Essay example --

Symbolism of the Lottery In Shirley Jackson’s short story, â€Å"The Lottery†, she emphasizes on tradition in a small town, which has been drastically lost throughout the years. The community holds on to tradition due to the fear of superstition of the harvesting of the crops. Symbolism is â€Å"the representation of something in symbolic form or the attribution of symbolic meaning or character to something† (Dictionary.com). The villagers show the unwillingness to challenge tradition and superstition. They might mumble about other villages that have done away with lotteries. Their traditional actions include having even the children of the condemned person throw stones; seem to ensure that this tradition of human sacrifice will continue into the foreseeable future. Shirley Jackson uses symbolism throughout the story with the black box, lottery itself and characters names to foreshadow the terrifying outcome of the lottery which is death. The first main symbol in the story is the black box. The black box symbolizes the darkness of ignorance that plagues the villagers of the community. They are reluctant to replace it even though it’s older than the oldest participating member of the lottery. Just as the community is unwilling to give up the ignorance of the old ways for the enlightenment of the new ways like some of the other communities have chosen to do. It also symbolizes the distraught tradition in the town and how it has changed over time. It is the center of the tradition because no matter how old and worn it gets, the villagers refuse to change it due to the tradition that it holds. The box has changed many of the villagers’s view of the lottery but no one can really remember how or why the tradition of the lottery began except to... ...in the story, the reasons for holding the lottery are long forgotten and the rituals connected to it. Other than the making of participant lists, the use of the old black box and the swearing in, have mostly fallen by the waste side. All that really remains is a rigid adherence to the ancient tradition of the town. The black box became the ultimate symbol of death, as it is the messenger that delivers the unfortunate winner’s prize, which is death. The momentum that came from the villagers’ extreme degree of self-interest further propels the storm of immoral and unethical actions. The terrible tradition was carried out once again. Instead of considering the effect that the tradition had on their fellow villager, they were grateful that the little black box had spared them their own lives. As far as they were concerned the sky was blue and the sun was still shining.

Hunting Snake and Cockroach

The poems â€Å"Hunting Snake† and â€Å"The Cockroach† are very different but also vastly similar poems. The predominant language feature that is common in both poems is an extended metaphor – this is used in â€Å"Hunting Snake† to represent the colonisation of the Aborigines in Ancient Australia, and in â€Å"The Cockroach† to represent human nature, values and the way we live our lives. The poem â€Å"Hunting Snake† is obviously a poem about a group of people coming across a snake, staring in awe at its beauty and dissimilarity and then moving on. Wright uses a lot of sibilance in this poem, perhaps to emphasise the snake.However if we explore deeper we notice that the poem is not about this at all – in fact it has an exceptionally different meaning. The entire poem is an extended metaphor for the colonisation of the Aborigines in Australia – the snake represents the Aborigines and the persona represents the colonisers. Alth ough the colonisers saw the incredibly beautiful and unique Aborigines, they simply looked at each other and walked on – this is exactly what happens during every colonisation. The colonisers do not think about anyone else’s feelings, just their own personal or monetary gain.Hunting Snake is a poem about ancient beliefs and values, and the way that humans acted many years ago. In comparison, the poem â€Å"The Cockroach† is also one that addresses the issue of human nature and values. Kevin Halligan uses a cockroach to portray a ‘disgusting’ creature, one that many people are eager to kill and get rid of. Cockroaches also have a very nomadic lifestyle – they scurry about from place to place, never settling down and are always â€Å"on the go†. Halligan wishes for us to compare the cockroaches’ lifestyle with our own – the scampering motion of the bug is a reflection of his (and all humans’) nomadic lifestyle.By des cribing these frantic movements he is saying something about how most of us live our lives and our incapability to settle down – we are all in a hurry to move on to the next chapter in our lives, the next milestone, the next day, month, or year. This poem is set in modern day, it is written as if the cockroach is inside a house or a building, not outside like Hunting Snake. This technique helps to give us a better understanding of the poem – we can more easily relate it to human nature and our own lifestyles.

The Language of Performing Arts

On being given the task of creating and performing a song based on the stimulus provided, it seemed doable and was approached by my group and I with enthusiasm and determination. We achieved roughly what to set out too. With some effort and contribution, every member of the group provided a vital input into the making of our final piece. Although all group members could have put in more effort to provide a more tidy finish to the performance, I believe the song written was of a good quality. When given the stimulus our group came up with several ideas based on â€Å"Of Mice and Men† for lyrics, although only those who knew the play were inspired by this particular stimulus. The other stimulus was ‘Dustbowl Days' by Nicole S.Porter and this again provided vague ideas for lyrics. The group however took more specific ideas from â€Å"Dustbowl Days† and used ‘Life' as a topic for the song, the lyrics were then written around this. As far as music is concerned the group decided that the lyrics could not be written out until chords and melody were fitted into place. As I was the most experienced with music in the group it was my job to find chords that created a sad yet effective pattern for a deep and meaningful song. After tampering with a E, D flat minor, G sharp minor, B chord progression for the verse I finally came up with just a simple A minor, F change over. Then every eighth bar a G fitted well. The rhythm was straight and of a moderate tempo, we decided working with a straight 4:4 rhythm would be easiest and besides that would fit our song better too. We practised improvising melodies over these chords until the group agreed on one fitting better than the others. To do this we took notes from the chords and practised singing them over the top of the chord to try and create a sad yet beautiful sound, this was achieved by holding the first note of the first chord of each verse and then using notes which fitted into the scales of both chords for the rest of the verse. Two members of the group then wrote the lyrics while I taught the other two members the chords and appropriate piano and guitar parts. We felt we wanted to include more instruments to give a thicker texture to make the song deeper. The piano part consisted of a simple set of notes (A, C, E, F) linking each chord before each change over. These harmonised very well as the notes were taken from the chords. The timbre of our song was very important to all members of the group and we decided that the lead guitar should be dominant and of a more clear sound so in order to do this the rhythm guitar used palm muted power chords while the lead clearly picked the notes from the chords. This did not only prove more practical but also have a more calm and tranquil effect as intended due to the songs nature. We then decided we wanted to try and make the audience ‘fall in love' with our song, this was ambitious but in order to do this we intended to take advantage of the G chord every eighth bar and create a hook from it, this we achieved and although the singers did not harmonise with each other they did harmonise with the chord creating a hook line. A chorus proved quite difficult to make as our verse had come to us so quickly we were puzzled as to what to do. As the verse was in a minor key we decided the chorus should be in a major key. We came up with possibilities for a chorus and decided it should definitely consist of C major as the first chord as this fitted the well with the song. Certain members of the group then wrote more lyrics and insisted they had to be the lyrics for the non-existent chorus; this made writing it an even trickier job. After agreeing to all meet up and work on the chorus during a free block only two of the members of our group turned up, this added insult to injury and we finally decided as a group we shouldn't spoil our song by adding another melody and set of lyrics which were of poorer standard to the verse' and instead we should simply just have a guitar picking chords C, D Bb, and G. This didn't turn out to be too badly and fitted the song well, and after speeding the tempo of the chorus up it fitted the song well. The transition from verse to chorus was immediate and very smooth, and then from chorus to verse it was paused with a two beat rest. As far as the performance of the song went it could have been better, the picked intro went as planned as with the fist verse and chorus, but one of the members of our group had decided to change the structure of our song at short notice, therefore the song did not end properly as not all group members had been informed of the removal of one of the verses. The part of the song that did go to plan was played pretty well and with little mistakes. Intentions were met as far as the audience were concerned although our mistake was noticeable it was not really commented upon. Little feedback was given but the audience responded all the same as the general tranquillity of the song was felt by most. If we got the chance to make and perform a song again I would insure more harmonising was done to create a deeper feel in timbre, and possibly more instruments were used including drums to maintain time. I would also ensure all group members were at rehearsals as appose to just two, this would mean more work could be put in to a shorter space of time.

Food and Environmental Hygiene Department

Food and Environmental Hygiene Department It has been found out that several employees of Food and Environmental Hygiene Department have been involved in irregular work ethics. Investigations reveal that on regular basis, two of its foremen have absented themselves from work without permission. Mr. Lee confirmed that he usually went to visit his family in Shenzhen, but after finishing his daily duties that included field visits and cleaning equipment.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Food and Environmental Hygiene Department specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More His absence from work summed up to 500 hours. He also claims that the attendance book was left unattended and thus he filled in information in the absence of the receptionist attendant. Mr. Tang offences include going on unpermitted medical leave and filling in the attendance records a day after. He claimed that he preferred a herbal doctor in Shenzhen for his cancer treatment and produced a medical certif icate as testament to that. He usually filled in the record book the following day. His total absent time from work was 1500 hours. During the investigation the supervisors confirmed that they were not aware of such absenteeism and that they had not given any permission to the two foremen at any given time. According to the Civil Service Regulations (1291), Mr. Tang is thus liable to disciplinary action. Even though his work was affected by his poor health, he had failed to produce the relevant permissible medical documents as proof (Medical certificates from herbal clinics are not permissible). He also filled in the attendance book a day after. Mr. Lee is also liable to punishment as he left the work place without permission to visit his wife. Even though he did it after finishing his work, he did not seek permission from his supervisors. He also falsified his attendance time. The supervisors and the front office attendant failed to execute their supervisory roles as they did not e xecute the department’s policy on absenteeism (Reese 69). This too is professional misconduct and liable to punishment. According to the Public Service (Administration) Order, these constitute serious as it involves a repetition of an offence and punishable. The supervisors and the receptionist carry the biggest burden of blame in this case. It is their professional irresponsibility that facilitated the offences of the two foremen. They should be demoted. Mr. Lee and Mr. Tang should be fined an equivalent amount to the time lost, as they did commit the offences willingly. The financial penalty should be accompanied by a official written warning of the consequences if the offences are repeated in future.Advertising Looking for essay on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Food and Environmental Hygiene Department should take the following action to avoid such occurrences in future. Reese suggest that sup ervisors should be should work under senior supervisors (70). This will ensure that they are also accountable for their actions. The supervisors and the senior supervisors should also monitor the attendance book daily; at 7:30 am and 5:30 pm. there should also be immediate disciplinary measurers for such minor offences such as late coming. Lastly train employees on the need to be accountable for their actions (PRITTS para 11). This will ensure that employees report well in time for work and supervisors are accountable. Pritts, Craig. Achieving Employee Accountability. Smart Business. 2007. 28 February, 2011 sbnonline.com/article/achieving-employee-accountability-how-clear-expectations-benefit-everyone/ Reese, Charles. Accidents/ Incidents Prevention Techniques, crcnetbase. 2001. Web.

The Relationship Between Exchange Rates and Commodity Prices

The Relationship Between Exchange Rates and Commodity Prices Over the last several years, the value of the Canadian Dollar (CAD) has been on an upward trend, greatly appreciating relative to the American Dollar. A rise in commodity pricesInterest rate fluctuationsInternational factors and speculation Many economic analysts believe that the rise in the value of the Canadian Dollar is due to a rise in commodity prices stemming from increased American demand for commodities. Canada exports a great deal of natural resources, such as natural gas and timber to the United States. Increased demand for those goods, all else being equal, causes the price of that good to rise and the quantity consumed of that good to go up. When Canadian companies sell more goods at a higher price to Americans, the Canadian dollar to gains in value relative to the U.S. dollar, through one of two mechanisms: 1. Canadian Producers Sell to U.S. Buyers Who Pay in CAD This mechanism is quite straightforward. To make purchases in Canadian Dollars, American buyers must first sell American Dollars on the foreign exchange market in order to  buy Canadian Dollars. This action causes the number of American Dollars on the market to rise and the number of Canadian Dollars to fall. To keep the market in equilibrium, the value of the American Dollar must fall (to offset the larger quantity available) and the value of the Canadian Dollar must rise. 2. Canadian Producers Sell to U.S. Buyers Who Pay in USD This mechanism is only slightly more complicated. Canadian producers will often sell their products to Americans in exchange for American Dollars, as it is inconvenient for their customers to use foreign exchange markets. However, the Canadian producer will have to pay most of their expenses, such as employee wages, in Canadian Dollars. No problem; they sell the American Dollars they received from sales, and purchase Canadian Dollars. This then has the same effect as mechanism 1. Now that weve seen how the Canadian and American Dollars are linked to changes in commodity prices due to increased demand, next well see if the data matches the theory. How to Test the Theory One way to test our theory is to see if commodity prices and the exchange rate have been moving in tandem. If we find that they are not moving in tandem, or that they are completely unrelated, well know that changes in currency prices are not causing exchange rate fluctuations. If commodity prices and exchange rates do move together, the theory may still hold. In this  case, such correlation does not prove causation as there could be some other third factor causing exchange rates and commodity prices to move in the same direction. Though the existence of correlation between the two is the first step in uncovering evidence in support of the theory, on its own such a relationship simply does not disprove the theory. Canadas Commodity Price Index (CPI) In A Beginners Guide to Exchange Rates and the Foreign Exchange Market,  we learned that the Bank of Canada developed a Commodity Price Index (CPI), which tracks changes in the prices of commodities which Canada exports. The CPI can be broken down into three basic components, which are weighted to reflect the relative magnitude of those exports: Energy: 34.9%Food: 18.8%Industrial Materials: 46.3%(Metals 14.4%, Minerals 2.3%, Forest Products 29.6%) Lets take a look at the monthly exchange rate and Commodity Price Index data for 2002 and 2003 (24 months). The exchange rate data comes from the St. Louis Fed - FRED II and the CPI data is from The Bank of Canada. The CPI data has also been broken down into its three main components, so we can see if any one commodity group is a factor in the exchange rate fluctuations. The exchange rate and commodity price data for the 24 months can be seen at the bottom of this page. Increases in the Canadian Dollar and CPI The first thing to note is how the Canadian Dollar, the Commodity Price Index, and the 3 components of the index have all risen over the 2-year period. In percentage terms, we have the following increases: Canadian Dollar - Up 21.771%Commodity Price Index - Up 46.754%Energy - Up 100.232%Food - Up 13.682%Industrial Materials - Up 21.729% The Commodity Price Index has risen twice as fast as the Canadian Dollar. The bulk of this increase seems to be due to higher energy prices, most notably higher natural gas and crude oil prices. The price of food and industrial materials has also risen during this period, though not nearly as quickly as energy prices. Computing the Correlation Between Exchange Rates and CPI We can determine if these prices are moving together, by computing the correlation between the exchange rate and the various CPI factors. The economics glossary defines correlation in the following way: Two random variables are positively correlated if high values of one are likely to be associated with high values of the other. They are negatively correlated if high values of one are likely to be associated with low values of the other. Correlation coefficients are between -1 and 1, inclusive, by definition. They are greater than zero for positive correlation and less than zero for negative correlations. A correlation coefficient of 0.5 or 0.6 would indicate that the exchange rate and the commodity price index move in the same direction, whereas a low correlation, such as 0 or 0.1 would indicate that the two are unrelated. Keep in mind that our 24 months of data is a very limited sample, so we need to take these measures with a grain of salt. Correlation Coefficients for the 24 months of 2002-2003 Exch Rate Commodity Index .746Exch Rate Energy .193Exch Rate Food .825Exch Rate Ind Mat .883Energy Food .336Energy Ind Mat .169Food Ind Mat .600 We see that the Canadian-American exchange rate is very highly correlated with the Commodity Price Index over this period. This is strong evidence that increased commodity prices are causing a hike in the exchange rate. Interestingly enough, it appears that according to the correlation coefficients, rising energy prices have very little to do with the rise of the Canadian Dollar, but higher prices for food and industrial materials may be playing a big role. Energy prices hikes also do not correlate well with rises in food and industrial materials costs (.336 and .169 respectively), but food prices and industrial material prices do move in tandem (.600 correlation). For our theory to hold true, we need the rising prices to be caused by increased American spending on Canadian food and industrial materials. In the final section, well see if Americans are truly are buying more of these Canadian goods. Exchange Rate Data DATE 1 CDN = CPI Energy Food Ind. Mat Jan 02 0.63 89.7 82.1 92.5 94.9 Feb 02 0.63 91.7 85.3 92.6 96.7 Mar 02 0.63 99.8 103.6 91.9 100.0 Apr 02 0.63 102.3 113.8 89.4 98.1 May 02 0.65 103.3 116.6 90.8 97.5 Jun 02 0.65 100.3 109.5 90.7 96.6 Jul 02 0.65 101.0 109.7 94.3 96.7 Aug 02 0.64 101.8 114.5 96.3 93.6 Sep 02 0.63 105.1 123.2 99.8 92.1 Oct 02 0.63 107.2 129.5 99.6 91.7 Nov 02 0.64 104.2 122.4 98.9 91.2 Dec 02 0.64 111.2 140.0 97.8 92.7 Jan 03 0.65 118.0 157.0 97.0 94.2 Feb 03 0.66 133.9 194.5 98.5 98.2 Mar 03 0.68 122.7 165.0 99.5 97.2 Apr 03 0.69 115.2 143.8 99.4 98.0 May 03 0.72 119.0 151.1 102.1 99.4 Jun 03 0.74 122.9 16.9 102.6 103.0 Jul 03 0.72 118.7 146.1 101.9 103.0 Aug 03 0.72 120.6 147.2 101.8 106.2 Sep 03 0.73 118.4 135.0 102.6 111.2 Oct 03 0.76 119.6 139.9 103.7 109.5 Nov 03 0.76 121.3 139.7 107.1 111.9 Dec 03 0.76 131.6 164.3 105.1 115.5 Were Americans Buying More Canadian Commodities? Weve seen that the Canadian-American exchange rate and commodity prices, particularly the price of food and industrial materials, have moved in tandem over the last two years. If Americans are buying more Canadian food and industrial materials, then our explanation for the data makes sense. Increased American demand for these Canadian products would simultaneously cause an increase in the price of those products, and an increase in the value of the Canadian Dollar, at the expense of the American one. The Data Unfortunately, we have very limited data about the number of goods the American are importing, but what evidence we have looks promising. In The Trade Deficit and Exchange Rates, we looked at Canadian and American trade patterns. With data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, we see that the U.S. dollar value of imports from Canada has actually went down from 2001 to 2002. In 2001, Americans imported $216 billion of Canadian goods, in 2002 that figure dropped to $209 billion. But by the first 11 months of 2003, the U.S. had already imported $206 billion in goods and services from Canada showing an increase year-over-year. What Does This Mean? One thing we have to remember, though, is that these are dollar values of imports. All this is telling us is that in terms of U.S. Dollars, Americans are spending slightly less on Canadian imports. Since both the value of the U.S. Dollar and the price of commodities has changed, we need to do some mathematics to find out if the Americans are importing more or fewer goods. For the sake of this exercise, we will assume the United States imports nothing but commodities from Canada. This assumption does not greatly affect the results, but it certainly makes the math much easier. Well consider 2 months year-over-year, October 2002 and October 2003, to show how the number of exports has increased significantly between these two years. U.S. Imports From Canada: October 2002 For the month of October 2002, the United States imported $19.0 billion of goods from Canada. The commodity price index for that month was 107.2. So if a unit of Canadian commodities cost $107.20 that month, the U.S. bought 177,238,805 units of commodities from Canada during that month. (177,238,805 $19B / $107.20) U.S. Imports From Canada: October 2003 For the month of October 2003, the United States imported $20.4 billion of goods from Canada. The commodity price index for that month was 119.6. So if a unit of Canadian commodities cost $119.60 that month, the U.S. bought 170,568,561 units of commodities from Canada during that month. (170,568,561 $20.4B / $119.60). Conclusions From this calculation, we see that the United States bought 3.7% fewer goods over this period, despite a price hike of 11.57%. From our primer on price elasticity of demand, we see that the price elasticity of demand for these goods is 0.3, meaning theyre very inelastic. From this we can conclude one of two things: The demand for these goods are not at all sensitive to price changes so American producers were willing to absorb the price hike.The demand for these goods at every price level increased (relative to former demand levels), but this effect was more than offset by the large jump in prices, so overall quantity purchased declined slightly. In my view, number 2 looks a lot more likely. During that period, the U.S. economy had been spurred by massive government deficit spending. Between the 3rd quarter of 2002 and the 3rd quarter of 2003, the U.S. Gross Domestic Product increased by 5.8%. This GDP growth indicates increased economic production, which would likely require increased use of raw materials such as timber. The evidence that increased demand for Canadian commodities has caused the rise in both commodity prices and the Canadian Dollar is strong, but not overwhelming.

Walmart Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Walmart - Case Study Example With the domestic location of its stores, Wal-Mart growth was increasing very slowly but later on they tried to gain from the international opportunities. Wal-Mart became a figure of free enterprise that had lost organization (Wal-Mart Stores 14). With the analysis of the influential five forces that model an industry, Wal-Mart’s growth and development over the years can be well elaborated. During 20th century, general retail has been alive. It was not that of a good system for the customers because they were not allowed to take any merchandise from the shelves. Later on, Discount retail came to the market and it encouraged, little charge, presented less service, credit, and they returned some advantages to the customers. This displayed how catchy the corporation had developed to be. Consumers displayed readiness in buying the brands from Wal-Mart where they felt comfortable with the â€Å"one-stop shopping† where an extensive collection of commodities were located in one place. This was to reduce the time they spent in shopping. In rivalry, a firm can decide to alter the prices to get an advantage, or either improves manufactured goods differentiation (Wal-Mart Stores 15). Threat of substitutes product means the product found within the companies. A close substitute product will limit the chance of Wal-Mart to raise its prices. But Wal-Mart had a fairer price set on their merchandise, which made a great difference in the market compared to other firms (Wal-Mart Stores 17). Their main lead came from the organization and management style, IT, in store operations. They did set low prices in their goods which gave them an upper advantage in the market; this was due to aggressive use of technology in their retail operations. Its competitors tried to respond to Wal-Mart’s advantage in logistics and EDI by making modest cooperative changes by bringing into play the use of the internet and

Military Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Military - Essay Example advanced capabilities, the need of an amphibious force has come under media scrutiny in the recent times because a full-fledged amphibious operation has not been conducted ever since the end of World War 2 (only small scale operations have been conducted). Additionally, the cost of maintaining an amphibious force is also very high (Mullen, 2008). However, the amphibious force provides some specific advantages to the military power, given the volatile relationship that the United States has with several nations across the globe. This study takes a look at some of the reasons because of which United States still needs the capability to conduct amphibious operations. Most of the operations that are conducted in the modern day are of a joint nature, where all the branches of the military collaborate to achieve the mission. In any joint operation, the presence of an amphibious force provides a certain edge (Forbes, 2012). For instance, because of the advancement in technology related to military aircrafts and artillery, most countries anticipate air-raids and ground operations and therefore, do not pay enough attention to protects it littoral area (area which is near to the shore of a water body). Such areas are often only protected by a small coast card and small navy units deployed in certain points. In such cases, an amphibious attack can prove to be successful because the hostile nation will not be able to defend the littoral region against the strong and powerful amphibious attack of the US military. Even if the littoral area is defended by the forces, the amphibious force has the capacity to respond in a rapid manner and this provides the military with a strong forward presence (Speller and Christopher, 2001). One of the main tactics of a joint operation is to disperse the forces so that the hostile military is not able to focus on one particular region and respond in a strong manner. In such a scenario, the amphibious force proves to be a strong point