“Horses of the Night” by Margaret Laurence Essay

1. Who is the narrator of the story? How old is she at the start of the story? What is her age at the end of the story? Discuss the reliability of the narrator. 2. Go back through the story looking for examples of foreshadowing. 3. Discuss the shifts that occur in the setting of the story. 4. Why does Chris hesitate to believe in God? 5. Discuss the significance of the following names used in the story: a. Chris b. Brick House c. Shallow Creek d. Its title, â€Å"Horses of the Night† Significant Quotes: â€Å"But quite good just isn’t good enough. Even supposing he managed to get a scholarship, which isn’t likely, it’s only tuition and books. What about room and board? Who’s going to pay for that? Your father?† (pg. 288) â€Å"Most people don’t like talking about this kind of thing- it embarrasses them, you know? Or else they’re not interested. I don’t mind. I can always think about things myself. You don’t need anyone to talk to.† (pg. 298) â€Å"I was thinking of all the schemes he’d had, the ones that couldn’t possibly have worked, the unreal solutions to which he’d clung because there were no others, the brave and useless strokes of fantasy against a depression that was both the world’s and his own.† (pg. 300) Vocabulary: Fortnight (pg. 294) Reticent (pg. 295) Equanimity (pg. 285) Scorn (pg. 282) Writing Assignment Please select one of the following diploma topics. -Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the role adversity plays in shaping an individual’s identity. -Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the conflict between pursuing a personal desire and choosing to conform. -Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the significance of idealism and truth in an individual’s life. Using your chosen topic, please write an introduction to an essay. Also include at least three topic sentences for your body paragraphs.

King Leopold’s Ghost: A Critical Book Review Essay

At the beginning of the 18th century, Africa became a target of European imperialism. Prior to the said period, Africa only served as trading post for ensuring the flow of goods to Europe. It was also one of the chief sources of slaves. The Portuguese established small settlements on the Cape of Good Hope and Eastern Africa. The Spaniards colonized some parts of Western Sahara and Morocco. During this period, much of Africa was still unknown to the Europeans. It was a land of mystery and barbarism (from the descriptions of Spanish and Portuguese chroniclers). From 1850 to 1870, the European powers divided Africa into several colonies. The British received Sudan, Egypt, South Africa, and most of central Africa. North Africa, except Libya (which was allocated to Italy) was given to France. Germany received Tanzania, Togo, Cameroon, and Western Africa. The Spanish and Portuguese retained their possessions. At the Berlin Conference (headed by Otto von Bismarck), the European powers were surprised at Belgium’s insistence of acquiring colonies in Africa. After a careful review of territorial arrangements, the European powers agreed to give Belgium Congo. King Leopold’s insistence on acquiring Congo was essentially based on two reasons. First, according to official record, he wanted to stop the so-called Arab slave trade. The Arab slave trade had its origins in the Portuguese slave trade in the 16th century. The Arabs provided a significant supply of slaves to the Portuguese. King Leopold wanted to put an end to this practice as it jeopardized the dignity of the Christian religion. Second, King Leopold wanted to increase his property holdings. King Leopold believed that the future and prosperity of his country depended on acquisitions in Africa. Leopold witnessed the progress Britain enjoyed after it acquired a significant number of colonial possessions. The same thing can be said about France and Germany. Leopold wanted to make Belgium an equal partner of the other European powers in propagating European culture and ideology to Africa. General Summary The first chapters of the book provided insight to the colonization of Congo. Henry Stanley, a known advocate of African colonization, wrote a general account of the African life. The account was full of exaggerations and promises, that is, stimulants to pressure the European powers to colonize Africa. Stanley described the Africans as ‘submerging in the ways of barbarism and cannibalism’ – a description that he never saw. The deep prejudice of Stanley towards the people of Africa can be shown in his later writings. He argued that there is a need to educate and train the African people in order that they may become self-sufficient – by self-sufficient, one means the right to self-govern. Stanley’s belief was predominant among European scholars – an element of the so-called ‘white man’s burden hypothesis. ’ In any case, Stanley’s accounts made impression to the rulers of Europe – most of which were keen to acquire more colonies for wealth and prestige. Although it is erroneous to assume that Stanley’s account was the actual cause of European colonization of Africa, Stanley’s account provided sufficient justification for the colonization of the continent. The middle chapters of the book dealt with the main opponent of the Congo government. George Washington Williams was a man of righteous standing – worthy of the name he carried. Most of his life was devoted to denouncing the evils of European imperialism in Africa. He opposed the ‘collectivization of the Congo people’ as a means to increase the wealth of the king. He proposed for a general education program that will train the Congo people to become ‘self sufficient’ – a satirical word Williams used in his writings. He argued for the abolishment of forced labor – a method which he deemed unChristian and immoral. He exposed the true nature of the ‘humanitarian motive’ of the king, arguing that it was merely a front to increase the king’s popularity in Europe. The death of Williams in 1891 did not end the criticisms against the Congo government. Other individuals like William Sheppard and Roger Casement followed the steps of Williams. The intensity of the criticisms forced King Leopold to sell the Congo state to Belgium. The last chapters of the book dealt with the legacy of King Leopold in Congo. His legacies are as follows: 1) The establishment of tobacco and rubber plantations throughout the Congo State resulted to famine and forced conscription. Because much of the agricultural land was utilized for tobacco and rubber plantations, the production of agricultural crops decreased by about 70%. Many people died from starvation and disease. Many people who worked in these plantations lost their arms, legs, and noses because most of the equipment used were unsafe. Those who failed to meet the required quota were either thrown into prison or sold to wealthy landowners. Children, women, and the elderly were required to work for about 16 hours a day – worse than the factory system in Europe; 2) King Leopold destroyed the cultural life of the people of Congo. The royal governors neglected and even repressed cultural practices in an attempt to inculcate Western values to the Congo people. Of course, such effort failed. It was impossible to inculcate Western values because the Congo people saw it as the driving force of oppression. In any case, the royal governors succeeded in destroying the cultural life of the Congo people by increased brutality – only by brutality would people lost faith on their own way of living. The King’s Ghost The brutality of the Congo State was first and foremost the reflection of the king’s image. In private, he expressed his deepest prejudice to the Africans – which in his view were nothing but primates and sources of labor. Yes, he disgruntled slavery, so long as it does not concern the Europeans. The white man’s burden was essentially based on prejudicial philanthropy. The king only possessed prejudicial qualities and never philanthropy – a very concept which he himself despised. In any case, his death did not signal the end of oppression in Congo. The oppression continued until Congo’s independence from Belgium in 1960 – the year in which European imperialism in Africa ended – or supposed to have ended. The King’s Property It was Stanley’s description of the Arab slave trade which made significant impression to King Leopold. From the official records, Leopold argued that the only barrier to prosperity in central Africa was the Arab slave trade – a phenomenon that must be stopped. However, King Leopold wanted Congo for the following reasons: 1) Leopold saw Congo as a source of wealth and income. Upon acquiring Congo, Leopold proceeded to institute repressive administration tasked to extract wealth from the country. Ivory, minerals, and other precious objects were acquired by forced labor. Populations were ‘collectivized’ in order for the system to be more efficient and cost effective. When Henry Stanley became governor of the Congo State, he instituted policies that further the suffering of the Congo people. Tobacco was planted instead of traditional crops in a significant portion of Congo’s agricultural lands. Congo’s tobacco would be sold to Europe at a considerable price. The effect: there was widespread famine in Congo; 2) King Leopold wanted to build his reputation as a ‘philanthropist’ in the eyes of the European powers. Leopold initially doubted this approach, arguing that it was generally deviant from the methods used by other European powers. Stanley advised him that such approach was the most appropriate. He would gain fame and more importantly an important economic base in Africa. His ulterior motive of ‘becoming a philanthropist’ was somehow facilitated by his eradication of the Arab slave trade in Congo – which in actuality, he replaced by forced labor. A Picture of Congo The followers of Williams painted a general picture of Congo. According to them, Congo was: 1) A land of opportunity where the people can be exploited and robbed of their possessions. For the Europeans, the most priced asset of a colony was its inhabitants. Forcing inhabitants to work for about 16 hours a day was excruciating for the Europeans. It demanded more creative means of ‘persuading’ people to increase their quotas; 2) A land of desolation where famine and disease were everywhere. The syllabus of European imperialism called for the introduction of science and medicine to alleviate peoples’ sufferings. The Congo State did the opposite. Instead of allotting food and medicine to the poor, it used its official coercive powers to destroy life, property, and liberty; 3) A land of primates whose hands tittered with mud and suffering. A group of primates (Africans) for Leopold would never equal a poor Belgian. From King Leopold’s view, the efficacy of effective colonial rule rested on the laurels of brutality. If the colonized people were ‘primitive’, then it was the work of the colonizer to further the suffering of the people. The hand of the primate, remarked Leopold was worth more than the mind of a European gazer (but never his personality). Conclusion Hochschild’s picture of Congo is accurate in three respects. First, most of the accounts used were directly derived from personal accounts of former slaves, plantation workers, and prisoners. Although it is possible that the accounts might be a little exaggerated, the flow of theme is generally in unity. Two things are certain. First, King Leopold acquired the Congo State for his personal use (increase his wealth and prestige). Second, his policies led to increased suffering to the Congo people. In any case, one cannot deny the fact that the ravages of European imperialism were also present in other parts of Africa. Only in Congo were the ravages greatly manifested itself in the policies and directives of the royal governors. This is not a proclaimed hypothesis; this is fact – a reality that every individual must know. Bibliography Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1998.

Constitutional Law Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Constitutional Law - Research Paper Example The legislative branch of the United States federal government is the framer of Article One of the United States Constituency. This article is comprised of various sections and sub-sections that deals with structure, composition and functional ability of the government (See Touby vs. United States, 191). However, the way this article is written, the language seems to more be favorable to the Congress and not others. As it says all the legislative powers should be vested in a Congress of United States. What if there is some other government gets the opportunity to form government. Then it would look like they will amend this section in favor of them and it would go on like that (Mistretta vs United States, 1989). Though Sections 9 and 10 deals with the limits of both Congress and States it would have been more impactful if the framer of the constitution would not get influenced while framing the Article. This article constitutes the executive branch of the government. This includes President, Vice President and other executive officers and staffs that are appointed by the President. In this article it is mentioned that the executive powers of the federal government is vested in the President (Woods, 2013). The language of this article is more impactful as it clearly states what are the roles and responsibilities of the President without confronting Congress or Republican Presidential Candidate. This article looks like the framer does not get influenced by any party or the government and the article clearly mentions that the President should hold the Office for four years along with the Vice President post which the election of the new President would be held according to the constitutional procedure (Vasan & Sidak, 2002). Unlike Articles I and II, Article III has only three sections. This section deals with federal courts and judicial powers of the States. This article establishes the judicial branch of the

Understanding Tourism as a Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Understanding Tourism as a Business - Assignment Example Thomas Cook Group is diversified with its workforce from cabin crew, Administration, Resorts, Product Marketing and Health and Safety. Every action of this group is focused on customer. Thomas Cook Strategy Thomas Cook has empowered and is serving over 25 million customers. Their main purpose is to inspire their customers to go and see the world. They aspire their customers with the delivery customized holiday experience to individual clients. Their goal is to exceed the expectations of the customers on wherever, whenever and however basis (Holloway & Taylor, 2006). The values of Thomas Cook are: Succeed as one team Deliver for the customers Engage one another Drive for results Act with integrity Organizational Structure of Thomas Group The organizational Structure of Thomas Cook is very alterable which is organized by Geographical and Functional Departmentalization. The Geographical Departmentalization has grouped the jobs on the basis of the geography and canton. Similarly the cust omers are also grouped on the basis of their geographical dispersion (Daugherty, Croft, Marguart, Balzor & Sheldon, 2013). Functional Departmentalization has been grouped by the functions being performed (Daugherty, et.al, 2013. The activities and jobs being performed are normally grouped according to work which is performed and to carry on the economies of scale by hiring employees with shared skills and erudition in different departments. Products, Services and Vertical Integration by Thomas Cook The core business of Thomas Group is the provision of Charter Packages in which flights, Hotels, Resorts and Rep services are vertically integrated (Maharani,... Understanding Tourism Business Thomas was a cabinet-maker in Leicester. He was a folk reformer and he thought that People’s life could be improved to a great extent if people drank less and become more educated. While walking one day he was struck by an idea to use the power of railway to employee people. In the abstinence meeting, he evinced his idea. His idea was condoned happily to take the reformer people to Loughborough which was scheduled on train and that too only for one shilling. The meeting was a great success and this became the key idea for his excursions thereafter. Nowadays, Thomas cook is a leading company having 16,000 staff with an operating network of 1050 in UK and overseas (Thomas Cook Group, 2013). Ownership of Thomas Cook Group Thomas Cook group has 3 lead share holders as on August-2011.The share percentages are as follow (Thomas Cook Group, 2013): Lloyd’s Banking group has a share of 9%. Blackrock Inc. has a share of 4.99% AXA SA has a share of 4.8% The remaining of the stock floats freely Mission Statement of Thomas Cook â€Å"To Perfect the Personnel Leisure Experience†. Thomas cook’s vision is to go make dreams come true. Marriott Hotels pay significant attention to their environmental policy where as the Thomas Cook Group d not incline themselves towards any such measures, on the contrary promoting unnecessary travel only adds to carbon emissions.

Recruitment Strategy and Job Offer Process Paper Research

Recruitment Strategy and Job Offer Process - Research Paper Example This paper will even provide insight regarding the best strategy of recruitment that organizations can use in order to attract the most desired applicants associated with their industry and, lastly, the paper will provide insight regarding how organizations proceed to offer a job to a selected applicant. Diverse Recruitment Strategies The term recruitment is used to refer to the process of attracting pool of desired applicants in order to fulfill the current vacant positions in a particular organization and even to maintain a pool of applicants for future vacancies. An organization has various recruitment strategies to choose from; organizations can opt between open as well as targeted recruitment strategies. Open recruitment strategies are used by organizations when they are looking to fill in quite a few numbers of different positions and even when these positions require different kinds of employees from various backgrounds. For example, a school looking to hire teachers, sports s taff and supervisors for the school may use open recruitment strategy as the positions that need to be filled require people with different KSAs (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities). Open recruitment strategies are even used by organizations when they are hiring employees for entry level positions and when specific individuals with specific KSAs are not desired. While hiring for entry level and trainee level positions, employees are less judged on their KSAs and decisions of hiring are mostly made on the basis of their communication skills and basic computing skills. For example, when a business is looking to fill management trainee positions in the organization, they use open recruitment strategy in order to attract individuals from different disciplines including marketing, human resources, accounting, etc. They do so because those individuals who are selected for these positions are provided exposure of all departments before they are finally selected in one of the departments. Anot her recruitment strategy used by organizations is targeted recruitment strategy. This strategy is utilized by organizations when they have specific requirements to meet for a particular vacant position (Hurd, Barcelona, & Meldrum 2008, p.243). These requirements include individuals having specific skills, educational background and level of experience. This strategy is even implemented when organizations adopt positive actions. A positive action refers to a company’s strategy of targeting specific people from a specific group which is regarded as a minority. For instance, while conducting recruitment activity for an electrical engineer, a company will post add for the position while attracting applicants who have expertise in technical equipment, who have knowledge of application and operation of different equipments of science and technology. Selecting Recruitment Strategy While deciding about which recruitment strategy to deploy, an organization has to take into considerati on the requirements of the vacant position(s) that need to be filled. If an organization is conducting recruitment while trying to attract employees with specific KSAs, they should opt for targeted recruitment strategy. Organizations have become quite selective while deploying recruitment strategies due to the negative economic circumstances. For example, a business is dealing in accountancy and a firm that provides auditing services may look

To what extent did French avant-garde groupings in the 1880s coalesce Essay

To what extent did French avant-garde groupings in the 1880s coalesce around exhibitions - Essay Example The phrase ‘modern art’ first used by Joris-Karl Huysmans in a book title to delineate the subject matter of several paintings represented in the book in1883. The Anglo-Irish novelist, George Moore followed this in this book, ‘Modern Painting’. It was about this time that the critic Theodore Duret, who used it of certain young painters, introduced the term avant-garde (Wood 1999, pp. 7-33). Subsequently, modernity became the focal point for artists and critics, alike. How Impressionism triggered avant-garde groupings The period of 1860-1880 witnessed an undeniable transformation in the aesthetic perspective as the focus of paintings shifted to the depiction of everyday reality and fashions (Wood 1999, p. 113). Determined to present illustrations of contemporary life in both, urban and rural areas, the Impressionists pioneered this change by creating snapshots of everyday life. The war developed new urgency and hope in the progressive artists born in the 1880 s. There was unanimity amongst the generation that Europe had been endowed a second chance; Salinger 1957, 117 Wood 1999, pp. 28 Wood 1999, p. 113 thereby, a new order should be established (Hungerford 1989). Impressionism, a revolutionary movement in painting followed by music, emerged at the end of the nineteenth century in France. Impressionist paintings can be traced back to the period of 1867-1886 to a party of artists with common approaches, philosophies, and methodologies in art (Huyghe 1973, p. 90). They tried to translate their observations into the paintings by attempting to recreate the manifold and animated results of sunlight and shadows from direct and reflected light. One of the most integral development out of this style was the reproduction of objects out of discrete flecks and dabs of matching or contrasting colours to evoke the broken-hued marvels and distinguishing hued created by sunlight and its reflections (Callen 1982, p. 187). Lastly, conventional formal com positions were replaced by more casual and less artificial disposition of depicted objects. The Impressionists in portraying landscapes, houses, trees, and even urban streets employed these novel-painting techniques (Callen 2000, p. 245). As the mid 1880s approached, the Impressionists began to dissolve as every painter craved to pursue his personal aesthetic interests and principles. Nonetheless, in its short-lived existence, it categorically revolutionized art, paving the way for postimpressionist artists like Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat to be free from all traditional western paintings and methodologies and interpretation of subject matter. Aftermath Impressionism was the first avant-garde in art, which paved the way for contemporary or modern art. Undeniably, the impressionists motivated novel Hungerford 1989, 73 Huyghe, 1973, 90 Callen, 1982, 187 Callen, 2000, 245 approaches, perspectives, notions amongst subsequent artists (Ward 1996, p. 168). It was the resu lt of their relentless struggle and perseverance, that the Salon’s official foothold in the world of art was questioned. Undoubtedly, painters such as Monet, Renoir, Pissaro, and Degas encouraged new art movements, for instance, Post-impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism (Rewald 1978, p. 312). In 1886, following the official death of Impressionists, post-impressionism was born. Before these movements, the Impressionis

Compare the representation on I tituba, black witch of salem (Maryse Research Paper

Compare the representation on I tituba, black witch of salem (Maryse conde's) and the salem witch trials in the Crucible, film based on Arthur miller's play - Research Paper Example Thus we can say that both the story telling traditions had elements of magic and mysticism incorporated into it. Suddenly in the year 1692 the family members of Samuel Parris suffered from strange fits and the cause of such fits were attributed to witch craft. Then in the process Tituba and two other women were condemned as witches and the cause of the suffering of the Parris family. During the trial the two other women said that they did not know anything about the witches. But Tituba gave detail descriptions of witches and told that she had tried to kill the children. As a result Tituba and the other women were sent to jails. By the end of May in the year 1692 the prisons were filled with women who were arrested because it was believed that they practiced witch craft. Those who were arrested were not tried for long years and when they were tried they were easily accused without any evidences. Only claiming a lady to be witch was enough to accuse her as a witch and hence started the trend of witch craft in the village of Salem. (Wilson, 17-37). â€Å"The Crucible† is a movie based on the play of Arthur Miller the significant characters are John Proctor, Abigail Williams and Reverend Hale. It was Abigail Williams who had set the tempo of the film. Abigail was an orphan unmarried girl and in the society of Salem her position was not more than those of the status of Tituba and the other servants. Therefore there was a growing frustration in her mind and she wanted to uplift her position and wanted to gain importance in the eyes of the society. She could easily achieve her desire with the hysteria she created with the witch craft. She was able to instigate all the other members of her group to use the theme of witch craft and with the help of her group members she was able to send nineteen members to the jail. After this the situation was such that just the words of the girls were enough to send anybody from Salem to the jail under the allegation of

Defense Budget Cuts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Defense Budget Cuts - Essay Example The defense cuts are likely to cause irreparable harm not only on the capabilities of institutions but also to the men and women in uniform. However, compared to education, healthcare and green economy, spending within the military is a deprived basis of creating jobs1. Pollin and Heidi show that $1 billion investment in clean energy, education and healthcare generates between 50 % and 140% more jobs compared to similar amount spent by the pentagon2. Nevertheless, it is impossible to separate concept of economic security from that of national security since they are both dependent on each other because the current threats to US economic and national security are identical3. Therefore, regardless of whether the US remains a super power or not, the country has to invest in military capabilities to respond to these threats. Although maintaining robust defense is essential, the prevailing economic challenges to the US pose a unique challenge to defense budget; hence, the need for the def ense sector to rise to the challenges of the turbulent times. Although many defense experts believe that the defense sector requires extra funding in modernizing its weapons, they mostly fall short of quantifying certain shortfalls with recent comparisons targeting defense budget with regard to the GDP4. With regard to capability, depth and conventional power, the US military remains the dominant force in the world, which is also true to the size of the nation’s defense budget. For instance, the country’s defense spending is 7 times that of the second leading nation; moreover, the US spent 29 times more compared to the 6 rogue states of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Syria and Sudan, in addition, US defense budget is greater than the GDP of these nations5. Therefore, it is clear that the US enjoys a substantial advantage in its size of the defense budget owing to the largely technologically advanced military that requires substantial funding.

Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 18

Art - Essay Example Deaccessions of the objects can only take place when the objects to not match the mission of the museum. The re-opening of museum in Bagdad was meant to give political mileage to the politicians. In an open letter addressed to the government by Donny George and Rakowitzs, expressed concerns over shortest duration with which the preparation of the museum under-went for its re-opening. Despite all these efforts, the government through the Minister of Tourism went ahead to re-open the museum. The notion that of the â€Å"strong takes it all† is a common phrase frequently put into practice in Iraq today. This is evident from the creation of the ministry of tourism to oversee the management of the museums. This is contrary to the old system where the ministry of culture had this mandate. The re-opening of the museum was more of an exhibition as stated by Amira Aidan in an email. This is because; 8 out of the 26 rooms were open and a few items on display. Security situation in Iraq prompted a policy of allowing 50% of the staff to make it to work on a single day with the other 50% on the following day. Close to 50% percent of the objects missing from the museum due to security lapses in the country. It is important to note that museums play a significant role in preserving a country’s heritage through generations. Governments should therefore come up with relevant policies to ensure that museums are preserved (Merritt and Reilly 23-25). Regulations that undermine the independent operations of the museum would eventually make them collapse due to loss of objects within the

Push and Pull Strategy Essay Example for Free

Push and Pull Strategy Essay Push Strategy A â€Å"push† promotional strategy makes use of a companys sales force and trade promotion activities to create consumer demand for a product. The producer promotes the product to wholesalers, the wholesalers promote it to retailers, and the retailers promote it to consumers. A good example of push selling is mobile phones, where the major handset manufacturers such as Nokia promote their products via retailers such as Carphone Warehouse. Personal selling and trade promotions are often the most effective promotional tools for companies such as Nokia for example offering subsidies on the handsets to encourage retailers to sell higher volumes. A push strategy tries to sell directly to the consumer, bypassing other distribution channels (e.g. selling insurance or holidays directly). With this type of strategy, consumer promotions and advertising are the most likely promotional tools. Pull Strategy A â€Å"pull† selling strategy is one that requires high spending on advertising and consumer promotion to build up consumer demand for a product. If the strategy is successful, consumers will ask their retailers for the product, the retailers will ask the wholesalers, and the wholesalers will ask the producers. A good example of a pull is the heavy advertising and promotion of childrens’ toys – mainly on television. Consider the recent BBC promotional campaign for its new pre-school program – the Fimbles. Aimed at two to four-year-olds, 130 episodes of Fimbles have been made and are featured everyday on digital childrens channel CBeebies and BBC2. As part of the promotional campaign, the BBC has agreed a deal with toy maker Fisher-Price to market products based on the show, which it hopes will emulate the popularity of the Tweenies. Under the terms of the deal, Fisher-Price will develop, manufacture and distribute a range of Fimbles products including soft, plastic and electronic learning toys for the UK and Ireland. In 2001, BBC Worldwide (the commercial division of the BBC) achieved sales of  £90m from its childrens brands and properties last year. The demand created from broadcasting of the Fimbles and a major advertising campaign is likely to â€Å"pull† demand from children and encourage retailers to stock Fimbles toys in the stores for Christmas 2002. Difference Between Push And Pull Strategy Push marketing is when you use various activities to get your message in front of your ideal client. The marketer is in control of what the message is, how it is seen, when and where. Marketing activities that encourage your prospect to seek you out and find out whether you have something of value to offer them. Pull marketing activities build relationships and can include blogging, podcasting, article marketing and networking (both on and offline). Pull marketing uses the law of attraction, incorporating all the components of your personal brand to attract and retain these people as your biggest fans. Pull marketing is where you develop advertising and promotional strategies that are meant to entice the prospect to buy your product or service. Some classic examples are â€Å"half off!† or â€Å"bring in this coupon to save 25%† or â€Å"buy one get one free†, etc. With pull marketing, you are trying to create a sense of increased, time limited value so that the customer will come into your store to buy. Pull is not about pulling consumers in; it’s about giving consumers a reason to pull us in. Remember truism #1 – they’re in control; they (not we) decide where they go and what they experience. We’ve lost the right to pull consumers anywhere (if we ever really had that right at all.) Pull means that we to go to them, join their communities, give them reasons to voluntarily draw us into their personal media experiences. We’re not interrupting them. They’re opting into us.

Modern diplomacy

Modern diplomacy Introduction In its simplest form diplomacy is the maintenance of peace and the avoidance of war. But this is too simple a definition and denies the complexity inherent to modern diplomacy. Berridge (2001:1) provides more substance, writing that in its most recognizable state form, diplomacy is the term given to the official channels of communication employed by members of a system of states. Berridge (2002:1) adds that the chief purpose of diplomacy is to enable states to secure the objectives of their foreign policies without resort to force, propaganda or law. While this is certainly true of state-to-state diplomacy such Satowesque 5 definitions of diplomacy are rather exclusive in that they suggest no other international actors practice diplomacy. Such parochialism has produced a backlash. John Hoffman (2003:525), a less than traditional diplomacy writer, claims that the state is incoherent, and this incoherence necessarily extends itself to statist diplomacytraditional or conventional notion s of diplomacy must be avoided if the nature of modern diplomacy is to be truly understood. Diplomacy, Hoffman (2003:533) contends, functions much more fully and consistently in a stateless context than in a state centered one. (Hoffman, 2003) These two opinions indicate that there is confusion in response to the simple question what is diplomacyr In the twenty-first century, the traditional form of diplomacy is ubiquitous and increasing in practice. In addition, many nontraditional actors, such as NGOs, multi-national corporations (MNCs), and even individuals can be said to practice diplomacy. It is because of this plurality of actors that this article prefers Paul Sharps (2003:858) broad-and very diplomatic definition of diplomacy: The way in which relations between groups that regard themselves as separate ought to be conducted if the principle of living in groups is to be retained as good, and if unnecessary and unwanted conflict is to have a chance of being avoided. Significantly, Sharps definition suggests that the modern diplomatic environment is not one dominated exclusively by states and their diplomats. A sketch of the modern diplomatic environment confirms this observation. The Modern Diplomatic Environment For most of the twentieth century, the state and its traditional diplomatic institution were the primary conduit for most matters international. However, a snapshot of the modern diplomatic environment suggests a more diffuse landscape. In addition, this snapshot reveals the limitations inherent to the traditional, statist way of thinking and writing about diplomacy. In the modern diplomatic environment the state is the most dominant political actor while its diplomatic institution (Jonsson, Hall, 2005) (centrally orchestrated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) remains the most visible diplomatic actor. In the physical sense, traditional diplomacy has become a growth sector (Hocking 1997:169) and remains the engine room of international relations (Cohen 1998:1). Currently, there are 191 states operating in the modern diplomatic environment, compared to 47 in 1950 and 26 in 1926.8 All of these states interact diplomatically, all need to represent themselves, and all need continuously to negotiate advantageous foreign policy ends in a competitive and occasionally hostile environment. With over three hundred years of related experience, the foreign embassy endures as the leading diplomatic actor, where the conduct of relations on a state-to-state basis, via formally accredited resident missions forms the bulk of international exchange (Berridge 2002:105). Therefore, a traditional approach to writing and thinking about diplomacy must not be abandoned. This approach, with an emphasis on the state and its diplomacy, is ubiquitous, valuable, and necessary for the diplomacy studies field. And in terms of one actor-the state-it is both sufficient and catholic. When attempting to understand modern diplomacy and international relations, it is important to remember that at the heart of any worthwhile theory of international relations must lie a theory of traditional diplomacy (Sharp 2003:856). But all is not well in the traditional backyard. In the face of ever-tightening budgets and shrinking numbers of overseas missions and staff, the reinvention of the t?aditional diplomatic institution is apparent. Now these institutions have to justify their relevance to a more informed domestic audience. This justification includes two-way communication processes with domestic and global publics (instead of the traditional one-way processes which reinforced the hermetic image of many institutions); the inclusion of many nonstate experts into the sacred halls of diplomacy; and the shift in recruitment policies to build staffs truly reflective of the domestic societal strata they purport to represent, to name but a few changes. This snapshot suggests that the traditional gatekeepers are struggling to maintain relevance and are reforming in a bid to hang on to the keys to the gate. On the other side of the gate, energized, increasingly efficient, and numerous nonstate actors are gathering. There is a correlation between their rising numbers and growing influence. For example, the number of NGOs has risen from 997 in 1954 to 20,928 in 2005 / 2006 (Jonsson, 2005). The large numbers of MNCs is also noteworthy. At the beginning of the twenty-first century there are more than 53,000 MNCs, which have over 450,000 foreign affiliates (Kegley and Wittkopf 2003:173). These ever-growing numbers suggest that MNCs exercise significant clout in the modern diplomatic system, with global assets in excess of $13 trillion (USD) and global sales of more than $9.5 trillion (USD) (Kegley and Wittkopf 2003:173). And more than half of the worlds top economies are not countries but global MNCs, with waning affiliations to the nation-state. The growth of IGOs in the last hundred years is also significant. In 1909, there were 37 IGOs, by 1962 this number had risen to 163, and by 2005 / 2006 the modern diplomatic environment had 1,963 IGOs.( Jonsson, 2005) To representatives from this growing nonstate sector, the gate no longer looks so imposing o? absolute; there are many other paths around the side. In the modern diplomatic environment, these nonstate groups have adopted basic diplomatic functions such as negotiation skills, visible representation, effective communication, filtered information, and political reporting from overseas and symbolism (the Greenpeace rainbow flag is instantly recognizable, as are the ubiquitous golden arches). Large MNCs, as one example, are learning of the need to develop their own task-defined diplomatic structures to serve their particular needs and develop local expertise that national diplomatic services find hard to rival (Hocking 2004:149). Where before there was one path and one gate there are now many channels, networks and alternate environments through which to engage in diplomacy. Myriad patterns of asymmetric and polylateral diplomacy are appearing, involving not only state representatives but also representatives from NGOs, transnational organizations (the External Delegations of the European Union, for example), (Hocking 2004:149) and even famous though hardly effective movie stars. The Ottawa Process, the Kimberley Diamonds Process, or the Nazi Gold settlement-success stories of unconventional diplomacy-are regularly trumpeted and are used as evidence to suggest the ushering in of an era of new diplomacy (again!). Whether it is multi-lateralism or summitry or two individuals from different countries conversing on a plane, diplomacy is blossoming and clearly no longer axiomatically linked to the state. Traditional writing on diplomacy only tells part of this modern diplomatic story. It amply accounts for the historical and modern role of the state in diplomacy but fails to explain the proliferation and impact of unconventional, new diplomatic actors. A glance at the canon of diplomacy studies suggests that the traditional way of thinking and writing about diplomacy is being challenged. Beyond Modern Diplomacy Viewing diplomacy in representational terms provides a richer understanding of what diplomats do than does the conventional account of it as one of the lesser tools of foreign policy. The diplomats of the modern state system claimed that no one else occupied the position of detachment from the international society of states, or performed the role of representing its members to the world and the world back to them. Now, it is becoming increasingly plausible to claim that more people are so employed and more are diplomats. An obvious extension of the approach of viewing diplomacy as representation is to apply it to the new diplomatic actors of contemporary international relations. To what extent does their becoming diplomatic involve these actors accepting and internalizing the professional and political worlds as these are presented by diplomacy in the narrow senser To what extent do they bring something new to itr Could humanitarian agencies parlay a local and temporary acceptance, based upon expertise, knowledge, and control of resources, into a more lasting and extensive legitimacy-one recognized by states but not derived from statesr An obvious expectation of the approach outlined above is that the new diplomats, like the diplomats of revolutionary regimes before them, will do much adjusting. Their ability to bring about change in the professional and political universes of diplomacy will be limited. This is not an argument in any simple sense of that term. New actors do not have to conform to the rules of the game as it is played by old acto?s (read rich and powerful) because that is what the old ones want. rather, it is the representatives of actors for whom unity, autonomy, and identity remain important. They face similar predicaments, whether they represent the old or new, the rich or poor, the strong or weak. All face the problem of contributing to the production and reproduction of the identities they represent in, and by, their relations with one another. Other games-economic, military, political, and social-are going on too, but their significance varies by actor, policy, and context. representation, as a lready discussed, is common to all actors in international relations and is particular to it. This is not as big a claim as it may sound. The question of whether new diplomatic actors accept the political and professional worlds of diplomacy acknowledges that they also function in a wider world of international thought and action in which these other actors try to function with their own universesand associated operational codes. Consider two established concepts, sovereignty and nation. Both appear as prominent bricks in the edifice of diplomacys professional and political worlds, yet both also belong to other worlds where the systemic and moderating preoccupations of diplomacy seem to have very little place. In addition to how diplomacy tames, manages, and uses these two ideas for itself, it is worth examining how diplomacy copes when others have different conceptions and priorities. As James Mayall notes, diplomacy was one of the few international institutions to survive the onslaught of popular sovereignty and nineteenth-century nationalism. (Mayall, 1990) Mayalls diplomacy, and nearly everyone elses, is the diplomacy of the modern territorial state, with a practical and clearly identifiable sovereign site. We take this so much for granted that we may ask whether diplomacy in the absence of sovereigns may be properly termed diplomacy. Instead, we might ask, How did diplomacy survive modernityr Clearly the answer is adaptation. How will diplomacy survive encounters with concepts beyond which it has traditionally not claimed, such as race, class, gender, and civilizations (not Civilization)r It is beyond my competence to speak about these ideas, other than to note that even at conventional conferences on diplomacy, papers on issues like the problem of spouses and partne?s are often presented Mayall, 1990). Discomforting though these approaches are to some of the participants, neither these themes nor the universes of arguments and assumptions about social life from which they stem will go away. Establishing an effective diplomatic mission today involves addressing patriarchy and identity issues, as well as the problems posed for security and institutional memory by electronic mailing systems. The study of diplomacy and what diplomats have to say about it will appeal neither to structuralists nor to constructivists in their respective strong forms. Diplomacy presumes that structures do not explain all outcome s, nor even just the important ones, but it also takes existing structures seriously. Structures may be constituted by the practice of agents. In acknowledging this, diplomats are unlikely to concede that we have learned much about the likelihood of particular structures cohering, evolving, or collapsing-even if their own instinct is to bet on cohering. And Outcomes Of Diplomatic Interaction The outcomes of diplomatic interaction between governments and NSEEs vary enormously, primarily according to how powerful the particular state is, and seconda?ily according to whether the NSEE is an MEI that holds heavy purse strings on which a government may depend. Weak states and developing countries are often in the position of supplicant before MEIs such as the IMF, World Bank and regional development banks, whose representatives often wield great power over developing countries domestic economies (Strange, 1996). On the other hand, powerful states and creditor nations interact with NSEEs more as equals or as masters. In terms of power relations and accompanying diplomatic practice, governments of states view MEIs not as a global government, so the analogy is not that of U.S. states or German LÃ ¤nder dealing with their respective Federal Governments. Nor can MEIs any longer be seen as uniformly subordinate bodies to nation-state governments, so a Federal Government to U.S. sta te or German Land analogy, in which administrative considerations might tend to predominate over the political, would be equally off the mark. NSEEs are likely to view governments according to whether the government is a net provider or recipient of the institutions funds. A better analogy for NSEE-government interaction would be the way that nation-state governments regard other governments: each pairing of governments will reflect a different distribution of power, both relational and structural, between them, a different historical and cultural background to the relationship, a different institutional evolution of the relationship. Hence diplomacy between nation-state governments, considered as a group, and NSEEs, considered as a group, is likely to varry in terms of power distribution, institutional compatibility, and other relevant variables in much the same way that diplomacy as traditionally conceived between nation-state governments varies. An understanding of how diplomatic interactions between NSEEs and governments translates into outcomes requires drawing upon the range of theories of power from the International relations/International Political Economy literature. Theoretical approaches such as Neoliberalism and Institutionalism are well adapted to diplomacy between states and non-state economic entities because they presuppose the role of institutions in promoting cooperation between states. A Neomarxist-Gramscian approachs understanding of the material bases for state power offers a way to differentiate between the power of states, and its logic of transnational historic blocs seeking the consent of the governed can explain the motivation to create NSEEs to facilitate diplomacy and one of its main objectives, cooperation and the consensual exercise of power. From Social Constructivism we can draw upon ideas of how states and NSEEs alike c?eate and re-create their identities through their public presentation of th emselves and through negotiations, which in turn can shift power between them (Ford, 2002). From Postmodernism/Post-positivism, conceptions such as time-space compression can explain how the institutional organization of representation has changed and how the speed of diplomatic interactions has accelerated, each of which favour some actors at the expense of others (Harvey, 1990). Neorealisms state-centric focus applies less well to the explanation of power in a diplomatic system in which states themselves do not speak with one voice to NSEEs, and at the same time NSEEs are both venues for multilateral cooperation and actors with agendas and objectives distinct from those of any state. Despite being difficult to place within any single theoretical tradition, Stranges notion of structural power as power to shape the parameters within which others must make decisions seems particularly useful in explaining power in government-NSEE diplomatic interactions (Strange, 1994, 1996). Using Stranges four interlocking structures of knowledge, production, finance and security one can account for disparities of power between states, the particular power of MEIs concerned with global finance, and even the impact of the variability in skills of diplomats on different sides of a negotiation. For example, Stranges approach would expect MEIs to tend to prevail in negotiations w ith developing countries. Conclusions: Power as Mobilization While the scope and visibility of what I have termed the new public diplomacy is novel, the mechanisms that it employs are not. Persuasion, framing, and agendasetting are the basic tools of political influence. However, focusing on them tends to change our understanding of how power operates. The changes in the political and communications context of international politics change make their operation more visible and accessible to more agents. Power is not a magic bullet that can render the interactions of international politics immediately comprehensible, but serves as short hand for what agents do. The analysis presented above suggests that we have been looking for power in the wrong places. IR theory tends to start from the presumption that military power is the ultimate determinant of the outcomes in IR. This military bias results in power being thought of in terms of confrontations between well defined positions. The image of power can be illustrated if we think of the forces ne eded to move a huge boulder securely embedded in a mountainside. Yet if the boulder is already rolling down the mountain, the forces needed to push it in a new direction are very much less. We may be unable to move the boulder, but if it is already in motion, we may be able to move it onto a new course. Human society (and particularly the small sections of it that represent political organizations) are already (and always in motion), thus, a relatively minor impetus delivered at the right place and time and can change outcomes. To think in terms of processes is to see that the mechanisms of soft power are not exceptional but the normal tools of politics. All that the new public diplomacy is doing is allowing more people to use them in a more public way. The consequence of the age of mixed media is that more people can do this changing the dynamics and the outcomes of politics, and that is no small thing. Anthony Giddens treats power and, by extension, agency, in terms of the capacity to use the rules and resources that exist in any social context to produce effects. What the new public diplomacy indicates is the way in which technological and political change is changing the possibilities to act within world politics. Power needs to be treated in terms of mobilizational processes rather in terms of structures or agents. The changes in the global media environment affect the political strategies adopted by both states as well as non-state actors. Analysis of these developments suggests that power in the info rmation age cannot be understood solely in terms of resources or structures without consideration of process issues such as mobilizing strategies and the ability of agents to set agendas and influence the framing of issues via the media. Such a perspective explains the ability of resource poor actors to exert influence in particular circumstances and the limitations of this influence.

My Closet :: essays papers

My Closet I sat quietly on the couch next to my father. His short muscular arm extended over my head as if to protect his little girl. His fingers got lost in my strands of hair, as I yanked my head forward as if to signal I did not want him to play with my hair. My new baby doll with big blonde ringlets and skin that smelled like a baby’s skin after it has just been powdered, rested in my lap. My meek hands stroked the tiny doll as if it were alive. My father knelt down and kissed my forehead as he said, â€Å"Don’t worry, Princess, Mommy will†¦.Oh here she is now!† I sprang from my warm, sheltered seat and sprinted to the front window as quickly as my tiny legs could move. My fingers grasped the long, wooden windowsill and my little pug nose pressed against the window pain. My breath delivered a frosty appearance on the glass as my eyes strained to see my mother step out of her car. My toes ached with pain as I fought to stay in view with the outside world. Too late. I could already hear my mothers graceful footsteps ascend the stairs. She carefully opened the door that entered my kitchen, and I flung myself into her arms. My mother yelped with shock and a hint of exhaustion, â€Å"Meggie honey, Mommy is very tired. Please be a little more careful next time.† â€Å"Mommy! Mommy! Daddy bought me a new dolly today, her name is, Madeline. Look! Look!† â€Å"Oh very nice sweetie. I have a surprise for you too.† â€Å"What is it? What is it?† I exclaimed as I jumped rapidly around the kitchen. My mind raced. Was it another doll? Maybe the game I had been wanting? Tinkerbell perfume! That is what it must be. I had always wanted Tinkerbell perfume. Everytime I saw it in a store I would shout and point with such excitement. I thought it had magical powers that would make me fly. My imagination always ran with ideas as most children’ always do. My mother griped my hand tightly and led me into the living room at a slow pace that indicated she was nervous yet excited. She sat me down gently next to my father. Her smile had never been so huge.

Oakland, CA :: essays research papers

The Forgotten City This paper will discuss the many unique aspects of Oakland, California. Divided into five major parts, Oakland is a very diverse city. The five major parts include: Downtown Oakland which is located in the heart of the city, East Oakland which consists of the majority of the city, West Oakland, North Oakland, and the Oakland hills where the terrain is quite different from other parts of the city. While many may perceive the population to mainly consist of African Americans and Whites, there is a significant growing population of Latinos, and Asians. The topics covered in this paper will shed light on the city of Oakland itself, and discuss the unique city that it is. I will also give my personal experience and perception on the city, after living there for 16 years of my life. History In historical terms the city of Oakland was named after the many Oak trees that inhabited the land when the city was established. Oakland was first founded in 1852 and is located on the East side of the Bay Area in Northern California.(Oakland History) Native Americans had previously lived in the area for over 5 thousand years before many arrived for the Gold Rush, and put down their roots. The famous author Jack London also spent many of his earlier years in Oakland, and his works have said to have been influenced by the city. My personal perception of Oakland is that it has always been the forgotten city in the Bay Area. Almost no one would notice that famous actors Clint Eastwood, and Tom Hanks spent many of their childhood days in the city. Basketball future hall of famers Gary Payton and Jason Kidd also spent their childhood days there. Baseball hall of famers Reggie Jackson and Ricky Henderson still own homes in the city. In modern times Oakland is known as the main metropolitan city in the East Bay. The city possesses 3 professional sports teams, which have a population of just below 400,000. Oakland is also the 3rd largest metropolitan city in the Bay Area behind San Jose, and San Francisco.( Encyclopedia Britannica ) The city mayor is the ex Governor of California Jerry Brown. Located in Alameda County Oakland’s area consists of a total square mileage of 78.2 miles, of which 56.1 miles is land, and the latter consisting of water.( Encyclopedia Britannica ) Oakland also possesses the 3rd largest seaport on the west coast.

moralant Divine Law vs. Human Law in Sophocles Antigone :: Antigone essays

Antigone: Divine Law vs. Human Law The play entitled Antigone was written by a man named Sophocles, a scholarly author of philosophy and logic. The play Antigone is probably one of the most prominent interpretations of a tragic drama. The two main characters of the play are Antigone and Creon. There is much conflict between Antigone and Creon throughout the play, both of them having their own ideas and opinions regarding divine law versus human law. The theme that I am going to analyze is the conflict of divine law vs. human law. The reason for this is because this theme seems to control the whole play. It is an issue of which law is the "right" law, and if Creon's and Antigone's acts were justifiable. The play Antigone can be summarized by the following: King Creon lets it be known that Polyneices the traitor is not to be buried, but his sister Antigone defies the order because of the values she holds. She is caught, and sentenced by Creon to be buried alive - even though she is to be married to his son Haemon. After the blind prophet Tiresias proves that the gods are on Antigone's side, Creon changes his mind - but too late. He goes first to bury Polyneices, but Antigone has already hanged herself. When Creon arrives at the tomb, Haemon attacks him and then kills himself. When the news of their death is reported, Creon's wife Eurydice takes her own life. Creon ends up being all alone due to the fact that his family members took their own lives. Creon blames himself for all of these tragedies occurring, mainly because it was his wrong doings that caused them. The concept of divine law can be described as the law of God. Divine law involves morals and beliefs that are presented by God. Charles Segal describes the idea of divine law as being the "unwritten laws of the Gods" (Sophocles 64). This type of law is most likely in effect when the idea of morals are apparent, such as when a moral decision must be made. This type of decision would probably be considered right or wrong. Divine law is not only in decisions, but also in the everyday actions of people. Things that are morally "right" are in accordance with the law of God, while things that are morally "wrong" tend to be actions that go against the law of God.

Children of Men Film

Children Of Men. â€Å"Children of Men† Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Is set in the year 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, Theo Faron a former activist, agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman, Named Kee, to a sanctuary located out at sea, where her child’s birth could help scientists save mankind. In the film Children of Men, there are many crucial scenes to help convey the idea of the film, however I find one of these scenes particularly important; namely the apartment scene.In this scene Theo is being driven through the streets of London to the Ark Of Arts to visit his cousin Nigel. The director uses a number of techniques to help portray the themes and ideas, such as music, setting, lighting and mise-en-scene. During the apartment scene, the song â€Å"The Court Of the Crimson King† by King Crimson is playing in the background; The lyrics in this song help portray the idea of mankind’s demise. Crimson is the colour ascribed to someone who is furious, for example how God must feel toward mankind for its sins. But the wise never refer to God directly, for it seems nutty and conjectured.Instead they refer to God’s ordained agents, in this age personified as crimson-seated monarch. All the diabolical-sounding protests at the beginning of the sequence is bone-chilling with detail of various biblical verses predicting the end of the world. It implies that infertility is God’s punishment for man’s sins as humanity approaches the grand finale. I. e. the final coming to a head culmination of the human saga. Also during this scene the lighting plays a significant role in creating the mood which the audience feel. It directs the viewer to what the character is feeling, drawing the viewer into the film.The scene starts with Theo being driven though the busy and crowded streets of London, full of cars, people and protesters. The weather throughout the first part of the scene is quite cloudy emphasising the dim mood in the scene. It is quite dark and gloomy, this helps portray the connection to the depression throughout the country due to the infertility. The images and lighting are similar to images that record the suffering of people during the depression of the 1930s. However, inside the park the weather starts to brighten making everything look lush and vibrant.It seems absurd to see such a strong contrast after passing through the imperial gates. This brings to mind the saying â€Å"The grass is always greener on the other side† This helps to show how the members of the public see this part of London as a desired thing and that everything is better, but this saying usually ends up being false; these people still live in the same world, it is all an illusion, Further on in the scene Theo says to his cousin Nigel, â€Å"A hundred years from now, there won’t be one single sad f**k to look at any of this (meaning his apartment).What keeps y ou going? † To which Nigel replies â€Å"You know what it is, Theo? I just don’t think about it†. He is just ignoring the inevitable. Mise-en-scene creates a shocking impact as the viewer draws on their prior knowledge to make connections to the symbols revealed in this sequence. As Theo crosses the bridge to the Ark of Arts, above the Battersea power station, you can see a floating pig, reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s album cover for â€Å"Animals†.As Theo enters the court in the background, you can see a painting of two policemen kissing which is quite a famous piece by the street artist Banksy. After Theo enters the apartment he is greeted by his cousin Nigel. Behind him is the Statue Of David and two dogs in front of it. The Statue of David represents civil rights and the two dogs represent guards or loyalty, But with the dogs in front of The Statue Of David, This represents, Guarding the people, Or keeping the people from their rights.The scene the n cuts to Theo, Nigel and his handicapped son sitting at a dinner table and behind Theo on the wall is a large painting by world famous Pablo Piccaso, The painting is called â€Å"Guernica† it was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, Basque country, by German and Italian war planes. Guernica shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. This work has gained a monumental status, becoming a perpetrated reminder of the tragedies of war, an anti-war symbol and an embodiment of peace.The presences of Banksy, Michelangelo and Picasso artwork help portray the thoughts of society, as these entire artist stands for, peace, civil rights and anti-establishmentarianism. Near the end of this scene Theo and Nigel are talking by the window and behind them you can see again the floating pig. Having this floating pig is very symbolic using another saying â€Å"pigs will fly†. This presumably will never happen, a m etaphor for being impossible like making plans to touch the sun at night, but having an actual floating pig represents how ‘Pigs Will Fly’ and hope is not lost when it comes to the infertility of mankind.Using the four techniques, Music, Setting, Lighting and Mise-en-scene, the director has successfully brought the viewers into the movie to experience it as he intended us to, which is to challenge our beliefs of how our world functions. Even just in this one scene there is so much to understand other than just watching the film, but the ideas of the story hidden in plain sight challenging the viewer to read further into the movie and the issues it highlights. Written by Matthew Puterangi.

Reggae Music and Its Influences Essay

One of the world’s iconic figures, Reggae musician Bob Marley(1945-1981) stated that, â€Å"People want to listen to a message, word from Jah(God). This could be passed through me or anybody, I am not a leader, messenger. The word of the songs, not the person, is what attracts people.† Reggae music is gifted to people in Jamaica as their own unique identity. Jamaican musicians are well-known for expressing their Rastafarian beliefs through the music, Reggae. Rastafarian reflects ideologies, attitudes, actions of the people for the better society (Spiker,1998). At this point, they became social commentators, prophets, and messengers who heal the wounds of people affected by social and political injustices (Aimers, 2004).This essay illustrates that reggae music has been successful spreading Rastafarian beliefs in politics, social injustices and cultures. Firstly, Jamaican musicians play essential roles to give the political messages to people based on their Rastafarian beliefs. The political messages shared through the Reggae music are those of peace, love, and brotherhood of mankind for forming a unity to fight for the liberty of people in Jamaica. Musicians gave the message by setting several goals based on general popular interest of the population against any oppression and encouraged people to speak-up. For instance, Bob Marley(1945-1981); the predominant singer strived to bring the awareness for not only in the hearts of Jamaicans, but also in those of Africans and the rest of the world (Abram & Ingrid, 2009). One of his popular songs, â€Å"Get up, and Stand up for your rights† not only defended his religious beliefs but also pointed at political oppression and natural rights of people (Lockard, n.d). Following lyrics is from the song by Bob Marley (1973): We sick an’ tired of-a-your ism-skism-game Dying ‘n’ goin’ to heaven in-a Jesus’ name, Lord. We know when we understand: Almighty god is a living man. You can fool some people sometimes, But you can fool all the people all the time. So now we see the light (What you gonna do?) We gonna stand up for our rights! (Bob Marley Lyrics) Thus, one can conclude that reggae and its musicians are influential as a medium for spreading political messages to enlighten the darkness of people’s mind and brain.   Secondly, People all around the world heard the voice of Rastafarian beliefs against social injustices through the reggae music and by its talented musicians. Their songs’ lyrics were mightier than swords to reveal such issues as racism, colonialism, slavery, and exploitation on colored people in Africa. Rastafarians are attached to the ideas of equality, tolerance, justice, and non-violence. In addition, it is a theology of submissiveness and every Rasta has a right to freedom of expression (Abram & Ingrid, 2009). Particularly, slavery had affected most of Africans’ lives badly for being taken away from one own society and family which could have damaged them physically and psychologically by segregations and hard labors (Novick, n.d). For example, Reggae musician, Peter Tosh(1944-1987)’s famous song â€Å"Mama Africa†(1983)indicated the life of an African slave missing home: Mama Africa How are you doing Mama, Mama Africa Long time me no see you Mama They took me away from you Mama Long before I was born They took me away from you Mama Long before I came on in(Peter Tosh Lyrics) Hence, the reggae music and its musicians had not only led people in Jamaica for Rastafarian beliefs and for fighting against the social injustices but also Africans as a whole for the better survival. Lastly, the Rastafari influence also had contributed to the cultural significance of reggae music and culture of people; it was a symbol for both identity and pride among the Jamaicans. It has also created an understanding of lifestyle and culture in Jamaica for the rest of the world (Aimers, 2004). The reggae music and Rastafarian complemented one another to occupy people’s state of mind to think of it as a part of the Jamaican lifestyle, needless to mention that it has become a tradition and culture for them. In spite of all the difficulties and hardships which came upon people in Jamaica, they had been recognized internationally for their predominant reggae music all over the world. The culture of reggae along with Rastafarian symbols was being introduced to many countries. Reggae musicians’ hair-styles, clothing and accessories which mirror the Rastafari are being imitated by some devoted fans. For example, Thailand’s Khao-San road is full of Rastafarian symbols and its trendy musician, Bob Marley printed-items from head to toe. Therefore, Reggae music and its Rastafarian symbols have enormously impacted on cultures of many different countries, originated from Jamaica. In conclusion, there are many studies which has discussed about the importance of reggae music spreading Rastafarian beliefs and symbols throughout the world. Reggae music has been positively influential to the society by means of political, social, and cultural impacts. In addition, it has not only brought the liberty to people in Jamaica but also mother Africa. Therefore, it is remarkable peak in history that peaceful and non-violent music won over the aggressive wars, fights, and any kind of violence. In fact, peaceful as well as meaningful song lyrics are mightier than sharp and shining swords. References; Aimers, J. (2004). â€Å"The Cultural Significance of Reggae.† ATH175 People of the world. Retrieved from; http://www.units.muohio.edu/ath175/student/petersle/culture.html Abram, V. & Ingrid, H. (October, 2009). â€Å"The Rastafarian Movement.† The Observatory for Religious Phenomena (World Religion Watch). Retrieved from http://www.worldreligionwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=281&Itemid=65 Lockard, Craig A. (June, 2010). â€Å"Bob Marley, Victor Jara, Fela Kuti, and Political Popular Music.†University of Illinois. Retrieved from; http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/7.2/lockard.html Novixk, S. (n.d). â€Å"The Effects of Slavery on Reggae Music.† The Dread Library. Retrieved from; http://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/novick.html Spiker, C. (April 1998). â€Å"Reggae As Social Change:The Spread of Rastafarianism.† The Dread Library. Retrieved from; http://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/spiker.html

What is the impact of the Lord of the Rings on New Zealand’s Tourism industry?

Introduction During a more relaxed PBL session in a prior module, the tutor presented a safety instructional video from Air New Zealand to the group. In this video the actors were all dressed up as figures from the famous Lord of the Rings movies. Ever since, the author of this proposal confronted himself with the question how exactly New Zealand's tourism industry is influenced by the aforementioned phenomenon. There already has been quite some research on the movie induced tourism of New Zealand. However, whether it brings lasting economy growth to New Zealand's tourism industry, is an issue barely covered.Thus, this assignment will attempt to answer the question: What is the impact of the Lord of the Rings on New Zealand's Tourism industry from the release in 2001 till the year 2016? First, the paper will begin with defining what film induced tourism is and why it is an option for New Zealand's tourism industry. This is done to create a basic understanding of the subject. After th at the question will be answered how â€Å"The Lord of the Rings† is used for marketing purposes and the degree of dependency on this marketing form.In return that will lead to the third item of this paper, the customer satisfaction level of movie tourists. This is also relevant for evaluating the efficiency of the marketing efforts. Lastly the impact of movie-induced tourism on New Zealand's economy will be discussed. That is necessary to predict future developments and the fortitude of the impact on industry. Body Before the impacts of film-induced tourism on New Zealand can be discussed, an understanding of what Film-induced tourism is and why it exists has to be  provided.The origins of the modern tourism form lie in the late 18th century. Ever since the eras of romanticism and storm and stress, fictional stories and characters influenced the being and desires of its consumers. As common knowledge, the novel â€Å"The Sorrows of Young Werther†, for instance, resu lted in a phenomenon referred to as â€Å"Werther-fever† . The audience celebrated the hero of the novel by dressing up identical to the main character; reading circles were found and festivals with Werther themes were held.However, the most remarkable of all events associated with the Werther-fever were the journeys to Switzerland, undertaken by many enthusiasts of the Goethe novel. Readers felt the need to experience the described scenery of the Swiss alps in person. This occurrence is transferable to the fantasy literature success, The Lord of the Rings. The fantasy novel caused fan clubs, fan art and some even learned the languages used by certain characters in the books. Despite the popularity of the trilogy, written by J. R. R.Tolkien, the relevance of the novel for New Zealand would have been of no significance, if the movie industry had not made the decision to produce a movie series transferring the story from paper on to the screen. In addition Tolkien is not direct ly connected to the country. Director Peter Jackson, a New Zealander himself, brought the production to his native land. Once the audience was confronted with the movies, showing New Zealand's' landscapes as breathtaking scenery of â€Å"Middle Earth†, the bases for film-induced tourism was laid.In 2004, The third part of the series, â€Å"The Return of the King†, won 11 Oscars, exposing the landscapes of New Zealand to approximately 200 million viewers worldwide. (Carl, Kindon & Smith 2007) Following the logic of the aforementioned matter, movie-induced tourism simply is on-location tourism that relates to a successful movie. Thus, the term can be widened to film-induced tourism, taking television, DVD and other mediums into account. (Beeton 2005)Nonetheless, film induced tourism is not restricted to only one form. There are two main forms: On-Location tourism and Off-Location tourism.On-location tourism includes all activities that are related directly to the film lo cation. Therefore it can have different characteristics. As portrayed by Sue Beeton, movie tourism can be the main reason to travel to a certain destination. Nevertheless, the participation in movie related tourism activities can also only be one of various events during a holiday. The same applies to off-location tourism which ,in contrast to on-location tourism, covers all film touristic activities not related to the film location, such as studio theme parks or studio tours.  (Beeton 2005)Since it is now established what film induced tourism is and why it works for New Zealand, it is necessary to determine the degree of influence of The Lord of the Rings on destination marketing. The Importance of the movies to not only the tourism industry but the country as a whole becomes obvious when reckoning that already in 2001, when the first movie was released, a â€Å"Minister of the Rings† was announced, by the government to optimize the profits gained from the movies to nation in a holistic approach.Therefore, the minister not only managed the film-induced tourism related issues but also in terms of the film industry and connected employment. (Beeton 2005) Though this may seem to be a drastic measure on first sight, it quickly becomes evidence of wise foresight. In Forbes online magazine Gregg Anderson, general manager of western long haul markets for Tourism New Zealand, stated: â€Å"We’ve seen a 50% increase in arrivals to New Zealand since Lord of the Rings† (Pinchefsky 2012) This increase is the result of various promotion efforts that include official government initiatives as well.During the time period of 2001 to 2004, more than 20 million $NZ were spent on promotion related to the trilogy. The destination marketing, of public and private entities was executed on all four levels: National, local, individual and media. Activities ranged from releasing themed stamps, setting up Lord of the rings tourism websites, renaming street names (Gandalf street),over specialized guidebooks, to reports on world premiers. After Pinchefsky, even â€Å"†¦ New Zealand Custom Service currently stamps visitor’s passports with a â€Å"Welcome to Middle Earth† stamp.† (Pinchefsky 2012)Another key player giving in to the trend towards film based marketing is Air New Zealand. The air carrier uses safety instructional videos with a Lord of the rings theme. Further, in 2004 several air craft's were painted with characters and scenes from the movies and the pilots welcomed passenger in Wellington with: â€Å"Welcome to Middle Earth†. Overall film induced marketing was a successful approach to increase the exposure of New Zealand as a tourism destination.According to Tourism New Zealand, New Zealand's national tourism board, 87 percent of potential customers considering a trip  to the country were familiar with the fact, that the trilogy was filmed in New Zealand. In contrast to that, in the year 2004, tourists who came to the destination primarily motivated to participate in film induced tourism, only made up one percent of all travelers entering the country. Though one percent does not appear to be a significant number, it translates into NZ$32. 8milion of tourist spending. Six percent acknowledged the movies to be one of their main reasons for traveling to New Zealand. (Tourism New Zealand n. d. ) As a result, that means 94% of the tourists posses a secondary or no interest in New Zealand's film tourism.The conclusion deriving from that circumstance is essential. Despite using Jackson's movies for a broad range of promotional tools, the tourism industry is not solely relying on them. This can be demonstrated with the following example: Approximately 30 percent of New Zealand's territory consists of protected parks with hiking trails in most of them. The responsible institution for the parks is the Department of Conservation. It solely promotes the protected area for common purp oses such as hiking or walking. Thus â€Å"The Lord of the Rings† is consciously excluded in promotional activities to protect the environment.Simultaneously this helps remaining the image of the country being a destination for outdoor adventure travel. (Beeton 2005 p. 82) In addition, Tourism New Zealand promotes the destination with the slogan: â€Å"100% pure New Zealand†, emphasizing on natural beauty and cultural heritage. After having established that New Zealand's tourism industry can and actively promotes its offerings to tourists around the globe, the efficiency of the practiced movie brand marketing has to be determined. This can be achieved by regarding the site sacralization as an indicator for the effectiveness of using Tolkien's fantasy story for promotion purposes.The site sacralization theory classically describes four phases; naming, framing and elevation, mechanical reproduction and social reproduction. ( MacCannell 1999) Since the lord of the ring si tes are not naturally developed but a product of transitioning fictional places and items to reality, the theory has to be adjusted. The naming is already given through the story itself. Further, the second phase of framing and elevation is completed. Tourist attractions such as â€Å"Hobbiton† stand out being staged as a meaningful subject of its own.In case of the mechanical reproduction, meaning that the attraction is  materialized and sold as for example a souvenir, it has to be understood, that there is also merchandize not related to New Zealand. The Lord of the Rings is a brand producing figures, cosplay and much more. Since the film locations and set are part of the merchandize product, the mechanical reproduction of many film-induced tourism sites mixes with the Lord of the Rings brand. The consequence is a blur of the boundary between fictional place and real tourism attraction. Therefore the last phase, social reproduction, is only reached partly. The nature of t he final phase is that it lets the attraction identify itself as the destination.In other words, the attraction is noticed as identical to the destination. The consequence is, that tourists visit a tourism simply for the attraction, not the destination including the site. The positive aspect of that condition is the large exposure of the attraction to potential visitors. New Zealand's destination marketing managed to benefit from the incompleteness of the social reproduction in two ways. Firstly, those who identify the tourism sites, and therefore New Zealand as a whole, with the scenes of â€Å"The Lord of the Rings† will directly react to promotion measures embracing fan culture.Secondly, for all others the movies will act as an ambassador for the country as destination itself with its natural beauty. Therefore, using destination marketing based on the movie is highly sufficient, as long as the trilogy is present in the heads of the people. This will not be an issue for the next two decades, as the prequel to the Lord of the Rings, â€Å"The Hobbit†, premiered in early 2013. The Hobbit will be a trilogy as well. As any business in the tertiary sector might agree with, maintaining customers is more efficient then attracting new ones. Thus customer satisfaction is an elementary aspect to every business.For New Zealand's film-induced tourism that raises the question of how tourists experience sites and whether they are satisfied. The difficulty lies in the fact that most backdrops used for the movies have been edited and the tourists experience of the attraction interferes with the experience of the watching the movie. In return that might cause dissatisfaction, if the imagined experience differs significantly from the actual experience. (Carl, Kindon & Smith 2007) Karl, Kindon and Smith analyzed three tours specialized in activities related to â€Å"The Lord of the Rings†. Those tours included film sets and pure scenery used for backdrops. The conclusion drawn was that the vast majority of the tourists was satisfied with the experience. In most cases expectations were met or even exceeded. Further, it was argued, that success and satisfaction level for activities, connected to scenery only, depend heavily on the performance of the tour guides presenting the attraction. Therefore, the quality of the products offered by New Zealand's film-induced tourism is difficult to evaluate. On a macro level â€Å"The Lord of the Rings†, is absolutely suited for film induced tourism. There are three qualities a film has to posses in order to be successfully used for film tourism.Those are: uniqueness, status and timely significance. The trilogy inherits all three qualities. It is a unique film experience on the verge of becoming an all time classic. Moreover, it has a high status as a movie setting new standards to its time and winning 11 Oscars. Lastly the movie was shot to a time where the aftermath of the 11th September a ttacks led to a war against terror. The story of the trilogy contains similar elements of good versus evil, which made it almost a metaphor for the historical developments at the time. The result was â€Å"The Lord of the Rings† as a part of pop culture.The intermediary result from the aforementioned issues lead to the conclusion, that Tourists participating in film-induced tourism related to Jacksons movies, are majorly satisfies with the provided experience. This is also conditioned by the quality of the trilogy itself. To be able to indicate the impact the movies had on the economy in the past and what the future might look like, economic statistics have to be critically reviewed. An intricacy is the limited amount of film-induced tourism data available. Hence it will be attempted to draw conclusions from the existing general tourism data.Last year, tourism generated a direct contribution to New Zealand's' GDP of $6. 2 billion, or 3. 3 percent of the total GDP. (Statistics New Zealand 2012) As already stated before, one percent of the tourists in 2004 named The Lord of the rings as the main reason to have chosen New Zealand's as travel destination. Another six percent named it to be one of their main reasons. Thus it could be assumed that those six percent directly are responsible for the same percentage of the tourism GDP equaling $370 million. The tourism industry provides 6. 2 percent of the national employment. (Statistics New Zealand 2012)That makes  tourism the second biggest industry after dairy, which demonstrates the importance of the sector to the country. The annual tourism expenditures can be used to indicate the immediate influence of the trilogy on the industry. Especially the expenditure of international tourists increased explicitly, c, one year after the premier of the final part of the trilogy. Though the higher expenditure is not necessarily combined with film tourism attractions, the great exposure of the destinations scenery in the movies, obviously had an effect on the higher expenditure, which is also related to the higher amount of travelers.The number of international visitors rose from approximately 1. 800. 000 in the millennium year to more than 2. 370. 000 in the year 2005. ( TRADING ECONOMICS n. d. ) For the future, the Ministry of Tourism forecasted 3. 12 million visitor annually by 2016. This forecast appears to be reasonable as the prequel to The lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, premiered in November 2012, with two more episodes to come. This is likely to cause an increase in brand exposure and therefore another growth in tourist arrivals similar to the development of the time frame 2001-2005.Taking the above mentioned numbers and statistics into account, it can be concluded, that film-induced tourism has a positive impact on the entire economy of New Zealand, though the precise details are difficult to attain, due to lack of research and data in the field. Most likely, this trend will be continu ed during the next decade.Conclusion Having demonstrated the issues related to the question :†What is the impact of the Lord of the Rings on New Zealand's Tourism industry from the release in 2001 till the year 2016?†, the following conclusion can be drawn: Film-induced tourism contains on-location and of-location activities related to successful films or movies. It's origins lie in the literature tourism of the late 18th century, during the eras of romanticism and storm and stress. Further, The Lord of the Rings as opportunity for New Zealand's tourism industry was not relevant before the countries scenery was chosen for the trilogy's backdrop. Moreover, the Tourism board of New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand, and private businesses fully embraced the Lord of the Rings as marketing opportunity.Hence, the film-induced destination marketing of  public and private entities was executed on all four levels: National, local, individual and media. The usage of Jacksons movies for promotion purposes was a success, considering that 87 percent of all people considering New Zealand as a destination, were familiar with the fact that the country served as film location. Further, the country is not solely relying on film-induced marketing as it benefits from the only partly reached fourth phase of the site sacralization process. As it is an essential element for long lasting customer relationships customer satisfaction is a significant issue.The majority of travelers participating in film tourism related activities was satisfied. In general expectations were met or even exceeded, depending on the degree of imagined experience influenced by the movies. That is why tour guides contribute a considerably to customer satisfaction. Lastly the impact of film-induced tourism on the overall economy is not completely researched. Never the less it represents about 6% of the tourism GDP. In addition the visitor numbers and tourism expenditure has increased drastically duri ng the time The Lord of the Rings ran in theaters.International tourism spending rose from $6,398 million in 2001 to $8,619 million in 2005. For 2016 the amount of visitors was forecasted to 3,2 million. As a result it is most likely that film induced tourism will be growing similar to the growth between 2001-2005. This is supported by the prequel â€Å"The Hobbit† that premiered November 2012. Taking all the aforementioned data into account, it can be stated that â€Å"The Lord of the Rings† and its prequel will have a lasting positive effect on New Zealand's Tourism economy, for at least, the next decade.

National Reformation

The following paper will develop the theory that Dali and O’Keefe manipulated illusion of the real world in such a way to evoke visionary incoherence of the dream life.   Under this theory the paper will present several works by each artist and analyze these pieces to further illustrate surrealism and its use of expressing real events in a fantastical manner, as Janson states of surrealists, â€Å"They defined their aim as pure psychic automatism†¦intended to express†¦the true process of thought†¦free from the exercise of reason and from any aesthetic or moral purpose† (Janson â€Å"The History of Art† 807).Salvador Dali.In Dali’s oil on canvas The Persistence of Memory (1913) the theme of paranoia is persistent in this dreamscape.   The distortion of the piece exudes a frightening use of spatial mobility and form.   Surrealism is a way in which the expression of fantasy can be forthcoming in the world of Art.   Dali exemplifies this notion in his use of foreground and background shapes and the pure psychic automatism which is symbolized in the clocks.  Ã‚   Dali’s focus in this work is mainly about freedom;   although the context of this work is based on paranoia and the weightiness of time the work is also free from previous constraints of other artistic movements in that it is not a painting dedicated to reason or moral purpose.Dali’s painting is that of a dream and reason becomes a series of disjointed objects in space; there is no rhyme in his work unless it is free verse; that is to say that there is no structure as prior to surrealism the viewer is used to seeing structure.   Dali’s work often reflect what Virginia Woolf was so diligently experimenting with, which is unconscious writing or free narrative.   Dali painted as though the conscious mind was sleeping, and that is why his paintings are so often reminiscent of dreams as Janson states, â€Å"The notion that adream ca n be transposed by ‘automatiatic handwriting; directly from the unconscious mind to the canvas, bypassing the conscious awareness of the artist, did not work in practice.   Some degree of control was unavoidable.   Nevertheless, Surrealism stimulated several novel techniques for soliciting and exploiting chance effects† (Janson â€Å"The History of Art 807) .   Even the central figure in The Persistence of Memory is portrayed as though it were sleeping.The unfinished background is almost anachronistic with the foreground as it exhibits a cliff sliding off into a body of water.   It seems as though Dali made the background on purpose to confuse the viewer since dreams are intended to be symbolic of personal meaning.   The sky in the background also seems incomplete with no visible clouds but merely a color palette that drifts off into a sfumato haze.   The background however is not what Dali wanted the viewer to be stricken with as a first impression.The cent ral figure of the painting is unfinished as well.   Dali painted an eyeball, and a nose and made no more attention to the rest of the figure.   This feeling of incompleteness is unnerving and truly embodies the emotional state and perception of dreaming.   The painting is purely inspired by that part of Dali’s unconscious mind.   Although the painting exhibits that Dali used controlled in certain aspects of the work such as the use of diagonals, and linear shapes, but the overall impression of the painting lies within the angles, the objects and the general ambience of the piece.   The clocks themselves prove to be unnerving both their positions and their lack of solid form, as though they are oozing across the plane in the foreground and the limb near the horizon of the painting, as well as across the half finished face.Another artistic ploy that Dali uses in The Persistence of Memory is his use of shadow; not merely darkness but the chiaroscuro so prevalent in the piece.   This furthers the theory of this paper that Dali uses surrealism to tap into the unconscious and the dream world.   Dali does the opposite in this painting of previous artists; he places the darkness in the foreground of the painting and the brightness in the background.This is symbolic because Dali wants to evoke to the audience that in the dream world the objects that are in front of the dreamer’s face are not always tangible but looming and undefined.   In the background the objects are illuminated but this illumination does not add in defining the object because Dali here uses space to further illustrate his unconscious perspective; the objects in the background are too far away and cannot be seen.   Thus, each part of the painting is uncomfortably defined.   It is almost nonsensical; these objects of Dali’s in space without a coherent theme except for these persistence clocks.The clocks are the main meaning and focus of the painting and it is t hrough these objects that the theory of this paper rests.   The clocks present the theme of paranoia (as mentioned prior). Not only are they draped over the main objects in the foreground but their rendering is disconcerting.   Each clock offers a different time, and one clock is closed so that the viewer cannot decipher its time.It is interesting that Dali did not distort the closed clock; it signifies a secret and further exemplifies the state of the dream world present in this painting; that is, the one clock that could offer a valid time is closed and unable to be seen by the painter, or the audience.   The contention in the painting is that the central figure of the face is sleeping and is thus oblivious to the clocks, to time, to the unfinished landscape.   That is the quintessential meaning of a dream; the sleeping figure is unaware to symbolism, to action, to time, and that is how Dali exudes incoherence in the dream world.O’Keefe O’Keefe’s organ ic abstraction is what lends itself to the New Objectivity era of art as well as the thesis of this paper in the unconscious mind and dream images.   Her fantastical style was also tinted with expressionism and realism; which made her work that much more enticing.   This dichotomy of O’Keefe (realism and abstraction) ties in with the subconscious and dreamscape.   O’Keefe’s genius came with her incorporation of the abstract to the simpler approach of the object.   O’Keefe’s abstract works were very progressive, as Janson states, â€Å"†¦she practiced a form of organic abstraction indebted to Expressionism, but she also adopted the Precisionism of Charles Demuth, so that she is sometimes considered an abstract artist.   Her work often combined aspects of both approaches: as she assimilated a subject into her imagination, she would alter and simplify it to convey a personal meaning† (Janson â€Å"The History of Art† 817). Although her work exhibited quite a range of composition, and her objects were used in their real life definition their application in her paintings were representational of the dreamscape.   From objects such as rocks, flowers to skulls O’Keefe gave the art world a dichotomy of abstract and realism art.   Within the succinct contour of these objects O’Keefe embraced a range of colours; it is with these colors that the formation of the dreamscape begins to take shape.   In her Red Tree Yellow Sky piece the viewer is assailed by two brilliant and vibrant colours each in representation of the surrealist’s color palate.   The disharmony of colours is what transforms these otherwise banal portraits into the dreamscape and surrealist category.   The realism involved in these works is that the landscape in the southwest is directly correlated with O’Keefe’s representation of it but it is in her further emphasis of these colors, in their brillia ncy the viewer finds an unfamiliar painting that perhaps would best be defined in the nature of the unconscious.O’Keefe was very deliberate in her painting style; she seldom left her structure to chance (as Dali had and as Pollock had).   Although O’Keefe is famous for her renditions of flowers or vaginas it is her earlier charcoal drawings and especially her skulls that portray a slightly more lucid ambiance to her work.   Even in her plethora of flower portraits the grand scale of these blossoms leaves the imagination reeling.   Their color and their scale in dimension lead the viewer into a different interpretation of the natural world.   It is as though the viewer is given a chance to be Alice in Wonderland and to get a close up look at the intricate layers of a flower which does happen in real life (at least to the scale that O’Keefe represented).   In her presentation of the geometric form, her use of line, and her flat planes all lead to definin g O’Keefe as an abstract artist.As an abstract artist the use of the illusion of the real world (in O’Keefe’s case, her flower and skull pieces)   evokes in the audience a definite dreamscape.   This is proven by her presentation of proportion of an object.   Her Ram's Head, White Hollyhocks-Hills is a great example of this use of dimension.   The ram’s head is suspended in air with no body structure (real or skeletal) on which the skull could be supported; next to this picture is a hollyhock.   Although these two images when placed side by side as O’Keefe has done are not by any means disproportionate or grand in scale that fact that their surrounding environment is a background of a desert landscape suggests that these two objects are at once an integral part of this landscape but they are suspended beyond it’s realm as well.   This is how O’Keefe manages to portray the illusion of dream in her paintings.Another example of O’Keefe’s abstract art is Ranchos Church.   This painting is pure line, shading and geometric renditions.   There is no focus on a primary object (although the lines and shapes do appear to form a church) but instead the artist is working in the abstract form which is enhanced by the artist’s definition of shape.   O’Keefe does not reveal a definite structure in the painting and the only way to decipher what the painting is, is by reading the title.   This echoes what Dali was doing in his works; both artists give very vague definitions of their subjects and merely allow the viewer to surmise for themselves what the object is truly.The element that occurs continuously in O’Keefe’s work is that of the stark landscape.   Whenever O’Keefe renders the desert she paints a very stark portrait; albeit the desert is a very blanched atmospheric world, O’Keefe’s use of making it extremely stark is what further defines abstraction and the dream in her work.   These stark landscapes are devoid of life; the skulls, the sun baked clay and houses with no people are eerie in their rendering but this contrasted with the full and lush flowers is what marks dichotomy in Georgia O’Keefe.   Dreams are often times dichotomized, both in perspective and the realm between the unconscious and conscious mind.O’Keefe also represents the abstract dream world in her use of angles. Often times her subject matter is represented in full perspective, such as the skulls facing forward, the flowers are viewed in a direction that emphasizes their center and the landscape is typically level.   Each of these variables however lead to a false sense of reality since O’Keefe in typical New Objectivity style uses these angles to benefit her own sense of reality outside of the realm of linear thought, and time.   The skulls are blanched and suspended the flowers next to this picture of death are full of life (i.e. the   Ram's Head, White Hollyhocks-Hills).   It is within these several juxtapositions that O’Keefe embellishes in the dichotomy of life and death, dream and reality, color and the absence of color.ConclusionBoth of these artists work in the realm of the in between; their work is abstract in nature and each though representational of separate subject matter are linked in that their use of the illusion lends to the viewer a new perspective.   For both Dali and O’Keefe this illusion is necessary in the artwork because it enables the typical concepts of time and space to become secondary to symbolism.   The symbolism for Dali was in the clocks; how time makes a person paranoid but how this paranoia cannot be reflected as angst in an unconscious person.   O’Keefe gave her audience another perspective, a much grander in scale perspective of flowers.   These flowers viewed at this angle and up close allow the viewer to feel very close to the artwork and this personal feeling lends itself to the viewer in a voyeuristic fashion.   It is as though the viewer was invading the flower and this is what brings O’Keefe the quality of the abstract, of the illusion in dream.In the forms of every day objects in unfamiliar surroundings or placed in those surroundings in a less than familiar way (i.e. suspended) these artists give illusion in the real world and present this vision as a dream which is what I felt when I saw them.   The artworks become manipulated not only through the artists’ use of space by through the viewer’s interpretation of these objects and their strategic placement in the work which is the worth of the painting.   The reason they belong in a museum is because of their new inventions of perception:   for Dali the invention of dreamscape and the disintegration of it and for O’Keefe for her close up of nature.When asked if these art works influence Western Society the answer w ould be yes, in a Jungian way at least since both deal with the abstract or surreal elements of the psyche.   Since the pieces adhere to this element it is appropriate to say that their influence, although not a strong influence, has contributed to the progression of art in the Western world as is found with the avant-guarde work which is being created in modernity.When I asked another patron whether or not these works had influence on Western Society they answered no, because how could one painting so greatly influence an era of thought, and they doubted that new perception in art could create an entire new process of creation.   They did however believe the pieces should be in a museum because of the reputation of the artists but not necessarily for the artwork.   When I asked them how it made them feel they said they weren’t sure but perhaps they felt somewhat sad when they viewed the work because the colors and angles were so unfamiliar it was like being exposed too quickly to something too new and that left them out of touch with their base of knowledge which made them uncomfortable.Work CitedJanson, H.W. & Anthony F. Janson.   History of Art.   Fifth Edition Revised.   PrenticeHall, Inc., and Harry Abrams, Inc., Publishers.   New York.   1997. National Reformation A popular theme among developing nations is the modernization of the economic, social, and political forums. Countries are now looking to democracy to put themselves in a competitive position in the world market. Central Asia, which consists of Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikista, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, is continuing to show their strength and growth as they strive to demonstrate their independence and self-reliability separate from Russia. Kazakhstan has adopted democracy and has demonstrated how it has been a symbolism for growth, competitiveness, and success.In the last decade, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Central Asian countries have established an active presence in the international economy. Kazakhstan has represented a leading figure in Central Asia through modernization, reform, and democracy. As the fight against terrorism, development of democratic nations, and economic stability continues to parallel success and prosperous nations, the United States wants to be an â€Å"engine for change† in Central Asia.Since Kazakhstan gained its independence from Russia in 1991, it has made significant progress to prove its national purpose as a leader and innovator for the Central Asian region. Although President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan is a former Soviet leader who inherited Kazakhstan, he has been successful leading the country by socially, economically, and politically reforming the country.   â€Å"Kazakhstan’s economy is continuing its robust expansion, over the past six years, the gross domestic product has shown growth of just fewer than 10 percent in the first half of 2006.†( Kazakh 2)   Kazakhstan attributes this growth to its energy and large oil sector, gas, and mineral services.The country has introduced new concepts that other countries are now adopting due to its proven success like privatization reforms in the banking and mortgage industries and education reforms. Kazakhstan has been able sustain itsel f as a growing nation but it still relies heavily on Russia’s pipeline network for exporting much of its oil and natural gas. If the country is able to produce 3 million barrels per day, Kazakhstan will put itself as one of the worlds top 10 oil producing nations in the world.Kazakhstan has outlined a strategy for long-term domestic political stability and consolidation of their society. One of the top goals, which is, â€Å"to guarantee developing our own uniform civic motivation based on equality of opportunities for all the citizens of our country,† represents Kazakhstan strong belief in change for their country.The United States has shown its support to Central Asia; to countries like Georgia and Kazakhstan’s in their mutual goals to transform the state into a democratic nation. This transformation will be beneficial to the United States because it will bridge the lines of communication, by allowing for greater flexibility in areas dealing with oil, gas, and energy.With the help from the United States, President Nazarbayev has shared a vision of expansion and opportunities that extend beyond the boarders of Kazakhstan. Central Asian countries share the same vision of stability, prosperity, and democratic reform. As the people realize the growth potential of their country it has been a relatively easy battle for the government to conform the people to change. The reforms of the pension program, expansion of educational opportunities, reforms in the banking industry, all of these changes have and will continuously improve the livelihood of the citizens of the country.In a joint statement by the United States and Kazakhstan, â€Å"We will expand our joint activities to ensure the development of energy resources, while supporting economic diversification and reform, market principles, and the development of small and medium size enterprises. We recognize that peaceful democratization invests citizens in the future of their nation. Develop ing democratic institutions is therefore the crucial condition of long-term stability.† (Joint 1).Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan’s President has performed exceedingly well as the leader by implementing social, political, and economic reforms. It is completely evident that his goal is to provide economic stability in his country while being an example for Russia and other neighboring countries. GDP has risen, poverty is down, privatization reforms, and democracy on the horizon. Kazakhstan has broaden its export of oil and energy potential to countries like China and the United States, â€Å"it also joined the U.S.-sponsored Bu-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline that breaks Russia’s long-standing monopoly on delivering Caspian Sea oil to world markets. (Hill 3) Money is power; Kazakhstan has put itself in a powerful financial position through its energy and oil sector. â€Å"The Growth Competitiveness Index Rankings report ranks Kazakhstan as the most competitive of the post- Soviet states.†The country’s oil wealth has sprung vast investment opportunities across Central Asia. With plans on becoming part of the group of 10 leading exporters within a decade, Kazakhstan will need to expand the development of the country’s energy infrastructure to meet growing oil shipments to world markets. Kazakhstan’s surging economy continues to maintain economic growth and stability. However, while oil continues to be the biggest economic engine for Kazakhstan as it exports 80% of its oil, any drop in oil production will pose the biggest threat to the Kazakhstan economy. Exports could represent slow demand for the international community when there is fluctuating prices, lack of investments, and disagreements among neighboring nations regarding regional affairs.Although Russia is no longer a leading nation in this region it still has a lot of influence on Kazakhstan due to the pipeline control.   Kazakhstan relies on Russia’s pipeline to export its oil. Kazakhstan has a substantial investment in Georgia in its oil and gas sector. Currently Georgia and Russia are experiencing confrontation due to the Russian military occupancy in Georgia, this is putting Kazakhstan in the middle.This confrontation could hurt Kazakhstan’s oil exports as well as its ties with Georgia and the United States. Kazakhstan’s accession to the Baku-Tbilis-Ceyhan pipline is a bilateral move away from a heavy reliance Russia’s pipeline.A Colored Revolution in Kazakhstan has been a concern that analyst have identified since its independence in 1991. Kazakhstan has a large Slavic Population in the northern and eastern steppe regions. The Slavic population wants to obtain dual citizenship with Russia and Kazakhstan, as well as an establishment of the Russian language as recognized second state language. It would be to the best interest of the Kazakhstan government to develop a cohesive national identity for both Russians an d Kazakh’s alike. Still Nazarbayev â€Å"designated Russian the language of inter-ethnic communication, and has ensured non-ethnic Kazakhs still occupy significant posts in the government.† (Hill 5) This is an important step for the country as it represents a social and cultural step toward democracy. â€Å"Every day public servants must have the awareness of the strategic goals and priorities, and settle them without wasting their time in meddling with minor, daily chores.† (Prosperity)Kazakhstan has implemented an excellent idea to improve the education and skill of its young people to secure strength and profitability in the future. They have adopted an education reform that will send the brightest and best students from all over the country to study abroad. The students are then brought back home and placed in the Kazakhstan government, thereby diversifying the production of ideas that will be able to combat world issues. â€Å"In addition, Kazakhstan under Nazarbayev has not just sent its young people to study abroad, but has also launched a global quest for ideas on reform and modernization, as well as trying to learn from its own past mistakes.† (Hill 4)As the relationship between the United States and Kazakhstan grows the ideas and progress that they produce together becomes an example for other Central Asian countries.Kazakhstan is an active player in the fight against international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It even â€Å"rid itself of the weapons in cooperation with the Unites States under the Nunn-Lugar program.† (Central 1). They’ve sealed nuclear testing tunnels, transported enriched uranium to the United States, and have become a proud member in the fight against terrorism. It has even vowed to help Afghanistan in its fight against terrorism and narcotics.The United States and Kazakhstan share a similar vision to an end to terrorism and corruption. The United States h as enumerated its desire to assist financially, and to cooperate in matters regarding enhancement of regional security and economic improvements. The United States and Kazakhstan together plan to strengthen their relationship into a partnership through educate one another concerning national, regional, worldwide matters.Kazakhstan has shown great interest in the matters evolving around Iraq and Afghanistan. They are committed and determined to partner with the United States in the strengthening these countries. Kazakhstan has already committed over 800 of its military personnel to the cause and is prepared to enter strategic relationships with Middle Eastern countries to obtain peace for the region.There are many challenges that Kazakhstan faces regarding national security ranging â€Å"from terrorism to a significant narcotics problem, which is always accompanied with a lot of criminal activity and other threats to security.†( Abizaid 1) For this reason, Kazakhstan is workin g extensively with the United States to strengthen is defense capabilities on the Caspian Sea. They have vowed to strengthen and broaden their military capabilities in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking, illegal proliferation of weapons, etc. The United States defense officials have been speaking with Kazakhstan officials on ways to strengthen military ties between the U.S. and Kazakhstan. This is an important and strategic move for Kazakhstan leaders, they are a relatively new country and it is important to strengthen their defense capabilities to secure their future endeavors.They are placing security forces along the Caspian Sea Region as this region poses the biggest threat to the country. Their goal is to provide an organized, professional military force. Kazakhstan is also working very closely with the United States to expand their military presence in neighboring Afghanistan in an effort to strengthen its country.â€Å"That's why it is utterly indispensable to set up a system in which each and every ministry and department would organize its work in such a way that each day, month and year could bring us ever nearer to the objectives we've set.† (Prosperity). Kazakhstan has admitted that they could use advice and analyze the tendencies from other countries in their effort to rebuild and reform Kazakhstan.Kazakhstan has publicly made commitments to provide assistance to Afghanistan in their fight to counter narcotics. The Central Asian country has been building strong strategic relationships with its neighboring countries and other countries in the international community that share the same views. For example they have extended a promise to assist in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and Iraq.â€Å"We shall advance to strengthening of our relationships with Russia, China, Central Asian neighbors, Islamic states and Western countries.† (Prosperity) This relationship building efforts made by Kazakhstan represents their commitment to enhance regional security and economic integration by forming strategic partnerships within Central Asia. Kazakhstan has created strategic partnerships with countries like China, Kazakhstan understands that it is important to keep relations with these countries because they all still share common goals of sustainability, economic growth, and international terrorism.Kazakhstan has identified a system where strategic planning, strategic control, accountability and responsibility are its major objectives. Kazakhstan need for a government who views the world according to 21st century realities and who doesn’t apply 20th century problem-solving methods to 21st century problems will become evident as the country incorporates its long term goals. These goals of National Security, health, education, and welfare of it people, economic growth and political stability, and consolidation of society will all play an integral role Kazakhstan desire to maintain an image in the world as a regional power with economic stability. Kazakhstan has a bright future ahead, with all of the factors of production in place, and the right leadership and cooperation with the international community and particularly its regional neighbors, this country will be representative of a leader in the world economy.Works Citedâ€Å"Abizaid Visits Kazakhstan, Strengthens Military Ties.† Kazakhstan News Bulletin 4 August 2006.http://www.kazakhembus.com.htmlâ€Å"Central Asia Declares Itself a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone.† Kazakhstan News Bulletin11 September 2006.http://www.kazakhembus.com.htmlHill, Fiona. â€Å"Whither Kazakhstan?† The National Interest Jun. 2005http://www.ciaonet.org/olj/ni/ni_win0506/ni_win0506k.htmlâ€Å"Joint Statement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Kazakhstan.† Kazakhstan News Bulletin 29 September 2006.http://www.kazakhembus.com.htmlâ€Å"Kazakh Economy Shows No Slowdown, Grows 9.3 Percent.† Kazakhstan News Bu lletin 18 August 2006.http://www.kazakhembus.com.htmlâ€Å"Kazakhstan Support Russia-US Initiative Against Nuclear Terrorism.† Kazakhstan News Bulletin 17 July 2006http://www.kazakhembus.com.htmlâ€Å"Nazarbayev Sworn in as Kazakhstan’s President for New Term, Stresses Democracy, Growth and Security.† Kazakhstan News Bulletin 13 January 2006.http://www.kazakhembus.com.htmlâ€Å"Prosperity, Security and Ever Growing Welfare of all the Kazakhstanis.† Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Indiahttp://www.kazind.com/strategy2030.html