Saturday, August 31, 2019

Boy in Striped Pyjamas: Otes and Analysis

Area of Study: Belonging Texts of your choosing: Film Title: â€Å"Boy in the striped pyjamas† Composer: Mark Herman A chilling portrayal of the power of society to define belonging, this film depicts the holocaust from the point of view of a young German boy who develops a friendship with a Jewish boy the other side of a barbed wire fence (Auschwitz). A chilling portrayal of the power of society to define belonging, this film depicts the holocaust from the point of view of a young German boy who develops a friendship with a Jewish boy the other side of a barbed wire fence (Auschwitz).Brief Outline to the text: This cautionary tale is about two boys, one the son of a commandant and the other a Jew, who come face-to-face at a barbed wire fence that separates, and eventually intertwines their lives. The novel is set during the Holocaust, Bruno is only nine-years-old when his father is transferred from Berlin to Auschwitz. The house at â€Å"Out-With,† as Bruno calls it, i s small, dark, and strange. He spends long days gazing out the window of his new bedroom, where he notices people dressed in striped pyjamas and rows of barracks surrounded by a barbed wire fence.Bored and lonely, and not really understanding the circumstance of his new existence, Bruno sets out to explore the area and discovers Shmuel, a very thin Jewish boy who lives on the other side of the fence. An unlikely friendship develops between the two boys, but when Bruno learns that his mother plans to take her children back to Berlin, he makes a last effort to explore the forbidden territory where the boy in the striped pyjamas lives.This cautionary tale is about two boys, one the son of a commandant and the other a Jew, who come face-to-face at a barbed wire fence that separates, and eventually intertwines their lives. The novel is set during the Holocaust, Bruno is only nine-years-old when his father is transferred from Berlin to Auschwitz. The house at â€Å"Out-With,† as Br uno calls it, is small, dark, and strange. He spends long days gazing out the window of his new bedroom, where he notices people dressed in striped pyjamas and rows of barracks surrounded by a barbed wire fence.Bored and lonely, and not really understanding the circumstance of his new existence, Bruno sets out to explore the area and discovers Shmuel, a very thin Jewish boy who lives on the other side of the fence. An unlikely friendship develops between the two boys, but when Bruno learns that his mother plans to take her children back to Berlin, he makes a last effort to explore the forbidden territory where the boy in the striped pyjamas lives. Explain the belonging that is represented in the text: Perceptions and ideas of belonging, or of not belonging, vary.These perceptions are shaped within personal, cultural, historical and social contexts. A sense of belonging can emerge from the connections made with people, places, groups, communities and the larger world. People may cons ider aspects of belonging in terms of experiences and notions of identity, relationships, acceptance and understanding. Through Boyne’s novel, the boy in the striped pyjamas it reveals how belonging can enrich our identity and relationships. This would subsequently portray how acceptance and understanding may be obtained through the enrichment of one’s identity.Key examples that develop belonging in the text: â€Å"A home is not a building or a street or a city or something so artificial as bricks and mortar. A home is where one’s family is†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You're my best friend, Shmuel, My best friend for life. † â€Å"He looked the boy up and down as if he had never seen a child before and wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do with one: eat it, ignore it or kick it down the stairs. † â€Å"Are you allowed out? Why? What have you done†¦? â€Å"I’m a Jew† â€Å"We’re not supposed to be friends, you and me. We’re meant to be enemies. Did you know that? * clearly proves that there is a sense of the friends belonging to a relationship however there is always going to be the idea of not belonging to each other because of the cultural and moral situations they are put in, hence why they believe that they are meant to be â€Å"enemies† â€Å"He used to be a doctor once, but gave it all up to peel potatoes. † * The destruction that is caused upon a miserable man, because of the beliefs he has. There is a lack of integrity making him become their slave as he is a Jew   html http://www. enotes. om/the-boy-in-the-striped-pajamas http://www. bookrags. com/studyguide-the-boy-in-the-striped-pyjamas/ The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a poignant tale of events, Written by John Boyne and published in 2006 by David Fickling Books, the story was made into a major motion picture in 2008 based on the events occurred during WWII through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy. Bruno i s the bright-eyed son of a German soldier. When Bruno's father is relocated, the entire family has to move to the countryside. Although Bruno is proud that his father is a soldier, he lets his disappointment of leaving his friends show.There is a constant use of dramatic irony, through the idea that Bruno does not understand or know about the life they are entering however there is a common background understanding that all viewers will understand. This is evident when Bruno notices what he believes to be a farm with strange farmers who only wear striped pajamas. Whereas, we understand the reality of it, in which the farm is a concentration camp in which Bruno's father has been put in charge of. Fueled by curiosity, Bruno defies his mother and ends up at a corner of the fence that is not guarded.Once there, he meets Shmuel, a Jewish boy the same age as Bruno. The boys become friends quickly, even though Bruno has been told by his teacher and a frightening young Lieutenant Kotler tha t Jews are â€Å"evil. † Mark Herman, director of films such as Brassed Off and Hope Springs gives us a profound tale of innocence. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas could be the most heartbreaking film about the holocaust since Schindler's List. Although there is no physical violence shown in the movie, outrage at the injustice of it all is still felt; the boys should be able to play with each other without fear of getting in trouble.Children should not have to go through what Shmuel does just because they are different. It is the idea that there is a visual confusion and the dramatic irony is so important in conveying the injustices. There are times when Bruno's courage fails him. When Lieutenant Kotler asks him if he gave Shmuel food, he denies the truth so he won't get in trouble. But the audience can forgive him for these mistakes just as quickly as Shmuel does. With the idea of dramatic irony again, it’s the concept in which the audience takes many journeys of the b oy’s sense of belonging to each other and to their friendship however not belonging as utcasts. Bruno's innocence is what makes The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas so Stirring. When he asks his father what is burned in the chimneys, the audience feels a sense of turmoil because they know the truth. Bruno just doesn't understand what he's seeing. It explores the beauty of a child's innocence in a time of war, the common desire we all have for friendship, and the fences—both literal and figurative—that we must all navigate and choose whether or not to break down.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Addiction to Junk Food Essay

Everyday, millions of people consume the so-called addictive â€Å"junk food. † Most of the people who do not have time, or find it affortable eat in fast food restourants such as McDonalds, Burger King, and many others. Junk food is addictive because of many reasons such as saving time. The junk food can be clasified in few categories – snacks, fast food, and soft drinks. First come the snacks, which are being brought everyday by millions of people who are not conserned about how unhealthy chips is and care only about how tasty it is. It is hardly possible to pass McDonalds nowadays without stopping there and having Hamburger Menu with a big Coke. The second category are the foods from the fats food restourants (example is McDonalds), such as, hamburgers. A person will buy a hamburger because it is very good in taste but he or she does not consider what really is inside this â€Å"meal† and how those ingridians might harm his or her health. Soft drinks are also a part of the junk food area. For example, Coke is being mentioned and associated with it are Fanta, Sprite and many other drinks without which people â€Å"cannot live. See more: Defining research problem and setting objectives Essay Soft drinks are incredibly bad for people’s health due to their high level of sugar and other components. In brief, all the mentioned examples of fast food and soft drinks should not be eaten by people; however, this works as a law, everything that people should not eat, they love and want and this is the addiction. In conclusion, it is normal to see a person nowadays walking around with a coke in one hand and a burger in the other. No matter how unhealthy this meal is, this person likes it so he or she assumes that there is no reason to throw this meal away, and this is the so called addiction with junk food.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Ukrainian Language and Culture

Every day we use, transmit and sometimes learn both language and culture. We are most likely oblivious to it, but our language is inevitably influenced by the culture we live in – e. . the way we are taught to treat people and speak are connected. We are also most likely to have the same traditions and customs as the people speaking the same language. In this essay I will briefly define language and culture and present some examples of the influence on each other from my own Ukrainian culture. What is culture? Found in Oxford Dictionary Online, culture means â€Å"the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group†¦ † The word itself comes from the Latin word cultura – meaning growing, cultivation.Edward Tylor (1871) summarized it the following way: Culture †¦ is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. We practice what we learn throughout life and transmit to our children what we have been taught – the basic behaviour, such as greeting, table manners and dressing but inevitably also traditions, such as birthday and Christmas celebration. Without investigating we know that this type of behaviour was taught and found in many generations before us, and will be long after we die.The culture – the way we do things – is transgenerational – it continues beyond lifetimes (Rosman&Rubel 2001). Neither does culture stand still – it changes and develops over time (Ferraro, 1998). What is language? Language, or speech, is the primary human communication tool which conveys ideas, transfers messages and makes people interact. Apart from the verbal communication we find the other two – written and non-verbal (body language). Languages are made out of devises like grammar, syntax, phonemes and mordhenics (Ferraro, 1998). Language is also one of the things that differs us from animals (Rosman&Rubel 2001).Just the same way as we experience and practice culture, we do with language. The dictionary definition of the word is â€Å"1. the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured way 2. †¦ used by a particular country or community† (Oxford Dictionaries Online, 2012). Here it is evident that language is, apart from being a body of words and systems and speech, tightly connected to a specific group of people and consequently a culture. How does language influence culture and vice versa?Based on the information above, we see a very clear pattern – the ways humans speak and behave are connected. Language is the tool through which cultural ideas can be conveyed, transmitted and kept, and â€Å"when a group begins to lose its language, its cultural tapestry begins to unravel† (Rosman&Rubel, 2001, pp. 41). Som examples of language and c ulture going hand in hand, can be found in my Ukrainian culture: In addition to your name, you also carry a middle name – a patronymic. According to Oxford Online Dictionary, it is â€Å"a name derived from the name of a father or ancestor, typically by the addition of a prefix or suffix†.For instance, my full name is Anastasia Oleksandrivna Semenova. My fathers name is Oleksandr and being a female, the ending is -ivna. Males’ endings are typically -ov or -ich. Culturally this links the father being highly honored in the typical Ukrainian family – he is the head of the house and the provider. The patronymic is kept for life. This is also essential when addressing to eachother. In everyday life people typically use the first name and the fathers name, if not being family or very close friends, e. g. Anastasia Oleksandrivna. When addressing someone formally, different types of ‘you’ is used – e. . a friend would be addressed as â€Å"ty † () but a teacher, a boss or, in a childs case, everyone that is older would be addressed as â€Å"vy† (). Showing respect this way is a strict rule, but is a habit since it is taught from infancy. Culturally, this links with the politeness taught from a very young age – to respect the older, non-familiar and higher-educated people than you. Changing the â€Å"vy† to â€Å"ty† is a sign of entering into the friend circle. Conclusion The broad term culture includes behaviour, customs, traditions, cuisine, law and morals of a specific group of people.It is taught, transmitted, transgenerational and changed over time. Language is the primary tool of interaction and communication of man. It is shared by a community or a group of people and is tightly connected to the culture of the group – by language culture is taught and transmitted. The Ukrainian culture values and teaches respect when addressing one another. Two good examples are the use of patronymics as a middle name (links to high position of the father) and a formal and informal ‘you’ (links to respect toward older and unfamiliar people). Bibliography&references

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

The Ethical Code Letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Ethical Code Letter - Essay Example However, there are some unethical practices amongst our outside sales personnel which are of great concern to the management of the organization. For example, our outside sales personnel are fond of receiving gifts from our customers. The management feels that this will compromise the efficiency in the manner in which these people are performing their work (Morgan, 27). Another issue is that the organization wants to increase diversity amongst its human resource personnel. This would include hiring personnel of different races, political orientation, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, and ethnic background. To guide the conduct of our employees based on the factors above their is a need of developing a code of ethics. This code of ethics gives an outline on the general standards of ethics that all the employees of the organization are supposed to follow. In as much as this code will not address or outline all the ethical issues that an employee might face during his or her employment, it is the greatest hope from the management that it will guide an employee in making an ethical decision on a day to day basis (Morgan, 33). Dear employees, the organization requires that all its employees comply with the necessary laws, and regulations that govern the state. This is very important for the welfare of the business organization and that of its employees. For example, when an employee of the organization engages in acts of robbery, then this is a clear violation of the law. On this note, the organization won’t have an option, but to dismiss the employee under consideration. The management of the organization knows that at certain occasions, employees might try to steal from it. However, it is important for the employees to follow the principles set up by consequentialism theory (Morgan, 27). Under these principles, the employee under consideration must ask himself or herself what would be the consequences of the actions under consideration when

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

The Lived Experience of Ordinary People Assignment

The Lived Experience of Ordinary People - Assignment Example In present times America is facing various challenges, but the big challenge facing the federal government is maintenance of security and safety among the American citizens. President Barrack Obama demand for the American troops number in Iraq to be brought down. This as he estimates will increase the chances of Americas in fighting these terrorists around the world and the Al Qaeda as well (Berkowitz & Dewitt, 2013). Diplomacy and development issue key issues to improve as they are two major factors of their national security plan, and to make sure that their procedures of intelligence collection and analysis are assisting them in facing their enemies. In the past years security and safety were still challenge to the America federal government since they amended security bills with the motive of keeping the level of security of the country high (Piszkiewicz, 2003). This means that maintenance of security and safety of the people is quit s task that the American government has not yet achieved fully. For instance in 1960 July 1st The social security administration’s Woodlawn headquarters were dictated. The solution to these was to just recruit more troops for the sake of the country’s

Discuss how public sector organisations may respond to change as a Essay

Discuss how public sector organisations may respond to change as a result of changes to legislation and regulation - Essay Example They provide essential social services that cannot be provided by the private sector on grounds such as high capital investment. They also provide services that have little or no profit at all and are thereby shunned by the private sector. Normally public corporations are established on statutory grounds by the parliament. It therefore means that these corporations will normally have a lot of influence from the workings of the government. Public sector corporations are normally instituted to provide services such as health, education, social insurance and transport. Most of their management is comprises of political appointees. Legislations are laws or rules that are enacted by the government through the legislature or parliament. Such enactments are usually made relating to various issues that affect the masses. Public sector organizations are normally expected to respond to any new legislation that affects them. Much legislation has been enacted that affect the management of the pu blic corporations. Legislations affecting the public sector are customarily enacted out of the need to protect the general public from exploitation from these corporations. Exploitations have always been realized from these public corporations inasmuch as they are directly controlled by the government. It arises from the fact that some figures in government are always interested in the affairs of these corporations. As a result they end up influencing their operations most often for their own gains. Response to changes Public corporations are always expected to respond to legislations that are enacted to improve their operations or to bring sanity in the manner in which their operations are run. Most of these corporations were instituted several years back but unfortunately, many years later it is realized that their service delivery is usually below expectations. A comparison of some of these corporations with privately managed enterprises will reveal a lot of striking differences. It therefore begs the analysis of the reasons as to what might be wrong in the affairs of these corporations. It has always been realized that the manner in which some corporations respond to very pertinent legislations is always very slow and wanting. For instance, legislations relating to global warming , dumping of toxins into water bodies and other emerging issues have always raised a lot of questions regarding the slow pace of compliance from these corporations. Just like public enterprises, most of these corporations fall under specific regulatory authorities that are expected to regulate their operations. It has also been realized that that regulating these corporations is not easy as it may seem. Given the nature of their management, their organizational structures and the fact that they are not profit motivated, it makes it very difficult for the regulatory authorities to make them comply with the regulations expected. Most public sector organizations have very complex org anization structures in operation. Decision making in such an organization is not easy. As such it has always been difficult to implement some proposed regulations that are created for a specific purpose. Moreover managing employees in many public corporations is a daunting task. Most of them are protected by their terms of engagement which

Monday, August 26, 2019

Ryanair Airline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Ryanair Airline - Essay Example Ultimately; when employees are happy, they tend to work better and produce good results increasing the productivity of the firm and making it more valuable for stakeholders (Nishii, Lepak & Schneider, 2008). The effectiveness of the staff is however not something that happens automatically and management must be sure to provide the right mix of elements and conditions so that their staff can be both motivated to work efficiently and feel valued and appreciated. To this end, the firm needs must put in place a variety of factors such as social corporate responsibility, reward schemes as well as treating them in an ethical and protecting from them from exploitation. In the Airline industry, CRS is very important in the airline industry since it is one of the main ways they make name for themselves in in the eyes of both the general population and their clients (Coles, Dinan & Fenclova, 2009). The subject of this paper is Rynair airline which will be examined in the context of its intera ction with the staff with attention to the nature of the relationship and making recommendations on how the situation can be improved. However before endeavouring to make the changes it is important that their effect on the overall productivity of the firm is always taken to account to avoid compromising the interests of the customers. To be successful a firm must be treat its customers well, which as aforementioned makes them the most important stakeholder, when customers are dissatisfied with the quality of service, they will in most cases leave for the competition. Unfortunately, this does not necessarily apply to employees sometimes a firm can treat them badly with the intention of improving the firms bottom line and actually succeed. This is because employees cannot leave as easily as customers given that jobs are not very easy to come by and some will sacrifice their happiness and in some cases even dignity for the sake of the job. It is

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Ethical dilemmas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethical dilemmas - Essay Example Ethical practices make good business sense, because ethical companies suffer less resentment, less litigation, and less regulatory oversight. Furthermore, ethical managers and ethical businesses tend to be more trusted and better treated by employees, suppliers, stockholders, and consumers. Organizations are a reflection of society; they are the method by which individuals unite to form a network of common interest. And each organization is a fluid enterprise. At its center are the managers and executives responsible for directing the resources of the company. Shareholders own the capital and expect a return on their investment. Workers produce the goods and expect a decent wage and safe working conditions. To have a successful enterprise, each group must be responsive to the others and balance its interest against the interests of the others. When the balance is upset or when the interests pull too hard against each other, the ethical system is damaged. For an enterprise to continually give value to human effort and to encourage creative achievements, a balance of all interests is required ( Parry, 2001). Administrative actions are shaped by three domains: legality, free choice, and integrity. The law defines and constrains the limits of potential actions, specifying the bounds of lawful behavior. What is legal is not necessarily moral; what is not prohibited by law is not necessarily ethical; and what minimally meets the law is not necessarily proper. While the law codifies customs, ideals, beliefs, and moral values of a society, it cannot possibly cover all possible human actions (Beauchamp, Bowie, 2002). The rightness of actions is constrained by the third domain, integrity, which is obedience to the unenforceable. This represents unwritten, often unspoken, guidelines for behavior for which no legal mandates or prohibitions exist. It is the grey area where neither law nor free choice prevail. This is the realm of integrity, the necessary foundation for ethical decision making. Ethics is different from law because it involves no formal sanctions. It is different from etiquette because it goes beyond mere social convention. It is different from religion because it makes no theological assumptions. It is different from aesthetics because it is aimed at conduct and character rather than objects. It is different from prudence because it goes beyond self-interest to include the interests of others. It is different from finance and marketing and governing and parenting and carpentry, in that it does not involve a special purpose or special role as its point of departure. Ethics is both a process of inquiry and a code of conduct. Ethical inquiry consists of asking the questions of what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong. As a code of conduct, it is a sort of inner eye that enables people to see the rightness or wrongness of their actions. Values are core beliefs about what is intrinsically desirable. They underly the choices made in work decisions just as they underlie the choices made in one's private life. They give rise to ideals that are called ethics or morals. The two terms are sometimes confused. Actually, ethics and morals are synonymous. While ethics is derived from Greek, morals is derived from Latin. They are interchangeable terms referring to ideals of character and conduct. These

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Knowledge of Intro to Technologies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Knowledge of Intro to Technologies - Essay Example In the present scenario, one unique characteristic of the proposed technology would be on the need to meet the different technology needs of different employees of the company. Interestingly, though the work of each of the employees come together to ensure the successful running of the entire company, each employee’s works is so different that thinking of a different IT solution to each employee is the best way out in ensuring that the technology needs of the company are met as far as emerging technology is concerned. Proposal of Technology Needs Employee Hardware requirement Software requirements Connectivity requirements Subtotal General Remarks Reviewer Laptop, tablet PC, digital camera Windows, office Wireless card, USB modem AUD$2,000 Reviewer needs digital camera and tablet PC to make accessibility to taking of motion and still images easier. It should also be possible to capture audio recordings with these hardware. USB modem will also be appropriate for the laptop whil es the wireless card will be suitable for the tablet PC. Editor Desktop, smart phone, laptop Windows, Photoshop Wireless card, USB modem AUD$2,000 The editor will need a desktop PC in other make large scale editing of still and motion images possible at the company premises. The smart phone will make on the go access to information possible. The Photoshop software is needed for editing pictures and videos. Website designer Desktop, laptop Windows, Photoshop Wireless card, USB modem AUD$2,000 The website designer also needs Photoshop because he will be doing a lot of editing of images. The presence of desktop remains useful to the website designer because he would need to test how well the designed website would perform on different platforms including a desktop PC. Business owner Smart phone, tablet PC, laptop Windows, Wireless card, 3G, USB modem AUD$2,000 A smart phone is specifically mentioned because the business owner would need to make a lot of calls to business clients. He al so needs tablet PC to access mails and the internet as often as possible. Meeting/Conference Room Laptop, large screen monitor, projectors Windows, office Wireless card, USB modem AUD$1,500 The meeting or conference premises ought to have access to sophisticated LCD screen of larger inches to make presentation of meetings possible. There also need to be laptops to make the networking of information possible while meeting proceeds Networking, Printing and File sharing Desktop, laptop, printer, routers, Ethernet hub Windows, office Wireless card, USB modem, LAN Hub AUD$1,500 This is the component that needs larger amount of networking systems. It is for this reason that both wireless and LAN network systems are recommended. Overview of the network setup Considering the various technological demands of the various employees, the most prescribed network connection type to use is the wireless broadband connection. With this internet connection, it should be possible for all employees to access the internet without the need to have any wire aided connections in place. The advantage that this phenomenon will have over other forms of wire connections is that there will be an on-the-go access to the internet as far as a Wi-Fi device is available.

Friday, August 23, 2019

Management insight Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management insight - Research Paper Example This brand is mainly sold in the UK. Blue Charge: this is an energy drink produced in the United Kingdom. It competes with products such as Powerade and Red Bull. It is mainly used as an alcohol mixer by the students and British youth culture. The name of the manager: Gerald Penser The title of the manager: Chief Executive Officer Challenges facing the Gerald Penser as the CEO of Cott One of the biggest challenges that face Gerald is ensuring that the company remains relevant in the soft drink industry, which is dominated by very strong competitors such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola companies. This is quoted as follows â€Å"Gerald Pencer, a Canadian entrepreneur who came up with a new strategy for competing against these powerful differentiators.† (Gareth and Jennifer 263). Penser has a reason to fear his competitors because they can use their enormous budgets to bring Cott on its own knees. This is quoted as follows â€Å"Indeed, in 2010 both these companies announced a plan to bu y back their bottlers at a cost of billions of dollars†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Gareth and Jennifer 263). Reasons why pencer is facing these challenges The fact that Coca-cola and Pepsi are house hold names throughout the world, and since their brands are strongly entrenched in the minds of many customers means that Penser and his team have a very challenging task of devising unique strategies. Although Cott is its own bottler, which helps them pursue a low-cost strategy, Penser is still presented with a lot of challenges because his competitors can make some slight moves rendering their competitive strategy irrelevant. For example, both Coca-cola and Pepsi announced to buy back their bottlers in 2010, a move that can endanger Cott’s competitiveness. The most relevant managerial task In order to counter the strong competition from Coca-cola and Pepsi, Penser has undertaken a well calculated strategic decision. This strategy is aimed at producing â€Å"a high-quality, low-priced cola, manufactured and bottled by the Cott Corporation†¦but to sell it as the private-label house brand of major retail stores such as Walmart and supermarket chains such as Kroger’s, thus bypassing the bottlers† (Gareth and Jennifer 263). Through this strategy, Penser will ensure that the products of Cott corporation are bought because of they are low price; therefore, the company will still survive in the industry that is dominated by two companies with huge budgets. This strategy will make it possible for Cott to sell its products at low prices because they do not need to spend much on advertisements, since such a role is played by the retailers. Since Cott’s competitors have a presence at every corner of the world, Pencer ensures that his low-cost strategy is implemented in other countries beginning with the most strategic ones such as the United States. The theory or concept in the chapter The issues discussed in this chapter can be described by Michael porte r’s theory of competitive advantage. In this theory, strategies that are used by businesses to maintain their competitive advantage are explained. These strategies can be classified into three categories including market segmentation, differentiation, and cost leaders. The firms with high market share such as coca-cola and Pepsi are highly profitable, but those with small market share can play their cards well and make huge profits, as well. According to porter, firms with high m

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Book Keeping Essay Example for Free

Book Keeping Essay Book keeping it also referred as the keeping of book. Book keeping is the process of keeping full, accurate, up-to-date business records. Proper methods can help businesses effectively manage cash flow, stay abreast of profit and losses, and develop plans for the future based on financial trends. Furthermore, keeping accurate book is required by both federal and local tax agencies. The book keeping process involves making a record of the monies received by a business as well as the monies paid out. It encompasses money a company owes to vendors, employees, tax agencies, contractors, and any other individual or entity. Likewise, accurate records of amounts owed to a company by outside individuals and organizations are also recorded in a companys books. Though necessary and beneficial to business owners, the task can be very time consuming. With no exceptions, every monetary amount that is paid or received must be recorded. Additionally, accuracy is of the utmost importance, making keeping the books in a rushed manner a very bad idea. As business owners are often lacking in time, many choose to hire professional bookkeepers to keep company records well maintained. Of the many reasons for keeping accurate records, business and income taxes are among the most important. In the United States, for example, the Internal Revenue Service requires business owners to keep financial records that are complete and up-to-date. State and city tax agencies may require businesses to maintain accurate records as well. In fact, a business owner who fails to keep acceptable financial records may be liable for significant monetary fines or other penalties. A companys books are used to determine the amount of taxes the company must pay, and they are also used in preparing tax returns. Sometimes, a tax agency may decide to investigate the information reported on a return or other type of tax-related document. In such cases, business owners are required to present accurate records for the tax agencys inspection. Failure to do so could lead to hefty fines, penalties, or in severe cases, imprisonment. Although hiring bookkeeping professionals may be a good idea for many companies, not all business owners can afford to do so. This is particularity true of smaller, home-based, or start-up businesses. Fortunately, there are many computer programs designed to make the task of keeping the books manageable and less time consuming. Many programs handle all of the calculations for the user, taking the worry out of keeping accurate figures. Available even to those on tight budgets, this software makes record keeping easy. (N. Madison, 2013, Wise Geek.)[online] ACCOUNTING CYCLE The accounting cycle is often described as a process that includes the following steps: identifying, collecting and analyzing documents and transactions, recording the transactions in journals, posting the journalized amounts to accounts in the general and subsidiary ledgers, preparing an unadjusted trial balance, perhaps preparing a worksheet, determining and recording adjusting entries, preparing an adjusted trial balance, preparing the financial statements, recording and posting closing entries, preparing a post-closing trial balance, and perhaps recording reversing entries. Cycle and steps seem to be a carryover from the days of manual bookkeeping and accounting when transactions were first written into journals. In a separate step the amounts in the journal were posted to accounts. At the end of each month, the remaining steps had to take place in order to get the monthly, manually-prepared financial statements. Today, most companies use accounting software that processes many of these steps simultaneously. The speed and accuracy of the software reduces the accountant’s need for a worksheet containing the unadjusted trial balance, adjusting entries, and the adjusted trial balance. The accountant can enter the adjusting entries into the software and can obtain the complete financial statements by simply selecting the reports from a menu. After reviewing the financial statements, the accountant can make additional adjustments and almost immediately obtain the revised reports. The software will also prepare, record, and post the closing entries. (Harold,A.2013,Accounting Coach.)[online]. SOURCE DOCUMENTS Source documents are documents, such as cash slips, invoices, etc. that form the source of (and serve as proof for) a transaction. In other words, they are the first documents that exist relating to a transaction. Invoices, cash slips, receipts, check counterfoils, bank deposit slips ,credit notes ,debit notes ,voucher , purchase orders and even internet payment confirmations are all source documents. For example: Invoices Credit Notes Receipts Voucher Purchase orders BOOK OF PRIME ENTRY Book of prime entry is book used in recording transaction. Books of prime entry are also known as books of original entry or subsidiary books. Types of books of prime entry: Books of prime entry are also known as either ‘journals’ or ‘daybooks’. The term ‘day book’ is, perhaps, more commonly used, as it more clearly indicates the nature of these books of prime entry – entries are made to them every day. The commonly used books of prime entry are: Sale Day Book /Sale Journals Sale journals is to record credit sales. Purchases Day Book/Purchases Journals Purchases journals is to record credit purchases. Sales Return Day Book/Return In Journals Return in journals is to record returns from customers. Purchases Return Day Book/Return Out Journals Return out journals is to record returns to suppliers. General journal/The journal The journal is to record other transactions. The cashbook is a combined account of the cash account and the bank account. It is the only one of the six daybooks that is both an account and a daybook at the same time. Apart from the cashbook, all the other double-entry accounts are kept in one of the three ledgers. Example for 3 Column Cash Book LEDGER (T-ACCOUNT) The ledger is a collective term for the accounts of a business. (A ledger of accounts is like a school of fish). The accounts are in the shape of a ‘T’ and thus are often referred to as ‘T-accounts’. In this step we take all the debits and credits (journals) relating to one account – let’s say ‘bank’ – and draw up an account for bank that shows all the transactions relating to it. The different types of ledgers most businesses use are: Sale Ledgers Sale ledgers is to record customers account balance. Purchases Ledgers Purchases ledgers is to record suppliers account balance. General Ledgers General ledgers is to record miscellaneous account. Example: PETTY CASH BOOK The petty cash book is used to record the changes to the petty cash fund – both money put into the fund and money taken out. The fund is commenced with a petty cash advance cheque and topped up with a reimbursement cheque at the end of each petty cash period.The petty cash book is prepared from the petty cash vouchers, as well as the details from the advance and reimbursement cheque butts. The petty cash book is prepared from: advance (and/or reimbursement) cheque butt/s completed and authorised petty cash vouchers. The totals can be checked by cross-adding related column totals.The total of the vouchers (Cash Payments column total) added to the balance left in the petty cash fund (Balance column) should always equal the imprest amount. TRIAL BALANCE A sheet displaying all the accounts of a business, drawn up as a trial (test) of whether the total of all the debit balances equal the total of all the credit balances (A balance is the amount of an item at a point in time. For example, The balance in the bank account on the 1st of January was $5,000.). The trial balance is prepared as a final check just before the financial statements are drawn up. The trial balance is our penultimate step in the accounting cycle. Example for Trial Balance: FINAL ACCOUNT Final accounts are all of the financial statement for a business or company at the end of the fiscal or calendar year, on whichever the business calendar the company operates. The statements for the final accounts show the gross profit and net income of the company. A number of accounts are included, such as the profit and loss statement for the business, the balance sheet, and the trading account. The profit and loss statement tracks all of the income that comes into the company, as well as the expenses that the company pays out. The profit and loss statement covers a specific period — typically the fiscal year, but it can also cover the calendar year. It shows how revenue becomes net income, and whether or not the company made money for the year. While the company tracks these figures throughout the year, the final accounts include the statement for the cumulative fiscal or calendar year. The balance sheet is another one of the business financial statements that are prepared as part of the final accounts process when the year closes out. The balance sheet provides a quick look at how the company is doing at that specific moment in time, at the end of the year. In addition to assets and liabilities, a balance sheet also includes information on shareholder equity. Trading accounts cover profits and losses incurred from trading securities. Many companies invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other types of investment funds. The final accounts for the trading account show the amount of gain or loss from these investments at the end of the year that the company runs on. Final accounts and the statements that make up these accounts typically help companies to prepare their various tax returns. If the company accountant prepares the tax statements, then the accountant prepares these statements for his or her own use. If the company hires an outside accountant or accounting firm, then the statements for the final accounts are handed over to the third party, so they have the information they need to prepare the companys tax returns and any of tax paperwork that is required. (Kristie,L and Wilborn,C.2013,Wise Geek)[online] INCOME STATEMENT A financial statement that measures a companys financial performance over a specific accounting period. Financial performance is assessed by giving a summary of how the business incurs its revenues and expenses through both operating and non-operating activities. It also shows the net profit or loss incurred over a specific accounting period, typically over a fiscal quarter or year. Also known as the profit and loss statement or statement of revenue and expense. Example for Income Statements: STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION A statement of financial position, also known as a balance sheet, is a financial document that provides an overview of an entitys finances at a given point in time. These statements are commonly used by companies large and small, but they can also be applied to personal finances, for people who want to generate a document that they can use to review their financial situation for the purpose of making budgeting decisions or financial plans. Many accounting software programs have mechanisms to automatically create one. There are two main areas on a statement of financial position. One covers the assets, everything owned by the person or company, including real estate, cash in hand, contents of bank accounts, and so forth. The other side includes the liabilities, funds owed. A statement usually breaks these sections up into several categories for ease of reference, so that people can quickly look up a topic of particular interest, such as accounts payable or overdue loans. The liabilities also include the ownership equity or the shareholder equity in the business. The assets should equal the liabilities once the ownership or shareholder equity has been factored in, and if they do not, it is a sign that the financial statement is out of balance. This is in accordance with the accounting equation, which states that assets = liabilities + ownership or shareholder equity. Incidentally, this explains the term balance sheet, which reflects the idea that the two sections of the sheet should be equal or balanced. Commonly, a statement of financial position will be generated at the end of every month. Looking up past months can provide information about how a companys finances are progressing, and these documents can also be compared with statements from the same month in prior years. Using this document, decisions can be made about the next steps to take. If, for example, a company has a lot of assets, it may be a sign that it can comfortably expand because it has the available capital to do so. Companies that are publicly traded must provide public disclosures about their financial health, including statements of financial position. These are provided to shareholders by request and are also commonly published to make them readily accessible to prospective investors. If a company has a website, they might be found on a section of the website that includes documents that the company is required to disclose by law. (Smitch,S. and Wallace,O.2013,Wise Geek)[online] Example for Statement of Financial Position: CONCLUSION Book keeping is important to proper accounting records because proper methods can help businesses effectively manage cash flow, stay abreast of profit and losses, and develop plans for the future based on financial trends. Furthermore to complete the financial account, accounting cycle are used. The accounting cycle included source of document, books of prime entry, ledgers, trial balance and the final accounts. REFERENCE 1. Anon.2013,Book of Prime Entry and Ledgers.[online].Available from World Wide Web: http://principlesofaccounting2.com/topics/books-of-prime-entry-and-ledgers/ [Accessed 05/07/2013] 2. Anon.2013,The Accounting Cycle.[online].Available from World Wide Web: http://www.accounting-basics-for-students.com/accounting-cycle.html [Accessed 05/07/2013] 3. Anon.2013,Income Statement.[online].Available from World Wide Web: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/incomestatement.asp [Accessed 05/07/2013] 4. Beanne,O.2013,The Complete Accounting Cycle.[online].Available from World Wide Web: http://youraccountingcoach.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-complete-accounting-cycle.html. [Accessed 25/01/2013]

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Sector Matrix Essay Example for Free

Sector Matrix Essay In buyer-driven commodity chains retailers, branded manufacturers and branded marketers which usually operate in labor-intensive consumer goods industries (e.g. footwear, toys, and consumer electronics) play key parts in setting up decentralised production networks in a variety of exporting countries. In producer-driven commodity chains, however, large manufacturers usually operating in capital and technology-intensive industries (e.g. automobiles, aircraft, and computers) play pivotal roles in managing production networks, usually in developed countries. Global Commodity Chains overlooks important concepts known as demand substitution and supply interaction, which occur in the motoring sector when lower income consumers rather purchase more affordable second hand automobiles from car dealerships than new automobiles from manufacturers e. g. when second-hand cars dilute the automobile market. Competition is thereby oversimplified by Gereffi’s framework as a process that takes place within an industry of firms using similar technologies to produce competing products. Furthermore, complementary goods e.g. spares and parts, repairs and servicing, fuel, tax and insurance, and finance generates a high percentage of revenue in the motoring sectors. Thus to maintain competitiveness within a sector, managers need to be familiar with the concept of demand complementarity. Gereffi, similarly to Porter, overlook the strategic importance of complementary goods, envisaging the processes that bring a commodity to the final product market. The sector matrix analysis mentioned by Froud (2006) fills these limitations; it constructs the demand side in terms of complementary and competing demands made by end users, and the supply side in terms of corporate consolidation of surplus from different activities inside and outside a specific demand matrix. Taking into account the weaknesses of Porter and Gereffi’sframework, Froud argues a need to abandon product-specific analysis for an alternative way of thinking, arguing that the firm should be seen as a unit t hat consolidates financial surplus from diverse sources of profit inside and outside an activity matrix. Rather than constructing the demand side in terms of substitutable end-products (e.g. new cars versus new cars), the Sector Matrix approach captures demand complementarity (e.g. new cars + services) and demand substitution (e.g. new cars versus used cars). Therefore, thesector matrix approach gives a better understanding of the automobile product market than the concepts of Value  Chains and Global Commodity Chains in that it captures the strategic importance of complementary services, simultaneously redefining competition. Solely manufacturing cars is financially unrewarding due to the problems associated with saturation in the automobile markets e.g. fierce competition due to competitor ability to manage product development and technology processing. For example, Ford understood that in order to continue to achieve superior shareholder returns they must sharpen consumer focus, that why their vision is to be the world leading consumer company that provides automotive products and services not just the world leading automotive company.Under this downstream vertical integration strategy, Ford purchased UK-based car-servicing company Kwik-Fit, broadening their subsidiary portfolio; already consisting of car rental company Hertz, and fi nancial services company Ford Credit. Furthermore, the Sector Matrix approach does not confine competition to the group of firms producing similar products; it extends the business relation to all the other firms that aspire to positions in the matrix. So, redefining competition may be a necessary exercise in order to effectively analyse the product market. Albeit useful, the applicability of Sector Matrix can be debated amongst academics, however. Froudrecognise that many industries (e.g. trainers and shirts) cannot be reworked as sectorsdue to their simple infrastructure. Other more complex industries e.g. health care are difficult to visualise in a sector matrix diagram due to vague demand function. Hence, while the Sector Matrix approach works well in the case of automobile industry, the universalism the framework is debatable.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Transportation as a Form of Punishment: A History

Transportation as a Form of Punishment: A History Contemporary commentators argued that â€Å"transportation was no punishment at all†. Do you think that this is an accurate statement of realities of transportation to America and Australia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? Introduction In this paper, it shall be contended that at a superficial level, there is a measure of accuracy to the sentiments expressed in the quotation contained in the title statement. The perception of appropriate punishment that formed the public consciousness of the criminal justice system in Georgian England, where over 140 offences carried the immediate prospect of a capital penalty upon conviction, is the point of commencement. The preservation of a convict’s life in a far off land was often perceived not as a true criminal sentence but as a lesser but equally effective form of pardon. Public aversion to transportation as a true form of criminal sentencing intensified in the Victorian era. As the concept of the penitentiary replaced the earlier notions of banishment and its inherent cleansing of the social fabric of the ‘criminal classes’, a seemingly free passage to an ungoverned land such as Australia was incompatible with the formidable images of Milbank prison and the panopticons modeled on the earlier work of Jeremy Bentham. The superficial impression created by the contemporary commentators concerning the relationship between transportation and conventional notions of criminal punishment is submitted in this paper to be incomplete. This paper will explore a number of important corollaries that radiate from these conventional concepts, the chief of which is the development of the Australian ‘convict republic’ and its success in effecting reformation and societal integration of criminals that was never achieved in its English counterpart.. In addition to the physical risks posed to the convict cargo transported by eighteenth and early nineteenth vessels travelling from England to the distant lands of America and later to mysterious and unexplored Australia, transportation represented a form of unwilling emigration, often as a result of conviction for offences that by modern standards might warrant, at most, a non custodial disposition. These points shall be developed within the following framework. It is important to appreciate the timeline within which transportation was available as a criminal sentence in England. The timeline may be divided into five distinct components: the period prior to the 1718 legislative reforms; the enactment of the Transportation Act, 1718 until the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, 1776; the period of the prison â€Å"hulks†; the commencement of Australian transportation, 1787 and the early Australian colonies; the reform of the Australian penal colony structure until the cessation of Australian transportation, 1840. The analysis of the periods of transportation necessarily involves a comparison between the rationales employed by British authorities to justify transportation to America and that invoked with respect to Australia. The Australian colonial initiatives in turn reflected a powerful sea-change in public sentiment concerning transportation after the Bigge report of 1822. The twin Georgian era motivation to rid Britain of its criminals through banishment correspondingly populated a geopolitically strategic south Pacific colony. The penitentiary movement and its attendant principles of social control and reformation of the criminal classes at large ultimately became the principle focus of England’s Victorian system of criminal sentencing and punishment.. The Australian penal colony experience is given primacy in this paper due to its extent and the various social forces that influenced its course between the sailing of the First Fleet to Australia in 1787 and the end of transportation sentences in the British criminal justice system to New South Wales after 1840. In direct reference to the quotation cited in the title, special reference is made to the contemporary transcripts of the proceedings at the Old Bailey in the relevant period. The cases and secondary authorities cited in support of the propositions advanced here are not submitted not as exhaustive but as illustrative of the points advanced. The origins of the transportation sentence in English criminal practice- The American colonies Banishment as exile from one’s homeland is an ancient sanction.[1]In English law, the practice did not originate with the passage of the Transportation Act in 1718. As early as 1674, a female defendant named â€Å"Mall. Floyd† was sentenced at the Old Bailey â€Å"†¦to be transported to some of the Plantations beyond the Seas†.[2] Floyd was convicted of stealing children’s clothing; hers is the earliest transportation sentence noted in the Old Bailey records.[3] These transcripts reveal that in over 50 cases recorded in the London courts between 1676 and 1684, transportation was the sentence imposed. In the majority of transportation cases, the offender was convicted of petty theft or larceny.[4] The first Transportation Act apparently codified this common practice[5]. The American colonies were the most frequent ultimate destination of the persons sentenced to transportation between 1718 and the outbreak of the American War of Independence in 1776. It is plain that the public policy basis for transportation was multi-dimensional and reflected an inherent tension in English legal practice between the increased number of English criminal offences that nominally carried a capital penalty after 1660, and a recognition that the so-called ‘Bloody Code’ did not always result in a punishment that suited the crime.[6] Transportation and the consequence of banishment to a foreign land was perceived as a relief from the It is noted in many of the academic authorities that transportation to the American colonies was suspended after 1776. However, the sentences continued to be imposed; between the American war and the first shipment of convicts to Botany Bay in 1787, Old Bailey records indicate that over 8700 persons were sentenced to transportation without necessarily ever leaving England[7]. Most of these male convicts served their sentences on the disease infested and crowded â€Å"hulks†, the prison ships stationed on the Thames whose inmates were used to dredge the river.[8] There is little question given the historical record that transportation to America, assuming that the dangerous Atlantic passage was survived by the convict, represented an opportunity for the offender to live a healthier existence, if not one where citizen status was attainable[9]. In contract the later Australian experience, transportation to America was a practice intended to provide ready labour to the colonial economy. There was no legal mechanism by which a convict could integrate themselves into free colonial society. Transportation almost inevitably resulted in a life of relatively healthy servitude for the convict in the colony, a result that may have been perceived as preferable to the existence of members of the under classes of their contemporary free English society, or the dangerous and disease carrying â€Å"hulks† where sentences were passed after 1776[10]. It is of interest that while the American rebellion resulted in the suspension and then the end of transportation to America, by the time the war began the work output of African slaves was regarded by colonial enterprises as superior to that produced by transported English convicts.[11] The best of African labour was preferred to the worst of England as previously shipped to the colonies.[12] The transport of convicts to America had also spawned a variety of myths concerning the â€Å"returning felon† and his particular angers to English society.[13]Panics of this type were more a creation of fertile media minds of the period than rooted in fact. These fears were also advanced with less force during the period of Australian transport.[14]An earlier spur to the notion that transportation was in the general public interest of English society was found in the â€Å"crime wave† popularly believed to be threatening London in the early 1790s.[15] Australia Whereas the transportation of offenders to the American colonies was a pragmatic legal penalty that achieved the effect of banishment of undesirables to a place where their labour could be utilized, the commencement of Australian transportation in 1787 engaged more profound and conflicting social policy considerations[16]. Such sentences served to remove undesirables from English society; Australia, a land only known to Europeans since 1770, represented a profound colonial opportunity for England. A economically self-supporting colony and its attendant military presence in the south Pacific region was a desired objective of English authorities.[17] Transportation as a tool of criminal sentencing had been challenged prior to the transport of the first convicts to Australia. Jeremy Bentham is the most notable of these opponents, who saw transportation as extirpation when the societal goal ought to be the amendment of human nature through correction[18]. His theories of punishment were directed not to the banishment of offenders and the perceived removal of the criminal stain from the societal fabric, but to the principles of reformation of offenders through the use of imprisonment. The panopticon as devised by Bentham combined the concepts of penitence to be served by the offender to the state through separation from society and the labour performed while confined, and the ability of the prisoner to be returned to society an improved person.[19]The Bentham model was intended to incorporate a â€Å"calibration of deterrence†, where the length of sentence and its severity were matched to the crime committed to produce a refo rmed convict.[20] It has been noted by Braithwaite that the longer convict passage to Australia was significantly less hazardous to the convicts than that to America. Incentives were offered by the British authorities to the captains taking convicts to New South Wales for the number of convicts who were brought safely to the colony. The notion of banishment implicit in a transportation sentence was clearly tempered by a desire on the part of English authorities to have healthy and contributing persons in the colony.[21] The same attitude appears in the decision to transport by way of the â€Å"floating brothel† female convicts to the colony in 1790, a group of women later characterised as â€Å"the founding mothers of Australia†.[22] It was after the English public became aware of how the transported convicts were housed and treated in the Australian colony after 1787 that provoked the criticisms contained in the title quotation. Bentham’s objections to transportation were rooted in his philosophy of social justice; the sentiments of the detractors of transportation sentences as captured above were motivated by the perception that Botany Bay and the later established Australian colonies permitted criminals to avoid their just desserts. The specific bases for these criticisms are examined below. In the popular press, the Australia colonies came to be regarded as a place where ‘†¦There vice is virtue, virtue vice, / and all thats vile is voted nice†[23]. Bentham questioned â€Å"†¦ whether the world ever saw anything under the name of punishment bearing the least resemblance to it,[24] a sentiment that reflected a movement within English society to provide a moral underpinning to government policy.[25] From this perspective, rooted in Calvinistic notions of sin and penitence, the certainty and unremitting harshness of an English prison sentence was to be preferred to the vagaries of a quasi-colonial, ungoverned existence in a tropical land[26]. The first colonial governor, Arthur Philip, provided the best ammunition for the anti-transportation forces, with the sardonic observation that convicts were sentenced to a transportation regime where they were â€Å"†¦no longer be burdened with the support of your wife and family †¦ removed from a very bad climate and a country over burdened with people to one of the finest regions of the earth†¦where it is highly probable you may ultimately gain your character and improve your future†, a disposition that the Court was obligated to pass â€Å"†¦in consequence of the many aggravating circumstances of your case, and they hope your fate will be a warning to others†.[27] Emsley has noted that prior to the Bentham led movement to rationalise English criminal justice and sentencing procedures on a reformation centred model, the three chief sentencing tools applied in the courts were death; transportation; corporal punishment, chiefly whipping. In serious matters, the aphorism â€Å"execution or exile† was apt.[28] English sentencing law was one of absolutes, where pardons were rendered so often as a response to the disporportionality between what modern justice regards as petty offences and the available penalty that the justice system was rendered an â€Å"unsustainable lottery†.[29] It is suggested that modern commentators such as Hughes have overly romanticised the fate of the first Australian transportees, with descriptions of the Botany Bay colony as a prison â€Å"†¦with a wall 14,000 miles thick†, where its convict inhabitants were cast in bondage as a device to rid England of its criminal classes.[30]On this reading, the convicts were unwilling emigrants as opposed to a transplanted population.[31] This approach places greater emphasis than is reasonable on the sentencing consequence of leaving one’s homeland, in contrast to both the quality of life otherwise typically available to these convicts in England, and the opportunities for advancement and full citizenship that evolved in the Australian colony not ever likely to be realised at home. All commentators are agreed that the Australian penal colonists were overwhelmingly comprised of the very poor urban lower classes from the British Isles.[32]. The first shock to any collective perception of what rights might be extended to them new colony must have occurred shortly after the landing of the ‘First Fleet’ in 1788. The colonial leadership permitted cases involving alleged thefts from convicts to proceed on the strength of convict testimony, a procedure prohibited under conventional English law.[33]The right of habeus corpus was extended to convicts by the Australian colonial tribunals.[34] These advances are themselves profound and represent an important if oblique rebuttal to the criticisms set out in the title question. Given that the overwhelming majority of transported convicts were convicted of theft and related offences, there is a significant irony in these persons achieving greater common law legal protections and the rule of law in a colony whose courts were convened ostensibly as military tribunals, over the rights available to them in formal law courts of England.[35] The colonial government was also quick to recognise that convicts could own property, marry, and be tasked to civilian authorities such as the police force and the colonial bureaucracy.[36]In profound contrast to the American colonial transportation regime, where the convict was afforded no state protections, by 1800 the Australian convicts were a part of a governmental structure that was a wholly delegated institutional authority where the complete integration of the convict into the societal mainstream was not only conceivable, but a common outcome.[37] The colonial administration also imposed more traditional sanctions. In addition to the various regulations by which convicts were assigned to either existing landowners or the colonial administration, there was an element of brutality to the early Australian colony that was not emphasised or understood by critics of convict transportation. Floggings were widely administered without prior legal sanction; hangings were a frequent event.[38] It is imperative to a complete appreciation of the contemporary commentaries regarding the Australian colonies that their criticisms had a pronounced effect on English policy by the 1820s. Concerns that transportation to the â€Å"plantation society† was not sufficiently dreaded were the undoubted motivation behind the investigation conducted by John Thomas Bigge (1780-1843) in 1818 that culminated in his reports concerning New South Wales published in 1822.[39] Bigge determined that the stated fears of the English government, that the colony was not properly regarded as â€Å"an object of real terror† were justified. Bigge pointed specifically to the colonial administration practices of appointing former convicts to positions as magistrates, and the ability of convict landowners to supervise newly transported convicts in their business enterprises. The Bigge report and its recommendations formed the basis for a series of intended reforms of Australian colonial practice after the mid 1820s. The chief targets of the report were the alleged corruption permitted by then Governor Macquarie, including the laxness of ex-convicts appointed as district constables; theft from government stores; poor tracking and management of the ticket-of-leave system; deficiencies in the accommodation for female convicts[40]. Bigge discounted the ability of the present government to maintain general order and the popular support that the administration enjoyed amongst the colonial population. Bigge’s attitudes as expressed in his reports confirmed the contemporary commentator belief that transportation to Australia was a godsend not a penalty, where the moral corruption of the convict classes was wide spread.[41] The institution of convict chain gangs to perform public labour such as road construction and the development of a comprehensive bureaucracy to support the monitoring of convicts generally and tickets-of-leave in particular were two of the fundamental changes to Australian colonial government. Isolated penal colonies such as Moreton Bay and Norfolk Island were operated with unremitting uniform discipline[42]. These institutions quickly acquired the desired reputation as places of dread, consistent with the domestic notions of punishment and a restrictive existence for their convicts advocated by Bigge and endorsed by influential forces in England.[43] Once the Bigge reforms were instituted, the ticket-of-leave became the primary means of convict control in the New South Wales colony. As a conditional pardon with a remission component built in, tickets-of-leave were extended to permit further reductions and the availability for speedier conclusion if the holder performed special works in the interests of the colony, such as the capture of an outlaw.[44]The ability to â€Å"work off† additional elements of one’s sentence was not a benefit considered by the opponents of transportation.[45]It may be said that the attitudes to convict reintegration evidenced in Australian society were pragmatic and effective; Godfrey and Cox determined that while crimes continued to be committed in the convict society of the colony, the crimes were generally of a lesser degree than those perpetrated in England[46]. These same domestic forces had limited the previous widespread imposition of capital punishment in England. From the 7,000 executions that are estimated to have been carried out between 1660 and 1800 (and the resulting desirability of mitigation by transportation sentences)[47], by 1830 execution was almost exclusively reserved for convicted murderers.[48] The construction of penitentiaries and the resultant imposition of corresponding incarceration gained general public favour.[49] The criticism of transportation as â€Å"no punishment at all† may have been restricted to the English society establishment. The Old Bailey transcripts that span the entire period of convict transportation reveal sentiments that suggest the offenders facing such sentences harboured a fear of their imposition.[50]Two examples that provide a chronological bracket for this proposition are noteworthy. In 1683, the theft of a silver tankard that resulted in a plea of guilty â€Å"within the Benefit of his Clergy† netted the offender a transportation sentence that he feared.[51] More tellingly as late as 1847, when Australian convict transportation was restricted to Tasmania, a robbery victim described the perpetrator as having threatened to make a false complaint of a crime: â€Å"†¦he took it from my pocket—I did not tell him to search my pockets—I parted with it under the dread of transportation—he took it—I did not make any attempt to ge t it back.†[52] Conclusion The contemporary criticism of transportation must be considered in the context of the existing English criminal justice system[53]. The commentators’ observations were accurate if the viewing prism was that of execution or exile – anything short of death might be considered a measure of leniency. A combination of factors that operated at various junctures over the course of Australian transportation counter these sentiments. Dislocation from the known environment of England to the edge of the earth that was Australia is discounted as a modern human rights impression that itself is outweighed by the miserable future prospects of most transported convicts had they remained in England. The most compelling counterbalance to the critics of transportation is a combination of pragmatic effects. Over 187,000 presumed undesirable persons were removed from England to Australia between 1787 and 1840; few returned, thus achieving the fundamental object of the perceived cleansing an d security of English society. Conversely, a vibrant group of colonies was established and thereby created permanent economic and geopolitical advantages for England into the twentieth century. Further, from the perspective of the individual convicts, the Australian colonial experience may be regarded as the most successful system of criminal rehabilitation ever devised, at once brutal yet forgiving[54]. Whether by accident or design, English convicts in Australia were given hope and the opportunity to take a stake in the future; many achieved an integration into a functioning community where their fate otherwise was that of the perpetual impoverished outcast resident on the edges of English society. Bibliography Anderson, S. J. Pratt (2009) ‘Prisoner memoirs and their role in prison history’ in H. Johnston (ed.) Punishment and Control in Historical Perspective, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Bartrip, P (1981) ‘Public Opinion and Law Enforcement: The Ticket of Leave Scares in Mid-Victorian Britain’ in V. Bailey (ed.) Policing and Punishment in Nineteenth century Britain, London: Croom Helm. Beattie, J. M. (1986) Crime and the Courts in England, 1660-1800, Clarendon: Oxford. Beattie, J. M. (2001) Policing and Punishment in London, 1660-1750: Urban Crime and the Limits of Terror, Oxford: Oxford University Press Benis, Toby R. (2003) Transportation and the Reform of Narrative Criticism, 45 Bigge, John Thomas (2008) ‘Australian Dictionary of Biography’ at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010093b.htm (Accessed January 17, 2009) Braithwaite, J. (2001) ‘Crime in a Convict Republic’, Modern Law Review, 64:1, 11-50 (also available at: http://www.aic.gov.au/conferences/hcpp/braithwaite.pdf (Accessed January 12, 2009) Brown, A. (2003) English Society and the Prison: Time, Culture and Politics in the Development of the Modern Prison, 1850-1920 Woodbridge: Boydell Press Cohen, Stanley (1972): Folk Devils and Moral Panics. London: MacGibbon Kee Davis, J. (1980) ‘The London Garroting Panic of 1862: A Moral Panic and the Creation of a Criminal Class in mid-Victorian England’ in Gatrell, Lenman, Parker (eds.) Crime and the Law: The Social History of Crime in Western Europe since 1500 Ekrich, A. R. (1987) Bound for America: The Transportation of British Convicts to the Colonies, 1718-1775, Oxford: Clarendon. Emsley, C (2002) ‘The History of Crime and Crime Control Institutions, 1770-1945’ in Maguire, M et al (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Emsley, C (2005) Crime and Society in England, 1750-1900, Essex: Longman Feehan, L. (2008) ‘Transportation’ in Yvonne Jewkes and Jamie Bennett (eds.) Dictionary of Prisons and Punishment, Cullompton: Willan Finnane, Mark (1997) Punishment in Australian Society, Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Fitzgerald, Mike et al (1981) Crime and Society: Readings in History and Theory, London: Routledge Godfrey, Barry and Cox, David (2008) ‘The â€Å"Last Fleet†: Crime, Reformation and Punishment in Western Australia, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 41, 2: 236-258 Henriques, U.R.Q. (1972) ‘The Rise and Decline of the Separate System of Prison Discipline’, Past and Present, 54, 61-93 Hughes, R (1996) The Fatal Shore: A History of the Transportation of Convicts to Australia, 1787-1868, London: The Harvill Press Herrup, Cynthia (2004) â€Å"Punishing Pardon: Some Thoughts on the Origins of Penal Transportation† In Simon Devereaux and Paul Griffiths (eds.) Penal Practice and Culture, 1500-1900: Punishing the English. Basingstoke, 121-37 Hirst, J. (1998) ‘The Australian Experience: The Convict Colony’ in Morris, N and D. J. Rothman (eds.) The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Jewkes, Yvonne and Johnston, Helen (2006) ‘Prisons in context’ in Yvonne Jewkes and Johnston, Helen (eds.) Prison Readings: A critical introduction to prisons and imprisonment, Cullompton: Willan Jewkes, Yvonne and Johnston, Helen (2007) ‘The evolution of prison architecture’ in Y. Jewkes (ed.) Handbook on Prisons, Cullompton: Willan. Johnston, Helen (2008) ‘The Victorian Prison’ in Yvonne Jewkes and J. Bennett (eds.) Dictionary of Prisons and Punishment, Cullompton: Willan. Johnston, Helen (2008) ‘The Separate and the Silent systems’ in Y. Jewkes and J. Bennett (eds.) Dictionary of Prisons and Punishment, Cullompton: Willan. Johnston, Helen (2008) ‘Less eligibility’ in Y. Jewkes and J. Bennett (eds.) Dictionary of Prisons and Punishment, Cullompton: Willan. Johnston, Helen (2006) â€Å"Buried Alive†: Representations of the Separate System in Victorian England’ in P. Mason (ed.) Captured by the media: Prison discourse in popular culture, Cullompton: Willan. Johnston, Helen (2005) ‘The Shropshire Magistracy and Local Imprisonment: Networks of Power in the Nineteenth Century’, Midland History, 30, 67 -91 Mayhew, Henry (1851) ‘The London Labour and the London Poor’, as reprinted in Peter Quennell (1983) London’s Underworld, London: Spring Books McGowen, Randall (1990) ‘Getting to Know the Criminal Class in Nineteenth-Century England’, Nineteenth Century Contexts, 14, 1 McGowen, Randall (2004) ‘The Problem of Punishment in Eighteenth-Century England’ in S. Devereaux P. Griffiths (eds.) Penal Practice and Culture, 1500-1900 Punishing the English, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan Morgan, Gwenda and Peter Rushton (1998) Rogues, thieves and the rule of law The problem of law enforcement in north-east England, 1718-1800, London: UCL Press, Chapters 6 and 7 Morgan, Gwenda and Peter Rushton (2004) Eighteenth-Century Criminal Transportation: The Formation of the Criminal Atlantic, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Old Bailey Proceedings Online http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Legal-info.jsp (Accessed January 18, 2009) Pratt, John (2002) Punishment and Civilization Penal Tolerance and Intolerance in Modern Society, London: Sage Pratt, John (2005) ‘Explaining the history of punishment, in B. Godfrey and G. Dunstall (eds.) Crime and Empire, 1840-1940: Criminal Justice in local and global context, Cullompton: Willan Priestley, Philip (1999) Victorian Prison Lives English Prison Biography 1830-1914 London: Pimlico Rawlings, Philip (1999) Crime and Power A History of Criminal Justice 1688-1998, Essex: Longman Reece, Bob (2001) The Origins of Irish Convict Transportation to New South Wales, Basingstoke: Palgrave. Rees, Sian (2002) The Floating Brothel: The extraordinary true story of an 18th century ship and its cargo of female convicts, London: Headline. Saunders, Janet (1986) ‘Warwickshire Magistrates and Prison Reform, 1840-1875’, Midland History 11, 79-99 Shaw, A. G. L. (1998) Convicts and the Colonies: A Study of Penal Transportation from Great Britain Ireland to Australia other parts of the British Empire, Ireland: Irish Historical Press. Sindall, Robert (1987) ‘The London garroting panics of 1856 and 1862’, Social History 12, All About Me | Oral Presentation All About Me | Oral Presentation Introduction. For this assignment, I have chosen to do my assessment on Literacy Home Language. The skills to be focused on will be Listening and Speaking, and the grade that I have chosen is Grade 3. In grade 3, the learners are required to make an oral presentation as part of their outcomes. For my assessment, I have chosen to do an Oral Presentation using Formative Assessment strategy. This assignment will cover what the Oral Presentation entails, the memorandum as well as the rubric. The reason for using Formative Assessment will also be explained, and Learning Support Programmes will be discussed. All about me oral presentation. You are required to do an oral presentation all about yourself. You must be prepared to stand in front of the class and talk for no longer than 3 minutes. Topics you need to talk about: 1. Where were you born and on what date? 2. Who is your family? 3. What is your favourite food you love to eat and why? 4. What do you love doing the most? 5. What is your favourite subject at school and why? 6. If you could be anything one day when you are older, what would it be? Explain. You will need to bring visual-aids to assist you with your oral presentation. You could bring eg. photographs, drawings, toys or anything else that is part of your oral presentation. Your oral presentation needs to be ready by the: 4 March 2011. Have fun! à ¯Ã‚ Ã…   Memorandum Where were you born and on what date? Learner gave a reasonable explanation to where they were born eg. Umhlanga Hospital. Learner was able to say their birth date in full and not eg. 05-02-05, or five February. *Learner had visual aids to support answer, eg. Birth Certificate. Who is your family? Learner could talk fluently about their family members, and went beyond the question. Learner did not include eg. pets as member of family. *Learner had visual aids to support answer, eg. photographs. What is your favourite food you love to eat and why? Learner gave a substantial answer to their choice of their favourite food and could give reasons why it is their favourite food, and not say eg. because it tastes nice. *Learner had visual aids to support answer, eg. pictures or samples. What do you love doing the most? Learner gave a valid response to what they love doing the most, their hobbies. *Learner had visual aids to support answer, eg. pictures or toy. What is your favourite subject at school and why? Learner was able to give their favourite subject at school and could give a variety of reasons as to why. Eg. Literacy. Reason: I love being able to read stories and being able to write my own stories. *Learner had visual aids to support answer, eg. story book. If you could be anything one day when you are older, what would it be? Explain. Learners were able to think outside the box, and were able to answer the question creatively while giving a clear explanation as to why. *Learner had visual aids to support answer, eg. Fireman helmet. Mark allocation: *Introduction and conclusion= 5marks *Time allocation= 5marks *Content= 10marks. Total of 20/40 [counts 50% of presentation] Rubric- Mark Structure. 1= Not Achieved. 2= Partial Achievement. 3=Satisfactory Achievement. 4= Excellent Achievement. TOTAL 1. Tone and Expression, with Body Language. Very soft, lacks self-esteem. Minimal eye-contact. Tries to be expressive, uses eye-contact some of the time. Conscious of tone and expression. Uses body language and eye-contact. Expressive speaker, uses body language and eye-contact appropriately. 2. Logical Sequencing. No sequence cannot follow learner. Some points out of order. Presented logically. Sequence of events followed in an interesting, logical way. 3. Descriptive Language. Use of descriptive language was not achieved. Tries to use descriptive language. Conscious of language and vocab. used. Uses language and vocab. that is interesting and appropriate. 4. Creativity Process. Use of creative thinking process lacked. Partial use of creative thinking process. Satisfactory use of creative thinking process. Excellent use of creative thinking process, and answering of open-ended questions. 5. Use of Visual Aids. No visual aids present. Brought visual aids, but were not used. Satisfactory use of visual aids, supports presentations. Excellent use of visual-aids. Explained and were used appropriately. 6. Factual Information Given. Irrelevant information given, not prepared. Knowledge of information lacks understanding. Full knowledge and understanding of information given. Good presentation. Full knowledge and understanding of information given. Excellent presentation. [* x5 as per memorandum states, 50% of the oral for factual info.] Choice of assessment. Formative assessment is developmental. It is used by teachers to provide feedback to the learner and track whether the learner has progressed (or not). [South Africa s.a:9] During formative assessment, the learner is aware that he/she is being assessed. Formative assessment is also known as assessment for learning.' [South Africa s.a:9]. The reason why I chose formative assessment is simply because it allows for feedback (positive) to be given to learners after the assessment to allow for improvement. The Centre for Educational Research and Innovation stated that formative assessment also allows for the use of different approaches to identify the learners understanding, eg. the use of visual aids in my assessment. It also said that formative assessment is also used to improve the learners understanding and progress. [Centre 2005:45-46] The CAPS document stated that specific attention needs to be given to listening and speaking skills throughout the Foundation Phase. [South Africa 2010:8] Therefore, I did my assessment based on an Oral assessment, as Oral assessments are important and are often over-looked. Oral assessments will prepare the learners for their futures as well as boost their self-esteem. With the use of Formative assessment, I will be able to monitor the learners progress as well as they will be able to monitor their own progress. I will be able to keep record of the learners performance and assist them according to their individual needs. Feedback. 28 learners in my class took part in the oral presentation assessment. Out of the 28 learners, 6 of the learners fared poorly, where 10 of the learners could have performed better. These 16 learners need the extra support that the Learning support programmes will provide for them. The remaining 12 learners fared excellently and will take part in the accelerated learner programme. Learning Support Programme. [Learners] who experience difficulties in basic areas of learning are supported through the Learning [Support] Program in their local school. [Student support programmes 2010] The 26 learners who need the extra support from the assessment, are the learners who are less comfortable talking in front of others (shy learners), learners who spoke without expression or without the use of body language. The learners also battled with using descriptive language to bring their oral presentation to life. The first learning support program will be focusing on breathing. The breathing activity that we will be doing is called The Elephant Walk [Breathing strategies for kids 2011]. The activity is helpful to assist the learners with relaxation, and allow them to feel less tensed when doing another oral presentation, or just generally speaking in front of groups of people. For this activity the learners have to pretend to be big elephants. They have to bend their legs, lower their heads, relax their shoulders and have their arms dangling loosely next to their sides. They will need to imagine and act as an elephant walking slowing, swaying their arms side to side. The next step is to get the learners to inhale as much air in as they can. They will then be shown how to blow the air out slowly. [Breathing strategies for kids 2011]. This activity will not only help the learners to relax, but will also teach them to breathe out long and slow which is helpful for their presentations. The next support programme will be role-plays. The outcome for this activity will be to develop the learners confidence and self-esteem while talking in front of people. For the role-plays, the 16 learners will be divided into 4 groups of 4. The 4 groups will be given a certain story to act out, eg. Goldie-Locks and the Three Bears. This story will be divided into 4 sections, and each group will be given a section to work on and act out. Splitting one-whole story into the sections will allow the learners to gain knowledge of logical sequencing, as they must perform the story in the correct sequence. The use of role-plays has many beneficial uses, and will support the learners. The role-plays focus on developing self-esteem, as they will be working together in groups, and will be in character which aids in their self-confidence. It will also allow them to be conscious of body movements- which is where most of the learners fared poorly on as well as maintaining eye-contact. It will teach the learners to express themselves using descriptive language. Role-plays are also used to facilitate coherence of speech and awareness for the use of suitable vocal techniques, [as well as] to build self-esteem and improve presentational skills. [Speech and drama s.a] The learners will be given the opportunity to practice the role-plays in class, and will be allowed to dress up accordingly. The groups will then need to perform in front of the class, but in the correct sequence allowing the story to flow in a logical way. These 2 learning support programmes will boost these 16 learners to improve in their speaking and presentation skills. They will acquire important skills while being involved in these programmes, and they will be done in a relaxed, fun atmosphere, where learners learn best! Accelerated learning programmes. Accelerated programmes are programmes developed for learners who fair excellently in their assessment. These programmes allow learners to further develop and enhance their strengths, and allows them to reach their maximum potential. The 12 learners who fared excellently in their oral assessment, are the learners who spoke with expression and used body language appropriately. They were able to use descriptive language while maintaining and logical flow of information during their presentation. The first accelerated programme these learners will do will be focused on doing creative orals. The learners will each be given laminated pictures where they will be required to make-up a story using the pictures. [ Lance 1996:10] This activity will encourage the creative process of the learners, and they will be stimulated to use descriptive language while telling their story. They must also ensure that the story is told in a logical sequence and that it flows creatively. The learners will then get a chance to tell their story to the other learners in the other learning programme. This will enhance the use of tone and body-language, as they will be talking in smaller groups, but will still be required to maintain expression while talking. The learners must also be open to questions regarding their stories, which allows critical creative thinking process to be activated. The learners will be given time in class to prepare their stories while the other groups practice their role-plays. Another activity that these learners will be required to do is doing general knowledge orals. This entails that each learner will be given a day in the week, where they will be required to research and come-up with an interesting fact, or general knowledge to share with the class. It must be age-appropriate, and the learners must be able to lend themselves to all areas, eg. wild-life facts, scientific fact or basic general knowledge facts. This activity is a great activity to stimulate descriptive language as learners must be able to speak in such a way as to get the attention of all learners. They will get a chance in the beginning of the day to present their findings, and use visual-aids, eg. pictures or newspaper clippings, to stimulate their presentation. This will benefit the learner as they are able to speak in front of the class, practice their tone and use of expression again and enhance their strengths while talking about a variety of different topics. They will be required to talk in a logical way that is easy for the other learners to follow. It will be a brief presentation, no longer than 2 minutes, which will assist the learners to talk within a given time-frames as well as give the most important facts first. These advanced learning programmes will enhance the 12 learners who fared excellently in their oral presentations. It will not only give them another opportunity to speak in front of others, but it will allow them to be extended and to use their creative thinking skills. This programme will strengthen the learners skills and improve their overall speaking and presentation skills. Conclusion. This assignment covered many aspects of assessment and it shows that learning does not stop after an assessment is given, but it is a continual process. Programmes must be incorporated to assist learners who fared poorly as well as the learners who fared excellently. From reading this assignment, you would have seen why I chose to do an Oral presentation as my assessment and use the formative assessment strategy.

Essay on Women in Iliad, Odyssey, and the Bible -- comparison compare

Role of Women in Iliad, Odyssey, and the Bible Much is known of men in ancient civilizations, from the famous philosophers and mathematicians of Greece to the patriarchs and subsequent kings of the nation of Israel. It would seem, however, that history has forgotten the women of these times. What of the famous female thinkers of Ancient Greece, the distinguished stateswomen of Rome? What power did they hold? What was their position in societies of the distant past? A glimpse into the roles and influence of women in antiquity can be discovered in such ancient masterpieces as the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Hebrew Bible. In the Iliad, women are barely mentioned, and then only as spoils of war or treacherous creatures not worthy of a man's trust. The two main Argive heroes, Achilles and Agamemnon, the brightest and best of the Greeks, enslave captured women to keep as personal prostitutes, passing them around and dividing them among each other as if the women were no different from the rest of the booty they have won in battle. Agamemnon says of Chryseis, the girl he has claimed for himself, "[. . .] The girl-I won't give up the girl. Long before that, / old age will overtake her in my house, in Argos, / far from her fatherland, slaving back and forth / at the loom, forced to share my bed!"(Homer , book 2, 33-36). Indeed, these two paragons of Greek virtue talk and act as if these women are not truly people; Achilles may have a fit when Agamemnon tries to lay claim to his prize, Briseis, but more from a sense of being cheated out of his share in the loot that any real compassion for the girl or her si tuation. Helen, a prominent figure in the fable of the Trojan War, has barely a cameo in this version of the Iliad, and he... ... sons and to be obedient, but occasionally, some women were not content with this one purpose in life. Throughout history, we have a few examples of extraordinary women who held power and influence, such as Hetshepsut, the first female pharaoh of Egypt, and Cleopatra, who managed to snag two notable Roman generals. A sense of women's resorting to indirect means to obtain power can be seen in these works of the ancient world, of women's exerting influence perhaps through the men they marry or the positions they hold, if not outwardly of power, then at least with some chance of gaining it. Works Cited Homer. Iliad. Mack 1: 98-208. -----. Odyssey. Mack 1: 208-540. The Inspirational Study Bible. Ed. Max Lucado. Dallas: World Publishing, 1995. Mack, Maynard, et al. eds. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. 6th ed. 2 Vols. New   York: Norton, 1992. Essay on Women in Iliad, Odyssey, and the Bible -- comparison compare Role of Women in Iliad, Odyssey, and the Bible Much is known of men in ancient civilizations, from the famous philosophers and mathematicians of Greece to the patriarchs and subsequent kings of the nation of Israel. It would seem, however, that history has forgotten the women of these times. What of the famous female thinkers of Ancient Greece, the distinguished stateswomen of Rome? What power did they hold? What was their position in societies of the distant past? A glimpse into the roles and influence of women in antiquity can be discovered in such ancient masterpieces as the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Hebrew Bible. In the Iliad, women are barely mentioned, and then only as spoils of war or treacherous creatures not worthy of a man's trust. The two main Argive heroes, Achilles and Agamemnon, the brightest and best of the Greeks, enslave captured women to keep as personal prostitutes, passing them around and dividing them among each other as if the women were no different from the rest of the booty they have won in battle. Agamemnon says of Chryseis, the girl he has claimed for himself, "[. . .] The girl-I won't give up the girl. Long before that, / old age will overtake her in my house, in Argos, / far from her fatherland, slaving back and forth / at the loom, forced to share my bed!"(Homer , book 2, 33-36). Indeed, these two paragons of Greek virtue talk and act as if these women are not truly people; Achilles may have a fit when Agamemnon tries to lay claim to his prize, Briseis, but more from a sense of being cheated out of his share in the loot that any real compassion for the girl or her si tuation. Helen, a prominent figure in the fable of the Trojan War, has barely a cameo in this version of the Iliad, and he... ... sons and to be obedient, but occasionally, some women were not content with this one purpose in life. Throughout history, we have a few examples of extraordinary women who held power and influence, such as Hetshepsut, the first female pharaoh of Egypt, and Cleopatra, who managed to snag two notable Roman generals. A sense of women's resorting to indirect means to obtain power can be seen in these works of the ancient world, of women's exerting influence perhaps through the men they marry or the positions they hold, if not outwardly of power, then at least with some chance of gaining it. Works Cited Homer. Iliad. Mack 1: 98-208. -----. Odyssey. Mack 1: 208-540. The Inspirational Study Bible. Ed. Max Lucado. Dallas: World Publishing, 1995. Mack, Maynard, et al. eds. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. 6th ed. 2 Vols. New   York: Norton, 1992.