Celanese Case Analysis Essay

1. Describe the approach to IT service improvement taken at Celanese. IT initiatives at Celanese were implemented based on their cost-cutting potential. With the recent turndown in the economy only projects that clearly supported the company’s strategic direction and convincingly demonstrated a 1-year payback would be approved. Celanese also had a very decentralized approach to IT overall with each department in each country running their own systems and implementing projects often without communicating. This led to not pursuing IT service improvement in a top-down, process-centric manner, so people like the Global IT Operations Manager bootstrapped and implemented unique – albeit ITIL-informed – solutions that addressed Celanese-specific problems. 2. Describe some of the factors that made Celanese IT’s movement towards ITIL difficult. †¢ There was a lack of commitment by senior leadership to focus on IT and when there was it leadership only focused on short term results. †¢ Over the past several years they had focused on their customers application and in 2009 they did not have the budget due to the economic downturn. †¢ The CIO was not onboard in supporting all the initiatives or was supporting them inconsistently as was quoted by the application manager on page 9. †¢ Lack of communication between ITILers, OSM, and the vendors †¢ Misconception on how long something should take vs how long it would actually take to implement. †¢ Diffused IT structure ex. Standardizing the PCs used by the company took 5 years †¢ Culture at Celanese where centralization was the enemy 3. IT operations at Celanese were undisciplined and poorly coordinated. Why did its CIO not support a process improvement initiative? The CIO was hampered in coordinating and centralizing by several factors. Given the pervasive belief that ‘everything central was evil’, there was considerable resistance to reporting to a single CIO and developing a shared services IT organization. In 2001, the CIO role was thus limited to that of ‘individual contributor CIO. In this environment, the transition to a standardized IT infrastructure and an integrated IT organization was not smooth. The business case for every integration initiative had to be made on a case-by-case basis.

Voyeurism notes

Video voyeurism is a relatively new crime that involves the use of video cameras in public areas to record underneath women's clothing. Recently, several courts have determined that this form of voyeurism is not covered under existing criminal statutes dealing with voyeurism. This paper examines current statutes relating to voyeurism to determine if these laws are adequate or If new legislation Is required to combat video voyeurism.Some of the areas covered Include: the nature of video voyeurism, challenges faced by law enforcement, and the challenges faced by makers attempting to write legislation which will clearly criminality the behavior. The old crime of the ‘Peeping Tom' has advanced, through the use of technology, to become a crime that Is so ‘state of the art' that police, prosecutors, and legislators are having a hard time keeping pace (Pope, 1999).Recently, criminal voyeurs have taken advantage of the ever decreasing size of video and photographic equipment to f acilitate and expand the scope of their criminal actively. Today, two forms of video voyeurism have become so commonplace that they have received nicknames in the awe enforcement community: ‘upsetting' and ‘downsizing. ‘ These forms of voyeurism involve using a video camera in order to photograph underneath the clothing of women in public places. A voyeur takes a shopping bag and places a small video recording device inside the bag pointing upward.He then goes to a shopping mall and waits near the bottom of an escalator. When a woman wearing a skirt gets on the escalator he steps on behind her. He sets the shopping bag down on the step underneath her skirt so the video cording device is pointed up her skirt and turns it on. A voyeur who wants to participate in ‘downsizing' heads to the same mall and stands on the top floor looking down. When a woman wearing a revealing blouse walks by on a lower floor the perpetrator simply zooms in on the woman's cleavage.Th e vantage point from the upper level of the mall gives the voyeur a better viewpoint from which to record the breasts of the woman below. Such innovative invasions of privacy go far beyond that of yesterdays ‘Peeping Tom' whose crime was generally limited to looking into sidelines, and did not involve the making of a permanent video record. The damage Inflicted by perpetrators of video voyeurism goes much further in view of the ease with which homemade video recordings and photos can be uploaded and distributed via the Internet.A ‘Google' search of the terms ‘upstart' and ‘downspouts' on the Internet can return literally millions of ‘hits. Voyeurism notes By chrysanthemum voyeurism to determine if these laws are adequate or if new legislation is required to combat video voyeurism. Some of the areas covered include: the nature of video come a crime that is so ‘state of the art' that police, prosecutors, and legislators are having a hard time keepin g pace (Pope, 1999).Recently, criminal voyeurs have taken facilitate and expand the scope of their criminal activities. Today, two forms of video law enforcement community: ‘upsetting and ‘downsizing. ‘ These forms of participate in ‘downsizing heads to the same mall and stands on the top floor inflicted by perpetrators of video voyeurism goes much further in view of the ease via the Internet. A ‘Google' search of the terms ‘upstart' and ‘downspouts' on the

Cultural Interaction Analysis Essay

Mining is a process that is composed of three major logical, organized and sequential phases; exploration, development and production with unique risks, economic considerations and constraints characterizing each stage. Before deciding to develop a mine the mining company first considers the social, socioeconomic and environmental consequences of the decision. This paper discusses the problems that the foreign mining companies face while undertaking their mining processes in a community with different culture than theirs. The major hitches they faced mostly included; power differential, permeability and psychosocial factors like suspicion and fear between the company staff and the local community members. A Canadian gold mining company in Ghana faced these challenges during their stay in this West African country. The crises originated from language barrier and past experiences the local communities encountered with other mining firms. Although the official language in Ghana is English the larger percentage of local residents were illiterate and were only conversant with their local dialects. This made conversation a problem as the miners could not learn those languages easily. Even with the assistance of interpreters there was distortion of facts resulting into power differences. Similarly, sections of the community were so indifferent with the mining company since the previous mining companies had negative effects to their environment and families. Their children whom they taught were to earn their living from these mining companies were instead exploited. However, the major factors that affected the company-community relations and which also had an immense impact on how exploration activities were viewed by this community included: First, the cultural diversity between modern business practices of developed countries as represented by exploration activities and traditional communities. Second, was the extreme power differential that existed in any contact between the two interacting groups. The locals perceived the exploration activities in seclusion and with minimal knowledge of the larger picture within the mining industry and therefore they were not only uncertain but also fearful concerning the exploration activities. The local community rarely understood the risks that were associated with mineral exploration as well as the period of time required to prove the economic viability of the mineral deposits. They further assumed that a mining company would only invest huge amounts of money with a fixed time frame for advanced exploration. The mining companies were unable to bridge these power differentials that resulted into justifiable expectations as well as fears from the locals. But the expectations were antagonistic to the reality on the ground about the mine to be developed. These communities were unable to distinguish between a major company and a junior company whereby to them these companies appeared to be equally rich, powerful and potentially threatening. Additionally, the local community feared being marginalized due to language barrier and power impermeability and wished to be given a continuous update of day-to-day events of the company. They further expected to receive immediate answers to their worries from the company officials. Since these fears were not addressed in time by this Canadian company there immerged ill-founded rumors and misinformed messages which gained credibility within and among the community members resulting into increased fear and disquiet from the community (Ian Thomson and Susan A. Joyce 2000). This situations surrounded by fear and distrust between the community and the company severed the communication and understanding between the two giving way to outside interest groups and thus impairing further efforts for deliberations. The experiences and the extent to which the community felt uncertain about the future impacts of mining activities mining industry led into increased suspicions. The Communities viewed the mining industries differently depending on the previous exposure to mining explorations. Members of those communities without a history of mining were naive and inactive towards exploration activities which were taking place around them since they believed that good things like job opportunities and development of the area were to be associated with these explorations as well as mining activities. On the other hand, the responses of those communities which had an history of mining were diverse since some were willing to welcome exploration while others unwilling and instead turned hostile to the presence of foreign interest or as well as opposed a return to environmental and social destructiveness experienced in previous mining activities. Areas with small scale artisan mining were so much opposed to these mining activities since they feared being displaced, their traditional livelihoods being destroyed and alteration of their way of life within their community. The mining company did not take time to make the local community understood well the nature of their work as well as address the hopes, fears, traditions and social norms that may result into conflict and negative consequences to all parties. However, the mining company could prevent all these from occurring by forming a community relations team whose major role would be to mitigate the impacts as well as to build a harmonious relationship based on proper handling of expectations, prevention and resolution of conflicts. The community relations team should also be involved in incorporating the results of stake holders, mapping process, identification of Impact area and summarizing quantifiable objectives and targets based on management indicators that are measurable (Chuck F and Fernando R. 2007). Equally, the community relations programs and policies should cover local purchasing, local manpower, hiring training, land purchase and resettlement grievance resolution. The community should be consulted in every endeavor that the industry engages in as well as collaborating with the local communities to fully understand the social cultural values and aspirations and reach a consensus on the best priorities identified by the community. 2nd Analysis It has been established that Canadian mining companies have the largest stake in the mining industry in most third world countries. Official records indicate that this stake is at 30% of all mining prospects in Africa. South Africa too plays a huge role, it is home to many giants mining companies in Africa and consequently the largest mining company is the world DeBeers is based and headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, it has mining interests expanding throughout the world. These two companies have dominated the mining industry mostly in the third world and have over the past years been on the focus over various issues but mostly centering on their relationships with the surrounding environment and the communities As afore maintained, mining companies have strained relations with the locals. This relation is centrally compounded by the difference in cultural dispositions and the overbearing ulterior motivates of mining companies. Profit remains the basic drive in business and the mining companies pursue it at whatever cost, many times with no consideration of the locals’ needs and priorities. An analysis of cultural interaction between the miners and the local communities must take this in to account. A look too in Latin America also produces this grim picture. Latin Americans have been up in arms over what they claim are exploitative tendencies from the mining companies. This is the basis of analysis of the culture between the miners and the neighboring communities. The relationship between employees and the neighboring community is also equally strained and both have a rough time interacting with each other. A look at the mining culture over time indicates that it tends to disregard the community interests and the relations between the two are usually digress to a point of hostility Jacobdeen Higgins is an engineer with one of Canadian companies based in Latin America. This is his fifth month in Ecuador, having been transferred to Quito after leaving an equally lucrative job in his homeland Canada. His relocation to Ecuador was after a promise of a hefty allowance as well as other fringe benefits. In his middle age, this is his first time to travel out of Canada and consequently his interaction with people from the developing countries. He has been born and raised in a country and a neighborhood that has not amply prepared him to interact with people of diverse backgrounds and mostly those that live with an income of below a dollar per day. This factor is further exacerbated by the nature of his occupation. He is a miner and the perception the locals in Ecuador have of miners is one of fear and hatred. They see them as exploitative and only seeking to deflower the vast virginal and resourceful land in Ecuador. The first issue Higgins has come to grapple with is the difference in the orientation of the local communities cultures and way of life with that of Canadian miners. There exist such fundamental variations in the two cultures such that the interests between them are always at a crossroad. The first barrier and major difference that Higgins has had to cope with is the language. This however is not unique to Canadian miners in Latin America but is a problem faced by most miners in foreign lands and aggravates an already sour situation. This is one predicament that miners tend to overlook. They do not take time to learn a few lessons on the cultural disposition of the local communities. Higgins is only fluent in English, it is his only language and beside that he can only catch a few French words. On the other hand Ecuador is a Spanish speaking country and in deed it is the official language. Besides that, there are other local dialects that would take years to learn. His company has based its operations in Napo province. It is a territory that is laden with mineral resources, but the company has centrally for the time being focused on gold. The communities residing in Napo province are yet to come in to contact with large mining companies with such huge machines and large workforce mainly composing of foreigners. Very few too understand or speak English. The majority of the leading personnel on these mining companies do not understand Spanish or worse still the local dialects Higgins has been at pains trying to interact with local community and mostly has to employ the use of interpreters who charge exorbitant prices. His position in the company requires him to source for laborers from the neighboring villages and small towns, in so doing the potential laborers have to undergo strenuous interviews to establish their skills and competencies. This is a nightmare he has to contend with in his daily activities. First comes the issue of hostility from the locals and then the tricky situation of the local language (www. mineralresourcesforum). Small-scale mining has been entrenched in the local community’s economic system. Artisan miners roam all over and wield so much influence in the community due to the lucrative nature of their venture. To them, and equally to the rest of the community, Higgins and his work colleagues are foreigners and should be accorded the treatment befitting intruders. This however is understandable as the large companies pose a threat to their livelihood. To the rest of the community the miners are a threat to their lands and open hostility is only way to pass this message. Others in the same community view Higgins with a mixture of dread and awe. He drives a big four-wheel state of the art vehicle, a luxury machine and a reserve of the top government executives and rich businessmen. He clearly does not understand the lives of the locals and does not understand why the locals are reluctant to leave their lands when there is a goldmine lying underneath. In his first days in Napo province, Higgins had been enthusiastic of this first chance to interact with the locals, however his friendly grins were usually met with cold stares and mostly harsh insults form the locals as he later came to learn from a political representative who nowadays acts as his guide just because he understands a few English words. Communication has been difficult to a point of frustration, attempts to reward with kind words or reprimand his employees are met with again cold stares; they just cant communicate with each other. This has resulted to a situation characterized by hostility from both the company and the local community. They rarely communicate with each other beyond a point of need. Higgins is now filled with disparage for the locals. He has been unable to understand their needs and neither their hostility, to him and to the rest of the miners. The minimal interaction he has had with the locals has not helped patch this ill feeling towards them. But for the cheap source of labor, Higgins would not wish to interact in any way. This is the notion and the perception held by both parties and emanates from the inherent cultural differences existing between the miners and the communities. Whereas miners such as Higgins are driven by personal economic motives, the locals on the other hand are wary of the miners and fail to see the long term economic benefits that may arise, they abhor the environmental degradations and social afflicts the mining will have on the surroundings and especially on their lands. 3rd Analysis This Canadian mining company has also to contend with the challenge of safety, more so, convincing the community of the appropriateness of the measures put in place to ensure the safety of the workers and the environment. The issue of communication not withstanding, safety concerns continue to bug the mining companies. It is not a secret the extent of devastation meted out against the locality of the mining operations. They leave huge dents on the surface of the earth and damage the natural habitat permanently. The surrounding communities are aware of this and they usually fight tooth and nail to have the companies relocate their activities or demand huge compensations, which in most cases pass unyielded to. Higgins is in the same position; he stands between a rock and a hard place. The company wants to mine, explore and exit within the allocated time but the neighboring communities are unrelenting in their adamant resolve not to give way. Miners culture has over time not demonstrated any considerations for the welfare of the environment, driven by surreptitious intentions, environmental needs take a back seat being overridden by profit maximization needs. Rarely does it have any room for plough backs directed towards environmental conservation. Being in an influential position as he is, Higgins is at the forefront in building a favorable relationship between the community and the company. He is also aware of the implications of the company’s mining operations but he is not in a position to call the shots within the management. He has a rough time trying to make his guide understand this. He also thinks that the devastations caused by the miners are exaggerated compared to the benefits that are reaped through mining. As the guide tells him, the local community’s hostility emanates from this fear. They fear the environmental impact of the mining project, the hazards that lie in wait resulting from the industrial wastes and air pollution from clouds of dusts emanating from the earth’s bowels. A look at the vast lands in Napo province reveals an expansive land untainted by the vulgarities of modernity. Most of the land is still in its virginal state and is characterized by uninhabited territories that remain revered and cherished by the locals. The mood on the ground is set against the mining companies operations. The vast natural habitat is a source of spiritual inspiration to the surrounding communities and has come to wither a lot of human onslaughts. To Higgins and the mining company in general, those perceived considerations do not hold any water. They are in business and will pursue their interests to the end. It is an economic venture that eventually stands to benefit the locals through employment opportunities. Producing more benefits than the natural habitat in its current state stands to do. Mining culture is impervious to environmental hazards consideration; its eyes are on the prize and not on the sideshows. It is not in line with the local communities worries on safety in the environment. Miners are hungry for profit and the only way to maximize it is through intensifying their explorations. Higgins’ guide cannot understand this selfish drive and likewise the local community’s does not. They value social interactions and solidarity more than economic ventures. The community is close knit and not highly commercialized to a point of neglecting social ties. The attachment with the environment is to a point of divinity. The environment is clean and the mining operations are a threat to this, they fear that it will bring pollution that in the end might result to diseases and other health complications. The safety of the environment remains the central factor. To most local communities where mining takes place, the environment is not the only safety consideration; safety within the mine is also taken into account. Higgins has had a rough time trying to explain the safety measures put in place to ensure that his (and that of other employees) safety in the mines, but the few incidences in the mines world over that have resulted to fatalities are a prove that the unexpected sometimes happen. His guide as well as the rest of the community are convinced otherwise. The prevalent perception and notion held by the majority of the local people is that the mines are not a safe place to work in, the sight of the complicated machines and the large pits confirms this, the miners recognize these machines and the large pits as a source of livelihood. Higgins is an engineer and understands the internal dynamics of these machines. He has operated these machines and been in the bottom of the pits for years and is convinced that they are safe. The necessary measures have been put in place to ensure this. This is the same headache facing Higgins as he tries to recruit more and more workers. The local community is adamant on the safety hazard of the mine. They claim that it can collapse any moment as a result of the spirits vexation towards humanity for destroying its habitat. Few people are volunteering for the underground mining due to the perceived hazards. The local community is also set against this. Families, even in the rampant poverty, are willing to see their family members involved in the mining activities. Pressure is being put by the families of the young men who are in search of quick bucks in the mines, they don’t want to see them volunteering for the underground operations. The local community, according to Higgins’ guide, knows that the dust from the mine can lead to health complications that can turn fatal in the long run. A look at the local communities cultural beliefs, practices and perceptions reveals that they are different from the mining culture. Miners are more concerned with the output and the benefits in the mines more than with the safety environmental consideration. Miners are trained scientists and rarely take a course on social relations. They do not understand the complexities of the local community and the diverse nature of their culture (Lia Bryant and Delrdre Tedmanson 2002). To them, mining is just but a renewed opportunity to make a killing. It is important that the mining culture undergoes a major transformation to ensure that miners are more responsive to the local communities’ needs and aspirations. They should enact mechanisms through which the mining companies should plough back a portion of their profit back into the community to ensure a trickle down effect to the people on the ground. The hostility that arises between the mining companies and the locals usually is fostered by the reluctance of the miners to take time and understand the local community. People are of diverse cultural backgrounds and have some ununderstandable attachment to their ancestral lands. This is not expected to change over night. Understanding the underlying cultural factors and language should be a prerequisite to mining activities. References Ian Thomson and Susan A. Joyce (2000-08-17). Minerals exploration and the challenge Of community relations: PDAC accessed online on 23/10/07 http://www. pdac. ca. pda/members/community/relate. pdf Chuck foster and Fernando Rivera (2007): Mining in Ecuador Hard assets investor. com Accessed online on 23/10/2007 http://hardassetsinvestor. com/index. php Lia Bryant and Delrdre Tedmanson (2002): Diversity in the mining industry: the International journal of knowledge, culture and change management. Accessed Online on 23/10/2007 http://ijm. cgpublisher. com/product/pub. 28/prod. 241 Doctor Mthethwa, Matthews Hlabane, and Ibinini Mara: Breaking communication Barriers between communities affected by mining and the mining industry in South Africa accessed online on 2007 October 23rd. http://www. mineralresourcesforum. org/docs/pdfs/communication. pdf

Making Connections Between Three Authors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Making Connections Between Three Authors - Essay Example of new players, on a new playing field, developing new processes for horizontal collaboration—that I believe is the most important force shaping global politics and economics in the early 21st century (Friedman, 7).† Friedman also warns that Americans need to keep up, or get out of the game. â€Å"There is no sugar coating on this: in a flat world, every individual is going to have to run a little faster if he or she wants to advance his or her standard of living (Friedman, 10).† Still, some low-income groups of Americans are at a disadvantage and succumb to the â€Å"roundness† of the bygone American world. Though countries like China and India are exploding ahead politically and technologically, African Americans and people of color in the United States have little opportunity to do the same. According to Barbara Ehrenreich’s article â€Å"Maid to Order† and William Julius Wilson’s book When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor, the world is definitively not flat, but limited to the socio-economic imprisonment of the lower urban class. Both Barbara Ehrenreich’s article â€Å"Maid to Order† and William Julius Wilson’s book When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor show a rethinking of the mostly-optimistic approach Friedman has towards the â€Å"flat,† expansionist and technologically forward view of the world. â€Å"Maid to Order† discusses the trials and tribulations of being a maid, and the sorry, anti-feminist history behind the booming industry of domestic work. â€Å"In a society in which 40 percent of the wealth is owned by 1 percent of the households while the bottom 20 percent reports negative assets, the degradation of others is readily purchased (Ehrenreich, 1).† This degradation comes in the form of racism, sexism and classism that has been an American mainstay since the turn of the century. â€Å"So the insight that distinguished the more radical, post-Friedan cohort of feminist was that when we talk about

Marcus Mosiah Garveys Movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marcus Mosiah Garveys Movement - Essay Example According to the report findings Garvey visited Ecuador, Costa Rica and Panama, where he worked as an editor for some radical newspapers, during the early moments of service. Garvey’s keen interest in Africa and that of its history came about after his visit to England, where he mingled with several African nationalists. In a number of the countries that Garvey visited, he acknowledged that the black man was on inferior levels, subject to the continuous changing ideals of stronger races. The writings of Booker T. Washington on â€Å"Up from slavery† also contributed greatly to the interventions that Garvey sought to bring. His endeavors got a boost after meeting a Sudanese-Egyptian supporter of Africa self-rule, Duse Mohammed Ali, who employed him, thus ensuring his interaction with other black activists. As the the essay stresses the organization appealed to the black community to return to Africa for the development of a great nation. He knew that until this was attainable, Africans had to make themselves economically stable and independent in their respective areas of residence. He further encouraged black communities to start their own business in the various ghettos that they dominated. In accordance to his basic principle and the belief that each race had to see God through its own racial eyes, Garvey together with Archbishop George McGuire started the African Orthodox Church. Official announcement of the Black Madonna and the Black Christ then took place in the UNIA convention of 1924.

History According to Neo-Conservative Historians Essay

History According to Neo-Conservative Historians - Essay Example Strauss believed liberal government policies were providing the masses with rights, power, and leisure that their simple minds neither deserved, nor were capable of responsibly wielding. Invariably, according to Strauss and Neo-Cons, the devolved masses give rise to Hitler-like evil. Strauss firmly and fully believed that the inherent weakness and ignorance of the masses, social-liberal policies, and the "excess" freedom of leisure coupled with the right to choose their own leaders provided the ingredients for humanitys demise. For Strauss, these devolved masses required strong authoritarian leadership comprised of those intellectually and socially superior (Ray, 1993). In nearly every aspect of todays American political life and foreign policy we see Strauss theory of constant struggle and conflict being employed and carried out. The media has often decried the obvious combative, angry, and mean-spirited nature of Americas contemporary political discourse. FOX News, which is the propaganda and disinformation outlet for the Neo-Conservative movement, has, by design, ensured Strauss theory of conflict plays out in the American political life. It certainly isnt by accident that prominent Neo-Conservatives like Bill Kristol are often featured on FOXs programs (Ray, 1993). Furthermore, the only purpose for the network to employ the bellicose and outrageous OReilly, and venomous and angry Sean Hannity is to divide American against American and instill a degree of political nastiness never before witnessed. A quick trip around the AM Radio dial will make apparent an entire legion of Republican and Neo-Conservative propagandists doing their part to foment all-out political warfare in the United States. Finally, few propagandists are loved and cherished more deeply by the Neo-Cons than the hate-spewing and liberal demonizing Ann Coulter (Halper & Clarke, 2005). The

Compare and contrast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 22

Compare and contrast - Essay Example This has been shown as amongst the most frequent causes of domestic violence. In relation to this, there are several causes of domestic conflicts in the story â€Å"The Garden Party†. As stated above, the issue of misunderstanding has taken the greatest rank with regards to the conflicts experienced between Laura and her family. In the story, it is evident that there occurs a misunderstanding between Laura, her mother and the laborers (Mansfield and Lorna, 27). This form of misunderstanding is also associated with some elements of discrimination and despise. It is true that Laura was to be the one in charge of the party. This means that Laura was to oversee everything that was to take place in the party. As such, she was obliged to approve of everything as she had such powers as per her position. However, this is dismissed by her mother, Sheridan. Sheridan orders the laborers to deliver lilies to the party forcibly without any approval of Laura. This is seen as a hallmark of despise, as well as misunderstanding between the parent and her child. This is one of the sources of the domestic conflicts between Laura and her family. In addition, another sense of misunderstanding is evident in the manner that even the laborers also pose some problems to Laura. The laborers act in a manner that makes them thinks that they know better than Laura, perhaps because they consider themselves older than the lady. This brings in a sense of confusion as well as misunderstanding between these parties. The issue of misunderstanding is also evident in the story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† The parents of Connie are constantly failing to understand why Connie is too much selfish and cannot contribute positively to the matters domestic (Oates and Elaine, 83). This makes her mother become a persistent bother to her, nagging her every day.

Christian Louboutin (shoe designer) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Christian Louboutin (shoe designer) - Essay Example Christian Louboutin is a prominent French designer whose footwear has entailed shiny, red-lacquered soles, which have grown to become his signature. Christian Louboutin can be regarded as one of the most creative and prominent designers working today. Initially, his unique red-soled shoes were seen as a top secret treasure of an elite circle of Louboutin enthusiasts; nevertheless, sustained media attention has introduced Louboutin to the world and heralded unparalleled levels of popularity. As a result, Louboutin is worn by both fashion insiders and fashion-mindful celebrities and stylish women. The research of Christian Louboutin (shoe designer) is critical and should be understood by designer practitioners who strive to create unbeatable, unique brands. The essay seeks to engage students within a search for and analysis of contemporary design research. Background Louboutin started sketching shoes in his early teen years at the detriment of his academic endeavours. Louboutin had minimal formal training comprising of drawing and decorative arts at the Academie d’Art Roederer. For more than two decades, Louboutin’s designs including boot made from various animal hairs and a towering ten-inch slipper has been a market leader of luxury shoe design. The multiplicity of detail, form, and style are embodied in Louboutin’s shoes and designs can be regarded as reinforcing the allure of his one-of-a-kind creations (Welters and Lillethun 2011, p.511). Louboutin’s success can be partly linked to his love of travel, entertainment, and architecture, which guarantees that no two pairs of shoes are analogous (Craik 2009, p.29). Louboutin entered into the fashion industry in 1982 when he started as an intern at Charles Jourdan. For the subsequent decade, Louboutin learned his craft as he freelanced for high-profile fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel. It was in 1992 that he launched his first shoe boutique in Paris, a number that has risen to over twenty five boutiques across the globe. Louboutin’s sought to avail his clients with an unbeatable experience, given that for each collection that he produced he would select artisans with certain skills, maintaining that it was essential to have his shoes crafted by skilled craftspeople rather than modern, mass-production machines (Welters and Lillethun 2011, p.512). Louboutin’s unique designs can be regarded as mainly influenced by fantasy, sex, and playfulness (Vartanian 2012, p.8). Discussion Louboutin’s distinct designs and signature features red-sole, high-heeled shoes are highly popular, especially among celebrities. Lo uboutin applies individualized approach when designing his collections to guarantee that he generates consistently innovative and desirable collections. His designs can be regarded to be in different, but highly appropriate design. This reinforces the notion that Louboutin’s shoes are not simple pieces of clothing, but also pieces of art (Renfrew and Renfrew 2009, p.117). Louboutin managed to develop an unmistakable signature by ensuring that all of his shoes featured bright red soles. A characteristic pair of his luxury shoes might also feature a stiletto heel and upper parts of coloured leather or exotic reptile skins. The price of the shoes normally ranges around $800 a pair. Louboutin’s shoes are renowned globally for their remarkably innovative design and distinctive glossy red sole. Louboutin’s lacquered red sole trademark is perceived as a â€Å"subtle status symbol† and can be regarded as highly alluring relative to the overt branding of the big-n ame luxury brands (Rauf and Vescia 2007, p.16). Louboutin contended that his utilization of the red colour mirror his conviction that red colour is a symbol of passion, blood,

Negotiations - hypothetical analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Negotiations - hypothetical analysis - Essay Example It is back-and-forth communication designed to reach an agreement when you and the other side have some interests that are shared and others that are opposed.† Since there are two or more parties to a negotiation, the common belief is that one must win and the other has to lose. In this internet age, impacted by materialistic civilization, this approach will not hold good. The settlement arrived through good negotiations leads to a win-win situation, where all are winners. The author has articulated a simple and straightforward five-step system that covers the important aspect of negotiations and explains how to go about it in the practical world. The five concepts of negotiations chartered by Roger Fisher that I will put into practice to resolve the issue related to the three girl students (swimmers) are: 1. Don’t bargain over positions They call me "spineless" "heartless" "incompetent" and "lazy" in the third meeting. They also say "We've heard about you. We know that you got this job because two other school districts fired you for incompetence." I am not interested in contesting their claims. When an individual is angry, one says so many things which one actually doesn’t mean! By their verbal slangs, no damage is done to my approach and it is unlikely to change my working style. Try to understand the meanings of the words of their outburst. They have no connectivity. I will not argue with them on the issue for the present. Every argument has a counter argument, but that will not lead to solution. That two other school districts fired me for my incompetence is an incorrect statement. That they fired me is a fact; but that was due to differences as for my conciliatory approach to certain issues related to the students. That the management of the school where I am at present working is aware of the facts related to the cases, and yet they have appointed me as the Principal. They must be having their own reasons for having engaged me. My per spective of running the school administration meets with their approval. I do not believe in giving instant, harsh punishments to the students. I am supposed to look after an academic institution, not a military establishment, to take summary decisions. 2. Separate the people from the problem I would advise the parents of the bullied girl, to keep a low profile for the time being, in the overall interest of all concerned. This issue is going to be resolved, but not on their drastic terms. Expulsion is a serious step that leaves highly unpleasant consequences. It affects the future of the children, damages their psychology, and they may find it difficult to face the societal reactions. Expulsions are often challenged in the court of law, and an academic institution would like to avoid legal hassles, as far as possible. I love my student; she is like my daughter, as much as you love your daughter. Expulsion is the permanent black spot in the academic career of a student and it must be avoided at all costs. 3. Focus on interests, not positions My interest, as the Principal of the school, is to maintain the overall cordial atmosphere in the school, not the interest of just 2-3 students. I now propose to invite to the school the parents of the two students, who allegedly bullied the daughter of the parents who are the complainants. Bullying is a common trend amongst the students though, and in the present case jealousy, that the bullied girl is a superior swimmer is the root cause of the problem. I will also request the college swimming coach to counsel them individually and collectively, and if the feud is not ended immediately, their swimming career may be at stake and they will be removed from the college swimming team. So, along with the reputation of the college, their

Initial Public Offering Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Initial Public Offering Paper - Essay Example In this case, even after the IPO, Del-Ta Engineering is still the controlling shareholder by virtue of its shareholders agreement with David Rivel (Initial Public Offerings (IPO): RRSAT Global Communications Network Ltd. n.d.). IPOs have positive initial returns on average. This is the phenomenon of underpricing (Ross, Westerfield, and Jaffee, 1996). For example, at start of the first day after the RRSat Global Communications Network Ltd., the shares were 12.16% [($14.02 - $ 12.50)/$12.50] above their initial offering price. At the end of the first day, the shares were 20.24% [($15.03 - $ 12.50)/$12.50] above their initial offering price (RRSat Global Communications Network Ltd. n.d.). The present value of the first three payments comprises a significant portion (20.73%) of the price of stock. This can be explained by the time value of money. A dollar now is worth more than a dollar in the future. a. High-risk companies. High-risk companies are expected to distribute a relatively low proportion of current earnings and have a relatively low PE ratio. A high-risk company is likely to retain more of its earnings as the probability of bankruptcy is higher.

Prosecuting mothers of children born with problems due to the mothers Term Paper

Prosecuting mothers of children born with problems due to the mothers substance abuse during pregnancy - Term Paper Example In this regard, ingested psychoactive substances such as drugs have the ability of inducing dependence just like other forms of addictive behavior such as gambling. Due to the ambiguity of this term, medical practitioners and researchers regard addiction as a human behavior that motivated by emotions, ranging from craving to compulsion, continued use in spite of the known adverse effects and that result to a person losing control (Henry and Ting, 2008). In reference to drug use, American Psychological Association uses substance use disorders as a collective term for substance abuse and dependence (APA, 1994). Under dependence, APA (1994) identifies impaired control over using a substance as an important component. This implies a combination of behavioral, cognitive and psychological symptoms that indicate continuous use of the substance in spite of the resulting health problems cause by it (Henry, and Ting, 2008). Substance use in the society is widespread and one of the major areas concern is its effect on pregnant women. Chiang and Loretta (1996) noted that substance abuse in women is common to those struggling with poverty, homelessness, mental illness violence and trauma. In United States, SAMHSA (2009) reports that pregnant women are more likely to engage in substance abuse than their non-pregnant counterparts in the same age bracket. According to SAMHSA (2009), 22% of pregnant women reported using cocaine compared to 17% of those who were not pregnant. The rate of substance abuse such as amphetamines and marijuana in pregnant women exceed that of non-pregnant women. According to SAMHSA (2009), 21% of pregnant women used amphetamines compared to 13% of women who were not pregnant. Moreover, 17% of pregnant women admitted to using marijuana as their drug of choice compared to 13 % of those who were not pregnant. In addition, 18% pregnant women are likely to seek medical attention on drug related problems compared to 31% of their pregnant counterparts (SAMHS A, 2009). Substance abuse among pregnant women varies with age and race in the United States. For instance, white women are more likely to smoke and use tobacco related products compared to the blacks and Hispanic women (SAMHSA, 2009). An average of 25.7% of pregnant women aged from 15-25 smoke cigarettes compared with 10.6% of their pregnant counterparts aged from 26-44 years (SAMHSA, 2009). This pattern is reflected in alcohol use among the pregnant women, whereby younger pregnant women have higher prevalence rate compared to their older counterparts. However, alcohol use among pregnant women is lower compared to their non-pregnant counterparts in the United States. In addition, most pregnant women use more than one type of drugs (SAMHSA, 2009). According to MCFD (2003), one of the leading causes of mental, psychological and physical impairments in children is use of substances such as alcohol, tobacco and other illegal drugs by the pregnant mothers. Different drugs have diverse h ealth complications to the unborn child, and MCFD (2003), notes that alcohol is one of the most notorious drugs that cause the severe health complications. Substance use during pregnancy causes premature birth, in addition short term and long-term impairments. However, the effects depend on several factors, including the health status of the mother, the quantity and the type of the drug that

McCarthyism’s Connection to Crucible Essay Example for Free

McCarthyism’s Connection to Crucible Essay During the 1940s to the 1950s, McCarthyism took its way, ruining innocent people lives through false the accusations of being affiliated in Communism. The innocent people that were accused and not found guilty couldn’t return back to their normal lives. One of the people that were trialed was Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible. Miller didn’t take this lightly and felt that something had to be done, so he wrote The Crucible connecting the McCarthy trials with the Salem witch trials. There were numerous relations of the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism, but there were three that stood out the most. During the McCarthy trials and Salem witch trials, innocent people endured the scare factor which brought out strange behavior, the accused couldn’t go back to their regular lives, and the accused had to endure the harsh interrogations. In The Crucible and during McCarthyism, it was prudent to go by the expectations that society presented or one may run the risk of having their reputation flawed. In The Crucible, Abigail and few other girls were discovered dancing in the woods by Rev. Parris. When Rev. Parris discovered this he couldn’t let it go, because during those times if you had time to dance then you had time to read the Bible. Innocent U.S. Government officials lost their jobs to be suspected of being Communist by McCarthy so he may move up the political ladder. During McCarthyism and Salem witch trials, the smallest evidence was used to make their accusations. In The Crucible and McCarthy trials, both include the faulty accusations and harsh interrogations that were placed on innocent citizens. During the time of McCarthyism, people lives were monitored by the government to reveal any unusual behaviors that may be considered Communist. Much of the evidence that was used was pulled out of someone’s file that may have been ten years old. In The Crucible, Proctor was thought of being affiliated with witchery for not coming to church in a couple of weeks. Proctor didn’t come because of his wife’s illness, but even this excuse wasn’t enough to get him in the clear completely. The wild accusations of the McCarthy trials and in The Crucible, created a stir within both societies that caused people to alter their lifestyles in hopes of not being noticed. The Red Scare of McCarthyism was focused in the government system and it stood for such a long time with support from people due to the anxiety of Communists being in the U.S. In The Crucible, nearly  one hundred people were trialed and found guilty of witchery in on year. Giles Corey accused his wife because she was reading a book other than the Bible. The anxiety of the fear that his wife may be a witch brought him to the court to plea his belief. The fear factor, strict expectations of society, and reputations being ruined were factors that made living during McCarthyism and the Salem witch trials nearly impossible to not become involved. Everyone during those times, presented a fear of the witch hunts that caused them to accuse people they have known for years, which kept these trials stable. No one could escape the witch hunts, and those whom did were lucky to not have had their lives ruined and banned from any jobs and spending time with your family. Both periods of time share the regret and unfortunate events that innocent people had to endure.

Pulp Fiction And Rashomon Film Studies Essay

Pulp Fiction And Rashomon Film Studies Essay When Pumpkin Tim Roth and Honey Bunny are have dinner in an motel, They make a decision to steal from it later than realize that they could build currency off not presently the company but the clientele as fine. As occur throughout their earlier heist. moment later than they begin the hitch, The scene break sour and the name credit spin. In this scene its like to be bore at first, But their decision of robbery of bank is, so different in the film, When they started to play a role in the film as robber suddenly the title breaks the screen with stylish music; it takes the audience to the great height in interest. The background and things which kept on the tables and the lady servant First of all it is a black and white movie, And also it is a non linear movie, The thing which exposed at the first scene is two people sitting calmly in the temple .which makes the audience to thing something append in their life. Their problem was exposed by the third character, Because of the third character their problem was explained to the audience, In Pulp Fiction John Travolta and uma turman were went to the club and they participate in the Dance combination is not a matter but their stylish dance surely makes the audience Enjoy. When uma turman become unconscious, John Travolta inject the injection on her chest it one of the scare scene. Because this scene makes the audience that They are feeling them as uma turman and when john is forcing his hand to inject the injection they are so much involved in this scene, In pulp fiction each and every minute sequence was shown clearly by the director. For ex: When Vincent( john Travolta) was going in his car to see uma turman for taking her to club, When he driving a car to her house on the way in the car he inject himself a drug ,thats not a matter but the director shows mixing of the drug with blood in the Injection is makes the audience to feel them as john Travolta, In Rashomon the things which I saw is the feelings of expression are include in the acting, But I not going to say pulp fiction is bad, The expressions of acting is more in Rashomon, That is more than pulp fiction, And also in Rashomon the editing is not looks like a olden days editing style its looks like a now a days film editing style. In some place in the film the director made some intelligent scene in Rashomon that is. The Rapist character make some intelligent thing to get his wife, but no one can able to imagine that the Rapist makes the women husband to follow him in the forest and he tied the women husband, and the rapist tell to the women that your husband was bitten by a snake, he makes the women to follow him when they reach the place then only audience can able to know that the rapist made some story to fool too of them. The sound track gives some more emotion to the scene, Which it helps to make the audience to involve in the film, And also the it explains the relationship of husband and wife, When the husband refused to believe his wife, The expressions shows to the wife that he is not believing, so that she also refused to understand his husband because of her angry. In that scene the conversation between husband and wife is mostly explained in expressions. But in pulp fiction conversation are explained in dialogue, but delivery of dialogue is so Much different in pulp fiction, As comparison of these movies both the movies are very nice movies according to their style, We cant able to find false in them. The characters in the both movies are so much Different and the way of their acting are original. Both the directors are don their correct Job. As an audience both the movies are goodà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. At first, when the film is started. A meaning of the word pulp fiction is shown in the screen, As according to the dictionary format (American heritage dictionary, New collage Edition) like that. And then pumpkin and homey bunny two of them sitting inside the hotel and talking about their life. In this scene its like to be bore at first, But their decision of robbery of bank is, so different in the film, When they started to play a role in the film as robber suddenly the title breaks the screen with stylish music; it takes the audience to the great height in interest. As Samuel L. Jackeson and the John Travoleta when they entering into the room their body language and their dialogue delivery and the continues shot of walking two of them is wonderful. John Travolta and uma turman were went to the club and they participate in the Dance combination is not a matter but their stylish dance surely makes the audience Enjoy. When uma turman become unconscious, John Travolta inject the injection on her chest it one of the scare scene. Because this scene makes the audience that They are feeling them as uma turman and when john is forcing his hand to inject the injection they are so much involved in this scene, The dialogue of the officer when he gave the watch to the small boy, about the watch Which his friend gave before he keep the watch in his ass, Is wonderful comedy Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta was shoot by one guy the explanation About the miss target of the gun shot of Samuel L. Jackson was wonderful The director makes this non linear movie well and handle it well. In this film the director gives equal importance to the all the characters in the movie. Finally this movie is one of the interesting movie which I seen before in the past à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦

The Slavery Effect In Todays Society

The Slavery Effect In Todays Society In the eighteenth century there were an estimated six million slaves in the world. That number, large as it was, does not come close to the number of slaves in todays society. The current worldwide estimates are over twenty-seven million. Every year seventeen thousand slaves are trafficked into the United States, of that number, eighty percent are women and fifty percent of those (seven thousand) are children. Seventy percent of the females are imported for prostitution. It is astonishing how even though slavery is not seen or heard of much in todays society it still exists heavily and quietly affects our everyday life. It is extremely sad, yet, regretfully true. The history of slavery dates back to 1780 B.C. though laws have been passed in most countries that prevent, or at least lessen, slavery, it still exists today. By definition, slavery means the complete ownership and control by a master: to be sold into slavery. Slavery indicates a state of subjugation or captivity often involving burdensome and degrading labor. Slavery occurs when people -known as slaves- were placed in servitude as the property of a household or company. Slaves are deprived of their personal freedom and compelled to perform labor or services. Slaves are the properties of another person, household, company, corporation, or government and are unable to leave or have any freedom. Primarily slaves were sold amongst companies, corporations, governments, or people. The practice of exporting slaves is called slave trafficking. Slavery is currently found in many countries all over the world. In other countries, though known by another name, it is still slavery. In Canada sl aves are called servants and in Nordic countries they are called thralls. In the year 1670 the first African slave was introduced to America. The slaves of that time period were treated poorly; most were beaten with whips for the slightest infraction. Most, were simply tired, hungry or thirsty; some just too old to do the work and were brutally beaten to death. Many slaves would die of illnesses like malaria or yellow fever because of their limited immunities to these diseases. Others died from malnutrition, poor living conditions, and exhaustion; there was a very high mortality rate among slaves. To this day slaves are still exploited all over the world even though we actually do not see it or hear about it. Although in most countries in todays society traditional slavery has been abolished, it still exists in some countries and much of the slavery that exists is done so illegally. Some of the countries that have abolished slavery are the United States, Africa, many European countries, and China. Though abolished, it still exists, just using a different title. The highest percentage of slavery that is seen in todays age is child labor. Many countries have enacted child labor laws, protecting the rights of children. Typically children are not allowed to work until they reach the age of fourteen. There are children as young as four working on plantations. Most child labor laws state that only children over the age of fourteen can work between the hours of seven in the morning until nine at night and no more than forty hours per week or eight hours in one day excluding school da ys in which they can work after school until 8:00 PM. Children, prior to the age of 18 must get a work permit filled out by their school before they are allowed to work; these children must maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average in order to continue their employment. In many countries this is not the case and the childrens primary duty is work. These children do not have the chance of an education. Child labor is not the only form of slavery still in existence. Some companies maintain a policy of only enslaving adults, while others only employ children. Many children who are put into slavery end up working in clothing manufacturing plants also known as sweatshops. A sweatshop is a factory where workers make products in very poor working conditions. Child labor is also abused in harvesting cotton, fruits, and vegetables. Many slaves also work in sugar cane and coffee factories. The selling of females, as disgusting as this may sound, is still a common practice in some countries. Young women are often sold by their families for marriage, domestic uses, like cleaning and cooking, while others are sold into sex trafficking and were forced into prostitution. Many children are taken from their families to become soldiers. Countries such as Lebanon and Colombia regularly enlist young children to carry guns and become soldiers of war. Rarely is this considered a form of slavery, yet by definition, it is. As you can see there are many types of slavery that still exist today. The following exhibits how the name has changed but the practice is still the same. Bonded Labor occurs when people have taken a simple loan for something such as medicine, food or housing for themselves or their family and to pay it back they are put to work by the lender creating a type of slavery. With bonded labor often the child of the debtor are put to work in order to pay the bond. Early and Forced Marriage is the parental practice of selling off daughters as they reach adolescence. Daughters are sold for monetary gain. Frequently, there are also religious reasons for this practice. Their families give the girls into arranged marriages. They have no choice as to who they are to marry. Once married they are owned by their new husband. Forced Labor is where a person is forced into work by the threat of physical harm. Much like the slavery that we read of in our history books, these slaves work out of fear of violence. Slavery by Descent means simply that a child is born into slavery. The parents are slaves, thus the child is a slave. It just continues generation after generation. Trafficking, according to the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (C.A.S.T.), is the recruitment and transportation of persons within or across boundaries by force, fraud, or deception for the purpose of exploiting them economically. Trafficked people most commonly work in sweatshops, restaurants, on farms, in manufacturing, prostitution and as private domestic workers Sadly, many parents end up giving their child into slavery to pay off a debt or simply sell their own children for support their families. Many young women are raped by their owners ending up pregnant thus bring more children into the life of slavery. This article could have been written in 1808, or 1908, but sadly, it is being written in 2008. Youd think that in todays civilized society that slavery would truly have been completely abolished, however, the name has just been changed. Slavery affects todays society so much, even though we do not notice it, slavery is everywhere. Next time youre in a department store, pick up some of the products and look to see where they were manufactured. It is highly unlikely that it will have the name of a country with strict child labor laws in place. There are U.S. companies that even move their manufacturing plants outside of the U.S. in order to employ children at a lesser cost. It is extremely hard to believe but most products we use on a daily basis were produced in countries that allow this type of slavery. Products such as sugar, shoes, tea, coffee, chocolate, fruits, and vegetable are made by modern-day slaves. The U.S. Department of Labor disclosed that our countrys largest retailer, Wal-Mart, was fined a measly 135,000.00 for violating child labor laws. The violation: Children operating chain saws and box crushing machinery. Toys-R-Us was cited for working 14-year-old children late into the night. The management for this huge corporations stated that they misunderstood the child labor laws pertaining to how long they could work a fourteen-year-old child. While driving through a large city, maybe in the seedier part of town, notice the young girls on the streets. Where did they come from? Did slave traffickers transplant them here? Are they runaways with no other alternatives? Think about the practices of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. How is what was going on in Eldorado, Texas any different than sexual slavery? Over 200 women and children were recently taken from this remotely locate temple only after a teenage girl reported that she was being held there against her will and had been forced to marry a fifty year old man as well as have his child. Though illegal, it goes on unknown to most of us to this day. Most of us, unknowingly, support these new forms of slavery. We buy the products from the companies that employ these workers. We, as a nation, do little more than smirk when we read about the religious organizations that condone arranged, under-aged marriages as well as polygamy. In conclusion, though you may not see it, slavery still exists. It has taken on new forms. The name has changed. It doesnt look the same as we have read about in the history books but by any other name it is still slavery. Think about it next time you buy that cute tank top or stop in for your favorite latte.

A Lady of Letters and Cream Cracker under the Settee by Alan Bennett Es

"A Lady of Letters" and "Cream Cracker under the Settee" by Alan Bennett The two monologues I am going to be writing about are two elderly women who are lonely and trapped in their own homes. I will be talking about how Doris, one lady from 'Cream cracker under the settee' and Irene, the other lady in 'Lady of letters' are suffering from loneliness. Doris and Irene both live alone. They don't seem to have any special friends. For example, Irene doesn't like being people calling her Irene. People who come across Irene must call her Miss.Ruddock; nobody has called her Irene since her mother died. Only real friends may call 'Miss Ruddock' Irene. But both Doris and Irene have people who do you look out for them like the policeman who calls in to check on Doris from time to time. Both monologues are talking, and looking directly into the camera, at many different angles. This gives a great effect, as the person talking in the monologue seems to be talking to 'YOU', in the audience. In the monologues the women mainly talk about the past and by comparing the day they were 'kiddies' to the days of today. This is how monologues are a lot different to dramas. Monologues are an interesting way for the people in the audience to see the opinions and thoughts of another person, maybe older or maybe younger. Both these monologues don't have a grouped name such as, action, horror or comedy but if I had to catorgise these monologues, I would say they are 'real life tragedy's'. There are the little side comments which the author for both monologues, Bennett, has made to make the make the audience giggle but the whereas the individuals in the monologue, in this case Doris or Irene, aren't aware that whate... ...the Settee' my emotions stayed practically the same all the way through the monologue, as for 'Lady of Letter' I felt a number of emotions for Irene, Happy, angry, sad. I felt a lot of sympathy for Doris when she was talking about her family but i feel no sympathy for Irene. As I said, my feelings stayed the same for Doris but I did feel frustrated at times, as it is frustrating when 'you' know what's best for someone but that someone doesn't understand. My feelings varied a huge amount for Irene mainly because Irene's feelings varied an amount. Both monologue were encouraging in there own ways. 'Cream cracker under the settee' did get a bit tedious at times and sometimes made me want to fall asleep due to the same tone of voice droning on and on. I had a lot more to write about for Lady of Letters because I thought there was a much better story line.

Pandora :: essays research papers

In Greek mythology Pandora was the first woman, bestowed upon humankind by Zeus as a punishment for Prometheus' theft of fire. Entrusted with a box containing all the ills that could plague people, she opened it out of curiosity and thereby released all the evils of human life; wife of Epimetheus. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to make a mixture of earth and water and from it to create a woman as beautiful as a goddess. When she was ready, Athena adorned her and taught her how to weave, while Aphrodite endowed her with grace and passion, the Graces and Peitho garlanded her with gold ribbons and the Hours decorated her with spring flowers. Hermes, on the other hand, put malicious and lying words into her heart. Zeus called her Pandora, because she had received gifts (dora) from all the gods, and sent her off to Epimetheus. Bewitched by her beauty, he fell in love with her and took her out for mankind to see. Pandora's fate was to be the cause of all human misfortune, because she opened the lid of a jar from which evils of all kinds immediately spilled out to fill the world. Only hope was left in the jar, because Pandora closed the lid again at the last moment. As a result, mankind - who until that time had known no pain, sickness or death - was doomed to everlasting unhappiness.Pandora (mythological figure), in Greek mythology, first woman on earth, created by the god Hephaestus at the request of the god Zeus. Zeus wished to counteract the blessing of fire, which had been stolen from the gods by the Titan Prometheus and given to human beings. Endowed by the gods with every attribute of beauty and goodness, Pandora was sent to Epimetheus, who was happy to have her for his wife, although he had been warned by his brother Prometheus never to accept anything fr om Zeus. In bestowing their gifts on Pandora, the gods had given her a box, warning her never to open it.

Jack London

ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews, Vol. 23, No. 3, 172–178, 2010 Copyright  © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0895-769X DOI: 10. 1080/08957691003712363 R USSELL M. H ILLIER Providence College Crystal Beards and Dantean In? uence in Jack London’s â€Å"To Build a Fire (II)† James I. McClintock has described Jack London’s classic short story â€Å"To Build a Fire (II)† as the â€Å"most mature expression of his pessimism† (116).In what follows, I wish to explore the possibility that there is a substantial element of spiritual allegory operative in London’s narrative. London originally conceived his tale as a moral fable and a cautionary narrative to American youth never to travel alone. To this end, London published the story in Youth’s Companion. In its ? nal version, though, the tale assumed decidedly darker and more sinister tones.In capturing the menace of the inclement northland, London was dr awing upon his own travels in the Klondike, but I would argue that his narrative was also inspired by a fusion of his experience of the harsh and bleak environment of Dawson City with his encounter with the literature he read while he was sheltering in a winter cabin beside the Stewart River, in circumstances London’s biographer Andrew Sinclair characterizes as â€Å"a trap of cold and boredom, short rations and scurvy† (48). Sinclair describes the modest library with which London weathered that cramped and piercingly cold spell of ? e months and writes how, â€Å"In the tedious con? nes of the winter cabins, [London] settled down to absorb the books that became the bedrock of his thought and writing, underlying even the socialism which was his faith. These were the works of Darwin, Huxley, Herbert Spencer, and Kipling, Milton’s Paradise Lost and Dante’s Inferno† (48). The last two works Sinclair accounts for are of particular consequence. Between the pages of Milton and Dante’s epics London would have encountered fallen angels and unrepentant sinners who had been immured in Hell for committing crimes of hubris.Indeed, London transferred his fascination for the hubris of Milton’s Satan to his antihero Wolf Larsen in the novel The Sea-Wolf . 1 Most importantly, though, London would have discovered, at the outer reaches of Milton’s Hell, â€Å"a frozen Continent [ . . . ] dark and wilde, beat with perpetual storms / Of Whirlwind 172 Jack London’s â€Å"To Build a Fire (II)† 173 and dire Hail, [ . . . ] all else deep snow and ice† (PL 2. 587–89, 591); and, within the innermost circle of Dante’s pit of Hell, he would have found a frozen subterranean lake blasted by biting winds.Neither infernal vision would have been so very far removed from London’s own experience of the subzero temperatures and appalling conditions of the Klondike. Indeed, the inhuman cold that defe ats London’s protagonist was as much an attribute of the traditional medieval idea of Hell as its notorious qualities of ? re and brimstone. The landscape of London’s revised tale is conspicuously preternatural— â€Å"the mysterious, far-reaching hair-line trail, the absence of sun from the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it all† (1302).Where Milton’s Hell is characterized by the paradoxical quality of â€Å"darkness visible† (PL 1. 63), London’s comfortless northern world has â€Å"an intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark† (1301). London’s protagonist is an anonymous â€Å"man,† a gold prospector who not only lacks the imagination to survive in the Yukon wasteland, but who is also oblivious to any metaphysical possibilities and unmindful of â€Å"the conjectural ? eld of immortality and man’s place in the universe† (1302).Incapa ble of companionability, the man always travels alone, except for his husky, an animal he treats with contempt and even with hostility. His disdain for the wise counsel that â€Å"the old-timer on Sulphur Creek† (1309) gives him to travel into the northland with a partner is a recurrent reminder to London’s reader of the man’s improvidence, unsociability, and willful self-alienation. London’s own brutal ordeal in the Klondike had taught him the importance of having a trail-mate: when wintering by the Stewart River, London and Fred Thompson, journeying for supplies through the wilderness, had â€Å"backpacked all the way or they pulled heir own sled, for they owned no team of huskies† (Sinclair 48). In the case of the man in London’s narrative, the idea of working alongside or depending upon other creatures means no more to him than the enjoyment of the commodities he associates with them: â€Å"the boys† at the camp, for example, whom the man always keeps in mind throughout the tale, are, to the man, indistinguishable from the material comforts he hopes to gain from â€Å"a ? re† and â€Å"a hot supper† (1302).The marked in? uence of Dante in London’s narrative, a crucial factor in one’s appreciation of the tale which, to the best of my knowledge, has hitherto escaped critical attention, helps to con? rm London’s infernal rendering of the unforgiving Yukon wasteland. In structural terms the story has a repetitive, nightmarish quality as â€Å"the man† makes three desperate ventures to build a ? re that are each time frustrated—? rst, by having the ? e â€Å"blotted out† by an â€Å"avalanche† of snow (1309); second, by having his book of sulphur matches extinguished in one fell swoop (1310–11); and, third, by having â€Å"the nucleus of the little ? re† snuffed out by a â€Å"large piece of green moss† (1311). Lee Clark Mitchell has drawn attention 174 ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews to the ominous, reiterative quality of the tale and to how â€Å"events [ . . . ] repeat themselves into an eerie signi? cance, as the man attempts over and over to enact the story’s titular in? nitive† (78).The man’s predicament recalls the unrelenting fates of transgressors in the classical underworld—of Sisyphus, who pushes a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll down the hill’s other side, or of Tantalus, who fruitlessly reaches out to eat from a branch that is always eluding his grasp. But the man’s thwarted actions also mimic the commitment of Dante’s sinners to both the unending nature of the punishment they must suffer and the experience of their particular sin’s interminable round in each of the nine vicious circles built into the funnel of Dante’s Hell.London underlines the infernal atmosphere of his tale. He is careful, for instance, to identify the old-timer on Sulphur Creek, who warns the man that a traveler should never venture alone into the Klondike in treacherous weather, with that essential feature of Hell, namely Hell’s sulphurate fumes. London further emphasizes this theme by having his antihero build a ? re with â€Å"his bunch of sulphur matches† (1310) that, when lit, emits an evil smell of â€Å"burning brimstone† (1311). On bungling his second desperate attempt to build a ? re, the man not only blunders and sets a? me all of his remaining seventy matches, he also sets alight his own hand, so that the burning of his ? esh by ? re becomes associated with the freezing cold that burns into the core of his being at the story’s climax. The freezing cold that literally chills the man to the bone is as apt a fate as a case of Dantean contrapasso, where the punishment of the sinner is appropriate to the nature of their sin. The man’s ethical insentience, his lac k of a moral and metaphysical compass to direct his choices and regulate his attitude toward others and toward the universe of which he is a part, is re? cted in the deadening numbness that torments and ultimately destroys him. London includes in his narrative one small but revealing detail from Dante’s Inferno that gives the reader a key to unlock the moral of his fable. Because of the intense cold, the beard of London’s nameless protagonist, like the coat of the husky that reluctantly accompanies the man, sports an icy â€Å"appendage† (1303): The frozen moisture of [the husky’s] breathing had settled on its fur in a ? ne powder of frost, and especially were its jowls, muzzle, and eyelashes whitened by its crystalled breath.The man’s red beard and mustache were likewise frosted, but more solidly, the deposit taking the form of ice and increasing with every warm, moist breath he exhaled. Also, the man was chewing tobacco, and the muzzle of ice hel d his lips so rigidly that he was unable to clear his chin when he expelled the juice. The result was that a crystal beard of the color and solidity of amber was increasing its length on his chin. If he fell down Jack London’s â€Å"To Build a Fire (II)† 175 it would shatter itself, like glass, into brittle fragments. But he did not mind the appendage. 1303) This curious â€Å"ice-muzzle on his mouth† (1304) elongates as the man progresses on his journey, so that â€Å"he continued monotonously to chew tobacco and to increase the length of his amber beard† (1304); later still, the â€Å"ice-muzzle† (1306) obstructs his mouth when he attempts to eat his meal. The â€Å"amber beard,† a vivid if admittedly bizarre feature of London’s tale, gathers in signi? cance if we recollect events in the ninth and ? nal circle of Dante’s Inferno. When Dante the pilgrim arrives at Hell’s bottom, he discovers a frozen Lake Cocytus that i s swept by bitter, freezing winds.As Dante ventures toward the heart of Lake Cocytus, where the ? gure of Lucifer weeps, gnashes his teeth, and beats his wings, he eventually arrives at the region of Ptolomea (Inf. 33. 124). In this place he ? nds wretched sinners buried up to their waists in ice: We went farther on, where the frost roughly swathes another people, not bent downwards, but with faces all upturned. The very weeping there prevents their weeping, and the grief, which ? nds a barrier upon their eyes, turns inward to increase the agony, for the ? rst tears form a knot and, like a crystal visor, ? l all the cup beneath the eyebrow. (Inf . 33. 91–99) The â€Å"crystal visor [visiere di cristallo]† (Inf . 33. 98) or â€Å"the hard veils [i duri veli]† (Inf . 33. 112) that form and clamp about the faces of these sinners offer an attractive source for the â€Å"crystal beard† or â€Å"muzzle of ice† that torments the countenance of London†™s antihero. Just as the tears around the faces of Dante’s sinners solidify and accumulate to form visors or veils, so the tobacco spit in the beard of London’s protagonist encrusts, clusters, and builds to form an icemuzzle.London’s ice-muzzle that shatters, â€Å"like glass, into brittle fragments† (1303), also seems to recall Dante’s frozen Lake Cocytus, which has the durability â€Å"of glass [di vetro]† (Inf . 32. 24). In his depiction of the Yukon London gestures further to Dante’s sinners, who are embedded in Lake Cocytus. Just as Dante’s Lake Cocytus is one solid block of ice, so the creek that surrounds the man â€Å"was frozen clear to the bottom, — no creek could contain water in that arctic winter† (1304).Equally, just as Dante’s sinners are trapped in the ice, so various ice pools, covered with â€Å"a snow-hidden ice-skin† (1305), present â€Å"traps† (1304) that are concealed around the surface of the creek. It is through the ice-skin of one of these same traps that the man falls and, like Dante’s â€Å"wretches of the cold crust [tristi de la fredda crosta]† (Inf . 33. 109), the man â€Å"wet[s] himself halfway to the knees before he ? oundered out to the ?rm crust† (1307). 176 ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and ReviewsLondon’s allusion to Dante is all the more pertinent when we consider the nature of the sin for which Dante’s transgressors in Ptolomea are being punished. The inhabitants of Ptolomea are those offenders who have transgressed against their guests, hosts, or companions. London’s critics have acknowledged the man’s hubris as â€Å"an overweening con? dence in the ef? cacy of his own rational faculties and a corresponding blindness to the dark, nonrational powers of nature, chance, and fate† (Labor 63–64). Yet, as with Dante’s sinners con? ed in Ptolome a, the fatal ? aw of London’s antihero is as much his inability to understand the value of companionship or community. In this way the nameless man’s husky acts as a foil to its master. London characterizes the relationship between the man and his dog as that existing between a â€Å"? re-provider† (1309) and a â€Å"toil-slave† (1306), and, as such, he reveals that their union is based upon a ruthless pact of convenience and functionality rather than an accord of mutual love, respect, and sympathy.The â€Å"menacing throat-sounds† (1307) of the man are, to the perceptions of the dog, as â€Å"the sound of whip-lashes† (1307), and the narrative con? rms the dog’s apprehensions in his master’s futile, last ditch effort to destroy man’s best friend and use its very lifeblood and vital warmth in order to save his own skin. London’s account of his protagonist’s failure to be companionate with his dog is a cruci al index to the man’s inability to â€Å"meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man’s frailty in general† (1302).His cruel treatment of his dog furnishes yet another example of his refusal to perceive his fellow human beings and the natural world surrounding him as more than â€Å"things† stripped bare of their â€Å"signi? cances† (1302). His aversion to companionability, which is equivalent to Dante’s sin of Ptolomea, is further re? ected in his refusal to heed the old-timer’s advice to foster human community and trust to a â€Å"trail-mate† (1309). London’s allusion to both the frozen wastes of Dante’s Ptolomea and the crystal beards of the sinners who reside in that nhospitable climate provides a convincing literary analogue for London’s haunting and gloomy depiction of the Klondike; the intertext also serves to highlight the nature of the tragic ? aw of London’s protago nist in placing his trust in a misguided individualism where â€Å"any man who was a man could travel alone† (1308). It may be the case that in the parallels between Jack London’s severe experience of being buried in the Klondike and Dante’s unforgettable vision of his cardinal sinners, buried in Lake Cocytus, London found a subject that he could not resist treating imaginatively, irrespective of his religious and political standpoint.However, if, as I believe, London’s â€Å"To Build a Fire (II)† can be read as a moral fable of transgression and punishment that is heavily invested in the stuff of spiritual allegory and, in particular, relies upon the design of Dante’s Commedia, then our tidy, traditional understanding of London as a long-standing, dedicated Socialist who was condescending toward, if not scornful of, spiritual and religious matters becomes problematic or, at the very least, open to reassessment. Jack London’s â€Å"T o Build a Fire (II)† 177So that there can be no mistaking the tale’s literary debt to the Florentine master, London’s coda to his narrative contains a strong, though unsettling, allusion to the close of each of Dante’s three canticles. The allusion unsettles, because it bears London’s signature pessimism regarding an unresponsive universe. As, in turn, each canticle ends, Dante the pilgrim gains an increasingly clari? ed and luminous perspective upon the starry universe that proclaims God’s abundant love and His concern for Creation: in Inferno, while emerging from Hell’s pit onto the surface of the Earth, Dante is able to contemplate the ? mament and â€Å"see again the stars [riveder le stelle]† (Inf . 34. 139); in Purgatorio, from the peak of Mount Purgatory Dante is â€Å"pure and ready to rise to the stars [puro e disposto a salire a le stelle]† (Purg. 33. 145); and, in Paradiso, Dante is at long last granted a beati ? c vision of his Maker and is ? lled with wonder â€Å"by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars [l’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle]† (Parad. 33. 145).In contrast, London’s powerful closing image of the husky, now masterless and â€Å"howling under the stars that leaped and danced and shone brightly in the cold sky† (1315), indicates a more indifferent and uncaring naturalistic universe than the ordered Dantean cosmos where God’s embosoming love moves the sun and the other stars. Perhaps, then, in London’s closing reversion to the bright, dancing stars and the cold sky of an unfeeling universe, James McClintock is correct in his critical judgment that, ultimately, London never truly abandoned his essentially pessimistic worldview in â€Å"To Build a Fire (II)†.Notes I wish to thank my freshman class from the fall semester of 2009 for being a receptive audience to the ideas presented in this paper. Above all, I am grateful to Marek Ignatowicz, a poet and a true man of letters. Without his facility for illuminating discussion on all things literary, and without our memorable conversation on the subject of beards in fact and in ? ction, it is highly probable that the topic of this paper would never have occurred to me. 1 Milton’s Paradise Lost, and in particular the character of Milton’s Satan, is an inspiration to Wolf Larsen in The Sea-Wolf .Larsen remarks of Milton’s fallen archangel: â€Å"But Lucifer was a free spirit. To serve was to suffocate. He preferred suffering in freedom to all the happiness of a comfortable servility. He did not care to serve God. He cared to serve nothing. He was no ? gurehead. He stood on his own legs. He was an individual† (249). Works Cited Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy: Inferno. Trans. Charles S. Singleton. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970. Print. ———. The Divine Comedy: Paradiso. Trans. Cha rles S. Singleton.Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975. Print. 178 ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews ———. The Divine Comedy: Purgatorio. Trans. Charles S. Singleton. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973. Print. Labor, Earle. Jack London. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1974. Print. London, Jack. The Complete Short Stories of Jack London. Ed. Earle Labor, Robert C. Leitz, III, and I. Milo Shepard. 3 vols. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993. Print. ———. The Sea-Wolf . New York: MacMillan, 1967. Print. McClintock, James I.White Logic: Jack London’s Short Stories. Cedar Springs: Wolf House Books, 1976. Print. Milton, John. The Poetical Works of John Milton. Ed. Helen Darbishire. London: Oxford University Press,1958. Print. Mitchell, Lee Clark. â€Å"‘Keeping His Head’: Repetition and Responsibility in London’s ‘To Build a Fire. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Journal of Modern Lite rature 13. 1 (1986): 76–96. Print. Sinclair, Andrew. Jack: A Biography of Jack London. London: Harper and Row, 1977. Print. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Jack London ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews, Vol. 23, No. 3, 172–178, 2010 Copyright  © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0895-769X DOI: 10. 1080/08957691003712363 R USSELL M. H ILLIER Providence College Crystal Beards and Dantean In? uence in Jack London’s â€Å"To Build a Fire (II)† James I. McClintock has described Jack London’s classic short story â€Å"To Build a Fire (II)† as the â€Å"most mature expression of his pessimism† (116).In what follows, I wish to explore the possibility that there is a substantial element of spiritual allegory operative in London’s narrative. London originally conceived his tale as a moral fable and a cautionary narrative to American youth never to travel alone. To this end, London published the story in Youth’s Companion. In its ? nal version, though, the tale assumed decidedly darker and more sinister tones.In capturing the menace of the inclement northland, London was dr awing upon his own travels in the Klondike, but I would argue that his narrative was also inspired by a fusion of his experience of the harsh and bleak environment of Dawson City with his encounter with the literature he read while he was sheltering in a winter cabin beside the Stewart River, in circumstances London’s biographer Andrew Sinclair characterizes as â€Å"a trap of cold and boredom, short rations and scurvy† (48). Sinclair describes the modest library with which London weathered that cramped and piercingly cold spell of ? e months and writes how, â€Å"In the tedious con? nes of the winter cabins, [London] settled down to absorb the books that became the bedrock of his thought and writing, underlying even the socialism which was his faith. These were the works of Darwin, Huxley, Herbert Spencer, and Kipling, Milton’s Paradise Lost and Dante’s Inferno† (48). The last two works Sinclair accounts for are of particular consequence. Between the pages of Milton and Dante’s epics London would have encountered fallen angels and unrepentant sinners who had been immured in Hell for committing crimes of hubris.Indeed, London transferred his fascination for the hubris of Milton’s Satan to his antihero Wolf Larsen in the novel The Sea-Wolf . 1 Most importantly, though, London would have discovered, at the outer reaches of Milton’s Hell, â€Å"a frozen Continent [ . . . ] dark and wilde, beat with perpetual storms / Of Whirlwind 172 Jack London’s â€Å"To Build a Fire (II)† 173 and dire Hail, [ . . . ] all else deep snow and ice† (PL 2. 587–89, 591); and, within the innermost circle of Dante’s pit of Hell, he would have found a frozen subterranean lake blasted by biting winds.Neither infernal vision would have been so very far removed from London’s own experience of the subzero temperatures and appalling conditions of the Klondike. Indeed, the inhuman cold that defe ats London’s protagonist was as much an attribute of the traditional medieval idea of Hell as its notorious qualities of ? re and brimstone. The landscape of London’s revised tale is conspicuously preternatural— â€Å"the mysterious, far-reaching hair-line trail, the absence of sun from the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it all† (1302).Where Milton’s Hell is characterized by the paradoxical quality of â€Å"darkness visible† (PL 1. 63), London’s comfortless northern world has â€Å"an intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark† (1301). London’s protagonist is an anonymous â€Å"man,† a gold prospector who not only lacks the imagination to survive in the Yukon wasteland, but who is also oblivious to any metaphysical possibilities and unmindful of â€Å"the conjectural ? eld of immortality and man’s place in the universe† (1302).Incapa ble of companionability, the man always travels alone, except for his husky, an animal he treats with contempt and even with hostility. His disdain for the wise counsel that â€Å"the old-timer on Sulphur Creek† (1309) gives him to travel into the northland with a partner is a recurrent reminder to London’s reader of the man’s improvidence, unsociability, and willful self-alienation. London’s own brutal ordeal in the Klondike had taught him the importance of having a trail-mate: when wintering by the Stewart River, London and Fred Thompson, journeying for supplies through the wilderness, had â€Å"backpacked all the way or they pulled heir own sled, for they owned no team of huskies† (Sinclair 48). In the case of the man in London’s narrative, the idea of working alongside or depending upon other creatures means no more to him than the enjoyment of the commodities he associates with them: â€Å"the boys† at the camp, for example, whom the man always keeps in mind throughout the tale, are, to the man, indistinguishable from the material comforts he hopes to gain from â€Å"a ? re† and â€Å"a hot supper† (1302).The marked in? uence of Dante in London’s narrative, a crucial factor in one’s appreciation of the tale which, to the best of my knowledge, has hitherto escaped critical attention, helps to con? rm London’s infernal rendering of the unforgiving Yukon wasteland. In structural terms the story has a repetitive, nightmarish quality as â€Å"the man† makes three desperate ventures to build a ? re that are each time frustrated—? rst, by having the ? e â€Å"blotted out† by an â€Å"avalanche† of snow (1309); second, by having his book of sulphur matches extinguished in one fell swoop (1310–11); and, third, by having â€Å"the nucleus of the little ? re† snuffed out by a â€Å"large piece of green moss† (1311). Lee Clark Mitchell has drawn attention 174 ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews to the ominous, reiterative quality of the tale and to how â€Å"events [ . . . ] repeat themselves into an eerie signi? cance, as the man attempts over and over to enact the story’s titular in? nitive† (78).The man’s predicament recalls the unrelenting fates of transgressors in the classical underworld—of Sisyphus, who pushes a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll down the hill’s other side, or of Tantalus, who fruitlessly reaches out to eat from a branch that is always eluding his grasp. But the man’s thwarted actions also mimic the commitment of Dante’s sinners to both the unending nature of the punishment they must suffer and the experience of their particular sin’s interminable round in each of the nine vicious circles built into the funnel of Dante’s Hell.London underlines the infernal atmosphere of his tale. He is careful, for instance, to identify the old-timer on Sulphur Creek, who warns the man that a traveler should never venture alone into the Klondike in treacherous weather, with that essential feature of Hell, namely Hell’s sulphurate fumes. London further emphasizes this theme by having his antihero build a ? re with â€Å"his bunch of sulphur matches† (1310) that, when lit, emits an evil smell of â€Å"burning brimstone† (1311). On bungling his second desperate attempt to build a ? re, the man not only blunders and sets a? me all of his remaining seventy matches, he also sets alight his own hand, so that the burning of his ? esh by ? re becomes associated with the freezing cold that burns into the core of his being at the story’s climax. The freezing cold that literally chills the man to the bone is as apt a fate as a case of Dantean contrapasso, where the punishment of the sinner is appropriate to the nature of their sin. The man’s ethical insentience, his lac k of a moral and metaphysical compass to direct his choices and regulate his attitude toward others and toward the universe of which he is a part, is re? cted in the deadening numbness that torments and ultimately destroys him. London includes in his narrative one small but revealing detail from Dante’s Inferno that gives the reader a key to unlock the moral of his fable. Because of the intense cold, the beard of London’s nameless protagonist, like the coat of the husky that reluctantly accompanies the man, sports an icy â€Å"appendage† (1303): The frozen moisture of [the husky’s] breathing had settled on its fur in a ? ne powder of frost, and especially were its jowls, muzzle, and eyelashes whitened by its crystalled breath.The man’s red beard and mustache were likewise frosted, but more solidly, the deposit taking the form of ice and increasing with every warm, moist breath he exhaled. Also, the man was chewing tobacco, and the muzzle of ice hel d his lips so rigidly that he was unable to clear his chin when he expelled the juice. The result was that a crystal beard of the color and solidity of amber was increasing its length on his chin. If he fell down Jack London’s â€Å"To Build a Fire (II)† 175 it would shatter itself, like glass, into brittle fragments. But he did not mind the appendage. 1303) This curious â€Å"ice-muzzle on his mouth† (1304) elongates as the man progresses on his journey, so that â€Å"he continued monotonously to chew tobacco and to increase the length of his amber beard† (1304); later still, the â€Å"ice-muzzle† (1306) obstructs his mouth when he attempts to eat his meal. The â€Å"amber beard,† a vivid if admittedly bizarre feature of London’s tale, gathers in signi? cance if we recollect events in the ninth and ? nal circle of Dante’s Inferno. When Dante the pilgrim arrives at Hell’s bottom, he discovers a frozen Lake Cocytus that i s swept by bitter, freezing winds.As Dante ventures toward the heart of Lake Cocytus, where the ? gure of Lucifer weeps, gnashes his teeth, and beats his wings, he eventually arrives at the region of Ptolomea (Inf. 33. 124). In this place he ? nds wretched sinners buried up to their waists in ice: We went farther on, where the frost roughly swathes another people, not bent downwards, but with faces all upturned. The very weeping there prevents their weeping, and the grief, which ? nds a barrier upon their eyes, turns inward to increase the agony, for the ? rst tears form a knot and, like a crystal visor, ? l all the cup beneath the eyebrow. (Inf . 33. 91–99) The â€Å"crystal visor [visiere di cristallo]† (Inf . 33. 98) or â€Å"the hard veils [i duri veli]† (Inf . 33. 112) that form and clamp about the faces of these sinners offer an attractive source for the â€Å"crystal beard† or â€Å"muzzle of ice† that torments the countenance of London†™s antihero. Just as the tears around the faces of Dante’s sinners solidify and accumulate to form visors or veils, so the tobacco spit in the beard of London’s protagonist encrusts, clusters, and builds to form an icemuzzle.London’s ice-muzzle that shatters, â€Å"like glass, into brittle fragments† (1303), also seems to recall Dante’s frozen Lake Cocytus, which has the durability â€Å"of glass [di vetro]† (Inf . 32. 24). In his depiction of the Yukon London gestures further to Dante’s sinners, who are embedded in Lake Cocytus. Just as Dante’s Lake Cocytus is one solid block of ice, so the creek that surrounds the man â€Å"was frozen clear to the bottom, — no creek could contain water in that arctic winter† (1304).Equally, just as Dante’s sinners are trapped in the ice, so various ice pools, covered with â€Å"a snow-hidden ice-skin† (1305), present â€Å"traps† (1304) that are concealed around the surface of the creek. It is through the ice-skin of one of these same traps that the man falls and, like Dante’s â€Å"wretches of the cold crust [tristi de la fredda crosta]† (Inf . 33. 109), the man â€Å"wet[s] himself halfway to the knees before he ? oundered out to the ?rm crust† (1307). 176 ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and ReviewsLondon’s allusion to Dante is all the more pertinent when we consider the nature of the sin for which Dante’s transgressors in Ptolomea are being punished. The inhabitants of Ptolomea are those offenders who have transgressed against their guests, hosts, or companions. London’s critics have acknowledged the man’s hubris as â€Å"an overweening con? dence in the ef? cacy of his own rational faculties and a corresponding blindness to the dark, nonrational powers of nature, chance, and fate† (Labor 63–64). Yet, as with Dante’s sinners con? ed in Ptolome a, the fatal ? aw of London’s antihero is as much his inability to understand the value of companionship or community. In this way the nameless man’s husky acts as a foil to its master. London characterizes the relationship between the man and his dog as that existing between a â€Å"? re-provider† (1309) and a â€Å"toil-slave† (1306), and, as such, he reveals that their union is based upon a ruthless pact of convenience and functionality rather than an accord of mutual love, respect, and sympathy.The â€Å"menacing throat-sounds† (1307) of the man are, to the perceptions of the dog, as â€Å"the sound of whip-lashes† (1307), and the narrative con? rms the dog’s apprehensions in his master’s futile, last ditch effort to destroy man’s best friend and use its very lifeblood and vital warmth in order to save his own skin. London’s account of his protagonist’s failure to be companionate with his dog is a cruci al index to the man’s inability to â€Å"meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man’s frailty in general† (1302).His cruel treatment of his dog furnishes yet another example of his refusal to perceive his fellow human beings and the natural world surrounding him as more than â€Å"things† stripped bare of their â€Å"signi? cances† (1302). His aversion to companionability, which is equivalent to Dante’s sin of Ptolomea, is further re? ected in his refusal to heed the old-timer’s advice to foster human community and trust to a â€Å"trail-mate† (1309). London’s allusion to both the frozen wastes of Dante’s Ptolomea and the crystal beards of the sinners who reside in that nhospitable climate provides a convincing literary analogue for London’s haunting and gloomy depiction of the Klondike; the intertext also serves to highlight the nature of the tragic ? aw of London’s protago nist in placing his trust in a misguided individualism where â€Å"any man who was a man could travel alone† (1308). It may be the case that in the parallels between Jack London’s severe experience of being buried in the Klondike and Dante’s unforgettable vision of his cardinal sinners, buried in Lake Cocytus, London found a subject that he could not resist treating imaginatively, irrespective of his religious and political standpoint.However, if, as I believe, London’s â€Å"To Build a Fire (II)† can be read as a moral fable of transgression and punishment that is heavily invested in the stuff of spiritual allegory and, in particular, relies upon the design of Dante’s Commedia, then our tidy, traditional understanding of London as a long-standing, dedicated Socialist who was condescending toward, if not scornful of, spiritual and religious matters becomes problematic or, at the very least, open to reassessment. Jack London’s â€Å"T o Build a Fire (II)† 177So that there can be no mistaking the tale’s literary debt to the Florentine master, London’s coda to his narrative contains a strong, though unsettling, allusion to the close of each of Dante’s three canticles. The allusion unsettles, because it bears London’s signature pessimism regarding an unresponsive universe. As, in turn, each canticle ends, Dante the pilgrim gains an increasingly clari? ed and luminous perspective upon the starry universe that proclaims God’s abundant love and His concern for Creation: in Inferno, while emerging from Hell’s pit onto the surface of the Earth, Dante is able to contemplate the ? mament and â€Å"see again the stars [riveder le stelle]† (Inf . 34. 139); in Purgatorio, from the peak of Mount Purgatory Dante is â€Å"pure and ready to rise to the stars [puro e disposto a salire a le stelle]† (Purg. 33. 145); and, in Paradiso, Dante is at long last granted a beati ? c vision of his Maker and is ? lled with wonder â€Å"by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars [l’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle]† (Parad. 33. 145).In contrast, London’s powerful closing image of the husky, now masterless and â€Å"howling under the stars that leaped and danced and shone brightly in the cold sky† (1315), indicates a more indifferent and uncaring naturalistic universe than the ordered Dantean cosmos where God’s embosoming love moves the sun and the other stars. Perhaps, then, in London’s closing reversion to the bright, dancing stars and the cold sky of an unfeeling universe, James McClintock is correct in his critical judgment that, ultimately, London never truly abandoned his essentially pessimistic worldview in â€Å"To Build a Fire (II)†.Notes I wish to thank my freshman class from the fall semester of 2009 for being a receptive audience to the ideas presented in this paper. Above all, I am grateful to Marek Ignatowicz, a poet and a true man of letters. Without his facility for illuminating discussion on all things literary, and without our memorable conversation on the subject of beards in fact and in ? ction, it is highly probable that the topic of this paper would never have occurred to me. 1 Milton’s Paradise Lost, and in particular the character of Milton’s Satan, is an inspiration to Wolf Larsen in The Sea-Wolf .Larsen remarks of Milton’s fallen archangel: â€Å"But Lucifer was a free spirit. To serve was to suffocate. He preferred suffering in freedom to all the happiness of a comfortable servility. He did not care to serve God. He cared to serve nothing. He was no ? gurehead. He stood on his own legs. He was an individual† (249). Works Cited Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy: Inferno. Trans. Charles S. Singleton. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970. Print. ———. The Divine Comedy: Paradiso. Trans. Cha rles S. Singleton.Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975. Print. 178 ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews ———. The Divine Comedy: Purgatorio. Trans. Charles S. Singleton. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973. Print. Labor, Earle. Jack London. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1974. Print. London, Jack. The Complete Short Stories of Jack London. Ed. Earle Labor, Robert C. Leitz, III, and I. Milo Shepard. 3 vols. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993. Print. ———. The Sea-Wolf . New York: MacMillan, 1967. Print. McClintock, James I.White Logic: Jack London’s Short Stories. Cedar Springs: Wolf House Books, 1976. Print. Milton, John. The Poetical Works of John Milton. Ed. Helen Darbishire. London: Oxford University Press,1958. Print. Mitchell, Lee Clark. â€Å"‘Keeping His Head’: Repetition and Responsibility in London’s ‘To Build a Fire. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Journal of Modern Lite rature 13. 1 (1986): 76–96. Print. Sinclair, Andrew. Jack: A Biography of Jack London. London: Harper and Row, 1977. Print. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.