A Critical Analysis – John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn”

The Romantic Period introduced a variety of writing styles. The authors of the early eighteenth century altered many of the earlier romantic pieces. The early writers primary area of concern was nature. It was not until the ladder part of the eighteenth century that authors began to focus on the supernatural as well as nature. John Keats unique style of writing gave the world a great respect for his work. Keats felt his poetry should effect the readers emotions, and only great poetry could move the reader to the point of enjoyment. In doing this Keats felt the only way to achieve his goal of â€Å"moving his udience† was to surrender to uncertainties, or by believing much of life is unexplainable, especially human beings, who strive on emotion that guide their wants and needs. In the â€Å"Ode on a Grecian Urn†, the urn represents a story without regard to time. (Bloom 16). The unchanging marble arrests time through the urn. (Bloom 16). â€Å"When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain† (lines 46-47), describes the unchanging marbles and the characters on the urn. With the unchanging marble, the urn has slowed time towards eternity, making artwork immortal (bloom 16). This shows the immortal side of the Grecian urn physical appearance. The unchangeable urn also displays a tale of an everyday place. The urn show the people with their endless deeds. â€Å"Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Tough winning near the goal- ye, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hadt not thy bliss, Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair! (lines 15-20). Life is halted and can never continue from this point. The fair youth, the Bold Lover, the trees of spring, and the season spring, can ever leave their endless deeds. Immortality of the town is shown. What little town by river or seashore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Is empitied of this folk, this pious morn? And, little town, thy streets forevermore Will be silent be†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (lines 35 – 39). The town will never see people inhibiting it, bringing loneliness and immorality throughout the town. These are the advantages mortality give to the living. The themes of immortality and morality can be seen throughout â€Å"Ode of a Grecian Urn. † The unchanging marble of the urn can be considered immortal just as the tale displayed on the urn. The fact that the tale on the urn can never change shows the disadvantage of being mmortal and the reason why morality can be better. The poem begins by probing the reader with a series of questions presented by the speaking subject. Keats then permits the urn to speak without speaking, to â€Å"express a flowery tale more sweetly than rhyme. Keats has trouble getting outside of the answers he continually struggle with during his writing career. He presents a series of questions he expects the urn, or the representative of the urn to answer. Scott says, â€Å"the ode does not begin with the speakers attempt to compete with the urn, but with a homage to its strange enealogy and its paradoxical powers of eloquence† (Scott 135). Scott also says, Keats immediately becomes impatient with the urn’s silence and seeks to impose his own dialogue on the existing surface of the urn. Andrew Bennett recognizes Keat’s desire to enter the dialogue saying, â€Å"Keats always seems about to burst into narrative† (Bennett 130). He appears from the beginning to question the urn, then later adds his answers. Keats now haunts the reader at the end of the poem by questioning the nature of truth represented by the urn. Stillenger accurately states in â€Å"The Hoodwinking of Madeline†, the question of he urn, â€Å"Who said what to whom at the end of ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn? † (Stillinger 167- 173). Truth is related to whom we identify as the speaking subject. Someone or something is addressing the reader directly. Someone is defined as â€Å"a friend of man†. Keats sees the â€Å"happy lover† as well as the â€Å"object of desire†, the three boughs and the piper. The urn contains a scene ambiguous in meaning. He presents questions within the first through forth stanzas. He demands origins, names and meaning in regards to specified events. The unanswered questions are left for the reader to answer. Jason Muro says, the ode inscribes a sine wave, with five distinct points along its length. First, the poet is steeped in despair brought about b the world’s unrelenting flex. Second, upon entering the urn, he is filled with hope he has found the antidote for despair. Third, he finds his hope unfounded, the antidote was a placebo. Fourth, he closely examined the urn, he embodies a terror more intense than the despair from which he sought relief. The Placebo is in fact poison. Last, he embraces transient conditions of the world as an antidote to the terrors of the urn. The point of origin of Keats initial problem from which he wants to ascene becomes his point of salvation he want to climb by the end of the poem. Keats became apart of his poetry by becoming all of its characters in one aspect or another. He is the â€Å"unheard melody that is never really heard or appreciated in its lifetime†. He is the tree that will never go bare, because he died during the spring season of the year. He is the bold lover that will never kiss yet will forever love. Line after line Keats is the representative of the objects and people he describes. The happy boughs, happy melodist, and the pining lover. I believe the poet and the urn to one in the same. The question is, What was the meaning of â€Å"beauty is truth, truth is beauty? Stiller believes it to mean, â€Å"face value, the statement is false, and Keats knew this and understood this, but maybe considered it a simple, sarcastic equation that would guarantee a frivolous, superficial existence in a society consumed with who’s who. † (200). Keats was making a mockery of the ideal, ‘forever happy’ lifestyle by realizing no one is truly happy no matter how thing appear to the outside world. The urn may have been representative of Keat’s dream of a short lifestyle. A group whose motto was â€Å"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,† and were there beliefs to their end. What was the true sacrifice Keats endured within this work? Was so much of his time spent creating this fictional urn, only to inform society of his final analogy of his time on earth? Did Keats consider himself to be the â€Å"Sylvan historian? † Had he mastered the superficial rules to life and living on earth? Was he letting the reader in on his theory? of â€Å"Beauty is truth, truth beauty? † These are questions that may remain unanswered by Keats, but remain a mystery to whomever has the opportunity to explore â€Å"Ode on a Grecian Urn. Taking a look into to today’s society, we find the same belief. Appearing to be physically perfect is the new trend. We worship Hollywood stars and try to model our own lives after them. The media makes the world of Hollywood perfect and we sometimes have a difficult time deciphering between our world and their world. There are many of us who aspire to be like the ‘stars’ yet there is a hidden message within the lives they lead. â€Å"Beauty is truth, truth beauty. † This message is apparent whenever a ‘star’ is in the spotlight. Society believes in the reality behind the message â€Å"Beauty is truth, truth beauty. We want to believe this message is the key to all our happiness. We all at one time or another within our lives have tried to live according to our favorite celebrity, just as Keats idolized the people projected on his urn. Keats life unfortunately ended before it ever began yet he was able to realize despite his heartbreak and illness, that this is almost never true. No matter how perfect things appear to be on the outside, it’s totally different when you attempt to put the other person shoes on and takes a stroll. In other words, things are not what they always appear to be.

A New Work Ethic Essay

The following questions are to help us analyze and maybe even understand where business in America is heading, especially with a capitalist society. 1. Describe how typical the attitudes that Sheehy reports appear to be in work environments you have experienced. The attitude described by James Sheehy unfortunately is not uncommon among young employees on these days, therefore is very likely that all of us at some point have come across an employee that has poor work ethics. I have worked in a call center environment for several years and have experienced how my younger coworkers, some of them still attending college, think of their job as a transitional one; they feel they don’t have to excel in their tasks even though they have the ability to do a better performance, because they work in customer service. The problem with younger generations I believe it starts at home and school; parents usually want to give their children what they didn’t have growing up but they’re failing in teaching them appreciation and value f the things they receive, and that sends a message that they deserve something, instead of having to earn something; and at school they learn they can pass their classes by pulling enough extra credit even if they did poor in their tests and assignments, contributing to that get-away-with-it mentality that Sheehy talks about. 2. Explain the implications of the work ethics Sheehy describes for the future of American busi ness. Elizabeth Vallance (1995) reflects that business ethics â€Å"involves articulating a coherent set of values for a business and trying to set decision making within the context of these values† (p. ), but the values described by Sheehy are not the ideal ones that would lead a business to success, subsequently, there must be a change in those values, or a change in the way Americans do business, acknowledging that there is a new business ethics, understanding and adapting to the new generations, but never ignoring the moral values that characterize our society and that have built the business system which is the core of the capital system now. Shaw (2010) advices that as long as these new generations have the â€Å"freedom to influence the nature of their jobs and pursue their lifestyles,† they would be willing to work hard (p. 156), so ignoring the attitude that Sheehy’s co-workers have is not the solution to the problem, instead, delegating responsibility, getting the employees more involved in the decision making process, and accepting positive feedbacks are excellent ways to avoid business failure in the future. Unquestionably there are several factors that contribute to a business failure other than attitude, but definitely this aspect of business will keep our capital society afloat. 3. Explain whether it is more reasonable to expect workers, especially in a capitalist society, to be more devoted to their jobs, more concerned with quality and customer service, than Sheehy’s coworkers were. Adam Smith’s concept of the Invisible Hand explains that human beings are acquisitive creatures and self-motivated, in an economic sense, to gain personal advantage; if we believe this concept is the core of capitalism, we should think it is reasonable to expect workers to be devoted to their jobs. However our reality shows a decline in the commitment people have towards their jobs for many reasons, the one I believe is the most important is the focus on the Short Term, explained by Shaw (2010, p. 54), which tends to make workers â€Å"unimaginative, inflexible, and ultimately uncompetitive,† thinking of ways on how to make big amounts of money in short time without much effort, by investing, by inventing, by becoming an artist, a sport star, etc. unrealistically thinking they can succeed without much effort. Customer service as we know it, might be changing in a near future, we are getting more used to a self-service mentality and that’s why many young people do n’t think is a priority to show devotion on that area. 4. Explain the reasoning behind employee theft. Employee theft is explained by a mix of circumstances that employees experience within our capitalist society. People have profit motive, some employees believe they enjoy certain advantages of working for a specific company, let’s say an employee thinks he or she is entitled to take home office supplies that cost the company a lot of money, only because he knows is within the company’s budget and they feel they aren’t compensated well enough so they can supplement their salaries by stealing. Also most employees that steal do it because they believe they can get away with it, or they have seen other employees doing it without having any consequences, therefore it’s a spread feeling among co-workers that it’s ok to take things from the company when it certainly isn’t. Some other employees that steal do it because they are experiencing truly economic problems and they are not responsible enough to solve them in another way, but stealing from the company to make up for their losses. Whichever the case, is very important to pay attention to this growing tendency, because businesses do lose considerable amount of money from employee theft, and this can affect the future of American business. 5. Explain ways the culture of our capitalists society encourages attitudes like those Sheehy describes . Capitalism have encouraged a lot of people to better themselves by acquiring a good education; is it necessary to have a better education today in order to have a customer service job than the one required many years ago for the same type of position. Consequently it takes more effort and more money invested in education for these young people to find better jobs; this can create the feeling that all the efforts are not worth unless you have a nice, big paying job, without having to start from scratch. Also younger generations have grown up with a lot technological help, compared to older generations, they have the Internet, computers, cell phones, entertaining gadgets, etc. that make tasks easier and the use of those is strongly encouraged by our capitalist society. As a result there is a pressure to have this technology in order to succeed, a pressure of affording the lifestyle that is â€Å"accepted† by their circle. United States is one of the very few countries were people can become rich in a very short timeframe, whether is by an business, artistic, or sports skill; some have invested at the right time and have become successful, and this mentality has stuck on the young people’s head, to the point that anyone could become rich overnight, if they only know how to play the right cards, not necessarily having to work a lifetime to build their capital.

Interoperability and Middleware Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Interoperability and Middleware - Research Paper Example This was aimed at improving the service offered by the ICT sector. After this development, the ICT sector became more comprehensive and demanded more research and advancements on telecommunications and computing network flexibility (Lerner, 2002). Today interoperability standards are applied in ICT world to improve effective communication compatibility, exchange of data and services. The smooth interaction between two or more components of the operating software for communication compatibility, services and data exchange can be termed as inter-operatibility. Interoperability is a necessity in ICT because it is a tool that increases the connectivity of computers via the internet and offers a solution to operational costs. Furthermore, its software has been proved to be of quality provided heterogeneity is maintained, for instance, on systems written in different language programming; running on different hardware programs and operating system; using different data representation; impl ementing unlike syntactic or semantics interpretations; and using different control platforms (Puder, Ro?mer & Pilhofer, 2006) For interoperability heterogeneity to be realized there has to be a middleware software package. Today, there are many telecommunication and computation industries that offer middle ware products. The industry built middleware product essentially develops a connector that makes interoperability system to configure for use. Middle ware refers to application software that serves the purpose of a transition layer or exchange of resources between two networked counterparts. It also merges and incorporates two networked counterparts to communicate with each other either running on the same or different platforms. Middleware software applications are divided into two major categories, application management and resource management. In application management invokes specific services that perform given tasks for them. This application management is also divided int o other two categories, the higher and the lower, that is dependent on the level of service abstraction the middleware offers. The lower application known as inter-application management communication middleware operates with remote procedure calls in general while the higher application middleware totally abstracts the network by substituting procedure calls with direct service calls. The second middleware category, resource management, acts as resource management utility. Just like the first category it is divided into two groups, higher and lower resource management dependent on the type of resource managed by the middleware. The higher resource, also referred to as database middleware, manages software related resources such as transaction processing and database access as these resources are related to the database while lower resource middleware manager, also known as resource middleware, manages hardware related resources like CPU, hard drive space and memory (Puder, Ro?mer & Pilhofer, 2006). At the time of manufacture its main aim was to set up new standards of addressing the issue of differences that occur due to heterogeneous networks. It also provided for grid distinctive characteristics like file sharing, processor and additional grid functionalities such as API (application programming interfaces) with a primary concern aimed in resource

Question for analysis 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Question for analysis 2 - Assignment Example Many people have become victims of distracted and cursory thinking that the internet poses. The fragmented information on the Internet tends to disrupt the readers’ concentration. In essence, the online environment promotes the superficial and hurried search for information, which the readers spend less time to internalize and think comprehensively. The alternatives to becoming critical information consumers and questioners are printing and people questioning whatever content they read on the internet. The advantage of publishing a tangible publication is that the readers will have time to internalize and engage with the content as they embrace intensive reading (Robin and Power 35). Readers can concentrate on the content without distraction as pointed out by the author. However, the challenge of printing is the increased automation of books and the environmental fears about depleting the natural resources. Alternatively, the readers can take charge of whatever they read on the internet. In this respect, behavioral change is critical in transforming people from mere decoders of information to critical questioners of the content. The change in the reading habits is a viable solution because everybody can decide to embrace the comprehensive interaction and critical acquisition of

Chemistry Research Paper - Vitamin B12 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chemistry - Vitamin B12 - Research Paper Example The cobalt ? position, which is the region below the corrin ring plane, may either be open or could be occupied by a side chain of a heterocyclic nitrogen or the solvent (Combs 55). Methyl, nitro, aqua, sulfato, sulfito, hydroxo, 5-deoxyadenosyl, Br-, CN- or a Cl- group may occupy the cobalt ? position, which is the region above the corrin ring plane (Combs 55). The molecule is an octahedral complex, which apart from the corrin ring, also contains a nucleotide along with another cobalt bound group. The corrin ring is formed of four pyrrole rings, three of which are linked with methylene bridges and one with a direct bond. The cobalt atom (Co3+) at the center of the corrin ring is triply ionized and is bound to the nitrogen atoms of the four pyrrole rings (Combs 56). Chemistry Removal of the central cobalt atom of the molecule results in loss of biological activity. Like all corrinoids, vitamin B12 is a crystalline substance with absorption spectra above 300 nm due to ?-? transitions in the corrin ring (Combs 56). It is yellow, red or red-orange in color, is soluble in water, fairly heat stable, and decomposes above 210Â °C (Combs 57). ... Functions and Mechanism Vitamin B12 has a key role in the metabolism of folate in the human body (Insel et al. 452). It transfers a methyl group from the folate coenzyme Tetrahydrofolic acid (THFA) converting THFA to its methylene form. In absence of the vitamin, THFA cannot transform into its methylene form, which is its active form that is involved in many metabolic pathways (Insel et al. 452). As THFA is involved in folate metabolism, deficiency of vitamin B12 results in the deficiency of folate because of absence of active form of THFA. Therefore, vitamin B12 deficiency amounts to folate deficiency, which in turn leads to megaloblastic anemia. Several enzymes that convert homocysteine to methionine are also dependant on vitamin B12 and THFA. Conversion of homocysteine to methionine reduces the levels of homocysteine in the blood, thereby lowering the risk of heart diseases. This mechanism is affected in case of vitamin B12 deficiency (Insel et al. 453). Vitamin B12 also functions in the maintenance of the myelin sheath, which is a protective coat surrounding nerve fibres (Insel et al. 453). Moreover, some fatty acid chains require rearrangement of their carbon atoms in order to enter the citric acid cycle. This function is also performed by vitamin B12 (Insel et al. 453). Vitamin B12 is stored in the liver and can last for about 2 years, while the symptoms of its deficiency may not be apparent for up to almost 12 years (Insel et al. 454). Anemia is the major outcome of vitamin B12 deficiency. In absence of vitamin B12 and in turn, folate, megaloblasts are formed instead of red blood cells, leading to megaloblastic anemia. Vitamin B12 deficiency also results in cognitive defects by causing

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon - Essay Example It is said that the best martial art movies are those that do not have fighting but personal excellence. The heroes used in these films are those that transcend gravity, space and the limitations of the body and mind fears. For example, in a fighting movie, the characters are portraying hatred for one another by fighting, but in a martial arts movie, these characters tend to be celebrating their powers together with one another. This film is also one of those that have been known for its display of heroism and power and the victory of an individual over collectivism. The film increased the popularity of the strong heroes and was one of the first American films in a foreign language that gained so much popularity and praise. The movie has been a presentation of complete levels of Tao, love, life, and tradition. It is basically a life story of Yu Chiao-lung (Jen) depicted showing an account of the way in which the real self can be seen and comprehended intuitively to the Tao. Jen’s journey can be described as the path from the dragon to the Phoenix, transformation of emotion to compassion or natural virtue to spiritual virtue. The film was based partially on the chivalric novel in China which gives a certain traditional representation in the characters. It not only emphasizes on the characters but also has a philosophical aspect included. The main characters in the film are each significant in their own position and hold the certain touch of symbolism in their role. Li Mu-bai had entered a Taoist monastery and was becoming the expert of sword fighting in Wudan School and was a very well known person throughout China especially for his gungfu. He had a weapon, Green Destiny, and it was 400 years old and it had special powers. This shows that the sword holds symbolism in the film and throughout it is used as a special power rather than a weapon to harm others.  

Entrepreneurs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Entrepreneurs - Essay Example With the successes gathered by high level entrepreneurs who barely attained a high school education in preference of pursuing their life dreams in entrepreneurship, one concludes that their success was inborn due to their youth and relative inexperience. Research has shown that different aspects are central for one to become a successful entrepreneur. Tomczyk, Lee and Winslow (2012) portend that although personality and motivation (inborn characteristics) affects the entrepreneurial prowess, the factors are, in turn, influenced by adjustable factors such as physiology, family, culture and demographics. Skills and abilities also play a crucial role in the establishment of a successful entrepreneur. It is clear that successful entrepreneur combines both the inborn characteristics such as motivation and personality with gained traits such education and work. This affirms that entrepreneurs are both born and made. The personal attributes of creativity and risk-taking are excellent founda tions for a successful entrepreneur. However, strengthening them with education and experience makes a person stand a better chance of being successful. Otherwise, how would a person be successful if they do not combine both

Family in Europe History Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Family in Europe History - Coursework Example These large extended families were contrasted sharply with the emerging nuclear families of the industrial age as a means of attempting to re-capture a by-gone age of greater social responsibility and control. By couching the family in such terms, these sociologists were encouraging the reinstatement of the patriarch as the dictator of the family, determining the best course of action for each member of the family through his choice of heir, thus determining which child would be permitted to marry and reproduce, as well as subsuming any and all inclinations of the women of the household who were never permitted to inherit and were seen to pass into the possession of another family if and when she did get married. This reduced her value to little more than a bargaining chip with other families in search of wives for their sons and precluded any individuality for her or any of her other younger siblings. These models took their support from contentions that the agrarian society necessa rily consisted from time immemorial to have consisted of large extended families living in multi-generational households all working together for the common good. Historical-statistical analysis proves that the major contention of the pre-industrial family models proposed by Le Play and others is false. Analysis reveals that the average family size beginning as early as the seventeenth century was typically no larger than four or five persons per household. This was compared with the average size of households in more modern times, which was found to be closer to three persons per household, which does not reflect the tremendous differences claimed by earlier sociologists. In addition, statistical analysis has demonstrated that the reduction in family size did not occur in conjunction with the Industrial Revolution but only began to occur as living conditions and other events

Political Power in the Prince by Machiavelli Essay Example for Free

Political Power in the Prince by Machiavelli Essay Machiavelli argues in another major work that the purpose of politics is to promote a â€Å"common good.† How does this statement relate to the ideas Machiavelli presents in The Prince? The fact that two of Machiavelli’s greatest and most famous works on political power came into being thanks to the downfall of his own political career is quite ironic. More ironic however is the way he contradicts his statements in each book about the purpose of political power. As previously stated, one of Machiavelli’s major works, referring directly to The Discourses on Livy (1517), argues that the purpose of political power is to promote a â€Å"common good†. Meanwhile, The Prince presents a ruler less worried about the â€Å"common good† and more concerned about maintaining and expanding political power at all costs. â€Å"Laws make men good,† states Machiavelli in book one of the discourses, after a long explanation about how men created politics to create order. At first men searched for the strongest and bravest among them to mold him into a leader they could obey. Machiavelli then says: â€Å"From this beginning came recognition of what is proper and good, as opposed to what is pernicious and wicked.† However, as time went on, the people became harder to satisfy and politics became more complicated. New forms of government and laws were created in order to keep the people in order because as he states in The Discourses: â€Å"men will never be good, except by necessity†. Simple leaders became the tyrants he promotes in The Prince. They sought to be feared by their people in order to be obeyed and maintain power. In The Prince the leader is no longer the strongest and the bravest, but the prudent, more astute. The leader is one that can predict things such as treachery and conspiracy and end it before it can cause further problems in his government. The Prince discusses many ways for an astute leader to rule his state and maybe one or two of these promote the â€Å"common good† of the people, and it isn’t even actual common good. In The prince, the appearance of a common good is more important than having it as a reality. A ruler must appear to be honest and good but doesn’t necessarily have to be. I believe the relation between Machiavelli’s two texts on the purpose of political power is that one describes what politics were made to be while the other discusses what they have actually come to be and how to keep them that way. Instead of a â€Å"common good† it goes more along the lines of what is good for the ruler. While the statements contradict each other more than once, I believe the texts to be somewhat complementary in the sense that alone, they each give a different side or view of what politics actually are, while reading them both gives the reader an expanded, more complete understanding, not only on what politics are and how to maintain that political power, but also on why it has to be that way â€Å"for the good of the people.†

Admission Essay Essay Example for Free

Admission Essay Essay As a student who wants to join your school after my graduation, I possess very high skills that will enable me to conquer the opportunities available in the real life scenario and especially in the co curricular activities that I will be involved in. My experiences comprise of a one year internship as a department manager from the year 2007 to 2008 and a presidential out of state academic scholarship. As a new student in your college I dedicate myself to commitment to the rules of the college and promise to further my knowledge as a manager to the best of my ability utilizing all the resources that are available. Prior to winning the presidential scholarship, I decided to turn the further offers down because of my devotion in my academic pursues. Besides my dedication in academics, I am also fond of voluntary work. I love doing this with little supervision and with all the trust from my heart. During my course in high I managed to do a voluntary service with conjunction with the Golf team and the XC team. Through this I gained a lot of experience and also got a chance to understand what it entails doing a voluntary work i. See more: Unemployment problems and solutions essay e. doing some work with all the heart without expecting some compensation. I also love community services. I participated in a community service of teaching tennis lessons in my high school and I did it with a lot of joy like any other person who has received an internship with an NGO. This is because community work is often unofficially witnessed and unrecognized. My motivation for working for the community services is clear. I have been a player of tennis for the better part of my study in high school. Since my proficiency in tennis was proved with a placement for tennis scholarship, with the most reputable institution worldwide, I offer myself to develop positively amidst the challenges and strengths that will come on my way. The community services and voluntary activities that I engaged myself in, to me aid in understanding myself and realizing my dreams. According to me for one to succeed, he needs to be ambitious, curious and eager in getting what he wants.

Occupational Safety And Health Management System Construction Essay

Occupational Safety And Health Management System Construction Essay OSH Management system standard has been widely used as an approach and strategy towards improving the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) standards at the workplace. As a Safety Officer , I have been instructed by my organization to get the OHSAS 18001:2007 certification within a year. There were some reasons that forced the Board of Directors took this step. I believe the reasons can be considered by other companies, which are willing to adopt it  as their OSH management systems. OHSAS 18001:2007   is occupational health and safety management standard. It defines a set of  occupational health and safety  (OHS) management requirements for  occupational health and safety management  systems (OHSMS). This new OHSAS 18001 2007 standard was officially published during July  of 2007. It cancels and replaces OHSAS 18001 1999.The purpose of OHSAS 18001:2007 is to help organizations to manage and  control their OHS risks and to improve their OHS performance.They can achieve this purpose by developing an OHSMS that complies with OHSAS 18001:2007. An  OHSMS  is a network of interrelated elements. These elements include  responsibilities, authorities, relationships, functions, activities, processes, practices, procedures, and resources. These elements are used to establish OHS policies, plans, programs, and objectives. Simply by meeting all of the OHSAS 18001:2007 requirements (Part 4), you will automatically establish an integrated OHSMS for your organization. How we meet  each  of the OHSAS 18001:2007 requirements, and to what extent, depends  on many factors, including: The size of the organization The location of the organization The nature of the organizations culture The nature of the organizations activities The nature of the organizations legal obligations The nature and scope of the organizations OHSMS The content of the organizations OHS policy The nature of the organizations OHS hazards The nature of the organizations OHS risks Here are the reasons why implementing OHSAS 18001:2007 would give companies more value and benefits. Meeting customers requirements, especially the customers which have been implementing OHSAS 18001 Attract more companies to deal with the company. Fulfill stakeholders satisfaction Ensure the company to meet legal and regulations on occupational safety and health. Improve the quality of workplaces Improve companys health and  safety performance Prevent company to pay unnecessary expenditures Enhance companys  image and companys commitment to  continuous improvement  on health and  safety matter in the workplace Company Background PENWIN Group is engaged in construction and investment holding activities. It operates in three segments: construction, which is engaged in construction activities; property development, which is engaged in development of land into vacant lots, residential, commercial and/or industrial buildings; manufacturing and quarrying, which is engaged in production and sale of concrete products and quarrying activities. Element 4.2 : OHS Policy HSE Management System PENWIN GROUP HSE Management System (HSEMS) is an integrated system certified by OHSAS 18001:1999, ISO 14001:2004 and MS 1722:Part 1:2005 standards. Committed to the set HSE objectives, the Group has systematically implemented, monitoredand measured significant HSE management elements translated into the Group HSEMS Manual, Procedures and Workplaces Plans; these include: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Pro-active management of OHS Risks and Environmental Impacts by identification of hazards, assessment of risks and impacts, and determination of risks and impacts control measures during the project activities planning stage; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Continuous identification and compliance evaluation of relevant HSE Legislations; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Training and competency needs identification and provision for the Groups employees based on specific roles and responsibilities towards HSE; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Effective platforms for consultation and communication of HSE issues by active participation from various levels and functions; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Determination of operational control measures to eliminate or reduce OHS risks and environmental impacts by establishment of HSE Standard Operating Procedures and Criteria; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Pro-active planning for emergency readiness and responses; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Effective programmes for measurement and monitoring of HSE performance covering planned and surprise inspections, statistical analysis and reporting; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Non-conformity and Incident Management for managing identified non-conformity and incidents through causal analysis to determine improvement actions and prevention of recurrence; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Scheduled internal audits for verification of system conformance; and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Scheduled management review for reviewing established system suitability, adequacy and effectiveness. HSE Organisation The Health, Safety and Environmental Management System has been implemented at all levels of the Group and HSE Organisations are established to effectively manage and monitor its implementation. The HSE Organisations include: a) Health, Safety and Environment Management Committee (HSEMC) The Committee, led by the CEO Managing Director meets at planned intervals to review HSE operations and performance. b) Health, Safety and Environment Committee (HSEC) Led by appointed senior management staff, the Committee is established at corporate level and at all workplaces as part of compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (OSHA). c) Corporate HSE Department Established at corporate level to assist the Group in establishing, implementing and maintaining the Health, Safety and Environmental Management System. Health And Safety Policy Statement Our Goal: 1 Malaysia, Health, Safety and Environment is Everyones Responsibility The Management of PENWIN Group is committed to the health and safety of its employees and for all who are involved in our projects. Protection of employees from injury or occupational disease is a major continuing objective. We are committed to continuing improvement toward an accident-free workplace through effective administration, education and training. All supervisors and workers must be dedicated to the continuing objectives of eliminating the near misses which will greatly reduce the risk of injuries. Our philosophy is that the well-being of our company and clients is dependent on the health and safety or our workforce. The Directors and Officers of this corporation promise that every precaution reasonable in all circumstances will be taken for the protection of all workers. No job is to be regarded so urgent that time cannot be taken to do it in a safe manner. The welfare of the individual is our greatest concern. Supervisors will be responsible for the health and safety of workers under their supervision. Supervisors are responsible to ensure that machinery and equipment required for use by each worker are safe and that each worker works in compliance with established safe work practices and procedures for each piece of equipment. Workers must receive adequate training in their specific work tasks to protect their health and safety. All supervisors, employees and subcontractors must protect their own and fellow workers health and safety by working in compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and all applicable regulations and safe work practices and procedures established by our company. We are a member of the NIOSH. We recognize that a safe work environment can be established and sustained only through a united effort by all employees and subcontractors and that the assistance of each person is required. Your attitude and cooperation in promoting accident prevention will assist in achieving our goal, and make our company the best place to work, one where employees share in corporate growth and success. Everyone from the President to new workers has the responsibility to ensure a safe and healthy workplace. Lets all work together to prevent incidents from creating unwanted losses and personal injuries or illnesses. [BADROL HISHAM BIN HJ BAHARI] President PENWIN Group 12 September 2000 Health and Safety Responsibilities Senior Management Prepare a health and safety policy. Post it in the workplace and review it annually. Develop a program to implement the health and safety policy. Ensure it is known throughout the organization. Ensure training is in place to make the program work. Appoint competent supervision. Ensure that equipment, materials and protective devices are provided and maintained in good condition. Provide resources so supervisors and workers can carry out safe and healthy work. Ensure that adequate and suitable planning is done to provide safe and healthy workplaces. Review accident reports and respond where necessary. Review middle managements site inspection reports quarterly. Delegate authority and responsibility. Hold employees and subcontractors accountable for the authority and responsibility delegated to them. Be visibly committed to making health and safety work. Inspire others to make it work. Middle Management Ensure that the workforce understands their health and safety responsibilities. Ensure that equipment, materials and protective devices are provided and maintained in good condition. Ensure the workforce is trained to safely complete the work and deal with hazards. Ensure that the training is current and regularly reviewed. Be aware of applicable legislation and ensure compliance. Ensure there is an effective mechanism for co-operative problem solving amongst workers and supervisors. Take unresolved health and safety problems to senior management. Respond appropriately to reports of problems and to Joint Health and Safety Committee/Health and Safety Rep recommendations. Ensure procedures and practices are established so workers can carry out safe and healthy work. Establish a system to review the health and safety program. Ensure it is up-to-date. Review supervisors safety/toolbox talks Review accident/incident reports. Ensure corrective actions are taken. Conduct a formal inspection of a job site once a month. Report quarterly to senior management on the status of health and safety performance. Hold supervisors accountable for the authority and responsibility delegated to them and hold workers accountable for their responsibilities. Be visibly committed to making health and safety work. Inspire others to make it work. Supervisor Ensure that workers use or wear the equipment, protective devices or clothing that the company requires to be used or worn and that it is in good condition. Ensure that workers receive appropriate training to use or wear the equipment, protective devices or clothing that the company requires. Establish procedures and practices to ensure that workers can carry out safe and healthy work. Ensure that workers comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, applicable regulations and the companys policy and program. Ensure that workers are aware of potential hazards and have dealt with, or are dealing with, the actual hazards in the workplace. Plan and communicate work assignments to enable workers to produce safety. Involve workers in work planning and problem solving. Provide orientation to new crew members. Conduct weekly safety talks and weekly site inspections. Review safety aspects of each task with crew. Conduct accident or incident investigation. Encourage workers to report health and safety problems Respond quickly and appropriately to worker concerns and cooperate in their correction. Take matter to higher level if beyond supervisors authority/ability. Report safety problems to middle management. Be aware of the applicable legislation and company procedures. Set an example by being consistently safety conscious, and insisting on the safe performance of work. Supervise, advise and coach workers as required. Observe the work in progress and provide positive input to the worker. Worker Use or wear the equipment, protective devices or clothing that the company requires. Work safely in accordance with the companys or the clients health and safety policy and program, and with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and applicable regulations. Do not remove, displace or interfere with the use of any safeguards. Report unsafe conditions to the supervisor, after taking appropriate immediate action. Report all accidents, injuries and near-misses immediately to the supervisor. Work in a way that will not endanger yourself or others. Advise other workers of unsafe conditions or work practices. Participate in solving health and safety problems. Provide recommendations to the supervisor to improve health and safety. Element 4.3.1 : Planning For Hazard Identification, Risk Assesment and Risk Control Job Hazard Analysis Purpose The purpose of our Job Hazard Analysis is to identify, control or eliminate potential or actual dangers in a job or task. Factors to be considered in assigning a priority for analysis of jobs include: Accident frequency and severity: jobs where accidents occur frequently or where they occur infrequently but result in disabling injuries Potential for severe injuries or illnesses: the consequences of an accident, hazardous condition, or exposure to harmful substances are potentially severe Newly established jobs: due to lack of experience in these jobs, hazards may not be evident or anticipated Modified jobs: new hazards may be associated with changes in job procedures Infrequently performed jobs: workers may be at greater risk when undertaking non-routine jobs, and a Job Hazard Analysis provides means of reviewing hazards PENWIN Group management and supervision is responsible for ensuring all work is safely planned; the Job Hazard Analysis will assist in determining firstly, what are the steps in the job; secondly, what are the potential hazards in the job; and finally, what are the protective measures for the safety of our worker(s) assigned to do the non-routine work. Procedure for Completing a Job Hazard Analysis Breakdown of Job Steps Job or task identified for analysis by supervisor Supervisor overseeing the job breaks job into steps (with assistance from crew members, h s rep etc) A job step is defined as a segment of the operation necessary to advance the work Keep the steps in the correct sequence Identify Actual/Potential Hazards (refer to checklist in appendix) Once the basic steps have been recorded, potential hazards must be identified at each step. This is based on observation of the job, knowledge of accident and in jury causes, and personal experience. To identify potential hazards, the supervisor may use questions such as these (this is not a complete list): Can any body part get caught in or between objects? Do tools, machines or equipment present any hazards? Can the worker make harmful contact with objects? Can the worker slip, trip or fall? Can the worker suffer strain from lifting, pushing or pulling? Is the worker exposed to extreme heat or cold? Is excessive noise or vibration a problem? Is there a danger from falling objects? Is lighting a problem? Can weather conditions affect safety? Is harmful radiation a possibility? Can contact be made with hot, toxic or caustic substances? Are there dusts, fumes, mists or vapours in the air? Preventative Measures/Controls After completing the risk assessment and having taken account of existing controls the company should be able to determine whether existing controls are adequate or need improving or new controls are required. The following provides examples of implementing the hierarchy of controls. Elimination modify a design to eliminate the hazard, e.g introduce mechanical lifting devices to eliminate the manual handling hazard. Substitution substitute a less hazardous material or reduce the system energy e.g lower the force, amperage, pressure, temperature, etc . Engineering Controls install ventilation systems, machine guarding, interlocks, sound enclosures, etc. Signage, warnings and/or administrative controls install alarms, safety procedures, equipment inspections, access controls. Personal protective equipment safety glasses , hearing protection, face shields, safety harnesses and lanyards, respirators and gloves. Eliminate the Hazard This is the most effective measure, some examples are: Choose a different process Modify an existing process Substitute with less hazardous substance Improve environment (ventilation) Modify or change equipment or tools Contain the Hazard If the hazard cannot be eliminated, contact might be prevented by using enclosures, machine guards, worker booths or similar devices. Revise Work Procedure Consideration might be given to modifying steps that are hazardous, changing the sequence of steps or adding additional steps (such as locking out energy sources) Reduce the Exposure These measures are the least effective and should only be used if no other solutions are possible. One way to minimizing exposure is to reduce the number of times the hazard is encountered. Communication of Job Hazard Analysis to Workers When the Job Hazard Analysis is completed, the results must be communicated to all workers who are, or who will be, performing the job. The job hazard analysis must be discussed by the employees performing the job to ensure that all the basic steps have been noted, are in the correct order, have suitable controls and be documented and signed by the worker and supervisor. Supervisors will ensure that workers are following the appropriate control procedures. Hazard Reporting System Policy PENWIN Group is committed to identifying and removing or controlling hazards. The hazard reporting system is a worker-oriented process. Workers are in the best position to identify the hazards in the workplace because they are the ones who perform the work. Workers act as a second set of eyes for supervisors. Procedure Worker Responsibilities Report any perceived hazard verbally to the site supervisor. Provide recommendations to the supervisor on how to eliminate or control the hazard. If the supervisor does not respond to your concern you are to inform management. Supervisor Responsibilities Discuss the hazard and controls with the worker and complete the Hazard Identification Form. Respond to the workers concern by the next shift. Ensure that the form details the action or non-action which will be taken. Provide a copy of the completed Hazard Identification Form to middle management. Middle Management Responsibilities Ensure action is taken to address the hazard identified. Initialize and date the Hazard Identification Form. See ATTACHMENT for: Hazard Identification Form Risk Assesment Risk assessment is the process where you: Identify hazards. Analyze or evaluate the risk associated with that hazard. Determine appropriate ways to eliminate or control the hazard. In practical terms, a risk assessment is a thorough look at your workplace to identify those things, situations, processes, etc that may cause harm, particularly to people. After identification is made, you evaluate how likely and severe the risk is, and then decide what measures should be in place to effectively prevent or control the harm from happening. Risk assessments are very important as they form an integral part of a good occupational health and safety management plan. They help to: Create awareness of hazards and risks. Identify who may be at risk (employees, cleaners, visitors, contractors, the public, etc). Determine if existing control measures are adequate or if more should be done. Prevent injuries or illnesses when done at the design or planning stage. Prioritize hazards and control measures. The aim of the risk assessment process is to remove a hazard or reduce the level of its risk by adding precautions or control measures, as necessary. By doing so, you have created a safer and healthier workplace. Assessments should be done by a competent team of individuals who have a good working knowledge of the workplace. Staff should be involved always include supervisors and workers who work with the process under review as they are the most familiar with the operation. In general, to do an assessment, you should: Identify hazards. Evaluate the likelihood of an injury or illness occurring, and its severity. Consider normal operational situations as well as non-standard events such as shutdowns, power outages, emergencies, etc. Review all available heath and safety information about the hazard such as MSDSs, manufacturers literature, information from reputable organizations, results of testing, etc. Identify actions necessary to eliminate or control the risk. Monitor and evaluate to confirm the risk is controlled. Keep any documentation or records that may be necessary. Documentation may include detailing the process used to assess the risk, outlining any evaluations, or detailing how conclusions were made. When doing an assessment, you must take into account: the methods and procedures used in the processing, use, handling or storage of the substance, etc. the actual and the potential exposure of workers the measures and procedures necessary to control such exposure by means of engineering controls, work practices, and hygiene practices and facilities By determining the level of risk associated with the hazard, the employer and the joint he Ranking or prioritizing hazards is one way to help determine which hazard is the most serious and thus which hazard to control first. Priority is usually established by taking into account the employee exposure and the potential for accident, injury or illness. By assigning a priority to the hazards, you are creating a ranking or an action list. The following factors play an important role: percentage of workforce exposed frequency of exposure degree of harm likely to result from the exposure probability of occurrence There is no one simple or single way to determine the level of risk. Ranking hazards requires the knowledge of the workplace activities, urgency of situations, and most importantly, objective judgement. One option is to use a table similar to the following as established by the British Standards Organization: Note:  These categorizations and the resulting asymmetry of the matrix arise from the examples of harm and likelihood illustrated within the British Standard. Organizations should adjust the design and size of the matrix to suit their needs. Definitions for Likelihood of Harm Very Likely   Typically experienced at least once every six months by an individual. Likely   Typically experienced once every five years by an individual. Unlikely   Typically experienced once during the working lifetime of an individual. Very unlikely   Less than 1% chance of being experienced by an individual during their working lifetime. Definitions for Severity of Harm Potential severity of harm   When establishing potential severity of harm, information about the relevant work activity should be considered, together with: a) part(s) of the body likely to be affected; b) nature of the harm, ranging from slight to extremely harmful: 1. slightly harmful (e.g., superficial injuries; minor cuts and bruises; eye irritation from dust; nuisance and irritation; ill-health leading to temporary discomfort) 2. harmful (e.g., lacerations; burns; concussion; serious sprains; minor fractures; deafness; dermatitis; asthma; work-related upper limb disorders; ill-health) 3. extremely harmful (e.g., amputations; major fractures; poisonings; multiple injuries; fatal injuries; occupational cancer; other severely life shortening diseases; acute fatal diseases) Definition for Risk Level   Tolerability Guidance on necessary action and timescale Very low   These risks are considered acceptable. No further action is necessary other than to ensure that the controls are maintained. Low   No additional controls are required unless they can be implemented at very low cost (in terms of time, money, and effort). Actions to further reduce these risks are assigned low priority. Arrangements should be made to ensure that the controls are maintained. Medium   Consideration should be as to whether the risks can be lowered, where applicable, to a tolerable level and preferably to an acceptable level, but the costs of additional risk reduction measures should be taken into account. The risk reduction measures should be implemented within a defined time period. Arrangements should be made to ensure that controls are maintained, particularly if the risk levels area associated with harmful consequences. High   Substantial efforts should be made to reduce the risk. Risk reduction measures should be implemented urgently within a defined time period and it might be necessary to consider suspending or restricting the activity, or to apply interim risk control measures, until this has been completed. Considerable resources might have to be allocated to additional control measures. Arrangements should be made to ensure that controls are maintained, particularly if the risk levels are associated with extremely harmful consequences and very harmful consequences. Very high   These risk are unacceptable. Substantial improvements in risk control measures are necessary so that the risk is reduced to a tolerable or acceptable level. The work activity should be halted until risk controls are implemented that reduces the risk so that it is no longer very high. If it is not possible to reduce the risk, the work should remain prohibited. Element 4.42 : Competence , training and awareness. Employee Training PENWIN Group is responsible for ensuring all employees and supervisors are properly trained. It is committed to providing adequate time and resources to train all personnel to perform their duties in an efficient and safe manner. Management is responsible for ensuring records of all completed training courses are maintained. A review of all training should take place at the regular management/supervisor meetings and meetings of the joint health and safety committee and must be completed no less than annually. Management Training In addition to participating in supervisory training requirements, operations management will be given the opportunity to attend advanced training in maintaining safety in the workplace. Supervision Training All construction supervision must attend the following safety competency courses: Supervisor competency via an accredited organization First aid and CPR Fall protection train the trainer PENWIN Group health and safety program training Specialized tool and equipment instruction as required Worker Training/Instruction Workers will be instructed by a competent person to ensure that safety is maintained in the workplace. Formal training must be provided for the following: Fall Protection Personal Protective Equipment (Respirator, hazmat if required) Tools and equipment (new or specialized) Emergency Response An evaluation must be completed to ensure workers are familiar with program content and the activities for which they will be responsible. The objective of training is to ease the implementation of health and safety policies into specific job practices and to raise awareness and skill levels to an acceptable standard. While all employees can benefit from health and safety training, special attention should be given to the training of supervisors, trainers, and workers. Occasions when employee training may be required are: commencement of employment reassignment or transfer to a new job introduction of new equipment, processes, or procedures inadequate performance The following topics be included in supervisory safety training: safety and the supervisor know your accident problems human relations maintaining interest in safety instructing for safety industrial hygiene personal protective equipment industrial housekeeping material handling and storage guarding machines and mechanisms hand and portable power tools fire protection The supervisor is generally responsible for much of the training of workers. This duty, however, is often delegated to an experienced worker. To be an effective instructor, an instructor should: Receive training in how to instruct. Prepare an orderly plan for instruction. Explain reasons why each step must be done in a certain way. All instructors should be taught how to proceed when training a new or inexperienced employee: Plan the session beforehand; break the job down into steps; have training aids available. Explain what is to be done. Describe all the hazards and protective measures. Demonstrate each step, stress key points, and answer any questions. Have the employee carry out each step, correct errors, and compliment good performance. Check frequently after the employee is working independently to ensure correct performance. Documented correct work procedures are an invaluable aid in job skills training. External sources for training assistance are industry associations, unions, government agencies, and professional consultants. Once the health and safety program has been set in place and the program appears to be running smoothly, effort is still required to maintain enthusiasm and interest. Studies have shown that the effectiveness of health and safety educational techniques depends largely on how much importance management is seen to place on health and

The Promising Future of Chinas Economy Essay -- Economy

The Promising Future of China's Economy If China's economy grows as fast for the next 20 years as it has for the past 14, it will be the biggest economy on earth: I feel that China's drastic improvements over the last 14 years are overwhelming, with their Real GNP growing at a rate of 9% a year, which means by, 1994, China's economy will match the performance of countries like Japan and Taiwan. China's standard of living has also increased, and the number of people who were considered absolutely poor decreased approximately 63%. I feel with the vast amount of people living in China, and the economic activity booming like it is, China's exports will continue to grow, as well as the standard of living. This will create more revenue, and more capital for them to produce even more goods and become even larger, prospering as one of the biggest economies on the earth. I also feel that China should try to overcome its corrupt system and steadily move into a free enterprise system. Competition has been the key to China's success: I believe that competition has been the key to China's success. When Mr. Deng opened the free market, it brought the first signs of the farmers becoming more rich since the 1950s. His political genius allowed the farmers to become rich. He also introduced the "open-door policy" which is proving to be very beneficial, as they follow in the footsteps of their strong rich neighbours. Mr. Perkins believed four conditions must be met for a market system to work well in reforming centrally planned economy. I believe if China continues to improve its productivity, and the number of monopolies decrease as studies show, China will move into a capitalist front only to... ...ver the last several years. The party has a large role to play in China's transition to a full market economy. China is on its way. the West should prepare China's interests lay in foreign investment, trade and economic reform. China's main driving force was competition, and they proved that privatisation and settling the matter of ownership are not so critical in the early stages of reform. In the years ahead, China must choose between keeping the communist party or kepping the stunning economic growth. If they continue to grow at the rate China grows, and keep improving their economy, and join the likes of Japan, they can combine forces in all aspects against the west, military wise and economically wise. if China's economy grows as fast for the next twenty years like it has for the past fourteen, it will be the biggest economy on earth.

Junk :: essays research papers

In my last speech I talked about globalization and more specifically the affect of NAFTA on the Mexican corn farmers. As a result of the removal of tariffs on agricultural products, Mexico, a country once self sufficient in basic grains, today imports 95 percent of its soy, 58 percent of its rice, 49 percent of its wheat, and 40 percent of its meat. This has resulted in Mexican corn farmers being put out of business. More than 80 percent of Mexico's extreme poor live in rural areas, and more than 2 million are corn farmers. There is no way they can compete with subsidized American agribusiness. In my last speech I didn’t mention the affect of globalization on the U.S. In the U.S., a comparison between the 1930s and today tells a similar grim tale. Then, 25 percent of the population lived on the nation's 6 million farms; today, 2 million farms are home to 2 percent of the population. Small family farms have been overwhelmingly replaced by large commercial farms, with 8 percent of farms accounting for 72 percent of sales. Small family farms can’t compete with the large industrialized farms, where the only relevant objective is profit margin. While doing my research for this speech I was trying to find some type of policy that the U.S. carries for globalization, to my surprise there is no actual outlined policy. There are policies on various different topics that all fit into the globalization. I would like to concentrate on our trade policy in terms of agriculture. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) requires that countries open their economies to agricultural products. Due to the low or at times non existent tariffs on importing and exporting we are cutting jobs domestically and abroad. With American markets already saturated, the U.S. is aggressively pushing to open up foreign markets -- with great success. Already, one out of three acres planted in the United States produces food or fiber destined for export, and one quarter of American farm sales are now exports. Though agriculture was the incentive to lure the Third World into the WTO and other trade agreements, it has turned into the most contentious issue as the Third World is devastated by the dumping of cheap and subsidized agricultural products from the United States and the European Union. While beefing up agribusiness with agricultural subsidies (the U.

Hotel Rwanda †The Rwandan Genocide Essay

Hotel Rwanda is a film about the genocide that transpired within the premises of the city of Kigali, the heart of Rwanda during the year 1994. This evil act lasted for 100 days killing thousands of innocent lives of Rwandan men, women and children. But in the film, it did not focus on the genocide. Instead, it shed a light on the heroic and courageous deed of one ordinary man in an effort to save the lives of some of his countrymen. In the movie, almost all of the aspects of the genocide were tackled including the powerlessness of the United Nations to put a stop to the violent killings perpetrated by the Rwandan government and the Hutu rebels against the Tutsis. This was very much evident when the character of Dan Cheadle was promised by the UN Colonel that he, his family and all the refugees at the Milles Collines will be rescued. But when the colonel had a talk with another UN officer, the plan seemed to have changed. The colonel explained that only foreign nationals were allowed to leave Rwanda. Only a small number of troops were instructed to uphold peacekeeping and not peacemaking meaning they were not allowed to shoot at anyone even if they commit violent actions. More so, the minimal involvement of the international organizations and their eventual negligence over the escalating killings in Rwanda played a pivotal role in the increased deaths of thousands of people. Instead of helping the Tutsis to take refuge to a safer place in neighboring countries, these organizations decided not to get involve because of the misconception that nothing can restore the peace and order in an anarchic setting. Moreover in the movie, a Red Cross worker drew some attention because of how she showed her bravery by setting aside her fears and her own welfare just to save a few people from being mercilessly killed by the Hutus. Some aid workers decided to stay in order to help while others chose to flee in order to protect their welfare. Overall, the movie generated an accurate depiction of the Rwandan genocide. However, some controversial issues were downplayed like the role of the French in the uprising and arming of the Hutu rebels. After the genocide, some reports have surfaced that implicated a few French politicians and the French military with this tragic incident. According to the results of the findings of an â€Å"Independent Rwandan Commission,† the French government was â€Å"aware of preparations for the genocide and helped train the ethnic Hutu militia perpetrators. The report included that France provided the Hutus with â€Å"political, military, diplomatic and logistical support. † For almost 2 years, the commission had gathered data and interviewed several survivors. All the information that had been obtained, served as testimonies to the participation of the French government in the killing of almost 800,000 civilians in the span of 100 days (BBC, 2008). But the French vehemently refu ted the accusations. In their defense, they stated that the allegations were biased because the commission has only one thing in mind and that is to prove that the French are guilty. The â€Å"French Foreign Ministry said â€Å"there is no surprise in the conclusions of the commission given its mission† (CNN, 2008). Aside from this, the film also failed to include the admission of the United Nations of its failure to prevent the genocide. But for the UN, this became a learning experience. They realized that people should not be neglected specifically in times of dire need when lives are at stake (BBC, 2000). Given this new angle in the Rwandan genocide, it should have been also portrayed in the movie. This would have given viewers more accurate representation of what really happened in Rwanda in April 1994. Also, this would have been a chance for the whole world to determine who the real culprits were in one of the worst humanitarian crisis of the 20th century. More so, these events could have provided a comprehensive outlook on how humans are capable of doing horrendous and brutal acts just to have power and control.

Conscious Efforts Equate to Saving Lives

Livery cab driver killings — the challenge that New York City had to combat and a situation that allowed authorities to prove that they were doing their job. The killing of livery cab drivers was a time that united the people of New York (Rashbaum, 2000). Livery cab driver killings had been a major problem in New York for over 30 years. Every year, policemen and the government had to deal with countless investigations to provide justice for dozens of killed drivers each year. Not only were the livery cab drivers killed — they were also robbed (Rashbaum, 2000). The people who had enough means and power to do something about it, like the government and the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, did something about it, and here are as follows: The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers led by Fernando A. Mateo employed several safety measures to reduce livery cab driver killings. Mateo and his subordinates obliged all livery cab drivers to put bulletproof partitions inside the livery cabs. Because of this, the livery cab drivers were divided into parts where the livery cab driver was protected from his passenger who may have been a potential robber or murderer, through a wall or divider. While the wall or divider, or what the federation technically terms as partition, can prevent robbery, it obviously may not keep the livery cab drivers from murder at all since bullets can pass through walls. This possibility was a major concern of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers. To counterattack what was left of the problem, the federation ordered livery cab drivers to use bulletproof partitions. Bulletproof material prevented the livery cab drivers from getting shot. To further make this protective measure effective, livery cab drivers were ordered to close the partitions all the time. While it was true bulletproof material was used as a shield from gun shots and other means of killing, these partitions still made a driver susceptible to killing once it is left open. The use of surveillance cameras was also ordered by the city and the federation. Through this, a livery cab driver was given the chance to put another eye at the passenger's area. The driver can readily see the potential harms a passenger may do even before he does it. A passenger, for example, who releases a gun from his bag, will be readily seen by the driver. The time the potential murderer is releasing a gun is also the time a driver can call the police or employ other preventive measures to protect his own life. That time, every time a driver became suspicious of a passenger, he can readily report it to the policemen who were monitoring him through a secret alarm system. The city's mayor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, showed his support for these safety measures by providing each livery cab driver with enough financial assistance. The city released $5 million worth of protection equipment. Each livery cab driver in New York City was given $325. This amount of money served as an assistance to pay for the needed equipment like partitions and bulletproofing. Surveillance cameras cost $700. This means that the city paid for half the total expense of a driver for one surveillance camera. If a driver chose to put up a partition inside his livery cab, then he may put up one which cost $275 on the average. The city, together with the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, employed other preventive and protective measures without the use of material things. The city revised its law regarding the punishment for liver cab driver killers and robbers. Tougher sanction was applied in which another two to three years were added to the years a convict will have to spend in jail. Police decoy was also widely used. This was another preventive and protective measure to investigate murder and robbery cases more efficiently. With the use of police decoy, an officer pretended to be a livery cab driver. He went around the neighborhood to get passengers and picked up their fares. This was an effective step since robbery and murder reduced from 2,000 to 455 cases. The efficient investigation allowed for this impressive change in the statistics. Aside from police decoys who served as patrols, protection was maximized especially when livery cab drivers were required to stop at areas where there were police officers. These officers obliged drivers to pull over to see their current condition. The police officers ensure the safety and protection of drivers by checking the passengers. Police officers were able to prevent 50 possible livery cab driver killings by spotting 50 passengers with guns. Such intense conscious effort caused very pronounced victory than expected. Before 2000, no single year has passed without dozens of livery cab drivers being killed. When these aforementioned measures were employed, the year came when no single case of livery cab driver killing or robbery was reported. With this change in statistics, the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers and the government of New York City proved that with efficient action, achieving a goal becomes possible. Because of this, the federation and the city became more inspired with employing more measures to totally alleviate killings so that such victory won't last for only a year. To maintain positive changes, the federation and the government worked hand in hand to put up tracking systems for the drivers. This way, the drivers were always monitored. The police tracked down the whereabouts of every livery cab driver. Adolfo Carrion, Jr., New York City's councilman, was willing to co-sponsor this to further improve livery cab driver killings. In 2000, statistics dramatically changed from drastic to impressive when it comes to cases of killings. Every livery cab driver did not just begin to feel safer and more secured with his job — his children and wife patiently waiting at home were finally able to sleep soundly at night. All they needed to wait for was a goodnight kiss from their father. References: Michaelluo. (2004). Police Measures Avert Livery Cab Killings. New York Times. Retrieved December 1, 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/07/nyregion/07livery.html ?ei=5007&en=f4b0e5806c7261c&ex=1391576400&adxnnl=1&partner= USERLAND&adxnnlx=11143479799ScWbxozk+DIlE+9e5ddS Rashbaum, W. K. (2000). After Deaths, City Plans Millions for Livery Cab Safety. The New York Times. Retrieved December 1, 2007 from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html ?res=950CE2DA1631F936A25757C0A9669C8B63 Â   Â   Â  

Policing Paper Essay

Sir Robert Peel established the nine principles of law enforcement also known as the Peelian Principles in 1892 under the base of patrol functions defined as deterring crime, enhancing the feeling of public safety, and making law enforcement officers available for service. Police departments today use these nine principles as a foundation of maintaining positive relationships with citizens and their community (FBI, 2012). The Metropolitan Police Act (MPA) of 1829 was established by Sir Robert Peel during his term as the Secretary of England. Peel’s theory rests mainly on his quote â€Å"The key to policing is that the police are the people and that the people are the police.† The concept behind the Peelian Principles is preventing crime, not fighting crime. In order for community policing to be proved successful, Peel first established the Metropolitan Police. Because of the success in community policing, today’s police agencies still base their ethics and policies around the nine Peelian Principles as listed below. The first Peelian Principle explains the basic mission of police existence; prevent crime and disorder. The concept of prevention of crime is to the alternative factor of control by legal punishment or military style force (Nazemi, 2012). Most individuals consider the consequences prior to committing a criminal act. The majority of the individuals who do make the decision to commit a crime are under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The second Peelian Principle explains the necessity of public approval and to maintain public respect in order for the police to have full capability to perform their duties (Nazemi, 2012). Society demands accountability of officers’ actions on and off duty. When Peel formed his principles, he had no idea of the drastic media exposure that would be present in today. The third Peelian Principle explains police must always recognize that to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public also means safeguarding the willing cooperation of the public in the task of security observance of the law. Legislation is responsible for creating and presenting laws that society accepts and votes into law. If laws are created unreasonable, the police would have a difficult time in maintaining law and order (Nazemi, 2012) . The fourth Peelian Principle is based on the fact of how police must always recognize the extent to which the cooperation of the public can be secured, diminishes, proportionately the necessity of the use of physical force and compulsion for achieving police objectives (Nazemi, 2012). The fourth principal is best related to the 1992 acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers on trial for the videotaped beating of King. When the verdict of the trial was made public, riots broke out in the city that led to numerous assaults, murders, arsons, and looting because of public disapproval. The fifth Peelian Principal is to and preserves the public favor. Public favor cannot be done by impartial service to the law but in independence of policy and procedures, without regard to the justice or injustice of individual laws (Nazemi, 2012). Ethical and moral obligations are important for every police department. Respect for law enforcement from a community and its local justice system is deriving from maintaining non-prejudice standards for all. The sixth Peelian principle explains the importance of physical force to only be used to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law and to only resort to when persuasion, warnings, or advice are found to be insufficient (Nazemi, 2012) . The public, media, and the courts scrutinize such action if the result is by death or severe injury used by police. The seventh Peelian Principle explains that police must maintain and secure a positive relationship with the public that gives  reality to the tradition, police are the public, and the public are the police (Nazemi, 2012). Officers are individual citizens of the community and have been given the opportunity and task to be trained and employed by the community, state, or federal government to uphold the laws, protect, and serve the public. The eighth Peelian Principle explains that police should always direct their actions strictly toward their functions and never appear to assume the powers of the judiciary (Nazemi, 2012). When a suspect is arrested for a crime, police are to conduct the investigation and protect the subject’s constitutional rights of innocent until proven guilty. Upon completion of the investigation, officers are responsible for presenting the facts and evidence to the proper judicial system. The ninth Peelian Principle explains that police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder in a community, not the visible actions of the police dealing with crimes and disorders (Nazemi, 2012) . The unlawful violation of writing minor traffic citations or disobedient ordnances under a quota system is directly a detriment to a community by not focusing on crime prevention. Peel’s principals are currently used by today’s city, state, federal, and worldwide law enforcement agencies to maintain concepts of professionalism and pride in a department and community (Larrabee, 2012). Deterring criminal acts can be accomplished by saturating a community with police presence such as patrol units, foot beat, and in some instances horse mounted police. When police presence is consistent throughout a community, the public is ensured by feelings of safety. If citizens believe they are secure and safe, there is no hesitation or intimidation to contact law enforcement when a crime is occurring or has been committed. References: FBI. (2011). Perspective Peelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s legacy. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/december-2011/perspective Larrabee, A.K. (2012). Law enforcement: Sir Robert Peel’s concept of community policing in today’s society. Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/law-enforcement-sir-robert-peels-concept-community-638595.html?cat=17 Nazemi, S. (2012). Sir Robert Peel’s nine principals of policing. Retrieved from http://www.lacp.org/2009-Articles-Main/062609-Peels9Principals-SandyNazemi.htm

Fasting, Feasting Style Essay

Point of View The novel is written in the third person limited point of view. This means that the author tells the story from an objective position, as if viewing the story’s events without benefit of any thoughts or feelings coming directly from the individual characters. The author presents the chain of events in the story and then interjects what the characters may be thinking or experiencing based on their reactions, facial expression, and tone of voice. This point of view is especially pertinent for the content of the novel, which revolves around the issue of repression, especially for the female characters. The women are not allowed authentic voices in their homes or their societies. So the author restricts what the reader can know to mimic the repression experienced by the characters. Genre A speedy, intense narrative switching point of view and tense as needed. There are many unheralded transitions from scene to scene and flashback (15-63) is used to excellent effect. Threads of the story are left unfinished only to be taken up again later in the novel and given a deeper significance (see Anamika’s or Aruna’s story). General Vision or Viewpoint Think well about this question from a couple of standpoints. It might be easy to dismiss Uma’s world as oppressive to women and to the servant underclass and to decide that life could not be a fulfilled experience in such circumstances. You might think that Uma’s life is a tragic injustice; that she is used and misused by a patriarchal family and society. You might see Arun as a narrow-minded, judgemental outsider unable to adjust to a culture different to his own and whose life is quite unfulfilled. But this might be to miss the humour and love that is invested in daily living. In India people have a warmth and a variety to their lives that is enviable. 1. Read these notes taken from different sources on the web. Do you agree with what they say? Does the point of view used by Desai make you sympathise with a certain character? Explain the use of point of view and provide quotations to support your ideas. Themes Family Life Although the novel has action in two separate countries and has many characters, there is the central theme of family life that unites them all. In India, the immediate family has great importance; but the extended family also has an impact on the characters’ lives. This is evidenced by the coming together of family members for securing bridegrooms and making wedding arrangements for Uma and Aruna. There is also huge family support and involvement related to times of sorrow, such as the coming together after the death of Anamika. The rituals for both these happy and sad occasions are marked with tradition and purpose. These elements seem to be sorely lacking in the Patton household in America. It is understood that the time period of Arun’s stay with the Pattons encompasses only three months and does not represent a comprehensive look at the Patton family. Themes and issues Suffering Human suffering is depicted frequently in both parts of the novel. Uma is made to suffer by her parents and men who take advantage of her. The unusual thing about her is her response to this suffering. She seems to maintain optimism throughout her ordeals. Anamika’s terrible life and the abuse she suffers may illuminate your discussion of suffering as would the plight of Melanie who suffers mental illness and bulimia and is a sad example of American youth. Loneliness The plight of Arun in America will yield many examples of loneliness as will Uma herself who despite her large extended family keeping her busy she seems quite isolated. Loyalty/Betrayal  You might advance the notion that Uma and Anamika are betrayed by their parents in that they treat them very badly when it comes to marriage and relationships. Both girls are seen as burdens to be disposed of and you could say they were betrayed. Similarly, Melanie’s plight is so ignored by her mother that the word betrayal might not be too strong. 2. Can you think of other themes in the novel? Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. Provide quotations to justify your choice. 3Example of an analysis of passages Do you agree with him? Can you find more examples of how Desai uses X to  create Y ? Now analyse the following passage. 4 Questions 5. Poetry Pied Beauty Gerard Manley Hopkins Follow this link: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gerard-manley-hopkins 1. Listen to the poem and read it at least twice. Hopkins was born in 1844, and died just 45 years later, in 1889, but in this relatively short life he wrote some of the most startling and original poetry of the whole 19th Century. He was a deeply intellectual and religious man, and became a Jesuit priest in 1877, the same year in which he wrote ‘Pied Beauty’. Throughout his life Hopkins was deeply fond of the countryside and its beauty, in which he could see the work and power of God. In ‘Pied Beauty’ he expresses his delight and astonishment at the sheer diversity of nature. What do the things Hopkins describes have in common? How does Hopkins celebrate diversity? How does the image of the chestnut link the physical with the spiritual world? How is the human world linked to the physical world in the poem? How are both the physical and the human world linked to God? Comment on the following compound nouns /verbs: ‘couple-colour’, ‘fresh-firecoal’, fathers-forth’. Comment on the use of sound in the poem and the effect it creates. Comment on the rhythm (metre) of the poem N.B. it is irregular). How does it contribute to its meaning? Annotate the rhyme scheme. What comments can you make on its effect? The poem begins and ends in a symmetrical way. Why? What is the effect of the short final line? In what way are the first and second parts of the poem the reverse of each other? What is the effect of delaying the verb ‘fathers-forth’ to the beginning of the penultimate line? Examination Question: How does this poem seek to convey the ‘glory’ and grandeur of God for Hopkins? After reading the poem, write in paragraphs a summary of what you think the poem is about and your analysis of it. You can work in groups (not more than four in each group) and hand in your work to Carolina, please. What does Curnow’s reading of his poem adds to your appreciation of it? 2. Read the following which will help you to analyse the poem. Entrapments at Home and Abroad in Anita Desai’s Fasting, Feasting T. Ravichandran Assistant Professor of English, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Kanpur Anita Desai’s Fasting, Feasting, as it is implied in the title itself, is a novel of contrast between two cultures, the one, Indian, known for its pious and longstanding customs representing ‘fasting,’ and the other, American, a country of opulence and sumptuousness epitomising ‘feasting.’ The plot unveils through the perceptions of Uma, in India, and of Arun, in America. Both of them are entrapped, irrespective of the culture and enveloping milieu, by oppressive bonds exercised by their own parents, MamaPapa. They are just MamaPapa or PapaMama but remain nameless throughout the novel. Yet, this namelessness does not indicate their anonymity but signifies their universality. They are the prototypical parents found everywhere in the middle-class families of India, who discuss, plan, plot, control, govern the activities of their children, be it marriage or going abroad for studies. And in their over-domineering concern, they tend to ignore the inadverte nt possibility of entrapping their own offspring. Thus, they do not give contingency to the fact that perhaps their children too can have a life to call their own. May be even their own preoccupations, their own priorities, maybe an agenda for themselves that goes beyond what they actually want for their children. The novel beings with a snapshot of MamaPapa in a contemplative mood: â€Å"The parents sit, rhythmically swinging, back and forth. They could be asleep, dozing—their eyes are hooded—but sometimes they speak.† That is when a sudden deluge of ideas hit them and they order their eldest daughter, Uma, to carry out them without delay. Uma is asked first to inform the cook to prepare sweets for her father, with neglectful impatience she states that she has been already asked to pack a parcel to be sent to her brother, Arun, in America. While she comes literally running on her toes, she is entrusted with an additional job of writing a letter to their son. Somewhere in the middle of the novel, the reader understands that it is the usual scene that goes on in the household of MamaPapa. â€Å"All morning MamaPapa have found things for Uma to do. It is as if Papa’s retirement is to be spent in this manner—sitting on the red swing in the veranda with Mama, rocking, and finding ways to keep Uma occupied. As long as they can do that, they themselves feel busy and occupied† (133). In th is manner, living under the demanding rule of MamaPapa, Uma is repressed, suppressed and is imprisoned at home. The first part of the novel tells us in a flashback how she became a reluctant victim of entrapment at home. The second part of the novel shows how her brother Arun, who leaves his home for higher studies feels trapped by the very education that is meant to liberate him. Usually, at home, it would be an oppressive atmosphere even if one of the parents is overpowering. With regard to Uma, both of her parents appear to have merged into a single identity MamaPapa/PapaMama, as if they have a â€Å"Siamese twin existence†(6). Hence, whenever MamaPapa say something, and whoever says it, it comes with double the intensity and power that it cannot be defied at all. â€Å"Having fused into one, they had gained so much in substance, in stature, in authority, that they loomed large enough as it was; they did not need separate histories and backgrounds to make them even more immense†(6). Despite a slight variation in the roles they have chosen to play, Papa’s of â€Å"scowling† and â€Å"Mama’s scolding†(10), in terms of opinion, they never differed from each other. Therefore, if one refused there would not be any â€Å"point in appealing to the other parent for a different verdict: none was expected, or given†(14 ). Furthermore, the women are not allowed for outings usually, but when Papa feels that the women laze around the house too much, then they would be taken to the park for walk. On one such occasion, Uma gets easily distracted and fails to keep pace with her Papa. Though Papa is far away, and she is left in the company of Mama, she would not dare attempt  to buy some eatables on her wish though it is highly tempting: â€Å"Uma finds saliva gathering at the corners of her mouth at the smell of the spiced, roasted gram but decides to say nothing† (12-13). In the end, Uma is blamed for being â€Å"slow† when all the while Uma could not reconcile herself as why they are hurrying just to go back home. Likewise, the children are not allowed to have any sense of privacy even when they have grown-up. They are not allowed to shut any doors in the household. For this meant secrets, especially nasty secrets, which are impermissible: â€Å"It meant authority would come stalking in and make a search to seize upon the nastiness, the unclean blot†(15). MamaPapa also decide which of their children should have education and how much of it. As far as Uma is concerned, a pleasant escape from her claustrophobic conditions at home is her school-going. The convent school for her is â€Å"streaked with golden promise†(20). Hence, she always goes early to the school and later finds some excuse to linger there for longer time. Conversely, she feels deprived during dull weekends when she is left at home: â€Å"There were the wretched weekends when she was plucked back into the trivialities of her home, which seemed a denial, a negation of life as it ought to be, somber and splendid, and then the endless summer vacation when the heat reduced even that pointless existence to further vacuity†(21). Regardless of Uma’s verve for convent education, she is forced to stop going to school when Mama gives birth to the third baby, Arun. Even as Uma shows disagreement, she is coaxed, cajoled and finally threatened to accept her Mamaà ¢â‚¬â„¢s decision: ‘But ayah can do this—ayah can do that—’ Uma tried to protest when the orders began to come thick and fast. This made Mama look stern again. ‘You know we can’t leave the baby to the servant,’ she said severely. ‘He needs proper attention.’ When Uma pointed out that ayah had looked after her and Aruna as babies, Mama’s expression made it clear it was quite a different matter now, and she repeated threateningly: ‘Proper attention’ (31). Later, Uma looks forward towards her marriage to give her the much-needed relief, yet, unfortunately, she returns home frustrated after a deceitful marriage and subsequent divorce. Back at home, she gets a rare, job offer  through Dr. Dutt, but MamaPapa refuse to send her. When Dr. Dutt persists on taking Uma for the job, Mama lies of an illness for which she needs Uma to nurse her. In like manner, when Uma receives an invitation for a coffee party from Mrs. O’Henry, MamaPapa refuse to send her to the party because of the apprehension that Mrs. O’Henry might ensnare her and convert her into a Christian nun. Reduced thus to a baby-sitter at her earlier days and an unpaid servant for her self-centred parents for the rest of her life, Uma finds no escape from her entrapment. Uma experiences, however, a brief repose of happiness and freedom once when she is allowed to accompany her ailing aunt, Mira-Masi, on her pilgrimage. During her stay at night in an ashram, Uma finds a strange link of her life with the barks and howls of the dogs: At night she lay quietly on her mat, listening to the ashram dog bark. Then other dogs in distant villages, out along the river bed and over in the pampas grass, or in wayside shacks and hovels by the highway—barked back. They howled long messages to each other. Their messages traveled back and forth through the night darkness which was total, absolute. Gradually the barks sank into it and drowned. Then it was silent. That was what Uma felt her own life to have been—full of barks, howls, messages, and now—silence (61). At this juncture, one is reminded of Anita Desai’s characteristic way of making her internally turbulent protagonists find expression by association with external surroundings. Thus, for instance, in Cry, the Peacock, Maya’s feelings of isolation and longings are coupled with those of the crying of the peacocks. Still, one locates a kind of sublimity in the agonised inner cry of Maya when it is likened with peacocks. When Uma’s pain is related to the barks and howls of dogs, the poetry of Maya’s anguish is to be seen in sharp contrast to that of the excruciating poverty of Uma’s entrapment. Catering to the whims and fancies of MamaPapa, but keeping her remorse selfcontained, at one point of the novel, Uma feels utterly friendless and alone, even when she is at home and surrounded by her MamaPapa. In desperation, she thinks of writing a letter to a friend to share her grief but it only ends up with the realisation that she has none to confide with: She could write a letter to a friend—a private message of despair, dissatisfaction, yearning; she has a packet of notepaper, pale violet with a pink rose embossed in the corner—but who is the friend? Mrs. Joshi? But since she lives next door, she would be surprised. Aruna? But Aruna would pay no attention, she is too busy. Cousin Ramu? Where was he? Had his farm swallowed him up? And Anamika—had marriage devoured her? (134). However, it would be wrong to presuppose that Anita Desai shows Uma’s unattractiveness, clumsiness and dullness of mind as causes for her entrapment. Uma’s polar opposite, her graceful, beautiful and brilliant cousin, Anamika’s confinement is more poignant. While Uma’s failure in her school exams pressurises her to stay at home, Anamika does so excellently in her final school exams, that she wins a scholarship to Oxford. Yet, Anamika lives in a patriarchal society that considers higher education to be the prerogative of males, and marriage as the major preoccupation of females. The scholarship obtained is used only as a means to win her a husband who is considered an equal to the family’s prestige. Anamika’s parents are unperturbed by the fact that he is so much older than her, so grim-faced and conscious of his own superiority, and is â€Å"totally impervious to Anamika’s beauty and grace and distinction† (70). But it is Anamik a, who starts another life of entrapment the moment she enters her in-laws’ house. Anamika’s husband is a typical ‘Mama’s boy’ to the extent he could be a silent witness to his mother’s beating of his wife regularly. Anamika, who won a scholarship to Oxford, spends her entire time in the kitchen cooking for a very large family that eats in shifts—â€Å"first the men, then the children, finally the women† (70). After a miscarriage, which followed a brutal beating, and the belief that she could not bear more children, finally, the family ties her up in a nylon saree, pours the kerosene over her, and burns her to death. Here again Desai is not implying that the un-burnt brides and the well-settled ones may live a content life. In this regard, she portrays the story of Aruna, Uma’s smart and pretty younger sister who makes a discreet choice and marries â€Å"the wisest, †¦ the handsomest, the richest, the most exciting of the suitors who presented themselves†(101). Aruna’s marriage to Arvind who has a job in Bombay and a flat in a housing block in Juhu, facing the beach is just a like a  dream-come-true. Yet to live that dream-life fully she transforms hersel f and desperately seeks to introduce change in the lives of others. She cuts her hair, takes her make-up kit wherever she goes, and calls her sister and mother as ‘villagers’ once they refuse to accept her sophisticated and flashy style of life. For that reason, she avoids visiting her parents’ home and the rare occasions of her short visits are spent in blaming the untidiness of the surrounding and the inhabitants. Even she goes to the extent of scolding her husband when he splits tea in his saucer, or wears a shirt, which does not match, with his trousers. In this way, Aruna’s entrapment is different from the rest. She has liberated herself from the customs and dominating home rules that bind the rest of the characters like Uma and Anamika. Yet, in negating those codes, she ensnares herself in her mad pursuit towards a vision of perfection. And in order to reach that perfection she needs to constantly uncover and rectify the flaws of her own family as well as of Arvind’s. When none other than Uma sees through the entrapment of Aruna, she feels pity for her: Seeing Aruna vexed to the point of tears because the cook’s pudding had sunk and spread instead of remaining upright and solid, or because Arvind had come to dinner in his bedroom slippers, or Papa was wearing a t-shirt with a hole under one arm, Uma felt pity for her: was this the realm of ease and comfort for which Ar una had always pined and that some might say she had attained? Certainly it brought her no pleasure: there was always a crease of discontent between her eyebrows and an agitation that made her eyelids flutter, disturbing Uma who noticed it (109). While Uma, Anamika, Aruna present the female versions of entrapment in Fasting, Feasting, Arun pictures the male version of it. Unlike his sisters, right from his birth, Arun desists eating the food of his family which is symbolic of its values. Much to the dismay of his father, he shows his preference for vegetarian food. Simply because it revolutionised the life-style of his father, Arun can not be forced to eat non-vegetarian food. This, of course, is a cause of disappointment for Papa: Papa was always scornful of those of their relatives who came to visit and insisted on clinging to their cereal-and vegetable-eating ways, shying away from the meat dishes Papa insisted on having cooked for dinner. Now his own son, his  one son, displayed this completely baffling desire to return to the ways of his forefathers, meek and puny men who had got nowhere in life. Papa was deeply vexed (32- 33). Nonetheless, Arun cannot fully come out of the clutches of Papa, especially, in terms of his education. And ironic enough, it is education, which instead of offering the desired autonomy, paves way for Arun’s entrapment. Papa, in order to give â€Å"the best, the most, the highest† (119) education for his son, takes charge of Arun’s life from his childhood. Although Arun’s school examinations are over, Papa cannot allow him to go to his sister’s house in Bombay during holidays, since he has planned that time for taking up entrance examinations and preparation for sending applications to go abroad for ‘higher studies’. However, in the eyes of Aruna, her father’s manic determination to get a foreign scholarship for Arun, is actually on account of his unfulfilled dreams, which he tries to impose on his son. That is why, when the letter of acceptance from Massachusetts finally arrives, it stirs no emotions in Arun: Uma watched Arun too, when he read the fateful letter. She watched and searched for an expression, of relief, of joy, doubt, fear, anything at all. But there was none†¦. There was nothing else—not the hint of a smile, frown, laugh or anything: these had been ground down till they had disappeared. This blank face now stared at the letter and faced another phase of his existence arranged for him by Papa (121). As a reviewer rightly observes, â€Å"With a deft touch, Desai shows us that MamaPapa’s ambitions for Arun are as stifling as their lack of ambition for Uma, †¦.† From America, Arun’s letters come just to indicate his endurance and survival. His messages are diluted, and are devoid of any emotion and substance. â€Å"The most personal note he struck was a poignant, frequently repeated complaint: ‘The food is not very good’† (123). The ties, though invisible, are so overwhelming that even in a country that feasts on individuality, Arun fails to manifest his identity as an individual. Caught in the prison house of his own family’s food habits, he can neither nourish the alien food nor develop a sense of belonging with Patton’s family that  shelters him during his vacation. The smell of the raw meat being charred over the fire by Mr. Patton for steak or hamburger is loathsome for Arun. Conversely, Mr. Patton fails to understa nd why Arun really refuses to eat a good piece of meat. While Mrs. Patton symphathises with Arun, and gives him the vegetarian food items, particularly tomato slices and lettuce on bread, Arun finds them detestable too. Because he thinks that â€Å"in his time in America he has developed a hearty abhorrence for the raw foods everyone here thinks the natural diet of a vegetarian† (167). Hence when Mrs. Patton, quite satisfied with her job of a host, watches him eating with pride and complicity, Arun ate with an expression of woe and a sense of mistreatment. How was he to tell Mrs. Patton that these were not the foods that figured in his culture? That his digestive system did not know how to turn them into nourishment? (184-185). Where Mrs. Patton’s daughter, Melanie, bluntly says she finds the food revolting, and refuses to taste it, Arun has to helplessly eat it. Melanie, however, suffers from bulimia—a disorder in which overeating alternates with self-induced vomiting, fasting, etc. Her bulimia, along with her mother ’s frenzy for buying food items to fill the freezer, signifies the consumerist society that she hails from, where excess becomes the malady. This seen in contrast to Rod, the fitness fanatic, who spends all his time and energy in jogging, baffles Arun who wonders that â€Å"one can’t tell what is more dangerous in this country, the pursuit of health or of sickness†(204-205). He apprehends that like Melanie, who eats, vomits and lies on her vomit most of the time, the people of her country too, go through an inexplicable pain and a real hunger. Yet he cannot reconcile his mind to the unanswerable question: â€Å"But what hunger a person so sated can feel?†(224). Anita Desai, in portraying the stories of entrapment in Fasting, Feasting, presents one version after another; each contributing together to a master version, and each simultaneously subverting the other towards an open and contingent version. Accordingly, in the story of Uma, we find her unattractiveness leading to her eventual entrapment. Yet, if we pass a final verdict on this account, we would be proved erroneous since Desai presents the versions of Aruna and Anamika, Uma’s appealing sister and charming cousin, respectively. Beauty cannot offer them escape from entrapments; in truth, it is rather their good looks that victimise them. Further, if we think again that it is Uma†™s lack of  education that has led to her entrapped situation, Desai presents us the subversion of Anamika, where foreign scholarship fetches her an equal match but fails to provide her the required escape, it suffocates and kills her literally. In like manner, if as Uma thinks, â€Å"A CAREER. Leaving home. Living alone† (130) would bring in the necessary freedom from entrapment, Desai presents us the story of Arun, who leaves home, lives alone for a career but feels the pangs of entrapment despite it. Also, in providing a male version through the story of Arun’s entrapment, Desai negates any feministic verdict based on the other female versions of entrapment that is likely to put the blame on the patriarchal, male-centred society. Thus, Anita Desai, often described as one of the finest writers of this country, has moved from her earlier, typical way of sympathising with her characters, females especially, to a different level of sensibility now. Where it would be easy to presuppose her overt feministic concerns in a novel like Cry, the Peacock, it would be unwise to approach her Fasting, Feasting with any such preconceived notions. Desai herself speaks out in a recent interview that she has been deliberately shifting her focus from female characters to male characters. She rather feels she needs to address and voice out themes which concern males too. She says: â€Å"Specially in my earlier work I found myself addressing the same things over and over again: very much about the life of women, specially those women who are confined to home and family, also the solitude from which a person can suffer even if living within a big family or surrounded by crowds. But after several years and several books I began to feel suffocated myself by the confinement of these subjects. I felt I was limiting the territory to such an extent that it created a kind of suffocation even for me. So I deliberately opened the doors, to widen the canvas, and started writing more about male characters and their lives, because I felt they had a wider experience of the world, and I could address a greater variety of experiences.† Finally, if we consider the male version represented by Arun and the female versions constituted by Uma, Anamika and Aruna as Indian versions, Desai offers American versions to counter them. The story, thus dangling between two countries and cultures shows to prove through the characters of Uma and Arun, and their counterparts Melanie and Rod, that attempts of escape from entrapments can only be temporary, illusory and self-destructively futile since entrapments through familial knots are ubiquitous, all encompassing and universal. And perhaps the salvation comes when one accepts entrapment of one kind or another envisioned as an inescapable fact of life. References 1Anita Desai, Fasting, Feasting (London: Vintage, 1999) 3. All subsequent page references are to this edition. 2Sylvia Brownrigg, â€Å"Fasting, Feasting† by Anita Desai. http://archive.salon.com/books/review/2000/02/17/desai/print.html. [9/15/2002]. Magda Costa, â€Å"Interview with Anita Desai, Lateral (March 2001). http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/users/sawweb/sawnet/books/desai_interview.html. [9/15/2002]. http://www.sawnet.org/books/writing/desai_interview.html