Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 9

Part II Change Jesus was a good guy, he didn't need this shit. JOHN PRINE Chapter 9 I should have had a plan before I tried to escape from the hotel room, I see that now. At the time, dashing out the door and into the arms of sweet freedom seemed like plan enough. I got as far as the lobby. It is a fine lobby, as grand as any palace, but in the way of freedom, I need more. I noticed before Raziel dragged me back into the elevator, nearly dislocating my shoulder in the process, that there were an inordinate number of old people in the lobby. In fact, compared to my time, there are inordinate numbers of old people everywhere – well, not on TV, but everywhere else. Have you people forgotten how to die? Or have you used up all of the young people on television so there's nothing left but gray hair and wrinkled flesh? In my time, if you had seen forty summers it was time to start thinking about moving on, making room for the youngsters. If you lasted to fifty the mourners would give you dirty looks when they passed, as if you were purposely trying to put them out of business. The Torah says that Moses lived to be 120 years old. I'm guessing that the children of Israel were following him just to see when he would drop. There was probably betting. If I do manage to escape the angel, I'm not going to be able to make my living as a professional mourner, not if you people don't have the courtesy to die. Just as well, I suppose, I'd have to learn all new dirges. I've tried to get the angel to watch MTV so I can learn the vocabulary of your music, but even with the gift of tongues, I'm having trouble learning to speak hip-hop. Why is it that one can busta rhyme or busta move anywhere but you must busta cap in someone's ass? Is â€Å"ho† always feminine, and â€Å"muthafucka† always masculine, while â€Å"bitch† can be either? How many peeps in a posse, how much booty before baby got back, do you have to be all that to get all up in that, and do I need to be dope and phat to be da bomb or can I just be â€Å"stupid†? I'll not be singing over any dead mothers until I understand. The journey. The quest. The search for the Magi. We traveled first to the coast. Neither Joshua nor I had ever seen the sea before, so as we topped a hill near the city of Ptolomais, and the endless aquamarine of the Mediterranean stretched before us, Joshua fell to his knees and gave thanks to his father. â€Å"You can almost see the edge of the world,† Joshua said. I squinted into the dazzling sun, really looking for the edge of the world. â€Å"It looks sort of curved,† I said. â€Å"What?† Joshua scanned the horizon, but evidently he didn't see the curve. â€Å"The edge of the world looks curved. I think it's round.† â€Å"What's round?† â€Å"The world. I think it's round.† â€Å"Of course it's round, like a plate. If you go to the edge you fall off. Every sailor knows that,† Joshua said with great authority. â€Å"Not round like a plate, round like a ball.† â€Å"Don't be silly,† Joshua said. â€Å"If the world was round like a ball then we would slide off of it.† â€Å"Not if it's sticky,† I said. Joshua lifted his foot and looked at the bottom of his sandal, then at me, then at the ground. â€Å"Sticky?† I looked at the bottom of my own shoe, hoping to perhaps see strands of stickiness there, like melted cheese tethering me to the ground. When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument. â€Å"Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean the world is not sticky.† Joshua rolled his eyes. â€Å"Let's go swimming.† He took off down the hill. â€Å"What about the God?† I asked. â€Å"You can't see him.† Joshua stopped halfway down the hill and held his arms out to the shining, aquamarine sea. â€Å"You can't?† â€Å"That's a crappy argument, Josh.† I followed him down the hill, shouting as I went. â€Å"If you're not going to try, I'm not going to argue with you anymore. So, what if stickiness is like God? You know, how He abandons our people and leads them into slavery whenever we stop believing in Him. Stickiness could be like that. You could float off into the sky any time now because you don't believe in stickiness.† â€Å"It's good that you have something to believe in, Biff. I'm going in the water.† He ran down the beach, shedding his clothes as he went, then dove into the surf, naked. Later, after we'd both swallowed enough salt water to make us sick, we headed up the coast to the city of Ptolemais. â€Å"I didn't think it would be so salty,† Joshua said. â€Å"Yeah,† I said, â€Å"you'd never know it by looking at it.† â€Å"Are you still angry about your round-earth-stickiness theory?† â€Å"I don't expect you to understand,† I said, sounding very mature, I thought. â€Å"You being a virgin and all.† Joshua stopped and grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to wheel around and face him. â€Å"The night you spent with Maggie I spent praying to my father to take away the thoughts of you two. He didn't answer me. It was like trying to sleep on a bed of thorns. Since we left I was beginning to forget, or at least leave it behind, but you keep throwing it in my face.† â€Å"You're right,† I said. â€Å"I forgot how sensitive you virgins can be.† Then, once again, and not for the last time, the Prince of Peace coldcocked me. A bony, stonecutter's fist just over my right eye. He hit harder than I remembered. I remember white seabirds in the sky above me, and just a wisp of clouds across the sky. I remember the frothy surf sloshing over my face, leaving sand in my ears. I remember thinking that I should get up and smite Josh upside the head. I remember thinking then that if I got up, Josh might hit me again, so I lay there for a moment, just thinking. â€Å"So, what do you want?† I said, finally, from my wet and sandy supinity. He stood over me with his fists balled. â€Å"If you're going to keep bringing it up, you have to tell me the details.† â€Å"I can do that.† â€Å"And don't leave anything out.† â€Å"Nothing?† â€Å"I've got to know if I'm going to understand sin.† â€Å"Okay, can I get up? My ears are filling with sand.† He helped me to my feet and as we entered the seaside city of Ptolomais, I taught Josh about sex. Down narrow stone streets between high stone walls. â€Å"Well, most of what we learned from the rabbis was not exactly accurate.† Past men sitting outside their houses, mending their nets. Children selling cups of pomegranate juice, women hanging strings of fish from window to window to dry. â€Å"For instance, you know that part right after Lot's wife gets turned to stone and then his daughters get drunk and fornicate with him?† â€Å"Right, after Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed.† â€Å"Well, that's not as bad as it sounds,† I said. We passed Phoenician women who sang as they pounded dried fish into meal. We passed evaporation pools where children scraped the encrusted salt from the rocks and put it into bags. â€Å"But fornication is a sin, and fornication with your daughters, well, that's a, I don't know, that's a double-dog sin.† â€Å"Yeah, but if you put that aside for a second, and you just focus on the two young girls aspect of it, it's not nearly as bad as it sounds initially.† â€Å"Oh.† We passed merchants selling fruit and bread and oil, spices and incense, calling out claims of quality and magic in their wares. There was a lot of magic for sale in those days. â€Å"And the Song of Solomon, that's a lot closer, and you can sort of understand Solomon having a thousand wives. In fact, with you being the Son of God and all, I don't think you'd have any problem getting that many girls. I mean, after you figure out what you're doing.† â€Å"And a lot of girls is a good thing?† â€Å"You're a ninny, aren't you?† â€Å"I thought you'd be more specific. What does Maggie have to do with Lot and Solomon?† â€Å"I can't tell you about me and Maggie, Josh. I just can't.† We were passing a lick of prostitutes gathered outside the door of an inn. Their faces were painted, their skirts slit up the side to show their legs glistening with oil, and they called to us in foreign languages and made tiny dances with their hands as we passed. â€Å"What the hell are they saying?† I asked Joshua. He was better with languages. I think they were speaking Greek. â€Å"They said something about how they like Hebrew boys because we can feel a woman's tongue better without our foreskins.† He looked at me as if I might confirm or deny this. â€Å"How much money do we have?† I asked. The inn rented rooms, stalls, and space under the eave to sleep. We rented two adjacent stalls, which was a bit of a luxury for us, but an important one for Joshua's education. After all, weren't we on this journey so he could learn to take his rightful place as the Messiah? â€Å"I'm not sure if I should watch,† Joshua said. â€Å"Remember David was running over the roofs and happened onto Bathsheba in her bath. That set a whole chain of sin in motion.† â€Å"But listening won't be a problem.† â€Å"I don't think it's the same thing.† â€Å"Are you sure that you don't want to try this yourself, Josh? I mean, the angel was never clear about your being with a woman.† To be honest, I was a little frightened myself. My experience with Maggie hardly qualified me to be with a harlot. â€Å"No, you go ahead. Just describe what's happening and what you're feeling. I have to understand sin.† â€Å"Okay, if you insist.† â€Å"Thank you for doing this for me, Biff.† â€Å"Not just for you, Josh, for our people.† So that's how we ended up with the two stalls. Josh would be in one while I, along with the harlot of my choice, instructed him from the other in the fine art of fornication. Back out at the front of the inn I shopped for my teaching assistant. It was an eight-harlot inn, if that's how you measure an inn. (I understand that now they measure inns in stars. We are in a four-star inn right now. I don't know what the conversion from harlots to stars is.) Anyway, there were eight harlots outside the inn that day. They ranged in age from only a few years older than us to older than our mothers. And they ran the gamut of shapes and sizes, having in common only that they were all highly painted and well oiled. â€Å"They're all so†¦so nasty-looking.† â€Å"They're harlots, Biff. They're supposed to be nasty-looking. Pick one.† â€Å"Let's go look at some different harlots.† We had been standing a few doors down from the harlots, but they knew we were watching. I walked over and stopped close to a particularly tall harlot and said, â€Å"Excuse me, do you know where we might find a different selection of harlots? No offense, it's just that my friend and I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And she pulled open her blouse, exposing full breasts that were glistening with oil and flecks of mica, and she threw her skirt aside and stepped up so a long leg slid behind me and I could feel the rough hair between her legs grinding against my hip and her rouged nipples brushed my cheek and in that instant profound wood did from my person protrude. â€Å"This one will be fine, Josh.† The other harlots let loose with an exaltation of ululation as we led my harlot away. (You know ululation as the sound an ambulance makes. That I get an erection every time one passes the hotel would seem morbid if you didn't know this story of how Biff Hires a Harlot.) The harlot's name was Set. She was a head and a half taller than me, with skin the color of a ripe date, wide brown eyes flecked with gold, and hair so black that it reflected blue in the dim light of the stable. She was the perfect harlot design, wide where a harlot should be wide, narrow where a harlot should be narrow, delicate of ankle and neck, sturdy of conscience, intrepid and single-minded of goal once she was paid. She was an Egyptian, but she had learned Greek and a little Latin to help lubricate the discourse of her trade. Our situation required more creativity than she seemed accustomed to, but after a heavy sigh she mumbled something about â€Å"if you fuck a Hebrew, make room in the bed for his guilt,â €  then pulled me into my stall and closed the gate. (Yes, the stalls were used for animals. There was a donkey in the stall opposite Josh's.) â€Å"So what's she doing?† Josh asked. â€Å"She's taking off my clothes.† â€Å"What now.† â€Å"She's taking off her clothes. Oh jeez. Ouch.† â€Å"What? Are you fornicating?† â€Å"No. She's rubbing her whole body over mine, sort of lightly. When I try to move she smacks me in the face.† â€Å"How does it feel?† â€Å"How do you think? It feels like someone smacking you, you twit.† â€Å"I mean how does her body feel? Do you feel sinful? Is it like Satan rubbing against you? Does it burn like fire?† â€Å"Yeah, you got it. That pretty much has it.† â€Å"You're lying.† â€Å"Oh wow.† Then Josh said something in Greek that I didn't catch all of and the harlot answered, sort of. â€Å"What did she say?† Josh asked. â€Å"I don't know, you know my Greek is bad.† â€Å"Mine isn't, I couldn't understand what she said.† â€Å"Her mouth is full.† Set raised up. â€Å"Not full,† she said in Greek. â€Å"Hey, I understood that!† â€Å"She has you in her mouth?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"That's heinous.† â€Å"It doesn't feel heinous.† â€Å"It doesn't?† â€Å"No, Josh, I gotta tell you, this really is – oh my God!† â€Å"What? What's happening?† â€Å"She's getting dressed.† â€Å"Are you done sinning? That's it?† The harlot said something in Greek that I didn't understand. â€Å"What did she say?† I asked. â€Å"She said that for the amount of money we gave her, you're finished.† â€Å"Do you think you understand fornication now?† â€Å"Not really.† â€Å"Well then, give her some more money, Joshua. We're going to stay here until you learn what you need to know.† â€Å"You're a good friend to suffer this for me.† â€Å"Don't mention it.† â€Å"No, really,† Joshua said. â€Å"Greater love hath no man, than he lay down for his friend.† â€Å"That's a good one, Josh. You should remember that one for later.† The harlot then spoke at length. â€Å"You want to know what this is like for me, kid? This is like a job. Which means that if you want it done, you need to pay for it. That's what it's like.† (Joshua would translate for me later.) â€Å"What'd she say?† I asked. â€Å"She wants the wages of sin.† â€Å"Which are?† â€Å"In this case, three shekels.† â€Å"That's a bargain. Pay her.† Much as I tried – and I did try – I didn't seem able to convey to Joshua what it was he wanted to know. I went through a half-dozen more harlots and a large portion of our traveling money over the next week, but he still didn't understand. I suggested that perhaps this was one of the things that the magician Balthasar was supposed to teach Joshua. Truth be told, I'd developed a burning sensation when I peed and I was ready for a break from tutoring my friend in the fine art of sinning. It's a week or less by sea if we go to Selucia, then it's less than a day's walk inland to Antioch,† Joshua said, after he had been talking to some sailors who were drinking at the inn. â€Å"Overland it's two to three weeks.† â€Å"By sea, then,† I said. Pretty brave, I thought, considering I'd never set foot in a boat in my life. We found a wide-beamed, raised-stern Roman cargo ship bound for Tarsus that would stop at all the ports along the way, including Selucia. The ship's master was a wiry, hatchet-faced Phoenician named Titus Inventius, who claimed to have gone to sea when he was four and sailed to the edge of the world twice before his balls dropped, although what one had to do with the other I never figured out. â€Å"What can you do? What's your trade?† Titus asked, from under a great straw hat he wore while watching the slaves load jars of wine and oil onto the ship. His eyes were black beads set back in caves of wrinkles formed by a lifetime of squinting into the sun. â€Å"Well, I'm a stonemason and he's the Son of God.† I grinned. I thought that would give us more diversity than just saying we were two stonemasons. Titus pushed the straw hat back on his head and looked Joshua up and down. â€Å"Son of God, huh? How's that pay?† Joshua scowled at me. â€Å"I know stone work and carpentry, and we both have strong backs.† â€Å"There's not a lot of call for stone work aboard a ship. Have you been to sea before?† â€Å"Yes,† I said. â€Å"No,† Joshua said. â€Å"He was sick that day,† I said. â€Å"I've been to sea.† Titus laughed. â€Å"Fine, you go help get those jars on board. I'm taking a load of pigs as far as Sidon, you two keep them calm and keep them alive in the heat and by that time maybe you'll be something of use to me. But it costs you as well.† â€Å"How much?† Joshua asked. â€Å"How much do you have?† â€Å"Five shekels,† I said. â€Å"Twenty shekels,† Joshua said. I elbowed the Messiah in the ribs hard enough to bend him over. â€Å"Ten shekels,† I said. â€Å"Five each, I meant before when I said five.† I felt as if I was negotiating with myself, and not doing that well. â€Å"Then ten shekels plus any work I can find for you. But if you puke on my ship, you're over the side, you hear me? Ten shekels or not.† â€Å"Absolutely,† I said, pulling Joshua down the dock to where the slaves were loading jars. When we were out of earshot of Captain Titus, Joshua said, â€Å"You have to tell him that we're Jews, we can't tend pigs.† I grabbed one of the huge wine jars by the ears and started to drag it toward the ship. â€Å"It's okay, they're Roman pigs. They don't care.† â€Å"Oh, all right,† Joshua said, latching onto a jar of his own and hoisting it onto his back. Then it hit him and he set the jar down again. â€Å"Hey, wait, that's not right.† The next morning we sailed with the tide. Joshua, me, a crew of thirty, Titus, and fifty allegedly Roman pigs. Until we cast off from the dock – Josh and I manning one of the long oars – and we were well out of the harbor; until we had shipped the oars and the great square sail was ballooned over the deck like the belly of a gluttonous genie; until Joshua and I climbed to the rear of the ship where Titus stood on the raised deck manning one of the two long steering oars and I looked back toward land, and could see not a city but a speck on the horizon; until then, I had no idea that I had a deep-seated fear of sailing. â€Å"We are way too far away from land,† I said. â€Å"Way too far. You really need to steer closer to the land, Titus.† I pointed to land, in case Titus was unsure as to which way he should go. It makes sense, don't you think? I mean, I grew up in an arid country, inland, where even the rivers are little more than damp ditches. My people come from the desert. The one time we actually had to cross a sea, we walked. Sailing seemed, well, unnatural. â€Å"If the Lord had meant us to sail we would have been born with, uh, masts,† I said. â€Å"That's the dumbest thing you've ever said,† said Joshua. â€Å"Can you swim?† asked Titus. â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"Yes he can,† Joshua said. Titus grabbed me by the back of the neck and threw me over the stern of the ship.

Antibiotic Sensitivity Lab

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This antibiotic prevents transfer-RNA (tRNA) molecules from binding to the 30S subunit of bacterial ribosomes. . ciprofloxin: Contains agents that inhibit one or more enzymes in the DNA synthesis pathway F. Describe three mechanisms by which microbes mig ht become resistant to the action of an antimicrobial drug? Microbes may become resistant by producing enzymes that will detoxify or inactivate the antibiotic such as penicillinase and other beta-lactamases. Microbes may also alter the target site in the bacterium to reduce or block binding of the antibiotic in the process producing a slightly altered ribosomal subunit that still functions but to which the drug can't bind.Microbes may also prevent the transport of the antimicrobial agent into the bacterium thereby producing an altered cytoplasmic membrane or outer membrane. G. Why do you think neglecting to finish a prescribed course of antibiotics might contribute to the rise of antibiotic resistance? If you don't finish the medication, all the bacteria causing the infection may not be killed. Then, the infection could come back in that same place or even show up somewhere else. When the bacteria are undertreated, some of them may have enough time to have these mistakes occur in th eir DNA.Then, when they multiply, you get a bunch of bacteria that no longer respond to the antibiotics. H. What is a tube dilution test? How is it used to determine susceptibility? Tube dilution test is one of the tests that can be used to tell which antimicrobial agent is most likely to combat a specific pathogen. This test is conducted by preparing a series of culture tubes where each tube contains a liquid medium and a different concentration of an antimicrobial agent. These tubes are then inoculated with the test organism and then incubated. After the incubation they are examined for growth.I. Define the following: a. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC): this is the lowest concentration of antimicrobial agent that is capable of preventing growth of the organism undergoing the tube dilution test b. Zone of Inhibition: this is the area surrounding the high potency disk of a chemotherapeutic agent where growth is inhibited in an agar diffusion test. J. What were the results of the Kirby-Bauer test for S. epidermidis? S. epidermidis was sensitive to Novobiacin S. epidermidis was resistant to Penicillin S. epidermidis was intermediate in the case of Gentamicin

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Ardley, Neil et al. Music - Essay Example On audience participation, the performers gave signs to the audience to join them especially at the chorus part of the song. This they achieved by signaling their audience using their hands to join along, or by turning the microphone towards the audience(Ardley et al, 82.). The audience in turn picked up the meaning of the gestures and sang along. At times they would simply tell the audience to sing along which they did. When introducing a new song to the audience, the group first taught the audience the song lyrics and rhythm before singing it. They would then start by singing the song in a slow tempo, and increased it gradually as the audience learned the song better. The 2014 One Direction documentary Where we are talks about the rise of the One Direction from the X factor all the way to the San Siro stadium performance which was one of their peak moments in their music career. This documentary reveals to us what it took to make this music group successful. They relate their success to their audience. In this documentary they talk about planning on their shows prior to performance, and proper rehearsals to get used to the performance and prevent any awkward situations while on stage.

C&B (u2 ip&db) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

C&B (u2 ip&db) - Essay Example In addition, out-of-pocket expenses are likely to be less than they would be for other types of programs. Fourth, co-payments are very low or nothing. Fifth, anything that is not covered under Medicare may be available at a small fee or for nothing. Sixth, there is virtually no paperwork. Finally, â€Å"You will not need Medigap insurance to supplement your Medicare coverage because the plan provides you with all or most of the same benefits at no additional cost. Unlike Medigap insurers who in some cases can refuse to sell you a policy if you have a health problem, plans generally must accept all Medicare applicants† (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). There are only a few disadvantages to the program, and given the chance, I would definitely enroll. This is mainly because I have gone so long without insurance that these benefits sound amazing to me. The only disadvantages I could find were that enrollees must use pre-determined, plan physicians, hospitals, or care providers; certain services require pre-approval from the enrollee’s primary care physician; and that it can take up to 30 days to leave the program if you so choose (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Medicare Managed Care. (2008). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved August 1, 2008, from http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/fed_prog/mm_care/medcare.htm#What%20are%20the%20Advantages Medicaid is a program that can make it possible for those who would not otherwise be able to afford healthcare coverage to obtain it, get healthy, and stay healthy. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (2008, pg. 1), â€Å"Medicaid is available only to certain low-income individuals and families who fit into an eligibility group that is recognized by federal and state law. Medicaid does not pay money to you; instead, it sends payments directly to your health care providers. Depending on your states

Critical analysis worksheet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critical analysis worksheet - Essay Example Article 2: It is ridiculous to say that money does not influence politics these days. The argument that the number of people who believe that money can change the course of politics is comparable to the few people who believe in global warming is not a solid argument. The former Federal Elections Commission chairman Bradley Smith talks about evidence, yet he does not give any. Democracy was founded on the basis that every person had the right to choose government, yet the vast influx of money has completely eroded this process. Campaigns have taken on such importance that they are all politicians ever seem to do, instead of focusing on real policies that will better the country. Article 1: The first question I would ask would be: Are these guest appearances initiated by the guest or the network. The second question would be: Are guests paid for their appearances, and if so is there a budget for this? Article 1: I do agree with the main premise of the reading because I know that big corporate have the money and political influence to be able to secure guest appearances on these cable networks. I have seen it happen many times where a guest commentator refuses to consider the other side of the argument, so they obviously have some sort of bias. Article 2: I do agree that money now seems to control politics in a way like never before. Just last year I saw hundreds of political ads on TV. These ads must have cost millions of dollars, but the reason they were shown so much is because lobbyists wanted to get their candidate elected. Article 1: I think that we should discuss the emergence of these lobby groups and global corporate that are able to influence the voting public so much. Democracy should be about freedom of opinion, but sometimes it seems like we only get to hear one point of view, and it may not necessarily be the best point of view. Article 2: I think that we should discuss how

Quadratic equations Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Quadratic equations - Assignment Example A maker of trophies observes that their profit behaves as P(x) = -0.3x2 + fx – m where ‘f’ pertains to fee for designing awards according to client’s request while ‘m’ refers to the monthly studio rent. P(x) would then be the monthly profit obtained as a function of ‘x’ or the number of awards designed by the trophy – making company in a month. At a point where x = - f / [ 2(-0.3) ], maximum profit is achieved. Sports such as football often involve throwing of ball from the ground and the ball thrown (projectile) eventually follows a path of trajectory in the shape of a parabola. Physicists characterize this scenario in a kinematic equation that is quadratic by nature, being y = V0y*t - Â ½ gt2 in which ‘y’ represents displacement of the ball whereas V0y is the initial velocity, along the vertical. If one wishes to find time ‘t’ when the ball hits the ground from the air, ‘y’ may be set to 0 so that ‘t’ may be solved given V0y, with g = 9.81

The social and historical influence Essay Example for Free

The social and historical influence Essay Look at the significance of chapter 5 to the novel as a way to focus on the relevance and effect of the writers use of language to describe setting and characters and what it shows about the social and historical influence? This novel is about an extremely intelligent doctor called Victor Frankenstein who used his knowledge of science to find a way of keeping people alive. Mary Shelleys plot must have been influenced by the changes that were happening around her in Britain during the early stages of the industrial revolution. Scientists at this time were investigating the meaning of life. They were using corpses in experiments. She appears to have a great understanding of the scientific discoveries of that time. Behind the writing is a deeper meaning. Mary Shelley is trying to show us how an addiction to anything is not natural and very often dangerous to our well-being and to our social and mental health. Chapter 5 is a crucial moment because this is when the monster is brought to life. Mary Shelleys opening sentence of chapter 5 is Dr Frankenstein telling us It was a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. He goes on to say It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes. The dismal setting contrasts with Dr Frankensteins expectation and anxiety he is feeling just moments before his creation is brought to life. This setting and events causes us to be alarmed and scared because we start imagining what it would be like to be in his position. He then tells us The monsters dull yellow eye opens and it begins to breathe. We would think that he is pleased that he has succeeded in what he set out to do but he straight away is horrified at his creation and what it has turned out to look like. He expresses his negative feelings many times, such as breathless horror and disgust filled my heart and the demonical corpse to which I had so miserably given life. This shows us that the social influence of looks was as great then as it still is in 2009. Dr Frankenstein is distraught about how his creation looks rather than thinking about the feat he has just achieved, I find it puzzling that he is shocked by its image only after the creature has been brought to life, even though he could have seen what it would look like when it was on the operating table. I believe that this shows Dr Frankenstein was so caught up by the science involved with making this being that he was blind to the obvious This is backed by him saying I had selected his features as beautiful this shows us he genuinely thought it was beautiful when it was being made. This chapter shows us that social influences are similar to that we experience today. Through out the novel Mary Shelly uses language to change the atmosphere. This is most present in chapter 5 in which the monster is born and Dr Frankensteins mood changes from a rather exited one to one of bitter disappointment and then again to cowardice before becoming rather animated at the arrival of Clerval. There is much emphasis on description. Dr Frankenstein describes in great detail the evening, the monster and his changing feelings towards his project. His language is often overdramatic and emotional. At length lassitude succeeded to tumult I had before endured, and I threw myself on the bed in my clothes, endeavouring to seek a few moments of forgetfulness, here he is using descriptive words that would not commonly be used today, this reminds us that this novel was written in the 1800s. Shelley writing style is very catching. I believe this is because she isnt writing as a watcher but as a character. This gives us the best view because we know the characters feeling as well as knowing what they dont, this can leave the reader frustrated, worried, scared, and hopeful such as at the end of chapter five when Clerval arrives and Victor has his nervous breakdown. This is evident when victor imagines what could happen. Clerval asks My dear Victor, what, for Gods sake, is the matter? Do not laugh in that manner. How ill are you! What is the cause to all this? To which Victor replies Do not ask me, He can tell. Oh save me! Save me! All this while Frankenstein had been fighting an invisible monster, had Clerval known like us about the monster many people could have been saved. In conclusion I think Mary Shelley produced a novel that was frighteningly believable. I believe that this book shows us that social influence is massive and Shelley believed that one-day man would hold the meaning to life not God. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

Community Development And Health Inequalities Health And Social Care Essay

Community Development And Health Inequalities Health And Social Care Essay To understand the role of community development as a potential strategy for addressing health inequalities, this essay aims to provide a discussion of the extent of health inequalities in the population in the UK. The nature and scale of these issues, the different causes of the indifferences, it will also look at how community development will work and how it could help contribute to the policy goal to reduce the health divide. It will look at the different issues concerning such a project and whether it will prove successful. Building on from the idea of health inequalities being linked to social class, this section illustrates other rationalisations as to this difference and some clarification as to why this might be. Health inequalities by and large are calculated by socio-economic groups however there maybe other explanations for these differences. There are reasons to believe ethnicity make a differences to health inequalities, it is stated in the Health Inequalities report 2008-9 that in April 2001 Pakistani and Bangladeshi men and women reported the highest rates of both poor health and limiting long term illnesses whereas the Chinese reported the lowest. This is an alternative to the explanation of the socio-economic difference; nevertheless there are also other justifications. There are also claims that there are gender inequalities which exist The Mens Health Forum argue that mens life expectancy is more severely affected by deprivation than that of women (House of Common 2009), men are more like ly to commit suicide, suffer from obesity and twice as likely to be diagnosed with and die of cancer. There is also speculation that there is health inequalities between the young and old as the old receive poorer treatment and have less access to certain procedures found in the 2008-9 Health Inequalities report. There are also those who are suffering from physical and mental impairments with poorer health outcomes than other parts of society therefore they are more likely to suffer from terminal illnesses and coronary heart disease (House of Common 2009). The report has also found that health outcomes also vary according to geographical area thus those living in a deprived area are more likely to suffer from worse health problems than those in a more affluent area. To further understand health inequalities this section explores the causes of these, such as access to healthcare (House of Commons 2009). There are a plethora of causes why individuals can not get access to the necessary health care and treatment. The most compelling concern is about access related to age-related inequalities (House of Commons 2009). There are however arguments refuting this, there are other mitigating factors. There are a wide spectrum of lifestyle choices which further contribute to the inequalities in the populace, included amongst these are; smoking, nutrition, exercise and weight (House of Commons 2009). Individuals who are over-weight or given to unhealthy habits such as excessive drinking and smoking may display an increased reluctance to access medical treatment, resulting in a deterioration of health and a widening chasm of health inequalities. It is argued that the lifestyle factors which lead to health inequalities have an underlying socio-economic origin. It is purported that; causes of health inequalities reflect what are frequently referred to as the underlying causes-income, socio-economic group, employment status and educational attainment (House of Commons 2009). There is a correlation between education and income in relation to the health inequalities. The lower down in the socio-economic hierarchy you are, the higher the probability of health inequalities. There is also a widening gap between poverty and housing according to the Heath Inequalities report (2009), those of the low socio-economic group are more likely to have a substantial income therefore they are more likely to live in poor housing which in effect leaves them vulnerable to illnesses such as asthma due to dampness. There are many different aspects which maybe the cause of health inequalities in the population however there are disagreements with som e of these findings such as the link between socio-economic inequalities and health inequalities (House of Commons 2009). According to a recent publication in Health Economics there is not substantial evidence to say there is an association between socio-economic inequalities and health inequalities. There are no direct links but it is assumed that this is a factor in health inequalities and there is not much that can be done about this, however lifestyle factors play a big role in health inequalities in the population which can be helped to improve these inequalities. Community development is a way forward, this is one way in which health inequalities can be reduced in the population in the UK. Community development is a set up where communities can amplify their power and efficiency to improve community life, by getting people to recognise and develop their ability and potential and organise themselves to respond to problems and needs which they share (Scottish Community development Centre 2010). This would mean the community is in control they are able to participate in public decision making and governances (Community development Foundation 2009) as a result they are able to improve their environment for the better which gives them better control in the long run. By using the bottom-up meets top-down approach through capacity building the community members are being used to improve the health inequalities of the surrounding areas. In doing so the communities are being empowered as well as individuals being self empowered consequently the commun ity are more likely to respond than they are if a stranger such as a health professional came in and told the community what they are doing wrong and what needs to be done they have shared values and norms, mutual although not necessarily equal influence, common interests, and commitment to meeting shared needs (1998). Through this approach communities identify and build on strengths, resources, and relationships that exist within communities of identity to address their communal health concerns (1998), and do not feel threatened or belittled by health professionals and they are taking the initiative to recognise what they themselves are doing wrong or lacking and how this can be made better. Community development means there is not a victim blame approach so no one is saying a person is obese due to their eating habits and lack of exercise; it is giving the communities the opportunity to voice their opinions as well as giving health professionals the chance to build rapport with the community. Building on from that, the Scottish Community development Centre (2010) have found that Community development allows communities to plan and have positive prospects for the future as well as creating wealth and giving every member of the community access to its benefits. This would help reduce health inequalities significantly, the community can come together and feel as one and take care of one another which facilitates a safe environment. Through this people are able to develop their skills, reduce isolation by involving everyone as well as creating social networks and building relationships characterized by trust, cooperation and mutual commitment and mediating (1998) with other communities and agencies that affect their community. Community development can prove to be very successful, as an individual a person can be deprived, isolated, intimidated whereas part of a community a person can be rest assured there will always be others, they benefit from community health and feel par t of a community by a sense of identification and emotional connection to other members (1998), working together to reduce health inequalities and taking control to help maintain their achievements. It is hard to measure the success of community development as this would have to be looked at case by case however there are success stories such as the March 2010 Rural Community Programme in the Northwest (Northwest Regional Development Agency 2010). The Northwest have strengthened their rural communities and in 3 years have resulted in 57 social enterprises being supported across a range of services including health (Northwest Regional Development Agency 2010). By empowering the community they have made a huge accomplishment, together they have reduced health inequalities through providing services therefore there is ease of access. This is a huge success for community development; this evidence shows that community development strategies can be used to help reduce health inequalities. Community development can be triumphant; by setting up projects in different communities the government can reduce health inequalities in doing so they are reducing numbers of inequalities of health in the population. This can help the NHS; if there is less health problems there will be less expenditure in the NHS and the government save money which they invest in the NHS to help improve their services. Community development allows capacity building for those communities with lack of education and skills this could be life changing as it allows them to build on their own capacities and improve their lives. Communities come together and become a family. Communities are empowered and as a result voice their opinions and help to decide on policies that put in place, Councils provide local leadership. They know their patch, they bring local knowledge and can help bring people together to breakdown the silos that bedevil public bodies (Local Government 2010) this way theses policies are m ore likely to be successful as they are from the community therefore they are more relevant and money is not wasted in making policies and having to make changes so they meet the needs of communities. Communities learn how to work with others and build relationships and partnerships with other communities and institutions primary care trusts, voluntary sector bodies and local businesses are proving key partners for many of the projects (Local Government 2010). This helps with funding as there is sponsorship coming from different places rather than just from government making it easier on them. With funding from outside deprived communities could become wealthier and the widening gap between the socio-economic groups would decrease and there would be significant improvements in the health inequalities in communities. However there is a lack of evidence in some community development projects there is a well recognised gap between research findings and the implementation of evidence based prevention strategies in community settings (McGinnis and Foege, 2000). If there is no evidence of success within community development projects the government will be reluctant to invest money into the project which would discourage communities from taking part, which inevitably means the community development strategy will prove to be ineffective. If this were the case then health inequalities would not be resolved and communities will still be deprived. There is also the finance side of this strategy; a project like this can be expensive; if government feel its not cost effective there would be limited or no funding available. As this would be new the community and there is no guarantee it will be victorious the community will be disinclined to invest there time or money in the project. Even if there were fundi ng available there is always the chance that communities will chose not to take part, there will also be communities where only part of the community want to get involved therefore would not be as beneficial as possible. There is a chance these strategies may not meet community needs (Green and Mercer, 2001). If a community development strategy is set up in place but does not meet the communities need it would a waste of time and money. Community development needs to be developed around the members of the community, if the project is too multifaceted for the members of the community they will not want to part take or findings could be misleading therefore the project will fail the low level of individual participation rates in studies that recruited from a representative targeted population raises questions about generalisability (uel.co.uk, 2010). There would be insufficient research and findings can be misrepresented. The programme needs to be designed around the community and their capabilities. Another issue could be inadequate resources whether that is down to funding or geographical area and such, without resources the community development would be futile. To conclude, this essay has analysed four key ideas, Firstly it has discussed the extent of health inequalities in the population, the nature and scale of these inequalities. Secondly it has discussed some of the causes for these health inequalities. The third area was the community development and its potential as a strategy to reduce health inequalities. Finally this essay discussed the how community development would make a useful contribution to the policy goal to reduce the health divide. The idea of community development sounds good, many communities would benefit from such projects, this would help change many health inequalities and recent health issues wouldnt be such an issue. There would not so much pressure on the government to do put provisions in place to reduce health problems such as obesity. If there was a community development project based around obesity, people would learn about the benefits of eating healthy and exercising and how to prepare healthy nutritious food on a budget. This would save the NHS millions if the number of obesity related treatments were reduced significantly. Evidence illustrates community development would be a huge success in reducing health inequalities and improving communities. In relation to community development it can be seen that projects can be effective however based on the evidence this not necessarily cost effective, there are no guarantees and even if there is funding there is no assurance the community development will be maintained. There are too many risks involved the situation would have to be assessed very carefully and a lot of planning would have to go into the project. This is not ideal for all aspects of health inequalities; there is also the issue of insufficient findings or misleading results. Unless there is a big chance of success there is no use of wasting time and resources.

The Existence Of God Essay -- Religion Theology Essays Papers

The Existence of God Works Cited Not Included For centuries, the idea of God has been a part of man's history. Past and present, there has always been a different integration consisting of the believers and the non-believers of God. The group of those who have "faith" in God tend to be related to one religion or another. On the other hand, the skeptics find the existence of God somewhat puzzling and try to seek the answers through scientific methods. Even as of today with all the modern technologies and the development of sciences, we still do not have a definitive answer to the question "does God exist?" Among many philosophers and scholars who have tried to answer this question, we shall look upon Rene Descartes' theory on the existence of God. In terms of believers and non-believers, Descartes would be one of the believers. Before we go any further, we must ponder upon several questions. What is God? Does God exist? If such God does exist, then where does this being come from? Why do believers and non-believers hold on to their beliefs as they do? What significance does the existence of God have upon mankind? These are only the tip of the iceberg amongst the vast array of unanswered questions related to God. Though there are so many uncertainties as we have just mentioned, the existence of all other uncertainties in our world may explain why the existence of God is so real to many people. For the believers, God provides a convenient answer to all these questions except for the answers regarding God itself. The following are some of the general arguments for the existence of God. The first argument comes from the theory of design; there are orders in the universe which can't be occurring by mere chance. Secondly, the existence of God explains the arguments regarding the efficient causality; as the world exhibits orderly causal sequences, something had to start it all up. Thirdly but not the least, God provides an answer to the question of the origin of life and its destination after death. ( For the sake of convenience, we shall borrow some theological ideas from Christianity, the Christian God, to exemplify our comparisons.) As an example, God is the creator of all, and there is a place in heaven, a kingdom of God, for those who have faith in God. This helps believers understand their identity and alleviate the fear of ... ...inite faculties of knowledge hold the potential of having mistakes. In the above discussion, I was trying neither to prove nor disprove the existence of God; I was, however, trying to offer some skepticism upon statements which many people have claimed about the existence of God. Although Descartes embraces quite a grand statement on the issues of God, I felt that his beliefs were biased towards his own perception and lacked evidence in proving that God exists to the point beyond reasonable doubt. I believe that neither Descartes nor modern science have been able to successfully prove whether God exists or not. What's really important, no matter whether such a being exists or not, is that the ideology of God has certainly existed throughout the history of man. Moreover, the power of this ideology of God has proven to be overwhelming among the believers who have faith in its religion. Even for the non-believers or so called atheists, the ideology of God has an effect and/or an influence on them in one way or another. On a larger scale, it is not an exaggeration to say that our society is built on the ideology of God. What is your opinion? "In God we trust?"

The Challenger Disaster - Responsibility of Morton Thiokol Inc. Essay

The Challenger disaster was not only a disaster in terms of the destruction of the spacecraft and the death of its crew but also in terms of the decision-making process that led to the launch and in terms of the subsequent investigation into the "causes" of the disaster. The decision to recommend for launch was made by lower-level management officials over the objections of technical experts who opposed the launch under the environmental conditions that existed on the launch pad at the time. Furthermore, the lower-level managers who made this decision--both NASA and contractor personnel--chose not to report the objections of the technical experts in their recommendations to higher levels in the management chain- of-command to proceed with the launch. Finally, it seems that the lower-level managers had also received out-of-the-ordinary pressure from higher levels of management (some allusions suggested this pressure may have come all the way from the White House) to proceed with the launch on time. The subsequent investigation began with efforts to determine the technical causes of the explosion of the Challenger. Initially, the decision-making process leading to the launch was not considered by investigators. This suggests that the initial purpose of the investigation was not concerned with ethical issues or issues of responsibility. As the investigation proceeded, information emerged through leaks to the press, which suggested that NASA had been aware of the risk of explosion under the environmental conditions that existed for the Challenger launch for several months prior to the launch. Also, the opposition of the technical experts to the launch just prior to the decision to launch became known to the investigators as well. These two pieces of information changed the nature of the investigation mid-stream from an effort to determine the technical cause of the explosion of the spacecraft to an investigation of the decision-making process leading to the launch. Viewing the Challenger disaster as an ethical problem would lead to an effort to determine whether the decision to launch was "right" or "wrong." Clearly, the explosion was an accident. It was an accident that might have been prevented or anticipated but the decision to launch was clearly a matter of judgment--albeit of apparently poor judgment in retrospect--rather than... ...s associated with launching in the environmental conditions at the time. Lower-level managers were able to avoid accountability for both the final decision to launch (made by higher levels of management) and for recognition of the technical risks associated with launching (resting in the failure of technical experts to provide justification against launching in technical specifications or formal regulations). Each of these factors--the management chain-of-command, the role of technical specifications and formal regulations, and the availability of information--served to both hinder the ability of decision-makers to act and to obscure accountability for their decision-making. As such, they served to limit the responsibility of individuals within the decision-making process and to render that process itself irresponsible. These obstacles to responsibility within NASA point to the more important ethical problem that existed beyond the scope of the specific instance of the Challenger disaster. Namely, the poor nature of the decision-making process within NASA and its negative role in fostering responsibility, both on the part of individuals and on the part of the organization as a who

Othello Seminar Essay -- essays research papers

The Theme of Love In William Shakespeare's Othello the Theme of Love is very important. The main themes conveyed are: Love can be used against you/ love can be manipulated, and love is blinding (unconditional love). The theme of love can be used against you is best shown in Othello and Desdemona, Cassio and Bianca, Roderigo and Desdemona, and Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio. The theme of love is blinding is best shown in Desdemona and Othello, Emilia and Iago, and Brabantio and Desdemona. Love can be used against you/ Love can be manipulated. Iago uses Othello's love for Desdemona against him. Iago hints to Othello that she deceived her father so she could deceive him. "She did deceive her father, marrying you, and when she seemed to shake, and fear your looks, She loved them most." (III,iii, 204-206) Like human nature is Othello goes through events which now have answers, "She's gone: I am abused, and my relief must be loathe her. O curse of marriage, That we can call these delicate creatures ours And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad And live upon the vapour of a dungeon Than keep a corner in the thing I love For other's uses." (III,iii, 264 - 270) Othello is getting angry: "Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore; Be sure of it: give me the ocular proof," (III, iii, 356-357) Othello hears Iago's predictions: "All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven: ‘Tis gone. Arise black vengeance, from the hollow hell!" (III, iii, 442 - 443) Othello believing Iago: "Damn her, lewd minx! O damn her, damn her! Come go with me apart." (III, iii, 472 - 473) She then tells him she is a virgin. "No, as I am a Christian. To preserve this vessel for my lord From any other foul unlawful touch, Be not to be a strumpet, I am none." (IV, ii, 82 - 84) Desdemona then turns to Iago. "O good Iago, What shall I do to win my lord again? Good friend, go to him; for, by this light of heaven, I know not how I lost him." (IV, ii, 148 - 150) Othello feels guilty because he found out she was innocent. "Soft you; a word or two before you go. I have done the state some service and they know it: No more of that. I pray you in your letters When you shall these unlucky deeds relate Speak of me as I am: nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak of one that loved not wisely, b... ...from the Moor./ My wayward husband hath a hundred times/ Wooed me to steal it; ... I'll have the work taken out, / And give't Iago. / What he will do with it, heaven knows, not I: / I nothing, but to please his fantasy." (III, iii, 287 - 296) Emilia's love blinds her from Iago's true nature. She disregards his vulgarness towards women. She also disregards how badly he treats her. "A good wench! Give it me." (III, iii, 311) "You rise to play and go to bed to work." (II, i, 114) Brabantio is blinded by love for his daughter. He believes that she is an innocent child and would never marry ‘the Moor'/Othello of her own free will. He is so angered by the imagery that Iago gave him, he wants Othello killed. "Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her./ For I'll refer me to all things of sense,/ If she in chains of magic were not bound .../ So opposite to marriage that she shunned/ the wealthy curled darlings of our nation, / Would over have .../ Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom? Of such a thing ... to fear not to delight." (I, ii, 63 - 71) "Lay hold upon him: if he do resist, Subdue him, at his peril." (I, ii, 80 - 81)

Leadership Management of the Virgin Group Essay

Change is the only constant in the world so when the world changes it is a must for an organisation to have the pace of change, to anticipate a success ahead. Virgin Atlantic has undergone many changes as the case in 1999 49% of Virgin Atlantic’s stake was sold to Singapore Airlines to have a partnership. (virginatlanbtic, 2010) and there was another change in 2008 where Virgin Atlantic started to use bio fuel instead of jet fuel(Virgin Atlantic,2011). When the organization faces challenges like these different situations, leadership styles canadapted to address the challenge. When Virgin Atlantic sold its 49% of stake to Singapore Airlines, it made the following challenges of merging, because now Virgin Atlantic is not fully authorized to change issues of it, it had to rely on Singapore Airlines too, so it can’t adapt an autocratic or bureaucratic leadership style, it should adapt the democratic where each party’s opinion is considered in the process of Virgin Atlantic. Since Richard Branson is a charismatic leader (Grant, 2004). He can easily adapt to any leadership style as it is required by the joint venture. In the case of bio fuel usage too the condition is the same. Being democratic the leader listens to the opinions from others too when there is an issue and can tell them the importance of change for an instance the bio fuel usage reduces green house gas emission in the environment, so it is an environmentally friendly activity. Task 2. 1 Virgin Atlantic is one of the successful products of The virgin Group whose organisational culture is quite complex, because this specific organisation has got more than 100 companies with often completely unrelated products. The Virgin Atlantic was too launched to expand the brand value of The Virgin Group, so having an understanding about The Virgin Group tells what kind of organisational strategy is followed in the Virgin Atlantic. It tries to create the loyalty of the customers; the innovative management inspires the employees to be actively engaged in the organisation (http://ivythesis. typepad. com/term_paper_topics/2010/07/case-study-richard-branson-and-the-virgin-group-of-companies-. html, 2010). Many leadership theories have influence over such organisational strategy of Virgin Atlantic. The transformational leadership can have positive impact on the development of the organisation. The possibility of having transformational leadership is assured where all united together as an organisation with sense of commitment (Naughtin), since Virgin Atlantic has a team work with the involvement of each employee, this leaderships favours the health of its organisational strategy, because here the group works under a common goal like increasing the image of Virgin Group in the world, which definitely increases the overall efficiency. Transactional leadership is something different from transformational, in transactional leadership personal performance of leadership is mainly concerned ,which can lead to greed and lack of team work. According to the organisational behaviour pattern of Virgin Atlantic this leadership theory won’t work well because, although the chairman is Richard Branson, he is not one, but million ones together who has the interest on Virgin Atlantic. So this style rarely helps to increase the performance of Virgin Atlantic. Task 2. 2 As stated above the vision of Virgin Atlantic is â€Å"to grow a profitable airline where people love to fly, and where people love to work†. Virgin Group has gone far in achieving this, but to be the one of the leading world’s airline, the organisation should have a realistic strategy with many features, that supports the direction of the organisation. Being a transformational and charismatic leader (Richard Branson) is the best to navigate Virgin Atlantic in the path of success (Virgin Atlantic, 2011).

Evaluation of story board “Unrelated incidents” Essay

My video is intended to portray unrelated incidents in a way which my gcse audience would understand it is also designed to increase the dramatic impact of the poem and there for increase the pupils understanding of the poem. i started the video with the image of big Ben at six o’clock, this is the image used to start the BBC news so I felt that it was an appropriate image to start this poem as it is about the news and how its read. The reason I choose a man with a posh Standard English voice to do the narration for this section is that this is stereotypically the kind of voice used to introduce the BBC news. Also the image and the voice create a image of typical English news which would increase the impact of the next section on the audience. The introduction of the Glaswegian man is the most effective and best way of presenting the poem as written to an audience through a video. The image of the man standing in a field with mountains and a lake in the background, rolling a cigarette is a dramatic contrast to the image from the first section of typical ‘Englishness’. The man is meant to represent the average everyday man from Glasgow, as the poem appears to be a look at that person’s perspective on the news, and the English attitude towards him. The sky would be moving with the storm clouds gathering to show the mans anger at the way his treating gathering and increasing. This section is meant to show the mans disgust at the attitude of the ‘scruff’ towards him because of his accent so he would be being sarcastic with these comments. The sky moving would again show the mans anger rising. The image in this section contrast sharply with the next image this should semi-shock the audience increasing the impact. Through out the video I am trying to create a feeling of contrast this is to show how sharply the image of the Glaswegian contrasts with the image of the man with the BBC accent. This scene is showing how the man is different and is rebelling against the constraints of society (a image which members of my teenage audience would agree with there for increasing the impact.) The people in the suits represent the ‘BBC accent’ and the mans clear dislike of them and opposition to them(shown by his violent walk against the flow.) The people in the suits are also meant to be shown as the ‘scruff’ which the man despises. The way the ‘scruff’s’ ignore the man shows how they don’t think he’s important enough to worry about. This leads on to the next scene. This is designed to show how the truth is ignored if its spoken by the Glaswegian despite people knowing its true, the man in the suits attitude is showing again how the Glaswegian is ignored because of the way he looks and speaks. The man in the suit shows how society doesn’t care about the man because he’s not part of the ‘scruff’. The man is narrating with the clip of Trevor Mcdonald talking to demonstrate one of the ‘scruffs’ talking. This image also brings the subject of the video back to the news which is of course the basis of the poem. This scene is then followed by a similar scene, which shows the image of the Glaswegian as one of the ‘scuffs’ talking. This section is shown in the newsroom to show how despite being different what the man says is the truth. This section of the poem is about how the man is one of the ‘scruffs’. The image of the television is used so that the violent action of the TV being smashed is shocking and contrasting. The reason I have put the man from the bench standing with the hammer and speaking with a strong accent is to put across the message that sometimes people are not what you expect them to be. Also this image is a clear ending with camera fading to black. The entire video is designed to portray the anger, bitterness and contempt the Glasswegian man has towards the â€Å"scruffs†. It is supposed to show this in a interesting and different way, I think that the dramatic changes in camera shot and scenery would help to keep the interest of the audience. The reason I have chose to include ‘Rage against the machine’ song â€Å"break stuff† is because the lyrics of this song as well as being well known are also very appropriate for this poem. Lyrics like â€Å"its just the rage built up in side of me, fist in the air in the land of hypocrisy† would help to portray the poems message also the song would help hold the audiences attention. The reason I chose not to include it during the last section is that it would distract slightly from the narrators words also the last section is very important if students are to understand the poems message. I did not feel the need to portray every image in the poem visually as I felt many were self explanatory using just aural techniques. Also I felt that it would increase the audiences interest if they had to actually search for the meaning and reasoning behind some of my scene choices.

Victorian Literature: Anglo-American Feminism, French Feminism

ssignment Title: ‘Compare and Assess at least two of the following approaches in feminist theory, with illustration from two of the Victorian texts you have studied: Anglo-American feminism; French Feminism; Socialist or Marxist Feminism; feminist approaches influenced by Foucault. ‘ ‘I declare that this is my own work and that I have followed the code of academic good conduct and have sought, where necessary, advice and guidance in the proper presentation of my work. ‘ Signature: Date: Compare and Assess at least two of the following approaches in feminist theory, with illustration from two of the Victorian texts you have studied: Anglo-American Feminism; French Feminism; Socialist or Marxist Feminism; Feminist Approaches influenced by Foucault. ‘ Feminist theory like psychoanalytic theory is relatively modern in its creation. The immergence of feminist literary theories can be linked to the out break of female political uprising in the early nineteenth century. The French Revolution marked the beginning of a fight for the obtaining of women's rights to power and equality in society. Elaine Showalter comments that the ideological socially acceptable view of Victorian women as a whole can be seen as ‘†¦ prescribed a woman who would be a Perfect Lady, an Angel in the House, contently submissive to men, but strong in inner purity and religiosity, queen in her own realm of the Home. (Victorian Women's Poets, Page 13) Feminist theory is segregated into separate view points of feminism as a whole; French Feminism analyses literature from a perspective of a psychoanalytic view, drawing upon the work of Lacan to highlight view points. It helps to analyse the ways in which women are positioned in society in the text and how they can be perceived to be repressed. Marxist Feminism takes its inspiration from how the women can be perceived to be oppressed in literature. American feminism analyses literature from a textual expressive view point. All feminist out looks have their issues which provide flaws into their argument. ‘To be sure, most feminist thinkers today assume that nurture, at the very least, qualifies nature. Recently, however, a number of poststructuralist theorists – deploying both male and female signatures – have claimed that there is no gendered â€Å"reality,† that the concepts of â€Å"man† and â€Å"woman† are, as some would put it, â€Å"always already† fictive since human identity is itself a tenuous, textually produced epiphenomenon. ‘ (No Man's Land. Pagexv). Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronti provided feminist critics with a canvas of a examples of marginally autobiographical Victorian gynocentrism. The production of text from a woman, looking at the emphasis placed on the female place in the history of the text, the structural placing of women and the thematic view of women in the text. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar argue that women writers such as Emily Bronti had been trapped into the roles that society has manipulated, as they were trapped against the patriarchal view of the angel of the house. However even thought there is a desire for this view to be usurped, Bronte still curtails herself to society's expectations by debilitating and eventually killing off of the strong rebellious charcter of Catherine, emphasising her own fear of what the female form in which she was writing. Gilbert and Gubar's reading of Wuthering Heights classes it as a ‘A bible of Hell. ‘ (Gilbert, S & Gubar, S. Mad woman in the attic) The classification of Wuthering heights as a living hell is created in type by the Byronic hero of Heathcliff. Although Gilbert and Gubar look into the curtailment of women being confined to the house, trapped into submission by domesticity, Wuthering Heights provides Catherine with her own sense of control where she can break social confinements. Yet Catherine chooses to be confined by domesticity and social patriarchy by marrying Edgar Linton. Bronte does however portray the confusion Catherine feels in making her choice between what she desires and what is socially expected; You love Mr Edgar because he is handsome, and young, and cheerful, and rich and loves you. The last, however, goes for nothing – You would love him without that, probably, and with it, you wouldn't, unless he possessed the four former attractions. ‘ (Wuthering Heights, Page 119)Through the use of the second generation Cathy, Bronte allows the correction from cultural to natural choice to be made via the successful relationship between Cathy and Hareton. Kristeva comments on the text ‘presses the linguistic sign to its limits, the semiotic is fluid, plural, a kind of pleasurable creative excess over precise meaning and it takes sadistic delight in destroying or negating such signs. ‘ (Literary Theory: an introduction). The dual nature of narration in the novel serves thematic purposes, in that both provide commentary on the role of women in society. The feminist nature of the novel can be seen through Lockwood's comments on the success of Nelly's narrative story telling. Bronte manipulates the Victorian view that women have innate frailty and makes a parody out if the view by portraying Catherine's illness as a strength in which she is manipulating those around her through Nelly's perception; ‘I wasted no condolences on miss, nor any expostulations on my mistress, not did I pay attention to the sighs of my master, who yearned to hear his lady's name, since he might not hear her voice. ‘ (Wuthering Heights, Page 158) Catherine's subsequent illness shows itself in the form of a disillusioned madness. Bronte's use of this madness is to offer clarity to the social structure that the very cultural expectations of Catherine are the things that cause the feared wild nature to develop; ‘This feather was picked up from the heath, the bird was shot – we saw its nest in the winter, full of little skeletons. Heathcliff set a trap over it, and the old ones dare not come. I made him promise he'd never shoot a lapwing, after that, and he didn't. Yes, here are more! Did he shoot my lapwings, Nelly? Are they red, any of them? Let me look. (Wuthering Heights, Page 160) Gilbert and Gubar view Catherine's imprisonment in Thrushcross Grange as the reason for her being trapped into a feminine madness; ‘Imprisonment leads to madness, solipsism, paralysis †¦ Starvation – both in the modern sense of malnutrition and the archaic Miltonic sense of freezing (‘to starve in ice') – leads to weakness, immobility and death. (Rylance, Page 253) Catherine's embracing of Victorian societal views that kept her from being with Heathcliff. Included in these views are the expectations of women. It is important to note because the awareness of social standing and gender in this example prevent true love prevailing. Bronte also argues that Catherine's inability to resist social ambition is reflective of the oppressive power of the social structure of the Victorian society. Bronte feminises Lockwood by giving him the typically female characteristic of frailty, according to Beth Newman ‘Lockwood's supine passivity (he is bed ridden during most of her narrative) suggests that he is in the â€Å"feminine† position with respect to Nelly's controlling gaze. (Gender, Narration and Gaze in Wuthering Heights, Page 1034). Emily Bronte portrays Hareton as a model man who does not fear women but does not repress them either, this is marked through his not hiding away from Cathy's advances; â€Å"Helene Cixous has written that the Medusa who has terrorized the male subject, looked at â€Å"straight on,† is actually â€Å"beautiful†¦ and †¦ Laughing† Bronte has uncannily anticipated Cixous's analysis of the masculine fear of the woman's gaze in suggesting that Hareton, alone among the male characters in the novel, is able to laugh back. (Gender, Narration and Gaze in Wuthering Heights, Page 1037). The splitting and fragmentation of Catherine's feminine desire through the lack of a stable identity, she is Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff and Catherine Linton at the same time. The theme of heaven and hell is prevalent most through Heath cliff's representation as a satanic wild figure that should be feared. Bronte links Heathcliff to the wildness of nature through his name; he becomes one with the heath surrounding the heights. Catherine expresses her own desire to be associated with Heathcliff through â€Å"If I were in Heaven, Nelly, I should be extremely miserable. ‘ ‘Because you are not fit to go there,' I answered. ‘All sinners would be miserable in heaven. ‘†¦ ‘I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and it broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out, into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights, where I woke sobbing for joy. ‘ (Wuthering Heights, Page 121) Bronte uses the binary opposition to emphasise Catherine's ideal of Heaven being Heathcliff. Yet due to the confinement of social expectation Catherine turns her back on Heaven and places herself in the Hell that is Thrushcross Grange causing a fragmented version of herself to become her existence. Kristeva comments on Wuthering Heights lack of ability to have a simplistic narrative form, there is a use of multiple genres to create the complex binary oppositions. The use of the re-emergence of the choice between patriarchy and desire through Cathy has the object of; ‘articulating the mother-child relation as a site for both affirm the archaic force of the pre-oedipal, which although repressed is thus also preserved. Both affirm the fluid, polymorphous perverse status of libidinal drives and both evoke a series of sites of bodily pleasure capable of resisting the demands of the symbolic order. ‘ (Jacques Lacan; A feminist Introduction, Page 149) ‘Thus, although Wuthering Heights ends in cosy domesticity, the gaps in its enunciation express a feminist resistance to the patriarchal order in which its story partially acquiesces: for the narrative undercuts the condition of its own telling even while implicating them in specular economy that fetishizes and appropriates women. ‘ (Gender, Narration and Gaze in Wuthering Heights, Page 1039) Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market expresses the frustrations from enforced female passivity, articulating bitterness about being the second sex, and the limitations on female potential; this is evident through out the poem, culminating as two women become what Victorian patriarchy predetermines, wives and mothers. Goblin Market shows women in social relations, in market economies in literary history and women in sexual economics. Elizabeth Helsinger explains that Goblin Market is ‘A feminist utopia based on sisterhood against male domination and ‘the male' market or a legitimating of separate spheres? Victorian studies, 1991). Goblin Market allows Rossetti the opportunity to escape the archaic patriarchy and create a fantasy realm. Rossetti allows Lizzie and Laura an insight into the male commodities of male utopia that is the market place, and how to successfully regain equal control. ‘This is a morally nonsense poem, which puts religious myth and sexual temptation into a market economy which is endlessly unstable. ‘ (Victorian Women's Poets, Page 138). Rossetti's creation of sisterly solidarity gives a feminine outlook; ‘Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices Squeezed from goblin fruits for you, Goblin pulp and Goblin Dew. Eat me, drink me, love me; For your sake I have braved the glen And had to do with goblin merchant men. ‘ (A Choice of Christina Rossetti's verse, Page 16). ‘The sexual suggestiveness of ‘Goblin Market' has undoubtedly made it a compelling work for feminist readers concerned with what constitutes a distinctly female imagination. ‘ (‘A Music of Thine own. ‘ Victorian Womens Poets, Page 50). â€Å"Goblin Market', the title poem of Christina Rossetti's first volume, is the questioning feminine discourse it masks. ‘ (‘A Music of Thine own': Womens Poetry. Victorian Womens Poets, Page 49) Rossetti's representation of sexuality is not in the names or images she finds but in the structure of the whole poem with its repeated tasting. ‘ (‘A Music of Thine own': Womens Poetry. Victorian Womens Poets, Page 49) In many respects Goblin Market is directly contradictory to many nineteenth century views about the role of the woman poet. Mary Ann Stoddart, 1842, defines the sphere of the poetess as: â€Å"All that is beautiful in form, delicate in sentiment, graceful in action will form the peculiar province of the gentle powers of women†. Goblin Market can be said to have none of these qualities. This metrical indulgence, gives Goblin Market a sensual art for art's sake, which is usually reserved for male poets, making this offering to the public by a poetess incompatible with Victorian notions of female poetic beauty Laura performs a familiar role in literary history – that of the fallen Eve. She relinquishes herself to the sexual temptation offered by the evil goblin men. Her sin is compounded by prostitution in selling a lock of her hair in return for the fruits. This can be viewed as an act of rape; the goblins cut her hair for payment, when, at the time, a woman's hair was a somewhat sacred thing. The fallen woman is a common figure in literature, however, because she comes from the creative mind of a female poet the representation comes to have a few problems in its interpretation. Yet still, Laura receives her salvation, from her sin of eating the fruit, through the self-sacrificing actions of her sister. Lizzie plays the male role of redemption. While Rossetti can be viewed in opposition to the Victorian ideals of female creativity, there is an inherent conservatism in her work that creates problems with the idea of her being a truly radical or feminist writer. Unlike the other Pre-Raphaelite poets, Rossetti does not embrace atheism, but rather adheres to a strict Anglo-Catholic faith â€Å"Goblin Market' is Christina Rossetti's most remarkable long poem. She was also a writer of consummate lyrics. What can be called the feminine discourse which respondes to the aesthetics of expression and repression overflow and barrier, in ‘Goblin Market', is also at work in her short poems. ‘ (‘A music of thine own':Womens Poetry, Victorian Womens Poets, Page 54). Through both of the texts analyzed it is important to notice that as Showalter states that it is in fact, â€Å"female imagination' cannot be treated by literary historians as a romantic or Freudian abstraction. It is the product of a delicate network of influences operating in a time, and it must be analyzed as it expresses itself, in language and in a fixed arrangement of words on a page, a form that itself is subject to a network of influences and conventions, including the operations of the marketplace. ‘ (Victorian Women's Poets, Page 12) Both Emily Bronte and Christina Rossetti were classed as typically romantic Victorian women's writers. However this view is highly problematic as both women try to break the curtailments of Victorian archaic patriarchy in their work, constantly testing and pushing the boundaries of female authorship; ‘Romance fiction deals above all with the doubts and delights of heterosexuality, an institution which feminism has seen as problematic from the start. In thinking about this ‘problem' I myself have found the psychoanalytic framework most useful since it suggests that the acquisition of gendered subjectivity is a process, a movement towards the social ‘self' , fraught with conflicts and never fully achieved. Moreover, psychoanalysis takes the question of pleasure seriously, both in its relation to gender and in its understanding of fictions as fantasies, as the explorations and productions of desires which may be excess of the socially possible or acceptable. It gives us ways into the discussion of popular culture which can avoid the traps of moralism or dictatorship. ‘ (Romance Fiction, Female sexuality and class. Page 142)

Gap Within the Organization: a Case Study in Administrative Building

Communication Gap within the Organization: A case study in administrative building of SUST, Sylhet By Sato Barua Masters Student Department of Public Administration SUST, Sylhet Introduction Organizational communication as a discipline grew tremendously over the 20th century, but accompanying that growth was a struggle to establish a clear identity of the field. Today scholars still continue to define and redefine the focus, boundaries and future of the field (Thompkin & Wanka-Thibault, 2001).Why it is that organizational communication is such an interesting concept for researchers to study? Apparently, a great deal of the answer to this question can be found in the importance communication has been re-vealed having for the success of organizations. Open communication has for example been found to be positively correlated with employees’ satisfaction with the organization (Koike, Gudykunst, William, Lea & Ting-Toomey, 1989). Communication is the glue that holds a society toget her. The ability to communicate enables people to form and maintain personal relationships.And the quality of such relationships depends on the caliber of communication between the parties. Communication is the process of sharing ideas, information, and messages with others in a particular time and place. Communication includes writing and talking, as well as nonverbal communication (such as facial expressions, body language, or gestures), visual communication (the use of images or pictures, such as painting, photography, video or film) and electronic communication (telephone calls, electronic mail, cable television, or satellite broadcasts).Communication is a vital part of personal life and is also important in business, education, and any other situations where people encounter each other (Encarta, 1998). A study was completed within the organization to determine if there was an internal communication gap that existed between the supervisors and representatives. When there 1 is an internal communication gap within an organization there is usually a breakdown in the way information is been sent from the sender to the receiver. This is precedent in organizations that have a top down hierarchy.In this type of hierarchy it can be difficult for bottom level employees to obtain information regarding changes within the organization. Significance of the study Communication is described as one of the crucial fouls of management. It helps in handling the major managerial tasks of planning direction coordination motivating and controlling. We live in a world filled with other people. We live together, work together, and play together. In our personal lives, we need each other for security, comfort, friendship, and love.In our working environment, we need each other in order to achieve our goals and objectives. None of these goals can be achieved without communication. Communication is the basic thread that ties us together. Through communication we make known our needs , our wants, our ideas, and our feelings. The better we are at communication, the more effective we are at achieving our hopes and dreams (Alessandra, Hunsaker, 1993). Based upon conversations among the representatives, this study is important because there appears to be a lack of communication within the organization.Some of the representatives feel as though the supervisors have daily meetings, but no information is shared regarding the company changes and/or procedures. When there is an internal communication gap it becomes difficult for anyone to effectively achieve goals. Purpose of the study The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not there's an internal communication gap that exist between the representatives and the supervisors. The three objectives of this study were to: 2 1. Discover whether or not there is an internal communication gap between supervisors and representatives within the organization. . Determine the subject's perception of their immediate supe rvisor’s level of communication. 3. Identify the ways in which employees usually receive most of their information. Definition of terms Sender Someone or something that sends or transmits something. To establish yourself as an effective communicator, you must first establish credibility. You must also know your audience (individuals or groups to which you are delivering your message). Failure to understand who you are communicating to will result in delivering messages that are misunderstood (Fowler, 2005).Message A communication in speech, writing, or signals. Written, oral and nonverbal communications are effected by the sender's tone, method of organization, validity of the argument, what is communicated and what is left out, as well as your individual style of communicating. Messages also have intellectual and emotional components, with intellect allowing us the ability to reason and emotion allowing us to present motivational appeals, ultimately changing minds and action s (Fowler, 2005). Channel A course or a means of communication or expression.Messages are conveyed through channels, with verbal including face-to-face meetings, telephone and videoconferencing; and written including letters, emails, memos and reports (Fowler, 2005). 3 Receiver These messages are delivered to an audience. No doubt, you have in mind the actions or reactions you hope our message prompts from this audience. Keep in mind, your audience also enters into the communication process with ideas and feelings that will undoubtly influence their understanding. Your audience will provide you with feedback, verbal and nonverbal reactions to your communicated message.Pay close attention to this feedback as it is crucial to ensuring the audience understood your message (Fowler, 2005). Context The words or phrases or passages that come before and after a particular word or passage in a speech or piece of writing and help to explain it's full meaning (Encarta, 2005). Feedback Comments in the form of opinions about the reactions to something intended to provide useful information for future decisions and development (Fowler, 2005). A literature review was completed to determine the importance of internal communication within the work environment. Review of literatureIn every society, humans have developed spoken and written language as a means of sharing messages and meanings. The most common form of daily communication is interpersonal- that is, face-to-face, at the same time and in the same place (Encarta, 2005). Communication barriers can pop-up at every stage of the communication process (which consists of sender, message, channel, receiver, feedback and context) and have the potential to create misunderstanding and confusion. To be an effective communicator and to get your point across without misunderstanding and confusion, your goal should be to 4 essen the frequency of these barriers at each stage of this process with clear, concise, accurate, well planne d communications (Fowler & Manktelow, 2005). Communication, the heart of business, is the most important of all entrepreneurial skills. The destiny of the business depends on the quality of your relationships. Your ability to transmit information helps both clients and employees feel they can communicate with and ultimately trust you (Black Enterprise, Charles, 1998, pg 116). Internal communication is more important today than in previous years partly because the business and market conditions are more complex.There is a lot of information in the marketplace and it's crucial that employees understand it. The development of a strategic internal communication strategy and its implementation can provide a number of benefits to organizations, such as keeping employees motivated and engaged, and sharing clear, consistent messages with employees in a timely manner. Personal relationship is what organizations are all about -or should be. An organization, whatever its size, mission, or moti ve is merely a collection of people assembled to pursue a common objective.An organization functions through its people, who in turn function through communication (Brennan, 1974). Employees have their own sources, their own information system, separate from the management channels. These usually carry the news ahead of communications from management. Not that the employee network is flawless. That system transmits information indiscriminately- Fragments, Rumors, Gossip. It may not always operate in the best interests of the organization, but it does provide a check-point when management fantasies are disguised as information.Furthermore, it enables employees to participate in the communication process, and it fills their need for information which at least seems to come from a credible source: another employee (Brennan, 1974). Employees, like all people, require outlets for their thoughts and feelings. And they find them. So don't arbitrarily assume that the relative absence of emp loyee complaints is a positive sign. Employees may be expressing themselves through other channels: meetings with fellow employees, union representatives, government agents; or through passiveaggressive behavior such as work slowdowns, carelessness, tardiness, absenteeism, and apathy.These can be symptoms that employees feel other means of participation are unavailable to them (Brennan, 1974). 5 The skill of listening becomes extremely important when we talk about â€Å"upward communication. † There are many avenues through which management can send messages downward through a business organization, but there are few avenues for movement of information in the upward direction (Nichols & Stevens, 1999). Many popular theories on workplace communication focus on the differences between men and women, suggesting that the sexual divide causes communication to break down. Women are seen as being more empathetic and oblique than men.Other variables that cause people to mix their mes sages include differences in age, culture, and socioeconomic background. Some tips to help managers bridge any communication gap were (Fortune 1994): 1. Listen actively for the subtext of people's words. 2. Persuade rather than command. 3. Target your words to your audience. 4. React to content, not to people's manner of expressing themselves. 5. Let people know that criticism is welcome. 6. Make your intentions clear before acting. 7. Assume that people take responsibility for what they say. By successfully getting your message across, you convey your thoughts and ideas effectively.When not successful, the thoughts and ideas that you convey do not necessarily reflect your own, causing a communications breakdown and creating roadblocks that stand in the way of your goals-both personally and professionally (Fowler & Mankelow, 2005). In the workplace, supervisors and their employees have opportunities to develop nonthreatening, mutually rewarding relationships. These can be quite cond ucive to individual and corporate health. They are akin to what in our personal life we call meaningful relationships. Supervisors who attain such relationships with employees are said to practice â€Å"positive human relations. True. But it's done through communication. (Brennan, 1974). 6 Methodology of procedures Methodology can properly refer to the theoretical analysis of the methods appropriate to a field of study or to the body of methods and principles particular to a branch of knowledge. Methodology has been increasingly used as a pretentious substitute for method in scientific and technical contexts. â€Å"Methodology† is a system of precise rules and procedures on which research is based and against which claims for knowledge and evaluation. Research and DesignA quantitative research methodology was used for the research to determine if there was a communication gap within the organization. A multiple choice single answered survey was distributed to the lower-level employees. A survey can be a powerful tool to improve communication between different parts of an organization. Surveys are especially useful for establishing upward communication links from lower-level employees to management. Population The survey was distributed to lower-level employees who are within the organization. The participant's involved included males and females with 6 weeks to 20 years of experience within the organization.A total of 20 surveys were completed. The participants were informed per instructions on the survey and through face-to-face conversation that their participation was voluntary and the answers in which they chose would remain confidential, with the exception of the final results from all the participants. Sample The research was conducted within Administrative Buildings of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, located in Sylhet, Bangladesh. The organization has an 7 estimated 300 staff which are located in three separate buildings. The adm inistration is divided into some units and each unit has one supervisor.The subordinates report to the supervisors. Instrumentation The survey consisted of ten multiple choices single answer questions and one open ended question. The participants were asked single answer questions to discover whether or not there was an internal communication gap between supervisors and the subordinates within the organization, to determine the subject's perception of their immediate supervisors level of communication and to identify the ways in which employees usually receive most of their information. The survey was distributed to the employees by the researcher via face-to-face contact.The researcher chose face- to-face contact because it gave the participants the opportunity to ask questions and to have a visual picture of whom and where to return the surveys. Data collecting and recording A Microsoft program, Excel was used to determine the percentage rate of each answer given by the participan ts. Limitations of the study The limitations of this study were that the researcher could not distribute the surveys to forty-three employees. Some employees were not available to complete the survey due to absenteeism (vacation, personal time, sick, etc). The employees are so much busy so they cannot provide me to give information.Time is not sufficient to gain practical knowledge and prepare a report. I have no proper experience to do this kind of report. So, inexperience creates obstacle to follow the systematic and logical research methodology. 8 Analysis Findings The present study was designed to determine whether or not there were an internal communication gap that existed between the subordinates and the supervisors. The three objectives of this study were to: 4. Discover whether or not there is an internal communication gap between supervisors and representatives within the organization. . Determine the subject's perception of their immediate supervisor’s level of com munication. 6. Identify the ways in which employees usually receive most of their information. The representatives responded to questions regarding the communication within their organization. To the contrary, the result suggests that 5% of the representatives were neutral regarding the overall satisfaction of communication within this organization, 80% were very satisfied, 15% were satisfied and no one indicated that they were dissatisfied.Although majority of the representatives were very satisfied so 60% thought the organization kept them fully informed and no one indicated that the organization gave them a limited amount of information, 35% thought that they were fairly well informed, 5% answer was unclear. When asked how would you rate your supervisor's communication skills, 80% indicated excellent and 20% marked that their supervisor communicated very good. Also, 35% indicated that whenever there was change within the organization their supervisors inform them most of the time . A 60% response was given to the supervisors informing them all the time.Like many organizations, the majority (90%) of the representatives indicated that they received most of their information through their supervisor. The overall result of the survey indicates that there does not appear to be a lack of communication between the subordinates and the superiors. 9 Results Table 1: Which best describes your impression of communications within this organization? Item Response Frequency % Keeps us fully informed 14 70 Keeps us fairly well informed 3 15 Keeps us adequately informed 2 10 Gives us only a limited amount of Information 0 0 Doesn't tell us much at all about what is going on 0 Answer was unclear 1 5 N=20 0% Figure 1: impression of communications within this organization. 10 5% Answer were unclear 0% Doesn't tell us what is going on 10% Adequately informed Fairly well informed 15% Limited amount of information 70% Fully informed 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Table 2: How do you feel about the information you receive? Item Response Frequency % I can almost always believe it 14 70 I can usually believe it 3 15 I can believe it about half the time 2 10 I usually can't believe it 1 5 Frequency % Strongly Agree 16 80 Agree 3 15 Neutral 1 5 Strongly Disagree 0 0 N=20Table 3: I have the information I need to do my job. Item Response N=20 11 Table 4: How would you rate your supervisor's communication skills? Item Response Frequency % Excellent 16 80 Very good 4 20 Good 0 0 Fair 0 0 Poor 0 0 Unclear answer 0 0 N=20 20% Excellent Very Good 80% Figure 2: Supervisor's communication skills. 12 Table 5: Overall, how satisfied are you with the communications within this organization? Item Response Frequency % Very satisfied 16 80 Satisfied 3 15 Neutral 1 5 Very dissatisfied 0 0 Unable to identify answer 0 0 N=20 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 80% 15% 5% Very Satisfied Satisfied NeutralFigure 3: Overall satisfaction of communications within the organizatio n. 13 Table 6: From which of the following sources do you usually receive most of your information? Item Response Frequency % Grapevine 0 0 Bulletin Board 0 0 My supervisor 18 90 Group meetings 0 0 Organizational Programs 0 0 Organizational emails 0 0 Multiple answers 2 10 N=20 Table 7: I feel confident that management considers my ideas and/or concerns. Item Response Frequency % All the time 8 40 Some of the time 12 60 Undecided 0 0 Almost never 0 0 Never 0 0 N=20 14 Table 8: Whenever there is a change within the organization, my supervisor Item Response Frequency Always inform me 12 60 Inform me most of the time 7 35 Almost never informs me 0 0 Never informs me 0 0 Unable to identify answer 1 5 N=20 Table 9: The information that I receive from my supervisor is consistent with the information received from other supervisors. Item Response Frequency % Strongly Agree 15 75 Agree 5 25 Neutral 0 0 Disagree 0 0 Strongly Disagree 0 0 N=20 15 What topics do you feel are important for you to know more about and would like the organization to inform you during future communications? Answer: ? Policy and/or procedural changes ? Future and/or general changes that are coming and how to prepare for it ?Correct procedures for completing work correctly ? Adequate training for job changes ? Training and/or how to use new programs ? Overtime and/or for special projects ? All information that can help improve goals and job skills ? New updates within the system ? Legitimate reasons why things cannot be updated or corrected ? More feedback on the quality and quantity of work completed. ? Information regarding promotions ? Information regarding other departments. 16 Conclusions Communication is very important in every aspect of our lives. In order for any relationship to work properly we have to learn to communicate effectively with each other.The fact still remains that in order for any business whether entrepreneur, partnerships or corporate offices to succeed we have to commu nicate with someone to voice our ideas and/or concerns. The literature review addressed the importance of internal communication. It provided the researcher with background information on the different ways and the different styles of communication. Needless to say, face-to-face communication seemed to remain the number one style of communicating within organizations. Based upon the answers given on the survey, most people were thought that the communication was satisfactory within the organization.Majority of the participants also felt that their supervisor communication skills were excellent. 17 Recommendations The researcher would recommend for future research that the survey exclude any neutral options. Although by eliminating this option it forces the participants to answer one way or the other. The researcher believes that you will get more precise answers. The supervisors can also following communication techniques can be used to increase the level of internal communication i n the organization and therefore the level of the organizational efficiency (Fishman, 2000). 1. Share information with employees whenever possible.One of the most sensitive areas in management involves how much company information should be shared with employees. Many feel that information should be given on a need-to-know basis. 2. Find out if those listening to you hear what you say and interpret it correctly. One way of doing this is to ask questions that will show the understanding level of those with whom you are speaking. 18 References 1. Alessandra, T & Hunsaker, P. (1993). Communication at Work. Fireside, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY. 2. Brennan, J. (1 974). The Conscious Communicator; making communication work in the workplace. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. Reading, MA. . MSN Encarta Premium (2005). Retrieved May 2005 from http:// www. msn. com. , accessed on 15. 12. 2011. 4. Retrieved from, http://www. communicationintheworkplace. net/, accessed on 15. 12. 2011. 5. Retri eved from, http://www. buzzle. com/articles/importance-of-communication-inthe-workplace. html, accessed on 18. 12. 2011. 6. Retrieved from, http://www4. ncsu. edu/~crmiller/Publications/ATTW03. pdf, accessed on 18. 12. 2011. 7. Retrieved from, http://www2. uwstout. edu/content/lib/thesis/2005/2005mallett hamerb. pdf, accessed on 20. 12. 2011. 8. Retrieved from,http://www. lisc. org/docs/resources/experts/2007/eo_2007_03_07. df, accessed on 22. 12. 2011. 9. Retrieved from, http://www. google. com/#sclient=psyab&hl=en&source=hp&q=communication+in+t he+workplace+ppt&oq=communicaton+in+the+workplace+&aq=3&aqi=g10&aql=& gs_sm=c&gs_upl=7599l8963l0l11145l8l6l0l0l0l5l766l3816l55. 1l6l0&bav=on. 2,or. r_ gc. r_pw. ,cf. osb&fp=55dcc7523cfd78c6&biw=1024&bih=577, accessed on 23. 12. 2011. 10. Retrieved from, http://www. managementskillsadvisor. com/effective-communicationin-the-workplace. html, accessed on 23. 12. 2011. 19 Appendix Survey Questions Please fill in the answer that best fit your ex perience when dealing with communication within this organization. . Which best describes your impression of communications within this organization? ? Keeps us fully informed ? Keeps us fairly well informed ? Keeps us adequately informed ? Gives us only a limited amount of Information ? Doesn't tell us much at all about what is going on ? Answer was unclear 2. How do you feel about the information you receive? ? I can almost always believe it. ? I can usually believe it. ? I can believe it about half the time. ? I usually can't believe it. 3. I have the information I need to do my job. ? Strongly Agree ? Agree ? Neutral ? Strongly Disagree 20 4.How would you rate your supervisor's communication skills? ? Excellent ? Very good ? Good ? Fair ? Poor ? Unclear answer 5. Overall, how satisfied are you with the communications within this organization? ? Very satisfied ? Satisfied ? Neutral ? Very dissatisfied ? Unable to identify answer 6. From which of the following sources do you usual ly receive most of your information? ? Grapevine ? Bulletin Board ? Company Newsletter (Intranet) ? My supervisor ? Unit leader ? Group meetings ? Company Programs ? Company emails ? Multiple answers 21 7. I feel confident that management considers my ideas and/or concerns. All the time ? Some of the time ? Undecided ? Almost never ? Never 8. Whenever there is a change within the organization, my supervisor ? Always inform me ? Inform me most of the time ? Almost never informs me ? Never informs me ? Unable to identify answer 9. The information that I receive from my supervisor is consistent with the information received from other supervisors. ? Strongly Agree ? Agree ? Neutral ? Disagree ? Strongly Disagree 10. What topics do you feel are important for you to know more about and would like the organization to inform you during future communications? 22