The Old Man and the Sea as an Allegory: Sharks

The Old Man and the Sea as an Allegory: Sharks The novel â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea† was an allegory for Hemingway’s life, meaning the book was symbolic to Ernest’s journey and struggles. In this novel, the old man was faced with a dramatic life or death situation when he was getting chased by sharks while catching for the marlin. â€Å"The old man's head was clear and good now and he was full of resolution but he had little hope. It was too good to last, he thought. He took one look at the great fish as he watched the shark close in† (101).The â€Å"sharks† are planning to hurt him and Santiago just notices it. These sharks are symbolic to Ernest’s problems and demons as an author, as they were much like â€Å"sharks† in the fact that they caused him a lot of trouble and worry. A few of these â€Å"sharks† were his parents and his poorly received book â€Å"Across the River and Into the Trees. † For example, Hemingway ’s parents did not want him to become a writer. They wanted him to go to college and pursue a different path.His parents were like the â€Å"sharks† because just like how the sharks were trying to eat the old man, his parents were â€Å"eating† his plans and future. The critics of his were also â€Å"sharks. † Hemingway’s critics were not exactly the nicest to him about his book â€Å"Across the River and Into the Trees. † â€Å"However, O'Hara's was one of the few good reviews, with negative reviews appearing in more than 150 publications. Critics claimed the novel was too emotional, had inferior prose and a â€Å"static plot†, and that Cantwell was an â€Å"avatar† for Hemingway's character Nick Adams. (Wikipedia) Hemingway’s books are symbolic to his life, and for it to be criticized as too emotional, boring, and like a bad autobiography can be taken to heart. The critics were â€Å"sharks† because they had no mercy with Hemingway, they ate up prey (beat his book to the ground) and left nothing behind, which is cruel to his artistry and his pride. The above clearly shows that Hemingway had to deal with â€Å"sharks† as a writer, which were his parents and his critics.

Cause and Effects of Drug Use in High Schools

Cause and Effects of Drug use in High schools The use of drug is becoming prevalence in today’s society. Drug abuse is referred to as intake of drugs by over does of the prescribed drug given by medical personnel or taking drugs on an individual’s personal interest or influence by some groups of people. Indeed, the term drug abuse is used to indicate excessiveness and frequent consumption of drugs regardless of whether an individual is depending on it or not. Drug abuse is chemical substances that exert mood-altering effects on the brain and which are capable of producing addiction.They are abused for the feelings they produce. Drug use commonly begins in high school, usually with nicotine from cigarettes. The first cause is simple curiosity. Many teens have heard about drugs can be fun, can make a person feel and act different, and they are curious to experience them for themselves. Peer group influence is also one of the causes. The type of friend individual associate and relate with could lead one to partake in drug abuse. Young people take drugs to feel cool and impress their friends. Some teens will do whatever their friends do, just to fit in and follow the crowd.They don’t want to be the only one not doing something; even it is something dangerous. Another reason young people take drugs is to escape their reality. Maybe their home life is not happy, maybe they have a boring job, or under lots of pressure in high school. In this case, they take drugs to get away that unhappy reality. They can feel a little braver, stronger, smarter, more beautiful or more important. Of course this doesn’t last long, but that doesn’t matter. For the brief time that the drugs are taking affect, the user can forget about the problems, responsibilities and limitations of everyday life, and escape to a fantasy world.This is why they are so attractive to young people and despite their dangers. However, drug abuse can lead to drug dependence. I t can damage the systems in the body, lead to nervous problem, and causes other health hazards. Internal organs could be equally affected by drug and substance abuse. The symptoms are increase heart and breathing rates and blood pressure, and decrease appetite. Side-effects can include sweating, dry mouth, blurred vision, insomnia, and dizziness. In addition users can feel restless, anxious and moody, become excitable and have a false sense of power and security.Moreover, complaints of indiscipline in the school are mostly because of drug abuse. Drug abuse could also causes mental illness with the consequence of drop-out of school. It could cause decline in the societal moral and cultural values. The violent tendencies are also associated with drug abuse. According to those, abuse of drugs affects a person's physical or emotional conditions, even both. Drug abuse can lead to poor performance of the students in the schools. Since majority of drug abuse among youths start in high scho ols, the facilities can have early detection and prevention by teach students the effect of drug use. Word count: 504

IT in an Apple organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

IT in an Apple organization - Essay Example In order to make sure that the IS strategy of the organization is effective and efficient it can assessed on the basis of the IS strategy triangle. The wide and spread organization structure of Apple Inc with its global expansion and containing different inventions in the, electronics industry all these approaches required a strong information system which enables the availability of the right information to the right personnel at the most beneficial time, to make sure that the decisions that are taken in the business by them are appropriate and defended with authentic information or not. Apple is leading in the market with a business strategy of continuous innovation in its all products. The continuous innovations in the features of the products with providing the user a simple and streamed line experience in using the product is the main focus of the Apple’s business strategy that differentiate Apple Inc from its competitors and it has the main competitive advantage for Appl e. The reflection of the business strategy is appeared in all other strategies of the company. The IS strategy of Apple Inc is the continuous adaptation of new technology to manage its huge network of information system. The innovations in the product are a leading capability for Apple throughout its successful journey. The main focus of the managers or leaders of the Apple Inc is on the continuous innovation by adapting the latest technology and implement the latest strategic techniques to achieve the targets. The organization culture of Apple allows the employees to think in free space environment to develop the creativity in their work because they have the business vision of bringing continuous innovations in the products. The same business strategy of innovation is applied to the internal communication process of the organization by Apple Inc and it gives an excellent collaboration among all the departments of the organization. The company continuously focused on virtualization . Apple believes that virtualization is the main factor of getting the competitive advantage on the huge rivals in the global market. Apple’s intranet or internal information system provides the needed platform to the employee that enables all the employees to access the required information from the comfort of their desktop. The company has developed a strong extranet network as well to link with all its suppliers and distributers. The virtual network with the suppliers and distributors led the company to reduce its supply chain cost through a strong virtual network. This has boost up its value chain in the information domain. The information from the retail outlets is communicated to the client service department which already has access to other information about the suppliers and the production information. Hence, there exists a huge amount of information to allow the business to offer services at the click of the mouse. In this way Apple has been able to integrate the IS strategy with the business and organizational strategies and support the overall goals and objectives of the organization. GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT: The corporate governance at Apple has gained certain relaxation as Tim Cook took charge and so does in the

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 14

Marketing - Essay Example lonels trademark fried chicken in both the Original Recipe and Extra Tasty Crispy varieties along with great varieties of chicken sandwiches, mashed potatoes and gravy, chicken pot pies, crispy chicken strips and potato wedges. The menu differs from country to country according to the tastes, culture, want and demands of the people. KFC owns and operates around 20% of the restaurants itself while the rest have been lent out around the world as franchises. Based in Kentucky, KFC makes more than half its profits from international franchises and its largest division is in China having about 2250 outlets. KFC is division of the global fast-food franchiser YUM which is the world’s largest restaurant companies in terms of system restaurants. (Etzel, Walker, Walker & Stanton, 2000). First, what needs to be understood is what a market-oriented approach is. Market-oriented companies focus on the customer needs and have an eye on market opportunities. They strive to understand the problems and needs of their customers and give them what they want. Hence, they tend to be highly market-driven as their products and services are greatly aligned with the market expectations and what they want. KFC is a huge international chain which truly works on the principle on being market-oriented. Their true spirit of being market-driven can be observed from their initial mission statement which rightly stated â€Å"To sell food in a fast, friendly environment that appeals to pride conscious, health minded consumers† (www.kfc.com). The aim of KFC from inception has been to cater to the needs of its customers who tend to have less time on their hands in the rapid pace lives of today and wish to resort to quick and healthy fast food means of fulfilling their appetite. However, their statement has now evolved to become â€Å"The Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees, Inc. is united to protect, promote and advance the mutual interests of all member franchisees and the Kentucky

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 Essay

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 - Essay Example Science and technology emerged into rapid changes. Many innovations and inventions came out to show how far human knowledge has been. The invention of machineries, the use of electricity, petroleum products and chemicals showed how science and technology stepped forward. This gave a lot of advantages to human population and also to the immediate environment. Modern researches can be found helpful to human habitat out of the newest discoveries in science. By understanding a lot about things that exists in this world, scientist most especially environmentalists can tell which causes environmental degradation and which could be helpful to environmental protection. The advancement in science and technology seemed to emerge into two contrasting findings which are; 1) the fact that the advancement in science contributed to the deeper understanding with regards to environmental preservation and protection, 2) but, in the same way that the industrialization brought by science and technology becomes the same tool to destroy the environment because of pollutions and chemical wastes that contaminates water and pollutes the air. These facts create an echoing and awakening reality that those technological advancements bear the consequence that destroys the world humans live because of its by-products. Because of those awakening facts, many people of the world, most especially the government has been motivated to make steps in order to prevent the alarming situation that the world faces because of the negative outcomes of industrialization.

RESEARCH PAPER Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Research Paper Example Hence, it would be apt to apply a Marxist critical approach to any of the works of Shakespeare, and more so to Hamlet. The more traditional approaches towards literary criticism do coax and cajole the text to yield the innate meanings inherent in it. However, a Marxist approach towards the understanding of Hamlet, rather than delving on bringing out the hidden meanings, will rather try to approach the text as a material creation that needs to be understood in a historical context. To be able to interpret Hamlet in a Marxist context, the readers need to approach the theory wearing a Marxist lens that places a more than regular stress on as to how the characters affiliated to varied classes tend to interact with each other, particularly in the backdrop of the class oppression and the involving socio-economic inequity, and especially considering those words and dialogues emanating from any character that propose or are indicative of the rebellion against the upper classes. This is becau se form a Marxist perspective, the main element of interest will tend to be a determining base and then the determined superstructure imminent on it. In that context in the play Hamlet, the mannerisms inherent in the interactions between varied social classes, and the way the society is structured in the play indeed happens to be a strong driving force in the play (Joughin 57). In Hamlet one could indeed trace a strict representation of the avowed Marxist social classes that are the Aristocracy, represented by the royal family and the people of the court, which constitute the ruling class and make the pivotal socio-economic decisions in the play, the Bourgeoisie that are the characters that stand just below the aristocracy and earn a living by trading in the resources required by the other classes, and then the lowest class that are the Proletariat or the working class or the serfs that eke out a living by selling their labor and skills. There is no denying the fact that without muc h elaborating on the characters akin to each of the respective social class, it is amply evident in Hamlet that every character in it could be placed in one of the three Marxian social classes. The very first scene in Act I in Hamlet is replete with the indications of class struggle and thereby constitutes an ideal subject for a Marxian dissection. The scene begins by showing one of the guards on the palace walls relieving his colleague of the night duty. Now, in the times of Shakespeare, night watch was a work that was never assigned to the members of the upper class, and hence it could be concluded that the two guards, though being officers, hailed from the lower social strata. Irrespective of their mutual greeting of â€Å"Long Live the King!† which seems to evince their loyalty for the aristocracy, this loyalty seems to smack of falsehood and despair as no good member of the lower class made to perform the watch duty on a cold night will prefer to be so supportive of the upper classes who made one undergo such an ordeal. Hence, the truth that leaps forward is that perhaps Shakespeare happened to be an opportunist who simply could not help supporting and sustaining the socio-economic status quo of which he was a part of, that is, the monarchy,

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND RATIOS ANALYSIS Assignment

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND RATIOS ANALYSIS - Assignment Example The two main financial statements (the Income Statement and Balance Sheet) are going to be analyzed in both cases together with some financial ratios. However, before embarking on the aforementioned task, each of these banking corporations is going to be considered individually in a bid to understand their backgrounds. This is going to be in the order in which they have been mentioned in the introduction part. Flagstar Bank is a banking institution known by the official name Flagstar Bank and Flagstar Bancorp Investment Company acts as its holding company. It is headquartered at Troy, Michigan at the address 5151 Corporate Drive. Its website address is www.flagstar.com and its investor relations phone number is (248) 312-2000 and in case an investor wants to send an e-mail there is a facility on the company’s website to do that(investors@flagstar.com) plus an in case of any suspicion in dealings with Flagstar e-mail abuse@flagstar.com. The stock exchange trading symbol for this company is FBC at NYSE. The current share price is $0.79 and the company’s stock is under Financial Industries and further narrows down to the bank sector of NYSE. According to the 2009’s annual report, there are ten directors of which eight are outside directors and two are inside directors. Outside directors are considered independent when it comes to the company’s management decision making and therefore, mindful of the impact of the decisions’ impact on the shareholders. This is a branch bank and it operates around 175 banking centers. (flagstar.com, 2011) Universal banking refers to a case where banking firms have a network of branches, several firm claims, offers a variety of services as well as taking part in corporate governance upon firms which depend on banks for sourcing funds. Flagstar bank is not a universal bank according to the opinion of the study. (Calomiris, 1995 p1) On the other hand, the

Sports in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sports in America - Essay Example The English settlers that settled in the northern part of America came with different types of games. These games were the major part of their culture. They were forms of recreation. Some of the games that they loved included wrestling, horse racing, bear baiting and cock fighting. The settlers also later introduced baseball. This game became exceptionally famous among the people, something that transformed it into professional sport. Leagues were organized and formalized. In early nineteen century, different types of sports emerged. Football emerged at this time. These games strengthen young men. It encouraged them to join combat life due to the exercise they went through as part of the game. Other types of games that came into existence were tennis, polo, rowing and bicycling. However, all these types of sport underwent different changes over time. Improvement of the rules was made and everyone was to follow them carefully. Despite all these changes, sports have gone through many c hallenges in America since the cold war to the early nineteen sixties. These challenges acted as the blocks that hindered these games from progressing. Many countries at this time used sports events to be the venues of rivalry. They used to show their superiority over other countries. Other challenges included cheating, violence and drugs. During the cold war, many countries used sports to show rivalry to the other countries. Sports were meant for entertainment to the spectators but many political leaders saw sports from a different perspective. To them, sports were a tool to show their superiority. Most Americans who participated in Olympics of 1950s became the major dominants in those games. They won many medals as compared to the other countries’ participants. During this time, Soviet Union did not participate in the Olympics. This made American the favorites in almost all the Olympic Games. There victory caused public concern referring to the international image of the Un ited States (Zirin, 396). The Soviet Union later joined the Olympics games. This caused a great threat to the American participants in the games. Russians won many medals that Americans were used to win. They dominated almost all the Olympic games of that time. The United States and the Soviet Union were not in good terms. They were great rivals in the world during the cold war. This rivalry extended to the sphere of sports that they both participated. Everyone was trying to be superior to the other. Russians defeated American in many games. Russian women defeated Americans in a great range. These made Americans think of other ways of improving their performance. Different leaders who were the heads of the games gave out many ideas. Americans needed to maximize their effectiveness and efficiency in all participations. More improved and modernized management was to be put in place. The whole organization that was heading the participation needed an enlargement and modernization. All these were done to ensure that they defeat the Soviet Union. Americans later defeated them, and it was something that taught Americans that democracy was better than communist system in producing better players (Zirin, 394). During the cold war, reporting sports was influenced by rivalry between the Americans and the Soviet Union. Sports’ reports were biased. Journalists from each country favored the athletes’ of their motherlands. Russian journalist undermined American

Northern and Southern British Colonies of North America Essay Example for Free

Northern and Southern British Colonies of North America Essay The views of Northern and Southern British Colonies of North America developed different culturally factors including economically and political views, education, and religious instruction. Colonies in the north and south developed their own characteristics making them significant for the main land, and later becomes the new nation itself. Economic wise, the colonies had more differences than similarities. The North had small farms while the south had larger plantations. The northern colonies developed important trades on furs, timber, and other natural resources. The northern colonies developed into shipping center at New York, which originally belonging to the Dutch until 1664, where goods were stored. The English develop the harbors around New York and it became a major shipping center of the colonies. Meanwhile, the south developed important trades on agriculture, cotton, rice, and tea. At the time, the south had fewer raw materials than the North and mostly traded cotton. The cotton crop was the most important trade to the Southern colonies, it was nicknamed King Cotton. The reason of the South’s plantation out-sizing the North’s plantation was because the social aspect of each side. The Northern colony life mainly revolved the church members, when the south had more focus on the wealthy land owner. However, The North and south economics were similar to each other as well; for example, Tobacco and slavery. The North and South both also supported the use of indentured servants, people who came to America and was placed under contract to work for land owners for over a period of time, usually about seven year. Politically, the North and South had differences on who had the bigger voice in the society. In the North, Church membership was the only way to be accepted in to the colony. The church in the north controlled the laws and were the most accepted in the colony. Meanwhile, in the South, instead of the church members being superior, the land owners who wealthiest had control over the law. The Southerners tended not to be very religious due to the number of churches and religious institution in the south. Almost all the population of the South live on plantation and the plantation were very important to them more than the religious beliefs. Since The North was large on plantation, thousands of slaves were forced to work on the plantations. Politics in the colonies were empowered by charter called The General Court. The General Court made laws and governed the company. The colonists adapted the general court concept and used it to rule their colonies. The General Court ruled that freeman could only be male and a church member in order to make sure only religious men could decide government issues. The southern colonies were ruled by the oldest legislative called the House of Burgesses. The House of Burgesses established for judicial and administration which will runs by the representatives from each region in the colonies. Mercantilism played an important role in the lives of New Englanders because it was an economic theory and system that supported the establishment of the colonies. New England adopted the policy of mercantilism in order to control over the trade of the colonies. The colonies were influenced by the mercantilism policy due to the numerous trading prohibitions and taxes that applied on goods. The first mercantile regulation was the Acts of Trade and Navigation which established three main rules for colonial trade. Firstly, trade between the colonies could only be transported on English or colonial-built ships and operated by English or colonial crews; secondly, all goods could only pass through English port; and thirdly, certain numbered goods from the colonies could only be exported to England, including tobacco and sugar. But in the Southern Colonies, the Navigation Act had lowered tobacco prices which made the economies suffered. The slave population in the South vastly increased in order to maintain their wealth that dominated trade and politics throughout the colonies. Later on, there will be more similar acts to those of trade and navigation, such as the Staple Act of 1663, The Duty Act of 1673, and the Wool Act of 1699 which limited trade of good. Over time, the concept of mercantilism would rehabilitate due to the changing ideas and theories of various economic scholar such as Adam Smith, Abraham Lincoln, and Alexander Hamilton. Educations also played such an important role in the lives of New Englanders because people were really religious in the American colonies. In the New England colonies, the Puritans built their society based on the principles of Bible. The Puritans valued education because they believed that Satan was keeping those who couldn’t read from the scriptures. Education in this time period enabled people to read the Bible; therefore, parents able to teach their children to read the Bible, which was often the only book they had. Wealthy families usually sent their older children to study at colleges and universities. Girls usually learned their education in household skills at home. The education in the southern colonies, children normally began their education at home. Because farms and plantations created difficulty, plantation owners usually hired tutors to teach their children math, science, geography, history, and plantation management. Girls in the South usually taught to learn enough reading, writing, and math to run a house household and to attract a husband. As we speak of Education, The King James Bible had influence the culture of these two diverse regions because it was the only English translated book from the bible. The King James Bible established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607; for the next few hundred years, just every English-speaking American grew up knowing the King James Bible better than any other book. It was the only book that has over one billion copies in print. Because of the well-known bible at its era, both colonies were persuaded the children to learn from King James Bible either from homeschooled or universities. The impact of the King James Bible on English language and western culture is beyond estimation; therefore, Education of the North and the South were always involved with the King James Bible. Works Cited. Channing, Edward. The Navigation Acts. Thenagain.info. Thenagain.info, n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013. Grischy, Janet. The Economic and Social Differences between the North and the South as a Cause of the Civil War. Helium. Helium, 23 Apr. 2009. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. Hockett, Homer C. Political and Social Growth of the American People 1492-1865. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1940). KIRSCH, ADAM. Heirs to the Throne. The New Republic. Www.newrepublic.com, 11 May 2010. Web. 25 Jan. 2013. The King James Version: Its Influence on English and American History. The King James Version: Its Influence on English and American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Essay Example for Free

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Essay In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck faces many obstacles running away from his dad because he is accompanied by Jim, who is a run away nigger. While on their cruise they encounter a â€Å"duke† and a â€Å"king,† who only seem to bring them even more trouble, and later Huck meets his long time friend Tom. Throughout the whole story Huck faces different inner arguments over how things should be done to overcome a problem. One of them is when Huck leaves to the little village around Pikesville with the duke. He later returns to the raft to take off but he notices that Jim is no where to be found. Huck finds a boy around the area and the boy explains that some guy named Phelps has found a run away nigger (which is Jim) and plans on returning it for the cash reward. Later Huck gets into a big fuss about if it’s best for him to tell Miss Watson about where Jim is located. Huck evaluates the situation and determines that if he does write to Miss Watson, Jim would benefit in the way that he would rather be a slave at home close to his family than become a slave at Pikesville; but Huck would also be relieved of his sin of doing something wicked from the beginning and not ending up in the everlasting fire but clearing his conscious to the point were God will forgive him. Huck is appealing to pathos by expressing his thoughts when he says, â€Å" I was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of me I was holding on to the biggest one of all. † (Pg.190) In this phrase Huck reveals that he knows that he was doing wrong all along and was willing to give it up but his sin was more within him. His conscious was telling him he must do the right thing aside from what he thought was fair. Though if he does tell Miss Watson where Jim there may be some consequences. First of all, Miss Watson may be mad at Jim for running away and end up selling him or she might keep him but everyone would despite him for what he did. Secondly, Jim described Huck as his only friend who had saved him from some white men by telling them about smallpox. This may cause the friendship to brake and hatred to arise between them. Lastly, Huck would be looked upon disgrace for helping a nigger run away from his owner. This side of Huck is appealing to ethos by expressing, â€Å"That’s just the way: a person does a low-down thing, and then he don’t want to take no consequences of it. Thinks as long as he can hide, it ain’t no disgrace. †(Pg. 189) This shows how Huck is credible by explaining that doing something wrong is nothing to be proud of and hiding it isn’t going to take the wrongness from it. The argument is effective because it is a very important situation in the novel. It’s a turning point on how the story takes Huck on â€Å"stealing† the nigger again. Huck then decides it is best to not tell Miss Watson but for him to take his own action on setting him free again. Even though Huck understands the other point of view he sees, he determines that it is much better to lay low and not tell anyone. The side of Huck that says he shouldn’t announce where Jim is been kept is been more rational because he explains how Jim and him wouldn’t benefit in the long run and just defame themselves. The effect over the argument is that Huck decides to find a plan to set free Jim for them to run away together once again. Another inner self argument is brought upon when the king and the duke put on a â€Å"show† to the little town in Arkansaw and get $465. This causes the uneasiness of Jim and Huck. Huck then tries to find a way to get rid of the duke and king and confess to the town’s people that they are frauds. Once again, Huck gets stuck on what would be the right way to tell on these guys. If Huck decides to tell on the duke/king he will leave happiness to the town’s people by not letting them be fooled any longer and getting them arrested for Huck and Jim to leave in peace. Huck could also steal the money from them and give it back to Mary Jane and leading them on to stay and try to get the remaining money for them not to leave empty handed as said in page 158, â€Å"They’ve got a good thing here, and they ain’t a-going to leave till they’ve played this family and this town for all they’re worth. † From this phrase we can see Huck appealing to logos because he is been critical to how the men are going to react if he would steal the money from them. In the controversy, if Huck decides to tell the doctor or Mary Jane about the situation the outcome may not be the best. If Huck tells the doctor the king or the duke could ask who told him and the doctor would blame Huck and the frauds would hate him for it and cause even more problems. Now if he were to tell Mary Jane the frauds would suspect something and leave with the money and even if Mary Jane asked for help Huck would be involved in this mess. Huck is in this hand, appealing to ethos when he says, â€Å"Her face would give them a hint, sure; they’ve got the money, and they’d slide right out and get away with it,† showing how it’s reasonable that when your about to get caught with something people tempt to run away to get away with things because they know it’s not right. The argument is effective because Huck is been reasonable by knowing that the best thing to do is to bust these thief’s and not cause more pain to the family of Mary Jane. Huck see’s both points of views in order to work things right; enough to get the frauds arrested and not causing himself any trouble. The effect of the argument is that he tells Mary Jane the truth and plans out a way for the duke/king to get caught and Jim and him to leave without no fault. Mark Twains overall argument is that society has based things from right and wrong, but sometimes what’s right may not always be right but wrong. It’s this Right vs. Wrong kind of theme, were right is wrong and wrong is right in some cases. For example, it is bad in Huck’s society to be friends with a Negro but it is right to be friends with Jim because race shouldn’t matter since we are all equal. Another example provided in the novel was when it was said to be right to turn in Jim to her owner, Miss Watson, but it is bad to do so because every man deserves to be free. In this novel Huck is been attacked with many issues such as racism, friendship, war, religion, equality, freedom, and determination. Every decision made was a struggle between Hucks mind on what was best to be done over a conflict.

Challenges That Women Entrepreneurs Face Commerce Essay

Challenges That Women Entrepreneurs Face Commerce Essay This paper examines the challenges that women entrepreneurs face in the tourism sector in Zimbabwe. The research targeted female entrepreneurs selling curios in Masvingo and Victoria Falls which are the prime tourist destinations in Zimbabwe. Women entrepreneurship has been under spotlight in Zimbabwe because it is a source of economic growth. Despite the potential that lies in women entrepreneurs they face additional or at least different social, cultural, educational and technological challenges than men in establishing and developing their own enterprises, and accessing economic resources. From the interviews conducted women entrepreneurs in the tourism sector have difficulties in securing funding, inadequate business related education as well as social, cultural and religious impediments. This paper engenders to understand the gender biases embedded in society which constrain womens mobility, interactions, active economic participation and access to business development services. Lastly, appropriate interventions are recommended within the discourse of entrepreneurship. Key words: Entrepreneurship, Tourism, Gender, Enterprise development, Women Entrepreneurship Introduction Entrepreneurship is a key driver of capacity building and national development in any country. As such, this paper focuses on challenges faced by women in the tourism sector. On 21 May 2012 the researchers attended a forum on Womens Engagement in Africas Tourism Industry in Victoria Falls held during the African Travel Association conference. The presenters included the former Deputy Secretary General of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) who alluded to the fact that tourism constitutes 30% of the worlds economy and offers 78% of workforce in the world. He further reiterated that research has explicitly shown the gender inequalities that exist in the tourism sector as mostly women and children as compared to the male counterparts are exploited. He further mentioned that in 2008, the UNWTO came up with a policy for gender equality which is envisaged under the United Nations Platform. In 2010, the Global report on Women in Tourism by World Tourism Organization and United Nations women encouraged women to participate in leadership roles in the tourism industry. The report held that although women constitute a high percentage of the workforce in the tourism industry, most of them occupy lower levels where they are subsequently lowly paid. Because of this report, UNWTO suggested that vocational training be offered to empower women in the industry. Tanzania and Gambia were the first two countries chosen to start the vocational training for women entrepreneurs in the tourism industry. Other countries to benefit from the training are from Latin America and Africa. Another presenter a Managing Director of Affluent Hospitality Group in America said that women make up 80% of Travel Agency in America and 80% of travel decisions are made by women in North America. This justifies the fact that women have an active role to play in the tourism industry. In addition the Marketing Director of Amalinda Collection in Zimbabwe gave a testimony of her experience in the Tourism industry. She admitted that as a mother she has a lot of family responsibilities that apart from being a working woman such that she faces the dilemma of choosing between family and business. At one time when her son fell sick at 4 months old she had to quit the job in favour of the family. Family roles represent one of the challenges that women entrepreneurs face in comparison with their male counterparts. The Governor and Resident Minister of Matabeleland North Province of Zimbabwe reported that, 60% of arts and crafts in Zimbabwe are produced by women from Binga who largely produce reed mats and baskets while the Gwaai women produce pottery artifacts. The interesting revelations made at the conference prompted the researchers to consider conducting a research on the challenges that women entrepreneurs face in the tourism industry in Zimbabwe. In current years women-owned businesses have become increasingly popular but entrepreneurship remains a deeply gendered institution (Anderson, 2008). Bushell (2012) considered entrepreneurship as expedition out of paucity and gravitation towards equity but this has not been the case because women remain marginalized globally. Given the constraints facing African women entrepreneurs their full economic potential is not actualized and they do not feature on the mainstream of the economic agenda (Ozigbo and Ezeaku, 2009). There is therefore need for countries to address gender disparities between men and women to achieve significant milestones in economic growth. In addition to those problems faced by all small-scale entrepreneurs, women face additional or at least different social, cultural, educational and technological challenges than men in establishing and developing their own enterprises, and accessing economic resources (Mayoux, 2001). It is important that such challenges be addr essed so as to enable women to prosper in their businesses. Chitsike (2000) and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (2003) mentioned that womens businesses in Zimbabwe tend to be small and are discriminated by the legal system which backs male ideologies. Literature Review In many countries entrepreneurship has been considered a means of generating meaningful and sustainable employment opportunities, particularly for those at the margins of the economy women, the poor and people with disabilities (ILO, 1998; Rajani and Sarada, 2008). However, very little literature exists on the role of women entrepreneurs in a global economy especially in Africa (Morgan and Ojo, 2008) and this is one of the reasons why women continue to be marginalized in entrepreneurship development. In addition, in cases where the role of women entrepreneurship is articulated there still remains a gap in gender analysis (Morgan and Ojo, 2008). Research factors affecting performance of women entrepreneurs of their businesses are limited in scope, as any existing research most often focuses on individual characteristics and motives as performance predictors (Teoh and Chong, 2007) at the expense of gender disparities. Despite the economic importance of female entrepreneurs their numbe rs are lower than those for men (Verheul, Van Stel and Thurik, 2006; Carter, 2000; Minniti et al., 2005) and therefore it is of importance to address the barriers to female entrepreneurship. This paper deviates from the former approach by focusing on challenges that women face in entrepreneurial development. Furthermore, the research applies an entrepreneurial development model adapted from Richardson and Howarth (2002a) to analyse the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the tourism sector in Zimbabwe as shown in figure 1 below. The model is based on the cross sectional biological structure of a peach fruit. At centre of the model is the seed which represents the entrepreneurial opportunity identified. The inner part adjacent to the seed represents the mesopreneurial (fruit mesorcarp) factors based on the MAIR model by (Gibb and Ritchie, 1982) which include motivation or commitment, skills, abilities and experiences, idea in relation to the market as well as the resources. Wi lliams (1997) commented that commitment and dedication of the entrepreneur is critical if they are to prosper whilst Zimmer and Scarborough (1996) attribute failure of small businesses to managerial incompetence and lack of experience among other factors and therefore women entrepreneurs need relevant skills and experience to fully exploit entrepreneurial opportunities. The mesopreneurial factors represent the basic ingredients of business success. The final structural component is the exopreneurial (fruit exocarp) factors which represent the macro environment in which the enterprises operate and it entails the following aspects: The enabling environment which focuses on policy issues, institutions and initiatives which impact on enterprise development in particular the tourism industry in Zimbabwe The socio-cultural and economic context which the social, cultural and religious factors that affect enterprise development. Enterprise Support Sector made up of initiatives and organizations developed to propel enterprise development and how these impact on enterprise development. The Economic/Market Environment which deals with opportunities and threats in the environment. Women entrepreneurs hardly have specialized support institutions to cater for their specific needs (United Nations International Development Organization, 2003). In most cases entrepreneurial and technical training, advisory and information programmes often have to be carried out within a non-conventional set-up (United Nations International Development Organization, 2003). Women entrepreneurs need to have a more supportive environment that is more favourable (Stevenson and St-Onge, 2005) if they are to gain similar recognition that of men. Training programmes developed must take into account their society, culture, community and empowerment (Agbà ©nyiga and Ahmedani, 2008). If significant milestones are to be achieved in female entrepreneurship support systems need to take into account the needs, challenges and unique situation of women to promote women entrepreneurship and avoid failure and lower levels of female entrepreneurship (Drine and Grach, 2010). It is vital to note that c ountries that have developed policies and legislation tailored for women entrepreneurship have witnessed tremendous growth and increase in the numbers of women in business. Figure 1 Peach Fruit Concept of entrepreneurship: Adapted from Richardson and Howarth (2002a) Enteprise support sector: Government, NGOs, Private Sector, Membership Organizations, donors Endopreneurial factor Seed Entrepreneurial Opportunity The Economic/Market Environment: Opportunities and Threats Enabling Environment for Enterprise: regulations, policies, institutions, institutions and processes Mesopreneurial Factors Exopreneurial factors Resources Socio/cultural context: Attitudes, aspirations, confidence and permission idea with market Skills, abilities and experience Motivation and determination Female Entrepreneurship Women Entrepreneurs refer to women or a group of women who initiate organize and operate a business enterprise (Jahanshahi, Pitamber and Nawaser, 2010). McClelland et al. (2005) define a woman-owned business as one which is at least 51% owned by one or more women or in the case of any publicly-owned business, at least 51% of the stock of which is owned by one or more women. In 2010 187 million women were involved in entrepreneurship ranging from 1.5-45.4% of the adult female population in 59 economies (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor [GEM], 2010). It should also be noted that Ghana has 55% of women being involved in entrepreneurship and it is the only economy where there are more women than men entrepreneurs (GEM, 2010). One of the United Nations Millennium Development goals is to promote gender equity and empower women as agents of poverty eradication, hunger, disease and to stimulate sustainable development (United Nations Industrial Development Organization, 2004). Therefore promo tion of women entrepreneurship is vital for the achievement of broader objectives including poverty reduction and economic development. A positive indicator to women entrepreneurship is that African leaders have pledged to take joint responsibility for promoting the role of women in social and economic development by reinforcing their capacity in education and training, facilitating access to credit and assuring their participation in the political and economic life (NEPAD, 2001). The increased role of women in economic development has forced many governments to take an active role in developing policies on women development and gender related issues. Mueller and Dato-on (2010) stipulated that women play a significant role in entrepreneurship but their role remains suppressed in comparison to that of their male counterparts across the globe because of family roles, traditions , cultural and structural constraints which diminish their abilities to lead business (Bushell, 2012). Women bear the responsibility for childcare and homecare and as a result this leads to work-family conflicts (Das, 2001 and Jahanshashi, Pitamber and Nawaser, 2010; Winn, 2005). Chitsike (2000) also stated that men view womens role as that of being at home and not engaging in any business activities that are reserved for men. One of the challenges that women face is unequal access to productive resources and services, including finance and skill upgrading opportunities (United Nations International Development Organization [UNIDO], 2003; Tumbunan, 2009; Sorokhaibam and Laishram, 2003). In many African countries, women inequality lies in economic rights and access to resources as men persist thus preventing women from taking full advantage of the economic opportunities (Ozigbo and Ezeaku, 2009). Ulusay Degroot (2001) mentions that womens participation as owners of small medium sized business has been constrained due to poor access to market information, technology and finance, poor linkages with support service and unfavourable policy and support mechanisms ( Ulusay De Groot, 2001). In Zimbabwe domestic chores and agricultural activities do not allow women time to travel to support institutions such as finance houses for advice and information on credit (Ulusay De Groot, 2001). In many African countries, w omen spend most of their income on the household and fear investing their funds in business ventures for fear of business failure (Ozigbo and Ezeaku, 2009), particularly on food and education for their children. Many of them are afraid to invest their limited funds into a business for fear of failure. Many women entrepreneurs are seldom taken seriously in spheres of credibility and capability, competing and succeeding in a male dominated environment (Ozigbo and Ezeaku, 2009) and this is one of the factors that explain their relatively obscure role in economic development. Despite the fact that many women entrepreneurship is a source of job creation, economic growth and social development many women owned businesses remain stunted by lack of appropriate managerial skills, access to business resources, networking opportunities and access to new markets (Ozigbo and Ezeaku, 2009). The current institutional environment purposes to achieve gender equity but the traditional powers are tilted towards the patriarchal system and therefore maintains the status quo of gender inequity (Goheer, 2003). In Zimbabwe women have largely been marginalized from mainstream economic activities because of the predominant partriarchal system which confines women to domestic roles. 53% of all economic activities in Zimbabwe are performed by women but, this figure remains invisible because it is not accounted for in national statistics and most of the activities are characterized by poor working conditions. It is also worth mentioning at this stage that religion, culture and the socialization process are some of the major factors perpetuating gender inequity in Zimbabwe. This is evidenced by the fact that under the current customary law, women cannot own/inherit land (Chitsike, 2000) and land is one of the resources that are important for entrepreneurial development. Research Methodology Baines and Wheelock (2000) mention that many women have ventured into entrepreneurship but little research has been done on gender and female entrepreneurship. The reasons behind increase of entrepreneurial variances arising out of gender remains unresolved is because women feel that by exposing these issues they deepen their entrepreneurial differences (Calas et.al. 2007 as cited in Peris-Ortiz, Rueda-Armengot and Benito Osorio, 2011). Studying women entrepreneurship is critical because it is an important source of economic prosperity and presently research efforts, policies and programs tend to be skewed towards men and neglect the needs of women entrepreneurs and potential women entrepreneurs (OECD, 2004). In the African context there are very few studies that have focused on female entrepreneurship particularly in the tourism sector and therefore this research seeks to close this gap. In addition, Gelb (2001) states that this is due to lack of indigenous research, inadequate info rmation and methodological constraints (Ozigbo and Ezeaku, 2009). Despite the increasing role, women entrepreneurship theory development and empirical evidence only offer a very blurry picture of women entrepreneurs (Tan, 2008). Subsequently, improved understanding of women entrepreneurs challenges is essential in order to assess their needs, and provide solutions to teething problems they encounter. Although there have been some studies of small businesses in Zimbabwe, none has provided rich qualitative data of female entrepreneurs (Mboko and Smith-Hunter, 2008) and this study endeavors to contribute towards addressing this deficiency. This study is based on the small and medium business entrepreneurs in Zimbabwes Arts and Crafts industry in Masvingo and Victoria Falls. 10 women in Masvingo from Dzimbahwe Crafts and Art Center and 15 from various Crafts Centers in Victoria Falls who were trading at Elephant Hills Hotel during the 37th ATA Conference between from 18-22 May 2012 were interviewed for this research. These towns are top tourism destinations in Zimbabwe and are home to reputable attractions which are The Great Zimbabwe and the Victoria Falls respectively. Interviews were conducted at Dzimbahwe Craft Center situated along the highway to Masvingo Town. For the effectiveness of the conversations, we had to talk to the women while viewing the different artefacts they make. The conversations included negotiations over the products prices that made the interviewers buy some of the items to encourage the women to talk freely. The interview started with more general introductions, some business questions that included who makes the products, how (i.e. whether there is use of machines or just ordinary hands), where, when and why the people do this business. The interviews also covered issues to do with any support the women received in terms of finance, human and material resources, marketing and other business operational areas. In the process, we had to go to the extent of observing the women doing the work like crocheting and weaving the mats, bed and table covers, polishing and decorating the wooden plates, basins and bowls while some were even carving the different items according to their area of specialization. This one day session took us about one and a half hours and we spent $30 to buy some items from the different women who added up to a total of 10 entrepreneurs. In Victoria Falls, we took the advantage of the 37th African Travel Association conference (ATA) that we attended from the 18th to the 22nd of May 2012 at Elephant Hills Hotel. Some selected male and female arts and crafts entrepreneurs from various selling centres of Victoria Falls were given the opportunity by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) to come and sell their wares free of charge at the venue during the conference days. To promote the entrepreneurs, the ZTA had in their conference program a session for Meeting the African Culture when both mid-morning and afternoon teas were being served at the grounds where the entrepreneurs were selling their products. This was a good opportunity for the conference delegates to meet and discuss with the sellers while at the same time viewing and buying the handicrafts. As researchers, we took advantage of this to carry out our study for 3 consecutive days. On the first day we toured the various stands just to view the items on display and we asked some few general questions like what we did in Masvingo. Some of the questions were about how they come to be part of the ATA conference and the benefits they were expecting from the conference. On the second day we got into in-depth interviews to get details of their operations, marketing, any support and assistance from any institutions towards the success of their businesses. To probe for more information we were appreciating their achievements and sympathizing with their challenges as we were discussing with them during the tea breaks. For the other two days we had to share a table with some women during lunch time so that we could talk more. At times we had to sit together in the conference venue, commenting on what the presenters were saying about tourism entrepreneurship. One good example was a debate on the presentation done by a representative from the Zimbabwe Ministry of Youth, Dev elopment, Indigenization and Empowerment. On the final and third day, we selected some of the artefacts to buy that included the bowls, the big five, basins, Zimbabwe bird (Shiri Hungwe) for Blessing, one of the researchers totem and other items. We spent $50 for the items and we left the women in a very happy mood. As a way of appreciating our concern for them some women gave us some of the items at very low prices and in return we influenced some of our colleagues to buy from them. The total of the interviewees was 25 women. Analysis and Discussion The demographic Profile of Interviewed Women Entrepreneurs Table 1 Geographical Location of the Women Entrepreneurs RESEARCH AREA LOCATION Urban LOCATION Rural Masvingo 3 7 Victoria Falls 9 6 According to.1 out of the 10 women who were interviewed in Masvingo, 7 were residing in the rural areas and only 3 were from the urban area. From the 15 interviewees in Victoria Falls, 9 were urban residents and only 6 were from the rural area. This data reflects that the handicraft business is done in both rural and urban settings provided there is favourable environment. In Masvingo the majority of entrepreneurs come from their rural homes that surround Nemanwa Arts and Craft center because operating from home reduces any rental costs that can be incurred. The few who stay in the urban area have their husbands working in the town and this business supplements their spouses income. In Victoria Falls the majority of women who are urban dwellers reported that they own houses in the town from the cooperative that was formulated by the Arts and Crafts business operators sometime in 1990. The remaining percentage constitutes those women who own homes in the peri-urban area of the town and are permanent residents of the area. Table 2 Age of Women Entrepreneurs AGE GROUP NUMBER Below 25 years 2 26-30 years 4 30-45 years 15 46-50 4 Table 2 shows the relationship between a womans age and entrepreneurship. The likelihood of a woman venturing into business positively increases with the 30 to 45 years age range have the greatest number of women entrepreneurs. Very few women below the age of 25 years want to get into this business probably because they are unable to do the job or have better things to do. Motivations Women who are in art and craft business in Victoria Falls and Masvingo said that they are into this business because they grew up doing the weaving, knitting and pottery activities and to them they see it as a way of their living. In the yester years when tourism was still vibrant in Zimbabwe they could earn more than other people in some professions but as from 2004 to date the business has slowed down due to the economic crisis. These women admitted that they cannot go out of this business because they have no alternative means of survival since their environments are basically in the dry regions of the country. Therefore what is evident in what the women are saying is the fact that tourism fits very well in their livelihood strategies as a source of income. From the findings it emerged that the women are motivated into employment by push factors such as unemployment, inadequate family income and the need to accommodate work and home roles as in the Zimbabwean scenario the womans p lace is the home. The same sentiments were echoed by Vijaya and Kamalanabhan (2009) and Drine and Grach (2010) who reiterated that women are motivated by the desire to provide security for the family and flexibility that entrepreneurship offer between home and family roles. Access to Financial Resources The women entrepreneurs in the arts and crafts industry revealed that their major challenge is their inaccessibility to both investment and operational capital since they have no personal assets to use as collateral which is a prerequisite at the financial institutions. If they happen to get the starting capital they may even face more challenges of getting adequate operational capital to meet their daily supplies of raw materials such as reeds, steel wires, finishing oils, threads, wood, polishes and others to use for their business. At times they may need transport to take their products to and from their homes for security reasons. If these people are operating from the designated sites the local councils would need the rentals every month for the upkeep of the places. The problem of lack of capital usually arises from the fact that the enterprises are the major contributors to the survival of the family, and this puts a brake on efforts for improvement of womens enterprises in Zi mbabwe (Ulusay Degroot, 2001). On the accessibility to capital, one woman at the ATA conference for Young Professionals in Victoria Falls narrated her ordeal of trying to get financial assistance from the Ministry of Indigenization and Youth Development that promotes indigenous entrepreneurs in the country. Grace said, When I went to the offices I was told to bring a project proposal. I prepared that at my own expense. After that they gave me a pile of forms to fill in whose other requirements i could not understand. As if that was not enough, I was told to wait for a response that never came to my attention and these people lie that they are supporting us financially. Another woman, Nyaradzo narrated that, The Ministry of Indigenization and Youth Development, asked for a list of all entrepreneurs who needed financial assistance and the specific amounts requested and were handed to the ministry but nothing materialized. The ministry later on asked the women entrepreneurs to pay $20 per person for a weeks training in financial management. After paying the money nothing has been done since November 2011. She said Vanhu ava matsotsi anodakubira varombo, havana basa nesu, (These people are conmen, who steal from the poor and they do not care about us). This is a major challenge for the women who are vulnerable to all sorts of financial risks in business. Most women also revealed that most financial institutions were not keen to finance their business initiatives. This negative attitude towards financing of women entrepreneurs is explained by the traditional patriarchal system division which spells out the differences of male-female roles in society as supported by Ozigbo and Ezeaku (2009). Protection of intellectual property rights A number of women entrepreneurs fall prey to political promises and business intermediaries. One woman who failed to get funding from the Ministry of Indigenization and Youth Development later discovered that her project was being implemented by one of the government officials in Victoria Falls. She had no voice over it. Because of this, many women in the sector feel betrayed and humiliated because of such practices. This rhymes the Shona proverbs that murombo haarovi chine nguwo (This literally means the poor will never challenge the rich). It is important for women entrepreneurs to be well versed with their intellectual property rights so that they can challenge those who prey on their ideas in judiciary. Production and space-related challenges The study has revealed that a number of Zimbabwean women who are arts and crafts entrepreneurs have no fixed place for their business operations as they are dotted from their homes, forest and some few designated arts and craft centres. The designated centres have no permanent structures put in place but there are some temporary shades which are brought by the individuals from their homes. These offer no security at all as they are just open spaces for business and in addition one is exposed to the harsh forces of the natural environment. Those who operate from the forests (source of raw materials) cite transportation problems as one of the challenges. For example, if a wood carver finds a good tree in the forest which is too big to carry home or at the designated area she has to work on it from there and then carry the finished products. These pose a lot of risks to the females since there are a lot of dangers associated with forestry environments. Storage space for the finished products is another problem for most women entrepreneurs. Most leave the products covered by some cloths or tents during the night in the presence of either a guard or unattended at owners risk. Lack of storage space puts the products at risk of theft. The most special wares are taken back home daily which is a tiresome task for the females since most of them walk a distance of about 5 kilometres every day from their homes to the designated centres. Family roles At home there is usually a challenge of divided concentration between home chores and work and at home the working space is limited and not conducive for business operations. One woman (Maria) even expressed that, handingazosiyi mumba mune tsvina nekuda kwebasa (I cannot leave my house dirty because of work). Already this indicates how busy women entrepreneurs are with household and business responsibilities at any given time of their lives and this is a hindrance to effective business operations. In support, Ulusay De Groot (2001) posits that household roles deprive women of time to travel to enterprise support institutions or to attend training sessions to acquire skills in various fields. As long as womens responsibilities remain divided between work and domestic roles their contributions to economic development will remain obscure. Marketing operations There is a general belief that Zimbabwe arts and crafts are unique worldwide and they are found in many countries these days in China besides the Americas which used to be the countrys chief tourism source market. These products have made Zimbabwe boast of its rich and unique culture The majority of women sell their products to the foreign tourists. Financial constraints make it difficult for the women to access regional and international markets despite the high demand for the Zimbabwe art and craft in these markets. It was reported that in the past years when tourism was at peak (i.e. between 1990 and 1999) business was lucrative and there was no worry of exporting the products as buyers could come to the country and buy the products. During the period business was very lucrative. Masundire (2011) identified the need to assist arts and crafts producers to access foreign markets as 90% of their wares are in demand in Europe, America, Australia and South Africa. As a result of inaccessibility to foreign markets, there is now the emergence of market intermediaries popularly known as the cross boarder traders who buy and sell the products from arts and crafts producers in foreign markets. The major problem these intermediaries pose is that they bid to buy the wares at a very low price at the expense o

True Beliefs :: essays research papers

True beliefs   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Robert Frost's 'Minding Wall'; is written natural, yet there are many things beyond the literal world of the poem that can be taken out of context. The poem is about two neighbors and a wall between them and both of them also have different beliefs on why or why not the wall should be there. This paper will describe both the speaker and neighbor's characters, and also give an interpretation and analysis of a few specific lines from Robert Frost's, 'Mending Wall'; poem, Then ending up with an over all analysis of the poem's meaning.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Frost's poem there are two characters that have a rock wall which serves as their property line. The first character is the speaker, who seems to be kind and has an education, or at least much so than his neighbor. His intelligence is shown through his open-mindedness toward other people's opinions, although he knows that changing his neighbor's beliefs may be impossible. Also he is able to place himself inside his neighbors' point of view and this may be where the speaker comes up with the question why fences make good neighbors. The speaker does not believe there is a purpose for a wall between him and his neighbor, the speaker believes that fences, or walls in this case, will create barriers between friendships and also allows for unneeded separation between people. Despite this belief that a wall is unnecessary, he still comes out every year and helps his neighbor mend the wall. The speaker would like to ask his neighbor the question why fences make good ne ighbors but the speaker wants to hear his neighbor say it himself. The speaker also says if he was building a wall he would like to know what he was walling in or out and to what or whom he needed to take offense to. This is where the speaker is trying to rationalize what purposes a wall would need to be built.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second character in the poem is the speaker's neighbor, who is more down to earth. He is a decent person but seems to lack the intelligence of the speaker to accept any outside opinions. To prove this point, the neighbor repeats himself over and over by saying, 'Good fences make good neighbors,'; and will not to stray from this belief, a belief which came from his father and that he will not accept as being wrong.

Child Abuse and the Importance of Belonging Discussed in David Pelzers

A Child Called "It" explores the traumatic story of child abuse and how the choices made by one person affects another’s sense of belonging. The story is only from one point of view as it’s a biography, written by the man who experienced trauma at such a tender age. David Pelzer, as a child, dealt with rejection daily and not only from his mother but classmates, teachers and ultimately his biggest enemy, himself. A Child Called "It", as the title denotes depreciation and an impersonal relationship between the audience and the text, begins the biography with a dark and solemn theme as there is no definition for ‘it’ therefore titling a book ‘a child called it’ gives the audience the idea that the child doesn’t exist, or as it tells further in the story, a child who is treated like he doesn’t exist. The author contrasts his mother in different contexts from when his ‘mom’ was a good, caring mum to when his ‘mother’ changed into the abusive stage. Mom and Mother are used throughout the text to show the audience the different emotions he had carried for her. Mom is more personal and informal but suggests a close relationship between the two as it is used in the chapters that he is reminiscing about when his mom was a normal, caring mom. Mother is used in the chapters he was abused in and suggests a more distant relationship due to the formal language structure. When ‘Mom’ was used, the emotions carried out towards her by David Pelzer were none other than belonging to her. When a child is told something so often they start to believe it. In this case, David Pelzer was ordered to say over and over again â€Å"I’m a bad boy, I’m a bad boy...† which psychologically brainwashed him to believe that he was. That every time he was physicall... ...ejected, surrounding him as he says ‘I had readymade excuses mother made for me’. The ending doesn’t end on a ‘happily ever after’ note but rather a dull and gloomy tone as it is set throughout the text. Sarcasm, contrast and similes are the main language features presented in the book to evoke disgust, torment and shock throughout the audience showing them either how she saw the abusive behaviours inflicted upon him or the brainwashed ‘excuses’ he learnt from his mother. Not belonging is the struggle in this text that didn’t get resolved by the ending making it a dark, gloomy tone and the language features used also evokes a dark feeling within the reader. A Child Called "It" truly explores the meaning of struggling with belonging due to other peoples actions rather than their own and provides appropriate use of imagery to emphasise the meaning of the biography.

Poetry Explication on “One Art”

Loss of One Is it possible to care for one thing so much that the destruction or loss of a city can have no significance to a person? When a person loses so much on a daily basis, when does the loss start to make a difference? In the poem â€Å"One Art†, Elizabeth Bishop utilizes structure, rhyme scheme, and conceptual symbolism to portray that the loss of one's love negates the loss of everything else. To begin, the structure of this poem is entirely about the narrator attempting to convince themself of the idea that loss has no importance; then coming to the onclusion that losing one's love is of utmost importance.In the second stanza the narrator of this poem reminds themselves that to â€Å"Lose something every day. [One must] Accept the fluster† (line 4). In this quote, they are reminding themselves that losing things is common and inevitable. In the same light, this person is feverously trying to convince themself that loss is not significant. This is shown with t he repetition of the line which is found three times throughout the poem. The quote, â€Å"none of these things will bring disaster† shows that the loss of cities and rivers is not ignificant to the narrator compared to the loss of their love (line 9).Then, in the last stanza the narrator realizes that the loss of their love is a â€Å"disaster† and forces themselves to â€Å"Write it! † (line 19). With this quote the narrator finally gives up on their feeble attempts to believe that loss is insignificant and now knows that the greatest loss is the loss of love. Correspondingly, the last stanza is the longest in the poem, which shows how great the importance is to Bishop, because this is where the arrator realizes that the only disaster of losing things is when one loses their love.Bishop uses her rhyme scheme to highlight the priority of losing one's love. Correspondingly, the first stanza rhyme scheme is a b a, as the lines rhyming with master and disaster. Th rough this rhyme scheme Bishop emphasizes the importance of â€Å"disaster† (line 9) by having the majority of her poem rhyme with disaster. With this in mind, the entire poem except the last stanza of this poem is in an a b a rhyme scheme. The last stanzas rhyme scheme is a b a a which directs the reader's ttention to the last couplet because it is out of order of the a b a rhyme scheme.As a result, the reader could infer that the last couplet is the main idea of the poem. The last couplet of the poem is the narrator coming to the realization that even though losing things is not hard to do and it occurs often there are things that if they were lost the result would be a â€Å"disaster† (line 9). This proves the idea that when one loses significant things it has a larger impact that losing something insignificant would. Furthermore, Bishop utilizes conceptual symbolism to portray the significance of ach thing to be lost by labeling them with numbers.In the last three stanzas, the narrator states things they have lost throughout time and distances. Bishop uses conceptual symbolism when she begins with the loss of â€Å"three loved houses† (line 1 1); adding the number three in front of the house gives the impression that the houses are in the third rank in how great the loss is. She then continues to explain in the tittn stanza that there was a loss ot o cities† (line â€Å"two rivers† (line which makes the loss of these cities and rivers rank second.She then explains that the loss of these things was evident â€Å"but it wasn't a disaster† (line 15). Moreover, this shows that what is ranked first is of a greater loss than the loss of two cities and two life sources that are rivers. Lastly, in the last stanza Bishop described the greatest loss which was losing her love. It is established that this is greatest loss because it is in the last stanza and there isn't a number to rank it. Therefore, the loss of her love is al so considered the greatest loss because in this stanza Bishop finally states that this oss is â€Å"like disaster† (line 19).To conclude, this narrator is putting the loss of her love above all worldly things. Bishop emphasizes the word disaster in order to convince herself that Just like the inanimate objects in her life, this love is insignificant. Her contradicting thoughts are placed in a way presenting that she knows this love with a specific person cannot compare with anything else she has lost in life. The narrator knows the loss of ones love can never be compared to the loss of inanimate objects or other worldly things.

Betrayal and Revenge in Medea Essay

In his quest for the Golden Fleece, Jason elicits Medea, a women known for her supernatural powers. Shortly after, they marry. Yet, after all Medea does for Jason-including killing her own brother-he decides to leave her and marry the Corinthian Princess to increase his own wealth and status. Thus, to avenge her husband for his betrayal, Medea kills the princess and the children she herself had with Jason, thus ensuring his complete downfall. Upon hearing of the sacrifice of the children and the murder of his bride-to-be, Jason expresses the extent of his devastation and hatred towards Medea. In this passage from Euripides’s Medea, Euripides reveals both Medea’s cruelty and ruthlessness and the effect of her revenge on Jason-his complete destruction. In addition, Jason’s reference to Medea’s earlier transgressions reveals that he doesn’t fully grasp what Medea gave up for him. Although Medea’s actions will never be justified, Jason’s reaction throughout the play, and specifically in this passage, allows the reader to feel some small measure of sympathy towards Medea. Throughout the play, Jason characterizes Medea as cruel and merciless. This is ironic because these are the same traits that made life and success possible for Jason when he first met Medea. Yet, throughout the passage, Jason characterizes Medea as less than human. For example, he refers to her as a â€Å"hateful thing† and â€Å"an evil thing†(43). He even goes as far to call her â€Å"a monster not a woman, having the nature wilder than that of the Scylla in the Tuscan sea†(43). By referring to Medea as the Scylla-a vicious monster in the Odyssey -Jason reveals the extent to which he sees Medea as cruel and even inhuman. Jason also reveals the degree of Medea’s cruelty by describing her as â€Å"loathed by the gods† and â€Å"all of mankind†(43). In addition to revealing Medea’s cruelty, these phrases suggest that Medea’s actions are horrible enough to become infamous among all humankind. Jason also comments that â€Å"there is no Greek woman who would have dared such deeds†(43). Such characterization sets Medea apart and magnifies the cruelty of her actions. However, Jason’s comment also shows how he views women in Greek society as frail and gentle. Otherwise, why wouldn’t he have said â€Å"there is no Greek that would have dared such deeds?† Cleary, Euripides uses Jason to reveal Medea’s callousness in her quest for revenge. In the passage, Euripides also reveals Jason’s detachment and inability to grasp the significance of what Medea gave up for him. For example, Jason comments â€Å"you who have had the heart to raise a sword against your children, you, their mother, and left me childless-you have done this, and do you still look at the sun and at the earth, after these most fearful doings†(43). In these lines, Euripides points out Jason’s detachment and disgust. Jason continually repeats the word â€Å"you,† suggesting that he believes that everything was Medea’s fault, that her actions were unprovoked. As seen in the line â€Å"you have done this,† Jason lays all blame on Medea for the murder of his children and his prospective bride. Clearly, Jason doesn’t fully grasp what Medea gave up for him. Although there are no justifications for her actions, Jason is partly to blame for instigating the conflict. Furthermore, Jason describes Medea as â€Å"a traitress to [her] father and [her] native land† and describes how she â€Å"slew† her own brother. These lines reveal Jason’s disconnect. When she killed her brother, Medea saw her actions as necessary to help Jason, her true love. Thus, she sacrificed the acceptance and love of family for the love and acceptance she received from Jason. Not only does Jason’s inability to recognize Medea’s sacrifices in this passage reveal his disconnect, but it also reveals his selfishness. Regardless of whether Jason is deserving of Medea’s revenge, he is left completely devastated and without hope for the future. For him, there is little to live for. In fact, he tells Medea â€Å"for me remains to cry aloud upon my fate, who will get no pleasure from my newly wedded love. And the boys whom I begot and brought up, never shall I speak to them alive†(44). Finally, he comments â€Å"oh, my life is over.† Thus, Medea fulfills her ultimate goal-ruthlessly punishing Jason for the pain he inflicted upon her.

If I Was Given A Second Chance To Visit This World

Birth and death are neither under our control nor a matter of choice People are born without much effort on their part and die without any choice of their own. I look upon life as a game and, when I have finished it, I will leave the field without any hesitation and complaint. The life on this earth is quite enough for any reasonable man. But there is no harm in getting a new base of life, if one can have all the good things of life.Every child during early years of school read stories and fancy many of the characters portrayed in them. I once read a Chinese story illustrating this point of view. There was a man who was in hell and about to be reincarnated, and said to the King of Reincarnation, â€Å"If you want me to return to the earth as a human being, I will only go on my own conditions. † â€Å"And what are they? † asked the King. The man replied, â€Å"I must be born the son of a cabinet minister and father of a future cabinet minister.I must have ten thousand a cres of land surrounding my home and fish ponds and fruits of every kind and a beautiful wife, good and loving to me, and rooms stocked full of grain and trunks full to the top with money, and I myself must be a Grand Councilor or Duke of the First Rank and enjoy honor and prosperity and live until I am hundred years old. † And the King of Reincarnation replied, â€Å"If I were such a lot on earth, I would go and be incarnated myself, and not give it to you.This is a very reasonable answer to any man who wants to have all the good things of life. Life is to be accepted with all its joys and sorrows, with its sunny days and cloudy nights. The world in which we live is necessarily an imperfect world, and man is, as it were, sandwiched between. Therefore, I do not seek at any moment in my life a world which is perfect in all respects. If I am given the chance (I wonder, if it ever happen) to be born again, I will not lay down any unreasonable conditions unlike the man in the Chi nese story which may embarrass my Creator.I shall be glad if I am delivered upon this beautiful earth as its transient guest and asked to leave after seventy five years (I ask only for this much concession) of rough and tumble life. After I have seen two generations of children and grand children I should be perfectly satisfied to rise from my seat and go away saying: It was a good game and I have really played well and enjoyed my innings to the full. But before my second earthly life comes to an end, I must make amends for the mistakes that I had committed in the first life.This time I will choose a country where people enjoy greater peace and facilities of life like United Kingdom or United States of America, or Switzerland or Norway; any will do provided they do not object to my skin color. I will not go to a school where teachers take students as pitchers and try to pour into what they deem necessary. Unfortunately, some time teachers take a conscious pleasure in insulting stude nts with their sly remarks. It does a little good to the mental advancement of back benchers and average students.I will go to a school where cricket is considered more important that literature or physics. I had enough of literature and physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics in my first life. All these subjects are good in their own way, but for myself, I am content to be less studious and more practical. After I have finished my education, I should like to become a business executive. I do know that the life of business executive in America or any European country is not easy. I have examples of lives of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.But what makes me comfortable is that a business executive is always too busy to think of higher things such as poetry, art and contemplation on scientific notes. But I do not care for art and science if I have obvious things like the enjoyment of food, a laughing party of friends, my children ramping about on my grassy lawn or playing on merry go ro und. After all life is not spirit but matter. Some of us who are spiritually inclined towards life, may not like this picture of life, but they can have their own type of life when they are born again.A business executive, as you know, makes a good deal of money, by many clever tricks. When I have made a few millions I will charter a plane and go round the world. Singapore and Siam, Honolulu and Tokyo, Geneva and New Jersey will offer all their enchantments to me. I may even go to Africa and do a bit of big hunting. But I am terribly afraid of lions and rhinos. I will ask somebody to kill them for me and then get myself photographed while sitting on a big lion! I know the reader would be laughing at my cowardice, but this is how we big business executives do lion hunting.Now comes the sad part of the story. When I come back from my travels around the world, I go for a medical checkup. My doctor, who has specialized in all types of cancers, tells me that I am â€Å"ripe† for a cancer. It may be a ‘tropic of cancer’ but nobody can laugh at his own indisposition. I take his word for granted and apply for a bed in one of the most modern hospital. The doctors kill me in order to find out the cancer which never existed. I die without a word of protest, because I had enough of life. I have no regrets or remorse leaving this world.

John Updike’s a ; P Man vs. Society Conflict

A ;amp; P Conflict Sammy vs. the Sheep There are many different opinions and views as to what is right or wrong. Society has developed a standard as to how an individual should act or portray themselves. In reality the majority of public comply with this policy. They prefer to be average and mundane. A literary analysis of John Updike’s A ;amp; P will show how the main character chooses to rebel against this social order An ordinary day at work can change the rest of your life. The story is told in the third person point of view. The setting is a petite and old-fashioned town that sits just North of Boston.In this touristy town is a typical grocery store labeled A ;amp; P. The store sits in the middle of town on Central Street, looking out of the doors two banks, three real-estate offices, a newspaper store and the Congregational church are all in view. Bright fluorescent lighting, organized aisles, and conventional setting depict the atmosphere. The main character is Sammy wh o is an employee at A ;amp; P and dislikes his job. He is an adolescent, who resides with his parents and enjoys making them proud. Sammy does not enjoy the customers and their boring personas.He states, â€Å"I bet you could set off dynamite in an A ;amp; P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists and muttering, let me see, there was a third thing, began with an A asparagus, no applesauce† (Updike para. 5). The customers Sammy deals with are ignorant and arrogant. Except three good looking girls who come into the store less dressed then others, Sammy relates to them and chooses to defend them. Sammy is faced with the conflict of man vs. society. Throughout the story Sammy struggles with the customers at his job.This battle first presents itself, while he is ringing up a patronizing, snobbish lady who is always pointing out his mistakes. He then notices a lady sneering at the girls because of them being dressed in beach attire. McMa hon, a meat counter employee, began patting his mouth and sizing up the girls’ joints after they asked for his assistance with something. Sammy begins to sympathize with the girls. â€Å"Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn’t help it,† he says (Updike para. 10). Ultimately, Lengal, his manager, approaches the girls and informs them of how inappropriate their garments are.Sammy is furious with the way Lengal humiliates the girls. Sammy defends the girls, and stands up to Lengal. As an end result he quits his job as a direct effect of the way Lengal treated the girls. Sammy is hopeful that the girls will recognize his chivalry and wait for him after he resigns, but they do not. Nevertheless, as he steps outside a feeling of accomplishment is present, although he knows how much more difficult his life is going to be. The definition of â€Å"sheep† in this sense is a conventional person, a traditionalist. During the story, Sammy refers to th e customers as sheep several times.Referencing society to sheep symbolizes the fashion in which they flock together. Instead of having their own beliefs and judgment of the girls, they follow the policy that society has already created for them. Like sheep who do not journey out on their own. They abide by the structure already formed, never breaking the cycle. While Lengal scolds the girls, Sammy describes â€Å"All this while, the customers had been showing up with their carts but, you know, sheep, seeing a scene, they had all bunch up on Stokesie, who shook open a paper bag as gently as peeling a peach, not wanting to miss a word† (Updike para. 1). In closing, Sammy stood up for what he believed was the right. He disagreed with the preconceived attitude others in the story had toward the girls. He knew that quitting his job would upset his parents terribly, but to him it was worth it. He took a stand that day that changed his life forever. Even though the girls were gone a fter he quit, he still has the satisfaction that he did what was honorable. Sammy can truly say that he is not a follower, he is not a sheep. Works Cited Updike, John. â€Å"A ;amp; P. † Blair Reader. September 14, 2011.

Analysis of leadership and managerial effectiveness

Analysis of leadership and managerial effectiveness Leadership power, influence, path-builder and director. it can defined in many ways, but most commonly Leader is person who influences the thoughts and behaviors of others; a leaders is one who establishes the direction for others to willingly follow. One person can serve as a leader or several persons might share leadership. A person may be appointed as leader or may be elected by people within his circle. Leaders play vital role in standardizing performance. Leaders can influence other to perform beyond the expectations. Managers plan, organize, lead and control so that â€Å"leading† and â€Å"managing† are inseparable, they are both integral part of each other. If one cant influence and inspire others to work willingly towards aims then all planning and organizing will be ineffective. Similarly setting direction is usually not enough, no matter how inspiring one can be, management skills are crucial. Main characteristics of leadership:- Self Confidence- They have c omplete confidence in their judgment and ability. A vision- This is an idealized goal that proposes a future better than the status quo. The greater the disparity between idealized goal and the status quo, the more likely that followers will attribute extraordinary vision to the leader. 3.Ability to articulate the vision- They are able to clarify and state the vision in terms that are understandable to others. This articulation demonstrates an understanding of the followers’ needs and, hence acts as a motivating force. 4.Strong convictions about vision- Charismatic leaders are perceived as being strongly committed, and willing to take on high personal risk, incur high costs, and engage in self-sacrifice to achieve their vision. 5. Behavior that is out of the ordinary- Those with charisma engage in behavior that is perceived as being novel, unconventional, and counter to norms. When successful , these behaviors evoke surprise and admiration in followers. 6.Perceived as being a change agent- Charismatic leaders are perceived as agents of radical change rather than as caretakers of the status quo. 7. Environmental sensitivity- These leaders are able to make realistic assessments of the environmental constraints and resources needed to bring about change. Main objective of leadership:- 1- Begin with the End in Mind Clearly define AND communicate the objective; then lead unapologetically to its conclusion 2- There is no â€Å"I† in TEAM Team players have value and are contributors to a group effort; self promoters do not have value and steal from the group. Cultivate team players and cull self promoters 3- Develop an Institutional Memory Remember mistakes – and the costs associated with fixing them – or they will repeat themselves ad nauseum 4- Set a good example by being a good citizen at home, in your community and at work No business success will make up for being a lousy citizen 5- Control the environment effectively, without suppres sing creativity & flow Don’t let the environment control you. 6- Do reward behavior you want repeated Behavior (and success) that is rewarded will increase in duration, intensity and frequency. 7- Don’t reinforce and don’t ignore behavior you want stopped Fear of conflict and avoidance of accountability will only lead to wide spreaddys function and more unwanted behavior.

Education as the Surest Way of Empowering an Individual Essay

Education as the Surest Way of Empowering an Individual - Essay Example This way, I will make the scholarship work both for me and for the rest of people in my community. My history is grim and hopeless. However, I have always loved studies. I have interacted with educated people in a number of scenarios and I have always loved their lives. My childhood role model was a district attorney who lived in my township. I promised myself while young to work hard in studies to become as successful as he was and indeed, I have and continues to work hard in my studies. The cost of high-quality education remained a forbidding factor in my quest for competitive education in leading institutions of higher learning. The scholarship offers me an opportunity to identify my interests and abilities. Furthermore, it provides me with an opportunity to work on the two in order to become a productive member of the society. As such, the scholarship is an opportunity for me to receive the education I have desired for as long as I can remember. The education I receive through the scholarship is going to help me, my family and my community in a number of ways. Among the ways the education is going to benefit me is by molding my personality into an ideal individual capable of communicating with people from various backgrounds and capable of upholding the ethical standards in any society. Education grooms people. It increases the mental capacities of an individual thereby making people more reasonable and capable of embracing peaceful ways of resolving conflicts and minimizing harm. I believe I will learn a number of humanist concepts that will enable my growth into an analytical adult capable of protecting the interests of the various publics I will interact with in future. The traits I describe above are those of a leader.

Leadership and Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leadership and Entrepreneurship - Essay Example They create visions and goals to be achieved in a pre-determined amount of time and lay down rules to be followed by their employees / followers in order to attain those goals. For a business to be a successful venture, it is of utmost significance that its leader is a visionary. Considering future as an inevitable element of planning for an organizational strategy is thus, one of the crucial factors while aiming for the desired goals set by these leaders. The success of any organization is largely dependent on the various leadership styles, attributes, models applied during the process of achieving organizational goals, irrespective of the size, type or nature of the said business. The various leadership styles, models and attributes as well as the uncertainty of environmental factors in connection with Small and Medium Enterprises, as observed through various research findings and case studies are discussed elaborately in the following sections (Bass, Bernard, 2001). The term SME refers to Small and Medium Sized Enterprise which employs fewer than 250 people, has an annual turnover of EUR 50 million or less or an annual balance sheet total, not more than EUR 43 million as per the Recommendation of the European Commission Some of the common leadership issues faced by SMEs include, lack of clear/ explicit vision and direction, focus on operational v/s strategic activity, no proper delegation of authority, shortage of time for personal development of the leader, lack of recognition of the need for self development, lack of time for or attention to team development. The process of rational strategic decision making in SMEs requires a long-term stable attitude towards risk. Thus the process of leadership in such small and medium sized enterprises should be future oriented, so as to encompass the various strategic obstacles that these firms might have to encounter in the long run.

Family Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Family Law - Essay Example However, many feel that family law does not deal with disputes adequately. This is because not only does family law fail to adequately consider areas such as equal parental rights over children, it fails to deal with unmarried couples that have a relationship and do not live together. It also fails to deal with heterosexual cohabitation, same sex cohabitation, etc. Family law needs to accommodate these types of structures as well because these arrangements are growing in number. In order for family law to deal with the changing nature of family, it has to recognize and accommodate the fact that family structures now vary. In order to develop a general understanding of the reasons why family law has to be amended in order to become more accommodating in its approach, one has to consider the areas family law encompasses1. Family law deals with the following areas that are all family-related: All the three points above appear to be quite broad and encompassing. However, there are family structures today that may not necessarily be encompassed by them. This particularly refers to cohabiting couples. These may be heterosexual or same sex couples. It must be noted that same sex cohabiting relationships, however, have been recognized since 2004. It took a slow process for this type of relationship to be recognized2. Also, with cohabiting couples, cases may be more complicated because of them having children. Along with considering cohabitating heterosexual couples, a look at Figure 1 in the Appendix provides one with the trends of Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the UK3. These indicate perhaps an increasing trend towards families that do not consider marriage. A broader view of cohabitation is addressed later in this paper. New Family Structure [The Single Parent Family]: It is known that now marriage is becoming less significant to family structure, and parenthood is taking its place. Parenthood may be in the form of two parents or a single parent. Single parenthood may emerge from different situations. In many cases it emerges from a couple dating and having no commitments4. A dating couple that does not live together or does not even plan to get married may end up with a child accidentally. Therefore, they might feel forced into remaining together as a family. Since, in many cases, there is no commitment on either side, the mother decides to keep the child and raise it alone. In such a case, there can be little demand for child support from the father. This is because there is no civil union or any such family law that could compel the father to pay towards the child's upbringing without the existence of marriage. It must be noted here that a father becomes legally bound to pay for child support if he is married to the mother of his child. In many cases, the mother does not want to continue her relationship with her partner5. If no marriage exists, a father does not have to pay for child support, but he may also not be able to see his child. Therefore, there is every chance that the child will grow up without knowing or seeing his or her father. Figure 2 in the Appendix shows the percentage of single parents in the