The Dark Genius Of The Short Story Essays - Edgar Allan Poe

The Dark Genius of the Short Story Many authors have made great contributions to the world of literature. Mark Twain introduced Americans to life on the Mississippi. Jack London told of the courage of many on the Alaskan Frontier. Another author that made an influence on literature is Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is known as the father of the American short story. To understand the literary contributions of Edgar Allan Poe, one must look at his early life, his literary life, and a summary of two of his famous works. Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809 (Stern xi). He was born to a southern family that was in a traveling company of actors (Marks 2). His father, David Poe, was from a Baltimore family. He was an actor by profession but his family would say he made a career out of drinking, not acting. Soon after Edgar Allan Poe was born, he left his family. Poe's mother, Elizabeth Arnold Poe, was a widow at the age of eighteen (Porges 32). Two years after his birth, she died of tuberculosis (Stern xi). When his mother died, Poe was adopted by John Allan (Stern xi) at the urging of Mr. Allan's wife. In 1815, John Allan moved his family to England. While there, Poe was sent to private schools which he described as dark, ancient, labyrinths (Stern, Edgar Allen Poe Visitor for the Night of Time 42). In the spring of 1826, Poe entered the University of Virginia. There he studied Spanish, French, Italian, and Latin. He had an excellent scholastic record, but he got into difficulties almost at once. Mr. Allan did not provide him with the money to pay for his fees and other necessities. Poe was confused and homesick. He learned to play cards and started drinking. Soon he was in debt over two thousand dollars. Poe discovered that he could not Clint Fiore 2 depend upon Allan for financial support. His foster father refused to pay his debts, and Poe had to withdraw from the University (Haines 62). In May of 1827, Poe enlisted in the army as a common soldier. He did this under the name of Edgar A. Perry (Porges 43). He was stationed on Sullivan's Island in Charleston Harbor for over a year. Poe adapted very well to military discipline and quickly rose to the rank of regimental sergeant major. After a while, he got tired of the same daily routine involved in military life. Poe wrote regularly to Mr. Allan. He met with Mr. Allan after the death of Mrs. Allan in February of 1829. With Allan's support, he received his discharge and enlisted in West Point on July 1, l830 (Stern xii). While at West Point, Mr. Allan, who had remarried, continued in not providing Poe with enough money. Poe decided to have himself kicked out of school. Cutting classes and disregarding orders were his solutions (Porges 44). He was court-martialed for neglect of duties in January, 1831, and left West Point the following month (Stern xii). Poe was great in three different fields , and in each one he made a reputation that would give any man a high place in literary history. Poe wrote great short stories, famous not only in his own country, but all over the world (Stern, Edgar Allen Poe Visitor from the Night of Time 12). Hawthorne, Irving, Balzac, Bierce, Crane, Hemingway and other writers have given us memorable short stories; but none has produced so great a number of famous and unforgettable examples, so many tales that continue, Clint Fiore 3 despite changing standards to be read and reprinted again and again throughout the world (Porges 15). Poe was the father of the modern short story, and the modern detective story (Porges 19). In 1831, Poe succeeded in publishing a new edition of his poems entitled, Poems. Poe was now in great difficulty. He went to New York, but could find no job there. Eventually he took refuge with his aunt, Mrs. Clemm, in Baltimore. There he decided to seek employment and make his living by writing. Failing to get attention with his poems, he decided to start writing short stories. Poe competed in a contest for the best

Othello Essays

Othello Essays Othello Paper Othello Paper The audience, having been introduced to Othello by Iagos motiveless malignity,1 expects this man to be professionally bombast and animalistic. In fact Othello is not named until the third scene, thus dramatising his blackness and bestiality. However this preconception of Othello is immediately undone when he successfully calms the angry Brabantio and satisfies the suspicious Duke and Senators. Othellos heroic nature cannot be doubted due to the solidity of his character in the first two acts of the play; as Rebecca Warren notes, Othello possesses a mythical and monumental quality that cannot be denied; he speaks and acts powerfully in a way that inspires confidence in his character. 2 This essay will explore the extent to which Othellos heroism is interdependent with his love for Desdemona, and what implications this dependency will have on the power of both. Othellos first action in the play is to convince Brabantio, the Duke and the Senators that he genuinely loves Desdemona, not that he has used mixtures, a dram or a practice of cunning hell to seduce her. Shakespeare allows Brabantio to speak before Othello, immediately creating a confident and superior character in the latter. When Othello does make his case, he uses linguistic devices befitting a hero with great control over both himself and others, Most potent, grave, and reverend seigniors rude am I in my speech and little blessed with the soft phrase of peace. Tim Blake Nelson uses non-dietetic mounds in the willow scene, Even the sun goes down Heroes eventually die these lyrics are foreshadowing the decline of the tragic hero and the audience is left to wonder about the events that to unravel. The Issue of race Is a quintessential aspect In both play and film. The racist undertone In Othello and O explores the Idea that Othello and Odin are seen as outcasts, haltingly that the universal value of race Is everlasting. The protagonists different ethnic background provides a platform for examining Ideas of racial conflict. Accepted part of public life; people of color were often thought of as savage. Shakespeare would have encountered no societal pressures against presenting such ideas. Yet he doesnt actually portray Othello as inferior, in fact he is represented as the noble savage. Although Ago makes him sound despicable in the first-act, Shakespeare then shows Othello as a well-spoken and highly regarded military leader. Shakespeare, throu gh the use of characterization, explores the critical factor of race all throughout his play. Othello the moor is consistently seen as an outsider. Ago initiates racial slurs and tension amongst all characters. In Act 1, Scene 1 He scribes Othello and Adhesions consummation as an old black ram Tipping A white ewe and making the beast with two backs. These racial innuendoes implicate the true feelings Ago has towards Othello and that he cannot look past the color of his skin. Othello could easily be read as a racist play. Its tragic hero is often described in racist, degrading tones. Tim Blake Nelsons setting of contemporary American enable him to explore racism more overtly in O. Odin and Dies Jokingly discuss their different races. When she disapproves of his use of enigma, he tells her that he is allowed to say it but she Anton even think it. Ironically Odin is haunted by a profound self-consciousness about the color of his skin. When Hugo tells him that Dies and Mike called him the enigma, the camera has an extreme close up of Dins face, and through expression it is evident that Dins worst fears are confirmed and he then begins to act out in rage and self-loathing, beginning the downward spiral of the tragic hero. Tim Blake Nelson has empowered this particular scene by employing dramatic irony; the audience knows to not trust Hugo although Odin does not. One of the most radical differences between the play is the setting. Othello takes place in the 17th century, Venice, contrasted against O, which takes place in an American private school, this is to exude the major time difference. Shakespeare has taken advantage of the patriarchal society that was in place in the 17th century. Desman throughout Othello represents one extreme of the stereotypical female, the passive ideal wife, and Emilie represents the other extreme, an independent and assertive woman. At the end of the play, Othello smothers Desman to death, she screams out O, Lord! Lord! Lord! through the use of apostrophe Desman is ailing out to the heavens, suggesting that she was controlled and manipulated to a greater degree. It is later revealed that Ago behind the events, bringing to light his duplicitous nature. Ago as a misogynist is a crucial example of the way women were perceived as Just pawns in the game of concurring Othello. The protagonist in O is power hungry and dominating. In the first party scene hip- hop music is employed to Juxtapose the divide between black and white in the preppy private high school. Symbolism has been initiated in the scene where Odin puts the rubber band around Deeds finger; he has blatantly declared his ownership ND power of Des. The rubber band is also the color green, which relates back to the green-eyed monster, this leitmotif signifies Jealousy and power. Shakespearean Othello and the contemporary appropriation O by Tim Blake Nelson, both explore the universal values of Jealousy, race and the domination of women. The themes and techniques used empower both play and film to help determine the values of each respected time. Although there are differences, ultimately the values attitudes and ideas explored do remain constant throughout history while maintaining textual integrity.

Compensation (HRMD) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Compensation (HRMD) - Essay Example Consequently, the desirable outcomes such as reduction in poverty, greater availability of short-term employment opportunities, increase in GDP etc. are obtained, which lead to societal well-being and prosperity. For instance, technological advancement increases labor productivity, process and product innovation, specialization, communication and transportation networks. In turn, the economies of scale (mass production) is observed, which reduces total business costs and lowers market prices. Finally, the aggregate consumption and demand increases because of overall improvement in economy. However, any underlying weaknesses or negative feedback may transform a virtuous into a vicious circle. In contrast, the latter has undesirable outcomes and negative consequences such as increase in poverty and unemployment, economic contraction, low aggregate consumption and output etc. For instance, constant increase in money supply may result in inflation that, in turn, will reduce real incomes in society. Consequently, the aggregate consumption will reduce and economy will observe negative growth rate (Samuelson & Nordhaus, 2009). The Organizational structure refers to internal managerial system and hierarchy. In fact, it showcases the how tasks into departments are assigned, how they are delegated and how decision-making and implementation is being done and at various managerial levels. Indeed, the organizational chart is a diagram that shows the top, middle and first-line management levels as well as reveals the structure (vertical functional, divisional, matrix, virtual and networking) that firm has adopted. The internal structure is extremely important in today’s new workplace business environment because it determines the chain of command, which refers to the authority executives enjoy because of their position based on which they are deemed responsible for decision-making, problem solving, strategic planning,

Approach And Characteristic Of Corporate Governance In Russia Essay

Approach And Characteristic Of Corporate Governance In Russia - Essay Example Corporate governance offers the framework through which the goals of the companies are formulated and also suggests the means of accomplishing those objectives as well as identifies controlling performances (Viam Invest, 2012). It is in this regards that corporate governance can be identified as quite significant for today’s commercials. Sound corporate governance needs to offer adequate incentives to attain the desired objectives by the company. It must also assist in proper monitoring of the activities of the organisation and thus endorse the firms to make use of the resources in an effectual manner (Shvyrkov, 2012). Corporate governance method in Russia can be regarded as appealing since they tend to take place because of the institutional experiments undertaken by the Russian government in the early 1990s with strong support of international financial institutions (Paredes, 2003). Hence, the concept of corporate governance system practiced in Russia has been one of the sig nificant topics of discussion in the present times. Most of the Russian firms are found to be adhering to good corporate governance standards by escalating disclosure, conforming to the international accounting standards and espousing numerous codes related to the matter. The government of Russia, the regulators as well as private agencies has taken certain measures such as enforcement of the codes, improvement of the transparency along with accountability issues among others in order to enhance the corporate governance (DYCK, 2002). The objective of this paper is to demonstrate and discuss the numerous approaches as well as features of the corporate governance system in Russia. The various drivers as well as impacts of corporate governance in Russia will also be discussed in the paper. Last but not the least, it will endeavour to identify whether the corporate governance system of Russia offers transparency as well as accountability to its stakeholders. Approach and Characteristic of Corporate Governance in Russia The corporate governance system in Russia is featured by elevated ownership attentiveness in firms basically in the hands of the insiders. It has also been noted that the legal institution of the country is not quite firm that has generally led to greater personal advantages of controls through corruption and immature capital markets which might lead to inadequate return on shareholders’ investments a fragmented labour market as well as major participation of the state in business with increasing political barriers (Vasilyev, 2002). The Russian corporate governance tends to be quite different from that of the corporate governance in developed countries such as Anglo-Saxon countries. The chief conflict of interest with regards to the Russian firms has been between big and small shareholders instead of managers and greater number of fragmented shareholders as in the contexts of US or UK (Nestor & Jesover, 2000). Notably, the Russian model of pr ivatisation that was exercised in the period of 1992-1994 facilitated in the determination of the main features of the structure of corporate ownership as well as governance in the country. Privatisation also identified the main direction for the growth of Russian firms. Nearly

The Impact of Beijing Olympic Games on China Essay

The Impact of Beijing Olympic Games on China - Essay Example This paper argues that Beijing Olympic Games brought a positive impact on China, making it more competitive in the international sphere. It would also discuss the three significant themes that were accentuated in this event and would provide an in-depth analysis on the impact of the Beijing Olympic Games on economic, socio-political, environmental, and technological aspects of China. Essence of the Olympic Games in Beijing China According to Kronick and Dorne, managing director of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and associate in Corporate Communications at Ogilvy & Mather China, respectively, the Olympic Games in 2008 is like a debutante ball for China to show to the world its wondrous Chinese culture (32). Also, it was a means to express Chinese people are now eager to communicate and join people from all over the world in promoting peace and progress (BOCOG, qtd. in Close, Askew, and Xu). After decades of closing its doors away from developing tight relations with other countries, even neighboring ones, it has finally opened the aperture towards a long-term and progressive relationship with these nations. Moreover, Kronick and Dorne refer to the Olympic games as a catalyst for change in China, just like what it already did to a number of cities like that of Tokyo, Japan, Barcelona Spain, and Sydney Australia. For instance, the 1964 Olympic Games which was held in Tokyo resulted to a technological boom due to consumers who were very eager to buy television sets just to watch the games in their homes. The same thing happened in Barcelona that held the 1992 Olympic Games wherein it awakened the sluggish place into a prestigious city. In Sydney, it incredibly showcased its unique Australian hospitality in the 2000 games (Kronick and Dorne 32). For Beijing, China, it serves as an exceptional way of marketing, no less than, the country itself. As a matter of fact, marketing experts would view the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games not solely intended for sports purposes but more importantly, as the launch of China as a superbrand that would be a huge opportunity as well as a large threat to many na tions (Kronick and Dorne 32). Apparently, China is serious on showing to the world that more than a manufacturing country, it is also on the road to a total improvement, progress, and innovation. The Beijing Olympic Games---Central Themes and Its Impact on the Macro-Environment of China In launching China as a superbrand, the Beijing Olympics in 2008 carried with it three major identifiable themes: people, technology, and â€Å"Green Olympics† (Kronick and Dorne 32). First, it highlighted people, most especially the majority of poverty-stricken Chinese who are yet to experience an upliftment of their condition. This theme on people served as the flagship in promoting a strong fight against the persisting social problems in the country (Kronick and Dorne 32). In so doing, this event had positive in the socio-political aspect of China. Second is technology which reflects the 2008 Beijing Olympics’ aim to provide highly advanced Olympic Games. The plan revealed a total of approximately US$157m worth of government funds and US$217m to 449 worth of private company contribution, all to support the Olympic technology projects (Kronick and Dorne 32). Thus, Beijing Olympic Games was an instrument to improve the technological facilities in China. Third is the so-called â€Å"

How Firms Decide Between Risk Retention And Transfer Finance Essay

How Firms Decide Between Risk Retention And Transfer Finance Essay Generally, the purpose of risk management is value maximization for a for-profit organization. In other words, risk management aims to maximize value by minimizing the cost of risk. Total costs of pure risk include costs of control and costs of financing. This essay focuses on risk financing. There are two broad methods of risk financing: risk retention and risk transfer. Risk transfer contains insurance and other contractual risk transfers. At the beginning of this assay, I am going to introduce the concept of retention, insurance, and contractual risk transfers, and their advantages and disadvantages. Then I will discuss how a firm should decide between risk retention and risk transfer, if a captive insurer is not to be employed. Finally, I will discuss how a firm, having a captive insurer, should finance its pure risk losses. With retention, a business retains the obligation to pay for part or all of the losses. When coupled with a formal plan to fund losses for medium-to-large businesses, retention often is called self-insurance. (Harrington and Niehaus 1999 Page 12) Retention can be financed via a captive insurance company (an insurance company owned by a non-insurance company which is also its customer), a risk retention group, cash flows from ongoing activities, and general working capital (the excess of the firms liquid assets over its short-term liabilities). In addition, firms can also obtain funds by borrowing, loans, issuing new stock and selling other business asset, such as buildings and cars. Funds to pay retained losses should be large so that there is enough money to pay retained losses. In addition, the retained losses are unpredictable, and they may be large or small. However, there is an opportunity cost for a fund. The opportunity cost is the difference between the return on the fund and the firms normal rate of return. As a result of this, if funds are large, the opportunity costs will be large; if funds are small, they may fail to pay all losses. In addition, there may also be costs incurred in converting non-liquid assets into cash for settling losses. (Dr. David Ayling 2009) Risk transfer includes insurance and contractual risk transfers. Insurance is a form of risk management primarily. A firm could purchase insurance contacts to cover risk losses. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed and known small loss to prevent a large, possibly devastating loss. An insurer is a company selling the insurance; an insured or policyholder is the person or entity buying the insurance. (Web 1) Firms can transfer some of risk losses to insurance company by insurance contracts. According to Dr. David Ayling (2009), the benefits of insurance include reduction of uncertainty, loss control advice, liquidity of company protected, long term planning mire feasible, and access to large risk combination services. On the other hands, insurance does not cover loss of goodwill, loss of market share, lost customers and suppliers, and so no. In addition, some r isks are not insurable, such as risk losses are too large, risks are not measurable, risks are not predictable, and so on. Firms can also use some contractual risk transfers to transfer risk to another party. For example, if a firm wants to build a house, and hire a construction company to build the house, it could perform some task routinely into contracts, such as if workers or pedestrians are injured by accidence when the house is building, the construction company pay for these losses; and if the house crashes after it is completed, the construction company will be responsible for it. Having introduced risk retention and risk transfer, the following will discuss how a firm should decide between risk retention and risk transfer, if a captive insurer is not to be employed. Both risk retention and risk transfer is important and primary methods for risk financing. How should a firm decide the methods of risk management? The severity and frequency probability of risk losses determine which method should be used to finance risk losses. According to Dr. David Ayling (2009), when the frequency probabilities of pure risks are low and their severities are high, then the method of risk transfer would be better to finance the risk losses, because the severities are high, which means the risk losses may be large. If using risk retention, they need large funds to finance the risk losses so that the opportunity costs of the funds will be large. As a result, the risks could be transferred to insurer or another party by buying insurance or making contracts. However, risk retention may be better, if the frequency probabilities of pure risks are low and their severities are low. Because they need only small funds to cover the risks as both frequency probabilities and s everities are low. In addition, the insurance may be expensive; commonly the price of the insurance is high than the opportunity cost of retention. Even more, the risk losses may not be covered by insurance. When the frequency probabilities of risk losses are high, both retention and insurance are not better methods, because the risk losses will continually happen. As a result, if the severities of the risk losses are high, we should avoid these risks. In the other words, we should abandon these businesses, because they are too dangerous; if the severities of the risk losses are low, we should control it by increasing precautions and limits on risk activity designed to reduce the frequency and severity of accidents. (Harrington and Niehaus 1999 Page 23) There is an important factor that may affect firms decision between retention and insurance. The factor is tax. When calculating its taxable income, a noninsurance company can only deduct losses that were paid during the year. In contrast, an insurer can deduct the discounted value of incurred losses, which equals losses paid during the year plus the change during the year in the discounted value of its liability for unpaid claims. This distinction essentially allows insurers to deduct losses earlier than noninsurance companies, which all else equal increases the present value of expected tax deductions if a loss exposure is insured. Although the tax break is granted to insurers, competition among insurers for business will cause most or even the entire tax break to be given to policyholders through lower premiums. (Harrington and Niehaus 1999 Page 218) In practice, many large companies have established captive insurance companies. These companies make payment to their captive insurers, which then pay losses to the large companies. It is an important method of financing losses for large firms, and can be viewed as a special type of retention and self-insurance. If a firm has a captive insurer, the firm should finance risk losses by buy insurance from its captive insurer. A firm could benefit a lot by using a captive insurer. To begin with, the parent company could reduce expected tax payments relative to retention. As I have discussed before, insurance has a tax advantage compared with retention. In addition, Dr. David Ayling (2009) mentioned that the parent company could access to the reinsurance markets through its captive. The parent first buys insurance through its captive, which then purchases reinsurance. Finally, Harrington and Niehaus (1999) said captive also can be used to reduce risk. The parents risk exposures will be poo led with other unrelated companies exposures, if its captive sells insurance or reinsurance to other unrelated companies. Consequently, a large firm will benefit from its captive insurer in reducing expected tax payments, accessing to the reinsurance markets, and reducing risk through the captives transaction. In conclusion, as retention and insurance have their own advantages and disadvantages, the frequency probabilities and severities of risks determine which methods of risk financing should be used. Insurance is a good risk financing method for a low frequency and high severity risk; in contrast, retention is a good risk financing method for a low frequency and low severity risk. For many large companies, using a captive insurer becomes an important method of financing losses. Captives could benefit their parent company from reducing expected tax payments, accessing to the reinsurance markets, and reducing risk through the captives transaction. However, according to Dr. David Ayling (2009), if risk losses could be transferred to someone other than an insurer at a cheaper cost, or can be prevented or reduced at a cost cheaper than insurance, insurance and retention are not the best methods of risk losses financing, because risk management aims to maximize value by minimizing the cost of risk. Bibliography and Reference Dr. David Ayling (2009) Corporate Risk Managements handout, Bangor University. Harrington, S. E, Niehaus, G. R, (1999) Risk Management and Insurance, Boston: Irwin/McGraw-Hill. Web 1: Wikipedia (2009) Insurance (Online) Wikimedia Foundations, Inc: USA. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance (Accessed 8/12/09)

Free Yellow Wallpaper Essays: Oppression of Women :: The Yellow Wallpaper Essays

The Oppression of Women in The Yellow Wallpaper The Yellow Wallpaper is a story, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Although the work is short, it is one of the most interesting works in existence. Gilman uses literary techniques very well. The symbolism of The Yellow Wallpaper, can be seen and employed after some thought and make sense immediately. The views and ideals of society are often found in literary works. Whether the author is trying to show the ills of society of merely telling a story, culture is woven onto the words. The relationship between the narrator and her husband would be disagreeable to a modern woman's relationship. Today, most women crave equality with their partner. The reader never learns the name of the narrator, perhaps to give the illusion that she could be any woman. On the very fist page of The Yellow Wall-Paper, Gilman illustrates the male dominated society and relationship. It was customary for men to assume that their gender knew what, when, how, and why to do things. John, the narrator's husband, is a p rominent doctor and both his and his wife's words and actions reflect the aforementioned stereotype: "John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage," (9). This statement illustrates the blatant sexism of society at the time. John does not believe that his wife is sick, while she is really suffering from post-partum depression. He neglects to listen to his wife in regard to her thoughts, feelings, and health through this thought pattern. According to him, there is not anything wrong with his wife except for temporary nerve issues, which should not be serious. By closing her off from the rest of the world, he is taking her away from things that important to her mental state; such as her ability to read and write, her need for human interaction, her need to make her own decisions. All of these are important to all people. This idea of forced rest and relaxation to cure temporary nervous problems was very common at the time. Many doctors prescribed it for their female p atients. The narrators husband, brother, and their colleagues all feel that this is the correct way to fix her problem, which is practically nonexistent in their eyes. Throughout the beginning of the story, the narrator tends to buy into the idea that the man is always right and makes excuses for her feelings and his actions and words: "It is so hard to talk to John about my case, because he is so wise and because he loves me so," (23).