The Grapes Of Wrath: Description Al Joad And The Setting :: essays research papers

The Grapes of Wrath: Description Al Joad and the Setting Al Joad is a fairly skinny guy of medium built who starts out being a cocky, self-conceited character. His only justifiable reason for acting cocky is that his brother, Tom, killed a man and went to jail. Al respects his brother and thinks of him as a man for having killed another man. The fact of the matter is that Tom was only acting in self defense. After a man came after Tom with a knife, Tom hit him over the head with a shovel, and killing him in the process. Al would receive complements all over town from people who recognize him and being the brother of a man that was a killer. As soon as Tom Joad comes home from prison, Al is a changed person. He is no longer cocky and he almost resents his brother coming home so soon. As the Joad family is forced to leave their home land and travel to California, Al takes on a great responsibility. His job is to drive the family and take complete care of the truck that they are driving. Al takes his job very seriously and gets upset when anything happens to the car. Emotionally, I would say Al has become very strong throughout the novel. He starts out pretty depend on the "glory" of his brother, but he takes his responsibilities seriously. I see Al as being a crucial character later in the novel. He is the kind of person that needs motivation from the start, but once he gets going, he won't stop. Setting Description Oklahoma could best be described as one large dustbowl. All rain has ceased to fall. The dry wind wisps through the air and gathers dirt. If you listen closely enough, it sounds as though there are people moaning whenever wind is present. The heat is so humid that any source of water is dried up, and the plants wither away. All of the corn crops are gone as well as all other crops. The dirt is like sand; it has no moisture or fertilization.

Customer Relationship Management and Flight Attendants

Essentials of MIS Additional Cases 1 BUSINESS PROBLEM-SOLVING CASE JetBlue Hits Turbulence In February 2000, JetBlue started flying daily to Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Buffalo, New York, promising top-notch customer service at budget prices. The airline featured new Airbus A320 planes with leather seats, each equipped with a personal TV screen, and average one-way fares of only $99 per passenger. JetBlue was able to provide this relatively luxurious flying experience by using information systems to automate key processes, such as ticket sales (online sales dominate) and baggage handling (electronic tags help track luggage).Jet Blue prided itself on its â€Å"paperless processes. † JetBlue’s investment in information technology enabled the airline to turn a profit by running its business at 70 percent of the cost of larger competitors. At the same time, JetBlue filled a higher percentage of its seats, employed non-union workers, and established enough good will to scor e an impressive customer retention rate of 50 percent. Initially, JetBlue flew only one type of plane from one vendor: the Airbus A320. This approach enabled the airline to standardize flight operations and maintenance procedures to a degree that resulted in considerable savings.CIO Jeff Cohen used the same simple-is-better strategy for JetBlue’s information systems. Cohen depended almost exclusively on Microsoft software products to design JetBlue’s extensive network of information systems. (JetBlue’s reservation system and systems for managing planes, crews, and scheduling are run by an outside contractor. ) Using a single vendor provided a technology framework in which Cohen could keep a small staff and favor in-house development of systems over outsourcing and relying on consultants. The benefit was stable and focused technology spending. JetBlue spent only 1. percent of its revenue on information technology, as opposed to the 5 percent spent by competitors. JetBlue’s technology strategy helped create a pleasing flying experience for passengers. As president and chief operating officer Dave Barger put it, â€Å"Some people say airlines are powered by fuel, but this airline is powered by its IT infrastructure. † JetBlue consistently found itself at the top of J. D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction surveys. JetBlue believed it had learned to work lean and smart. The big question was whether JetBlue would be able to maintain its strategy and its success as the airline grew.By the end of 2006, the company was operating 500 flights daily in 50 cities and had $2. 4 billion in annual revenue. Along the way, JetBlue committed to purchasing a new plane every five weeks through 2007, at a cost of $52 million each. Through all of this, JetBlue remained true to its formula for success and customers continued to return. February 14, 2007, was a wake-up call. A fierce ice storm struck the New York City area that day and set i n motion a string of events that threatened JetBlue’s sterling reputation and its stellar customer relationships.JetBlue made a fateful decision to maintain its schedule in the belief that the horrible weather would break. JetBlue typically avoided pre-canceling flights because passengers usually preferred to have a delayed arrival than to camp out at a terminal or check into a hotel. If the airline had guessed correctly, it would have kept its revenue streams intact and made the customers who were scheduled to fly that day very happy. Most other airlines began canceling flights early in the day, believing it was the prudent decision even though passengers would be inconvenienced and money would be lost.The other airlines were correct. Nine JetBlue planes left their gates at John F. Kennedy International Airport and were stranded on the tarmac for at least six hours. The planes were frozen in place or trapped by iced-over access roads, as was the equipment that would de-ice o r move the aircraft. Passengers were confined inside the planes for up to ten and one-half hours. Supplies of food and water on the planes ran low and toilets in the restrooms began to back up. JetBlue found itself in the middle of a massive dual crisis of customer and public relations.JetBlue waited too long to solicit help for the stranded passengers because the airline figured that the planes would be able to take off eventually. Meanwhile, the weather conditions and the delays or cancellations of other flights caused customers to flood JetBlue’s reservations system, which could not handle the onslaught. At the same time, many of the airline’s pilots and flight crews were also stranded and unable to get to locations where they could pick up the slack for crews that had just worked their maximum hours without rest, but did not actually go anywhere.Moreover, JetBlue did not have a system in place for the rested crews to call in and have their assignments rerouted. The glut of planes and displaced or tired crews forced JetBlue to cancel more flights the next day, a Thursday. And the cancellations continued daily for nearly a week, with the Presidents’ Day holiday week providing few opportunities for rebooking. On the sixth day, JetBlue cancelled 139 of 600 flights involving 11 other airports. 2 76 Part I: Information Systems in Hits Digital Age JetBlue the TurbulenceJetBlue’s eventual recovery was of little solace to passengers who were stranded at the airport for days and missed reservations for family vacations. Overall, more than 1,100 flights were cancelled, and JetBlue lost $30 million. The airline industry is marked by low profit margins and high fixed costs, which means that even short revenue droughts, such as a four-day shutdown, can have devastating consequences for a carrier’s financial stability. Throughout the debacle, JetBlue’s CEO David G. Neeleman was very visible and forthcoming with accountability and apologies.He was quoted many times, saying things such as, â€Å"We love our customers and we’re horrified by this. There’s going to be a lot of apologies. † Neeleman also admitted to the press that JetBlue’s management was not strong enough and its communications system was inadequate. The department responsible for allocating pilots and crews to flights was too small. Some flight attendants were unable to get in touch with anyone who could tell them what to do for three days. With the breakdown in communications, thousands of pilots sand flight attendants were out of position, and the staff could neither find them nor tell them where to go.JetBlue had grown too fast, and its low-cost IT infrastructure and systems could not keep up with the business. JetBlue was accustomed to saving money both from streamlined information systems and lean staffing. Under normal circumstances, the lean staff was sufficient to handle all operations, and the computer syste ms functioned well below their capacity. However, the ice storm exposed the fragility of the infrastructure as tasks such as rebooking passengers, handling baggage, and locating crew members became impossible. Although Neeleman asserted in a conference call hat JetBlue’s computer systems were not to blame for its meltdown, critics of the company pointed out that JetBlue lacked systems to keep track of off-duty flight crews and lost baggage. Its reservation system could not expand enough to meet the high customer call volume. Navitaire, headquartered in Minneapolis, hosts the reservation system for JetBlue as well as for a dozen other discount airlines. The Navitaire system was configured to accomodate up to 650 agents at one time, which was more than sufficient under normal circumstances.During the Valentine’s Day crisis, Navitaire was able to tweak the system to accomodate up to 950 agents simultaneously, but that was still not enough. Moreover, JetBlue could not find enough qualified employees to staff its phones. The company employs about 1,500 reservation agents who work primarily from their homes, linking to its Navitaire Open Skies reservation system using an Internet-based voice communications system. Many ticketholders were unable to determine the status of their flights because the phone lines were jammed.Some callers received a recording that directed them to JetBlue’s Web site. The Web site stopped responding because it could not handle the spike in visitors, leaving many passengers with no way of knowing whether they should make the trip to the airport. JetBlue lacked a computerized system for recording and tracking lost bags. It did have a system for storing information such as the number of bags checked in by a passenger and bag tag identification numbers. But the system could not record which bags had not been picked up or their location.There was no way for a JetBlue agent to use a computer to see if a lost bag for a partic ular passenger was among the heap of unclaimed bags at airports where JetBlue was stranded. In the past, JetBlue management did not feel there was a need for such a system because airport personnel were able to look up passenger records and figure out who owned leftover bags. When so many flights were canceled, the process became unmanageable. JetBlue uses several applications provided by outsourcing vendor Sabre Airline Solutions of Southlake, Texas to manage, schedule, and track planes and crews and to develop actual flight plans.Sabre’s FliteTrac application interfaces with the Navitaire reservation system to provide managers with information about flight status, fuel, passenger lists, and arrival times. Sabre’s CrewTrac application tracks crew assignments and provides pilots and flight attendants access to their schedules via a secure Web portal. JetBlue uses a Navitaire application called SkySolver to determine how to redeploy planes and crews to emerge from fligh t disruptions. However, JetBlue found out during the Valentine’s Day emergency that SkySolver was unable to transfer the information quickly to JetBlue’s Sabre applications.And even if these systems had worked properly together, JetBlue would have probably been unable to locate all of its flight crews to redirect them. It did not have a system to keep track of off-duty crew members. Overtaxed phone lines prevented crew members from calling into headquarters to give their locations and availability for work. JetBlue’s response to its humiliating experience was multifaceted. On the technology front, the airline deployed new software that sends recorded messages to pilots and flight attendants to inquire about their availability.When the employees return the calls, the information they supply is entered into a system that stores the data for access and analysis. From a staffing standpoint, Neeleman promised to train 100 employees from the airline’s corporate office to serve as backups for the departments that were stretched too thin by the effects of the storm. Chapter 2:of MIS AdditionalBusinesses Use Information Systems Essentials E-Business: How Cases 77 3 JetBlue attempted to address its customer relations and image problems by creating a customer bill of rights to enforce standards for customer treatment and airline behavior.JetBlue would be penalized when it failed to provide proper service, and customers who were subjected to poor service would be rewarded. JetBlue set the maximum time for holding passengers on a delayed plane at five hours. The company changed its operational philosophy to make more accomodation for inclement weather. An opportunity to test its changes arrived for JetBlue just one month after the incident that spurred the changes. Faced with another snow and ice storm in the northeast United States on March 16, 2007, JetBlue cancelled 215 flights, or about a third of its total daily slate.By canceling early, ma nagement hoped to ensure that its flight crews would be accessible and available when needed, and that airport gates would be kept clear in case flights that were already airborne had to return. In the wake of its winter struggles, JetBlue was left to hope that its customers would be forgiving and that its losses could be offset. Neeleman pointed out that only about 10,000 of JetBlue’s 30 million annual customers were inconvenienced by the airline’s weather-related breakdowns.On May 10, 2007, JetBlue’s Board of Directors removed Neeleman as CEO, placing him in the role of non-executive chairman. According to Liz Roche, managing partner at Customers Incorporated, a customer relationship management research and consulting firm, â€Å"JetBlue demonstrated that it’s an adolescent in the airline industry and that it has a lot of learning and growing up to do. † Sources: Doug Bartholomew and Mel Duvall, â€Å"What Really Happened at JetBlue,† Base line Magazine, April 1, 2007; â€Å"JetBlue Cancels Hundreds of Flights,† The Associated Press, accessed via www. nytimes. om, March 16, 2007; Susan Carey and Darren Everson, â€Å"Lessons on the Fly: JetBlue’s New Tactics,† The Wall Street Journal, February 27, 2007; Eric Chabrow, â€Å"JetBlue’s Management Meltdown,† CIO Insight, February 20, 2007; Jeff Bailey, â€Å"Chief ‘Mortified’ by JetBlue Crisis,† The New York Times, February 19, 2007 and â€Å"Long Delays Hurt Image of JetBlue,† The New York Times, February 17, 2007; Susan Carey and Paula Prada, â€Å"Course Change: Why JetBlue Shuffled Top Rank,† The Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2007; Coreen Bailor, JetBlue’s Service Flies South,† Customer Relationship Management, May 2007; Thomas Hoffman, â€Å"Out-of-the-Box Airline Carries Over Offbeat Approach to IT,† Computerworld, March 11, 2003; and Stephanie Overby, â€Å"JetBlue Skies Ahead, † CIO Magazine, July 1, 2002. Case Study Questions 1. What types of information systems and business functions are described in this case? 2. What is JetBlue’s business model? How do its information systems support this business model? 3.What was the problem experienced by JetBlue in this case? What people, organization, and technology factors were responsible for the problem? 4. Evaluate JetBlue’s response to the crisis. What solutions did the airline come up with? How were these solutions implemented? Do you think that JetBlue found the correct solutions and implemented them correctly? What other solutions can you think of that JetBlue hasn’t tried? 5. How well is JetBlue prepared for the future? Are the problems described in this case likely to be repeated? Which of JetBlue’s business processes are most vulnerable to breakdowns? How much will a customer bill of rights help?

“The Destructors” by Graham Greene Essay

Graham Greene the author of â€Å"The Destructors† and Richard Connell the author of â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† both used a similar mood in their stories. Connell placed his story on an island in the Caribbean that was dark and scary, it had a reputation of death and separation. Greene placed his characters in a post war zone in London where there seemed to be little hope of life. Greene’s setting was urban with many young English boys as his main characters; Connell contrasted that with a sole island with only two main inhabitants and a pack of dogs. Both authors wrote stories that have very troubled characters. The characters also reflect a dark mood to go along with the setting. The Credibility was reasonable for both stories and I believed both stories could happen. Rainsford and â€Å"T† were good characters and the setting a great deal influenced them both. I related more to the atmosphere of â€Å"The most Dangerous Game† but did not have any problem picturing either one while reading the stories. â€Å"The Destructors† took place in London post world war II 1939-1945 on Bank Holiday, which is a 3-day weekend that takes place in Britain a few times a year. â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† took place on a remote tropical island in the Caribbean and was sometime after the First World War. The first similarity between the two stories is the dark mood that both setting portray, nighttime on an island in the middle of the ocean and post war stricken London. Another similarity is how both setting portray a holiday or vacation idea. The Setting of â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† is exactly the kind of setting you would need to pull of the kind of â€Å"game† secluded from the day to day bother of other people who might be passing by, no law enforcement to bother you with the accusation of murder. â€Å"The Des tructors† setting is a little harder to believe that this could happen and that a group of kids could pull it off. I have done a lot of demolition and I know how hard it is and how long  it can take. Rainsford was a great hunter even before he got marooned on this island but I’m sure the fact that he was now the prey raised his level of survival necessity. If he was on the island and he needed to rebuild a boat to escape he might not have faired as well but that is only conjecture. With â€Å"T† his character is total based on the setting of the story. If you change the setting you will change â€Å"T† and his whole objective and attitude. The atmosphere or the pervading tone or mood of a place, situation in â€Å"The Destructors† was depressing and dark. I envision rubble and burnt remains of buildings all around with only a few homes left standing in the area. On the Island I see a wonderful tropical paradise that is very inviting although dark and lonely when Rainsford falls from the boat and a wonderful place to visit with lush forest and flowers with sandy beaches. This to me the biggest difference between the two stories, one is set in the busy c ity while the other is secluded. One symbol I see in â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† is the Island being an image of being alone and needing to survive on your own, one man and his fight against one man. In â€Å"The Destructors† I felt like the symbol was the Wormsley Common Gang against the world or at least against Old Misery. This was a symbol of mans need to sometimes break the rules just because we can get away with it. Greene and Connell both used a similar mood in their stories. Connell placed his story on an island in the Caribbean that was dark and scary, it had a reputation of death and separation. Greene placed his characters in a post WWII zone in London where much hope for the future was lost. The setting for â€Å"The Destructors† was urban with many young English boys as his main characters; â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† contrasted that with a lonely island with only two main inhabitants and a pack of dogs. References: Connell, R. (1924). The most dangerous game. Greene, G. (1954). The destructors.

Stefan’s Diaries: Origins Chapter 7

The next week passed in a blur. I ran from fittings at Mrs. Fells's dress shop to visits with Rosalyn in the Cartwrights' stuffy parlor to the tavern with Damon. I tried to forget Katherine, leaving my shutters closed so I wouldn't be tempted to look across the lawn at the carriage house, and forcing myself to smile and wave at Damon and Katherine when they explored the gardens. Once I went up to the attic to look at the portrait of Mother. I wondered what advice she'd have for me. Love is patient, I remembered her saying in her lilting French accent during Bible study. The notion comforted me. Maybe love could come to me and Rosalyn. After that, I tried to love Rosalyn, or at least garner some kind of affection for her. I knew, behind her quietness and her dishwater blond hair, she was simply a sweet girl who'd make a doting wife and mother. Our most recent visits hadn't been awful. In fact, Rosalyn had been in remarkably good spirits. She'd gotten a new dog, a sleek black beast named Sadie, which she'd taken to carrying everywhere lest the new puppy suffer the same fate as Penny had. At one point, when Rosalyn looked up at me with adoring eyes, asking if I'd prefer lilacs or gardenias at the wedding, I almost felt fond of her. Maybe that would be enough. Father had wasted no time in planning another party to celebrate. This time, it was a barbecue at the estate, and Father had invited everyone within a twenty-mile radius. I recognized only a handful of the young men, pretty girls, and Confederate soldiers who milled around the labyrinth, acting as if they owned the estate. When I was younger, I used to love the parties at Veritas–they were always a chance to run down to the ice pond with our friends, to play hide-and-seek in the swamp, to ride horses to the Wickery Bridge, then dare each other to dive into the icy depths of Willow Creek. Now I just wished it were over, so I could be alone in my room. â€Å"Stefan, care to share a whiskey with me?† Robert called out to me from the makeshift bar set up on the portico. To judge from his lopsided grin, he was already drunk. He passed me a sweating tumbler and tipped his own to mine. â€Å"Pretty soon, there will be young Salvatores all over the place. Can you picture it?† He swept his hands expansively over the grounds as if to show me just how much room my imaginary family would have in which to grow. I swirled my whiskey miserably, unable to picture it for myself. â€Å"Well, you've made your daddy one lucky man. And Rosalyn one lucky girl,† Robert said. He lifted his glass to me one last time, then went to chat with the Lockwoods' overseer. I sighed and sat down on the porch swing, observing the merriment occurring all around me. I knew I should feel happy. I knew Father only wanted what was best for me. I knew that there was nothing wrong with Rosalyn. So why did this engagement feel like a death sentence? On the lawn, people were eating and laughing and dancing, and a makeshift band made up of my childhood friends Ethan Giffin, Brian Walsh, and Matthew Hartnett was playing a version of â€Å"The Bonnie Blue Flag.† The sky was cloudless and the weather balmy, with just a slight nip in the air to remind us that it was, indeed, fall. In the distance, schoolchildren were swinging and shrieking on the gate. To be around so much merriment–all meant for me–and not feel happy made my heart thud heavily in my chest. Standing up, I walked inside toward Father's study. I shut the door to the study and breathed a sigh of relief. Only the faintest stream of sunlight peeked through the heavy damask curtains. The room was cool and smelled of well-oiled leather and musty books. I took out a slim volume of Shakespeare's sonnets and turned to my favorite poem. Shakespeare calmed me, the words soothing my brain and reminding me that there soothing my brain and reminding me that there was love and beauty in the world. Perhaps experiencing it through art would be enough to sustain me. I settled into Father's leather club chair in the corner and absentmindedly skimmed the onionskin pages. I'm not sure how long I sat there, letting the language wash over me, but the more I read, the calmer I felt. â€Å"What are you reading?† The voice startled me, and the book slid off my lap with a clatter. Katherine stood at the study entrance, wearing a simple, white silk dress that hugged every curve of her body. All the other women at the party were wearing layers of crinoline and muslin, their skin guarded under thick fabric. But Katherine didn't seem the least bit embarrassed by her exposed white shoulders. Out of propriety, I glanced away. â€Å"Why aren't you at the party?† I asked, bending to pick up my book. Katherine stepped toward me. â€Å"Why aren't you at the party? Aren't you the guest of honor?† She perched on the arm of my chair. â€Å"Have you read Shakespeare?† I asked, gesturing to the open book on my lap. It was a lame attempt to change the conversation; I had yet to meet a girl versed in his works. Just yesterday, Rosalyn had admitted she hadn't even read a book in the past three years, ever since she had graduated from the Girls Academy. Even at that, the last volume she'd perused was merely a primer on how to be a dutiful Confederate wife. â€Å"Shakespeare,† she repeated, her accent expanding the word to three syllables. It was an odd accent, not one that I'd heard from other people from Atlanta. She swung her legs back and forth, and I could see that she wasn't wearing stockings. I tore my eyes away. â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?† she quoted. I looked up, astonished. â€Å"Thou art more lovely and more temperate,† I said, continuing the quote. My heart galloped in my chest, and my brain felt as slow as molasses, creating an unusual sensation that made me feel I was dreaming. Katherine yanked the book off my lap, closing it with a resounding clap. â€Å"No,† she said firmly. â€Å"But that's how the next line goes,† I said, annoyed that she was changing the rules of a game I thought I understood. â€Å"That's how the next line goes for Mr. Shakespeare. But I was simply asking you a question. Shall I compare you to a summer's day? Are you worthy of that comparison, Mr. Salvatore? Or do you need a book to decide?† Katherine asked, grinning as she held the volume just out of my reach. I cleared my throat, my mind racing. Damon would have said something witty in response, without even thinking about it. But when I was with Katherine, I was like a schoolboy who tries to impress a girl with a frog caught from the pond. â€Å"Well, you could compare my brother to a summer's day. Y ou've been spending a lot of time with him.† My face reddened, and instantly I wished I could take it back. I sounded so jealous and petty. â€Å"Maybe a summer's day with a few thunderstorms in the distance,† Katherine said, arching her eyebrow. â€Å"But you, Scholarly Stefan, you are different from Dark Damon. Or †¦Ã¢â‚¬  –Katherine looked away, a flicker of a grin crossing her face–â€Å"Dashing Damon.† â€Å"I can be dashing, too,† I said petulantly, before I even realized what I was saying. I shook my head, frustrated. It was as though Katherine somehow compelled me to speak without thinking. She was so lively and vivacious–talking to her, I felt as though I was in a dream, where nothing I said would have any consequence but everything I said was important. â€Å"Well, then, I must see that, Stefan,† Katherine said. She placed her icy hand on my forearm. â€Å"I've gotten to know Damon, but I barely know you. It's quite a shame, don't you think?† In the distance, the band struck up â€Å"I'm a Good Old Rebel.† I knew I needed to get back outside, to smoke a cigar with Mr. Cartwright, to twirl Rosalyn in a first waltz, to toast my place as a man of Mystic Falls. But instead I remained on the leather club seat, wishing I could stay in the library, breathing in Katherine's scent, forever. â€Å"May I make an observation?† Katherine asked, leaning toward me. An errant dark curl flopped down on her white forehead. I had to use all my strength to resist pushing it off her face. â€Å"I don't think you like what's happening right now. The barbecue, the engagement †¦Ã¢â‚¬  My heart pounded. I searched Katherine's brown eyes. For the past week, I'd been trying desperately to hide my feelings. But had she seen me pausing outside the carriage house? Had she seen me run Mezzanotte to the forest when she and Damon explored the garden, desperate to get away from their laughter? Had she somehow managed to read my thoughts? Katherine smiled ruefully. â€Å"Poor, sweet, steadfast Stefan. Haven't you learned yet that rules are made to be broken? Y can't make ou anyone happy–your father, Rosalyn, the Cartwrights–if you're not happy yourself.† I cleared my throat, aching with the realization that this woman who I'd known for a matter of weeks understood me better than my own father †¦ and my future wife †¦ ever would. Katherine slid off the chair and glanced at the volumes on Father's shelves. She took down a thick, leather-bound book, The Mysteries of Mystic Falls. It was a volume I'd never seen before. A smile lit her rose-colored lips, and she beckoned me to join her on my father's couch. I knew I shouldn't, but as if in a trance, I stood and crossed the room. I sank into the cool, cracked leather cushion next to her and just let go. After all, who knew? Perhaps a few moments in her presence would be the balm I needed to break my melancholia.

We Create Our Own Monsters

Woods 1 Taylor Woods Mrs. Eryes Language Arts 3-4 H 16 October 2012 We Create Our Own Monsters Monsters are different for everyone. Some may think monsters are purple, hairy, one-eyed freaks. Others may think they are atrocious beasts with chain-saws and bloody faces out to kill you! But monsters don’t just have to be a literal thing that we can see and feel. Many monsters are figurative, meaning that it’s not an actual real life monster but are features and characteristics made up of our own fears.Many times the things that make a monster scary are because of the traits we give to them from our own fears. Monsters are creatures of our own imagination that help us deal with and reflect our fears and taboos.. The University of Michigan attempts to define monsters. The way they explain monsters is that they are creatures of our own imagination. James Mitchell describes monsters and says that, â€Å"Cultures create and ascribe meaning to monsters, endowing them with their characteristics derived from their most deep-seeded fears and taboos†.What Mitchell is trying to say is that monsters are made up of our own fears. We create the characteristics of the monster based on our fears and taboos. So, for example, when we are younger we are scared of a monster in our closet and under our beds. So, a monster to a young child would be a hairy, colorful creature like a monster from the movie â€Å"Monsters, Inc. †. But as we grow up we don’t fear that type of monster anymore. We overcome those worries. We are then faced with new problems and fears. For example, many teens fear not being socially accepted and people making fun of them Woods 2 nd bullying them – much like Frankenstein, not because the way he looked, but how he wasn’t accepted by anyone because peopled feared him. Monsters don’t just have to be big and scary creatures. They are also figurative just like in the books The Outsiders and Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. In the book The Outsiders by S. E. Hilton the monster is â€Å"being alone† because in the book they fear being alone because they could be attacked by the Socs. The Socs were the â€Å"cool† and â€Å"popular† kids. They always have each other’s backs and protect one another from the Socs and everything they fear.After Ponnyboy got beat up in the beginning of the book by the Socs you can tell that they are all there for him, â€Å"Our gang had chased the Socs to their car and heaved rocks at them. † In the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, Christopher doesn’t like anything he can’t use logic to figure out such as metaphors, jokes, sarcasm. That’s why he even says in his book, â€Å"This will not be a funny book. I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them. †(Haddon, 8) Christopher fears the unknown and chaos because of his autism.Christopher cannot handle it when there is chaos and people asking too many question, â€Å"He was asking me too many questions and he was asking them too quickly†¦I rolled back onto the lawn and pressed my forehead to the ground again and made the noise that Father calls groaning. † (Haddon, 7) The unknown and chaos are the monsters in this book. Figurative monsters are in all the books even the well-known monster books.. Even most of the classic monsters have figurative monsters in the stories as well. In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelly you would think ‘The Monster’ would be the monster.He still is, it’s obvious, he is a massive, atrocious beast. But ‘The Monster’ actually fears being rejected. He has been rejected by so many people because all they see when they see Woods 3 him is his looks and not any of his personality. Just like when he was learning from his neighbors that he was spying on and decided to go to their house and meet them, and they immediately are frightened and do not accept ‘The Monster’ even though he was not there to harm them. He had very good intensions. When people saw him, they just assumed he was out to cause harm.In Beowulf-poet everyone fears Grendel because he wants to kill Beowulf. This makes Grendael the monster of this story. But just like any other story there is a figurative monster as well. The people in this story fear Grendel’s power to kill whoever he wants, thus making the figurative monster power. But overall, the people of this town fear themselves or loved ones being killed which makes their biggest fear, death, just like in most books. In every story, movie, poem or T. V. show there is a monster. Whether it’s just the antagonist or a classic monster, a monster is a monster.You can always find a figurative monster. What most people fear almost always ends up being the figurative monster. Just like in Frankenstein he fears being rejected, in the Outsiders the y fear being on their own and in the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Christopher fears the unknown. In all these books they also all fear one thing in common: death. One of the biggest fears to everyone is dying which makes every monster almost have to do with death. As we know, we create our own monster, by having their characteristics come from our fears.Every monster is different and every person has a different view on monsters. Woods 4 Works Cited Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. New York: Doubleday, 2003. Print. Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders,. New York: Viking, 1967. Print. THe Holt Reader: An Interactive Worktext. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, n. d. Print. Sixth Course. Mitchell, James. â€Å"Introductory Essay to Our Exploration of Monstrosity. † University of Michigan. N. p. , n. d. Web. Aug. 2012. . Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1831. Print.

The Similarities and Differences between Ijarah and Leasing Essay

The Similarities and Differences between Ijarah and Leasing - Essay Example Since the banking crisis around the world, many countries have shifted to an alternate banking system such as the Islamic banking system in which there is a mechanism of sharing profit and loss and using fixed service charges instead of interest charges which eases the pressure on the economy. Some prohibitions and certain guidelines have been drawn by the Shariah law, which makes a clear comparison between the conventional finance system and Islamic finance system. The unlawful charging of the interest, Riba, is the foremost concept that is prohibited by the Islamic Shariah, while it also prohibits gharar, an uncertainty in activities and has made gambling, Maisir, forbidden which makes it to differ from the conventional finance system in which interest is considered to be a common ground. In an Islamic term, Ijarah is an agreement to offer something for a lease, rent, or wage. According to a different meaning in Islamic fiqh, Ijarah is also referred to as a payment offered to a person for the services that were delivered by the same person. However, if the term Ijarah is considered in the setting of Islamic banking, it is referred to as the process of transference of a particular property from one person to another in exchange of a lawful return or rent from the owner. The procedure involves the lawful transference of the asset from the owner to the lessee and ends with the purchase of the leasing object. Ijarah in the context of Islamic banking is known as Ijarah Thumma Al-Bai or Ijarah Muntahia Bittamleek, which is a type of leased contract that can only be ended with the purchase of the leased asset. The paper discusses the two concepts relating to the finance system, the convention form of financing system and the Islamic way of financing. Moreover, the paper will discuss the leased contracts based on Ijarah, which is consistently being used by the Islamic institutions. Furthermore, the study will differentiate between the concept of Ijarah leasing and financial and operating leases. The study will also highlight the accounting systems which have been recommended by the Accounting and Audition Organization for the Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Lastly, the paper will give recommendations to conciliate between these approaches. Lease is defined as a rental agreement between the two parties in which the owner of the asset gives rights to the lessee to use the asset, and it would be the responsibility of the lessee to compensate timely and contractual payments to the lessor (Brealey et al., 2006(. There are many benefits in leasing over obtaining external borrowing or purchasing assets by making full payment, and it can benefit in terms of the saving of the taxes, costs associ ated with the use of assets, and mitigation of risks (Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe, 2005). Leasing can create a positive impact as it reduces the cost of financial distress and minimizes the chances of bankruptcy. Even if the lessee occurs to be a defaulter, the lessee would be given a higher priority than a creditor who just borrows money. Leasing generally helps in the sharing of inflation risk, business risk, and residual value risk. The residual value risk is considered to be the risk associated with the market value of the asset at the maturity date which can be transferred from the lessee to the lessor who has the authority to adjust the lease payments to cover the risk. If the lessor can earn an advantage from the secondary market, the lease payments

Questions and answers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Questions and answers - Essay Example This has brought about globalization. The World Economic Forum is mentioned adversely in the article, and this is an indication of globalization in the sense that various companies and world leaders on a global scale have come together so that they are able to chat on the way forward in business operations. This brings out the aspect of foreign trade that has brought about globalization. The author has also outlined about information technology. There has been mention about social media through sites such as Facebook, Twitter and you tube, and mobile telephony and how these have enhanced globalization by connecting people all over the world. The anti-globalization movement was protesting about the negative effects of corporate capitalism. This movement emerged before the global financial meltdown of 2008 according to Tanjka Kovac, a human rights lawyer. About a year before the September 11 attacks, the World economic forum (WEF) was meeting in New York at the World Trade Center and Crown Casino. Thousands of people appeared in the streets marching in protest of the corporate capitalism. This mass warned that corporate capitalism was going to have ill consequences because it was being applied in excess with no control. They were extremely dissatisfied with the trend the world was taking in terms of being too capitalist, hence, masses stormed to the streets to try and pass the message to the delegates who were in attendance at the summit. For example, they argued that many well performing brands continued to exploit people in third world countries so that they would earn profits. Technology has influenced global social movements because, through technological advancements, people are connected and messages about globalization are easily spread. Through mobile telephony and online means, people are connected all around the year. As a result of this, it is now possible