Essay about Blending Reality and Fantasy in Going After...

Blending Reality and Fantasy in Going After Cacciato by OBrien As OBriens third novel, Going After Cacciato is one of his most acclaimed works. The book brings to the reader many chilling aspects of war while developing a connection between the reader and the narrator. After many years, Going After Cacciato still dominates over more recent war novels by providing a unique glimpse into the soldiers mind. OBrien reflects upon his wartime experiences in Vietnam while successfully blending reality and fantasy in an original war story. In the first chapter of the book, the relationship between the story and its title is quickly made. As the character who encites the chase, Cacciato embarks on the seemingly ludicrous journey to†¦show more content†¦The dreamlike quality of the events that Berlin undergoes also pushes this book into the realm of fantasy and science fiction. There are stories within stories in this book, adding to the loose definition of this book as a war story. The secondary plots often demonstrate the mind of a soldier at war. Cacciatos desertion or Humping to Paris, (5:7) as Berlin calls it, was a thought in many soldiers minds, dreaming of a place where they would rather be. Another group of people in the book are the villagers who at times fall victim to the soldiers orders. In the systematic raiding of villages, Berlin begins to develop a sense of understanding; he realizes the villagers accept that he does not want to destroy their hamlet but it must be done, as it is his duty. Parts of the book are about self-discovery as Berlin finds his place in the war. During one of the flashbacks, the men decide to touch the grenade, (5:209) in agreement to kill their lieutenant. By returning to the war setting, OBrien is able to return the novel to its primary motif, war. Repeated throughout the novel is Berlins solitude during the war as he is at the observation post considering the issue...of courage. (5:73) Alone during the early hours of the day Berlin makes decisions of how he will act, about exactly what is going on in Vietnam. Decisions of that type influenced how he filled his role in Vietnam, as an

To what extent can Reagan’s electoral victory in 1980 be put down to the rise of the new right Free Essays

1980’s America saw a boom in a new group of hard-line Christians; known as the ‘new right’, a powerful group of republican evangelicals set on restoring the American morals of old (with somewhat a very archaic mindset for example no equality for homosexuals etc. ) This group took a very strong liking to Reagan and his strong Christian moral conservatism and thus earned him millions of votes in the election of 1980. Was Reagan’s victory largely down to the rise of the new right? Or were there other more prominent factors, which lead to Reagan’s victory? In 1980s America TV could be used as a powerful political tool, 67% of American’s received 100% of all there news from the television, this clearly showing if televised speeches, debate and propaganda were used correctly it could be a direct, simple and powerful method to connect with the people- winning over the votes of millions of American’s. We will write a custom essay sample on To what extent can Reagan’s electoral victory in 1980 be put down to the rise of the new right? or any similar topic only for you Order Now Reagan executed all his televised appearances like a professional (he was an ex-Hollywood ‘star’ which definitely helped immensely,) ‘he could read an autocue like a professional’. Also his personal traits were key – portraying himself as a ‘physically attractive and charming man who was gracious and polite’ this again helped him as all those were key and made Reagan a much more likeable person. Furthermore, Reagan also worked with general electric in the 60’s where he was in charge of the TV shows; he also gained valuable electioneering skills during the job, as he had to meet thousands of people daily, also giving unrehearsed speeches to hundreds. The job handed him with a perfect chance to groom his campaigning skills to a respectable audience of 700,000, which was tiny compared to the people of America but still a good start, where he learnt how to be a people person and how to work the TV. In contrast to this his main opponent – incumbent president, Jimmy Carter was quite the opposite to the charming, attractive Reagan. He delivered his ‘crisis of confidence’ speech where he found it easy to find problems but couldn’t seem to deliver any solutions. This again showed Reagan’s superiority in these areas where he delivered short and direct targets such as reviving American strength in the world once again. This again gained him popularity as it gave the people something to look forward to and it showed he meant business unlike the passive carter. Carter, having completed one term in power had done next to nothing useful, he became know as a man who would deal with problems when they came rather than trying to predict them and stop them from happening- not what you want for the worlds most powerful man. During his presidency he grew more foolish and weak in the eys of America. Almost nothing positive happened during his presidency; America’s ditente with the USSR ended, there was an energy crisis. Also his failure of a brother somewhat cast negativity towards him making him look more foolish and weak. His ‘crisis of confidence’ speech was completely crazy he informed America of its problems including a lack of leadership- ‘now all we need is leadership’ a mildly retarded thing to say, as he was ‘the’ leader of America, and still didn’t give any solutions to the problems he presented. It was clear that nothing had changed for the good from Nixon’s presidency. The economy was still stuck in the stagflation caused by Nixon, carter had done nothing but worsen it. Reagan used carters ‘nothing’ presidency where almost nothing was done, to his advantage- he promised to renew prosperity by restoring the economy through ‘reaganomics’ where there would be lower taxes and less regulation – curing the stagflation. No one knew it would work but it was a lot more than carter offered. Reagan also had vast amount of political training from being an active trade unionist where he established himself as a strong anti-communist (again extremely popular with the lingering cold war and also very popular with the new right who wanted a return of the traditional morals) and also the job was said to help ‘gain an apprenticeship in negotiating, to develop an instinct for when to ‘hang-tough’ and when to cut a deal’ by a political analyst- which would clearly help him become a successful president. He was also the governor of California from 1967-75, which was a massive success, and he managed to make California the seventh richest ‘country’ in the world- showing he knew how to work economics, which is what America vitally needed! He also had the experience of running for president as he had attempted on two other occasions. All this political experience would be priceless for his campaign. Reagan was also extremely conservative which also gained him lots of votes- as he stood for mostly traditional values such as; no abortion, pornography, drugs, and equality for homosexuals. He was also a strong evangelical Christian, which initially gained him the support of the new right and with it groups such as the ‘moral majority’ as they had the backing from Reagan and they believed he was going to bring American morals back. He also gained support from the Neo conservative’s traditionalists and anti feminists, also vitally he managed to get the support of the born again Christians even though carter tried his hardest to gain there support being a born again Christian too, Reagan managed to do so with his conservative ideology. The new right was essential for his campaign, as Reagan had such radical ideas many would have seen him as crazy and never given him a chance – comparing him to the extremist Barry Goldwater. The new right rather embraced his ideas as they fitted in well with what they wanted. Reagan was extremely lucky that this spark in Christianity coincided with this electoral campaign as if he failed it would most probably be the end of him as he was aging and many were already hesitant to elect such an old man. In conclusion, ii feel it is very clear that the rise of the new right played a very significant role in Reagan’s ascendancy to power, and without a doubt without this support he probably couldn’t win as it allowed him to create a base of support from which he could build around and add onto. However, I believe that there were other more influencing factors which lead to his presidency such as his political ingeniousness particularly offering an intelligent solution to the stagflation suppressing the country, as well as the mans personal characteristics such as his personal charm and talent in front of the TV which allowed him to manipulate millions as they could see it with there own eyes that he was an astute leader. But, from the election results we see such a narrow win on Reagan’s side this even so when millions of democrats didn’t even vote, I believe that this shows us that Reagan won largely due to the failures of Carter as even though he was such a useless leader who did next to nothing he still managed to almost win the elections, furthermore he still came so close even with a large percent of his ‘party’ boycotting the election- showing carter didn’t have a very large support base, and if he did have decent opposition Reagan could have lost by a landslide. How to cite To what extent can Reagan’s electoral victory in 1980 be put down to the rise of the new right?, Papers

The movie free essay sample

Jackie Robinsons team executive from the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickety, put himself and Jackie Robinson to the forefront of history. When Rickety signed Robinson he made a major decision, and broke the Major Baseball Leagues color barrier. Not only did Branch Rickety put himself and Jackie Robinson in danger, but also other baseball players. Everyone was facing bashing racism from all sides. The film 42 shows how Jackie Robinson had to demonstrate tremendous amounts of courage and restraint. If Robinson would have reacted in any. Ay towards all of the racism he could of destroyed Rickets and his own dreams.The story presented in 42 mostly focuses on Robinsons season with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1 947 and somewhat on his season with the Montreal Royals in 1946. His first season in 1 946 with the Montreal Royals is where he battled a lot of racism from his audience. One scene from 42 stood out the most and was actually a hard scene to watch. We will write a custom essay sample on The movie or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Ben Chapmen, the manager for the Philadelphia Phillips at the time, repeatedly called Jackie Robinson a Niger loudly while he was up to bat. Of course Robinson had to remain calm, but it was so difficult.He then went back into the dugout and ended up smashing his bat into the walls and ground venting his anger. After Branch Rickety came to calm him down and explain that no one said what Jackie was doing was going to be easy, Jackie Robinson got up to bat once again. Robinson then proves Chapmen wrong and he ends up hitting a single, then stealing second base and continuing to third base on an error, and then finally scoring the winning run. Ben Chapmen was left speechless. Later on, Ben Chapmen came to realize that what he did was very unacceptable, even under the circumstances.Although all the insiders knew Chapmen still believes what he did is okay, Chapmen decided to get a picture taken with Jackie Robinson shaking his hand to show the public and press that he was sorry and that everything between him and Robinson was okay. The press believed it and so did the public, so it actually worked. Besides the incident with Ben Chapmen, Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickety were still facing major racism comments and letters from the public. The public was not happy with the thought of an African American playing Americas favorite sport.The letters and comments were mostly horrible threats that Rickety and Robinson had to ignore because even the police would not do anything about it. Most of the policemen even agreed to what was being said! The beginning of Jackie Robinsons career was tough, but Rickety believed in him, and his family. Not only was Jackie Robinson making baseball history, he was also starting to win over fans and teammates with his astounding skill and calm nature. Robinsons wife, Rachel, was always on the did lines cheering him on from day one, even before the ML was even brought up to him!She was his number one fan throughout his whole life and career. They were inseparable, and eventually went on to have a baby boy and named him Jackie Robinson Jar. , who then became Robinsons second biggest fan. Number 42 let his talent silence his critics as the seasons went on. People began to cheer for him instead of booing him and calling him mean names. Of course there were still many people who opposed the idea of having a black man in Americas favorite sport, but eventually those people ad to get over themselves because time was changing, and it was not going back to the way it was before.

Change in Strategies of Large Indian Organizations; Environment,workplace,customer and worker

Change in Strategies of Large Indian Organizations; Environment,workplace,customer and worker Free Online Research Papers The changes in the four areas (i.e., environment, workplace, customer, and worker) have altered the work so dramatically that old ‘dinosaur-like’ organizations are no longer able to respond to these changes, to handle these new challenges. Today, there are an increasing number of organizational people who are becoming increasingly aware that the strategies, knowledge, structures, and leadership of yesteryear are no longer effective in solving today’s problems. The more important thing today, is not only solving immediate problems related to knowledge, structures, or people, but a long-term insight of doing things for the mere survival of the organizations. It is the question of adaptation and evolution in the living organization, which determines the life span and effectiveness of the organizations in the human society. The organization, which is able to capture all of these forces and systematically synergize them, will be the one able to make quantum leaps up the evolutionary ladder to the next stage of organizational life – the Learning Organization. Definition of Learning Organization A Learning organization is an organization that continuously adapts itself to changes. It sees changes as opportunity as it can envisage future trends and equip itself to face them. To manage changes this organization learns as a whole (Senge, 1990). A Learning organization has to have five skills. Those are Systems Thinking, Personal Mastery, Team Learning, Mental Models, and Shared Vision. Definition of Mental Models The present study has attempted to explore the Mental Models of the Indian executives, particularly in large organizations. Mental Models can be defined as image or perspective of an event, situation, activity, or concept. It is a deeply ingrained assumption that influences how one understands the world and how one takes action. Mental models of what can or cannot be done in different situations vary tremendously from person to person, and are often deeply entrenched and difficult to change. Senge stresses that the discipline of working with Mental models starts with the individual and organization turning the mirror inward, of learning how to unearth internal pictures or images of the world and then to bring them to surface and hold them rigorously to scrutiny (Senge, 1990). Objective of the Study The objective of the study is to explore the Mental Models of Indian executives in changing environment. Concept and Operationalization It is assumed that the Mental Models of Indian executives depends on Control, Power Conflict, Bureaucratic Structure and Events Thought in Isolation. o Control: Control is considered as one of the items of Mental Models as a Learning Organization requires a least control system (Arvedson 1993). o Power Conflict: it is seen that power, as the key motivator for the successful executives, plays a major role in the mindset of the executives (Burke, 2002). o Bureaucratic Structure: the presence of this item often hinders the growth of a Learning Organization. So it is taken as a component to see the degree of its presence in the executive Mental Models (Askensas, Ulrich, Jick, Kerr, 2002). o Events Thought in Isolation: a Learning Organization demands its executives to have the understanding of connectivity within the systems. So it is seen as the fourth item of Mental Models to see whether they have this understanding or not (Rolls, 1995). Subjects and selection techniques The population for the study: The population for the study has been taken as the top 500 companies in India. (Source: Dalal Street Investment Journal, June, 2005). A sample of 10% is drawn by using the Random Number Tables from such population. Thus the sample constitutes 50 organizations from the above list. Final data received from 10 organizations. Result of the Study The items were examined through a questionnaire and the items in the questionnaire with their significance level is given in the following table Table 1: t-value of the items Item no t-value * Item content 1 29.682 Working as a team is not always important. (Power Conflict) 2 18.336 Too much autonomy for implementing change leads to chaos and internal power conflict. (Power Conflict) 3 22.388 The nature of top management in case of application of employees’ knowledge while doing a non-routine/complex job. (Bureaucratic Structure) 4 2.968 People are not definite about their future in the organization. (Bureaucratic Structure) 5 12.719 People do not adequately understand why there is change and exactly what is changing. (Events Thought in Isolation) 6 12.389 There is a need for change of roles on a regular basis at all levels. (Control) 7 18.0952 Giving too much importance to the human factor is not possible and necessary. (Control) 8 27.073 You really think that the interests of certain groups usually affect the process of change. (Power Conflict) *Significance level at 60 degrees of freedom at 0.01 is ?2.660 Table 2: Mental Models in Organizations Mental Models and its items Mean S D 1 2.00 0.96 2 2.00 0.96 3 2.50 0.74 4 2.69 1.20 5 2.96 1.02 6 2.53 1.15 7 1.53 0.69 8 2.69 0.53 *p < 0.01; low score indicates favorable response. Maximum possible low score is 8 and maximum possible high score is 32. Table 3: Mental Models’ percentage frequency Distribution Total score Frequency Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid 13.00 8 2.0 2.0 15.00 8 2.0 4.0 16.00 64 16.0 20.0 17.00 56 14.0 34.0 18.00 48 12.0 46.0 19.00 48 12.0 58.0 20.00 40 10.0 68.0 21.00 16 4.0 72.0 22.00 32 8.0 80.0 24.00 40 10.0 90.0 25.00 24 6.0 96.0 26.00 16 4.0 100.0 400 100.0 Following are the pie charts of item-wise executive responses Item 1: Working as a team is not always important. (Power Conflict) Item 2: Too much autonomy for implementing change leads to chaos and internal power conflict. (Power Conflict) Item 3: The nature of top management in case of application of employees’ knowledge while doing a non-routine/complex job (Bureaucratic Structure) Item 4: People are not definite about their future in the organization. (Bureaucratic Structure) Item 5: People do not adequately understand why there is change and exactly what is changing. (Events Thought in Isolation) Item 6: There is a need for change of roles on a regular basis at all levels. (Control) Item 7: Giving too much importance to the human factor is not possible and necessary. (Control) Item 8: You really think that the interests of certain groups usually affect the process of change. (Power Conflict) Figure 1: Graphical Representation of Percentage Frequency Distribution of scores regarding Mental Models in Sample Organizations A percentage frequency distribution chart is given to show the pattern of responses of the executives in two broad categories of organization, service and manufacturing. Findings Power Conflict Item 1 and item 2 reveal executives’ mental models regarding power conflict. Though item 1 shows team work is preferred, item 2 shows executives have a block in power sharing. Item 8 shows only 30% of the executives believe that interest of certain groups are not affected during a process of change, clearly revealing a conflict of power. Bureaucratic Structure Item 3 shows almost 77% of the sample executives believe in moderately to strictly high bureaucratic structure. Item 4 reveals only 20% believes in having a shared platform for every level of employees. Events Thought in Isolation Almost 65% of the sample executives believe that people should not interfere in a change process if it is not related with his/her job. Only 12% believes that everyone should know why there is a change irrespective of any criterion. 10% follows some definite mechanism to inform everybody about change. Control Item 6 show that executives feel an urge to share their roles irrespective of levels of the employees. Item 7 reveals that executives believe in human factor rather than strict control. The overall study shows that executives are having a mindset of loosening control but relies on bureaucratic structure, and power conflict is very much there. Events thought in isolation shows that executives are far behind holistic thinking. Research Papers on Change in Strategies of Large Indian Organizations; Environment,workplace,customer and workerIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesOpen Architechture a white paperPETSTEL analysis of IndiaThe Project Managment Office SystemBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesTrailblazing by Eric AndersonMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever Product

How Write What You Know Helps You Find a Target Market

How Write What You Know Helps You Find a Target Market How "Write What You Know" Helps You Find a Target Market When she was 26, Fiona MacBain  moved to Tunisia and  ran a watersports base near Sousse with her local husband (more about that at fionamacbain.com). She returned to the UK with her 6-month old daughter in 1999 and eventually settled in Inverness, where she lives with her husband and children. In this article, she talks about  turning her memoir into fiction and how "write what you know" can be a sales tool  when marketing your book.When I was twenty-nine I wrote a memoir. It was about the events that led to me returning to the UK a penniless single mother after spending two years running a watersports base on a beach in Tunisia.I sent it to agents and although a couple showed initial interest, nothing came of it; they did not think there was a sufficient market for the book or enough popular interest in Tunisia. It was my first taste of literary agent rejection.The other Facebook ad was targeted at women across the UK with an interest in Tunisia. The results were phenomenal ; I was astonished at how Facebook managed to track people so specifically. I was inundated with comments and messages from women who, like me, had been married to Tunisian partners, and many other regular holiday makers with a love of the country. Several people commented that they had been drawn to the book because of their experiences of Tunisia - and in this respect, having a blog which covered my own personal experiences of the country was helpful. It gave readers an insight into my life, which generated a personal connection and added interest in my book. It also enabled to me to sell my novel on the back of articles that chronicled my life in Tunisia.The importance of connecting with readers as an indie authorA word of caution is that managing the ads was time-consuming. I replied to every comment, every message,   and managing the ads became a full-time job for the two months they ran. My phone was permanently a few inches from my face; I was walking into lamp-posts, burn ing dinner, and neglecting my children as I replied and chatted with readers. I also didn’t do a shred of writing during that period.Still, the boosted Facebook posts highlight one of the advantages for an indie author: with the help of specific targeting on social media you can connect with readers who have a specific interest that your book meets - books that people wouldn’t typically find in a bookshop. Through Facebook, niche markets are directly available and many readers seem to enjoy the personal contact with the author that social media can provide.Writing fiction based on the old â€Å"write what you know† adage has been a successful and enjoyable experience. My time living in Tunisia gave me first-hand knowledge with which to create setting, places, and characters in a way that was unique and authentic. Most of the research for my novel came from trips down memory lane - and using Facebook, I managed to find a host of readers who seemed to enjoy take that trip with me.Fiona will be doing a reading of "Daughter, Disappeared" on February 3rd at Waterstones, Covent Garden as part of their "Novel London: An Evening of Contemporary Fiction Event"! More information here."Daughter, Disappeared" is available on Amazon in paperback and on Amazon Kindle!Have you lived an experience that made you uniquely qualified to write a book? Have you gone through the process of turning a memoir into a work of fiction? Share any thoughts or questions for Fiona in the comments below!

Workplace violence and bullying Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Workplace violence and bullying - Research Paper Example In simplified terms, workplace violence is in physical forms and workplace bullying is in psychological forms. Workplace bullying is also part of workplace violence. Because of possible overlapping of discussion and there is yet no internationally recognized definition for workplace violence, this paper intends to treat the two terms interchangeably. However, difference between the two is to be recognized as strategies to prevent them may have to be in varying degrees (Barron, 2013). Workplace violence and bullying has been recognized since 1990s as an organizational misbehavior or rather misbehavior in organizations. Organization misbehavior is a deliberate act on the part of the members in an organization that challenge and breach of organizational norms and expectations and/or core values of society, mores and standards of conduct which are fertile grounds for workplace bullying. It can be a workplace aggression or misbehavior or a parallel occurrence that is not subordinate or identical. Incivility which is a low-level violation of organizational conduct can turn into bullying overtime (Fritz, 2013). Bullying is characterized by frequency of the behavior, imbalance of power between the bully and victim, and hostile working conditions. Bullying has been defined as an aggressive behavior aimed at causing physical or psychological attack on others (Lipinski, Albright, & Fenclau, 2013). The book The Harassed Worker is the earliest study of workplace bullying by the psychiatrist Carol Brodsky in the 1970s by interviewing over 1,000 workers from California and Nevada who were making workers’ compensation claims but no interest was shown towards the book. It was only in 1980s that workplace bullying began to be studied by nursing professor Helen Cox who examined the abuse suffered by her nursing students at the hands of staff nurses in her institution leading to quitting the nursing

Stock Options at eBay Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Stock Options at eBay - Case Study Example With a diverse and passionate community of individuals and small businesses, eBay offers an online platform where millions of items are traded each day. It was started in 1995 with one employee and it has grown to employ thousands of employees today. Any company's future success and profits depend on their employees and the senior management. Even eBay feels that their success was dependant on their key management and their technical staff. As such eBay tries to retain their key personnel officers for the long-term to gain more profits, but they don't have any long term agreements with employees and they don't even maintain life insurance policies on their key employees. eBay attains more profits in land based auction businesses and those are dependent on specialists and senior management as these individuals have established good relations with sellers who transfer property for sale at auction. As the company is growing and the number of employees is also. The company has to attract more people and has to train them and retain them in the company for the long term, particularly the employees who are highly skilled, technical, and m anagerial. Stock options issued by a company allow the employee to buy specific amount of the company's stock at a certain price after a set period of time (the vesting period). Stock options are useful to align the interests of the employee with those of the company. Since the stock options will be profitable only if the company's stock goes up, the employee has incentive to work hard and ensure the success of the company. Also, since the options can only exercised after a certain period of time, the employee has to stay with the company. This promotes employee retention. Furthermore, by giving out stock options, the company can reduce other forms of compensation and reduce its immediate cash expenses. In this way, stock options are a better method of compensation compared to cash or stock. Let's take an example: Let's say you are hired by eBay and they offer you options to buy 10,000 shares of eBay stock at $10 within the next three years. This stock option gives you the right to buy 10,000 shares of eBay stock at exactly $10 after three years. Let's say after three years eBay stock is at $15, you can exercise your stock options, buy 10,000 shares for $100,000 and sell them on them for $150,000 making a $50,000 profit. Now, let's say eBay's price after three years is $5, your options would be worthless. Thus the options incentivize you to work hard to ensure eBay is successful as measure by a stock price greater than $10. Also, you are required to stay for at least three years to profit from your options. From this example, it is clear how stock options align the interests of employees with those of the company and promote retention. The options did not also cost the company upfront. Neither cash nor stock has all these advantages, and hence eBay compensates employees with stock options. Question 2: What are at least four benefits of choosing stock options over other compensation methods Compensation packages are a means by which companies can achieve several different goals related to recruitment,