East of Eden: An Interpretation Essay

I. Cathy Ames – Cathy’s main motivation was her desperate and incessant need for money. This held true throughout most of the book; it was only at the very end of her life that she realized that she had been missing something her entire life. This is the reason she left everything that she had amassed to her youngest son, Aron. This act may have been a desperate attempt at making up for the love she was never privileged enough to have. Cathy viewed herself as someone who could outwit most anyone she met — especially men. There were a few of those who she feared because she felt like their eyes could see into every one of her thoughts and emotions. Samuel Hamilton was one of these people, and so she despised him. Whatever happened in Cathy at the end was responsible for her change in disposition. Her sudden â€Å"goodness† (if it can be called that) impelled her to leave everything she owned to Aron, her â€Å"good† son, and nothing to Cal, whom she felt was most like her in his devious personality and sinful motivation (from what she gathered of the few times they met). Cathy saw nothing good or honest in any part of humanity. Even the men who she served disgusted her. She surrounded herself with the slime of civilization, and was blinded to everyone and everything else. I don’t know that Cathy ever truly liked anybody but herself, and in the end the fact that she didn’t even like herself frankly scared her. All of her past misdeeds finally came back to haunt her. After swallowing her â€Å"Drink Me,† she finally ceased to be, and in her mind, never was; and that was the way she wanted it. Samuel Hamilton – Samuel Hamilton was a family man. He valued spending time with his family and found that even more important than making money. Even though he always complained about his extremely unprofitable and barren ranch, he made a lifetime of happy memories there and found it very hard to leave when he and Lisa moved to Salinas. Samuel had a persistency about him. Nothing could ever wear him down, except of course, old age in the end. But no matter the number of failed inventions or patents that didn’t work out, he was always working on another one of his ideas. Samuel was loved throughout the entire county; everybody was his friend. He had one of those insightful and humorous personalities that everybody liked. Samuel loved life and ached for what each new day would bring. Although not as devout as Lisa in her views about religion and what is sinful, Samuel was a good, moral person who enjoyed life very much. Samuel saw himself as nothing more than any other man he had ever met. He was constantly giving and doing his part to improve society as a whole. He cared for nearly everyone and everything. For his children, Samuel wanted nothing but success and greatness, but at the same time he wondered if it were a selfish and sinful thing to want greatness for his children, knowing that it would be a hard and lonely path. Perhaps this is the reason Samuel himself was so content with his own financial status. He was never alone, and always had the pleasure of family near. Samuel Hamilton died a rich man – surrounded by friends and family. Caleb Trask – Cal wanted desperately to be liked and loved the way Aron was. He loved his brother, but at the same time envied him to no end. It was his jealousy that drove Cal to do the mean things he did to his brother, but these cruel tactics were no relief from his inner strife. Afterward, Cal always beat himself up emotionally for wanting to hurt his brother. Cal was very smart and clever (like his mother I suppose) and emotionally strong, but he longed to be loved, especially by his father, Adam. Cal was once desperate enough to try to â€Å"buy† his fathers love (as Will Hamilton had asked quite frankly) with $15,000. After Cal found out the truth about Cathy, what she had done to his father, and that she made a living as a whore, he felt like it was his responsibility to help protect Adam. His whole life, Cal never felt that Adam liked him very much, the way he loved Aron. It was when Cal saw his mother up close that he realized why his father loved Aron so much more than him; Aron looked like Cathy, whom Cal knew Adam still hopelessly loved. Cal always referred to himself as being â€Å"bad,† by thinking bad thoughts and doing bad things. He also always confided in Lee that he longed to be good, like Aron. That’s all he wanted. But, unfortunately, he despised himself. He hated himself so much that Lee suspected he enjoyed wallowing in his self-pity. It was his only protection from the outside world; a world that Cal was sure would reject him for his brother, Aron. Aron Trask – Aron was steadfast in his morality and was disgusted by the filth of society, very much like his mother. But unlike Cathy, Aron would not have surrounded himself with anyone or anything against his beliefs. Aron’s brother, Cal could be described as Aron’s opposite. He was so much stronger than Aron in every way except maybe physically. Cal accepted things as they were, and suffered through them, as awful as the circumstances may have been. On the other hand, Aron, as Abra suggested, tore up reality for his own picture of how the world should be, and if that picture should become impure, his whole world would come crashing down around him. In the beginning, Aron lived for the goodness in life, and so, naturally, he built his mother (whom he had never known) to be the most beautiful, kind, pure woman in the world. I don’t think his vision ever left him given his reaction when he discovered the truth. In the second half of his life, Aron was driven by his love for Abra. But it wasn’t really Abra that he loved. It was a completely pure and moral being wearing Abra’s skin and beauty. Nevertheless, it was this vision of Abra that got him through all of his hard times at school, and what he lived for at home. After Adam rejected Cal at Thanksgiving, Cal took his anger and frustration out on his brother in the cruelest way he could imagine. Cal showed Cathy to Aron and he learned the truth; his mother was a whore, the most undignified thing a woman was capable of being. Aron’s picture of life was altered dramatically, and he couldn’t handle it. He had viewed himself as good and clean and moral. His life was destroyed in his mind and he would always feel impure and dirty. Aron enlisted in the Army and ultimately got himself killed. Lee – Lee was a very wise intellectual. What motivated Lee through life was unclear. It had to have been his dreams that he often talked about and longed to accomplish. But what about after he had no dreams left? He had even said that after trying out life in his San Francisco bookstore that he had no more dreams left. From then on, Lee’s main motivation must have been his love for the Trask family. It’s obvious that he loved the boys very much and felt as though the Trasks were part of his own family. Lee was very smart and clever. He valued the goodness in man, and found ignorance annoying, but very plentiful in society. He always craved a good debate or intelligent conversation. He always liked talking with Samuel Hamilton because he could provide this. Their long talks about the story of Cain and Abel excited Lee, because they always left him pondering, and wanting more. It was obvious that Lee enjoyed learning, and examining complex situations very much. Throughout all of East of Eden, it was Lee that offered the best advice; perhaps because he dissected each situation thoroughly enough to see what needed to be done. Lee also accepted whatever life threw his way, but dealt with it intelligently and the best way he knew how. Lee was well liked, for a â€Å"chink.† He respected those that gave him respect. By the end of the book, he had grown very attached to Abra, who spent a lot of her time at the Trask place talking to Lee. In the very end, I think it was his need to see Cal and Aron (who eventually died) succeed in their own ways. This is why he stuck up for Cal to Adam on his deathbed; and, of course, Adam’s answer, â€Å"Timshel,† was the finest answer he could have given. Charles Trask – Charles felt as though he was second best to his brother, Adam his entire life. He always felt that it was Adam who Cyrus, their father, loved more. I suppose Charles is a lot like Caleb Trask in that way. Charles had an abusive and violent temper when he was a teen, and at one time even tried to kill Adam. Charles loved his father, and just wanted his respect, but Cyrus moved away after sending Adam into the Army. And so, Charles was left alone on his farm to make his own living. I don’t think Charles was ever happy with his life. He was always depressed because of his loneliness whenever Adam was away, and they didn’t get along for any length of time when they were together. He refused to sell the ranch whenever Adam suggested it, because it would be a waste in his mind. Charles was stubborn and insisted on spending no money on himself and was determined to stay where he was. Charles probably felt inferior to his brother, because of their father’s favoritism toward Adam, but Charles always knew he could win in a fistfight. Charles intimidated most of the people in town because of his size and strength. In that way, I suppose, he probably felt superior to everyone else, especially after Cyrus, his father died and left him and Adam a sum of more than $93,000 to split. After Adam left with his share, Charles was the wealthiest farmer in the area and the most respected. Charles knew how to do one thing well: farm. He lived for farming, and he did it until the day he died. He made a considerable amount of money in his lifetime too, but never got around to enjoying it. Charles was a loner. He didn’t have any close friends, and as far as we know was only married for a short time while Adam was in the Army. Other than that he was a homebody, and didn’t socialize much (except for his late night excursions to the local inn). He died never seeing any other part of the country, never living in any other house, never doing anything other than that which he had been doing his entire life. And while it never made him happy, it seemed to be enough for him. Adam Trask – Adam was mistreated throughout most of his childhood by his father and brother. All Adam wanted was to be happy, in his own way. He didn’t want to live under the pressure of his father, always competing with his brother. He didn’t want to go into the Army, and he didn’t want to go back to the farm in Connecticut. I think Adam lived for the happiness that the next day would bring, not knowing what it would be, or from where it would come. That’s how he got through the first half of his life, and that’s how he came upon Cathy and how the second half began. Adam lived for Cathy Ames and would have done anything for her. Like Steinbeck described, his first year with Cathy was the first time Adam really felt alive. She was his world. When she left, not even the twin boys she left behind were enough to keep Adam going. And so, he fell into a deep depression, melancholy for nearly eleven years. Secretly, during that time, I think he believed that Cathy would see the error of her ways and come back to him. I don’t think he ever really accepted her leaving him. Nevertheless, he was the father of two boys, and eventually came around to caring for their best interests. He moved them to Salinas and enrolled them in school. He was open to the idea of Aron even going to college, which he finally did. Adam always seemed a little scatterbrained; he was always prone to getting into situations a little over his head. He wasn’t very sensible in some of his endeavors (the nice farm he bought, but never capitalized on, the marriage that was doomed to begin with, the lettuce that never made it across the country), but he was as honest as a man could be. He was very friendly and was open to anyone and everyone being his friend if they so wished. He became popular in Salinas (except for the incident with the lettuce) very quickly. Adam didn’t read people very well though. He understood his own emotions, but when it came time to be responsible for his sons, he had a hard time; it was Lee that actually raised Cal and Aron for the first decade of their lives. Adam never pitied himself; he simply resigned himself to the fact that he was raised by a father he didn’t love, a woman he didn’t know, and a violent brother whom he feared. But Adam grew to be a fine man, and at the end, a good father; one his children could respect. Abra – Abra was an average teen girl who viewed life, in the beginning when we were first introduced to her, as a game. She wanted so much to be an adult, and to raise a family. She pretended to be Aron’s mother to him more than once in the story, as an example of her longing to raise a child. Abra fell in love with Aron at a very young age and stuck to her first love for most of her teen years. She wanted nothing but to raise a small family with the man with whom she was in love. But as the situation became more complicated between her and Aron, their relationship suffered, possibly without his complete understanding. When Aron finally left for Stanford, after deciding to become a priest, Abra ended up spending a lot of time at the Trask house, and finding herself getting very close to Lee and Adam, more so than her own parents. It was during this time, with Aron gone, that she discovered that she really didn’t love Aron any more. Aron had transformed her (or wanted to anyway) into something she wasn’t and never could be. While she realized this, her confusion about her conflicting feelings (for she still liked Aron, and wasn’t 100% certain what she wanted) wouldn’t allow her to break up with him. It wasn’t until after Aron enlisted in the Army that she was sure she didn’t want to be with him. Abra was a smart girl, who enjoyed many talks with her new friend Lee. She didn’t feel that she was somehow better than anyone, but at the same time, she didn’t feel any lower than anyone either. She fit in nicely with society, but was much brighter and wiser than most. Eventually she got together with Caleb, and I believe that those two together would have ended up very happy. Cal wouldn’t have expected Abra to be anything more than what she was, and could be happy with that. Abra saw Cal as a flawed individual, and found him to be very much like herself (she even compared their parents faults), especially after the close scrutiny she was under whenever Aron was around. II. Steinbeck’s central message in the book is the seemingly endless struggle between good and evil in all of us, and the fated consequences of the choices we make. Those who felt the evil inside themselves felt that their fates were predestined and unavoidable (especially Cal who knew of his mother and could feel her blood flowing through his veins). This reveals the importance of â€Å"Timshel† in the end of the book to Caleb as he gets a chance at redemption by being able to choose his own fate. Caleb had the gift (or enlightenment) of â€Å"Timshel† bestowed upon him by his father. â€Å"Timshel† or â€Å"thou mayest† was the key to freeing Caleb from his self-torture and releasing him from what he felt was a fated path to hell. Because of â€Å"Timshel,† Cal had a chance to make up for what he had done wrong because he knew that he wasn’t evil, and he knew he didn’t want to be evil, and with this inspiration he wouldn’t be evil. III. As a theme I see the basic story of Cain and Abel reinvent itself within the Trask family generation after generation. It was interesting because all the characters whose name began with the letter â€Å"A† represented the good and benevolent son to Adam and Eve that is Abel. Examples of these are Adam, Aron, and Abra. And likewise, the characters whose name began with the letter â€Å"C† represented Abel’s jealous and flawed brother, Cain. These examples include Charles, Cathy, and Caleb. Charles had become jealous at the fact that his father got more pleasure out of Adam’s gift than out of his own, and in a rage, tried to kill his brother. This was the first story line that followed that of Cain and Abel. The second would come later when Cal was rejected by Adam on thanksgiving and betrayed his brother in a way that ultimately got Aron killed. This was the second story line that followed that of Cain and Abel. As a sub-message in the book I saw that it was the dishonorably acquired money that indirectly brought about the downfall of all of characters, hinting at the evils of destruction for which money is responsible. The specific examples that came to mind were Cyrus, who stole from the GAR; Charles, who began his fortune of the stolen money that his father left him; Cathy, who had amassed her fortune whoring; and Aron who was left the money Cathy made. Caleb came near destruction, but he found that burning the money his father had refused helped relieve him from his self-pity and a likely demise. The only character who seemed untouched by the evils that came with the dollar was Adam. Adam squandered a lot of the money his father left him on an idea of his. This bad investment left him not rich any more. His money never had the chance to destroy him because he never found it valuable enough to cherish. In turning his son down on the money that was offered to him, Adam in a sense freed himself from the evils that came along with it. Likewise, Samuel and Lisa Hamilton lived very long and happy lives not having a dime to their name. IV. There are many ideas and images that I see repeated throughout the book. As a list see the presence of the evil that money represents; the story of Cain and Abel reinventing itself through each of the generations of the Trask family; the cruelties perpetrated by characters whose names begin with C (Charles, Cathy, and Caleb) to the characters whose names begin with A (Adam, Aron, and Abra); the honest confusion and moralistic uncertainty of all of the characters whose names begin with the letter A; war that always negatively affects the lives of everyone; the good ideas that always came to Sam Hamilton and Adam Trask (but mostly Sam) that never turned out to be lucrative endeavors; the similar scars that Charles and Cathy shared that seemed to mark them as the devious people they were and condemn them to fall to their sins and evil doings. V. â€Å"Timshel,† or â€Å"thou mayest† in hebrew changed the outcome of, and possibly ended, the repeating Cain and Abel retellings. In the versions of the Bible that everyone in East of Eden had ever known, the story of Cain and Abel included a decree by God ordering Cain to overcome sin, while in another version, God promised that Cain would overcome sin. Both of these versions seemed to condemn sinners to their misdeeds without hope of redemption. However, Lee discovered that in the original hebrew text, the significant word in the conflicting sentence was actually â€Å"timshel,† or â€Å"thou mayest.† This, of course, would allow each individual to be in charge of his own moral destiny. It was Cal who mainly feared that the sins of his mother would come back to condemn him because he reasoned that the same blood flowed through his veins, but â€Å"timshel† would relieve this. The significant character blessed with this enlightenment was Cal. After Cal learned that Aron was dead, and knowing that it was his fault, he goes to his father where Lee speaks for him. Lee asks Adam to forgive his son and to free him from his sins. Adam’s response, â€Å"timshel,† symbolically freed Caleb as he was now free and in charge of his own destiny without having his past sins, or the sins of his parents holding him back. VI. Beginning with my dislikes, I disliked the chapters that seemed to slant away from the rest of the story; the chapters of Olive Hamilton especially. These chapters seemed to have no effect on the Hamiltons or the Trasks. I found them pointless, but I also may have missed an underlying reason for their place in the book. Regardless, I liked the book very much. I thought it was well-written and very well thought out. The action parts were the best, but it moved at an understandably slow pace to reveal every significant thing that happened, but moved fast enough to keep me, the reader, entertained. It shocks me how much research Steinbeck must have had to do simply to develop the concept for East of Eden, but I think his time was well spent. And it was obviously worth it, for now, almost 50 years later, it is still widely read. I thoroughly enjoyed the story.

Balancing Power

In today’s economic condition, work life equilibrium is considered one of the most imperative workplace issues. Work life balance refers to a satisfactory niche between many different roles in an individual’s life. But how to manage this balance to avoid conflict; this topic is discussed through many different aspects enlightened through personal experience. Work Life Balance Before taking any step towards knowing how to achieve work life balance, first we must gain an understanding about what work life balance actually refers to.It is about maintaining equilibrium between work and personal life, facing the multifarious demands in one’s life. The best equilibrium is different for each person because we all have different priorities in life. A young entrepreneur faces different challenges than a family man at the apex of his career. Work life balance involves two factors; Achievement and Enjoyment. Our life will be valuable and balanced when, in all the aspects of life, we are daily achieving success with all the joys of living! My Side of StoryBeing a young student struggling to manage good grades, working part time to support my education during this era of recession as well trying to give my family sufficient of my time as required, at many times I felt the misbalance in my life that is called work-life conflict. I felt unable to manage my time and was highly dissatisfied with my work and progress. Failing health and self esteem and disrupted routine was then a common state of affairs. I was new, hence obsessed with working hard to carve a niche for my career.In order to secure my grades I became overcommitted to my studies as well. I ended up drained every day, spending most of the time on the run†¦ from study to work, work to home and spending rest of the time sitting on computer. All I had once read and heard about work life complications was coming true in my life without my realizing it. It was not until when my parents had to h ave a ‘serious talk’ with me, that I realized where this chaos was leading me to. That instantly snapped me back; I set off to work on improving my standards. The informationIn order to balance one’s work life situation, you may need to look into four quadrants of your life- Friends, Family, Work and Self. Any disturbance in one of them because of the interference of another quadrant may cause work life conflict. Work life conflict must be removed in order to solve the problem and acquire balance. This information regarding the causes can be obtained by observation of daily life experiences and authentic researches conducted. According to the Business Week reports, Individuals who consider their work life balance better than others are likely to work 21% better than those who don’t.Moreover, a study shows people encounter work life conflict have 40% more chances of mood and anxiety disorders, (Kane, 2006); While employees having lower level of this conflic t experience increased job satisfaction. The Evaluation After gathering basic information, now I knew what I was missing and what I got to do. I loved my job, but without my natural energy boosters, I was unhappy and even feeling a bit guilty. My whole time revolved around my work and career, but I couldn’t make up for the very essential part of my life, that is my friends and family.From my newly gained knowledge, I deduced that a balanced approach at my level will be spending quality time with my friends and family that will have a positive physical and psychological impact on me. Moreover, I’ll be free of piled up responsibilities, procrastinated duties, and burden on my mental self, which will eventually also improve my progress in other quadrants of my life. I had to use it to devise such solutions that cancel out where I overdo, and give more space to those I neglected so a balance can be created. The SolutionAs I was already a student I opted for the greatest fa cility available today for work life balance concerned employees- Flexible timings, so that I can have more sense of control over my work. Dinner and meals would at no cost be skipped- they provide a quality time for whole family to be together. Also, sleeping schedules must be maintained, so there remain no health problems. Being present is the key word. No drifting away and being in two places at a time. On weekend there would be no computer, no emails, and no emergency calls from work!I could spend quality time with my family. I could contact my friends, go out and have some fun. Lastly, to spend some of my time on myself; a time to relax or do what pleases me. It’s a kind of meditation, hence keeps your mind calm and alert. Giving my study ample time and not burdening myself with more work than I could manage, was also essential. Conclusion The set of habits I formed as a solution for my work life problem, not only supports but emphasizes a sound balance between work and life activities.Back then I couldn’t see past my work; it still plays a principle part in my life, though it’s not my one and only concern anymore. This equilibrium I discovered open my eyes to worth of other things, that made not only my work, but my life much more gratifying. References Kane, S. (2006). Work Life Balance Strategies. Retrieved July 20, 2009 from http://legalcareers. about. com/od/careertrends/a/worklifebalance. htm Work-Life Balance. (2003). Work-Life Balance Defined- What it really means! Retrieved July 20, 2009 from http://www. worklifebalance. com/worklifebalancedefined. html

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Korean Literature - Essay Example cause the she-bear followed all the instructions of Hwanung, which involved eating sacred magworts, and being in the darkness for a period of a hundred days. The two are compared because the both developed human forms. The she-bear transformed into a woma, and also the Holy Hwanung changed into a human male. The two procreated, and the resulting son was referred to as Tangun Wangg’om. Korean shamanism entails the ancient religion and beliefs of the Korean society. In the ancient belief, the priest is referred to as the mudang if female and the baksu if he is male. The mudang has the main responsibility of being an intermediary between the gods and the people through rituals. The spiritual intermediaries also aim at solving problems that humans experience, in the course of their development. The central concept in the Korean Shamanistic practices entails the worship of Hwanin, also known as Haneullim. Hwanin is considered the source of the entire universe, which comprises all the beings and gods that exist in nature. The mu is traditionally illustrated as the descendants of the son of the heavenly king. This investiture is generally passed through the princely lineage. But, certain significant myths in the Korean Shamanistic beliefs connect the heritage of the ancient belief to Dangun. Dangun is considered as the male heir to the Heavenly King, also the initiator or the founder of the ancient Korean nation. Korean Shamanism is closely linked to; the Japanese Shinto, Siberian Mongolian, Chinese Wuism, and Manchurian beliefs. Anthropological studies illustrate that the ancient Korean god Dangun, has a lot of similarities to; the prince, the Ural-Altaic Tengri, and the shaman. Likewise, mudang is closely associated with Japanese miko and Ryukyuan yuta (Hogarth 117). The myth illustrates adequate relationship between the northern China and Korea, before the formation of the Han dynasty. Ancient Korea and Yen state illustrates adequate political influence of Old

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Journal - Assignment Example instance, in U.S.A Mendoza brings to light how the government passed laws that prohibit doctors from conducting partial birth abortion despite the dangers of dead fetus (Mendoza 625). Mendoza feels that more should be done to reduce miscarriages and abortion incidences and its consequences. She argues that doctors should be more learned in D &Es in removal of dead fetus from the womb without adding on their patients’ complications, which is through maiming respective organs or infections. In doing some research, seeking friends’ opinions and backing up her argument by citing information from CDC. Mendoza learns that more than 66,000 women in the US ought to encounter utter demoralizing and painful abortion experiences mostly between 13 to 20 weeks while other 4000 miscarry each year yet they do not get proper heath care and treatment (Mendoza 625). Mendoza has not deviated from original content where she talks about health and medicine as well as those we studied during last week. She backs up her argument from varied studies’ data like CDC, American Journal where she tells about complications and problems women go through on or before delivering. Hence she believes that women are at a greater risk of partial birth abortion (Mendoza 626). Therefore looking on how Mendoza has argued in this article, based on her personal experience and citing information from other sources she fits properly on other articles on health and medicine that I have read from the past few

Capital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Capital - Essay Example The results of the strategy are dependent of the performance of the companies. Basically, the concept of capital gearing is designed to provide competitive advantage and to provide long-term benefits to the consumers. Actually, the proposal of the board of directors appears to be right. Capital gearing is an instrument that tends to decrease the cost of capital. Simple computations will suggest that gearing is increased in three ways: increase in net assets, decrease net borrowings, and decrease shareholder funds. Cost of capital is reduced by minimising issuance of stocks and issuance of borrowings. In addition, not venturing to internal financing also maintains the level of capital cost. Theoretically, the proposal is sound because capital gearing will definitely decrease the value of capital. Basically, it will depend on the strategy of the firm on which item to concentrate. The notion provides an interesting subject that has to be analysed before the gearing is finally approved. Actually, the board of directors failed to notice an important component of the equation. The corporate tax was secluded for the computation. Thus, the calculation has to be corrected by inserting the missing part of the equation. The increase in gearing has resulted to a decrease total capital by 1%. Ignoring the importance of the corporate tax was crucial in the actual results. Despite of the minimal change in the results, the managers was still right in doubting the computations. The small change in the decrease in cost of capital was favourable for the company. The impact of the decrease will be observed in the benefits provided to all stakeholders, in particular the investors. Assuming that the cost of equity and cost of debt do not alter, estimate the effect of the share repurchase on the company's cost of capital and value. Basically, this method of gearing will have more substantial effects to the cost of capital. As mentioned, gearing is possible when the assets of the company are greater than the debts and equity. Share repurchase will definitely affect the cost of equity. Perhaps this notion contradicts to the earlier statement that the equity cost retains its value. Even with the repurchase shares, the cost of capital will not affected. In the previous discussion, it was mentioned that internal financing also promotes gearing. By doing such, the company can use its earnings to repurchase the share. Basically, the company will not resort into borrowings and will not use the available equity as means to do the repurchase. The internal investment will have similar effects to the company in terms of the reduction of capital cost and benefits gained. Although, it is

Hitlers Propaganda and Principles of Fascism Essay

Hitlers Propaganda and Principles of Fascism - Essay Example Fascism is the extreme dictatorial political ideology. It has several defining principles and characteristics. This study will mainly focus on Hitler’s use of nationalism, authoritarianism, and social solidarity. Nationalism aims at viewing a nation as of one single organic entity bonded together by the same ancestry as the natural unifying force. According to Zimmer, this force often manifests itself in a nation purification desire of all foreign influences resulting to racism as depicted in the Nazi rule of Germany. Fascism also supports social unity and collective national societies. The poster presented in Figure 1 will be used to analyze Hitler’s use of fascism to promote his rise to power during World War I (WWI). It was portrayed by the people that help themselves Winter Fund in 1933. It projects a genetically healthy family as the nucleus of the nation. The consequences of the Great Depression of early 1930’s negatively affected the economic and political environments of Germany causing them to collapse. This presented Adolf Hitler with a spanking political aptitude to develop and instill political power through taking advantage of the weakened political and economic systems. Hitler devised the use of his Nazi Party as the main tool of leading Germans into the mass movement. He hoped that the strategy, together with the combination of the popular support he enjoyed from the masses would thrust him to enjoy political power and authority. In Nazi Germany, Hitler introduced a campaign against food and hunger through the winter relief charity that operated under Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister.  

Mass Communications Essay Example for Free

Mass Communications Essay Advertisers have only one mission to achieve and that is to attract attention of possible buyers so that this attention can translate into the actual buying of a product or service. With this objective in mind, advertisers depend very much on projecting their advertisements that adhere to motivations and stimulus of their target market. When advertisers know what things catches a woman’s attention, they are sure to be able to communicate their other messages afterwards. For example, for products and services that target the women market, advertisers approach advertising activities on things that will make women stop, look and listen. For young adults, it would be handsome men, beautiful clothes and anything that is consistent with prevailing fads. Motivations for older women would be handsome men, anything for their families’ well being, anything to preserve youth and beauty. Besides physical points that advertisers use to lure attention, there are other factors that help advertisers reach more audiences and that is to project interesting and convincing topics such as cause oriented, value driven campaigns. Some products such as Body Shop advertise their support for women entrepreneurs worldwide. Products stamped with ‘organically grown’, ‘baby-friendly’ or ‘smoke-free’ attract women who are health and family oriented. Some advertisements such as beauty products get prominent doctors to endorse their products and this adheres to the safety issues that their women market is privy of. Three ads that catch my appeal are Body Shop, Apple Macbook and Dove Soap. Least appealing to me are Guess Jeans, car ads with sexy girls sitting on the cars and the Marlboro ads. Looking into the list above, I realize that the advertisements I find appealing are the advertisements that insert social concern and value to women as part of the company’s corporate mission and vision. Body Shop products are similar to other beauty products but their advertisement of helping suppliers from third world countries strike a chord inside me. Dove Soap commercials promote women’s preservation of beauty that does not need surgery or alterations. For me, Dove Soap advertisements adhere to my own idea of ageless beauty. Stereotyping is often used in advertisements because it reaches more people who usually have the same notion of what men are, of what cars are and what women are. I believe that using women’s body or men’s body as a means to attract attention to a product or service is poor taste. It appeals to instincts and therefore borders the animalistic nature of the people that should not be turned on because it is almost like regressing to becoming an animal once again. A â€Å"bad ads† are advertisements that are tasteless. They do not respect any culture and would trample on the sensitivities of people’s lives and uniqueness just to get attention. These ads get attention no matter what. Advertisers of bad ads believe that bad or good publicity is still publicity. â€Å"Bad ads† do not have any effort to invest on social responsibility. It is unfortunate that ‘bad ads’ proliferate more than ‘good ads’ because they actually are the ones who catch more attention just by the mere fact that they are bad. Bad ads catch the attention of both informed and misinformed consumers therefore bad ads must be regulated and policed. The power of advertisers is tremendous in terms of communicating beliefs and ideas to the mass audience. As for my part, I have to remain vigilant against advertisements that might catch my attention but have hidden persuasions that will lead to losing the treasured values I have. Especially being a woman myself, my support to bad ads will only hurt my own disposition and respectability as a woman. If I would want to be treated right, I must support advertisements that respect the role of women rather than abuse it. References: Body Shop Commercial Atwan, Robert. 1979. Edsels, Luckies, and Frigidaires: advertising the American way. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Cohn, David L. 1940. The Good Old Days: a history of American morals and manners as seen through the Sears, Roebuck Catalogs 1905 to the present. New York: Simon and Schuster Evans, George Heberton, Jr. 1948. Business Incorporations in the United States, 1800-1943. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.,

Charlottes Web, by E. B. White | Summary and Analysis

Charlottes Web, by E. B. White | Summary and Analysis Relationships in Charlottes Web I chose to read Charlottes Web because it has always been one of my favorite stories. I instantly knew this would be the perfect story to write about human and animal interrelationships. There are many different relationships between the people and the animals throughout this book. Along with those relationships, there are also various interrelationships between the animals as well. I loved reading this book again, and found it the perfect book for this type of essay. The story begins with a litter of pigs being born at the Arables farm. There were a total of eleven pigs, including the runt. Normally, Mr. Arable kills the runt because it usually dies anyway. However, Fern, the Arable daughter, became very upset when she heard her Papa was going to kill the baby pig. She begged and pleaded with him until he finally gave in and told her that he would not kill the runt if she took care of it. Fern was so ecstatic to have her very own baby pig. She named her new pig Wilbur. Wilbur loved Fern, and would follow her wherever she went. After Wilbur was two weeks old, he had to live outside in a little wooden box under the apple tree. Fern would go outside everyday to feed, walk, and play with Wilbur. They both really loved each others company. Unfortunately, when Wilbur was five weeks old, Fern had to sell him to her Uncle Homer Zuckerman. The Zuckermans farm was close to Ferns house, so she could go and visit Wilbur whenever she pleased. The farm had horses, cows, geese, chickens, sheep, dogs, cats, and now Wilbur. Wilbur became very bored on the farm; he no longer got to go on walks or swims with Fern. He was always stuck in his little pig pen. One sunny day, Wilbur was just walking around his pen talking to himself about how bored he was, when a goose overheard. The goose told Wilbur that there was a board loose on his pen and he could get out and do whatever he wanted. Since Wilbur was so bored he decided that he would like to leave the pen and see whats out there. While walking around the farm with complete freedom, Mrs. Zuckerman saw him. She yelled out to her husband and Lurvy, the hired man to go and catch him. News like this spread fast throughout the farm. All the animals were talking about Wilburs freedom. Then Mr. Zuckerman, Lurvy, and the dog surrounded Wilbur. All the animals started yelling for Wilbur to run away. However, the sweet smell of slope soon came over Wilburs nose, and he was quickly lured back into his pen. There is a lot of human and animal interrelationship in these first three paragraphs. Mr. Arable doesnt really care about the pigs, he just uses them to make money. He doesnt see them as actual living things that have feelings just like him. However, his daughter Fern makes a real connection with Wilbur. She saves his life, and takes care of him just as she would her own child. They become each others best friend. If Ferns is not at school, she is with Wilbur. They do everything, and go everywhere with each other. They become true companions. Fern also develops a relationship with the rest of the animals on the farm. They all get to know her, and start to trust her. They allow her to sit in their pens and watch Wilbur. In the next three chapters, many things happen at the Zuckerman farm. Wilbur becomes very, very lonely. He had planned his whole day out. He planned when he would eat, when he would sleep, and when it would just sit there doing absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, when he awoke all his plans went out the window due to the rain. So he then asked the goose to play with him, but she was sitting on her eggs. Next he asked a sheep to play with him but the sheep said no and called him less than nothing. Not even Templeton the rat would take time out of his day to play with poor Wilbur. Wilbur then became extremely depressed, and started to weep. Right before Wilbur was about to go to bed he heard a little voice that said, Do you want a friend, Wilbur? Ill be a friend to you (White 31). Hearing this excited Wilbur, but he was confused because he couldnt see where this little friendly voice was coming from. The voice then told Wilbur to go to sleep, and that they will meet in the morning. Wilbur did as he was told, and in the morning he discovered his new friend was a spider named Charlotte A. Cavatica. At first, Wilbur was disgusted by his new friend Charlotte. She showed him how she caught her food in her web, and sucked out their blood. Wilbur didnt know what to think about her because he really wanted a friend, but he thought that what she did was very cruel. In these three chapters there werent any human and animal interrelationships because there werent any humans mentioned. However, there were a lot of animal relationships between Wilbur and the other animals. The goose doesnt even give Wilbur the time of day, and just sort of sees him as a distraction. The sheep say they consider pigs less than nothing, which is odd to me because what do the sheep do that make them that great? Hearing this just devastates poor Wilbur, as it would anyone. Wilbur then turns to Templeton who has no interest in Wilbur, just Wilburs food. After hearing that no one cares about him Wilbur becomes very depressed. He feels that he doesnt have any friends on the farm, which makes him sad because he was so used to having a friend all the time when he lived with Fern. Then Charlotte comes into the picture, but Wilbur isnt so sure if he really wants to be her friend because she is so bloodthirsty. In the next couple of chapters Wilbur gets extremely stressed. One of the sheep tells him that the Zuckermans are just fattening him up to kill him at Christmas time. Naturally, Wilbur freaks out and starts running around saying Save me, I dont want to die!(50). Charlotte overheard the conversation between the sheep and Wilbur, and told Wilbur to calm down. Charlotte said that she would come up with a plan to save Wilbur. The next morning Fern tells her family all about the animals at the barn. She tells her parents exactly what the animals were saying, which implies that she can understand animal talk. Her mom gets very concerned, and says she is going to call Ferns doctor. Ferns dad just blows off the whole conversation like it wasnt a big deal. Later the next afternoon, Wilbur starts admiring Charlottes Web. He tells Charlotte that he thinks he could build a web just like hers if he wanted to do so. Charlotte knows that this is impossible and tells Wilbur to try. So Wilbur then climbs to the top of the manure pile, and jumps off hoping a string will come out of his butt and catch him. Naturally, this does not happen, and Wilbur lands flat on his face in the ground. His next brilliant idea is to tie a string that Templeton gave him to his tail, and then try the same thing again. Just like the first attempt, this one failed too. Wilbur finally gives up, and everyone including Fern laughs at him. Charlotte then cheers him up, and tells him to just lie down and relax. After a while of silence, Wilbur asks Charlotte how she plans on saving him from being Christmas dinner. Charlotte says she has not thoroughly thought of the plan yet, but she will think of one that will work. Wilbur is still very curious of how this is going to w ork, and keeps asking Charlotte many questions. Finally, Charlotte tells him not to worry, and just to do as hes told. She then tells him to eat well, stay healthy, and to get a lot of rest. Wilbur does as he is told, and falls asleep. In these last three paragraphs, the first human and animal interrelationship is between the Zuckermans and Wilbur. The Zuckermans just see Wilbur as a Christmas dinner. The reason they feed him and take care of him is not because they actually care about him; it is because they want a nice, big Christmas dinner. To me, this is so sad. I dont know how people could raise a pig and then just kill it and eat it! I know this is what happens in real life, and it is how everyone gets their bacon and ham, but it is just so sad to me. The other human and animal interrelationship is between Fern and all the animals on the farm. Fern can understand the animals when they talk to one another. She knows what all of them are saying, but I dont think the animals know she has this special gift. Ferns mom just thinks she is going crazy, but Ferns dad just blows it off like its nothing. I think this is probably one of the most important human and animal interrelationships throughout the story. During the next three chapters many events take place. First, Charlotte figures out a way that she can trick the Zuckermans into not killing Wilbur. However, she knows she has to work fast because there isnt a lot of time. That day, Fern and Avery come down to the Zuckermans house for some blueberry pie. Avery brings a frog with him, which causes a disaster in the Zuckermans house. After the frog incident the two of them decide to go swing on the rope in the Zuckermans barn. After they got tired of swinging they went and picked some raspberries. While doing this, Avery found a little candy box to put his frog in. Fern then wants to go and visit Wilbur, so they both walk over to the pig pen. Avery discovers Charlotte and her web. He then tries to knock Charlotte out of her web and kill her. Luckily, Avery tripped and happened to break Templetons rotten egg. The nauseating smell lures Avery and Fern away from the pig pen, and Charlotte. The next day was very foggy, which made it easier to see Charlottes web. When everyone awoke they discovered that Charlotte had written the words some pig, in her web. The Zuckermans were so startled by this message, and started believe they truly had an amazing pig. Mr. Zuckerman then went and told a fellow priest, who of coarse told the whole town. By the next day people were lined up in front of Wilburs pen to see him, as well as Charlottes web. With all this excitement, Charlotte knew her plan to save Wilburs life was working. But she knew that in order to keep Wilbur alive she would need to do more, and change the words. So Charlotte then called a group meeting where they decided the new word would be terrific. However, Charlotte wanted more words as well, so she then convinced Templeton to go to the dumpster and collect magazine clips with more words on them that would continue impressing the people. The first human and animal interrelationship demonstrated in these chapters was between Avery and Charlotte. Avery saw Charlotte and her web and automatically wanted to swat her down and kill her. Even though Charlotte wasnt bothering Avery one bit, his natural instincts were to just kill her. This shows that not all human and animal interrelationships are good, or fair in this case. Another human and animal interrelationship shown in these chapters was between all the people and their reactions to Charlotte, Wilbur, and Charlottes web. The people were so astonished by the sight of the writing in Charlottes web. They could not believe that a spider could spin the letters so clearly in her web. The words some pig, completely changed everyones views of Wilbur. Before, he was just an ordinary pig that one day would be made into dinner, but now he is so good looking and perfect in their eyes. Its really interesting how the animals can change the views of the people so easily. During the next three chapters many events occur. After the words some pig, started to get old, Charlotte decided to reconstruct her web, and write in the word terrific. Once again, everyone came down to the Zuckermans farm to see the new web. Wilbur loved all of the attention, and started to believe that he was a terrific pig. Mr. Zuckerman also loved all of this attention. He started giving Wilbur all sorts of special treatment, and decided that he will enter him in the Country Fair. Templeton searched through the dumpster to look for new words that Charlotte could carve into her web. His first couple trips werent very successful; however he finally found the perfect word, radiant. Wilbur loved the new word, and started doing flips and turns to prove that he was a radiant pig. After a long day of flipping, Wilbur lay down, and asked Charlotte to tell him some stories. She went on telling him about her cousin who actually caught a fish in her web, and how another one of her cousins was a balloonist. The next day Fern told her mom all the stories about Charlottes cousins. Her mom began to worry about Fern, and how she thinks she can understand animals. Her mom decided to go see Dr. Dorian to talk about Ferns strange behaviors. Dr. Dorian didnt see anything wrong in what Fern was doing, and he actually found it quite enchanting. Mrs. Arable then goes on to ask if he has heard about the words written in Charlottes web. He says he has heard about them, and that it is a miracle that a spider could spin a web in the first place. So the fact that Charlotte could write something in it does not surprise him. Mrs. Arable then felt relieved after Dr. Dorian told her that he thinks Fern is perfectly fine. Wilbur started thinking about the County Fair, and what was going to happen to him. He asked Charlotte if she was going to come with him but she said she wouldnt be able to. Charlotte needs to stay at the farm and lay her eggs during that time. Wilbur pleads and pleads with her until she finally says she will try her best to be there. However, she knew she wasnt going to be able to help Wilbur much longer because she needs to start building her sac for the eggs. There are quite a few human and animal interrelationships during these couple of chapters. The first one is between Mr. Zuckerman and Wilbur. Mr. Zuckerman now sees Wilbur as something more than food. Wilbur has a chance to win the County Fair, and become useful to Mr. Zuckerman. In reality, Wilbur is still the same old pig, but because of Charlottes words in the web, Wilbur all of a sudden becomes a prized possession, as well as a very important asset to Mr. Zuckermans farm. Wilbur loves all the attention the people give him, as well. He now sees himself as terrific and radiant, instead of just a normal old pig. So here, both Wilbur and Mr. Zuckerman help each other out. Another human and animal interrelationship that is shown in this chapter is through Dr. Dorian. Dr. Dorian explains to Ferns mother that it is perfectly fine that Fern spends all of her time at the Zuckerman barn. He goes on to tell her that animals are very amazing creatures, especially spiders. Dr. Dorian says tha t he is not surprised by the miracle that Charlotte could spin letter in her web, because he thinks its an even greater miracle that a spider can spin a web in the first place. To me this shows that Dr. Dorian really respects animals, and all the amazing things they can do. During the next three chapters they take Wilbur to the County Fair. Mrs. Zuckerman wanted Wilbur to look extra clean, so she bathed him in buttermilk. The buttermilk worked very well, making Wilbur white as can be. After Wilbur was all clean, everyone went and changed into their best clothes to go to the fair in. When they were all done they met at Wilburs pen to help load him in his crate. When Mr. Arable saw Wilbur, he made a remark that the Zuckermans will get some extra good ham and bacon from him when they kill him in the winter. When Wilbur heard this he immediately passed out. Fern ran over to him with tears in her eyes, and Lurvy ran over with a bucket of cold water to splash on him. When Wilbur regained consciousness, they all helped load him into the car, and took off to the fair. Wilbur felt a lot better now that Charlotte and Templeton were coming with him as well. When they arrived at the fair many people gathered around to see Wilbur. Charlotte soon became worried because she noticed that the pig next to Wilbur was much bigger than Wilbur. However, when Charlotte went down to meet the large pig she was not impressed with his personality. His name was Uncle, and according to Charlotte he is too familiar, too noisy, and cracks weak jokes. This made Wilbur feel a little better because he knew that he could win over the crowd with his radiant personality. The next night Charlotte set Templeton out to find a new word for her web. She told him to make it a good word because it will be the last one she will ever create. Templeton found the word humble written on a piece of newspaper and brought it back to Charlotte. He said humble describes Wilbur perfectly because it means two things: not proud and near the ground. Charlotte agreed that it was a good word for the web, and quickly got to work. Later that night when the web was complete, Wilbur could not see Charlotte. She told him that she was in a different corner creating a masterpiece. Wilbur wanted to know what this masterpiece was, but Charlotte told him to get some rest and she will show him in the morning. In these few chapters there werent very many interrelationships between the humans and the animals. The time that there was any interaction between the two was when they were all at the Zuckermans farm talking about Wilbur. Mr. Arable made a remark about killing Wilbur, which shows that he has not changed his views on Wilbur from the beginning of the story. He is a farmer who sees pigs as food and nothing else. Fern on the other hand sees Wilbur as a companion, and would never do anything to hurt him. She shows her affection for Wilbur by running over to him and holding him when he passed out. They have a very close bond just like anyone would have with someone or something they loved. During the last chapters of the book many events occur. The first event was that Charlotte laid an egg sac with five hundred and fourteen eggs in it. Wilbur becomes ecstatic that Charlotte is going to become a mom, and that he will have a whole lot of new friends. However, Charlotte has horrible news for Wilbur. She tells him that she has become very ill. But she doesnt want to focus on the negative, so she changes the subject and points out how beautiful her web looks with the new word in it. It was the best web out of all the ones she had created before. But then of course, Templeton returns from a night of ravishing around the fair grounds with some unfortunate news. Templeton tells Charlotte and Wilbur that he noticed that Uncle, the pig next door has a blue ribbon placed on his pen. He then went on to tell Wilbur that this meant that Wilbur will soon be forgotten by everyone, and eventually end up as the Zuckermans Christmas dinner. This hit Wilbur really hard, but he tried to stay strong and listen to Charlotte. Charlotte told him not to worry, and everything will be fine. Within a couple of minutes the whole gang returned to see Wilbur. Fern pointed out the new web, and everyone stood admiring it with astonishment. Then Mrs. Zuckerman began to cry because Avery pointed out that Uncle had already won first prized. Everyone became very upset, except for Mr. Zuckerman. Mr. Zuckerman took control and told everyone to help him bathe Wilbur, and make him look his best. Everyone did as they were told. Suddenly, there was an announcement over the loud speakers that Wilbur had won a special prize, and everyone was to report to the judges booth. Excite ment rushed through the whole fair as everyone raced over to the booth. Once everyone was there, the announcer presented Mr. Zuckerman a prize of $25, and a bronze medal for Wilbur. Wilbur had won this award because he and the words in the web had brought many spectators to the fair from all around. Everyone cheered, and Wilbur felt so proud. Then as things wound down, the Zuckermans took Wilbur back to his pen before loading up the car. Wilbur noticed that Charlotte was a lot quieter than normal. Charlotte then told Wilbur that she would not be returning to the farm with him because she would only live for one more day. This news hit Wilbur hard, and began to weep. He did not know what he would do without Charlotte, his best friend. Then Wilbur came up with an idea to bring Charlottes egg sac back to the barn with him so Charlotte would at least know her children would be safe. So Wilbur called over Templeton to run up and get the sac. However, Templeton would not do it unless Wilbur agreed to give Templeton first pick of his food from that day forward. Wilbur instantly agreed. As Wilbur was being loaded back into his crate, he had Charlottes egg sac safe in his mouth. He could not talk, so he looked up and gave Charlotte a wink. Charlotte knew that he was saying goodbye and quietly said goodbye back. The next day Charlotte died alone. Wilbur, Templeton, and her eggs were all back at the barn with the other animals. They all made it through the cold winter, and patiently awaited the little spiders arrivals. Then one warm morning they finally hatched. They all said hi to Wilbur, but then made little balloons with their strings from their butts, and flew away. Wilbur began to cry because they were all leaving him and he thought he would be all alone again. Then he heard three little voices coming from the corners of the doorway. Wilbur looked up and saw that three of Charlottes daughters decided to stay, their names where Joy, Aranea, and Nellie. They became Wilburs close friends because now that Fern was growing up she didnt stop by to visit as often. As the years went on Wilbur became friends with Charlottes daughters, granddaughters and even great granddaughters. However, none of them could ever take the place of Charlotte in Wilburs heart. In these chapters the Zuckermans and the Arables all fall in love with Wilbur and his achievement. Wilbur essentially becomes their hero, and the highlight of their lives. However, Fern who was Wilburs best friend, didnt even want to stay to see Wilbur win his prize. She was to busy running around after a boy on the ferris wheel. This shows that the human and animal interrelationship changes a lot throughout the story. In the beginning of the story all Fern cared about is Wilbur and his health. Her parents, along with the Zuckermans didnt care about Wilbur; they just saw him as a good Christmas dinner. However, as the story develops, the tables turn, and it seems that Fern out grows Wilbur in a sense. Fern still loves Wilbur, and always will, but she has found other loves in her life now as well. Whereas the Zuckermans find a whole new love in Wilbur, and now see him as their pet. I thought the interrelationships in the last few chapters were very interesting. However, the true relat ionship in the last chapters was between Charlotte and Wilbur. Charlotte succeeds in saving Wilburs life, and in return Wilbur protects Charlottes eggs for her. They both would do anything for one another, whether it meant giving up their own lives or just always being there for the other. Charlottes Web was a great book to read for this essay. Not only did it show human and animal interrelationships, but it also showed animal relationships as well. It demonstrated the many ways people perceive and value certain animals, along with how their views can change. Fern saves Wilburs life and develops a very close connection with him. They become best friends, and would do everything together. However, no one else saw Wilbur in the way that Fern did. They saw Wilbur as a pig that would be used for food. Poor Wilbur then got sent away to the Zuckermans farm where their intentions were to kill him come summertime. There was no interrelationship between them and Wilbur. Eventually, Wilbur develops a close relationship with the animals on the farm, especially Charlotte. As time goes on, Charlotte and Wilbur become extremely close, and Charlotte also saves Wilburs life. The Zuckermans and Arables also start to develop a close relationship with Wilbur when he becomes famous. They end up seeing Wilbur as their pet, as well as part of the family. However, it took words in a web for them to realize how great of a pig Wilbur actually was.

Risk management by indian banks

Risk management by indian banks Case analysis: Risk management by Indian banks The banking and financial crises in recent years in emerging economies have demonstrated that, when things go wrong with the financial system, they can result in a severe economic downturn. From this perspective, financial sector reforms are essential in order to avoid such costs. These reforms have become the tools for banks to manage risk. Some of the tools are: 1) Interest Rate Scenario The first important issue that I would like to highlight relates to interest rates. Interest rates reflect strongly to inflation rates, there has been a distinct downward drift in the inflation rate during the second half of the 1990s, which is now at around half the level as compared with the first half of the 1990s. Both the popular measures of inflation the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) have shown a definite fall in the recent period. This is clearly reflected in the downward trend in nominal interest rates. The banks have also reduced their deposit rates. But the lending rates of banks have not come down as much. While banks have reduced their prime lending rates (PLRs) to some extent and are also extending sub-PLR loans and effective lending rates continue to remain high (Table 1 and Chart 1). 2) Lending to Small and Medium Enterprises Banks have now understood the problems with lending large organizations. The large organization not only reduces the interest rates by bargaining but also makes default payments by which banks are under tremendous risk, and hence banks are now making a move to provide more loans to small and medium enterprises. 3) Revival of Long-Term Financing The development finance institutions (DFIs) were set up in the 1950s to provide medium and long-term finance to the private sector. Many of these institutions were sponsored by the Government. DFIs were expected to resolve long-term credit shortages and to acquire and disseminate skills necessary to assess projects and banks creditworthiness. The current trend is of DFIs converting themselves into banks. In this context, the future of long-term lending acquires great importance. 4) Non-Performing Assets As of March 31, 2002, the gross NPAs of scheduled commercial banks stood at Rs.71,000 crore, of which the NPAs of public sector banks constituted Rs.57,000 crore. The absolute amount of NPAs continues to be a major drag on the performance of banks. Banks uses the process of securitisation of assets to remove NPAs from the balance sheets. 5) Investing in government securities: In the current interest rate environment, banks are finding it more profitable to invest in government securities. In 2001-02, trading profits of public sector banks more than doubled to Rs.5,999 crore from Rs.2,250 crore in 2000-01. The net profits of these banks during these two years were Rs.4,317 crore and Rs.8,301 crore respectively and this includes an additional Rs.1,365 crore and Rs.1,547 crore from forex operations. The Reserve Bank has been encouraging banks to be proactive in risk management and banks have been directed to maintain a certain level of Investment Fluctuation Reserve (IFR). TABLE 1 : REAL INTEREST RATES Year Weighted Weighted Average Average Inflation Rate Real Interest Rate Ended Average Average Cost of Cost of WPI Manufact- CPI-IW Borrowers Central Depositors March Lending Interest Rate Aggregate Time uring Price Government Rate of of Central Deposits Deposits SCBs Government of SCBs of SCBs Securities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9=(2-7) 10=(3-6) 11=(5-8) 1990-91 15.0 11.4 8.1 10.6 10.3 8.4 4.6 6.6 1.1 6.0 1991-92 16.5 11.8 7.1 9.1 13.7 11.3 13.5 5.2 -1.9 -4.4 1992-93 16.8 12.5 7.7 9.6 10.1 10.9 9.6 5.9 2.4 0.0 1993-94 16.5 12.6 6.9 8.7 8.4 7.8 7.5 8.7 4.2 1.2 1994-95 16.1 11.9 6.4 7.0 12.5 12.2 10.1 3.9 -0.6 -3.1 1995-96 17.1 13.8 6.9 8.5 8.1 8.6 10.2 8.5 5.7 -1.7 1996-97 16.9 13.7 7.6 9.4 4.6 2.1 9.4 14.8 9.1 0.0 1997-98 16.3 12.0 7.3 8.8 4.4 2.9 6.8 13.4 7.6 2.0 1998-99 15.5 11.9 7.4 8.9 5.9 4.4 13.1 11.1 6.0 -4.2 1999-00 15.0 11.8 7.1 8.6 3.3 2.7 3.4 12.3 8.5 5.2 2000-01 14.3 11.0 6.8 8.1 7.2 3.3 3.8 11.0 3.8 4.3 2001-02 13.9 9.4 7.0* 8.3* 3.6 1.8 4.3 12.1 5.8 4.0 Average 1990-91 to 1995-96 16.3 12.3 7.2 8.9 10.5 9.9 10.4 6.5 1.8 -0.3 1996-97 to 2001-02 15.3 11.6 7.2 8.7 4.8 2.9 6.8 12.5 6.8 1.9 Table 2 : Comparative Position of International Real Interest Rates Country / Money Long-term Prime Rate Inflation Rate GDP Growth Period Average Market Rate G-sec Yield United States 1991 to 1996 1.50 3.71 4.40 3.09 2.58 1997 to 2001 2.73 3.20 5.73 2.46 3.37 United Kingdom 1991 to 1996 4.05 5.30 4.25 3.25 1.92 1997 to 2001 3.40 2.77 3.46 2.57 2.76 Germany 1991 to 1996 3.63 4.09 9.04 2.85 3.20 1997 to 2001 1.99 3.17 7.75 1.57 1.75 Japan 1991 to 1996 2.00 2.78 3.57 1.16 1.74 1997 to 2001 0.09 1.40 2.07 0.13 0.69 Korea 1991 to 1996 7.50 7.21 3.16 5.99 7.35 1997 to 2001 4.79 5.85 6.74 3.82 4.31 Thailand 1991 to 1996 3.71 5.78 7.74 4.97 8.17 1997 to 2001 3.22 4.65 6.98 3.44 -0.20 China 1991 to 1996 N.A. N.A. -2.09 12.32 11.61 1997 to 2001 N.A. N.A. 6.28 0.23 7.93 India 1991 to 1996 3.43 N.A. 6.57 10.52 5.41 1997 to 2001 3.40 5.87 7.62 5.08 6.14 Hungary 1991 to 1996 N.A. N.A. 5.11 25.04 -1.63 1997 to 2001 N.A. N.A. 4.13 12.29 4.52

The History of Greek Theater :: Art

The History of Greek Theater Theater and drama in Ancient Greece took form in about 5th century BCE, with the Sopocles, the great writer of tragedy. In his plays and those of the same genre, heroes and the ideals of life were depicted and glorified. It was believed that man should live for honor and fame, his action was courageous and glorious and his life would climax in a great and noble death. Originally, the hero’s recognition was created by selfish behaviors and little thought of service to others. As the Greeks grew toward city-states and colonization, it became the destiny and ambition of the hero to gain honor by serving his city. The second major characteristic of the early Greek world was the supernatural. The two worlds were not separate, as the gods lived in the same world as the men, and they interfered in the men’s lives as they chose to. It was the gods who sent suffering and evil to men. In the plays of Sophocles, the gods brought about the hero’s downfall because of a tragic flaw in the character of the hero. In Greek tragedy, suffering brought knowledge of worldly matters and of the individual. Aristotle attempted to explain how an audience could observe tragic events and still have a pleasurable experience. Aristotle, by searching the works of writers of Greek tragedy, Aeschulus, Euripides and Sophocles (whose Oedipus Rex he considered the finest of all Greek tragedies), arrived at his definition of tragedy. This explanation has a profound influence for more than twenty centuries on those writing tragedies, most significantly Shakespeare. Aristotle’s analysis of tragedy began with a description of the effect such a work had on the audience as a â€Å"catharsis† or purging of the emotions. He decided that catharsis was the purging of two specific emotions, pity and fear. The hero has made a mistake due to ignorance, not because of wickedness or corruption. Aristotle used the word â€Å"hamartia†, which is the â€Å"tragic flaw† or offense committed in ignorance. For example, Oedipus is ignorant of his true parentage when he commits his fatal deed. Oedipus Rex is one of the stories in a three-part myth called the Thebian cycle. The structure of most all Greek tragedies is similar to Oedipus Rex. Such plays are divided in to five parts, the prologue or introduction, the â€Å"prados† or entrance of the chorus, four episode or acts separates from one another by â€Å"stasimons† or choral odes, and â€Å"exodos†, the action after the last stasimon.

French and British Colonialism and Imperialism in Africa Essay examples

French and British Colonialism and Imperialism in Africa Africa is home to countless cultures that all have their own unique ideas and customs. During the past couple of centuries, these cultures were threatened to the point where they almost ceased to exist. The Berlin Conference was a very important occurrence in Africa and Europe's history. It legitimized what the European powers, mainly France and Britain, had been doing for the past hundred years, without the approval of any African country. During the late nineteenth century, France and Britain began imperialistic ventures into Africa, which eventually led Leopold II to conquer the Congo. It was Leopold's II presence in Africa that to led the Berlin Conference. The Berlin Conference took place first and foremost to legitimize what was already taking place in Africa (Berlin). Africa had recently experienced the European countries' greed. The British and the French, along with a few other European nations, had started to carve up Africa however they pleased. By 1880, about half of the coastal countries saw some type of European presence (Wessling cover). The French began to take control of Algeria and parts of Gabon and Senegal. The British occupied much of Southern Africa and parts of the western coast. Until 1884, no one could encroach upon inner Africa. Before this, the imposing countries had mainly concentrated on the coasts. By 1884 there was road connecting the Congo River to the coast, and the remaining European powers wanted in a piece of the action. The disagreements that resulted from this sudden urge to conquer Africa were what made the Berlin Conference so important (Part IV). Many reasons beyond the obvious also existed. The Berlin Conference was ... ... to an African nation. Works Cited Bennett, Norman. Africa and Europe: From Roman Times to National Independence. New York: Africana Publishing Co, 1984. "Berlin, Conference of." Vers. 3. 1994. The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. 5 Mar. 2000 <http://www.encyclopeida.com>. "Bismarck, Otto Von." Vers. 3. 1994. The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.  Ã‚   5 Mar. 2000 <http://www.encyclopeida.com/>. Hugon, Anne. The Exploration of Africa: from Cairo to the Cape. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1991.   Ã‚  Ã‚   "Part IV Anti-Colonialism & Reconstruction." 5 Mar. 2000 <http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/timelines/htimeline4.htm>. Sempell, Charlotte. Otto Von Bismarck.New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc, 1972. Wessling, H. H., Divide and Rule: The Partition of Africa, 1880-1914. Westport: Praeger, 1991. French and British Colonialism and Imperialism in Africa Essay examples French and British Colonialism and Imperialism in Africa Africa is home to countless cultures that all have their own unique ideas and customs. During the past couple of centuries, these cultures were threatened to the point where they almost ceased to exist. The Berlin Conference was a very important occurrence in Africa and Europe's history. It legitimized what the European powers, mainly France and Britain, had been doing for the past hundred years, without the approval of any African country. During the late nineteenth century, France and Britain began imperialistic ventures into Africa, which eventually led Leopold II to conquer the Congo. It was Leopold's II presence in Africa that to led the Berlin Conference. The Berlin Conference took place first and foremost to legitimize what was already taking place in Africa (Berlin). Africa had recently experienced the European countries' greed. The British and the French, along with a few other European nations, had started to carve up Africa however they pleased. By 1880, about half of the coastal countries saw some type of European presence (Wessling cover). The French began to take control of Algeria and parts of Gabon and Senegal. The British occupied much of Southern Africa and parts of the western coast. Until 1884, no one could encroach upon inner Africa. Before this, the imposing countries had mainly concentrated on the coasts. By 1884 there was road connecting the Congo River to the coast, and the remaining European powers wanted in a piece of the action. The disagreements that resulted from this sudden urge to conquer Africa were what made the Berlin Conference so important (Part IV). Many reasons beyond the obvious also existed. The Berlin Conference was ... ... to an African nation. Works Cited Bennett, Norman. Africa and Europe: From Roman Times to National Independence. New York: Africana Publishing Co, 1984. "Berlin, Conference of." Vers. 3. 1994. The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. 5 Mar. 2000 <http://www.encyclopeida.com>. "Bismarck, Otto Von." Vers. 3. 1994. The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.  Ã‚   5 Mar. 2000 <http://www.encyclopeida.com/>. Hugon, Anne. The Exploration of Africa: from Cairo to the Cape. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1991.   Ã‚  Ã‚   "Part IV Anti-Colonialism & Reconstruction." 5 Mar. 2000 <http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/timelines/htimeline4.htm>. Sempell, Charlotte. Otto Von Bismarck.New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc, 1972. Wessling, H. H., Divide and Rule: The Partition of Africa, 1880-1914. Westport: Praeger, 1991.

Evaluate Is Acceptance Model Essay

There are many models have been developed to understand the factors affecting the acceptance of computer technology such as Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975, Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985, 1991), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989), Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) (Taylor & Todd, 1995), and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al., 2003). TRA proposes that individual beliefs influence attitudes which will create intentions that will generate behavior. There are two major factors that determine behavioral intentions which are the person’s attitude toward the behavior and subjective norms. Attitude toward the behavior refers to the person’s judgment that performing the behavior is good or bad according to his or her belief. While the subjective norms are a function of normative beliefs that reflect the person’s perception of social pressures put on him or her to perform or not to perform the behavior in question. TRA model TPB is an expansion of the TRA. TPB includes the construct, perceived behavioral control to measure and account for the extent to which users have complete controls over their behavior. Perceived behavioral control relates to the extent to which the person believes that she or he has control over personal or external factors that may facilitate or constrain the behavioral performance. TPB model TAM pioneered by Davis advances the TRA by postulating that perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU) are key determinants that lead to the actual usage of a particular technology or system. Perceived usefulness is the degree to which an individual believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her productivity while perceived ease of use is the degree an individual believes that using a particular system would be free of effort. TAM model DTPB was formulated through combination of both TAM and TPB, which was intended for providing better understanding of behavioral intention by concentrating on the factors that are likely to impact systems use. This model explores dimensions of subjective norms and perceived behavior control through decomposing them into particular belief perception whilst constructs from the innovation characteristics has also been regarded as the basis of DTPM formulation. DTPB also offer a clearer understanding of behavior and behavioral intention by giving detailed information about impacts of normative and control beliefs over system usage. DTPM model UTAUT had synthesized the eight prominent user acceptance models including the TRA, TAM, the motivational model (MM), TPB, a model combining the technology acceptance model and the theory of planned behavior (C-TAM-TPB), the model of PC utilization (MPCU) (Ronald et al., 1994; Thompson & Higgins, 1991), the innovation diffusion theory, and the social cognitive theory (SCT) (Compeau et al., 1999 and Compeau & Higgins, 1995). This model was formulated with four core determinants of intention and usage including performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence and facilitating conditions and also with up to four moderators of key counting gender, experience, age and voluntariness of use. However, the authors argue that in order to strengthen this model, the culture also need to take consideration since different culture can affect the acceptance behavior among user towards the computer technology. UTAUT model There are more theories that had been developed and many variables had used to evaluate the IS/IT acceptance rate. For example, the interactive model of technology acceptance and satisfaction (IMTAS) which integrate the user satisfaction with and user acceptance of IT. This model expands user satisfaction and user acceptance into SME sector simultaneously as two basic constructs of system usage behavior (as the key measure of IT success) while addresses specific characteristics of SMEs such as resource constraints, management method and direct interaction of SME users with external environments. Base on this model, user satisfaction can be influenced by user involvement, system quality, and information quality. High quality of information and system enable the user to produce good decision making, hence, increase the user satisfaction. However, user involvement is the key determinant of user satisfaction since high user involvement allow the user  involve in major area of the system which this give the user opportunity to enjoy most of the benefits of the system. User satisfaction will increase the usage of the system and the usage will be even higher if the system has high user friendliness. Another key determinant that influence the system usage in SMEs is user computer competence. User computer competence can be enhance through providing training by assuming that assistance of SMEs’ external environment have a crucial impact on the success of newly implemented IS by increasing SME user acceptance and satisfaction since SMEs are typically suffering from lack of resources such as internal expertise, knowledge and user skills. The training can influence the perceived ease of use and perceived of usefulness among user, hence, influence the user attitude and intention which than influence the actual usage of a system in SMEs.

Critical Summary of the Sunrising by John Donne Essay

The Sun Rising,† by John Donne, is a lyric poem about two lovers. The poem is divided into three stanzas, each ten lines long. The rhyme scheme in each stanza is ABBACDCDEE. This is a dramatic poem where the speaker and his lover are in bed together. The speaker personifies the sun, and is speaking to it throughout the poem. As the sunlight comes through the windows, the speaker tells the sun to leave them alone. He seems to feel that their life together is complete, and that the sun is being a nuisance. He then tells the sun that his lover is worth more than anything the sun can ever find outside their bedroom. The poet addresses the sun as a person and rebukes the sun because it has wakened him and his lover from their sleep. He demands to know why lovers should obey time. He addresses d sun as â€Å"busy old fool†. He calls it unruly bcoz by peeping into d bedroom through windows nd curtains it disturbs d lover. He also shows his dominance over the sun, calling it a ‘saucy pedantic wretch’ and tells the sun to bother other people instead such as late school boys or workers imploring or more time to sleep. He tells the sun to find the royal court people and farmers to let them start their day instead of controlling the lovers, because time does not exist in love and unlike season or climate or sun, love doesn’t change. Hours, days and months are just silly, useless measures. In dis section of d poem we come across colloquial expression like â€Å"busy old fool† nd â€Å"saucy pedantic wretch† such terms of contempt fitfully set d tone of d poem whic h is one of annoyance. The poet challenges the sun about its strength, that the sun isn’t is high and mighty. because he can make it disappear by winking, except he doesn’t wish to â€Å"lose her sight so long† He teases the sun that his lover’s eyes are so beautiful and bright that it can blind the sun. He tells he sun to go to far away countries like India or stay because the entire world is with him in the bed. The sun can also find kings but he and his lover are so superior that even the kings will say the most important people are in his room, ‘all here in one bed lay’. The poet claims that his lover is ‘all states’ and in fact the whole world itself and he is the ‘prince’ that rules it, nothing else exists other than them. They are the celebrity, and even other princes want to mimic them. He declares that honour and science are nothing compared to their love and that the sun is only â€Å"half as happy as we.† He says the sun is old and so it should rest because its duty is to warm the world and since they are the world, the sun has completed its duty. Then, the poet cleverly turns the sun’s refusal to leave into a show of its generosity and by shining at them, it has centered itself upon the room of his love and so they are the sun, the center of the universe. The last part of d poem reveals d poets wit, his mastery over d use of apt imagery nd conceits. At d begning of d poem d poet asked the sun to go away from dere . now he invites the sun to go round their bed nd shine on dem

Multicultural counselling issues

Gender plays role in racial discrimination because males and females of a different ethnicity are treated in different ways.   In particular instance, females of a specific ethnic group experience at least two forms of discrimination based of her race, gender, religious belief, age and social status.   The term racism is strongly associated with hatred and prejudice of an individual’s identity including any aspects of his identity and sexual orientation hence females experience a different manner of discrimination. International groups such as the United Nations have regarded racial and gender discrimination as two independent issues resulting in females continuing to suffer from numerous types of injustices.   It is thus essential that the gender component of racial discrimination be well understood in order to draw actions towards racial discrimination that are helpful to both males and females. There are several instances when the issues of gender and racial discrimination interconnect (Crenshaw KW, 2000).   The interplay of these two concepts may take different modes and arise in different circumstances.   One situation involves gender-based violence.   In this situation, females are more likely to experience more cases of violence because discrimination that is influenced by gender depicts females as the most defenseless elements of society. Inclusion of the concept of racial discrimination thus generates violence on females, making them twice at risk of violence.   These kinds of circumstances tend to be more difficult because certain women from remote areas may be hesitant in reporting any violent incidents that they have experienced because they are concerned that no action will be performed with regards to their report or that their statement will be received with indifference or hostility. Another situation wherein gender is interconnected with racial discrimination can be observed among impoverished women.   It has been estimated that approximately 1.3 billion individuals who are living in extreme need are women (UNDP, 2000).   Such condition is strongly related to their inability to receive any form of education as well as training courses hence rendering them under-qualified for most of the available employment. Simultaneously, the trends of globalization and alteration in governmental laws have resulted in more problems for women because gender inequalities were exposed.   One example can be observed among governments that do not provide unemployment insurance of single mothers or female heads of households. The merged effect of gender and racial discrimination may also hinder the retrieval of women to economic resources, including loans, credit and real estate property and can also affect the treatment they receive when they request for social services from the government.   Such hardship thus endangers women to poverty and financial hardship. Gender is also intertwined with the issue of racial discrimination in terms of education.   It has been discovered that the global literacy rate for women is significantly lower than that among men.   The discrepancy in literacy rate between men and women is even greater in developing countries.   More than half of out-of-school children are girls and that among illiterate adults, two-thirds are comprised by women.   These gender-based illiteracy reports show that females have less access to educational resources which in turn results in a lower rate of participation in training programs. Such decrease in education restrains females in their full understanding and awareness of their legal rights, including the right to be employed and to own real estate properties.   The access of females to education through attendance in school is also affected by circumstances of early pregnancy, childrearing and domestic family responsibilities.   The lack or insufficiency of knowledge on reproductive health among women due to poor access to educational resources further hampers the living conditions of women.   It is well-known that education is strongly correlated with employment options and financial stability, hence women are at a disadvantage with regards to availing such opportunities. 2.   Due to the increasing diverse population in our society, it is imperative for mental health practitioners to increase their cultural awareness and cultural competence in the process of psychotherapy.   A culturally competent therapist is one who has moved from ignorance to being educated with his/her own cultural heritage and to respecting differences.   In addition, he/she is cognizant of how his/her values and biases affect minority clients. A culturally competent therapist must acquire specific knowledge related to the history of cultural standards and lifestyles about the minority group with which he/she is working.   It is also important to have a thorough knowledge of socio-political factors and how they affect these marginalized groups in relation to the majority culture.   In addition, a culturally competent therapist should understand value assumptions (abnormality and normality) that are fundamental in the major schools of therapy and how they may influence the values of the culturally different. Some major models may limit the abilities of the culturally different client due to the generic characteristics of therapy including language issues; culture bound values and class-bound values. At the skills level, a culturally competent therapist should be able to tap into a wide variety of verbal and nonverbal responses. The focus should be to practice with a multitude of response modalities rather than relying on narrow set of skills in therapy. The application of psychology is largely a product of individualistic cultures and may be questionable when applied to collectivist cultures.   Individualistic and collectivist cultures are exact opposites on a continuum of how people interact with others and the collectivist values may often clash with the individualistic values inherent in the counseling and psychotherapy process. The psychoanalytic approach emphasizes achieving insight through the discovery of unconscious thoughts, feelings and motivations, which is similar to other ethnic cultural concepts such as striving for self-development through the process of introspection.   Although insight-oriented approach is appealing to most clients of different ethncities, they practice the process of self-examination privately and not revealed to others.   Hence, clinicians should attend to the possible uneasiness of the client while exploring the most intimate thoughts and feelings in their inner world. For example, most Asian clients anticipate quick symptom relief when they actually do seek mental health services.   Rather than mere reliance of free association, the clinician could instill structure in the therapy session by asking questions and giving directions to the client.  Ã‚   This would not only maximize the effectiveness of therapy outcome but also meet the client’s expectations in treatment.   One way of addressing of this problem is for the clinician to educate the client at the onset therapy the nature and rationale of psychoanalytic approach to ease the client into the process. Some of the more commonly complaints made by Asian clients is their impatience in the process of psychoanalytic therapy with the clinician’s pace in addressing the client’s symptoms; focus of the past rather than the present and lack of structure in the session.  Ã‚   Exploration of the client’s life events that are relevant to them such as migration experiences would inadvertently elicit important information such as past memories of childhood and or parental influences.   Clinicians should be aware of other culture’s worldviews and values and the similarities and differences that exist with the host culture. These values and beliefs are inherent in tales, fables and myths in a culture.   For example, hierarchical transference is common in Asian cultures where the client brings the Asian values of filial piety (children’s obligation to care for elderly parents) and respect to authority.   In addition, authority figures are idealized as benevolent in Asian cultures hence the client experiences a positive relationship with the therapist similar to that of a parent and child, in which the client will obey and respect the therapist.   Clinicians can work through this transference by offering a positive interpretation of this type of hierarchical transference as well as respecting the client’s cultural values. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The refusal to work with a homosexual client is an ethical violation because counseling should be provided to any individual regardless of culture, gender, sexual orientation and ethnicity.  Ã‚   The Rehabilitation Act Amendment of 1992 discretely describes that actions of inequitable treatment of minorities or members of an ethnic group or gender have been observed in majority of rehabilitation operations.   Research has indicated that cultural diversity is a common factor that a counselor has to deal with during his routine operations and that positive results have increased when personal information with regards to the patient are disclosed to the counselor prior to treatment or consultation. Disclosure provides ample time for the counselor to prepare himself for the encounter with the patient, together with the patient’s background, including sexual orientation, religious belief, cultural background and ethnicity.   The refusal of a counselor to work with a homosexual client thus is an ethical violation because the counselor restricts himself from providing his services to any individual who requests his service.   Every individual should have an equal opportunity to request and receive services from a counselor and any other healthcare practitioner, regards of the details of his background. For my future counseling practice, I will also employ the self-disclosure strategy in order to accommodate the multicultural setting of my practice.   I think the if I start to self-disclose my information to the client before counseling, the client will feel more relaxed and comfortable to interact with me during counseling sessions because my client will feel that he is not alone in terms of self-disclosure choices. References Crenshaw KW (2000):   Gender-related aspects of race discrimination, background paper for Expert Meeting on Gender and Racial Discrimination, 21-24 Novem-ber 2000, Zagreb, Croatia (EM/GRD/ 2000/WP.1). United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2000): Poverty Report 2000: Overcoming Human Poverty.