Armageddon--A Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Armageddon--A - Movie Review Example The combination of drama, love story, and humor helped in the development of plot, although the main story is about a rogue comet about to hit the Earth’s surface, which would define the fulfillment of the Armageddon prophecy found in the Book of Revelations in the Bible. The comet possesses a gigantic size that it would be impossible to destroy it using a nuclear weapon coming from the Earth’s surface, which leaves NASA to the possibility of drilling down to the comet itself, splitting it to half and preventing it from impacting the planet. Deep Impact, a movie of the same genre came out before Armageddon. However, according to Leong, Armageddon has done what Deep Impact has failed to do. Deep Impact failed to leave an emotional mark to its audience due to an excessive presentation of characters and vague subplots. Armageddon on the other hand, provided a cathartic effect to its viewers, in the array of professional and award-winning actors. A favorite scene would include the part when Grace Stamper (Liv Tyler) and her dad Harry (Bruce Willis) exchange goodbyes through a television monitor live where the comet is located (Armageddon).

Hepatitis B Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Hepatitis B - Essay Example In addition, 18% of the Hepatitis B patients diagnosed in the country contacted the virus because of handling the already infected patients who were at home. As such, this study suggests that it is possible to control the infection and spread of the disease through encouraging responsible sexual behavior, especially a campaign advocating for behavioral change, as well as undertaking appropriate education for the care givers so that they can handle infected patients at home without the risk of infection. Therefore, the state of Philadelphia undertakes a number of risks due to the exposure from the relative of Hepatitis B, thereby instrumental to consider the variables involved. As such, it is imperative for the state to undertake measures to prevent the acute of chronic Hepatitis B, alongside making efforts to eliminate the transmission of the disease within the Philadelphia community, especially through administration of appropriate vaccination (Hepb,

Wal Marts Sustainability Strategy Management Essay

Wal Marts Sustainability Strategy Management Essay Wal-Mart attained its present stature as a leader of discount retailer solely due to the innovative vision of its founder Sam Walton. Wal-Mart still today follows the traditional goals and philosophies left behind by Sam, coupled with the practice of keeping one step ahead of ever changing technologies and the nature of the business environment in which it operates. In spite of the controversies over different issues confronting it and still being faced, the future is bright, if and only if it strikes a comfortable balance seen increasing in its profit and recognizing its social and ethical responsibilities. Evaluation of Design process: The success of Wal-Mart lies mainly due its sound managerial decisions and the innovative implementation of sustainability strategies to dramatically reduce the companys impact on the global environment and in an effort to become the most competitive and innovative company in the world. The company believed in the three cardinal principles, that is To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustaining our resources and the environment. The gist of the decision implementation by Wal-Mart lies in its ability to build a solid working relationship with both suppliers and employees, taking note of the most intricate details in store layout and necessary merchandising techniques, capitalizing in every cost saving technique, and creating a high performance spirit. Below are some of the important strategies implemented by Wal-Mart which were responsible for its success. One of it first initiative was to launch a campaign to encourage its s uppliers to provide environment friendly and safe products in recyclable or biodegradable packaging at no additional cost. Wal-Mart intended to influence its suppliers to spend more on RD so as to find the safer modes of processing and packing and that too without passing the cost on to them. This wasnt a strategy indented to make it rich, but it was a started as a campaign for environmental benefit and which earned them a lot of good will among environmentalist. Wal-Mart also started creating green shelf tags to mark the products the vendors created that were environmentally friendly. This was one of it first step towards sustainability. But slowly company lost track of its primary strategic priorities. Wal-Mart soon realized this and started to revamp its sustainable strategy in an effort to make it to be long lasting and deeply embed it in its operations as envisaged by Scott. Scott lead the sustainability strategy to keep the environmental improvements tightly coupled with the business value and profitability for the strategy to succeed as well as challenged themselves to find new ways to drive measureable results. Several proposals were considered and many of which had bigger ideas on how Wal-Mart could profitably reduce environmental impacts. In the initial proposals put forward Wal-Mart wanted to differentiate itself from its competition, maintain a license to grow, and remain consistent to its commitment and serving customer with everyday low prices by perusing an offensive strategy. The management realized that sustainability could represents the biggest opportunity for the 21st century and proposed that Wal-Mart and its complex supply chain could become even more efficient by making its operations even more environment friendly. They believed if sustainability was to be taken seriously, it meant not just the environment and but also includes health care, wages, ethical sourcing and globalization and everything as a whole. With this in mind Wal-Mart started its campaign initially focusing on the environment. Large part of it efforts were spent working with the various Government and Environmental agencies to identify which of its products and processes created greatest environmental impacts. After its large scale investigation Wal-Mart narrowed down the problem to 3 primary areas: Energy, Waste and Products, and decided that it would focus its environmental goals for reducing the Wal-Marts impact on the environment. Increasing energy efficiency, transitioning to renewable energy, and reducing waste in retail operations were decided to be the direct goals à ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ ¯ goals that could be achieved by making changes that were within Wal-Marts more immediate control. It understood that providing more sustainable products was an indirect goal which would also require the involvement of Wal-Mart suppliers and their help to accomplish . Wal-Mart also learned that the best way to generate good will is to serve society as it did for the hurricane Karina victims. It actively participated in helping provide relief to the people of New Orleans and its surrounding areas as a result earned the trust of every one. Next the company came up with 14 sustainable value networks with a leader identified who would be driving the sustainability in different parts of the business. As the sustainability effort picked up momentum it was quick to realize that the sustainability doesnt involve extra work but is only a new way of approaching ones own work. Hence it started assigning new responsibility for people in their existing position rather than creating new jobs and made it an integral part of the work every one performed. Other notable change of the implementation was to look outside, which was a major shift from the usual way Wal-Mart used to conduct its operations focused internally. The strategy represented a major cultural change for the organization, seeking ideas from all consultants, NGOs suppliers, eco-friendly competitors, academicians and even its critics. It is also engaged in a dialogue with the government regarding climate change and a curb on green house gas emissions. The collaborativ e approach was doing wonders and it decided to make it a part of the ongoing sustainability model. All across the 14 value networks, hundreds of external entities where asked to join and participate on an ongoing basis and the primary criterion was to include and engage folks who are genuinely committed to desired future outcomes. Wal-Mart started engaging in dialog with government policy makers regarding climate change. It opposed a carbon tax as it will be passed on to customers and therefore advocated a cap and trade system and endorsed proposals for market based programs for reducing green gas emissions. The networks were encourage to develop a sensing organization that is aware of the external business environment, and able to incorporate this perspective into business decisions that create long term value. The networks were give the freedom to define their own sustainability objectives and plot their own course. The strategy can briefly be summed up as ENGAGE , EXPLORE and EXP AND. Engagement mean looking beyond Wal-Marts traditional stakeholders to identify and work with a broader community of participants that could provide information, subject matter expertise, and other resources to help Wal-Mart further define and achieve its environmental goals. Exploration included analyzing the life cycle of particular products. Exploration included analyzing the life cycle of particular products or services and investigating the related environmental issues. Determine where and how the company could change its business model to address the needs and concerns of this broader community, as well as its traditional stakeholders. Global logistics were able to leverage existing programs and quickly started to making progress by improving the fuel efficiency by 25 percent. As China is a geography and the fact that it touched all the networks Wal-Mart was in a fix as what is to be done. Wal-Marts goal was to build strong relationships and develop overall business partners for capable to attain excellent standards in ethical and environmental areas in the supply of quality and safe products and components and then spread this to other suppliers with whom business is to be developed. IN addition Wal-Mart intends to provide suppliers with Valuable knowledge and process assistance through relationships with NGOs in its networks. Wal-Mart set up compliance organization that monitored supplier performance in China and other countries around the world. Wal-Mart complains audit primarily focused on health and safety issues and it measured suppliers against its four identified metrics- Water treatment, Waste management, Banned chemicals and air emissions. Improvement in seafood network around the world was made possible through possible though implementation of MSC- accredited certifying agencies. MSE certification was entrusted to third parties which audited and certified fisheries and processes to ensure that products were managed sustainably from boat to plate. MSE certification firstly was to address sustainability of wild caught fish and later to ACC certification for farm raced fish. Wal-Mart identified 5 primary initiative for setting up of group to rally around MSC certification : Certification, Cluster Farming, Marine Reserves, Public Awareness, External collaboration. Wal-Mart goal was to increase the number of fisheries and processing plants in the MSC certification program. Supplies would refer the fisheries to MSC and have them use MSC eco labels on their products, in order to start buying as much certified fishes as possible. The direct cost of MSC certification was paid for by boat operators and processing plants. Immed iate benefits were seen through the certification initiative because of greater transparency in the sea food supply chain. As MS required a chain of custody to guarantee that the fish was virtually indistinguishable from the rest. Benefits through sustainability were seen in improved transportation efficiencies, elimination of stock-outs and raw material shortages, reduction in supplier costs though standardized packaging, etc. Wal-Mart delegated the implementation of MSC to the suppliers and the suppliers motivated to building the relationship were compelled to adopt the strategies there by gaining trust of Wal-Mart. This building relationships allowed Wal-Mart to talk on behalf of suppliers, defend their points and explain to other associates the importance of this relationships. In Electronic network Wal-Mart identified six key areas of focus: Material innovation, E-Waste, Legislation, Green Engineering, Metrics, Training and Education. Their strategy was to provide their customers with sustainable product choices utilizing a supply chain that improves the quality of life of all stakeholders. Wal-Mart had to make guaranteed orders to the suppliers sell only RoHS-compliant products to customers. By five years they made sure that every computer that they bought in US was RoHS compliant. Wal-Mart also introduced many initiative at reducing e-waste by starting may programs like recycling take-back programs. Wal-Mart also focused on advocating for national standards for both hazardous substances and e-waste. Organic cotton innovation project received top priority of the textiles network. They adopted clear standards (USDA guidelines) for organic cotton farming and manufacturing processes. Got permit to use a certain hazardous chemicals were safer substitutes were not yet commercially available. The strategy in cotton textiles is to develop and environmentally garment made of renewable material combine with he process is efficient with minimum wage and use of inputs with a minimum toxicity. When three chemicals were identified. with a negative ratings it encourage suppliers to use most sustainable substitutes. Wal-Mart was cautious in not sharing widely these metrics for a fear of boomerang on other products in itself, but only told customers that it cared for their health. The game changer project is to reduce the impact of environment and textile manufacture, which of recent origin. It also played it safe by not putting its green tags, not forced the manufacturer to take responsibility for promoting environment and health benefits for their products and left if for them to decide To conclude Wal-Mart saw and overwhelmingly large array of opportunities that remain untapped and decided to continue to identify and pursue the opportunities with max environmental benefits and business value. Improvements in Design and Design Process: Following are some of the strategies that they could implement to improve their business All the Wal-Mart stores can be made using Green constuction all over the world. Green buildings often include measures to reduce energy consumption, Water efficieny, Waste reduction etc. Solar panels could be installed at each the store locations, their by reducing the energy wastage. Energy for extravagant use can be reduced. The neon lights use for advertisement and display of products during late night hours can be given up, energy saved is energy produced. Expand activities in international markets beyond China in the Asian Sub continent. Instead of sticking to price alone importance may be given to quality with a marginal increase in price by Wal-Mart and let the neighborhood stores deal with products of low price to meet corporate social responsibility and to minimize resistance from neighborhood associations . To cut down costs the finished items which are of lesser weight compare to their original raw state like fish and textile may be processed at the place of their availability (even in foreign places) itself and move only the finished items to the distribution centers, and also taking advantage of differential labor cost in to consideration and their logistic advantages. Intense and mandatory training for all employees must be organized. All employees must have profound knowledge about the goals and strategy of the organization. we dont know the formulation, Manufacturers would decide to do this based on their own level of confidence in the sustainability-related attributes of their products Should never happen. Wal-Mart must have a good understanding about the product they sell. Wal-Mart identified three chemicals which has bad impact on health such as chemicals which can cause Cancer and birth defects. Wal-Mart urged suppliers and vendors to use substitutes for these harmful chemicals. Although these three chemicals were substituted, Wal-Mart was unsure about the formulation and aftereffects of these chemicals which made them reluctant to promote or putting their green tags. As the result, the manufactures were forced to complete the necessary scientific research on these substitutes and use safe chemicals. Wal-Marts employees have a basic understanding about the green initiatives. The internal communication programs and external media coverage helps the associates to know more about Wal-Mart Strategy. The most beneficial and valuable input Wal-Mart receive to promote its green products is through its associates as associates are often Wal-Mart customers. These inputs helps Wal-Mart to save time as their employees need a little time to learn about customers preferences. The success of wal mart lies in its sound managerial decisions and the innovative implementation of these decisions. The company believed in the three cardinal principles of :- 1) Customer value and service 2) Partnership with its employees who are regarded as associates, and 3) Community service The gist of the decision implementation by wal mart lies in its ability to build a solid working relationship with both suppliers and employees, taking note of the most intricate details in store layout and necessary merchandising techniques, capitalizing in every cost saving technique, and creating a high performance spirit. All steps are taken to provide customers what they want at the apt time and that too at competitive prices and to build and maintain a reputation for absolute trustworthiness, The wal mart stores operate on every day low prices by passing on savings to their customers, the stores make constant efforts to improve key business process, managing them centrally and investing in them heavily for long term pay back. The stores were quick in testing , adapting and applying a range of cutting- edge merchandising approaches and was able to learn quickly from the success and failures of competitors. The company invested heavily in its unique cross -docking inventory system to achieve economies of scale, making it possible to supply goods just in time and at low prices. Cross- docking at the store level. The company provides individual managers more control at the store level. The company owns its own transportation system to move goods in time from warehouse to shelves much faster than their competitors. It has its own largest and most sophisticated computer system. Its Manually Parallel Processor computer system helps in tracking stock movement and collect timely information related to sales and inventory position disseminated through satellite communication system Wal mart has leveraged its volume buying power with its suppliers. It negotiates the best prices from its vendors and expects commitment of quality goods. The purchasing agents are much focused people. Even though it is a tough negotiator for rock bottom prices, the company worked closely with its suppliers to develop mutual respect and forge long term partnerships for mutual benefit. It also has an automated recorder system linking computers between P G and its stores and distribution centers. The interaction between P G and Wal Mart helps greater co-ordination; P G can reduce costs and pass on savings to wal Mart. Wal Mart buys American products whenever and wherever possible, if these products provide the sane quality and affordability as their foreign counterparts. Environment concerns the wal mart significantly .A prototype store was opened in Lawrence, Kansas, which was designed to be environment friendly, provide environment education and recycling centers. Wal Mart also adopts the low cost theme for its facilities. Temperature is controlled centrally to conserve energy (How successful is wal mart get details of increase in sales, debt position, operating costs, cost of sales and then comment) Problems Wal mart replaced the then leaders -Sears and Kmans in 1991 in retailing. Its strong competitive position and rapid growth performance cant be guaranteed for long. The top position enjoyed by it can be wiped out by one small bad move wiping out all good things in stroke, therefore every single move in its business operations will have to be well thought out and properly executed Wal marts success is mainly due to the single Business Strategy and its Corporate Social Responsibility. It would like to continue its strategy and push hard to increase its market share if not at least maintain it. This strategy has the risk of putting all eggs in one basket. Secondly, if the present trend continues Wal Mart will reach its zenith in the near future. Once this is reached, it will slow down and Company requires diversifying for future growth. Retail stores can compete on several grounds -service, price, exclusively, quality and fashion on which Wal Mart has the competitive edge. However, other merchants object to the entry of Wal Mart as they can not face the competition due to their small scale and many neighborhood stores were driven out. Mounting opposition to big retailers is now a serious problem with neighborhood associations promising to fight the retailers tooth and claws. As a result the road ahead of Wal Mart may not be smooth as expected in the future. Wal Mart increased the number of retail stores and also Super centre divisions to take up grocery retailing also. Wal Mart moved to overseas markets through joint ventures with an international division formed in 1944 to manage international growth located in South America, Europe and Asia. In 2005 October. Lee Scot, wat Marts President announced that Wat Mart was launching a sweeping business sustainability strategy to drastically reduce its impact on the global environment and thus become a competitive and innovative company in the world. He urged the associates and suppliers to be a good steward of the environment under the same time be profitable. He declared that Wal Mart is committed to the three aspiration goals of being supplied with 100% renewable energy, reduce waste to zero level and to sell product that sustain natural resources and the environment. Against it his background, Andrew Ruben, Vice President of corporate and business sustainability and director Tyler and Elm led the sustainability strategy and recognized the fact that the environment can be protected coupled with business value and profitability. With this end in view, Wal Mart focused on the companied three focal areas-sea food, electronics and textiles- and their effect in the companies operations, supplier relationships and results; and explain how the companies measuring and communicating its ideas about sustainability to its associates, customers and the general public.

Internet Crime Essay example -- Technology Computers Web Essays

Internet Crime New times bring new crimes. Actually, as time moves on and our world becomes more technologically dependant, the same old time-tested crimes evolve to fit the arena of the Net. To be specific, the most common Internet crimes are forgery, assault, fraud, and theft.[1] Identity Identity—it’s our most valuable commodity. It defines who we are and is essential to doing business and carrying on personal relationships. But on the Net, identity is ambiguous. To paraphrase Microsoft's ad campaign, Who do you want to be today? More appropriately, who might want to be you today? Email has become the written communication medium of choice for many of us—it's fast, cheap, convenient, private, and secure. Right? Unfortunately, three out of five is bad. Digital forgery is becoming increasingly common on the Net, particularly email forgery. Virtually anyone can duplicate your email return address and use it to send false, malicious, and even legally actionable messages using what appears to be your name and identity. Forged email can also be used to acquire information, create enmity among friends, ruin reputations, defraud people of money or valuable information such as passwords, and even spread hate messages and false death threats. In short, anything a forger can attempt to accomplish in the paper world can be done in the electronic world--but much more easily. The best—If not the most convenient—way to protect yourself against email forgery is by encrypting your email, rendering the message unintelligible to anyone but its intended recipient. Here are five keys to protecting yourself from forgers. 1- Be alert for any responses to emails that you don't believe you have sent. 2- Be alert... ...rs as passwords. In conclusion, crimes committed through the Internet medium are the same proverbial monkey that has been on society’ back for years, just wearing a different mask. The most common Internet crimes include forgery, assault, fraud, and theft. If you are concerned abut possible security holes in your PC network or Internet connection, go to http://coverage.cnet.com/Content/Features/Dlife/Crime/Quiz2/1,140,,00.html?, take the security survey, and these guys will help you beef up the security of your system. [1] http://coverage.cnet.com/Content/Features/Dlife/Crime/ [2] http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,6577,00.html [3] http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,120,00.html [4] http://www.metro.ch/avpve/ [5] http://www.bocklabs.wisc.edu/~janda/gtvh_faq.html [6] http://www.usps.gov/ [7] http://www.infowar.com/sample/results.html-ssi

Children of Polygamy Essay

With reasonable guidelines in place to prevent human right violations, should polygamy be legal in Canada? First of all, a clear definition of the term is required: â€Å"Polygamy occurs when one husband is married to two or more wives† (Ozkan,M et al,215) . This scenario is not common in North America however has been known to occur in the past. To gain an insight to the world of polygamy, it seems that research has been undertook investigating its effects in areas of the world where it is more common, for example, the Muslim world. The decision as to whether Polygamy should be legal in Canada will be based on the research found on the effects of Polygamy on both the children of the senior and junior wife. â€Å"A senior wife is defined as a woman who was followed by another wife into the marriage. A junior wife is the most recent wife joining the marriage† (Al-Krenawi,447). In-depth research has taken place into the emotional, psychological and behavioural effects on children from polygamous families, as well as the effects on academic achievement compared to that of monogamous families. Most experts agree that children from Polygamous families are negatively affected by polygamy in terms of their academic achievement, behaviour, and their emotional and physiological stability. Therefore, Polygamy should not be legal in Canada, in order to protect children from the harmful effects associated with it. An Investigation into the effects on education on Bedouin-Arab school children showed significantly higher scholastic achievement in the children from monogamous families when compared with children from polygamous families, based on grades in Hebrew, Arabic, Arithmetic and reading comprehension, recorded in their school files. (Krenawi & Lightman, 350) As for behavioural problems, Krenawi, Graham et al describe how the â€Å"Competition for support and resources among wives in polygamous families may lead to tensions between co-wives and between the children of different co-wives† (456). The conflicts between the wives are often fuelled by jealousy which, in turn, increases the chances of conflict between the siblings of the wives. The increase in conflict and violence is likely to result in earlier drop out from school and higher probability of succumbing to other social problems such as drugs. (Krenawi & Lightman,353). Al-Krenawi’s journal links the children’s behavioural problems with their emotional state: â€Å"Jealousy, competition and fighting among the different wives leads to the children regarding the children of the other wife not as siblings but as enemies. The resulting hatred and hostility affected the children both emotionally and socially. † (37). Research has shown that â€Å"Such problematic maternal psychosocial dynamics, in turn, may adversely influence adolescents’ self-identity, self-esteem and psychological well-being† (Shek 159). Self-esteem is looked at in great deal throughout the research. Krenawi and Graham define self-esteem as a wish to think well of one’s self; It also relates to self-respect and the person’s perception of worth. Children from polygamous families are especially prone to this, due to low-interest from their fathers, especially children of senior wives. Studies showed lower parental interest, lower interest when compared with other siblings contributed to low self-esteem among children in polygamous families. (457). Another table from this journal has results which show children from Polygamous families scored higher in areas including depression, anxiety, hostility, paranoid ideation and psychotism and scoring lower in family functioning (which includes relationships, functioning and communication within their family) as well as the self-esteem test. (452), We see that these psychological problems that polygamous children face are the major contributor to their lack of academic achievement, it is not as first thought a direct consequence of polygamy. It is more of an indirect consequence of polygamy. Observing from another perspective, evidence is found by Cherian that reveals â€Å"A positive and statistically significant relationship was found between parental interest and children’s academic achievement, regardless of whether the family was monogamous or polygamous† (736). Throughout the research into polygamy there were occasions where interviews were conducted with members of polygamous families, first hand evidence can be very powerful however we see contrasting views here first we will look at those in favour of polygamy. In the paper ‘Polygamy and its Impact on the Upbringing of Children’ by M. Khasawneh et al, we see a mother asked about the impact of polygamy, to which she answers â€Å"Did not affect the children† (577). There is also a statement from a child who states â€Å"Polygamy is a very appropriate process†. Clearly displays that both the mother and a child of polygamy both seem to support polygamy. However, if we look at the experts’ opinion of the mother Khasawnehs’ paper, we see that they believe that the wives views may not be accurate. Since the families would be aware of their responses, it made it difficult for the wife to make an honest declaration, as this could negatively affect her family life (572). Although there is little doubt that the child’s statement was not an honest one, we see that there are other responses which do not show the children in favour of polygamy. Although a number of children believed that their fathers did not discriminate between or separate them, several also did not approve of polygamy and seen it as â€Å"something they were forces to adapt to† (572). This view is further supported by a child who is asked their opinion and views on polygamy to which he answers: â€Å"Polygamy is for necessity only, and with conditions to be just and fair. I do not support polygamy at all no matter what the reasons are. † (577). Another child answers the same question with: â€Å"I encourage polygamy because there is a large number of girls. † (577) This brings up the condition which is very important for polygamy: If there is an imbalance in the ratios of male to female then it is a valid argument that polygamy is a solution to spinsterhood. However Referring back to the question on Canada, we find from Statistics Canada online that the population of males and females is approximately equal 17. 6 to 17. 3 million (StatCan) . As for the argument on education, although we have observed that parental interest influences both monogamous and polygamous children’s academic achievement, equally, it is clear that other behavioural, emotional and physiological factors contribute and can potentially have a harmful effect on academic achievement too. In conclusion it is clear, from studies on Polygamy in Muslim countries, that there is overwhelming evidence to show that Polygamy has a detrimental effect on the upbringing of children, and this is made clear in the research surrounding its negative effects on the wives, the senior wives in particular. Krenawi and Graham make that point that in order to reduce problems which associated with polygamy arising, early interventions by school officials and other services may help improve academic achievement, socioeconomic status as well as improved family functioning. (455) . Referring back to the idea of parental interest being a big contributor to the academic achievement of the children no matter what family structure they belong to however it is clear to see that a father will have a certain about of time available to give to his children if this time which was once for one family alone is not split between 2 families in 2 different households, it becomes obvious that it will become impossible for the father to give an equal amount of his time that he was able to give in the past. Therefore even with reasonable guidelines put in place ,possibly similar to the one practiced in Muslim countries, where the husband must prove he can financially look after his wives and children, I still feel there are a far greater number of disadvantages to this and therefore it should not be made legal in Canada. Word Count (1,442) Bibliography Al-Krenawi,A. Graham. J. R & Sonim-nevo, V. (2002) Mental Health Aspects of Arab-Israeli adolescents from polygamous versus monogamous families. Journal of social Psychology, 142, 446-460. Al-Krenawi, S. Lightman, (2000). Learning, Achievement and Family conflict Among Bedouin-Arab children from polygamous and monogamous families. The journal of social psychology 140(3), 345-355. Cherian,V. I. (1993) . The Relationship between Parental interest and academic achievement of Xhosa Children from Monogamous and Polygamous families. The Journal of Social Psychology, 133, 733-736. M. Khasaweh,o,Y. Hijazi, H. Salman. N( 2011). Polygomy and Its Impact on the Upbringing of children. A Jordanian Perspective, Journal of Comperative Family Studies. 563-577 Ozkan,M,Altindag,A. ,Oto R & Sentunali,E (2006) . Mental Health Aspects of Turkish Women from Polygamous Versus Monongamous Families. Turkey. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, (52), 214. Shek,D. T. L (1998) A Longitudinal Study of the Relation between Parental-adolesent conflict and adolescent psychological well-being. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 159, 53-67.

Investigation Into The Theme of Entrapment in The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1932 to Austrian parents. She studied at the prestigious Smith College with a scholarship and in 1955 she went to Cambridge University where she met and later married Ted Hughes. Plaths life was one of success, and intense ambition and perfectionism. In an early journal entry, aged 16, she described herself as ‘The girl who would be God'. Her desire to be a perfect writer and a perfect woman is set however in her understanding of the constraints placed on women in the 50's. The early death of her father when she was just 8, and the combination of fear and adoration she felt towards him had an immense and lasting effect on her life, and subsequently he appears as a major theme in both her poetry and prose works. The Bell Jar was first released in England in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. It received lukewarm reviews with most critics highlighting the personal yet detached voice of novel. An anonymous review stated ‘it read so much like the truth that it is hard to disassociate her from Esther Greenwood, the ‘I' of the story, but she had the gift of being able to feel and yet to watch herself: she can feel the desolation and yet relate this to the landscape of everyday life'. This shows how the novel was seen to be autobiographical even before it was known who the author was, and before comparisons of plot construct and the life of the author could be made. This shows how the tone, which some may say is confessional, leads readers to analyse the work from a psycho-biographical standpoint. You can read also Analysis of Literary Devices of Jane Eyre Laurence Lerner equates the detachment, which the anonymous reviewer highlights, with Esthers neurosis deriving from her role as satirist of the world around her, and he sees her ‘Bell Jar' as one of a detached observer. Critics also compared it to JD Salingers ‘The Catcher In The Rye', because of the interpretation of it as a critique of college life and establishing identity, and also the existential undertones of the dominant voice are similar in both texts. Robert Taubman wrote in The Statesman that The Bell Jar was a ‘clever first novel†¦ he first feminist novel†¦ in the Salinger mood. ‘ Linda Wagner saw The Bell Jar as ‘in structure and intent a highly conventional bildungsroman ‘, or a rites of passage novel, with the construct focusing entirely on the: ‘education and maturation of Esther Greenwood, Plath's novel uses a chronological and necessarily episodic structure to keep Esther at the centre of all action. Other characte rs are fragmentary, subordinate to Esther and her developing consciousness, and are shown only through their effects on her as central character. No incident is included which does not influence her maturation'. Modern criticism also focuses on political and feminist criticisms of the novel. Alan Sinfield explores ideological intersections between society and the arts, and recognises Plath as critiquing the construction of gender role arguments, taken up by many contemporary feminist critics. Plath is seen as articulating many of the thoughts and feelings many women have about the constraints, opportunities and contradictions of women's role in society. Many have interpreted The Bell Jar as semi-autobiographical. It is impossible to ignore the similarities between the life of Plath and that of Esther, the main protagonist of the novel. The novel parallels her twentieth year almost perfectly. Plath was awarded a spot as a â€Å"guest editor† at Mademoiselle magazine during her junior year at Smith, as Esther won a fashion magazine competition to work on it in New York for a month. Both had been, on the surface, a model daughter, popular in school, earning straight A's and winning the best prizes. She even went to Smith on scholarship; endowed by Olive Higgins Prouty, perhaps the model for Esther's patron, Philomena Guinea. That summer, however, she nearly succeeded in killing herself by swallowing sleeping pills, paralleling the suicide attempt in the novel. After a period of recovery involving electroshock and psychotherapy Plath seemed to become â€Å"herself† again, graduating from Smith with honours and winning a Fulbright scholarship to study at Cambridge, England. However, her troubles returned to haunt her throughout her life, and she committed suicide in 1963. Plath recognised her own inability to write about anything other than her own experiences. In her journals she referred to this as the ‘curse of my vanity'. She talked of, ‘my inability to lose myself in a character, a situation. Always myself, myself, myself. ‘ This makes any reading into The Bell Jar all the more poignant, because Plath's few prose works are more directly related to real life than most fiction. The theme of entrapment forms the central image of The Bell Jar. Plath constructs the analogy in Chapter 15 where Esther, the central character, concludes that ‘I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air'. Plath's use of the sibilant words ‘stewing' and ‘sour' evoke strong sensual reactions in the reader as if they were hit by a pungent sickly smell. The Bell Jar represents the entrapment Esther feels at the hands of society and its expectations of women, and also entrapment by men and the possibility of entrapment by children. The first of these could be understood as representing Esther's suffocation at the hands of societal pressure and the general oppressive atmosphere of the 50's, especially for women. It must be noted that at the end of the fifties the average age of marriage had actually fallen to 20, and was still dropping. It was not uncommon for girls to drop out of college or high school to marry, in fact education was sometimes seen as a bar to marriage. During all of the forties and fifties housewifery tasks were glorified as ‘proof' of a ‘complete' woman in the media. In America at the end of the fifties the birth rate was overtaking India's. Increased affluence allowed people to have four, five, six children, shown in the novel by the inclusion of Dodo Conway, a catholic neighbour who has 6 children; she fascinated Esther because of her ever increasing family and stoic acceptance of her situation. By the 1960s, the employment of women was rather the norm than the exception, but they were holding mostly part-time jobs, to help put their husbands through college, or widows supporting families. For such an ambitious and talented woman like the protagonist of the novel this would inevitably cause a clash of ideals between those of wider society and her own. Society assumes a woman will marry. The heroine of the novel is besieged by the influences that propagate the myth that the purpose of a woman's existence is a husband, a house and having children. After Esther's release from the mental hospital, Buddy's final words to her are: â€Å"I wonder who you'll marry now . . . you've been here. † This is similar to the feelings of Esthers mother, for being in a mental institute has a certain social stigma attached to it. The opinion that no man will want a woman with baggage or problems is similar to the view presented by Mrs Willard that no man would want a woman with sexual experience. This adds up to the opinion that all women should be clean, pure, innocent and naive for their men. Also, if Esther were to choose not to marry and not follow the guidelines society attempts to entrap her in, is to go against society's expectations and to commit a kind of sin. Writing to her mother from Smith, Plath agonised over ‘which to choose? ‘-meaning: a career or a family? The central metaphor of The Bell Jar, the ‘fig tree', is Plath's literary portrayal of this dilemma. Each fig represents an option, a future: to be a famous poet, an editor, or to be a wife and mother. Each is mutually exclusive and only one can be picked. As Esther (very much an extension of her creator here) hesitates, debating with herself, â€Å"the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at her feet. † Rejection of any option was difficult because she wanted it all. The conclusion that the figs rot and die aligns the image tonally with the rest of the novel. Esther shows her desire to have it all and her refusal to limit herself when she says to Buddy, ‘I'll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days. In her own life, Plath attempted to achieve both career and family. There were times, her letters and the remembrances of her family and friends reveal, that domestic life alone seemed to fulfil her. She was a perfectionist at housekeeping as she had always been at her college work and at writing, but at other times the routine infuriated her and the ‘viciousness in the kitchen' that she describes in Lesbos sets in. At ti mes she revelled in being â€Å"cowlike† and maternal, but resentment against their demands on her time and her creativity is evident too. Esther concludes that the societal pressure that she feels at her prestigious College, where the girls pocketbook covers must match the material of their dresses and all the girls wait with excitement for their invitations to the proms, is not so different to the pressure she feels in the asylum. ‘What was there about us' she wonders ‘so different from the girls playing bridge and studying in the college . . . Those girls too sat under a bell jar of a sort'. Plath explicitly shows the reader that the Bell Jar is not simply one of depression, but also one of conformity. The entrapment that Esther feels is also sexual. This is partly caused by Buddys sexuality and power, for Esther and Joan react to him and eventually rebel against him by exploring alternative sexual methods. Joan becomes a lesbian (though whether this is a direct result of her and Buddys relationship is debatable), and Esther asserts her sexual freedom through getting birth control. For her this symbolises female empowerment. In contrast to her previous attempt to free her sexuality by allowing Constantin to seduce her, she will be her own active agent of change in freeing herself from the strict social codes for women. Esther begins to feel a disillusionment with men, after her realisation that Buddy Willard is a ‘hypocrite', she concludes ‘I knew that in spite of all the roses and kisses and restaurant dinners a man showered on a woman before he married her, what he secretly wanted when the wedding service ended was for her to flatten out underneath his feet like Mrs Willards kitchen mat'. This kitchen mat which is a utilitarian object, easily repaired or replaced, is used as a metaphor for a woman. This introduces a central theme of the novel, that of women being dominated by men. The image of being ‘flattened' is used many times in the novel to show the effect of men on women. It is used again in Chapter 5 when Esther describes how she felt ‘dull and flat and full of shattered visions' after a disappointing date with Buddy. The ‘kitchen mat' that Esther describes is a beautiful hand made rug that Buddys mother made. She spent lots of time making this mat, but when she is finished she just puts it on the kitchen floor for people to wipe their feet on. Esther sees this as a symbol of male oppression and the subsequent feeling that nothing a woman makes or does is of any merit. It is when around Buddy that Ether seems most repressed. This adds to the overall sense of confinement that Esther feels, but this aspect is wholly self-inflicted. One obstacle that Esther must overcome is her idealised and fairy-tale view of romantic relationships, in which she defines her and Buddys relationship in terms of a single kiss. The word ‘flattened' evokes connotations like beaten, weak and subjugated. Esther is, as most women during the fifties, expected to marry. Esther Greenwood sees herself as something other than primarily a housewife, and she uses a lot of her energy to try to avoid marrying the one she is expected – Buddy Willard. The word ‘bell' written ‘belle' was used during the nineteenth century for the ‘belle' of the ball. It was meant to be a positive term in American culture, and was used to describe a ladylike southern woman with many suitors. This was a woman who knew her role and was happy to be the desired object of her lover and to put all her energies into looking after her man and her family. In this interpretation, the ‘Belle' Jar could represent societal pressure to conform to this ideal and the trapped feelings these women my encounter. Buddy is the main representation of dominant oppressive male sexuality. He stifles her intellectually, telling her a poem is just ‘a piece of dust', and plays a dominant sexual role by exposing himself to her. Marco is a much more violent depiction of male sexuality, a ‘woman-hater' who attempts to rape Esther. He holds power over her, he is ‘invulnerable' because of his financial power and threatening sexuality, and brands her a slut. Critics have interpreted him as simply a more violent extension of Buddy Willlard, aggressive in his contempt for Esther and her sexuality, whereas Buddy is more subtle and passive. Plath parallels the earlier proposal by Buddy. Whereas Buddy asks for Esthers hand in marriage in exchange for her identity and freedom, Marco offers her a diamond, a symbol of marriage, in exchange for her sexual independence. This feeling or entrapment by men is related to a form of domestic entrapment. One way this is shown is in Esther's outlook towards having children. Plath presents having children as another form of entrapment. When describing child birth language from the semantic fields of confinement and unnaturalness are used. Esther describes childbirth itself as ‘a long, blind, doorless and windowless corridor of pain . . . waiting to open up and shut her in again'. This shows how she sees children as diminishing perception and confining their mothers in a trap they cannot even see out of because it is so all encompassing. The mother is described in inhuman terms with her ‘spider-fat stomach and two little ugly spindly legs' while making an ‘unhuman whooing noise'. This makes the reader feel sympathy towards this grotesque but pitiful monster. Robert Scholes interprets the language Plath uses in the childbirth as that of defamiliarisation. In this scene, for example, the narrator describes the delivery as if it were happening for the first time in history. From the point of view of the uninitiated observer, childbirth seems to be a frightening ritual in which a â€Å"dark fuzzy thing† finally emerges from â€Å"the split shaven place† between the woman's legs. It could be construed that Plath is trying to show the reader that having children is a form of martyrdom, sacrificing your self-identity for your children. A woman dies as a particular kind of woman when she bears a child, and she continues to die as the child feeds literally and metaphorically on her. Indeed, many of her poems depict childlessness as a kind of perfection. In Edge (Ariel), ‘The woman is perfected . . . Each dead child coiled . . . She has folded them back into her body'. This childless ‘perfection' also often signals death in her poetry, showing the view that a woman has no choice but to procreate, because if she does not, or if she changes her mind ‘folding them back into her body', she must die. Plath's fear of procreativity was, in large part, a fear of a resultant loss of creativity. Esther voices Plath's fear, â€Å"I . . . remembered Buddy Willard saying in a sinister, knowing way that after I had children I would feel differently, I wouldn't want to write poems any more. So I began to think maybe it was true that when you were married and had children it was like being brainwashed, and afterwards you went about numb as a slave in some private, totalitarian state. † The inclusion of totalitarianism evokes even stronger feelings of entrapment and being controlled by extraneous forces. Children are also shown to represent entrapment in the inclusion of the miscarried babies in bottles that Buddy takes her to see. These images represent women's traditional choices in life and the subsequent entrapment. Esther describes these in her usual detached voice, ‘the baby in the first bottle had a large white head bent over a tiny curled up body the size of a frog'. These ‘bottles' are similar to the central image of the ‘Bell Jar', and further highlight the reading that children lead to entrapment. This is also shown in Stopped Dead (Winter Trees), ‘A squeal of brakes. Or is it a birth cry? ‘. It seems Plath has the opinion that the minute a baby is born the mother's life ends in a squeal of brakes. Domestic entrapment can also be a trap of routine and chores. In Chapter 7 Esther notes how she cannot cook, or dance, or sing or know short hand, all the things that she would need to live her life by her mother's standards. Plath's letters to her mother and her novel both make it explicitly clear that Plath was confused and frustrated by the necessity of defining herself as a woman. In 1949, at age seventeen, she wrote, ‘I am afraid of getting married. Spare me from cooking three meals a day–spare me from the relentless cage of routine and rote. I want to be free. ‘ Plath herself wrote in her journal that it was â€Å"as if domesticity had choked me†. It could be said that her decision to finally end her life by sticking her head in a gas oven is a perfect symbolisation of that aspect of her experience. Plath's two-dimensional characterisation of Mrs Greenwood as a hard working and well intentioned woman, but one very much controlled by the guidelines society gave her regarding her role as a woman. She feels that Esther's English Major will not help her get a job, and that the only way that she will get a career is by learning shorthand. Esther would then be ‘in demand among all the up and coming young men', but she instinctively rebels against this view, ‘I hated the idea of serving men in any way. I wanted to dictate my own thrilling letters'. She is aware of the injustice in the occupational sphere, and refuses to abide by this unfair apportioning of status in society. The Bell Jar could also be construed as the ‘bell jar' of the character's depression. Depression and mental illness are almost universally described by the imagery of entrapment, from Bertha Mason, the mad alter ego of Jane trapped in the attic in Jane Eyre to the imagery of depression as a suffocating ‘black cloud' by Elizabeth Wurtzell in her 1996 portrait of depression. Esther's depression begins to fully emerge in Chapter 2, where she describes how she begins to feel while watching Doreen, her sexually voracious friend and Lenny ‘get more and more crazy about each-other'. She compares herself to ‘a black dot' signifying a feeling of insignificance, shame and dirtiness. Plath uses the analogy of travelling away from Paris on an ‘express caboose' to describe Esther's increasing feeling of detachment and unimportance: ‘every second the city gets smaller and smaller, only you feel it's really you getting smaller and smaller and lonelier and lonelier, rushing away from all those lights and that excitement at about a million miles an hour. ‘. This gives the reader the feeling of Esther helplessly falling into a deep depression, where the ‘excitement' of everyday life does not affect her. On Esther's way to Buddy at the sanatorium she describes the bleak land-scape and its effect on her mood. ‘ . . . the countryside, already deep under old falls of snow, turned us a bleaker shoulder, and as the fir trees crowded down from the grey hills to the road edge, so darkly green they looked black, I grew gloomier and gloomier'. Snow is often used to symbolise death, it could have been used in this instance for many reasons. Firstly, it could be because she is travelling to a TB sanatorium where many must have died. This illness and death that she is travelling toward is inextricably linked with sin in The Bell Jar, with Buddy being punished for his affair with a waitress by his TB and Esther punished for losing her virginity by haemorrhaging, so this blanket of death is particularly profound. Secondly, the snow could also foreshadow Esther's later suicide attempt from an overdose or sleeping pills in Chapter 13. The ‘crowding' ‘fir trees' could have been used to depict a feeling of entrapment. Esther's depression is later shown by her lack of motivation to do anything, even change her clothes or wash her hair. This melancholic inertia is shown in the paragraph: ‘I crawled back into bed and pulled the sheet over my head. But even that didn't shut out the light, so I buried my head under the darkness of the pillow and pretended it was night. I couldn't see the point of getting up. ‘ Esther feels trapped by her depression, it sedates her so fully that she does not even see any way out of it. Recurrent mirror and light images measure Esther's descent into the stale air beneath the bell jar. In the first chapter, when Esther returns from Lenny's apartment and enters the mirrored elevator of the Amazon Hotel, she notices â€Å"a big, smudgy-eyed Chinese woman staring idiotically into my face. It was only me, of course. I was appalled to see how wrinkled and used up I looked. † As she becomes increasingly trapped by her own mental state, her relationship with her own identity becomes increasingly disembodied, and the reflection in the mirror gradually becomes a stranger. Esther's depression and subsequent breakdown could be interpreted as a gradual abandonment of societal norms. It entails a series of rejections or separations from women who are associated with a stereotypical aspects of womanhood that Esther finds unacceptable. The novels heroine projects components of herself that represent patriarchally defined expectations of women onto other characters: her mother, Dodo Conway, Mrs Willard, then through her rejection of these characters she discards the aspects of herself that they personify. Every character can be seen as created to represent aspects of the world which confines Esther; with Buddy representing dominant male sexuality and broader forces of society, Dodo representing pressure to have children, Jay Cee being the pressure to have a successful career. The end of the novel sheds all of these forms of entrapment, societal, domestic, sexual and intellectual, virtually entirely. The ultimate chapter chiefly uses imagery of cleanliness and freedom. A ‘pure, blank sheet' of snow is described, but the reader now interprets the snow as representing a fresh start. She compares forgetfulness, that may help her ‘numb and cover' her memories, to ‘a kind snow', allowing her freedom from her worries. When Esther readies herself to meet the board of doctors who will certify her release from the hospital, she behaves as if she is preparing for a bridegroom or a date; she checks her stocking seams, muttering to herself â€Å"Something old, something new. . . . But,† she goes on, â€Å"I wasn't getting married. There ought, I thought, to be a ritual for being born twice – patched, retreaded, and approved for the road, I was trying to think of an appropriate one. . .† Critics who have been willing to see a reborn Esther have generally done so without ever questioning the appropriateness of the reference to a â€Å"retread† job. Susan Coyle writes that the tire image â€Å"seems to be accurate, since the reader does not have a sense of Esther as a brand-new, unblemished ‘tire' but of one that has been painst akingly reworked, remade†. Linda Wagner, for example, ignores this passage and concentrates on subsequent paragraphs, where the image of an â€Å"open door and Esther's ability to breathe are,† Wagner writes, â€Å"surely positive images. The ability the breathe serves as a contrast to the ‘sour air' under the Bell Jar. There is no doubt that the novel has a fairly high level of closure with most possibilities eliminated. The reader also knows that she had children, we become aware of this very early on in the construct of the story, so Esther obviously settles down into some sort of domesticity. Plath does not concede that Esther is fully cured, Esther even finally wonders whether she may be trapped by the bell jar again, but the novel concludes on a very optimistic note; that Esther is feel from the constraints that she previously felt.