger task...high school. With problems developing in the family I became incredibly withdrawn and unfortunately, indifferent. By my junior year I was feeling so overwhelmed that, in essence, I surrendered to failure. I barely had the ambition to go to school let alone do well in my classes. I was accepting defeat and very low grades at that. Then, one day, a teacher said something to me that evoked thought, a second look at my situation. While staying after school, my English teacher said, "Jessica, you're a very intell igent girl, and you have the ability to achieve much higher grades, but you aren't trying which is sad because there are kids that try so hard and can't earn the grades that you're so capable of.

Andy Warhols Impact on Art Essay -- Artist Art

Andy Warhol's Impact on Art Andrew Warhola was born August Sixth, 1928, in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. He was the youngest son of Julie and Andrej Warhola, both immigrants from Czechoslovakia. After a quiet childhood spent alternately alone and in art classes, Andrew went to college. He then got a job doing commercial art, largely advertisements for large companies. Over time his name was shortened and Andy Warhol changed the face of modern art. Through his silver lined Factory and the many people who frequented it a revolution was born. This paper will discuss some of these people and examine the impact they all made on modern art. Ruska Dolina was a small Ruthenian suburb of Pittsburgh. It was populated with, of course, eastern European immigrants. Andy Warhol was born into this very close-knit neighborhood speaking his parent's native tongue. Julia Warhola was herself a bit of an artist, in later years she would collaborate with her youngest son. Andrej Warhola worked in the great steel mills of Pittsburgh. The Warhola household was very typical of the times. Julia would stay home, cook, and read to her boys while Mr. Warhola worked in a steel mill sweatshop with hundreds of other immigrants. The family was strictly Eastern Orthodox Catholics. On Sunday, the day of rest, no one was allowed to move. These days were passed indoors with Mrs. Warhola telling stories to the boys. Like most children, Andrew collected the pictures and posters of various celebrities that would define such a body of his work in later years. Andrew was a rather small boy. In interviews Andy Warhol said that he was pale and scrawny and that he was thusly bullied on several occasions by his classmates. When he was fourteen Andrew's father died of tuberculosis, a common malady of the times, especially for the profession. This had a profound affect on young Andrew. As was the Orthodox tradition, the body was laid out in the house for three days of mourning and visitation. During this span Andrew hid under his bed refusing to look at his father's body. Despite the poorly paying job, Andrej managed to set aside money for college. However, he saved only enough to send one child, and the general consensus was that this would be Andrew. In Fifth grade Andrew started attending the free Saturday classes that the Carnegie Institute taught. It is noted that even then... ...as that Ginsburg communicated with writing, while Warhol stuck mainly to his art. Ken Kesey was also a Beatnik regular. Perhaps crazier than the rest, he still managed to write arguably the most sensible book. When chronicled in On the Road, Ken Kesey was the insane Dean Moriarty. Given this character, he most likely would have fit right in at the hectic, hedonistic scene of the Factory in the early Nineteen-Sixties. Each of the artists mentioned here met Andy Warhol at different phases of his career. While the majority of them were seen at the infamous Factory, some came both before and after. Regardless of where they met and knew Warhol, they each had their own individual lessons and impacts. Jean-Michel Basquait was perhaps the last artist to come around and really know Andy Warhol. Julia Warhol was certainly the first. In between were very many amazing artists, almost too many artists to talk about. The most important, of course, have been mentioned in this paper. Andy Warhol is a man still impacting art long after his death. His visionary style changed forever the face of both commercial art and gallery art. Hopefully this paper communicated a bit of that genius.

P4 Use Marketing Research

Task 1 (P4 use marketing research for marketing planning) Results -75% want more children’s sandwiches -82% want the shop to be open longer -65% said the staff was unfriendly -50% said the contents of the sandwiches could be fresher -80% said they would prefer more wraps SWOT Analysis Strengths – Because Mr. Khan has carried out the market research on his competitors his can adjust his own store make sure it meets the requirements that the customers need such as making sure his staff are friendly and help when serving customers.Weaknesses -The weaknesses of Mr. Khan’s sandwich shop is that there is already a shop in the area with a minimum of 200 customers which may make it harder for him to start getting customers especially if the store has a large amount of loyal customers. Also if there is one shop there may more which could mean he has set up his business in a bad area. Opportunities To widen the range of sandwiches available in his shop, more childrenâ€⠄¢s sandwiches will bring more customers in with young children also to start making more types of wraps so that there is a larger selection of food available in store bringing more customers through the door therefore increasing sales and profits. – By keeping his store open longer than other stores in the area he can potentially gain more customers from other store and perhaps find new customers who use his store nearer to closing time. -If Mr.Khan was able to source all of the contents of his sandwiches locally and use that as promotion so that he has the freshest ingredients because it can bring more customers. Threats – Any new shops that are opening can be a potential threat and steal customers from his store because they may give better service, products or their prices may be lower. – Also if there are any supermarkets around the area that sell sandwiches because they sell them at much lower prices than he can so there is threat of the supermarkets steal ing customers Smart Objectives 0% said they would prefer more wraps -To develop a new line of wrap based product to sell in store Perhaps look into other stores to do some market research to see what type’s food sells and whether wraps are selling or not. Then on the research that he has carried out create a new menu of sandwiches that include a selection of wraps, also Mr. Khan could introduce the wrap with a special offer like a meal deal, half price or buy one get free. Mr. Khan could also do a festive menu on the way up to Christmas 82% want the shop to be open longer Keep the store open from 7:00am until 4:00pm for lunch and breakfast also perhaps open it for a two hours in the evening to increase and make a minimum of 60 sales per day Increase the amount of sales he makes in a day by doing a meal deal that would draw more people into his store daily also if he was to keep the store open for longer than he could get more sales in the later hours of the afternoon when did n’t use to be open. Mr. Khan could also open it for a few hours in the evening to see if he could get any sales then. 5% said the staff was unfriendly -Gain 30 regulars that use the store 3-5 times week in the first two months By employing more friendly staff that interact with customers so his store becomes a more friendly place with better atmosphere, this may mean that customer could his shop more often and regularly in their work place so that Mr. Khan knows he has got at least 30 guarantied sales every day. 50% said the contents of the sandwiches could be fresher -Source all ingredients that are used in sandwiches locally e. g. local farms and butchers. By Mr.Khan sourcing all of the contents of his sandwiches and ingredients locally from local farms, grocers and butchers also perhaps use organic fruit and vegetables. Then promoting in his store and on the menu that he uses fresh, locally sourced ingredients in his food may bring in more customers. 75% want more children ’s sandwiches -Open new line of child based sandwich products and meal deal that contain a drink a toy also a wider variety sandwiches. By starting to make a children’s menu with a range of products from sandwiches to drinks and toys.This will bring more people with children into his sandwich store and mean that the parents will stay longer and spent more money in his shop because their children are happy and entertained with the meal they have. PESTEL Analysis Political -Political factors are Laws passed by the government that affect the business and to what degree. These political factors include areas such as tax policy, labor law, environmental law, trade restrictions, tariffs, and political stability.Political factors can also include goods and services which the government wants to provide or be provided and those that the government doesn’t want to be provided such as tobacco and cigarettes which the governments allow to be sold sell but puts heavy tax on . The smoking ban had a big effect on all business when it was put in place however it was a positive for shops and business like Mr. Khans sandwich shop because it prevents smokers from smoking in business and public places which allowed more people and a wider range to use the business such mothers and children to use his store that wouldn’t have used it before because of the smokers.Economical -Economic factors include economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates and the inflation rate which affect business in the way of stock prices, rent and taxation these factors have major impacts on how businesses operate and make decisions. For example, interest rates affect a company like Mr. Khan’s profits, revenue and debts because his business loans will become more expensive affecting how much his company makes and what it worth. This can affect how much his sandwich grows and expands, possible new store he could open and how quick it does so.Exchange rates affect the costs of exporting goods and the supply and price of imported goods in an economy this affects Mr. Khan Business because it could import some of the ingredients used in his product and the exchange rates can differ and tax on importing and exporting goods can increase. Inflation affects all business because it affects prices of goods and services and taxes on business like Mr. Khan’s sandwich shop because the prices of his ingredients can increase, the tax on his business may increase and the rent for the premise of his business especially with inflation increasing.Social Social factors include the cultural aspects that affect businesses which can include population growth rate, age, career attitudes and different cultures. Age is has a big affect such as if Mr. Khan started to make his business more child friendly and offer coloring and play areas for children. Making the inside of his store more comfortable by using sofa seating instead of plastic chairs. Technological Tech nological factors include the ways in which technology has changed the way business operate and the rate of technological change.Examples of this would be business offering free Wi-Fi when you use the business this is something that Mr. Khan’s sandwich shop could think about offering to the customer because it can increase the range of customer that use it such students and business men that buy the lunch and use the Wi-Fi on their laptop to do work. Another technological factor would be for Mr. Khan to start using chip pin allowing his customers to pay with card because their lots of potential customer that may not have cash with them but have a card so don’t use his sandwich shop.Any more advance technology that he could use in his business such as new fridges, cooking and the equipment he uses to make the sandwiches which could all potentially increase the quality of his products. Environmental These are factors which can relate to the social, political and legal as pects affecting a business. Some examples of this would be Mr. Khan adapting a new outlook to how his business gives back to the environment, by the packaging he uses to wrap his sandwiches in perhaps using bio degradable packaging.Reducing the amount of packaging he uses so that he has less waste. Another thing Mr. Khan could consider is reducing the amount of waste his business generates overall; by reducing it he would not only save money himself on the waste packaging that is not used and it would reduce cost of rubbish removal because he will then have less non recyclable waste. These moves would also improve the image of his business in that it will become more environmentally friendly. LegalLegal issues involve the development that goes on within the business it includes various laws such as discrimination law, consumer law, antitrust law, employment law, and health and safety law. These factors can affect how a company operates, its costs, and the demand for its products. Be cause Mr. Khan’s business is relatively new and a lot of the current laws have already passed however law such as the smoking ban for example could have affect Mr. Khan’s business because when the law passed it was good news for mothers and children but bad for any smokers that before would have been able to smoke in the cafe.

Caterpillar and Komatsu: A Mission Statement Evaluation Essay

Caterpillar and Komatsu are two of the largest heavy equipment manufacturers in the world with total revenue of over $29.1 billion dollars for fiscal year 2001 between the two companies. Caterpillar was established in 1925 after Benjamin Holt and Daniel Best merged their two companies, both of which had been in business for over 35 years each. Komatsu was founded in 1921 when Komatsu Iron Works was spun off as an independent corporation from Takeuchi Mining Industry, Ltd. Both companies, Caterpillar and Komatsu, have since established themselves in the market as leaders of heavy equipment manufacturing. A review of the websites and mission statements for each company speaks volumes about the company and their philosophy towards doing business. Each mission statement was evaluated for the following components as per the UniModule for the course: Customers, Products or services, Markets, Technology, Concern for survival, growth and profitability, Philosophy, Self-concept, Concern for public image and Concern for employees. Additionally, each mission statement, as well as the company web site and company reports, was reviewed to determine how the priorities of the stockholders were addressed. Caterpillar Caterpillar has both a vision and a mission to drive their company. The vision is basically stated, â€Å"Be the global leader in customer value† (Caterpillar). This basic statement drives the four different aspects of the mission and the company as a whole. The vision also shows a strong concern for survival and growth with a forward-looking vision to the future. In addition, a basic vision such as this also drives the philosophy of the company as they strive to be the best in their market. The first section of the mission statement is as follows: Caterpillar will be the leader in providing the best value in machines,  engines and support services for customers dedicated to building the world’s infrastructure and developing and transporting its resources. We provide the best value to customers. (italics as included in statement) (Caterpillar) As this section states, Caterpillar believes in supporting the customer through all aspects of its operations. This section also addresses Caterpillar’s philosophy in their products and services by providing the best value to their customers. The second section of the mission statement states: Caterpillar people will increase shareholder value by aggressively pursuing growth and profit opportunities that leverage our engineering, manufacturing, distribution, information management and financial services expertise. We grow profitably. (italics as included in statement) (Caterpillar) This section addresses Caterpillar’s concern for shareholder value by directly addressing their goals to increase value as part of the statement, and not as an afterthought. The simple line, â€Å"We grow profitably† shows a strong faith in their future as a company. The third section read: Caterpillar will provide its worldwide workforce with an environment that stimulates diversity, innovation, teamwork, continuous learning and improvement and rewards individual performance. We develop and reward people. (italics as included in statement) (Caterpillar) A strong concern for the employees is shown in this section of the mission statement. According to the Caterpillar website, the company offers extensive training and employee development, as well as a multitude of benefits for their employees. The final section of the mission statement is as follows: Caterpillar is dedicated to improving the quality of life while sustaining the quality of our earth. We encourage social responsibility. (italics as included in statement) (Caterpillar) Finally, Caterpillar addresses their concern for the public image of the company by addressing environmental and social issues in their mission statement. Caterpillar is involved in several environmental and social projects in the communities that they are a part of, whether in the United States or around the world. Overall, the vision and mission statement for Caterpillar is strong and clear, providing a valuable direction for the company in all aspects of their operation. Komatsu Komatsu has established a basic mission statement as well as a Code of Worldwide Business Conduct (Code) booklet that helps to guide the company in its global business dealings. This Code is updated annually to reflect any new or changed information that may affect how the company performs on a global level. The mission statement, which is actually an opening statement by the president of the company, Masahiro Sakane, reads as follows: Komatsu is committed to Quality and Reliability as the very cornerstones of its management to maximize its corporate value. Through business activities, we at Komatsu work to enhance the corporate value of Komatsu for shareholders and all other stakeholders by promoting activities to become a Strong Company, while simultaneously observing the â€Å"Rules of the Business Community (the Rules)† and fulfilling the responsibility of corporate citizenship to become a Good Company. In this manner, I believe that we can improve the Quality and Reliability of management and employees. (Komatsu) By breaking down the opening statement, as well as the pertinent sections of the Code, we can evaluate the company’s means for addressing the different  requirements from the UniModule. A driving force behind the Code is the strong commitment to quality and reliability for their products. This is addressed in the management direction section of the code, which provides five guidelines for enhancing quality and reliability. The first guideline directly addresses the customers’ needs and concerns, as well as the product and/or services themselves, by â€Å"constantly providing safe and innovative products/service and systems from the viewpoint of our customers.† (Komatsu) Additionally, product safety is mentioned as one of the main aspects for quality and reliability. According to Komatsu, â€Å"all employees place the highest priority for assurance of safety when engaging in development, production, procurement, sales, service and all other stages.† (Komatsu) References Caterpillar Company Information. Mission. Caterpillar. Retrieved on June 20, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.cat.com/about_cat/company_information/03_mission/mission.html Komatsu Code of Business Conduct. Komatsu, Inc. Retrieved June 20, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.komatsu.com/profile/index.html

Its Catalysts and Unhealthy Results Essay

The body has acted as the playground of beauty. Many individuals have experimented with their bodies in order for them to look and feel good, mainly influenced by media and backed up by vanity. However, this constant experimentation has created an unusual obsession towards making their bodies look better. False perception of beauty has created an unlikely habit which seems to cost some individuals’ lives. False Imagery of the body seems to have been influenced by media, has also created a â€Å"role model†, and resulted in unhealthy eating habits. Western Media covers almost the entire world and accompanied by the internet, their reach might continue to grow. Western television shows, movies, magazines, and other related media conveyed their perception of beauty. Western media has dominated much of the third world countries’ local media; hence, the influences of Western media on beauty can be most evident within this group. The result was a distortion of their o perception of beauty. Here is a good example coming from the reading: â€Å"Fijians revere a body†¦features that show that the body is strong, hard-working, and healthy†¦Thinness†¦was seen as some kind of social loss or neglect† (McClelland par. 7-8). This was the Fijian’s original perception of beauty when their government announced the installation of a television network which included western programs. Years later, this perception suddenly changed. However, the influence of western media acts only as step one to adopting the changes in perception. Step two is when the individual accepts these changes. Hence, it naturally falls as the individual’s choice. On the other hand, western media has still created a false imagery of beauty which dominated the other culture’s perception on the subject. This may have resulted to the creation of a greater rift between two or more ethnic groups. The United States boasts a diverse population which can be separated into different ethnic groups—white Americans somewhat making up the majority. Whites—especially women—dominate western media; hence, this enabled them to be the â€Å"role models† in terms of beauty. Among the minority groups, many have tried to make their selves look like their favorite celebrities and personalities from the western media; trying to look thin and white which for them, defined sexy. They simply felt insecure with the way they look and how others reacted: â€Å"†¦put white baby powder on my cheeks just to look white,† which was said by a 19-year old South African, East Indian girl (McClelland par. 11). Insecurity on her God-given physique has made her act this way. The whites may seem to be the perfect â€Å"role models. † However, there are a lot of potential role models from the minor ethnic groups that can be equally beautiful, sexy, and sophisticated when compared to the white role model. Members of the minority need a role model of their own in order to avoid the mishaps of eating disorders and other illnesses—paranoia, insecurity, and vanity are just some. Unhealthy eating habits are a result of a person’s insecurity with his or her own body—usual eating disorder patients were women. There are two types of eating disorders: (1) Anorexia (self-starvation) and (2) Bulimia (induced vomiting). Both were equally regarded as a dangerous habit, especially the latter. From some distorted perspective, many still perform such acts in order to look good—being thin is considered sexy. A woman performing these acts may appear sexy, which does not seem to wrong. However, the sacrifice that she had to make can be seen as an act of desperation. Not only that, these two habits can damage the body’s system which can be fatal when not cured. The influence of the western media seems too powerful to counter-influence it. The ethnic disparities may continue to grow and the anorexic and bulimic might remain the same. However, I believe that there is still a way to change the habits of the old and replace these distorted images with ones that would not affect the way people live. Works Cited McClelland, Susan. (August 14, 2000). â€Å"Distorted Images. † Maclean’s.

You Suck: A Love Story Chapter 4~5

Chapter Four Red and White and Dead all Over Rapoc stuffing and chicken feathers lay in great, fluffy drifts across the room, along with the shreds of their clothing, the futon cover, pieces of a fuzzy, Muppet-skin rug, and the crushed remains of a couple of cheap-ass Pier 1 paper lanterns. Sparks crackled from the bare wires over the breakfast bar, where the pendulum light fixtures used to hang. The loft looked as if someone had thrown a hand grenade into the middle of a teddy-bear orgy and the only survivors had had their fur blown off. â€Å"Well, that was different,† Jody said, still a little breathless. She was lying across the coffee table, looking out the window at a streetlight from an upside-down angle, naked except for one sleeve of her red leather jacket. She was smeared with blood from head to toe, and even as Tommy watched, the scratches and fang marks on her skin were healing over. â€Å"If I'd known,† Tommy said, panting, â€Å"I'd have grown a foreskin a long time ago.† He lay across the room where she had thrown him, sprawled on a pile of books and kindling that had once been a bookshelf, also smeared with blood and covered in scratches – wearing only a sock. As he pulled a pencil-sized splinter of bookcase out of his thigh, Tommy thought that he might have been a little hasty about yelling at Jody for turning him into a vampire. Although he couldn't really remember much of it, he was pretty sure he'd just had the most amazing sex ever. Apparently what he had read about vampire sex being all about drinking the blood and nothing else – it was just another myth like the changing into a bat and the inability to cross running water. â€Å"Did you know that was going to happen?† Tommy asked. â€Å"I had no idea,† Jody said, still on the coffee table, and looking more to Tommy every minute like a murder victim, except that she was talking, and smiling. â€Å"I was going to make you buy me dinner and take me to a movie first.† Tommy chucked the bloody bookcase splinter at her. â€Å"I don't mean did you know we were going to do it, I mean did you know that it was going to be like that?† â€Å"How would I know that?† â€Å"I thought maybe the night you spent with the old vampire†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Jody sat up. â€Å"I didn't do him, Tommy, I just spent the night with him trying to find out about how to be a vampire. And his name is Elijah.† â€Å"Oh, so now you're on a first-name basis.† â€Å"Oh, for the love of God, Tommy, would you stop thinking? You're taking what was an amazing experience and sucking all the life out of it.† Tommy fidgeted on his pile of rubble and started to pout, but winced when he tried to push out his lower lip and it caught on his fangs. She was right. He'd always been like that, always overthinking, overanalyzing. â€Å"Sorry,† he said. â€Å"You have to just be part of the world now,† Jody said softly. â€Å"You can't put everything into categories, separate yourself from experience by putting words on it. Like the song says, let it be.† â€Å"Sorry,† Tommy said again. He tried to push the thoughts out of his head, closed his eyes, and listened to his heartbeat, and Jody's heartbeat coming from across the room. â€Å"It's okay,† Jody said. â€Å"Sex like that does sort of beg for a postmortem.† Tommy smiled, his eyes still closed. â€Å"So to speak.† Jody stood up and crossed the room to where he was sitting. She offered him her hand to help him up. â€Å"Careful, the back of your head is kind of stuck in the dry wall.† Tommy turned his head and heard plaster cracking. â€Å"I'm still starving.† She pulled him to his feet. â€Å"I'm feeling a little drained myself.† â€Å"My bad,† Tommy said. He could remember now, her blood pulsing into him, at the same time that his was pulsing into her. He rubbed a place on his shoulder where the punctures from her fangs hadn't quite healed yet. She kissed the spot he was rubbing. â€Å"You'll heal faster when you've had fresh blood.† Tommy felt an ache, like a sudden cramp in his stomach. â€Å"I really need to eat.† Jody led him into the bedroom, where Chet the huge cat was cowering in the corner, hiding unsuccessfully behind the wicker hamper. â€Å"Wait,† Jody said. She padded back out into the great room and came back a few seconds later wearing what was left of her red leather jacket (really more of a vest now) and her panties, which she had to hold together on one side where they'd been torn off. â€Å"Sorry,† she said, â€Å"I'm not comfortable being naked in front of strangers.† Tommy nodded. â€Å"He's not a stranger, Jody. He's dinner.† â€Å"Uh-huh,† Jody said, nodding and shaking her head at the same time, making her appear like a bloodstained, bobble-head doll. â€Å"You go. You're new.† â€Å"Me? Don't you know some superanimal hypnotism to call him to you?† â€Å"Nope. Go get him. I'll wait.† Tommy looked at her. On top of the blood that streaked and smeared her pale skin, there were gobs of futon stuffing stuck to her here and there, as well as white chicken feathers in her hair from one of the exploded cushions. He had feathers and cat hair stuck to his chest and legs. â€Å"We're going to have to shave him first, you know?† Jody nodded, not looking away from the huge cat. â€Å"Maybe a shower first.† â€Å"Good idea.† Tommy put his arm around her. â€Å"But just washing. No sex!† â€Å"Why, we already lost the cleaning deposit?† â€Å"Those shower doors are glass.† â€Å"Okay. But can I wash your – â€Å" â€Å"No,† she said. She took his hand and dragged him into the bathroom. It turned out that superhuman vampire strength came in handy when shaving a thirty-five-pound cat. After a couple of false starts, which had them chasing Chet the huge shaving-cream-covered cat around the loft, they discovered the value of duct tape as a grooming tool. Because of the tape, they weren't able to shave his feet. When they were finished, Chet looked like a big-eyed, potbellied, protohuman in fur-lined, duct-tape space boots – the feline love child of Golem and Doddy the house elf. â€Å"I'm not sure we needed to shave all of him,† Tommy said, sitting on the bed next to Jody as they considered the bound and shaven Chet on the floor before them. â€Å"He looks creepy.† â€Å"Pretty creepy,† Jody said. â€Å"You'd better drink. Your wounds aren't healing.† All her scratches, bruises, and love bites were completely healed, and except for a fleck of shaving cream here and there in her hair, she was as good as new. â€Å"How?† Tommy asked. â€Å"How do I know where to bite him?† â€Å"Try the neck,† Jody said. â€Å"But sort of feel around for a vein with your tongue before you bite, and don't bite hard.† She was trying to sound confident in her instructions, but she was in unexplored territory as much as he was. She was enjoying teaching Tommy about the particulars of vampirism, just as she enjoyed teaching him how to do grown-up human things like how to get the power and phone turned on in the loft – it made her feel sophisticated and in charge, and after a series of boyfriends for whom she had been little more than an accoutrement, whose lifestyles she had affected, from heavy-metal anarchists to financial-district yuppies, she liked being the pacesetter for a change. Still, when it came to teaching him about feeding on animals, she couldn't have been winging it more if she really could turn into a bat. The only time she'd ever considered drinking animal blood was when Tommy had brought her two large, live snapping turtles from Chinat own. She hadn't been able to bring herself to even try biting into the armored reptiles. Tommy had named them Scott and Zelda, which hadn't helped. Now Zelda was functioning as a lawn ornament in Pacific Heights and Scott was encased in bronze and standing next to the old vampire in the great room. The biker sculptors downstairs had bronzed them, which is what had given Tommy the idea to bronze Jody and the old vampire in the first place. â€Å"Are you sure this is okay?† Tommy said, bending over Chet the huge shaved cat. â€Å"I mean, you said that we were only supposed to hunt the sick and the weak – the black auras. Chet's aura is shiny and pink.† â€Å"It's different with animals.† She had no idea if it was different with animals. She'd eaten a moth once, whole – snatched it out of the air and downed it before she could think about it. She realized now that there were a lot more questions she should have asked Elijah when she had had the chance. â€Å"Besides, you're not going to kill him.† â€Å"Right,† Tommy said. He put his mouth on Chet's kitty neck. â€Å"Like thith?† Jody had to turn away to keep from laughing. â€Å"Yeah, that looks good.† â€Å"He tathes like thaving cream.† â€Å"Just go,† Jody said. † ‘Kay.† Tommy bit and started to moan almost immediately. Not a moan of pleasure, but the moan of someone who has his tongue stuck on the ice-cube tray in the freezer. Chet seemed strangely calm, not even struggling against his kitty bonds. Maybe there was something to the vampire's power over his victims, Jody thought. â€Å"Okay, that's enough,† Jody said. Tommy shook his head while still feeding on the huge shaved cat. â€Å"Tommy, let off. You need to leave some.† â€Å"Nu-ih,† Tommy said. â€Å"Stop sucking the huge cat, Tommy,† Jody said sternly. â€Å"I'm not kidding.† She was kidding, a little bit. Tommy was breathing hard now, and a little color had come into his skin. Jody looked around for something to get his attention. She spotted a vase of flowers on the night-stand. She pulled out the flowers and tossed the water on Tommy and the huge cat. He kept feeding. The cat shuddered but otherwise remained immobile. â€Å"Okay, then,† Jody said. It was a heavy, stoneware vase, something Tommy had picked up to hold some apology flowers he'd brought her from the grocery store where he worked. He'd been good that way, sometimes bringing home apology flowers before he'd even done anything to apologize for. Really, you couldn't ask for more than that from a guy – which is why Jody slowed to half speed as she brought the vase around in a wide arc that ended with it smacking Tommy in the forehead and knocking him back about six feet. Chet the huge shaved cat yowled. Miraculously, the vase did not break. â€Å"Thanks,† Tommy said, wiping the blood from his mouth. There was a crescent-moon-shaped dent in his forehead that was rapidly filling in, healing. â€Å"Sure,† Jody said, staring at the vase. Great vase, she thought. Elegant, fragile porcelain was all well and good for the collector's case or the tea party, but for the girl who finds herself in need of a vessel that can deliver a wallop, Jody was suddenly sold on the sturdy value of stoneware. â€Å"Tastes like cat breath,† Tommy said, pointing to Chet. The punctures from Tommy's fangs had already healed. â€Å"Is it supposed to?† Jody shrugged. â€Å"What's cat breath taste like?† â€Å"Like tuna casserole left out in the sun for a week.† Being from the Midwest, Tommy thought everyone knew what tuna casserole tasted like. Having been born and raised in Carmel, California, Jody knew it only as something eaten by the extinct people on Nick at Nite. â€Å"I think I'm going to pass,† Jody said. She was hungry, but not cat-breath hungry. She wasn't sure what she was going to do about feeding. She couldn't very well try to live off Tommy anymore, and regardless of the rush and the sense that she was serving nature's cause by taking only the weak and the sick, she didn't like the idea of preying on humans – strangers anyway. She needed time to think, to figure out what their new life was going to be like. Things had been happening too quickly since Tommy and his friends had taken down the old vampire. She said, â€Å"We should get Chet back to his owner tonight if we can. You don't want to lose your driver's license – we may need a valid ID to rent a new place.† â€Å"A new place?† â€Å"We have to move, Tommy. I told Inspectors Rivera and Cavuto that I would leave town. You don't think they'll check?† There had been two homicide detectives who had followed the trail of bodies to the old vampire, and ultimately the discovery of Jody's delicate condition. She'd promised them that she'd take the old vampire and leave town if they'd let her go. â€Å"Oh yeah,† Tommy said. â€Å"That means I can't go back to work at the Safeway either?† He wasn't stupid, she knew he wasn't stupid, so why was he so slow to see the obvious? â€Å"No, I don't think that would be a good idea,† Jody said. â€Å"Since you're going to pass out cold at sunrise, just the way I do.† â€Å"Yeah, that'd be embarrassing,† Tommy said. â€Å"Especially when sunlight hits you and you burst into flames.† â€Å"Yeah, there's got to be company policy against that.† Jody screamed in frustration. â€Å"Jeez, kidding,† Tommy said, cringing. She sighed, realizing that he'd been goofing on her. â€Å"Get dressed, cat breath, we don't want to run out of dark. We're going to need some help.† Out in the great room, the vampire Elijah Ben Sapir was trying to figure out exactly what was going on around him. He knew he had been constrained – bound inside a vessel, and whatever held him was immovable. He'd even turned to mist, which relieved his anxiety somewhat – there was an ethereal mind-set that accompanied the form, it took concentration to not let yourself just float off in a daze – but the bronze shell was airtight. He could hear them talking, but their comments told him little except that his fledgling had betrayed him. He smiled to himself. What a foolishly human mistake to let hope triumph over reason. He should have known better. It would be days before the hunger was on him again, and even then, without any movement, he could last indefinitely without blood. He could live a very, very long time constrained like this, he realized – it was his sanity that would suffer. He decided to stay in mist form – drift as in a dream at night, sleep like the dead during the day. This way, he would wait, and when the time came, and it would come (if nothing else, living for eight hundred years had taught him patience), he would make his move. Chapter Five The Emperor of San Francisco Two in the morning. Normally, the Emperor of San Francisco would have been tucked in behind a Dumpster with the royal guard snuggled around him for warmth, snoring like a congested bulldozer, but tonight he had been undone by the generosity of a Starbucks froth slave in Union Square who had donated a bucket-sized Holiday Spice Mochaccino to the cause of royal comfort, thus leaving the Emperor and his two companions jangled, wandering the wee hours on a nearly deserted Market Street, waiting for breakfast time to roll around. â€Å"Like crack with cinnamon,† said the Emperor. He was a great, boiler tank of a man, an ambling meat locomotive in a wool overcoat, his face a firebox of intensity, framed with a gray tempest of hair and beard such as are found only on gods and lunatics. Bummer, the smaller of the troops, a Boston terrier, snorted and tossed his head. He'd lapped up some of the rich coffee broth himself, and felt ready to tear ass out of any rodent or pastrami sandwich that might cross his path. Lazarus, normally the calmer of the two, a golden retriever, pranced and leapt at the Emperor's side as if it might start raining ducks any minute – a recurring nightmare among retrievers. â€Å"Steady, gents,† the Emperor chided. â€Å"Lets us use this inopportune alertness to inspect a less frantic city than we find in the day, and determine where we might be of service.† The Emperor believed that the first duty of any leader was to serve the weakest of his people, and he made an effort to pay attention to the city around him, lest someone fall through the cracks and be lost. Clearly he was a loon. â€Å"Calm, good fellows,† he said. But calm was not coming. The smell of cat was tall in the air and the men were jacked on Java. Lazarus barked once and bolted down the sidewalk, followed closely by his bug-eyed brother-in-arms, the two descending on a dark figure that lay curled up around a cardboard sign on the traffic island at Battery Street, beneath a massive bronze statue that depicted four muscular men working a metal press. It had always looked to the Emperor like four guys molesting a stapler. Bummer and Lazarus sniffed the man beneath the statue, sure that he had to have a cat concealed among his rags somewhere. When a cold nose hit a hand, the Emperor saw the man move, and breathed a sigh of relief. With a closer look, the Emperor recognized him as William with the Huge Cat. They knew each other to nod hello, but because of racial tensions between their respective canine and feline companions, the two had never become friends. The Emperor knelt on the man's cardboard sign and jostled him. â€Å"William, wake up.† William groaned and an empty Johnny Walker Black bottle slid out of his overcoat. â€Å"Dead drunk, perhaps,† said the Emperor, â€Å"but fortunately, not dead.† Bummer whimpered. Where was the cat? The Emperor propped William up against the concrete base of the statue. William groaned. â€Å"He's gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.† The Emperor picked up the empty scotch bottle and sniffed it. Yes, it had recently held scotch. â€Å"William, was this full?† William grabbed the cardboard sign off the sidewalk and propped it in his lap. â€Å"Gone,† he said. The sign read I AM POOR AND SOMEONE STOLE MY HUGE CAT. â€Å"My deepest sympathies,† said the Emperor. He was about to ask William how he had managed to procure a fifth of top-shelf scotch, when he heard a long, feline yowl echo down the street, and looked up to see a huge shaved cat, in a red sweater, heading their way. He managed to catch hold of Bummer and Lazarus's collars before they darted after the cat, and dragged them away from William. The huge cat leapt into William's lap and the two commenced a drunken reunion embrace that involved quantities of purring, baby talk, and drool, enough that the Emperor had to fight down a little nausea at the sight of it. Even the royal hounds had to look away, the two realizing instinctively that a maudlin and shaved, thirty-five-pound cat in a red sweater was clearly above their pay grade. There was just no doggy protocol for it, and presently they began to turn in circles on the sidewalk, as if looking for a good place to feign a nap. â€Å"William, I believe someone has shaved your cat,† said the Emperor. â€Å"That would be me,† said Tommy Flood as he came around the side of the traffic island, scaring the bejeezus out of everyone there. A pale and delicate hand reached out from behind the island, grabbed the collar of Tommy's coat, and snatched him back around the corner as if he were a rag doll. â€Å"Tommy?† called the Emperor. The big man stalked around the concrete art bunker. Bummer and Lazarus had headed back down the street toward the waterfront, as if they had just seen a particularly fetching porterhouse steak hopping around down there that needed to be investigated. The Emperor found his friend C. Thomas Flood, held tight in the clutches of his girlfriend, Jody Stroud, the vampire, who had her hand pressed tightly over Tommy's mouth and was furiously giving him noogies with the knuckle of her other hand. There was a hollow popping each time she connected, and muted cries from Tommy. â€Å"Jody, I must insist that you unhand the young man,† insisted the Emperor. And she did. Tommy twisted out of her grasp. â€Å"Ow!† Tommy said, rubbing his head. â€Å"Sorry,† Jody said. â€Å"Couldn't be helped.† â€Å"I thought you were going to leave the city with that fiend,† said the Emperor. He had been there, with the royal hounds and Tommy's crew from the Safeway, when they'd done battle with the old vampire at the St. Francis Yacht Club. â€Å"Well, yes, of course. He left already and I'm going to join him,† Jody said. â€Å"Just like I promised Inspector Rivera. But I wanted to make sure that Tommy was going to be all right before I left.† The Emperor liked Jody, and had been a little disappointed when he found that she was a bloodsucking fiend, but she was a pleasant girl nonetheless, and had always been generous with treats for the men, despite Bummer's dropping into yapping fits in her presence. â€Å"Well then, I suppose that will have to do,† said the Emperor. â€Å"It appears that our young writer does require some adult supervision before being set loose on the City.† â€Å"Hey, I do okay,† Tommy said. â€Å"You shaved the cat,† said the Emperor, raising a wild eyebrow that looked like a gray squirrel with a Mohawk. â€Å"I – uh, we were testing him out, to see if I should get a cat to keep me company after Jody leaves.† He looked at Jody, who nodded enthusiastically while trying to look wide-eyed and sincere. â€Å"And†¦ and,† Tommy continued, â€Å"I was chewing some bubble gum, you know, the kind that you can blow really big bubbles with – well, long story short, before I knew it, Chet had lunged at one of my bubbles and was completely covered with bubble gum.† Jody quit nodding and just stared at him. â€Å"So you shaved him,† the Emperor added. Now it was Tommy's turn to nod and look sincere. â€Å"Regrettably.† Jody was nodding again, too. â€Å"Regrettably,† she echoed. â€Å"I see,† said the Emperor. They certainly seemed sincere. â€Å"Well, the sweater was considerate.† â€Å"My idea,† Jody said. â€Å"You know so he doesn't get chilled. It's actually my sweater. Tommy washed it and put it in the dryer, so it's a little too small for me.† â€Å"And don't think it was easy getting a cat that size into a sweater,† Tommy said. â€Å"It was like trying to dress a ball of razor wire. I'm cut to ribbons.† He pushed his sleeves up to expose his forearms, which were distinctly not cut to ribbons. They were, in fact, unmarked, if a little pale. â€Å"Well, good show, then,† the Emperor said, backing away. â€Å"The men and I will be on our way, then.† â€Å"Do you guys need anything, Your Majesty?† Jody asked. â€Å"No, no, we have been most fortunate this evening. Most fortunate indeed.† â€Å"Well, take care, then,† Jody said, even as the Emperor backed around the corner and headed up the street. She can be deceptively pleasant for a blood-drinking agent of evil, the Emperor thought. Bummer and Lazarus were almost out of sight, four blocks ahead. They had known, the rascals. The Emperor was disgusted with himself, leaving William there like that, at the mercy of the fiends. There was no telling what they might do, the two of them, but he felt fear chilling his spine and he couldn't make himself turn around. Perhaps they wouldn't hurt poor William. After all, they had been sweet children in life, both of them. And even in her current state, Jody had shown a certain quality of mercy by waiting until now to turn Tommy. Still, he had a city he was responsible for, and he could not shirk that responsibility. It was a long walk to the Marina Safeway, but he had to reach it before the night crew left. As knavish as they might be, they were the only people in his city who actually had experience hunting vampires. â€Å"Bite him,† Tommy said. He was standing over the huge cat guy, who had passed out again under the statue. Jody shook her head and shuddered. â€Å"He's filthy. Don't tell me you can't smell that.† Since she'd become a vampire, she'd only experienced nausea when she tried to eat real food, but she was nauseated now, despite the hunger grating in her core. â€Å"Here, I'll clean off a spot.† Tommy fished a tissue out of his coat pocket, licked it, and cleaned a spot on William's neck. â€Å"There. Go for it.† â€Å"Yuck.† â€Å"I bit the cat,† Tommy said. â€Å"You said yourself that you were starving.† â€Å"But he's hammered.† Jody said. She was taking little steps in place like a little kid who has to pee. â€Å"Bite him.† â€Å"Quit saying ‘bite him. I don't think of it like that.† â€Å"How do you think of it?† â€Å"I don't really think of it. It's sort of an animal thing.† â€Å"Oh, I see,† Tommy said. â€Å"Bite him before some cops come along and take him away and you miss your chance.† â€Å"Ewww,† Jody said, kneeling beside William. Chet the huge cat looked up at her from William's lap, then put his head down and closed his eyes. (Blood loss had mellowed him.) Jody pushed William's head aside and reared back with her mouth open wide as her fangs extended. She closed her eyes and bit. â€Å"See how easy that was,† Tommy said. Jody glared at him without letting go, her breath rasping through her nose as she fed. She thought, I should have hit him harder when I had the chance. Finally, when she felt she'd taken enough to sustain her, but not enough to hurt the huge cat guy, she pulled away, sat down, and looked up at Tommy. â€Å"You've got a little – † Tommy gestured to the corner of her mouth. She wiped her mouth with her hand, came away with a little lipstick and a little blood. She looked at William's neck. It's was sort of a dirt-gray color, with a white spot rimmed in lipstick. The punctures from her fangs had already healed, but the lipstick sort of stood out like a target. She reached over and wiped the lipstick off with her palm, then wiped her palm off on the huge cat's sweater. Chet purred. William snored. Jody climbed to her feet. â€Å"How was it?† Tommy asked. â€Å"How do you think it was? It was necessary.† â€Å"Well, I mean, when you used to bite me it was kind of a sexual thing.† â€Å"Oh, right,† Jody snapped. â€Å"I planned all this because I wanted to fuck the huge cat guy.† She was feeling a little light-headed for some reason. â€Å"Sorry. We should get him off of Market Street,† Tommy said, â€Å"before he gets robbed or arrested. He's got to have some of the money left. That much alcohol would have killed him.† â€Å"The hell do you care, writer boy? You shaved and ate his cat. Or was that a sexual thing?† She was definitely feeling light-headed. â€Å"That was a mutual – â€Å" â€Å"Oh, bullshit. Bite him. See how sexual it is. Get a taste of that down-home human hemoglobin goodness, Tommy. Don't be a wuss,† Jody said. Well, he was being a wuss. Tommy stepped back. â€Å"You're drunk.† â€Å"And you're being a wuss,† Jody said. â€Å"Wuss, wuss, wuss.† â€Å"Help me. Take his feet. There's a sheltered alcove over by the Federal Reserve building across the street. He can sleep it off there.† Jody bent to take the guy's feet, but they seemed to move as she reached for them, and when she corrected, she missed, and fell forward, catching herself so that she was on all fours with her ass in the air. â€Å"Yeah, that worked,† Tommy said. â€Å"How about you take Chet and I'll carry the huge cat guy?† â€Å"Whadever, Mr. Wussyman,† Jody said. Maybe she was a little tipsy. In the old days, prevampire days, she'd tried to stay away from alcohol, because it turned out that she was sort of an obnoxious drunk. Or that's what her ex-friends had told her. Tommy picked up Chet the huge cat, who squirmed as he held him out to Jody. â€Å"Take him.† â€Å"You are not the head vampire here,† Jody said. â€Å"Fine,† Tommy said. He slung Chet under his arm and, in a single movement, scooped up the huge cat guy and threw him over his shoulder with the other arm. â€Å"Careful crossing the street,† Tommy called back to her as he crossed. â€Å"Ha!† Jody said. â€Å"I am a finely tuned predator. I am a superbeing. I – † And at that point she bounced her forehead off a light pole with a dull twang and was suddenly lying on her back looking at the streetlights above her, which kept going out of focus, the bastards. â€Å"I'll be back to get you,† Tommy called. He's so sweet, Jody thought.