Wednesday, October 30, 2019

NY Courts Gov Attorneys Grievance Complaint Assignment

NY Courts Gov Attorneys Grievance Complaint - Assignment Example The website is quite informative in the role of Disciplinary and Grievances Committee and the areas where one can lodge complain in case of a dispute. It gives the location of the office and the jurisdiction of those offices. This would help clients from visiting the wrong office which cannot handle their dispute case. Nevertheless, the client should be advised on the procedures detailing the time-frame which complains should be heard and the kind of cases that the committee can handle. Website 1 is best structured compared to the rest. Navigation over the website is quite easy. The information is also detailed and organized in a coherent manner whereby when one goes through the webpage, it is easier to learn what it is all about. The language used also is devoid of technical words that might lead to the clients not understanding or understanding the wrong thing. Simply put, it is easy to understand. The user-interface is also both appealing and simple thus making it

Monday, October 28, 2019

Assessment for Teacher Essay Example for Free

Assessment for Teacher Essay The primary purpose of assessment is for the learner to provide evidence of learning by demonstrating the understanding of content and achievement of learning outcomes. This gives an insight of their strengths and areas of development. Whereas for teacher, it provides a moment to review their assessment strategies in terms of effectiveness and facilitate progression by giving constructive feedback. It also informs the curriculum board, managers, and relevant staff to evaluate learning programmes for any improvements. Learners are assessed through various stages of learning journey by using variety of methods and strategies. They are usually assessed formatively before or during the course and summatively near or the end of it. Formative assessment provides a continuous source of information about students’ progress, improvement and problems encountered in the learning process. It could be an â€Å"Initial Assessment† to determine prior knowledge or â€Å"Diagnostic Assessment† to find areas of development and strengths. Feedback is an integral part of it. (NCFOT, 1999) said it â€Å"occurs when teachers feed information back to the students in ways that enable the student to learn better, or when students can engage in a similar, self-reflective process†(Principle 4). It has also been supported by several educationists such as Scales (2008 p. 179), Black and William (1998: 17) and Reece and Walker (2007 p. 325). Formative assessments are not graded which allows flexibility to modify and adjust the teaching practices and reflect the needs and progress of learners as well as motivating them. However, formative assessment in its purist form is seldom used (Brookhart, 1999). I feel that teachers should be given training to as â€Å"how† and â€Å"when† to employ it successfully. There are variety of methods by which students are assessed formatively such as Accreditation of prior learning (APL), Observation, Oral Questioning, Discussion, Role play, Case study, Essays, Projects, Assignments, MCQs etc. which when used in combination has proven effective in measuring a variety of complex learning outcomes (Reece and Walker, 2007, p. 326) It is useful for development of â€Å"Cognitive†, â€Å"Psychomotor† and â€Å"Affective Domains† of learning as explained in Bloom’s Taxonomy and could assess higher order skills of these domains. Some teachers are predominantly concerned with cognitive learning with some use of psychomotor skills but affective learning can be a useful tool in changing attitudes i. e. gender, culture etc. even if it’s not a requirement of a course. Summative Assessment happens at the end of the course, unit etc. and is for grading and decision purpose. It is used for informing employers, institutions etc. about learner’s overall performance. It does not however, give information about detailed abilities of learner and there is no feedback so it is debated for its complete reliability and validity. (Scales, 2008 and Rust, 2002). Learners are assessed summatively mostly by Examination, Assignments, Portfolios, and Essays. They develop the skill levels of ‘cognitive and psychomotor domains’ depending on how effectively they are set out and the type of course. ‘MCQs’ and ‘Viva’ for instance can provide better coverage of syllabus as well as assessment of deeper knowledge whereas essays does not serve the same purpose but assess higher levels of cognitive domain i. e. synthesis and evaluation. Feedback is an important element of assessment and is directly related to motivation. In order to accelerate learning process it has to be timely, positive and constructive. â€Å"Maslow’s hierarchy makes us think about the total experience.. From physiological factors. to relationships (do we give positive regard and development feedback? ) to self-esteem needs (‘I’m no good ’), his hierarchy provides a useful device to help us understand learning and motivation(Scales, 2008 p. 72). We need to keep records to track and monitor the progress of our learners. They are many different types of internal, external and formal and informal records. Internal records include mark books, matrix, learner progress sheets/ reviews and results of mock tests. In ESOL, we keep records of Initial interview, Initial assessment, spiky profile, ILPs, Diagnostic assessment, Formative assessment, observation reports, feedback reports, peer/self assessments and Summative assessments to assess the progress of learners and efficacy of programme and teaching. The external records include all the evidence in form of written work or internal verification to sent to external bodies i. e. exam board, auditing bodies, other educational organisations, support staff, etc.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Dreams :: essays research papers

Dreams "I don't use drugs, my dreams are frightening enough." (Escher) Why do we dream? Are they instructions from the spiritual world or just deep, hidden wishes that can be used to unlock the secrets of the unconscious mind? Nobody knows for sure. One theory that is prevalent today is that dreams result from the physiological "exercise" of the synapses of the brain. There is no proven fact on why we dream, which is why there are so many theories on the topic. There is Freud's theory that dreams carry our hidden desires and Jung’s theory that dreams carry meaning, although not always of desire, and that the dreamer can interpret these dreams. After these theories, others continued such as the Cayce theory in that dreams are our bodies means of building up of the mental, spiritual and physical well being. Finally came the argument between Evans' theory and the Crick and Mitchinson theory. Evans states that dreaming is our bodies way of storing the vast array of in formation gained during the day, whereas Crick and Mitchinson say that this information is being dumped rather than stored. Whichever theory is true, we may never know, but from these following theories we can decide for ourselves what we believe to be true and further help us into understanding our dreams. My own personal theory on why we dream is that the subconscious mind is always working. This results in dreams. The subconscious mind in an attempt to file away all of the information from the previous day results in dreams. A dream in my opinion is nothing more than a chemical reaction in the brain. In laboratory tests, when people were awaked during the RAPID EYE MOVEMENT (REM) stage of sleep and asked to report what was on their mind just before awaking, about 90% reported an experience termed TRUE DREAM. When a true dream is experienced is seems as if it were an actual event rather than one thought or imagined. True dreams often involve a series of such experiences woven together in a somewhat bizarre story. Even those people who claimed to rarely dream or only remember fragments of dreams in the mornings were able to give detailed accounts of a true dream experience when awakened during REM sleep. Those who were awakened during SLOW-WAVE sleep (the deeper, less mentally active s tages of sleep) reported mental activity in only about 60% of cases.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

What impression do we get of the community from the descriptions Guterson provides in the opening chapters. Louise Burrow

We can see from the first page of Snow Falling on Cedars that Guterson is a very detailed author who tends to look into objects and people in depth. This style of writing is particularly useful when trying to determine what kind of people are living in the San Piedro, and the kind of lives they are living and also their reactions towards other people. Throughout this essay I am going to look in detail at the descriptions of Guterson and how his descriptions shape the characters and the atmosphere of the isolated island. Guterson starts his novel with a very detailed analysis of the ‘accused man' Kabuo Miyamoto and the court room which he is placed in at the beginning of the novel. This automatically gives the reader no chance of opinion as this character is, from the start, refused an identity by Guterson. This also gives us an idea of the opinions and views of the people who will be sitting in the public gallery. Kabuo is described by Guterson has a very withdrawn and subdued character, who is seen as having something to hide because of the way he is placed into the novel and courtroom; â€Å"Some in the gallery would later say that his stillness suggested a disdain for the proceedings; others felt certain it veiled a fear of the verdict that was to come.† Although we have not yet been told what Kabuo has done, Guterson automatically places a sense of distrust and dislike against Kabuo for the action in which he has supposedly committed. Guterson then begins to describe the atmosphere of the courtroom and of how people react to important incidents which don't occur in an isolated island such as San Piedro. He explains that a situation like this is so irregular people don't even have suitable attire except for the outfits they wear to church on a Sunday. He describes the courtroom as being run down and simple, which can also be associated with the community of San Piedro as both are of a miserable nature and only consist of the necessities. Guterson explains the jurors to be people who are increasingly uncomfortable as they are out of the situations and surroundings which they are used to; â€Å"The jurors sat with studiously impassive faces as they strained to make sense of matters. The men – two truck farmers, a retired crapper, a bookkeeper, a boat builder, a grocer, and a halibut schooner deckhand – were all dressed in coats and neckties.† Guterson is trying to show that not one of the people on the jury are in a comfortable situation and are all seen as being nervous. We are shown throughout the novel the way in which the people of San Piedro react to people are outsiders o foreigners to the people who live on the small island, we can see that the islanders feel very uncomfortable towards people who they don't know or who are from another country. The first incidence we see this is aimed at the reporters who are placed next to the radiators giving out sweltering heat, so we then see that the islanders are intentionally trying to make the outsiders feel very uncomfortable throughout their stay on San Piedro island. But we can see through Guterson's immense detail to the background and the residents of San Piedro that they are relatively hypocritical in their views. Firstly Guterson explains the background of the island and the nature of the people who lived their and their reaction to foreigners coming ashore. We can see that the opinions of the past and present residents of San Piedro are very similar, as they all felt and feel very strongly about outcasts and foreigners. But as Guterson continues his description we are shown that a very large majority of the people are not initially from San Piedro; â€Å"Larsen's Pharmacy, a dime-store-with-fountain owned by a woman in Seattle, a Puget Power office, a chandlery, Lottie Opsvig's apparel shop, Klaus Hartmann's real estate agency, the San Piedro Cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, the Amity Harbor Restaurant, and a battered, run-down filling station owned and operated by the Togerson brothers.† This shows that the people of Amity Harbor are extremely hypocritical because they choose who they treat as outcasts and ho they decide to give American citizenship to. There maybe two ways of deciding why they choose to treat differently firstly people who look physically different from themselves, for instance eyes is seen as important feature throughout the novel as the Japanese as the San Piedro citizens distinguish them as being different because their eyes are slanted unlike theirs. Also people who have the same origin as people who have attempted to destroy the people of San Piedro, for instance, the Japanese and the attack of Pearl Harbour during World War II. On the contrary they should also hold the same feelings for Carl Heine as he is German, and his Country also have a background of misery towards the people of the island as they would of fought against the Germans during World War I. This is not true as we can see through the novel as Guterson shows Carl Heine as very r espected and valued citizen of Amity Harbor. Pathetic Fallacy is seen throughout the first few chapters as Guterson describes in extreme detail, but we are also able to see the clever way which Guterson uses these details to also show the comparisons of weather and the opinions and feelings of people on the island. The majority of the time the weather on the island is very bleak and damp, throughout the novel you can see that the weather places a huge part of the activities of the people as they are restricted by the weather. Also the inhabitants of Amity Harbor are subdued and submissive to each other, as not many are seen to make an effort towards being friendly with other people on the island. This may be due to the fact that the majority of the people that live on the island make a living through fishing, this means that they will then be used to spending a lot of the time on their own, in pretty much silence for a lot of the time. There is a rational explanation for the dismissive and subdued relationships of the people of Amity Harbor, we can see through the beginning chapters that a substantial proportion of the men of San Piedro fought in the World War II. We can see through the emotions of the past soldiers that they haunted by their memories of the war, this then caused them to stop taking things for granted; to respect people and to feel privileged for what they have got and for what they have achieved; â€Å"His cynicism – a veteran's cynicism – was a thing that disturbed him all the time. It seemed to him after the war that the world was thoroughly altered. It was not even a thing you could explain to anybody, why it was that everything was folly.† Three of the main characters of the novel have all been seriously affected by the effects of war, which you can see is either used against the character or they are treated like a hero. For instance Kabuo Miyamoto was affected by the war just as much as Ishmael Chambers and Carl Heine, but only Carl Heine out of the three is treated like a war hero rather than an outsider. Ishmael Chambers is treated like an outcast because he has had his arm amputated and Kabuo Miyamoto was treated like an outcast from the outset because of his background. The community of San Piedro has no respect for all the veterans of the war as all three of the people served in World War II, but only one of the men were actually fully respected for their service. This is useful to determine the real feelings and racism of the people of San Piedro and also no-one can determine whether or not anyone is a treated like a true citizen of Amity Harbor, as Ishmael is treated as an outsider because of a loss of limb ev en though he is an American Citizen. In conclusion we can see that from Guterson's descriptions the people of San Piedro are hypocritical who are very racist towards outsiders and foreigners. We can see from past and present that this racism has always been there, the majority of the people of this isolated island feel this way. On the other hand most citizens are very subdued and appear to be very silent and private, as most live a life associating with little people and spending a lot of time on their own fishing for their families.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Literature of the Western World Essay

Fray Luis De Leon’s use of the good shepherd motif in At the Ascension (Wilkie & Hurt, 2001) is a wholly unexpected one.   Hearing the phrase or title ‘the good shepherd’ clearly fills one with expectation that the word good in it means good of action.   In other words, a reader encountering this phrase would assume that the shepherd is good because of the work that he does.   For example, a shepherd who carefully rounds up his sheep would be a good shepherd, while one who loses his sheep would be a bad shepherd. This is in opposition to ‘good’ referring to a quality of character.   In this fashion, good is a description of what a person is, not what a person does.   This is apart from action.   It is this latter understanding that is what De Leon leaves us with.   He writes â€Å"Holy Shepherd, dost thou leave thy flock in this valley profound and obscure, to dwell with solitude and grieve, while piercing through the heavens pure, thou risest to immortality secure?† (p. 2217).   This is certainly not the typical use of the metaphor in religious literature. For a more conventional, religious interpretation of the shepherd, consider this oft quoted poem from Lope de Vega entitled The Good Shepherd (Walsh, 1920).   In it he writes, â€Å"Shepherd! Who with thine amorous sylvan song, hast broken the slumber that encompassed me, who mad’st thy crook from the accursed tree, on which thy powerful arms were stretched so long!   Lead me to mercy’s ever-flowing fountains; for thou my shepherd, guard and guide shall be.† This image from de Vega is in complete opposition to the use of the form by de Leon.   It represents, again, a more typical usage of shepherd in a religious context, and is used to demonstrate unconditional, usually sacrificial love for others, as in de Vega.   De Leon, though, turns that motif around, blaming the shepherd for not being all the things that our expectations demand. St. John of the Cross, in his poem I Entered Where I Did Not Know would seem, at least at first glance/first read, to be a substantial paradox.   Certainly to the secular reader, it must be such.   It is a poem that explores such seemingly contradictory thoughts such as, â€Å"Unknowing where I was, I learned unheard of things, but what I heard I cannot say, for I remained unknowing, all reason now transcended† (Wilkie & Hurt, 2001, p. 2220).    Using the words ‘learned’ and ‘unknowing’ in the same few lines does not just transcend reason, but transcends every expectation but contradiction.   This, as I stated, though, is the view of the secular reader.   The paradox is unraveled and the mystery revealed when read through the lens of the religious observer who is accustomed to this type of usage of the limitations of humanity.   St. John clearly is talking of two realms here, the physical (mortal) and the spiritual (eternal).   Knowledge that the self possesses, he is intimating through this poem, is only the knowledge of the physical world that we have.   In that area of understanding, we have our version of knowledge – what he calls ‘knowing’. However, when attempting to grasp the reality of the spiritual world, our knowledge that we possess about the physical world is absolutely useless to us.   Our very own reason (i.e. our mind) cannot even begin to understand what it sees of the spirit world.   It remains outside of our comprehension, and our ability to gain knowledge of.   Even when we stand in its presence, we are left unknowing. Lupercio Leonardo de Argensola’s poem beginning, â€Å"First I must confess, Don Juan,† is most certainly a serious, though clever, observation about appearance and truth.   It reads in a whimsical sort of fashion, and is almost too witty for its own good.   Because of its non subtle imagination, and condescending language, the poem is often misunderstood.   The reader is apt to rush to judgment.   Far from being just a playful conceit, however, it contains much deeper meaning. Lines such as, â€Å"†¦Dona Elvira’s pink and white, if truly seen, owe to her no more than what they cost to buy,† (Wilkie & Hurt, 2001, p. 2239) indicate such a lack of value of internal beauty (and perhaps external beauty, for that matter) within Dona Elvira that the reader almost must laugh at the pointed jest.   But this is serious.   Considering how Argensola treats this appearance of the lady, this is plain to see.   He attributes her with ‘false beauty’ and ‘deceit’, and then goes on to explain that he is swayed by it.   It is clear that he finds this trait of hers to be contrary to truth and is merely appearance. If the poet did not find these issues to be important, then he would have just stated the appearance of the deceit, and been done with it.   Since he adds commentary, however, by going on to talk about its influence on him (and presumably all men), a serious tone is affected.   It is similar, then, to Campion’s Amaryllis in I Care Not for These Ladies (Campion).   Campion declares of the country maid that her natural beauty disdains art and that her beauty is actually her own.   In other words, this is the same question that Argensola raises, the same test he puts to the woman in his poem.   Does she have internal beauty, that of truth without falsehood? This is the true beauty of internal integrity.   Or is she just a painted lady, who practices deceit with her very face?   These are serious questions about not only appearance, but also of truth, and both Argensola and Campion express the same judgment in the end.   These are not mere plays on words, but deeper exercises into human behavior. Sor Juana’s verses regarding men’s choices and their consequences shows her craft at its very best (Wilkie & Hurt, 2001).   As has been noted, it is the choice of her weapon – reason – that made her and still makes her one of the top anti-misogynists of all time.   Her lack of flowery wording and coy assumptions and directions lend to the power of her poems. She remains fully a poet, while also assuming a full role of sociologist.   Had she been purely focused on the direct attack, a non-rational set of accusations, her legacy would have been much different.   She knew and understood that the direct attack through poetry or other works of literature have been long derided as pure emotionalism, a weakness men attribute to women.   Therefore, Sor Juana did turn to logic and rationale.   Ironically, these have long been promoted by men to be men’s tools. Her use of paradoxes to dismiss men’s treatment of women is astounding and successful.   Her words are sharp.   She raises issues in a back and forth style, point for point, in which paradoxes are found, such as men stating that they will batter a woman down emotionally, but be upset when they show emotions. Or courting a woman and then declaring her to be open and lewd when she accepts.   These paradoxes are enough for anyone – feminist or non feminist – to be able to understand that, as Sor Juana would say, â€Å"For plain default of common sense, could any action be so queer as oneself to cloud the mirror, then complain that it’s not clear?† (p. 2263). Machiavellian behavior is that of cunning and duplicity.   This type of overt behavior is easily found in Shakespeare’s The Tempest (Wilkie & Hurt, 2001).   However, it is a tempered, double edged sword.   It is too easy, nearly tempting, to assign pro- and anti-Machiavellian behavior within the play specifically to separate characters. What is intriguing is the argument for and against within the same character.   Consider Prospero.   He is full of cunning and guile.   While outwardly extending a hand of friendship as Prince, he acts to destroy behind the scenes simultaneously.   He takes advantage of his mystical powers to control the situation from well beyond the reach of others.   In those ways, he is an easy to find villain.   Particularly, his sheer cunning and duplicitous grabs at power can be expressed as being Machiavellian. But what of the other side of things?   Is there a different aspect by which Prospero can be observed?   Is he to be excused?   And if so, don’t we have to dismiss the Machiavellian notion? It is true that the play opens with his exile.   It appears true that his exile was a wrong done to him by Alonso.   Therefore all of his actions and behaviors through the play could be seen as rightful revenge.   And if this is true, wouldn’t his character be forgiven, and his motivations just?   Finally, in this way, would not Prospero be seen, himself, as actually anti-Machiavellian because he is driven by rightful justice?   This is the interesting question.   It begs us to look deeper into characters before blindly agreeing with popular literary criticism. References Campion, T. I Care Not For These Ladies. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved May 27, 2010 < http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=181014> Walsh, T. (Ed.). (1920). Hispanic Anthology: Poems Translated from the Spanish by English and North American Poets. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Wilkie, B., & Hurt, J. (Ed.). (2001). Literature of the Western World vol.1: The Ancient World Through the Renaissance, 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Free Essays on Against Social Norms

Extra Credit Essay: Against Social Norms At first I was unsure what I wanted to do for this assignment. There are so many behaviors that are considered to be â€Å"unacceptable† in our society and because I am so adapted to these standards I found it difficult to choose something that wouldn’t make me feel too uncomfortable. I chose to dress up as a man and go to a party at my boyfriend’s college. Normally I would dress-up in â€Å"gender appropriate† clothes that allow me to feel comfortable with myself and with my peers as well. I wore my boyfriend’s jeans; a button down plaid shirt and I pulled my hair back. When I entered the party people immediately began staring at me as if I was an outcast. I actually began to feel uncomfortable by the looks I was receiving from people. I continued downstairs to the â€Å"party† room where people’s reactions were even more extreme. The people that would normally approach me and be friendly stayed distant and acted, as though th ey didn’t see me. My only explanation for this would be that they were unsure how other people would react if they were seen associating with me because I was against the â€Å"norm†. I was surprisingly disgusted with people’s reactions to my appearance. I had expected people to joke about my appearance and approach me questioning my decision to wear â€Å"guy† clothes to a party. This experience has definitely opened my eyes about the way â€Å"we† as a society view people that are against the norm. I can’t imagine being treated so harshly all the time by my peers just because I don’t fit in with their standards.... Free Essays on Against Social Norms Free Essays on Against Social Norms Extra Credit Essay: Against Social Norms At first I was unsure what I wanted to do for this assignment. There are so many behaviors that are considered to be â€Å"unacceptable† in our society and because I am so adapted to these standards I found it difficult to choose something that wouldn’t make me feel too uncomfortable. I chose to dress up as a man and go to a party at my boyfriend’s college. Normally I would dress-up in â€Å"gender appropriate† clothes that allow me to feel comfortable with myself and with my peers as well. I wore my boyfriend’s jeans; a button down plaid shirt and I pulled my hair back. When I entered the party people immediately began staring at me as if I was an outcast. I actually began to feel uncomfortable by the looks I was receiving from people. I continued downstairs to the â€Å"party† room where people’s reactions were even more extreme. The people that would normally approach me and be friendly stayed distant and acted, as though t hey didn’t see me. My only explanation for this would be that they were unsure how other people would react if they were seen associating with me because I was against the â€Å"norm†. I was surprisingly disgusted with people’s reactions to my appearance. I had expected people to joke about my appearance and approach me questioning my decision to wear â€Å"guy† clothes to a party. This experience has definitely opened my eyes about the way â€Å"we† as a society view people that are against the norm. I can’t imagine being treated so harshly all the time by my peers just because I don’t fit in with their standards....

Monday, October 21, 2019

Essay Sample on Separation of Church and State

Essay Sample on Separation of Church and State Free sample essay on Separation of Church and State: In 1789, the First Amendment established that â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This meant the Federal and State Governments could not be partial or show support for any certain denomination or religious organization. One example being the nation’s early attachment to the Church of England. Three years after this amendment was written, it was ratified by the states of the union. James Madison, also referred to as the â€Å"Father of the Constitution†, was greatly worried about the church’s influence on the Federal Government. He once voiced his concern in 1785 when Patrick Henry proposed a bill requiring all citizens in the state of Virginia to pay a tax that would support religion with each taxpayer being able to choose which church they would like to support. Those non-religious individuals would pay a tax that helped fund secular education. To show his disapproval concerning this bill, Madison wrote and published â€Å"Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments† and used several logical, realistic, and even clever analogies and comparisons in his essay to support his views. This essay, which gave sound arguments to maintain the separation of church and state proved to be a good weapon against Patrick Henry’s persuasive oration and prevented any advances from being made concerning the union of church and state. The few constitutional religious references concerning the federal government such as â€Å"In God We Trust† and â€Å"†¦one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.† are considered constitutional because they were accepted by our founding fathers and written into the constitution. Also, the public is not required or forced to know, recite, or respect these phrases. Even though the separation of church and state is understood and respected in the United States; infringements on this amendment are still taking place today. Some examples being the displaying of nativity scenes, crosses, and other religious insignia in, outside, or on the premises of state or federal government buildings. The public opinion concerning the separation of church and state is fairly evenly divided and differs from region to region. Most people in small, rural communities are against the separation of church and state while those in more densely populated areas favor the separation and believe that the church should not be involved in governmental affairs. Religious displays and references are rarely seen in federal buildings, but are often shown in state and local courthouses and other government establishments. An example of this would be a district judge in Alabama beginning his court sessions with a prayer and his refusal to remove the Ten Commandments displayed on the wall in his courtroom. The judge’s views were shared not only by the community, but by the entire state as a whole and the governor of Alabama even went as far as to threaten to deploy the Alabama National Guard to prevent the Ten Commandments from being removed. This is in violation of the separation of church and state, but rarely much action is taken against these offenses. In the public school system, the separation of church and state is strictly enforced although events of a religious nature on school grounds are not entirely prohibited. Students are allowed and welcome to participate in a range of activities as long as their actions do not disrupt, influence, or pressure other students. Private, silent prayers at the lunch table and students gathering around the flagpole for a group prayer if done so voluntarily are completely acceptable. On the contrary, group prayers said by athletes and lead by the team coach are not allowed. The constitution clearly specifies that facilitators must never push religious views on students but instead promote unity amongst students of different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Students should be sensitive of other’s views and beliefs and not try to pressure or belittle individuals with view and opinions unlike their own. Often times religious references and practices are present in public schools and usually both facilitators and fellow students are unaware of how certain individuals might feel toward participating in that particular activity. For example, many songs sang by high school choirs are spirituals that contain themes of heavenly deliverance and salvation. Some students might not believe in these ideas but are forced to participate due to either peer pressure, the threat of a failing grade, or public humiliation or ridicule from the teacher and other students. This scenario is rarely seen but both facilitators and students should be informed and educated to prevent such cases from ever happening. In my opinion, I believe that church should be separate from state. I feel strongly about my faith and have deeply rooted Christian beliefs; but also feel that our faith should not influence our government and schools. Not everyone in government and not all who attend public schools share the same religious beliefs. It is not fair to those who have different views to be forced to accept the views of others. The United States is rich in culture due to the diverse people who inhabit the country. Every American is different and being asked to conform to a single religion would lessen our individuality and make our culture less unique. America should be for all Americans, not just Christian Americans. Also, the men and women who founded this country did so in the name of freedom from religious persecution and we should do our best to keep it that way. After the devastation of September 11th, the country was in a time of crisis and need to be unified more than ever. Having common religious views might have actually strengthened the country and this was evident by the words â€Å"In God We Trust† on every marquee and the many paintings, pictures, posters, and many other religious depictions concerning September 11th. According to the First Amendment, all government buildings are prohibited from displaying such forms of expression. Also, it states that individuals associated with the government should refrain from openly supporting these forms of expression. President Bush often makes religious references, but he has the same basic rights of every citizen and is able to openly express his views and opinions. A common religion supported by the government could possibly help bring our nation together; but a strong, unbiased government is the key to a successful, productive nation. I fell that the common bond all Americans should share is that fact that we are all Americans. No matter our ethnic or religious background.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Accent And Dialect

Accent And Dialect Accent And Dialect Accent And Dialect By Sharon Most people think of an accent as something that other people have. In some cases, they speak disparagingly about one accent compared with another. The truth is that everyone has an accent, because an accent is simply a way of pronouncing words. The reason that you can tell the difference between people from Boston and the Appalachians, or between London and Manchester is because each group of people has a different way of pronouncing the same words. In other words, accent is all about sound. When it comes to changes in vocabulary in different regions, then youre talking about dialect. Dialect refers to differences in accent, grammar and vocabulary among different versions of a language. For example, depending on where you live in England, one type of baked goods could be called buns, cobs or rolls. It is likely that when you speak in the dialect of a particular region, you will also speak in the accent of a particular region. However, incomers may speak the dialect of a region with a different accent. This may also apply to people who have emigrated from one country to another. They may speak a different form of a language from those born in that country. So, what does all this have to do with writing? Its simple. Most written English is based on a dialect of English. The variety of English known as standard English uses a certain type of grammar and vocabulary which is taught to students of English all over the world. They may speak with a different accent, but the dialect is basically the same. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Redundant Phrases to AvoidTen Yiddish Expressions You Should KnowEmpathic or Empathetic?

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Nursing and Self-Care Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 41

Nursing and Self-Care Management - Case Study Example The hands are to be washed and before doing anything to the patient it is vital to explain to Mrs Smith whatever action about to be performed. I will enquire medical records of in a bid to establish the medical history of the patient as well as her feelings and perception towards the recent diagnosis. Finally, it will also be vital to enquire if there is any information that may be of great help towards the determination of the ailment as well as any leading factors that may have contributed to the patient’s latest predicaments (Paraska, 2012). Mrs Smith previous history indicated that she had been diagnosed with Osteoarthritis and lately congestive heart failure. Osteoarthritis is a condition that affects the joints of the human body. Normally the joints are cushioned with a cartilage that prevents friction between the joint bones during motion. However, when the cartilage deteriorates these bones rub on each other resulting in painful inflammation. The condition is common in women and children with the grossly affected age being the age of 40 to 60 years. Its characteristic symptoms are morning stiffness, pains at the joints, swell at the affected joints and reduced activities. Conversely, Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is a condition characterised by loss of or shortness of breath, fatigue, and reduced activities. This is due to the heart fails to supply oxygen and nutrients to other organs or to all parts of the body (Fawcett & Madeya, 2013). The self-care management goal that is related to the above-discussed ailments is by examining Mrs Smith’s lifestyle and giving appropriate advice on the need to readjust her lifestyle.In most cases, individual lifestyle is always the causative factors that lead to arthritis. This can be due to remedied through regular exercising, maintenance of proper diet, proper sleep and others (Williams & Hopper, 2011). The intervention strategies that can be employed in the above-mentioned cases factoring her age is by advising her to try to maintain a healthy lifestyle by continuously getting involved in light activities, ensuring that she adheres her eating habits to proper dieting.

Dostoyevskys Underground Man Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Dostoyevskys Underground Man - Essay Example Dostoyevsky’s Underground Man In the process of writing the novel, Dostoyevsky was much more concerned on remote ideals of European liberalism, because he did not believe in them anymore. In the beginning of his writing career, Dostoyevsky was a dreamer and an ideal romanticist. The ideas of utopian socialism inspired Dostoyevsky in his early writings. When he was in exile, these ideas vanished into thin air and he became more pragmatic and was focused not on the political principles, but on the ideas of an individual’s nature and the essence of a human being. The Irrationalism of the Underground Man Both the irrational and the rational exist in the human being. There is no need to discard the principles of irrationality, because it is another form of self-reflection. The Underground Man and his nature are close to any individual. A study of a disturbed mind and the existential nature of an individual was discussed by Dostoyevsky. The author managed to try his prey or the main characters of the novel in or der to show the limit of their rationality. Sometimes, in the situation of despair an individual becomes a piece of meat, which may be easily eaten by the stronger species. His heroes like being tortured and it is the way of their self-definition and self-expression. The same principles can be traced in existentialist philosophy, where individuals experience tortures in the name of tortures. It is a kind of exam for an inner world of an individual. The man’s irrational nature is dominant over his rational mind. In the Underground Man Dostoyevsky attacks human rationality, the ideas of materialism and utopianism. A man wants to gratify his self-will. The basic features of a hero of the Underground Man should be searched in his ability to be a typical, an ordinary man. Existentialists are focused on the nature of a man, his ability to proud of his inner emotions, both negative and positive. The way of an inner corruption is the means for self-analysis. The fundamental principle s of existentialism are reflected in the novel by Dostoyevsky. In order to comprehend his being, a man considers it more interesting, integrative and universal than outer world. Existentialists are not focused on logic, because actions taken by an individual are subjective and the responsibility for these actions is assigned for individuals only. There is more irrational in the actions of an individual and there is no point to consider human actions from the perspective of logic. The main character of the novel defines himself as a sick, depressed man and there is a need to find some remedy for him. Is there a need in it? That is really interesting question. The being, who is able to evaluate him critically, is the real individual. The main character of Dostoyevsky underlines his desire to identify him: â€Å"I did not know how to become anything; neither spiteful nor kind, neither a rascal nor an honest man, neither a hero nor an insect†) (Dostoevsky 1). Thus, one of the mai n principles of existentialism works in the novel. The main character also claims that despair and suffering are the greatest enjoyment for him, because he may feel them acutely. He realizes his hopelessness and he enjoys having a chance to identify himself. Despair is a wide road for self-identification. In case the main character manages to define him, he would be able to understand the essence of his being and also the directions of his future

Friday, October 18, 2019

The impact of University Center Cesar Ritz students expenditure on the Essay

The impact of University Center Cesar Ritz students expenditure on the local community of Brig - Essay Example This mini â€Å"United Nations" truly represents the international aspect of the hospitality industry. The faculty and staff of UCCR are here to assist the students and guide them to achieve academic excellence. This environment may also help the educators in hospitality management to enhance their professional abilities and knowledge to guide and educate future professionals â€Å"who are mentally equipped to face current and future challenges with regards to the internationalization of hotels† (Velo & Mittaz, abstract, 2006). In turn, they aid the students by giving them the capital to implement transformational leadership methods and techniques to face the new challenges (Gil, Flaschner & Shachar, abstract, 2006). Unlike other hotel schools, UCCR focuses on the management aspects of the hotel & tourism industry, and prepares the students for supervisory and managerial positions. It is an objective, which Ricci and Tesone (2006) describe in their abstract as the importance of certain knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes, as well as their competencies. University Center Cesar Ritz was originally founded in Switzerland in 1982 under the name Hotelconsult SHCC, which represented a hotel chain management. By 1986, after the death of Cesar, under the management of his wife, the Hotelconsult, transformed the hotel into Cesar Ritz Foundation which operates and manages a chain Ritz hotel and an education institution to teach young people the hospitality management and trade. The name Cesar Ritz was adopted as a legacy of one of the founders of the hotel industry and the owner of the Hotelconsult SHCC. In the section of â€Å"Founders of the Hotel Industry,† Cesar Ritz is described as â€Å"a hotelier at the Grand National Hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland. Because of his management abilities, â€Å"the hotel became one of the most popular in Europe and Cesar Ritz

Project Management Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Project Management - Literature review Example Additionally, through sponsoring events and organizations, firms receive positive feedback from the recipient, and that will put the constructive effect on the general perception about the sponsor in the mass of the population. However, for this, sponsors need to show genuine long-term commitment with sponsored events or organizations (Rifon et al, 2004). It adds value to mention that even a sophisticatedly planned sponsorship campaign encompassing positive brand attributes and consumer-friendly attributes might not generate the required type of image in the minds of consumers (Han et al, 2013). In such sponsorship scenarios, the consumers do not consider such adoption of the method for promoting the brand value among the consumers (Simmons et al, 2006). As a result, it can be deduced that it is highly essential that congruence does not always bring corporate benefits for the

Thursday, October 17, 2019

What it means to be an Employer of Choice Personal Statement

What it means to be an Employer of Choice - Personal Statement Example In simpler terms, they defined â€Å"Employer of Choice† as â€Å"it means that [quality] people will choose to work for you and they will: Choose to dedicate themselves to your success. Choose to stay with you, even when they are being courted by recruiters from other employers - recruiters with exceptionally attractive inducements. An employer of choice is one who inspires highly talented workers to join them and stay with them† (Cavell, 2004). A major area which makes employees consider an organization as an â€Å"Employer of Choice† is the atmosphere in the workplace. The workplace environment is focused on six principles which are the key drivers of employee engagement (The Training Foundation, 2011). These six principles are Caring about people, Honesty and fairness, Open communication, Involving people, Coaching and assisting and Ethical practice (CHOICE). An â€Å"Employer of Choice† awardee, The Martin Memorial Health Systems embodies these principles. They view their company as an organization not only engaged in health care services but as a venue for learning by supporting their associates and encouraging them to pursue their dreams and aspirations through further studies (Martin Memorial Health System, 2011). The second common issue which influences an individual’s perception of â€Å"Employer of Choice† is the values-based culture in an organization (The Training Foundation, 2011). According to the Training Foundation, â€Å"companies that honour values which chime with innate human motivators are rewarded by engaged employees and superior performance† (2011). One company which has exemplified this area is IBM which has been â€Å"Employer of Choice† for several years now. Its three-fold initiatives or the 3Cs for the employees have made them retain the position. These initiatives are capability, which refers to the â€Å"rigorous and ongoing career/skills development programs; climate which refers to

MIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

MIS - Essay Example In United States there are more than 500 academic institutions who currently utilize this program. Players generally use Markstrat for making appropriate decisions related to areas of finance, research and development, and marketing. Markstrat helps to analyze market related data and then delivers required results. MIS or Marketing Information System is a strategic approach which is utilized to analyze current market scenario and predict outcomes. This approach can be stated as a management tool that is used not only by students but also by corporate. All market related data is greatly utilized for framing marketing strategies and gaining competitive advantage. MIS is a tool for executing marketing decision making. It supports marketing manager by making tasks simpler and easier. Market related data are of various types but this approach helps to gather this data efficiently. In overall context, analysis of such data facilitates formulation of best possible strategy (Piercy, 2009). There are four interfaces which are highlighted by marketing information system. These interfaces are application software, user interface, system support and database marketing. It can be stated that marketing information system serves as an integration tool. For any strategic decision making it is important to int egrate all forms of collected data. Real world information is integrated with real time application through marketing information system. MIS is responsible for integrating marketing monitoring mechanisms with strategic development. The basic components of MIS can be classified into four categories such as internal records, marketing intelligence, marketing research and marketing decision support system. Internal records means providing internal information about a firm. Marketing intelligence is related to collecting all forms of information mainly from external sources. On the other hand, marketing research

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

What it means to be an Employer of Choice Personal Statement

What it means to be an Employer of Choice - Personal Statement Example In simpler terms, they defined â€Å"Employer of Choice† as â€Å"it means that [quality] people will choose to work for you and they will: Choose to dedicate themselves to your success. Choose to stay with you, even when they are being courted by recruiters from other employers - recruiters with exceptionally attractive inducements. An employer of choice is one who inspires highly talented workers to join them and stay with them† (Cavell, 2004). A major area which makes employees consider an organization as an â€Å"Employer of Choice† is the atmosphere in the workplace. The workplace environment is focused on six principles which are the key drivers of employee engagement (The Training Foundation, 2011). These six principles are Caring about people, Honesty and fairness, Open communication, Involving people, Coaching and assisting and Ethical practice (CHOICE). An â€Å"Employer of Choice† awardee, The Martin Memorial Health Systems embodies these principles. They view their company as an organization not only engaged in health care services but as a venue for learning by supporting their associates and encouraging them to pursue their dreams and aspirations through further studies (Martin Memorial Health System, 2011). The second common issue which influences an individual’s perception of â€Å"Employer of Choice† is the values-based culture in an organization (The Training Foundation, 2011). According to the Training Foundation, â€Å"companies that honour values which chime with innate human motivators are rewarded by engaged employees and superior performance† (2011). One company which has exemplified this area is IBM which has been â€Å"Employer of Choice† for several years now. Its three-fold initiatives or the 3Cs for the employees have made them retain the position. These initiatives are capability, which refers to the â€Å"rigorous and ongoing career/skills development programs; climate which refers to

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Atmospheric issues Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Atmospheric issues - Term Paper Example Global warming is connected to levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Other gasses, such as methane serve as greenhouse gasses as well, but carbon dioxide is by far the most abundant, so the following mitigation plan will focus on limiting and eventually stabilizing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as best we can. Addressing global climate change is important because a host of negative environmental and human maladies can be linked to a rapidly changing climate. Habitat loss, a greater range for human and animal disease, declining agricultural production and more severe storms are all possible outcomes from a warming global climate. But mitigating the amount of carbon dioxide being introduced into the atmosphere is a challenge. The complex nature of the atmosphere and earth’s systems makes some inputs, such as volcanic eruptions and solar radiation, beyond our control. Even inputs that are within our control are dif ficult to implement due to the global nature of the problem. Any realistic mitigation plan needs to have the cooperation of a host of governments and nongovernmental organizations. Though the challenges are daunting, the threats are even more so. This is why we need to address the rising amount of carbon dioxide in our environment. Carbon dioxide levels need to be mitigated because carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Carbon dioxide is essential in our atmosphere because it traps heat in the atmosphere before it can be radiated back into space from the surface of the earth. It works very much like a blanket trapping body heat. If a blanket is too thick, the sleeper becomes uncomfortable. This is what many scientists believe is happening to earth. The build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is creating a thicker, more effective

Monday, October 14, 2019

Literature Review of Cultural Leadership Essay Example for Free

Literature Review of Cultural Leadership Essay Cultural leadership is a diverse subject to touch upon. This aspect of leadership is constantly growing and changing. People should not look into cultural leadership with biased opinions. Dividing cultural leadership into sub groups just gives people an opinion on how to look at people differently. Cultural leadership should be looked at as a whole, as we are one, working together, with the same goal to be successful. Cultural leadership profiles are used to classify what followers expect from leaders in ten cultures cluster groups comprising of sixty-two countries. Six different leadership behavior classifications are used to show what profile is dominant in varying strengths in each region. A successful leader involves more than just planning, coordinate, managing and supervising. A successful leader also has the ability to deal with all genres of people. Whether in involves ethnicity, sexual orientation or people with different cultures. The success of an organization is highly impacted by its culture, which is part of a strategic planning of an organization. What is culture? Culture is defined as the universally shared beliefs, values, and norms of a group of people. Two factors that can hinder cultural awareness are ethnocentrism and prejudice. It is challenging for leaders because it averts them from fully understanding the world of others. Prejudice has a negative impression because it is self-orientated and restrains leaders from seeing the many sides and qualities of others. Whatever makes them unique is their culture. Having a clear understanding of one’s culture, communicating with each other will be much more efficient. Culture has been the attention of many findings across a variety of principles. In the past 30 years a significant number of studies have focused on specifically on ways to recognize and categorize the various dimensions of culture. Determining the rudimentary dimensions or charismas of different cultures is the first step in being able to recognize the relationships between them. Ever since World War II, globalization has been progressing throughout the world. Globalization is the increased interdependence (economic, social, technical, and political) between nations. People are becoming more interconnected. There is an increasingly significant amount of international trade, cultural exchange, and use of worldwide telecommunication systems. In the past ten years, our schools, organizations, and communities have become a lot more global. Increased globalization has created many challenges as well, for example the need to design effective multinational organizations, to identify and select appropriate leaders, and to manage organizations with culturally distinctly different employees. Globalization has also fashioned a need to understand how cultural differences affect the leadership performances. Globalization also created the requirement for leaders to become knowledgeable in cross-cultural awareness and practice. First, leaders need to understand business, political, and cultural settings worldwide. Second, they should learn the perspectives, tastes, trends, and technologies of multiple cultures. Third, they basically need to be able to work concurrently with people from many cultures. Fourth, leaders must be able to familiarize to living and communicating in other cultures. Fifth, they need to acquire to relate to people from other cultures from a position of equivalence rather than cultural supremacy. Anthropologists, sociologists, and many others have questioned the meaning of the word culture. Because it is a theoretical term, it is hard to define, and many different people often define it in unrelated ways. Here, culture is defined as the learned beliefs, values, rules, norms, symbols, and traditions that are common to a group of people. It is these shared qualities of a group that make them matchless. In summary, culture is the way of life, different customs, and script of a group of peoples. Related to culture, are the expressions of multicultural and diversity. Multicultural indicates an approach or classification that takes more than one culture into interpretation. It mentions to the existence of multiple cultures such an African, American, Asian, European, and Middle Eastern. Multicultural can also denote to a set of subcultures defined by race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or age. Diversity signifies to the subsistence of different cultures or ethnicities within a group or organization. Ethnocentrism is the inclination for beings to place their own group (ethnic, racial, cultural) at the center of their interpretations of others and the world. People tend to give importance and value to their own beliefs, attitudes, and values, over and above other groups. Ethnocentrism is the sensitivity that one’s own culture is better or more expected than the culture of others. Ethnocentrism is a worldwide tendency, and each and every one of us is ethnocentric to some degree. Ethnocentrism can be a major impediment to effective leadership because it averts people from fully understanding and/or respecting the perspectives of others. The more ethnocentric we are, the less open or accepting we are of other people’s cultural customs and practices. Prejudice is a general continual attitude, belief, or emotion believed by an individual about another individual or group that is based on defective or unproven statistics. It refers to assumptions about others based on previous decisions or occurrences. Prejudice involves obstinate generalizations that are impervious or change or evidence to the opposing. Prejudice is often thought in the framework of race. In addition to combating their own prejudice, leaders also face the experiment of dealing with the prejudice of followers. These prejudices can be toward the manager or the leader’s culture. Additionally, it is not infrequent for the leader to face followers who symbolize several culturally different groups, and these groups have their own prejudgments toward each other. A experienced leader needs to find ways to negotiate with followers from numerous cultural backgrounds. Training programs about culture and diversity have been admired for many years. At the center of these programs, people are educated about the degrees and characteristics of different cultures, and how to be perceptive to people in other countries and cultures. Considerate about issues about culture is useful in several ways. The discoveries about culture can help leaders recognize their own cultural biases and inclinations. Tolerant of their own preferences is the first step in accepting that people in other cultures might have different predilections Additionally, the findings help leaders to apprehend what it means to be a noble leader. Different cultures have different ideas about what they desire from their leaders. These verdicts help our leaders adapt their style to be more operative in different cultural settings. Third, the findings help leaders correspond more effectively across cultural and geographic boundaries. By considering cultural differences, leaders can become more empathic and precise in their communication with others. Information on culture and leadership has also been applied in very concrete ways. It has been used to construct culturally perceptive Web sites, design new employee orientation programs, organizing programs in relocation training, advance global team effectiveness, and expedite multinational merger implementation. These illustrations clearly specify the wide range of applications for research on culture and leadership in the workplace. GLOBE researchers allocated the data from the 62 countries they studied into regional masses. These masses provided a expedient way to investigate the similarities and differences between cultural groups, and to make significant generalizations about culture and leadership. In sum, these regional masses exemplified a valid and dependable way to differentiate countries of the world into 10 distinct groups. The GLOBE studies compromise the greatest body of findings to date on culture and leadership. GLOBE researchers studied how 17,000 managers from 62 different countries perceived leadership. They evaluated the similarities and differences between regional clusters of cultural groups by grouping countries into 10 distinct clusters; the outcome was a list of leadership attributes that were universally recognized as positive and negative. The representation of an ineffective leader is someone who is asocial, malicious, self-focused, and autocratic. The conceptualization of leadership used by GLOBE researchers was consequential in part from the work of Lord and Maher on implicit leadership theory. Concurring to implicit leadership theory, individuals have implicit beliefs and opinions about the qualities and theories that differentiate leaders from non-leaders and effective leaders from ineffective leaders. â€Å"Leadership is in the eye of the beholder.† Leadership refers to what people see in others when they are demonstrating leadership behaviors. To depict how different cultures view leadership behaviors in others, GLOBE researchers identified six global leadership behaviors: * Charismatic/Value-Based Leadership: Reflects the ability to inspire, to motivate, and to expect high performance from others based on strongly held core values. This kind of leadership includes being visionary, inspirational, self-sacrificing, trustworthy, decisive, and performance oriented. (Peter Northouse 2012). * Team-Orientated Leadership: Emphasizes team building and a common purpose among team members. This kind of leadership includes being collaborative, integrative, diplomatic, non-malevolent, and administratively competent. (Peter Northouse 2012). * Participative Leadership: Reflects the degree to which leaders involve others in making and implementing decisions. It includes being participative and non-autocratic. (Peter Northouse 2012). * Humane-Oriented Leadership: Emphasizes being supportive, considerate, compassionate, and generous. This type of leadership includes modesty and sensitivity to other people. (Peter Northouse 2012). * Autonomous Leadership: Refers to independent and individualistic leadership, which includes being autonomous and unique. (Peter Northouse 2012). * Self-Protective Leadership: Reflects behaviors that ensure the safety and security of the leader and the group. It includes leadership that is self-centered, status conscious, conflict inducing, face saving, and procedural. (Peter Northouse 2012). Cultural Leadership in organizations always seems to miss the discussion of how leadership keeps culture in organizations stable. Charisma is where it all begins. Therefore having multiple cultural leaders helps to resolve this issue. Most leaders do and say different things, but in the end, everyone just wants success. Whether that success is culture, coordination, or a profitable business, or all of those things, many people learn to cope with differences by experience. Experience is the best form of knowing, therefore, to be a great leader; you have to start somewhere. The leader, the followers, and the situation, all have to do with leadership. As well as playing a significant role in cultural leadership. Or any type of leadership for that matter. Personal qualities, perceived situation, vision and mission, followers’ and attributes, leader behaviors, performance, administrative actions, use of cultural forms, and the use of tradition all are key elements to a successful leader, their followers, the business, and the outcome of the business, organization, company. Multicultural is increasing all over the world. Even though America is known as the melting pot, everywhere across the world have cultural behaviors within their organization. Ethics affects leadership, as well as tradition. But studies complied on cross-cultural leadership have been attained, and this helps us to understand the differences between different cultures from our own. Decaregorization is a cultural leadership style for employees to become more aquinted with one another. This style helps companies get to know onw another and interact in a positive manner doing something else besides work. The leader would old a funraiser, etc. Therefore, rather than group-based interactions, this approach will focus on individuality. The following quotes are crucial to cultural leadership, and accepting differences among others. â€Å"Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.† – Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics (350 BCE). â€Å"Lead them with culture and regulate them by the rules of propriety, and they will have a sense of shame and, moreover, set themselves right.† – Confucius (5110479 BCE). The results of ethical leadership came up with six main themes from the responses of all six societies. Accountability, consideration and respect for others, fairness and non-discriminatory treatment, character, collective orientation – organization and social, openness and flexibility. Each society is unique, and to understand the differences, you must experience it firsthand. Reading and learning will only give your insight. Aforementioned cultural leadership must be learned in person, by the leader and its followers, for they are working towards a common goal. Leadership profiles are used to describe how cultures view leadership behaviors. There are six leadership behaviors identified by Globe researchers, they are: charismatic/value based, team-oriented, participative, humane- oriented, autonomous, and self-protective.( House Javidan, 2004) Charismatic/value based leadership is being visionary, inspirational, with the ability to motivate high performance from others based on strongly held core values. Team-oriented leadership is instilling a common purpose among team members to encourage a team effort by being collaborative, diplomatic, and administrative competent. Participative leadership involves making others in the decision making process and includes being non-autocratic and participative. Autonomous leadership is being unique, independent, and a individualistic leader. Humane-oriented leadership is being modest and sensitive to other people, being supportive, compassionate, and generous. Self-protective is self-centered, face saving, status conscious, ensuring the safety and security of the leader and group. There are ten distinct groups to differentiate countries of the world into regional clusters ( e. g. Ronen Shenkar, 1985) Middle East, made up of Qatar, Morocco, Egypt, Kuwait, and Turkey. Nordic Europe which includes Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. Latin Europe comprising Israel, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, and Switzerland. Latin America made up of Ecuador, El Salvador, Columbia, Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Argentina, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Mexico. Southern Asia which includes The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Thailand, and Iran. Sub-Saharan Africa consisting of Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, Nigeria, and South Africa. ( Black caucus) Anglo consists of Canada, the United States, Australia, Ireland, England, South Africa( white caucus) and New Zealand. Confucian Asia includes Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, and Japan. Eastern Europe is Greece, Hungary, Albania, Slovenia, Poland, Russia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. Germanic Europe includes Austria, The Net herlands, Sweden, and Germany. Middle Eastern culture and leadership perceived to be effective in this region of the world are the interrelationships among societal culture, organizational culture and leadership methodologies. Data collected from four Middle Eastern nations (Iran, Kuwait, Turkey, and Qatar) provide an insight into the framework of societal and organizational values and management practices in Arab countries. The great majority of the population in Iran, Kuwait, Turkey, and Qatar are muslins. Turkey has a formal state ideology; the state is independent of religious rules and is run by secular rules mostly adapted from the west. Iran, Kuwait, and Qatar are not secular, but religious laws dominate. Also differences in the Islamic sects, Iran being predominately â€Å"shiite†, Kuwait, Turkey, Qatar people largely â€Å"sunni†. Language may account for part of the differences in Middle East region, while Islamic religion seems to be a common attribute. In making plans and forecasts all four nations are below average and very close to each other, which involves the concept of fate embodied in Islamic beliefs. Effective leadership attributes in Middle Eastern societies have universalistic characteristics and some culture-specific attributes with participation having a different meaning compared to western societies, being centered on satisfaction of egos rather than to improve quality of a decision. Organizational leaders tend to be more sensitive to local cultures and traditions and more future-orientated practices, plus promote change.( Introduction to the special issues on Leadership and Culture in the Middle East, Hayat Kabasakal and Ali Dastmalchian) Face saving and status are important characteristics of effective leadership, and deemphasizes charismatic/value based and team- oriented leadership. Looking after one’s job and security is of the upmost priority for most leaders in this group category. Diversity of management systems exist across contemporary Europe, and societal culture diversity remains unquestionable and frequently preserved as much as possible. The formation of the European Union has opened up all borders, increasing diversity if cultures, all intermingling, changing cultural clustering, and cultural divide between eastern and western Europe. Prior studies of cultural distinctions, cross-cultural studies between east-west and north-south European distinctions are changing from prior data and may need further studies. Managers in Germanic countries make more participative decision-making behavior, central Europe makes more autocratic decisions. West European (Nordic, Anglo, Latin) empathize more â€Å"Equality â€Å"or egalitarian commitment. East and near East countries lean more toward hierarchy or conservatism. North Europe has shown to favor equality and participation, while managers from Southern Europe prefer more hierarchy. A coaching leader is preferred in North Europe, while preference is for a directing leader in South Europe. While self centered and malevolence are seen as impeding leadership in all clusters. Eastern Europe leader would be independent while maintaining strong interest in protecting their position as leader. Nordic Europe want leaders who are inspiring and involve others in decision making, not concerned with status and other self-centered attributes. Anglo Europe want leader to be exceedingly motivating and visionary, considerate of others, team orientated and autonom ous and not autocratic. Latin America leader is charismatic/value based but somewhat self serving, collaborative and inspiring. Confucian Asia leader works and cares about others but uses status and position to make independent decisions without input of others. Sub-Saharan Africa sees effective leadership as caring, should be inspirational, collaborative, and not excessively self centered. A portrait of a leader who is high in integrity, is charismatic/value based, and has interpersonal skills is one whom almost everyone would see as exceptional. (Dorman et al. 2004) After major corporate failures and financial failures of banks and other high impact institutions, being honest and trustworthy could be a high priority for leadership positions in all culture groups. Other personal traits or learned skills would be useful and desirable attributes but lower on the priority scale. Being positive and intelligent definitely would be useful as a leader of any type of venture or business. There are a lot of other positive attributes that would be desirable for leadership; among them is one that plans ahead, having foresight to accurately see what is coming up in near and long range time predictions. Being a team builder, instilling confidence in others encouraging them with a just and dependable example. Personal traits such as being administrative skilled, decisive, and motivating people to be excellence oriented would be very beneficial to any leader and followers. Leaders should be aware and knowledgeable of the many undesirable attributes that can be obstacles in being an effective leader. Being a loner and anti-social would be very negative in showing followers your concern for them and gaining their confidence. The most visible and destructive undesirable attribute in recent events is that of being ruthless, as you would think of people in financial leadership of banks and wall street that caused the massive collapse of the world economies. Being dictatorial and egocentric is very bad for keeping a positive relationship with followers. Personal traits like being irritable and non-cooperative would be hard to understand by followers. There are many strengths associated with classifications of culture groups into clusters that can be easily be utilized for leadership profiles so as to provide a data base of reference for managers of international corporations. Providing valuable asset for training more efficient leaders is one of the strength, it also provides a good understanding of how different cultures have an impact upon leading a workforce into better cohesion and productive atmosphere in the workplace. What followers expect from leaders is a signal to upper management as to what type of person would be more effective with a certain culture group. A second strength could be that this provides useful information/guidelines about what is accepted as good and bad leadership, a yardstick for managers/leaders to measure how do I measure up? Leadership and culture are two separate studies, but inseparable in effective leadership programs. There are some criticisms on culture and leadership classification studies in that a lot of findings about perceptions of leadership in different cultures do not provide a clear set of assumptions and propositions that can be used to provide a single theory about the way culture influences the leadership process. Another one would be in that some of the terms used are hard to understand without any education about the diversity of world culture. The meanings of some terms are very vague. The conceptualizations in these studies of culture and leadership integration has had varying reception from people on that it being a process of being perceived by others as being a leader. Also the way a provocative list of universally endorsed desirable and undesirable leadership attributes are presented. Different cultures have different ideas about what they want from their leaders. Understanding the diversity of cultures in the workplace today can be very positive for leaders and followers in their pursuits. While there are many studies on culture leadership and the GLOBE Study, there is also a model that helps leaders in achieving effective cultural leadership. In that it helps them understand the difference that exits among national cultures. The model was developed by Geert Hotstede. In his research he outlines the variation of national culture into five dimensions. They are as follow: individualistic/collectivistic, high power distance/low power distance; high and low uncertainty avoidance, achievement/nurturing; and long-term/short-term orientation. Familiarity with the GLOBE Study and the Hofstede model, leadership culture is made easy and will increase organizational effectiveness. This will also create better relationship among nations. This will benefit the common good of all through respect and better communication. Individualistic people; according to Hofsede, worry about themselves and that of those who are close to them or who are like them. They tend not to trust outsiders. In contrast, collectivistic work in groups, much like team players. The second dimension of Hofsede’s study is power distance. Some cultures have accepted high power distance and others low power distance. High power distance cultures display great respect for those in authority or power holders. This model is seen based on the difference between leaders and their followers. It is obvious in pay scale, benefits and promotions. Though lower power distance: power is distributed more equally among group members; there is much lateral communication line between subordinates and leaders. Third dimension is high uncertainty avoidance. This dimension is concerned with the impact of societal norms, ritual and what is being done in avoiding uncertainty. Organizations want to be able to predict the future based the rules of cultures are used. They live under constant stress because of fear of the future. In contrast; low uncertainty avoidance is comfortable with risks, they do not impose or create friction over differences in behaviors and or others opinions. Those cultures in the low uncertainty avoidance tend to be more tolerant of others. The next dimension is achievement; those belonging to this group tend to be more aggressive. They are assertive, they are confrontational, there is a lot of greed for money and they lack humility. They encourage competitiveness among them and others. Whereas the opposite of that is nurturing, they value relationship and are genuinely concern about the wellbeing of others. The last set of dimension of natural culture is long-term orientation. They are optimistic of the future and they are persistent. Though short-term orientation, they stay in the past, they place high importance on values of the past. In addition to the Five Dimensions of National Culture as described by Hofsete, there is for additional dimensions that affect cultural leadership. They are as follows, and I quote as listed in Northouse (2010): * Institutional Collectivism: An organization or sociality encourages institutional or societal collective action. (Peter Northouse 2012). * In-Group Collectivism: People express pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in their organizations or families. In-group collectivism is concerned with the extent to which people are devoted to their organizations or families. (Peter Northouse 2012). * Gender Egalitarianism: An organization or society minimizes gender role differences and promotes gender equality. (Peter Northouse 2012). * Assertiveness: People in a culture are determined, assertive, confrontational, and aggressive in their special relationships. (Peter Northouse 2012). * Future Orientation: People engage in future-oriented behaviors such as planning, investing in the future, and delaying gratification. (Peter Northouse 2012). * Performance Orientation: An organization or society encourages and rewards group members for improved performance and excellence. (Peter Northouse 2012). * Humane Orientation: A culture encourages and rewards people for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others. (Peter Northouse 2012). Through all of the studies it has been concluded that there is exact correlation between the culture of an organization and its effectiveness. And it also shows that a lot of those dimensions have a negative impact on the organization. In conclusion, cultural leadership is one of the major principles every organization, company, person needs to fully grasp. For decades, many researchers have been prophesying that globalization, increased technology, civil rights legislation, and changing demographics will generate new encounters for leaders who administer a diverse organization. All of these elements place a considerably improved probability that workers from both genders, diverse nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, numerous races, and a mixture of religious will be essential to work jointly. This in sum, employees must work together to create a positive environment. This is what naturally will happen, and this is an international effort. References Leadership Theory and Practice Fifth Edition Peter G. Northouse Introduction to the Special Issue on Leadership and Culture in the Middle East(2001) Hayat Kabasakal Ali Dastmalchian Cultural Variations Across European Countries(2000) Felix C. Brodbeck Michael Frese THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL SCIENCES (http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a2b5ee8b-a9d2-4bae-a8ed-16919582d9c5%40sessionmgr115vid=4hid=14) Chrobot-Mason, Donna, Ruderman, Marian N. Weber, Todd J, Oholott, Patricia J, Dalton, Maxine A. (Nov 2007) Illuminating a Cross-Cultural Leadership Challenge: When Identify Groups Collide. Volume 18 (11) 2011 (26). Retrieved From http://discover.linccweb.org/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Theatre Essays Samuel Beckett

Theatre Essays Samuel Beckett Discuss Samuel Becketts handling of identity in his plays Waiting for Godot and Happy Days. The work of Samuel Beckett can be seen to span both the Modernist and Postmodernist paradigms (Bradbury and McFarlane, 1991; Green and LeBihan, 1996), on the one hand being influenced by such canonical Modernist writers as James Joyce and Luigi Pirandello (Knowlson, 1996) and on the other relying heavily on Postmodern notions such as the transgression of the body, the performative identity and the failure of grand narratives such as language and truth. This point is made by Richard Begam in his study Samuel Beckett and the End of Modernity (1996): â€Å"Becketts conception of his undertaking, what we would now call his postmodernism, recognized that an absolute break with the past, a complete supersession of what had gone before, was itself the product of a teleological or modern form of thinking. Proust and Joyce therefore became not figures to be replaced or surmounted but telling points of reference in an ongoing dialogue between past and present.† (Begam, 1996: 14) Beckett’s position as a liminal writer, spanning two distinctly different but obviously connected intellectual regimes, allows us to examine not only his work but the larger context of critical and performance theory. With this in mind, in this essay I would like to look at two main areas of Beckett’s work that are both metonymous with changes in post-War theatre (and perhaps literature) as a whole. Firstly I would like to concentrate on the notion of Postmodernism as it relates to performance, looking at leitmotifs and tropes as they appear in Waiting for Godot (1955) and Happy Days (1961), and secondly I would like to go on to look at the whole notion of identity and its dissolution in these same texts before drawing conclusions as to what this treatment says about the place of performance in contemporary theatre and, perhaps, the wider context of society itself. First of all, however and as a foundation for my later exposition, I would like to offer a brief summary of Postmodernism. Postmodernism, as Fredric Jameson points out, can be best understood through its relationship and difference to Modernism, a philosophical and artistic concept that had it roots in the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century (Bradbury and McFarlane, 1991). In an artistic sense, the Modernist work was characterised by experiment and a rejection of the Romantic subjective self. Works such as T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (1989) and James Joyce’s Ulysses (1977) exemplify both the Modernist propensity for innovation and the removed authorial voice and we can certainly see this in many, if not all of Beckett’s theatrical works. Postmodernism, as Jean Francois Lyotard declared in his essay â€Å"The Postmodern Condition† (1991) reflected the breakdown and disillusionment felt by the failure of the very foundations of Modernism; foundations that included such hitherto accepted givens as truth, the self, the homogeneity of Literature and the Arts and many of the other systems of thought that Lyotard termed the ‘metanarratives’ (Lyotard, 1991: 36). Whereas Modernism sought newness and innovation, Postmodernism resulted in the adoption of style over content (Robertson, 1996: 3), the questioning of accepted constructs of knowledge (Foucault, 1989) and the language (Derrida, 2004) and, as we shall see with Beckett the exposure of the artistic machinery. This last point, I think, is crucial to an understanding of Beckett’s place as both a Modernist and a Postmodern writer. As I have already stated, we can recognise certain Modernist images and leitmotifs in Beckett’s work (Eagleton, 1992: 186): the starkly bare characterisation, the dour vision of humanity that we also find in Eliot and Woolf and the conscious effort to experiment and innovate but, underneath this, we also detect a distinctly Postmodern sensibility; one that delights in the deliberate exposure of the performative nature of both the theatre and life. In Waiting for Godot, for instance, there is a constant comic antagonism created between actor and audience, as ideas and lines of narrative are picked up and abandoned without the usual dramatic sense of resolution (Schechner, 1988). In the first Act for example, Estragon begins a joke that is never finished: â€Å"Estragon: Tell it tome! Vladimir: Ah, stop it! Estragon: An Englishman having drunk a little more than usual goes to a brothel. The bawd asks him if he wants a fair one, a dark one, or a red-haired one. Go on. Vladimir: Stop it!† (Beckett, 1955: 16)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The antagonism and frustration engendered by this un-ended joke is more than a mere literary device it is also a performance device that sets up a markedly different actor/audience relationship. Unlike, say, classical Aristotelian dramatic theory that asserts the imperative of the â€Å"incentive moment† (Hartley and Ladu, 1948: 14) the â€Å"rising action† (Hartley and Ladu, 1948: 14) and the resolution, here Beckett (as indeed he does throughout the play) creates a deliberate anti-climax that immediately calls in to question the binary between reality and performance. The same also could be said about much of the dramatic structure of Happy Days, as the workings of the performance are constantly exposed to the gaze of the audience. Here, for instance, Winnie second guesses the thoughts of the audience members as she talks to a passer-by: â€Å"Winnie:†¦What’s she doing? He says – What’s the idea? He says – stuck up to her diddies in the bleeding ground – coarse fellow – What does it mean? He says – what’s it meant to mean – and so on.† (Beckett, 1961: 32)  Ã‚   Here Beckett deconstructs the very essence of the performance itself, exposing the bewildered reaction of the audience to his own drama. In a Postmodern dissolution of identity boundaries, the performer here becomes playwright, audience, character and actor as not only are the thoughts of the character exposed but so too the thoughts of the audience. This is not the only deconstruction of performance Beckett employs in the play. We see, for instance, the questioning of dramatic convention; Happy Days is, for all intents, a monologue but it features two characters, it is about the movement of time but, ironically, the main actor is static throughout and although it is primarily a play about words and not actions it is peppered with pauses and space. All factors that point to both plays as being as much rooted in Postmodernism as Modernism. We have touched upon it already but the overriding sense in both Waiting for Godot and Happy Days is the search and struggle for identity and this also, as we shall see, has a marked impact on the performance of the play and what it means regarding the audience/actor dialectic. The social background to Happy Days was described, in an affective way by Harold Clurman in an early review: â€Å"Beckett is the poet of a morally stagnant society. In this society fear, dismay and a sort of a stunned absent-mindedness prevail in the dark of our consciousness, while a flashy, noisy, bumptious, thick-headed complacency flourishes in the open.† (Clurman, 1998: 235) It is against this backdrop that the characters in the play struggle to maintain their scant identities. Even before the action begins we are made witness to the difficulties in establishing an individual existence as the characters’, names, Winnie and Willie, straightway blur their respective personal boundaries. We see this also to a greater extent in Waiting for Godot, as Gogo, Pozzo and Godot, combine to form a linguistic homogeneity that suggests a group rather than an individual identity. The mise en scene of Happy Days is part Eliotesque wasteland: â€Å"Expanse of scorched grass rising centre to low mound. Gentle slopes downto front and either of stage. Back an abrupter fall to stage level† (Beckett, 1961: 9)   part Postmodern irony, as the backdrop reveals itself to be a self conscious trompe-l’oeil that represents â€Å"unbroken plain and sky receding to meet in far distance.† (Beckett, 1961: 9). Within this, Winnie literally stands as part of the scenery, only half visible that is, in itself, a symbolic representation of both time passing and the extent that she has already lost a great deal of her personal identity. As I have already hinted at, Winnie deconstructs the notion of movement and stasis; on a psychological level she moves quickly between times as in this passage where she and us are taken back into her personal history prompted by the news of a death of a friend: â€Å"Winnie: Charlie Hunter! (Pause) I close my eyes – (she takes off spectacles and does s, hot in one hand, spectacles in other, Willie turns page) – and am sitting on his knees again, in the back garden at Borough Green, under the horse-beech.† (Beckett, 1961: 14) Physically however she is literally trapped, unable to move or stop the flowing of time swallowing her completely. Her identity becomes fashioned by her memories as at first, in the initial Act, they form a reasonable homogeneity and then, in Act Two become more and more diffuse, more and more fractured until by the end of the play she exists as merely snapshots of a life that has been: â€Å"Winnie: Win! (pause)Oh this is a happy days, this will have been another happy day! (Pause) After all (Pause) So far. Pause. She hums tentatively beginning of song, then sings softly, musical box tune.† (Beckett, 1961: 47)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As John Pilling suggests in his study of Samuel Beckett (1976: 85), the playwright twins the enormity of the search for identity in an alienating world with the minutiae of everyday living, as Winnie spends a great deal of the play’s time conducting worthless searches for toothbrushes, or lipsticks or many of the other incidental objects of existence. Ultimately, her search for a personal identity is proved fruitless as she becomes subsumed in that which surrounds her, perhaps a particularly twentieth century vision of the struggle of the personal psychology in the face of the modern city. Waiting for Godot, I think, concerns itself with similar themes and similar characters. Martin Esslin characterised Beckett’s Waiting for Godot as â€Å"concerned with the hope of salvation through the workings of grace† (Esslin, 1968: 55) and we can see that is certainly a major thread in the play. However, we can also note that it concerns itself not with a general salvation but with a very a personal one, with each character desperately searching for their own identity amid the alienation and ennui of the surrounding environment. Most of the play’s linguistic rhythm arises out of the characters’ attempt to assert their own identity in the face of the others: â€Å"Vladimir: Charming evening we’re having. Estragon: Unforgettable. Vladimir: And its not over. Estragon: Apparently not. Vladimir: Its only beginning. Estragon: Its awful. Vladimir: Its worse than being in the theatre.† (Beckett, 1955: 34)   The tooing and froing of the dialogue here is a perfect example of this point, with neither Vladimir nor Estragon willing to surrender themselves to the other. The same can be seen in a more graphic sense with the Pozzo/Lucky relationship that is, at its heart a Hegelian dialectic of the master and slave, with each party attempting (and failing) to break away from the other. In the comic scene towards the end of the play that depicts Vladimir and Estragon exchanging symbolic identities in the form of their hats (Beckett, 1961: 71-72) we can note Beckett’s observation on the ironies of Postmodern life: â€Å"Vladimir takes puts on Lucky’s hat in place of his own which he hands to Estragon. Estragon takes Vladimir’s hat. Vladimir adjusts Lucky’s hat on his head. Estragon hands Vladimir’s hat back to Vladimir who takes it and hands it back to Estragon who takes it and hands it back to Vladimir who takes it and throws it down.† (Beckett, 1955: 72)      The absurdity of this scene arises from the fact that each hat is the same, or at least very similar, so that it makes very little difference which hat ends up on which head. This is, I think, symbolic of the larger treatment of identity within the play; with the playwright suggesting the absurdity of the search for personal individuation. Are not identities much like hats, asks Beckett, remarkably the same? If Happy Days is a study of the search for identity under the crushing weight of time passing, Waiting for Godot is the search for identity within the lightness of forgetfulness. Time in the latter is meaningless, it passes with no affect in fact Estragon can not even remember the events of the day before. Within this, the characters desperately cling to the remnants of their identities whether that be in the form of an oppressive relationship to another, an item of clothing or the feint hope of someone who will never arrive. We can see then that the treatment of identity within Beckett’s two major plays mirrors the questions arising out of Postmodernism, questions that concern the nature of identity and the Self. For Postmodern theorists like Judith Butler (1999) and Michel Foucault (1990) the Self is a performative construct, both given to us by society and adopted as a mask and we note some of this sense in Beckett. Ultimately, then, Beckett’s work deconstructs the very notion of a theatrical performance, suggesting that this is merely one of a number of performances that occurs at any one time. The relationship, then, between the audience and the actor changes from one of passivity to one of dialogue as the former is exposed as relying as much on performance as the latter. This can be seen to be a reflection of Antonin Artaud’s assertions on the Theatre of Cruelty in his second manifesto: â€Å"†¦just as there are to be no empty spatial areas, there must be no let up, no vacuum in the audience’s mind or sensitivity. That is to say there will be no distinct divisions, no gap between life and theatre.† (Artaud, 1985: 84)   Beckett’s work says as much about the identities of the audience as the characters and as much about the performative nature of the wider society as the performance of the theatre. References Artaud, Antonin (1985), The Theatre and its Double, (London: John Calder) Beckett, Samuel (1961), Happy Days, (London: Faber and Faber) Beckett, Samuel (1955), Waiting for Godot, (London: Faber and Faber) Begam, Richard (1996), Samuel Beckett and the End of Modernity, (Stanford: Stanford University Press) Bradbury, Malcolm and McFarlane, James (eds) (1991), Modernism: A Guide to European Literature 1890-1930, (London: Penguin) Butler, Judith (1999), Gender Trouble, (London: Taylor and Francis) Cormier, Ramona and Pallister, Janis (1998), â€Å"En Attendent Godot: Tragedy or Comedy?†, published in Culotta Andonian, Cathleen (ed), The Critical Responses to Samuel Beckett, (London: Greenwood Press) Clurman, Harold (1998), â€Å"Happy Days: Review†, published in Culotta Andonian, Cathleen (ed), The Critical Responses to Samuel Beckett, (London: Greenwood Press) Eagleton, Terry (1992), Literary Theory: An Introduction, (London: Blackwell) Esslin, Martin (1968), The Theatre o f the Absurd, (London: Pelican) Foucault, Michel (1990), The History of Sexuality: Volume 1, (London: Penguin) Green, Keith and LeBihan (1996), Critical Theory and Practice: A Coursebook, (London: Routledge) Hartley, Lodwick and Ladu, Arthur (1948), Patterns in Modern Drama, (London: Prentice Hill) Jameson, Fredric (1991), Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, (London: Duke University) Kenner, Hugh (1973), A Reader’s Guide to Samuel Beckett, (London: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux) Knowlson, James (1996), Dammed to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett, (London: Bloomsbury) Lyotard, Jean Francois (1991), â€Å"The Postmodern Condition†, published in Jenkins, Keith (ed), The Postmodern History Reader, (London: Routledge) Pilling, John (1976), Samuel Beckett, (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul) Robertson, Pamela (1996), Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna, (London: Duke University) Schechner, Richard (1988), Performance Theory, (London: Rout ledge)