The Typical Detective Genre Portrayed in Sherlock Holmes Literature Es

The Typical Detective Genre Portrayed in Sherlock Holmes' Literature The late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was an amazingly fruitful essayist, in the Victorian time as well as is as yet mainstream today; his Sherlock Homes stories were maybe his best, where he consolidates sensible circumstances of murders and embarrassments with the doubtful circumstance of such a fruitful analyst. Victorian London was an outstandingly perilous spot to live. Prostitution, opium caves and murders were unpreventable. A ladies' job inside the family unit was very much subject to her group and her significant other, absolutely because of the reality was that herr spouse was the provider. They were to remain at home; sex was as far as anyone knows only for propagation. London's police power was around however broadly was somewhat inadequate with tackling wrongdoings. This is one reason Holmes was incredibly well known; just about a dream world where a character with such a curious psyche could tackle the most testing crimes. Conan Doyle sets his accounts in the heart of England, London. Maybe this is on the grounds that the bustling clamoring town is perfect for such a character, London Is the most significant spot in England, and consequently definitely Holmes must be the most significant analyst? Conan's Doyle's accounts are all here and there the same; they all have a reprobate, or someone who is accepted to defy society's guidelines. This causes the crowd to pick up enthusiasm for how the reprobate will endure with Holmes on their case, how they will be rebuffed with regards to the story. Neville St Claire in 'The man with the turned lip' was seen as liable of dressing as a tramp, to misdirect individuals to give him cash. Perhaps he did this for covetousness; he clearly was not for ga... ...chievous plot; I astonished you by beating upon the asphalt with my stick. I was finding out whether the basement loosened up in front or behind. No peruser would have anticipated this was the purpose behind the beating of this stick. This is the kind of interesting unusual activities, which make analyst stories practically addictive until the end and speaking to the peruser. Conan Doyle ensured that all inquiries during the story are replied what's more, no questions left hanging. This is appealing to all perusers as the endings are good and all issues are settled. Investigator story's have gotten one of the most well known class, creators, for example, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle figure out how to make even the most direct storylines intriguing and speaking to all perusers just due to bogus trails, distractions and the manner in which data is with held to the peruser.

LG Operation Strategy Final Report Essay Example

LG Operation Strategy Final Report Paper Household rivalry drove them to rebuild their activities in early ass, combining the two significant business heads under another name - ? LEG Electronics. In 2006, they propelled the now well known Blue Ocean Strategy to get one of the main 3 in the portable handset advertise. Nonetheless, beneficiary vital coalition with Microsoft didn't give the profits they anticipated. In different Segments Of the customer hardware industry, they remain in the main 4 all around. Slacks reliable income examples can be credited to their operational procedure, by methods for which they have had the option to minimize expenses. In 2010 LEG entered the tidied business. Following is a division insightful separation and the money related execution of the tidied division of LEG. Fig. 1 Division insightful separation Fig. 2 Financial Performance of tidied division of LEG Group 4 Final report for Proof. Kimono Kim Cassia MBA page 12 SOOT Analysis Strength Most of all, LEG Electronics has the same number of worldwide system in deals and makes as Samsung Electronics. Its image mindfulness can stand even with Samsung Electronics. For innovative work, LEG Electronics keeps up one of the most cutting edge innovations in tidied and home apparatus. Its tidied and home machine can go up against Samsung Electronics. In particular, quality in innovation originates from vigorous innovative work action. 2. Shortcoming Due to gigantic spending in advertising advancement, its benefits can dives fundamentally on the off chance that business sum isn't adequate. We will compose a custom exposition test on LG Operation Strategy Final Report explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now We will compose a custom paper test on LG Operation Strategy Final Report explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer We will compose a custom paper test on LG Operation Strategy Final Report explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer All the more significantly, on the grounds that f improper administration theory towards tidied industry counseled by McKinney LEG Electronics has little offers in worldwide tidied advertise. What's more, we can estimate that wrong administration course had been brought about by high turnover in the board. 3. Opportunity Increasing interest of high innovation items, being brought section boundaries down to new districts, PTA, and quick development of rising economies are a basic possibility for LEG Electronics to flourish later on. Be that as it may, those open doors can be applied to different contenders, as well. . Danger Severe rivalries for new innovation will be one of greatest weight to LEG Electronics in tidied and home apparatus. For models, during a couple of years, we can't discover imaginative advances in tidied. In addition, LEG Electronics should make up for lost time two monster players: Apple and Samsung at the earliest opportunity in tidied industry. On the off chance that LEG Electronics can't overwhelm them in a couple of years, its future may be eve like Sony. Likewise, LEG Electronics needs to consider Chinas pursue, for instance Axiom. With less expensive value, Chinese contenders are pushing LEG Electronics so as to make LEG Electronics a failure in tidied industry. Cassia MBA Page 13 Evolution of Supply Chain from Mobile telephone to Smart telephone For examining the past changes in operational procedure of LEG we picked one of the processing plants in the Shagging region of China and looked at the difference in activity methodology from the times of cell phone to PDAs. LEG, in 2001-2003, fabricated two cell phone industrial facilities in Shagging, the seaside area of China. 90% of its items were for send out. The cell phone industrial facilities in China could achieve the end-conditioned procedure of cell phone creation, with the accompanying procedure: Fig. 3 Pre tidied operational stream LEG utilized the most cost-effective approach to buy the segments. For high alee-included parts like chips LEG imported from Korea and different nations; for the general segments like shell or battery LEG bought from Chinas neighborhood suppliers and for the bundling materials like box or spread, LEG bought from close by providers. However, because of different provider sources the issue of LEG was conveyance of material; the too prolonged stretch of time turned into the bottleneck of the entire procedure. Along these lines, guaranteeing the conveyance in time turned into a key test. Intending to improve the procedure of the industrial facilities in China, LEG led the upset in 3 angles: Cancel Utilize HUB to erase the superfluous strategic hubs and lessening recurrence Of calculated. Change the procedures during the flexibly chain and strengthen the deficiency hubs. Team up Combine the capacity with the administration, center around center procedures and re-appropriate the amateurish procedures. Page | 4 The chart underneath shows the nitty gritty difference in the gracefully model of Lags industrial facility in China Fig. Post tidied operational stream After the upset, due to the center point, Lags entire lead time of the procedure before the assembling time diminished from 40 hours to around 20 hours, the productivity strongly improved. Understanding SCM and ERP in LEG 1. Flexibly Chain Management a definitive point of Supply Chain Management is to give more excellent purchaser admin istration and in the mean while chopping down the stock expense and unit cost. Gracefully Chain incorporates Buying the items, Movements of crude materials, Organizing fabricating, Supplier the board. At that point the little change in client request it prompts greater change in assembling unit this is called bullwhip impact. Indications of bullwhip impacts are unreasonable load of crude materials. Poor items conjecture, inadequate or exorbitant limit usage and poor administrations to client. These are the impact sand side effects. SCM in LEG had been begun in late ass. The SCM in LEG needs different manual confirmations in each phase of activity. The SCM is actualized and afterward preparing is given to top administration first and afterward preparing is given to the inward staffs and furthermore for its accomplices like merchants and providers. After that the organization found to work a smooth gracefully chain in crude material stage, work in process and completed great stage LEG is one of the players in the serious electronic market and there are loads of acceptable organizations in the market and LEG has upper hand in flexibly chain the executives. It has upper hand in cost control since beneficiary stock expense is exceptionally less. Their stock expense is less in light of the fact that they are putting in less requests in request to diminish the expense of assembling. LEG maintains a strategic distance from the reason for bullwhip impact by exact interest anticipating, working short Final report for verification. Kimono Kim page | 5 lead time, fragmenting product offering, lessening value vacillation to nearby market. LEG has expanded their profitability by 10 % with the utilization worldwide Supply Chain Management and friends checks the present status of item shipment and friends has heaps of alternatives to lessen the stock expense with the assistance of Supply Chain Management. A Company keeps up Elasticity and Malleability to coordinate their gracefully and interest for their items. Organization despite everything takes more activities to decrease the expense of assembling; stock expenses with the assistance of Global flexibly Chain Management. In LEG the board gives more significance to Supply Chain office, in each unit organization has one flexibly chain director and the person in question is the full capable of that unit gracefully chain. In their organization site they declared that organization has decreased 1. 8 % producing cost with the assistance of viable flexibly chain; consequently organization has compelling gracefully chain and friends has upper hands in their documented and friends stands number one situation in the market with the assistance of legitimate Supply Chain Management. Organization estimates well indeed and stays away from the bullwhip impact in flexibly chain. LEG does standard statistical surveying for Bullwhip impact and friends utilizes the asset appropriately and shrewdly. Organization has faith in associations for better gracefully chain procedure and friends has picked legitimate stock control strategy to stay away from inordinate creation cost. Thus it tends to be said that in diminishing creation cost and improving profitability Supply Chain Management assumes indispensable job. In the event that very association use Supply chain Management they can likewise lessen the assembling cost. . Venture Resource Planning ERP is business term for the wide arrangement of activities bolstered by multi module application that causes the association to oversee different capacities and make do with a specific programming and put away information with the assistance of memory. Different capacities like buying, request setting, provider subtleties, client subtleties, visitor subtleties in inns and tasks. ERP additionally incorporates application modules like human asset the board and budgetary. Ordinarily ERR framework incorporates with a social database framework. ERP is a predictable stage it ensures that there is no irregularity in the data that is prepared in the association. ERP is basic for each firm on the planet to get upper hand and it is important to prepare the individuals to utilize the ERR. The most significant bit of leeway of Enterprise Resource Planning is its bookkeeping applications. ERP can incorporate income data, benefit investigation and cost of assembling and other budgetary. In the event that an organization needs to contend with worldwide players, organization should begin executing ERP. With utilization of ERP any associations can get decrease the expense and bunches of time will e spared. ERP in LEG Enterprise Resource Planning of LEG gives clear thought regarding their operational methodology. Presently organization utilizes ORACLE ERP, they utilizing this new ERP on August 2009. In LEG consistently organization spends $ 4 billion for their ERR usage and giving preparing for their laborers. They actualized ERP when they need to cut detailing and investigation period, improve execution, and decrease support costs and to accomplish total perceivability into worldwide stock and showcasing and deals costs. In the wake of executing ERP their organization moved to third pl

I Moved Off Campus

I Moved Off Campus Last year, I made a HUGE decision. I decided to move off of MITs campus. You may be asking the big question WHYYYYYYY????? East Campus, for all its glory, is no longer my home. Danny B. 15 wrote about how it was his home.   I wrote plenty of times about how it was my home.  What changed? Me. I changed. Who was once a headstrong, ready-to-take-on-the-world prefrosh, is now a slightly jaded, very depressed upperclassmen. It did not happen overnight, and it does not happen to everyone. Id like to think Im special, in a way. The kind of way where life threw a lot of terrible things at me, and the only way I could find myself reacting was by falling down. And then picking myself up and moving forward one silly step at a time, with a lot of help and a lot of strength. And one of those steps was moving off campus. And that is why I moved off campus for my senior year. It was the absolute correct decision for me. Now, my cat, Rory, and I live with the amazing Dan S. 17 in a tiny three-and-a-half room apartment on the northern tip of Cambridge, not too far from MITs campus. Dan and I listen to music, bake cookies, cook lots of foods, and have a fancy drink night. Things are pretty great. I was rather absent during IAP due to work, but Im back, and we are going to have a great semester.

Cold Blood By Truman Capote - 1332 Words

Education offers endless doors of opportunity for the people who pursue it. Not only does knowledge breed confidence, but it sets society on a path and purpose towards success. Wandering without a purpose, people lose their goals and aspirations. Some individuals never find direction, developing a sense of insecurity and isolation. They begin to have thoughts which result as defense mechanisms to safeguard them from feeling alone and abnormal. When these reactions happen, the outcome of their actions become unpredictable, and potentially dangerous. Moreover these individuals will create their own world from their insecurities and act on them like reality. Often, these cases embody victims of mental disorders, overlooked by society. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote suggests criminals deserve careful analysis, an unpopular opinion; he refers to the lives of two characters, dreams shattered, suffering from the same fate. Through the investigation of a detective bureau and the author s int erpretation, the perpetrators symbolize a bigger picture. Although the details of the crime convey Perry as a cold-blooded murderer, Capote illustrates Perry as a victim of his childhood by emphasizing his insecurities and fears. Capote highlights Perry s actions through the analysis of his crimes to suggest fear causes people to make unreasonable decisions. Perry s lack of self esteem forces him to make unthinkable actions to make up for his lack of self-worth. By committing these outlandishShow MoreRelatedCold Blood By Truman Capote1354 Words   |  6 Pageschildhood and later adult life Dick and Perry are exposed to experiences which contribute to their lawlessness in the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Recurring trends throughout each man’s lives such as their involvements in traumatic car accidents and higher education contribute to their unstable mental being, which eventually leads to the murders of the Clutter family. In Cold Blood argues that Dick and Perryâ₠¬â„¢s backgrounds make their criminality inevitable. Both Perry and Dick committed crimes thatRead MoreCold Blood By Truman Capote1322 Words   |  6 Pages In Cold Blood by Truman Capote would be a good, diverse addition to the ENG 3U course for many reasons, beginning with how the novel is non-fiction, but still manages to create a story line, while remaining appealing for the reason that it differs from most novels on course syllabus to the way the author can make you feel for the characters. In Cold Blood is a novel written about a real life event that happened in Holcomb, Kansas, 1959. A family of four is murdered in their house in cold bloodRead MoreCold Blood, By Truman Capote1942 Words   |  8 Pagesnon-fiction novel, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote follows the tail of the Clutter family murder in Holcomb Kansas. Four members of the Clutter family are brutally murdered by two ex-cons and the story follows the hunt for the murderers, their capture, and eventually some country justice. The murder took place on the night of November 15, 1959. The investigators had no motive for the crime and the only clues that they had were two pairs of boot prints left by the killers. Capote took all of his notesRead MoreCold Blood by Truman Capote900 Words   |  4 PagesIn 1965, Truman Capote created the infamous tale known as â€Å"In Cold Blood†. The book created the illusion of fantasy while based on reality. Many people were floored at the brilliance Capote demonstrated within the pages. The book took the literary concept of a novel with the literary elements of designed scenes, characters, a story formed with an introduction, rising action, climax and resolution to the real events surrounding the murder of the Clutter family. Those that worked in the field ofRead MoreThe Cold Blood By Truman Capote967 Words   |  4 PagesIn Cold Blood Do you think that every crime has to be breathtaking to attract readers` attention? Not at all. â€Å"In Cold Blood† is a non-fiction novel of 1967 by Truman Capote, where a life story of the Clutter family is told. Exactly this story of crime can make you a philosopher – while reading, you will definitely think over the tragedy and the meaning of life. The Clutters met a lot of difficulties on their way to find happiness, but were murdered because of no reason. The police was baffled, asRead MoreCold Blood By Truman Capote986 Words   |  4 Pages In In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, the device of juxtaposition is used to contrast the differing mental states of Dick and Perry, which is emphasized by the syntax, diction, and tone throughout the two passages. Capote uses opposing accounts of the same situation to add a deeper characterization of the two men, and to emphasize their differences psychologically. Throughout the book Capote attempts to show the true complexity of the killers, and how their backgrounds and psyches affected their actionsRead MoreAnalysis of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote861 Words   |  4 Pages A4 AP English 11 29 August 2013 In Cold Blood In the literary world, the concept of using a silent narrator is complex. The novel In Cold Blood was the first nonfiction novel published in an era of journalism. Capote gained many fans and critics. Truman Capote, in his nonfiction novel In Cold Blood effectively uses a silent narrator to influence the reader’s opinions of characters based off of actions and words, but as the novel continues Capote begins to reveal his true opinions and thoughtsRead MoreCold Blood Is A Book By Truman Capote956 Words   |  4 PagesIn Cold Blood is a book written by Truman Capote. It’s a non-fictional book written in the style of a creative fictional book. The story follows two criminals, Dick and Perry, after they’ve murdered four members of the Clutter family. The already experienced murderers make sure to leave no evidence, clues, or traces to them in the crime scene. As investigators attempt to figure out the mystery of the Clutter family murders, Dick and Perry make their way to Mexico until they get found out and getRead MoreTruman Capote s The Cold Blood1705 Words   |  7 Pages Truman Capote’s â€Å"In Cold Blood† is widely considered today as the first â€Å"non-fiction novel.† Published in 1966 and the fruit of over 6 years of research, the novel is an account of the gruesome murder of the Clutter family by two fellow ex-convicts Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. The four members of the Clutter household, Kenyon, Nancy, Bonnie, and Herbert Clutter were all taken to a different location in the house and promptly executed, each by a brutal shot to the head with a 12-gauge shotgunRead MoreTruman Capote s The Cold Blood Essay1472 Words   |  6 PagesTruman Capote’s novel â€Å"In cold blood† was identified as a new form of non-fiction genre in which an objective approach was taken by the author, as his opinions and judgements were absent from the text, leaving only the truth for the reader to interpret. Capote’s narrative method allows the murders to be explained and rationalised within a framework of middle-cla ss ideology and psychological analysis (Hollowell, 1997). Kazin (reference) conveys that the novel â€Å"In cold blood† creates a strong connection

Essay on The Flaws of Othello, Murderer of Desdemona

In Shakespeare’s play Othello, the main character Othello is typically victimized and portrayed as a mere scapegoat of the villainous Iago’s devious plans. However, Othello is not completely void of responsibility for the death of his wife. Othello, the tragic hero, is just as responsible as Iago for his premeditated murder of Desdemona due to his own internal flaws. Specifically, flaws such as his vivid imagination and his self over-idealization are brought to the surface by Iago, which consequently allows Iago to easily manipulate Othello. Othello, a tragic hero full of hidden flaws, attempts to appear as a man of only logic and bravery, and not subjected to human emotions. His spectacle begins with his storytelling at Brabantio’s†¦show more content†¦Rogers speaks of Othello’s imagination becoming his bane; due to his incredibly imaginative mind, Othello is able to envision the supposed affair between Cassio and Desdemona regardless of the lack of concrete evidence. Once his mind has been set upon the authenticity of the affair, he overlooks logic and there is nothing to convince him otherwise, not even evidence against the allegations. Othello, similar to many tragic heroes, possesses the flaw of hubris or, excessive self-confidence. However, Othello goes even further than just being over-confident, he over-idealizes himself. In the same scene that Othello is speaking to the Duke, prior to his storytelling, he states: Vouch with me, heaven, I therefore beg it not To please the palate of my appetite, Nor to comply with heat (the young affects) In [me] defunct). (I.iii.259-262) Othello boldly declares that even heaven with all its divinity can avow for him when he proclaims he is not subjected to human passion and desires. Othello perceives himself as being â€Å"above human passions†; he is immune to emotions that would weaken ordinary humans (Kirschbaum, 291). Throughout the play and even until the end, Othello holds himself up on a pedestal. As the play comes to an end, before Othello ultimately suicides, he says: When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice. Then mustShow MoreRelatedRacial Discrimination In Othello1076 Words   |  5 Pagesmainstream society. In William Shakespeare’s Othello, the protagonist, Othello is isolated from the rest of Venetian society because of racism. Racial discrimination is common throughout the dialogue of the play, as almost all characters have directed racial slurs towards Othello. Iago, the antagonist, is able to take advantage of Othell o’s insecurities and vulnerabilities about his race and convince him of Desdemona’s infidelity. Other’s verbal comments on Othello and his own sense of reputation speedRead MoreMirror of Good and Evil in Shakespeares Othello696 Words   |  3 PagesShakespeare’s Othello, the tragic hero, Othello, and the antagonist, Iago, are portrayed in very differing ways. Despite this fact, Iago represents the glaring faults and imperfections that Othello has, which ultimately leads to his downfall. Shakespeare very effectively uses Iago as a device to reveal Othello’s hamartias. The jealousy, mistreatment of women and racial insecurities are all flaws that Othello exhibits which are reflected in Iago’s character as well. As Othello’s flaws transpire inRead MoreComparing the Downfalls of Sophocles Oedipus and Shakespeares Othello1262 Words   |  6 Pages Oedipus and Othello were both honorable and heroic men that became the victims of tragic downfalls that can be compared and contrasted with each other. Sophocles, the writer of Oedipus the King, and Williams Shakespeare, the writer of Othello, were both enormously influential playwrights of their respective generations and their legacy continues today. The two playwrights made their masterpieces during different eras; Sophocles life coincided with the Golden Age of Greek tragedy and ShakespeareRead MoreOthello, By William Shakespeare1198 Words   |  5 PagesA tragedy is a term used to describe destructive flaws in a character by leading to the downfall of the main character with tragic events and having an unhappy ending. The play, Othello, by William Shakespeare is twisted and full of revenge. Throughout the play there is a series of harmful plots and lies caused by Iago, the evil character in the play. Iago hates Othello from the very beginning of the play when Othello promote s Michael Cassio to lieutenant instead of himself. From this moment on,Read MoreThe Tragic Hero Of Oedipus Rex, And Willie Loman1204 Words   |  5 Pagesunderstand. Were there to be a completely virtuous hero with no flaws, no hamartia, as Aristotle describes it, there would be no sense of catharsis or enjoyment at watching horrible events afflict this perfect person. Conversely, if the individual was fraught with flaws, vices, and moral depravity, it would not be a tragedy; it would simply have been seen as his getting what was coming to him, karma, if you will. Although Oedipus, Othello, and Willie Loman can all be said to fall within Aristotle’sRead MoreTo What Extent Is Othello Responsible For His Own Downfall?1525 Words   |  7 Pagesis brought about by specific defects in his character, tragic flaws. The play, Othello, is a twisted tale of deceit and revenge. Iago creates an alternate world filled with lies, that unfortunately consumes the trusting and naive Othe llo. Othellos downfall comes about due to a combination of the influence of Iago and the fatal character flaws of the otherwise virtuous Othello. Iago absolutely hates Othello. He is angry with Othello for promoting Michael Cassio, an officer with no real battle experienceRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Othello As A Tragic Hero1322 Words   |  6 Pagestime one would of have to be Othello. Shakespeare wrote Othello on 1603. Nineteen years passed before Othello was first put into print in 1622 by Thomas Walkley. Othello is a tragic hero because of his noble stature, his tragic flaws, and his unfortunate downfall. Othello is a military general who is respected by the government and most of the people in his Italian community and had remarkable morals. Othello is very wealthy and is of high status. Not to mention Othello is confident of his merit, hisRead MoreThe Secrets They Kept Essay examples1185 Words   |  5 Pagestheir stories are vastly different, Othello, Oedipus and Nora had different personal flaws that led to the downfalls in their lives. However, they all shared two common flaws, dishonesty and pride. Dishonesty is a monster that transforms and manifests itself in several ways until it is exposed. For Othello, Oedipus, and Nora the monster of dishonesty was present in their lives and marriages, and resulted in pain, heartache, and regret. In Shakespeare’s play Othello the Moor of Venice, instead of communicatingRead MoreEssay on Othellos Flaw in Shakespeares The Tragedy of Othello810 Words   |  4 PagesOthellos Flaw in Shakespeares The Tragedy of Othello In Shakespeare?s play Othello, Othello himself is the tragic hero. He is an individual of high stature who is destroyed by his surroundings, his own actions, and his fate. His destruction is essentially precipitated by his own actions, as well as by the actions of the characters surrounding him. The tragedy of Othello is not a fault of a single person, but is rather the consequence of a wide range of feelings, judgments, misjudgments, andRead MoreOthello, By William Shakespeare1599 Words   |  7 Pages William Shakespeare’s 16th century play Othello is a duplicitous and fraudulent tale set alternatingly between Venice in act 1, and the island of Cyprus thereafter. The play follows the scandalous marriage between protagonist Othello, a Christian moore and the general of the army of Venice, and Desdemona, a respected and intelligent woman who also happens to be the daughter of the Venetian Senator Brabantio. Shakespeare undoubtedly positions the marriage to be viewed as heroic and noble, despite

Night Creature Dark Moon Chapter Eleven Free Essays

â€Å"Relax,† I ordered before Jessie and Leigh could threaten me again. â€Å"I’m not going to flip out and start eating the populace.† At least for another few days. We will write a custom essay sample on Night Creature: Dark Moon Chapter Eleven or any similar topic only for you Order Now â€Å"You can make more,† Damien pressed. â€Å"Can’t you?† â€Å"Sure.† As soon as Edward handed over the formula. I’d planned to send Damien some of the serum before the next full moon. The item had been on my to-do list. Along with a whole bunch of other things I couldn’t quite remember. I stood and crossed to the window, peering at the second floor of the antiques store. A light was on inside, but no shadows moved beyond the curtains. â€Å"Maybe I should see if they’re okay.† â€Å"Why wouldn’t they be?† I turned at Jessie’s words. â€Å"You’ve never told me why you came to Fairhaven.† The four of them exchanged glances. I was getting really sick of being on the outside looking in. I should have been used to it by now, but I wasn’t. â€Å"What?† I demanded. â€Å"We’re not exactly sure,† Damien said. Leigh shushed him, and I shot her a glare. â€Å"If the compound wasn’t toast, you’d be sending me a report. You never had a problem with that before.† â€Å"Before, you weren’t one of them.† â€Å"I was. You just didn’t know it.† Leigh’s fingers curled into fists. â€Å"I can’t believe you let your hair down and run naked in the woods once a month.† â€Å"It isn’t as if I have a choice.† I didn’t want to talk about my affliction – with her or anyone else. â€Å"Can we move on? What’s happening here?† Silence reigned for several ticks of the clock before Will spread his hands. â€Å"People are disappearing.† I wanted to say â€Å"Same old, same old,† but that wouldn’t be helpful, would it? â€Å"Who called Edward?† I asked instead. â€Å"The sheriff.† â€Å"Bodies in the woods? Mangled? Eaten?† â€Å"Not this time.† â€Å"What, then, this time?† â€Å"People go missing,† Leigh chimed in. â€Å"There’s blood but no bodies.† â€Å"We thought the victims were shifting more quickly than usual,† Will said. â€Å"Maybe some new kind of spell.† â€Å"Instant werewolf.† Jessie made the motions of a drum roll with her hands. â€Å"Presto changeo.† My hand went to the talisman in my pocket. Uh-oh. I opened my mouth to explain, and Will jumped in. â€Å"But there hasn’t been an increase in the wolf population to account for the vanishing citizens. Damien says there aren’t any werewolves here at all, except for him.† â€Å"No werewolves?† I glanced at Damien. He shook his head. â€Å"No wolves of any kind.† â€Å"There are wolves all over this part of the state.† â€Å"Except in Fairhaven,† he said. â€Å"The only reason for no wolves in a place like this would be werewolves,† I murmured. â€Å"They don’t like one another.† â€Å"Exactly,† Damien agreed. â€Å"So what does it mean if there’s neither one?† I had no idea, but I doubted it meant anything good. â€Å"No one’s seen any wolves,† Leigh continued, â€Å"but the forest is full of crows.† Crows and wolves work together in nature. Wolves tolerated the birds, even let them feed off their kills. In return, many naturalists believe crows fly ahead of the packs, leading them to prey. The behavior transfers to werewolves. Where there’s a lot of one, there’s a lot of the other. My own fascination with the large, black scavengers had begun in childhood. While many people used them for target practice, I’d drawn pictures of crows over and over again. When I got older, I began to collect figurines, paintings, stuffed animals – like the one Nic had found on my desk. Heckle and Jeckle had been my favorite cartoon. No wonder Edward had kept such a close eye on me. â€Å"When I’m out in the woods,† Damien murmured. â€Å"I sense†¦ I’m not sure. It’s as if something’s coming, or maybe just left. I feel watched even when I’m certain nothing’s there.† I’d say he was paranoid, except I’d felt something, too. â€Å"What were you shooting at when I got here?† â€Å"Shadows,† Jessie muttered. â€Å"We’re all spooked.† Which wasn’t like them. Werewolf hunters were the least spookable creatures on earth. They had to be. She saw my expression, must have read my mind. â€Å"I can kill anything I see. But what am I supposed to do when I know it’s there, but it isn’t?† I had no answer for that. â€Å"Axe you sufficiently brought up to speed, Elise?† Edward’s voice from the doorway made me gasp and spin around. â€Å"I hate when you sneak up on me.† That he could was amazing in itself. I had the hearing of a wolf. I glanced past Edward, searching for Nic, my mind already scrambling for a way to explain our discussion of disappearing bodies. But my boss was alone, and that made me more nervous. â€Å"What did you do with him?† â€Å"Who?† â€Å"You know damn well who!† His eyes narrowed, and I swallowed the rest of the angry words that threatened to spill off my tongue. They’d get me nowhere. â€Å"Where is Agent Franklin, sir?† â€Å"Where do you think?† My heart skipped, then lunged into my throat. â€Å"You didn’t.† â€Å"That depends on what you think I did.† â€Å"You can’t go around killing FBI agents.† He frowned. â€Å"Why would I do that?† â€Å"Because your answer to every problem is to shoot it?† â€Å"It has always worked well for me.† I couldn’t just stand around while Nic might be dead or dying. I started for the door, and Edward yanked me back. â€Å"Relax. He is safe.† He dropped my arm immediately, surreptitiously rubbing his fingers against his black pants. Though I’d been expecting it, Edward’s typical reaction to being anywhere near me hurt more than usual. The only man who had ever touched me gently, willingly, was Nic – and he didn’t know what I was. Seeing him again made me long for what I didn’t, and couldn’t, have. â€Å"By safe you mean – â€Å" â€Å"Alive,† Edward snapped. â€Å"I am not completely senile. Yet.† † Yet being the operative word,† Jessie muttered. I tensed, anticipating an explosion of German obscenities. Instead, Edward smirked, winked, and the two of them chuckled. I stifled my childish jealousy. He would never care for me the way he cared for Jessie or Leigh, and I’d better get used to it. Edward glanced at the Fitzgeralds. â€Å"I thought I sent you two†¦ elsewhere.† â€Å"We wanted to hear the story of why your second in command turns furry every month.† The last flicker of humor fled his eyes as he glanced at me. â€Å"You told them everything?† Not everything. There were certain secrets only Edward and I could ever know. â€Å"I told them the basics so they wouldn’t shoot me.† â€Å"They were ordered to leave you alone.† He fixed the others with a glare. â€Å"Elise is beyond your reach. She answers only to me.† â€Å"La-di-dah,† Jessie mumbled. â€Å"There isn’t a scratch on her.† â€Å"But not for lack of trying,† Will countered, taking her hand when she would have slugged him. Edward scowled at Jessie, then Leigh. â€Å"You are not to play games with Elise. No physical fighting, do you understand?† A warm glow began in my chest. Edward was worried about me. â€Å"She could kill you without even trying,† he continued, and the glow died. He was worried about them. I should have known. â€Å"Can I talk to you?† Damien jerked his head. â€Å"Outside?† I looked at the others, but they were studiously avoiding my gaze. Except for Edward, who merely rolled his eyes and shrugged. â€Å"Sure.† Damien preceded me onto the porch, where he pondered the sky for several moments. I didn’t press. I was just glad to get away from everyone else for a while. â€Å"There’s more to your story than you told them,† he said at last. â€Å"Isn’t there always?† Our eyes met and a flash of understanding, a tug of camaraderie, passed between us. â€Å"What is Mandenauer to you?† he asked. I was surprised by the question. â€Å"My boss.† Edward was the father I didn’t have, the mother, too. Even if he didn’t love me, more than likely hated me, he was the only constant I’d ever had in my life. â€Å"How close are you, really?† he murmured. At first I thought he was asking again about me and Edward. Did everyone believe the old man and I were lovers? Hadn’t they seen the way he treated me? Worse than a junior agent. Then I studied Damien’s face and understood he meant something else entirely. â€Å"To an antidote?† I didn’t wait for his answer. This was why he’d asked me outside. He didn’t want Leigh to know if I was further away from a cure than they thought. â€Å"I haven’t discovered anything new,† I admitted. Dismay filled his eyes, and I touched him before I thought not to. Power blazed – bright, blinding, painful. I snatched my hand away. â€Å"We’re going to have to watch that,† I said. â€Å"It hurts† I’d never touched any of my test subjects skin to skin. I couldn’t afford to have them know what I was. But there’d been other times, other places, where I had touched a werewolf in human form. They hadn’t lived to see another moon, or blow my cover, but my secret was safe with Damien. â€Å"I will find a cure,† I promised. â€Å"Count on it.† â€Å"I feel better knowing†¦Ã¢â‚¬  His voice drifted off. â€Å"That I have a personal interest?† Damien nodded. No one could desire a cure more than me – not even Damien. Leigh loved him despite what he was. I didn’t have that luxury. No one loved me, and while I was like this, no one would. â€Å"I never doubted you weren’t working as hard as you could,† Damien said. â€Å"But I did.† Neither one of us jumped at the sound of Leigh’s voice. I’d heard her coming, and so had Damien. She wasn’t as sneaky as Edward. Not yet. â€Å"Leigh – † Damien began. â€Å"Let me talk.† She moved onto the porch and stood between us. â€Å"I never trusted you, Doctor, and now I know why. Werewolves murdered my family. I don’t like them.† â€Å"Yet you’re married to one.† Her eyes flashed, and her fingers curled into fists. â€Å"We can’t help who we love.† â€Å"I know.† Leigh cast me a quick glance, and her fingers relaxed. I understood her dilemma. She both loved Damien and hated his curse. She wanted him cured, needed him to be, and she had to depend on someone she distrusted to do it. Whoever said life was fair? â€Å"She saved you, Leigh. Show a little gratitude.† â€Å"I thanked her. What do you want?† Leigh tilted her head in my direction. â€Å"A hug?† â€Å"I’ll pass.† I’d never been big on physical contact. Never knew when a simple touch, like Damien’s, could give me a blistering headache. My gaze was drawn to the throbbing pulse at the base of Leigh’s neck – or an intense desire for red meat. I might be able to control my craving for human blood through medication, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t blindsided by a longing for it at the oddest moments. Leigh didn’t trust me? Hell, I didn’t trust myself. â€Å"Just so we’re clear,† she continued. â€Å"I want you to quit dicking around and fix him. That’s what you’re paid for.† â€Å"Leigh – † Damien sounded exasperated. â€Å"I’d get more done if you weren’t bugging me,† I interrupted. â€Å"Don’t you have someone to kill?† â€Å"Always.† â€Å"Have a nice trip.† A modicum of respect flickered in her eyes before she took Damien’s hand. â€Å"We’ll be in Washington.† â€Å"D.C.?† Which reminded me of Nic. The Fury remained parked in front of the tavern. Where was he? â€Å"Washington State,† Leigh answered. â€Å"What’s there?† â€Å"Trees. Wolves. Dead people. There’s been a significant increase in werewolf activity pretty much everywhere over the past few days. Edward’s cell phone’s ringing like crazy. Drove him bat shit when he couldn’t get hold of you.† â€Å"Strange that there’s so much action when the moon isn’t even full,† I murmured. â€Å"They’re up to something,† Leigh said, â€Å"but then, they always are.† With a nod that passed for both agreement and good-bye, Leigh headed for the car, stopping at the bottom of the porch steps when Damien didn’t follow. â€Å"I’ll be right there,† he said. With one more glare for me, Leigh climbed into the passenger seat. â€Å"I was thinking,† Damien continued. â€Å"Maybe the werewolves are after more than Mandenauer. If they want you or the information you’ve gathered, they’ll be back as soon as they know blowing up the compound didn’t do them any good.† I considered the silver bullet that had nearly hit me in the head. â€Å"I think they already know.† â€Å"Where’s your research now?† â€Å"Edward has it.† Damien shot a quick, concerned glance at the cabin. Hell. What if someone killed Edward before he could tell me where the information was? The thought sent a shiver from my head down to my toes. I was surprised they hadn’t tried already, though Edward wasn’t easy to eliminate, and the werewolves, despite their pack nature, weren’t exactly organized. Unlike real wolves, they didn’t take orders well. There was always a new alpha fighting to be in charge, if not of a certain pack, then the world. Thus far they’d never joined together with any success. If they did, we might be in serious trouble. And wouldn’t killing my boss, then putting an end to a cure for lycanthropy be a good way for an up-and-coming leader to gain everyone’s loyalty? I didn’t like the direction of my thoughts. I had to find Edward and quick. â€Å"Be careful,† Damien said. Instead of shaking his hand – we both knew what a mistake that would be – I murmured, â€Å"You, too,† before slipping into the house. How to cite Night Creature: Dark Moon Chapter Eleven, Essay examples

Review of the Article International Business Studies

Question: Discuss about the Review of the Articlefor International Business Studies. Answer: Introduction As per the review, the comments on Jones and Khanna suggest that the international business needs to be focusing on the matured theory as well as the rigorous working for the empirical standards. The advocacy has to be mainly for collecting the data and developing the standards for the better process with deciphering the causality. The study is mainly about the motivation and the incidents that focus on the path dependency constraints with the interference that use the cross-sectional data with the historical study that can easily identify the difference and the similarity for the different ways of the events with changing geography and time. (Jones et al., 2006). The advantage for this is mainly for the better relationship set in between the institutions and the behavior of the business behavior which is lying in the domain of the international business study. Discussion and Analysis The argument is primarily for the international business which is found to be discussing the cross-sectional and the variation approaches. The conceptual issues are important to be analysis with the business groups that are set remarkably with the varying set of the organizational forms. The evidence could easily be avoided with the determinants that look for the firm types with appearance and disappearance. The history can also allow moving to the importance with the often recognized parts where the argument is mainly of the dependency to explore the roots as well as argue about the Jardine and the Swire in Asia. The outgrowth is the strategic choice that has been set with the obscured form set under the historical analysis. (Morch et al., 2007). The issue is entirely un-addressable which is set for the exploring of the causal relationship that is set in between the foreign and the direct investment. The review also holds the long run economy standards as well as the development wit h the qualitative data when there is a conventional regression with long-run economic development. With the generalization forms, the assertion is mainly on the systematic investigation as well as the major focus is on the relationship in between the FDI and portfolio flow of the capital. The multinational strategy for the service is set with the growth of the large corporations which includes the interaction with historical evidence. The work has been about how to handle the virtual forms with emerging markets as well as developed markets. There are streams of work that are conceived with the challenge of a one-dimensional view of groups. (Cantwell et al., 2010). The consideration is the base case where the cross-sectional forms are set with the understanding. The other theory suggests about the history that will be oft-recognized with the further suggestion that there is a possibility to handle the methodology with the social ties. There are motives for the diversification with the market business groups that tend to hold the specificity of the assets as well as opportunism. The evolution of the Britain Companies Act is mainly under the obligations to reveal the information as well as to handle the activity for the corporate information. Hence, as per the investigation, Jones has been able to undertake the large-scale research for the projected growth as well as work on the UK based trading companies. (Griffith et al., 2008). The trade intermediation has been mainly for the developing markets which are set to focus on the forms of diversified business groups. The British trading is for the contemporary groups of the business standards as well as the environment holding the scarcity of talent. The training center, as well as the capturing of the expertise, is based on the forms which include the elite corps of managers who are evident in Jardine and Swire. The extreme view has been for the skeptic view where the primary approach is based on the contextual environment, where there are trading operations and the agency business for the diversified activities. A proper link is set where the European trading companies and the business have been robust which includes the improvement with the following introduction of the telegraph. (Buckley, 2009). The pressure of capital market mainly grows with the preference with investment analysis as well as the consultants who are for the restructuring of Harrison and Crossfield. With this, there have been wide scopes for the business enterprise to handle the government based operations as well as the European East Indian companies who are considering the shift for the different types of the business forms. (Lockett et al., 2014). The issue is about the "born global" firms that are set with the area that mainly concerns with internationalization. The companies are particularly compelling with resembling the business history as well as free-standing firms. The illumination of the resources and path dependency is based on the growth of the firm where the cumulative approach builds on the complexities of the oft-debated issues that is set to the extent where there is an existence of the multinationals. The cross order length transactions involve the knowledge to build the firms as well as the community where the body of knowledge is about how to cooperate and communicate. (Fruin, 2007). Conclusion As per the review, it is seen that there have been diversified firms which include the ability of stress with the lower profile of the modesty. Swire has been working on long-term aversions where the money making process is based on the ventures. The study is also about how to get the cross-border knowledge with the archival, multi-decade study on the relationship as well as the affiliates. (Blazejeweski, 2011). There are significant other benefits which are incorporated through the foreign investment. The economic indicators include the points where the simplicity is for the causes as well as the international business on development. (Colli, 2011). The dependent variables, as well as the perspectives, are set to the effect that holds the multinational activity for manifestation with long haul. Reference Jones, G. and Khanna, T., 2006. Bringing history (back) into international business.Journal of International Business Studies,37(4), pp.453-468. Morck, R. and Yeung, B., 2007. History in perspective: comment on Jones and Khanna Bringing history (back) into international business.Journal of International Business Studies,38(2), pp.357-360. Cantwell, J., Dunning, J.H. and Lundan, S.M., 2010. An evolutionary approach to understanding international business activity: The co-evolution of MNEs and the institutional environment.Journal of International Business Studies,41(4), pp.567-586. Griffith, D.A., Cavusgil, S.T. and Xu, S., 2008. Emerging themes in international business research.Journal of International Business Studies,39(7), pp.1220-1235. Buckley, P.J., 2009. Business history and international business.Business History,51(3), pp.307-333. Lockett, A. and Wild, A., 2014. Bringing history (back) into the resource-based view.Business History,56(3), pp.372-390. Fruin, W.M., 2007. Bringing the world (back) into international business.Journal of International Business Studies,38(2), pp.353-356. Blazejewski, S., 2011. When truth is the daughter of time: longitudinal case studies in international business research.Rethinking the case study in international business and management research, pp.251-276. Colli, A., 2011. Business history in family business studies: from neglect to cooperation?.Journal of Family Business Management,1(1), pp.14-25.

Managing HR in a Global Environment

Globalization is responsible for the increase in the number of international job opportunities. In the last half of the twentieth century, developments in technology and in transportation and communication systems have catalyzed a process of transfer of manpower across borders.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Managing HR in a Global Environment specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This process started in the colonial era, but its significance grew with technological advancement. China is an emerging global power. China is pursuing an aggressive trade policy by seeking bilateral trade agreements with as many countries as possible. In Africa, China is providing grants for infrastructure development and in exchange it takes minerals and agricultural raw materials for its industries. The country is interested in raw materials for its industries and agricultural products for its growing population. As a result, China thro ugh its international investment companies runs operations in various continents. The aim of this paper is to explore the international HR strategy of China. In order to do this, there is a need to explore Chinese operations in Zimbabwe as a case study. This will form the basis for examining Chinese policy in Africa and the issues that surround international HR. Further, there is need to examine the effect of these policies both on locals and on expatriate Chinese workers. Review of the Case Zimbabwean workers employed by a Chinese firm in Zimbabwe on a state project complained about bad treatment by their Chinese superiors. The project, a military intelligence academy, was the first major trade agreement between the Chinese and the Zimbabwean government.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More China offered to build the academy in exchange for Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth. In p articular, China wanted a share of Zimbabwean diamonds. The Zimbabwean workers complained that their Chinese superiors abused them physically and psychologically. Physical abuse took the form of beating meted out to errant local workers. On the other hand, taunts and general mistreatment by the Chinese superiors led the Zimbabwean workers to feel psychologically traumatized. These reports were not taken seriously by the Zimbabwean government. It appeared that government officials were reluctant to raise the issues with their Chinese benefactors. That said, the workers were reluctant to let go of the construction jobs they held in the construction project. Unemployment levels in the country were so high that despite the difficult working conditions and low wages the Zimbabwean workers did not consider resigning from then jobs as an option. This case sets the stage for the discussion on the challenges of international HR. The reasons provided for the difficult relations between the Ch inese workers and the Zimbabweans included cultural differences, language barrier, and poor remuneration for the work done. Chinese working culture differs significantly from Zimbabwean working culture. The Chinese seem more accustomed to working for many hours in a day, exceeding the normal working hours that Zimbabwean workers expected to be on duty. In the orient, work is a key determinant of a person’s status in society. In Zimbabwe, and much of Africa, status is a function of age and wealth, and not a person’s work ethic.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Managing HR in a Global Environment specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A strong work ethic is not necessarily a source of pride. Rather, if the results of that effort show in the creation of wealth, then it attracts status in society. On the issue of language, the Chinese workers were not conversant with local, languages just like the local worke rs were not conversant with the Chinese language. This situation led to many misunderstandings in the course of the project and was the cause of dissatisfaction among both groups. The workers used sign language to communicate. It is understandable why the atmosphere on site would be heated. Finally, the issue of low wages also created concern for the locals. Their wages were quite low considering they were working long hours. The situation was a precursor to labor problems. Attraction of Africa for the Chinese China’s footprint in Africa is increasing by the day. In the last ten years, Chinese firms driven by Chinese loans to African countries have been undertaking huge construction projects in different parts of Africa. A number of factors explain the Chinese interest in Africa. First, Africa is in need of development partners. The traditional development partners such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are difficult to work with in comparison to the Chinese. Western development aid is normally given with conditions based on the country’s human rights record, its fiscal responsibility, and its political processes. As such, African countries find it difficult to borrow from western countries and other development partners that use the same principles. China on the other hand keeps aid and grants purely economic. It does not ask questions about the internal governance issues of any country.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Therefore, Africa governments find the Chinese less intrusive and easier to deal with as they seek financing to meet their development goals. Secondly, Africa is very rich in mineral wealth. Some commentators claim that Africa has the greatest quantities of mineral wealth compared to other continents. The historical scramble for Africa by European powers proves this. Africa actually produces a large quantity of natural resources and mineral wealth consumed by the rest of the world. Africa is also becoming an important supplier of crude oil. The southern and central parts of Africa produce minerals such as diamond, gold and copper, while North Africa is rich in oil. Thirdly, Africa is the source of timber and agricultural products. In fact, some African economies rely on agriculture as their basic means of earning foreign exchange. China needs agricultural products to feed its growing population, and therefore it is establishing relationships with African countries in order to have a source of food and agricultural products for its people. Some commentators believe that Chinese interest in the Renaissance dam in Ethiopia is based on the projections that the dam will transform Ethiopia’s agricultural industry because it will make large scale irrigation a reality. This in turn will assure China of large quantities of food imports. China’s economy is only second in size to the American economy. This makes the Chinese feel that they are in the right place to assume superpower status. Traditionally, China was a closed society. The Great Wall of China came up to keep raiders from the North from invading China and it also served as a symbol of Chinese determination to keep to itself. The recent upsurge of Chinese interest in international trade reveals Chinese desire to play a greater role in global issues. Chinese is busy launching international broadcast services in the countries it traditionally had very little to do with. Chinese scholarships are ava ilable to African students, and China is also setting up cultural centers in countries that it wants to relate to more closely. These activities show that China is interested in becoming a geopolitical power. Finally, China is doing business with Africa as part of its trade and investment strategy. China needs jobs for its citizens. Therefore Chinese companies launch projects in Africa and as part of the conditions, china exports labor thereby creating job opportunities for its citizens. In addition, China is making money from the interest it earns from loan repayments by countries it supports. The list of countries that owe China is growing, just like Chinese income from debt repayments is growing. Staffing Strategies Open to Multinational Corporations Any corporation that operates in more than one country must have an international staffing strategy. Crossing boarders bring several issues into play, such as legal and regulatory requirements, the need to transfer the companyâ€℠¢s corporate culture, and a desire to understand the indigenous culture of the new country. Kottolli identified four main staffing strategies in use by multinational corporations (1). The four strategies were the use of an ethnocentric approach, application of a polycentric approach, using a polycentric, and an indigenous strategy. An ethnocentric approach in international HR is the use of a home country executive to head subsidiaries in other countries. This is the most common approach during the early stages of Internationalization. The main advantage of this approach is that the mother company can feel secure that the new subsidiary is remaining aligned to the strategic direction of the company based on the presence of a home grown professional. In addition there is a greater chance of success in the transfer of corporate culture to a new territory when the executive understands the operations of the parent company. On the other hand, this approach can breed resentment from local s especially if the executive is less experienced than local workers. In some countries, it may lead to legal bottlenecks. The second approach to international HR strategy is the use of a polycentric approach. It is a compromise approach which allows local executives to work alongside an expatriate executive from the home country. It seeks to bring the benefits of the two worlds into the organization. The benefits associated with a polycentric approach is that it gives the organization a strong strategic position because it provides the organization with the best local knowledge buttressed against international experience. Secondly, it reduces the tension associated with full foreign control experienced by locals. Similarly, it gives the parent company a feeling of control over the affairs of their foreign subsidiaries. The disadvantage of a polycentric approach is that it sets up the organization for power struggles. The expatriate executive is likely to feel obliged to pursue busi ness in a manner that closely resembles the operations of the mother company, while the local executive might feel that some of the elements of this approach are not practical, acceptable or effective in the local operation. Thirdly, organizations can choose to use a meritocratic approach to international HR. This simply means that the best person in the organization heads the subsidiary. This is the ideal way of practicing HR, at least in theory. The benefit this approach presents to the organization is that it reduces the questions relating to the qualifications and suitability of the executive. Such an executive will command greater respect from all stakeholders compared to one chosen to meet other criteria. However, using a meritocratic approach does not shield the organization from questions relating to its HR policy. If the best person for the job is from the parent company, then the challenges associated with an ethnocentric system may surface. Finally, some organizations cho ose an indigenous approach to international HR. With this approach, the executives of the subsidiary all come from the locality. This approach is very useful if there is political or cultural incompatibility between the two countries. It hides the foreign face of the company. However, the risk of a distinct corporate culture emerging is higher. This risk translates into a threat when the corporate culture within subsidiaries differs significantly to the point that it affects business processes. Management Approaches used by Chinese Corporations The Chinese model of economic support for Africa differs from the models used by western countries and western development corporations. Chinese aid rarely makes it to Africa in form of cash. Rather, China pledges to provide the actual needs African countries need. For instance, a Chinese loan structured for the construction of a road may not leave Chinese banks. The money simply moves from one Chinese bank to another, where international roa d constructions companies have accounts. The construction company uses the money to hire some Chinese laborers and local workers from the lending country to work in the project. In effect, the money does not pass through the hands of the African government where the construction project is underway. This model of development makes it necessary for the Chinese companies to send their employees to African countries. Since most of the projects are infrastructure related or have very close Chinese interests intertwined with them, the best people to manage them are Chinese executives. Therefore, the most common model used by Chinese firms operating in Africa is the ethnocentric model. This is more pronounced in government initiated contracts. Chinese business people who travel to Africa to establish trade relations on their own also end up as the senior most executives of their companies. They may have local trading partners, but usually they will bring in Chinese nationals to take up th e executive functions. Perhaps the biggest barrier to Chinese International HR is the language barrier. There are few multilingual people with a working knowledge of the Chinese language as well as other international languages. This limits the extent of cooperation possible because of the risks that can occur because of the language barrier. Culture Shock and its Effect on Chinese Workers Inevitably, Chinese workers across the African continent deal with culture shock as part of the challenges they need to overcome on order to operate effectively in Africa. Chinese workers are accustomed to greater control from superiors based on the political environment of their country. In Africa, the situation is not similar. Most people are more vocal about their rights because of the years spent in promoting democratic ideals in Africa. Therefore Chinese supervisors tend to view African workers as arrogant and disrespectful. This may explain their resort to force to discipline errant workers. Africans are generally more social than the Chinese. They live in communities which are welcoming to foreigners, and practice hospitality. The Chinese workers in the African continent may find these overtures suspicious. For those who are able to see that Africans are simply being social with them, there is a good chance that they will enjoy beneficial friendships. Politically, Africa is on average about fifty years old since its independence from colonial powers. As such, many Africans are still sensitive to foreign control. Any actions by foreigners that seem to recreate a master-servant relationship are repugnant to Africans. Therefore, authoritarian superiors end up as very unpopular with African workers. In fact, there is growing disquiet among African workers employed by Chinese firms. Laborers and manual workers think the Chinese are brutal and authoritarian. This does not auger well with Africans who feel as though the Chinese are using colonialist attitudes in their relati onships with locals. On the social front, some of the Chinese workers living in Africa have engaged in relationships with locals, leading to the birth of children with mixed heritages. This phenomenon will increase of Chinese immigrants moving to Africa to trade. Some of them choose to settle in Africa after the completion of their contracts. This growing population of Chinese immigrants in Africa will be very instrumental in the future relations of China and Africa. Their understanding of local conditions and language, coupled with their knowledge of Chinese culture and working conditions will make them effective trade ambassadors. Works Cited Brookes, Peter and Ji Hye Shin. â€Å"China’s Influence in Africa: Implications for the United States.† 2006. The Heritage Foundation. Web. Davis, Irl M. The American Entrepreneur in Asia: A Personal Journey of Global Proportions. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2005. Print. East Asia Quarterly. â€Å"Are China’s Multinational C orporations Really Multinational?† East Asia Quarterly April-June 2012. Print. Kottolli, Arun. â€Å"International Staffing Strategy.† 2006. White Papers. Web. Schnurr, Matthew A and Larry A Swatuk. Natural Resources and Social Conflict: Towards Critical Environmental Security. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print. Smith, David. â€Å"Workers Claim Abuse as China adds Zimbabwe to its Scramble for Africa.† 2012. The Guardian. Web. Sutter, Robert G. Chinese Foreign Relations: Power and Policy since the Cold War. Plymouth: Rowman and Littlefield, 2012. Print. The Economist. â€Å"The Chinese in Africa Trying to Pull Together: Africans are Asking Whether China is making their Lunch or Eating it.† 2011. The Economist. Web. Walker, Danielle Medina, Thomas D Walker and Joerg Thomas Schmitz. Doing Business Internationally: The Guide to Cross-Cultural Success. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2003. Print. Zhu, Zhiqun. China’s New Diplomacy: Ratio nale, Strategies and Significance. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2010. Print. This essay on Managing HR in a Global Environment was written and submitted by user Trey Dillon to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Differences Between Generations and the way Society Perc essays

The Differences Between Generations and the way Society Perc essays In Douglas Couplands novel Generation X three friends Andy, Claire, and Dag go on a mission in search of meaning in their lives. The three quit their low-paying jobs and leave their hometowns and everything they had in exploration of extreme changes. They travel to California in search for new jobs and the successful lifestyles they are worthy of. Each of the three friends was born following the baby-boom generation, which took place in the years before 1950. People born between the late 1950s and the late 1960s are given the name generation X for many reasons. Though Andy, Claire, and Dag are members of this generation of time, they were also educated and expected more out of life than what they had been given. This generation is often over looked in todays society. Throughout the book Coupland uses the differences in the generations to play them off of one another. Each generation withholds many changes from the previous. The authors deep understanding of the X generation is used in mockery of the others, and their lack of perception of what is really going on. The people belonging to generation X are often defined as, cynical, hopeless, frustrated and unmotivated slackers who wear grunge clothing, listen to alternative music and still live at home because they cannot get real jobs, as said by a Nevada newspaper. Living up to these truths the Dag, Claire, and Andrew begin a routine of drinking heavily, reminiscing about past time, and making up stories. All the while they are working what they call McJobs, or jobs that have no future, pay minimum wage, have low benefits, and that are of very low stature. Though they are overeducated their private and unpredictable ways leave them working in the service industry. The stories these three characters tell throughout the book are entertaining and humorous. They create tales of love, life, previous overdoses, different cultures of s...

The Judeo-Christian Ethic is Ruining Our Environment Essay

The Judeo-Christian Ethic is Ruining Our Environment - Essay Example Another part of the damaging equation lies in the Christian belief that we are to go forth and multiply, therefore there is ban on contraceptives instituted by the Catholic church. This is another part of the Judeo-Christian belief that is damaging to our environment, and this belief is perhaps most damaging at all. This essay will examine the man-made causes of global warming, and the effects of global warming. This essay will also examine the way that we treat our animals, which is a part of the equation that would be inherent in White's essay. Finally, this essay will look at the effects of overpopulation, which, if it gets much more out of hand, will be the effective end of environment. All of these problems can be directly traced to Christian ethos of dominion over the environment, animals, and the command for the human race to go forth and multiply. The Bible and Animals White's argument centered around the fact that the Bible has been used by humans to justify treating nature and our environment in a way that shows that animals and natural resources were put on this earth simply to save man. He approved of the way that St. Francis of Assisi saw the animals – St. Francis of Assisi thought of the animals as being God's creatures, with souls, and that they were put on this earth not to serve man, but because God created them the same way that he created us. This meant that St. Francis respected the animals as sentient beings with souls. This is clearly not the way that man thinks of animals, if one considers factory farms. For instance, the ethicist Peter Singer, who believes the way that St. Francis did, that animals were not put on this earth to serve us, but they were created in their own right, details how humans treat animals. For instance, he states, in his book The Meat and Milk Factories: The Ethics of How We Eat (2006) that pigs are kept in a crate that is so small that they cannot turn around. Without even hay to sleep on, this is all these pigs know – this tiny crate. The breeding sows are kept in tiny crates that are only a foot longer than their bodies, while being forced to have litter after litter. Male pigs are castrated with an anesthetic. Cows are not treated much better. For instance, the veal cow is put into a dark crate for 16 weeks. During this time, it has a tied neck and is basically starved of iron, so that it becomes anemic. Therefore, it is certain that man believes that animals are simply on this earth to be exploited by humans. Otherwise, there would be a greater outcry about how our animals are treated. Instead, the issue is mostly swept under the rug. In the recent United States Presidential election, the issue of animal rights and factory farms did not come up. Once. That is because of the belief that man has dominion over the animals. Because animals do not have soul, and because man is supposed to have dominion over them, that means that we can treat them any way that we want to treat th em, and forget that they have feelings and can sense pain and fear. But the fact that factory farms are cruel is just one part of the equation. The other part is that they are bad for the environment. Thus, the factory farming lends credence to Smith's overall thesis, which is that the Judeo-Christian ethic is bad for the environment. Michael Pollan explains why this is so. According to Pollan (2008), factory farms harm the environment because the animal waste is in such abundance, because meat in general is in such abundance, that it is no longer fertilizer, but a pollutant. The reason for this is because the

Critically evaluate the claim that Britain is now a classless society Essay

Critically evaluate the claim that Britain is now a classless society - Essay Example The unique fair answer to claim of Dr. Goebbels that England and remains the country of "two nations", would be a recognition, that in practice there are three of them. But feature of English class distinctions is not in their injustice, but in their anachronism. They do not quite precisely coincide with the borders of economic distinctions. It is accepted to classify a modern society according to three parameters: the upper class that is bourgeoisie, middle class, that is petty bourgeoisie, and working class, that is proletariat (Abercrombie, 2001). England remains the one of last countries clinging external forms of feudalism. New titles are kept and are constantly established; the chamber of lords, basically consisting of hereditary peers, possesses real powers. At the same time in England there is no real aristocracy. Racial distinctions, on which the aristocracy is based, were erased already by the end of the Middle Ages, and the well-known medieval families practically have already disappeared (Abercrombie, 2001). It is interesting to note that the sharp line, not financial, but cultural, runs inside of middle class, separating those who aspires to a secular way of life, from the others. To standard measures everyone among the capitalist and living for the week salary can be in a crowd ranked as petty bourgeoisie. That is the farmer, the responsible official, the lawyer, the priest, the bank-worker, the enterprising contractor and the fisherman are enlisted in the same class. Anybody, who pays even least attention to class distinctions, will place the officer with the revenue in 1 000 pounds above on a public ladder, than shop-assistance with the revenue in 2 000 pounds. The similar distinctions exist even among the upper classes: It appears that more honour is given to the titled person, than to the untitled one, but richer. In practice the people of middle class are

The Importance Of Computer Backup Systems

The Importance Of Computer Backup Systems This is used to recompress the files on a disk using the compression method specified. A disk can be recompressed using a single compression method or by using different methods for individual files and folders. Files and folders can also stay uncompressed. This will help save disk space. Disk cleanup: Computer space fills up fast, and being able to quickly make more space is important. Disk cleanup does just that. This is a tool that enables users to clear their disks of unnecessary files. It removes any unused and temporary files from ones computer to make space for new files and programs. Disk cleanup can take a couple seconds to a few hours to remove unused files from the computer. The time depends on how many files are being removed and the speed of the processor. Disk defragmenter: This is the process of resorting all the data on a hard drive so that it starts at the beginning of the disk and is ordered in a chronological nature. It is essential significance to maintaining a properly running computer. The function of a disk defragmenter is to rewrite the data on a hard disk so that all files are written from start to finish and not spread across the entire disk out of order. Defragmenting a hard drive reduces the amount of time it takes to access and read a file. A defragmentation procedure may take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours depending on the size and number of disks on a computer system. Drive Converter: (F) DriveSpace: This is a disk compression utility. This software compresses fate on the fly when the data is to be stored on the hard drive or floppy, and expands the data as it is read from the drive. It increases the amount of data the user could store on disks. However, DriveSpace makes the computer run more slowly, since decompression happens on the fly with every disk access. (G) Maintenance Wizard: This helps one get the best performance from the system. You can run Maintenance Wizard to make your programs run faster, check your hard disk for problems, and free hard disk space. When you start the maintenance wizard, you may choose to express or to use your own custom settings. (H) Net watcher: This is a utility that can be used to monitor the activities of network clients on a particular system. With Net Watcher, one can see who is connected to the system. What shares one is accessing, and what files they have open. One can also at once terminate a users access to the system, a share, or a file. (I) Resource Meter: Resource Meter software displays specific system-related information, mostly about how your available resources like memory space or disk space are currently in use. It is a tiny program that runs in the background and lets you know the amount of resources your system is using at a specified time. It displays as an icon in the System Tray and is color coded. (J) Scan Disk: This is a windows utility used to check the hard disk for errors and to correct problems that are found. These errors often occur when Windows locks up and must be restarted. (K) Scheduled Tasks: It is a component of Microsoft Windows that provides the capacity to schedule the launch of programs at pre-defined times or after specific time periods. It can be used to schedule tasks on the local or remote system to which one is connected. (L) System Monitor: It is a hardware or software based system used to monitor resources and performance in a computer system. These monitoring systems are often used to keep track of system resources or the amount of free RAM. They are also used to display items such as free space on one or more hard drives, the temperature of the CPU and other important components, networking information, and current rates of upload and download. Other likely displays may contain date and time, computer name, username, hard drive, and fan speeds. Question 3: The internet is computer based global information system. It is composed of many interconnected computer networks. The internet has brought a transformation in many aspects of life. Nowadays one can access the internet easily. The internet has developed to give many benefits to mankind. The access to information is one of the most important uses of the internet. Students can now have access to libraries around the world. Before, students had to spend hours in the libraries, but now at the touch of a button, students have a huge amount of information in front of them. Communication is an area where the internet is used for various reasons as it is low cost, effortless and fast. Communication takes place in the forms of emails, chats, video chats and video conferences. E-mail is an important communications service available on the Internet. Email has speeded up business communication on all levels. Usually, it takes only a few seconds for an e-mail to arrive at its destination. This is a particularly effective way to communicate with a group because you can broadcast a message or document to everyone in the group at once. Internet-telephony is another common communications service made possible by the creation of the internet. Internet telephony software essentially provides free telephone calls anywhere in the world One of the fastest- growing forms of internet communication is instant messaging, or also known as IM. An IM communications service enables you to create a private chat room with another individual in order to communicate in real-time over the internet. One of the reasons that IM has become so popular is because, unlike e-mails, if a person wants to reach another individual and they are come online, a message appears instantly in a window on their screen. IM is growing in popularity in the business world. Employees of a company can have instant access to managers and co-workers in different offices and can reduce the need to place phone calls when information is required immediately. IM can save time for employees and can reduce the amount of money a business spends on communication. Interviews can even be conducted online through video conferencing giving the same effects as real life interviews. Video conferencing is a conference between two or more participants at different sites by using computer networks to transmit audio and video data. Each participant has a video camera, microphone and speakers connected on his or her computer. As they speak, their voices are delivered to each other and whatever images appear in from of the video camera appear in a window in the other participants monitor. Advertising on the World Wide Web is a form of support for expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers. It is expected to be the most effective form of advertising. Companies can reach a wide audience for a small fraction of traditional advertising budgets. This allows customers to research and purchase products and services at their own convenience. Social Impact The internet has enabled completely new forms of social interaction, activities, and organizing thanks to its basic features. Social networking websites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Friendster have created new ways to socialize and interact. These sites allow users to add information to pages, to add pictures, common interests and to connect with others. There are also sites that allow people to view videos and photographs. An example of this is YouTube. The internet also provides an area of leisure activity such as multiplayer gaming. This creates communities where people of all ages and origins take pleasure in the world of multiplayer games. Many people also use the Internet to access and download music, movies and other things for their enjoyment. In addition, the World Wide Web is used by many people to access news, to check the weather and sports reports, and to plan and book vacations. Selling The internet can also be used to sell products. A major advantage of selling via internet is the ability to reach anyone. You can reach customers that speak different languages. This is possible due to the fact that the language carrier is removed and translation software is used. When using the internet to sell products or services, one can operate from any computer in the world. Selling without the internet limits one to operate only from a fixed place. When selling via internet, one may take advantage of interactive and multimedia channels. These allow for immediate response time. One also has the option to remain anonymous which allows for privacy which would not normally have outside the internet. Having a product on sale to the public 24/7 is an incredible benefit of the internet. Center of learning With the internet you can learn to do anything or perfect a skill you already have. There are many websites where you can see an instructional video or read step by step on how to do whatever it is you would like. http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2005/internet_communications.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_advertising http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet#Modern_uses http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Advantage-of-Selling-via-Internetid=503987 Question 4: (A) Pipelining is a particularly effective way of organizing parallel activity in a computer system. The basic idea is very simple. A set of data processing elements connected in series, so that the output of one element is the input of the next one. The elements of a pipeline are often performed in parallel or in time-sliced fashion. It is divided in stages. Each stage completes a part of an instruction in parallel. The stages are connected to form a pipe. Instructions enter one end of the pipe, progress through the stages, and exit at the other end. http://www.cs.iastate.edu/~prabhu/Tutorial/PIPELINE/pipe_title.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipeline_(computing) (B) The system clock synchronizes the tasks in a computer, like loading date before manipulating it. The system clock is a circuit that sends out a continuous stream of precise high and low pulses that are all exactly the same length. Every modern PC has multiple system clocks. Each of these vibrates at a specific frequency, normally measured in MHz http://library.thinkquest.org/3114/clock.html (c) Parallel processing is the ability to carry out multiple operations or tasks simultaneously. Parallel processing makes programs run faster because there are more engines running it. With the help of parallel processing, a number of computers can be performed at once at a shorter rate. Question 2: Windows 98 is a widely-installed product in Microsofts evolution of the Windows operating system for personal computers. It has many features that has enhanced its growth. Multiple Monitors: Windows 98 now supports multiple monitors. Multiple monitors is a device for typical home and business use, but is an vital requirement for professional content creation. It is common to have all the software such as page layout, pre-press, illustration, animation and other graphics work on one screen and the artwork in progress on a screen by itself. It is frequent to have music and video on one complete monitor for each source and destination in use. Web integration: The windows 98 includes all of the improvements from windows desktop update, an internet explorer 4 components, desk bands, channels, ability to minimize foreground windows, single click launching, back and forward navigation buttons, favourites, and address bar in windows explorer. With active desktop, users can view and access desktop objects online as well as local files and applications. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-parallel-processing.htm http://www.ehow.com/facts_5022394_definition-disk-defragmenter.html#ixzz12DCrJMVS http://www.ehow.com/facts_5763189_definition-disk-cleanup_.html Read more: What Is the Definition of Disk Cleanup? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_5763189_definition-disk-cleanup_.html#ixzz12DAeD6oh Read more: What Is the Definition of Disk Cleanup? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_5763189_definition-disk-cleanup_.html#ixzz12DAHJFjy Read more: What Is the Definition of Disk Cleanup? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_5763189_definition-disk-cleanup_.html#ixzz12D9VQkGm

Junot Diaz’s “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” Essay

The elders who are used to reminiscing and looking back at the times of their younger years would usually counsel young people of today to treasure, cherish, and make the most of their youth while it is still there. They would often say that, just when a person thinks everything about youth is so wonderful, one’s youthfulness will eventually slip away and that person can never get it back. More often than not, the adventurous activities, fantasies, dreams, and endeavors are the most precious memories the elders reminisce about their youth. This could be why it is often told that a young person’s story is the most precious, the richest, and the best to remember. Many people are often grateful that once in their lives they were able to play, explore, fall in love, and discover great things. However, there are some who would just sit with regret as they look back and see nothing about their younger days but their naivety. But how would it feel like if a person had everything in his or her younger days but nothing beyond that because his or her life ends at the peak of his or her adolescence? One of the shortest yet most colorful stories ever told is that of a boy named Oscar Wao in a moving and entertaining tale by Junot Diaz called, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. This is the story of a boy who had all the play time, adventures, and challenges a child can ever experience in his childhood, but it also tells the story of a boy who wished to become a full-grown man but never became one. What the Story is About A Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao tells the tale of Oscar, a young boy with the most colorful and adventurous childhood. The story is set in a humble village living an ordinary way of life in the United States. Oscar is described in the story as an overweight ghetto nerd who is always scolded and advised by his sister, Lola, to work harder on having a better physique in order to attract girls (Scott). The story opens with a retelling of the difficulties experienced by his mother, Beli, during the regime of an abusive and feared dictator, Rafael Trujillo in 1930 and 1961. Trujillo is tagged by Oscar himself as the â€Å"dictatingest dictator who ever dictated† who then became his most hated person because of how he brought sadness and bad luck to his family’s life (Diaz 80). This is where the concept of fuku appears. Fuku, as how Oscar puts it, is the mother of all bad lucks that can affect a person and his or her family not only for one generation but also for the rest of their lineage’s existence. Because his mother once dared to go in the way of Trujillo, Oscar believes that fuku has affected their family ever since, so he thinks of fuku as the reason why his family never really had a completely happy life. Aside from being a normal teenager who daydreams of the typical teenage fantasies, Oscar also dreams of becoming an accomplished sci-fi writer and a successful lover boy as well. As an adolescent, Oscar goes through the usual dilemmas and adventures of young boys such as being busted, having absurd sexual fantasies, and falling in love with a person he knew he could never have. Oscar’s story is filled with exciting adventures of a boy who tries to discover his place in a foreign land. It is also loaded with exhilarating escapades of a young boy with friends and women. Although the story has two different narrators—which makes it a little bit confusing in some parts—the language is nonetheless creatively utilized to make the text more dynamic and at the same time captivating (Flanagan). Analyzing the Themes Depicted in the Story Love and Obsession Although love is considered an eternal theme that has grazed the pages of innumerable literary works, Junot Diaz successfully captures the interest of a lot of readers in this work because of how complex, difficult, and impossible it is presented in this story. Unlike other works of fiction, Diaz chose to present the concept of love under the light of a certain reality. Diaz depicts the reality of love in this story as something which other people can only dream about; thus, he portrays the reality that the joy and bliss love brings cannot be for all, and that there are just some people who may have really been struck by fuku and can never enjoy the goodness of true love. Beli is presented as the first victim of this miserable reality of love. Her story involves that of a girl who simply fell in love with the wrong person, in the wrong time, and under the wrong circumstances. Beli was a typical kind of a mistress. She fell for a man who was married to not just any other woman, but to the sister of the feared dictator of Dominican Republic during that time, Rafael Trujillo. Her love was that strong that she was ready to face the harsh consequences that may come her way. She was ready to accept the fact that she can never be the first lady in her man’s heart no matter how painful it becomes. However, danger came really close when Trujillo and his sister finally found out about Beli. Although Beli did not want to leave her country, she was forced to do so due to her fear of losing her future and at the advice of her concerned foster mother. That was when Beli had to flee to the United States where she was to start a new life. Indeed, love can really be very bitter and unjust to some people. While other people are throwing away all the goodness love can bring, there are those who yearn for the freedom of loving someone, yet they can never do either because they were struck by fuku, or they are just simply not meant to be. Aside from Beli’s sad experience on love, Diaz’s notion about love is also illustrated in Oscar’s experience: â€Å"Love was a rare thing, easily confused with million other things, and if anybody knew this to be true, it was him† (Diaz 321). As Lola and her boyfriend Yunior narrate Oscar’s story side-by-side, it becomes apparent that Oscar was able to meet several girls in his short-lived life. Even at the young age of seven, Lola describes him to be someone who developed a great fondness for girls who wore lipstick. All the other boys his age avoided the girls like they were a bad case of Captain Trips. Not Oscar †¦ The girls – his sister Lola’s friends, his mother’s friends, even their neighbor, Mari Colon, a thirty-something postal employee who wore red on her lips and walked like she had a bell for an ass – all purportedly fell for him. † (Diaz 12) Thus, Oscar apparently had such an easy time attracting women even at a very juvenile age. However, although this was the case when he was younger, his love life meets a great turnaround during his adolescent years when he encounters a prostitute by the name of Yvon. Yvon is a prostitute whom everybody knows as the â€Å"property† of a corrupt police captain. Although this was clearly understood by Oscar, he seems to be unable to do anything about his growing feelings for Yvon—a feeling different from what he felt for all the other girls he met in the past. At first, love may seem as an exaggerated term as a label to what Oscar feels for Yvon. It may be natural for the readers to think that what he feels is an ordinary case of sexual attraction brought by his own sexual frustrations as an overweight adolescent, and also conclude that Yvon is the kind of girl who can be considered a master in seducing men. However, it becomes clear that Oscar has indeed developed a special kind of affection towards Yvon when he became so possessive and insistent on being with her despite the possible dangers it imposes upon him, knowing he is actually trying to steal the captain’s lady. Oscar even comes to a more serious point of asking Yvon to get married, but Yvon hesitates and always turns him down due to fear of what may happen to both of them if they choose to give in to their feelings. At this point, Diaz’s intention to portray love as an impossible and a difficult thing appears very clear. Based on how much Oscar fought for his love for Yvon, it is evident that he and his mother share the same unlucky fate when it comes to love. Hence, it can be inferred that they both fell for the wrong person (who belonged to the â€Å"wrong† people) at the wrong time and under wrong and unlucky circumstances as well. Considering this, the readers may not help but think that Diaz is trying to say that fuku may indeed exist as it appears to have set upon Oscar’s family. However, love, as many would say, often comes with another miserable reality called obsession, and this theme can also be observed in the entirety of Diaz’s work. Considering the love felt by both Oscar and Beli for their lovers, it can be safe to say that it was obsession, aside from love, which kept them holding on to their feelings. Indeed, both can be seen to have specific obsessions. In Beli’s case, her only obsession was her love for the man who can never give back the same amount of love to her. She knew it was not right to love a man who is already married, yet her obsession for that person and for his affection made her feel that the world is but an unjust place, unable to distribute the freedom to love evenly among all its inhabitants. On the other hand, Oscar also appears to be obsessed with love as much as how was obsessed with women in the past. While other kids his age considered women as a vice which needs to be avoided, he looked at them with so much delight that he considered them as the next sweetest thing to candies that can as well vary in size, shapes, and colors. He became so used to women calling him hombre because he was seen as a lover boy who knew all about women’s weaknesses and soft spots. He became so addicted to this kind of relationship that he never knew getting together with a girl like Yvon would be such a difficult thing to handle. As it appears, love has indeed become Oscar’s greatest obsession. He became blind to Yvon’s natural beauty and appeal which prevented him from seeing the reality that they can never be together since she is already a property of someone else—someone else who is much more powerful than him. Thus, the circumstances of Beli and Oscar suggest that oftentimes, love and obsession go hand-in-hand. Sex Oscar’s character is introduced to the concept of sex during the early years of his adolescence, just like what typically happens to average teenagers. This theme reverberates throughout the story—from Oscar’s own retelling to Lola and Yunior’s. Like average teenagers, Oscar is described to have such a glorious impression about sex as something that reflects manliness and strength. However, although he knew this, it is mentioned repeatedly in the story that Oscar thought he might possibly die a virgin. Throughout the entire story, Oscar talks and fantasizes about nothing but the image of him making love with a woman he loves. Yet, there are also times when he becomes so desperate that he just wanted to do the act with anybody just to prove he would not die a virgin. This seems to be the biggest frustration of Oscar. He leaves their home for college as a virgin and he comes back a virgin still. Thus, it can be inferred that Diaz attempts to imply that in this modern age where sex is being popularized by the mass media, it may seem hard for a typical teenager to go on without experiencing it when all the boys are considering it as a trophy and a great achievement. Aside from this, considering that Oscar is overweight, Diaz presents how hard it can be for an adolescent who is not physically attractive to dream of something like sex when everybody else in the neighborhood seems to be doing it as a normal activity. Only in the last lines of the novel would reveal that Oscar indeed has done it with the love of his life, Yvon, and he chose to describe it this way: â€Å"So this is what everybody’s always talking about! Diablo! If only I’d known. The beauty! The beauty! † (Diaz 339). Reading â€Å"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao† is like looking deep into the frustrations and fantasies of every teenager. Oscar’s characterization as a desperate overweight adolescent who enters and leaves college as a virgin, his natural tendency to wear his â€Å"nerdiness† the way a master swordsman wears his sword, as well as his occasional suicidal tendencies can be seen as honest and true-to-life representations of the challenges adolescents face (Kakutani). Moreover, Oscar’s views of love, obsession, and sex also reflect the popular notions and impressions of teenagers regarding such topics. Hence, this work of Diaz may serve as a mirror to all the young people who cannot identify with their environment either because of their color, nationality, weight, and/or personality. Oscar Wao’s fantasies, challenges, failures, and frustrations definitely show the readers that an adolescent’s life is not always plainly about play, adventure, and leading a happy-go-lucky life. All of his heartaches, mishaps, and adventures shaped his desire to be accepted by his generation, since being accepted in his age may mean having several girlfriends, being physically fit, and especially not dying a virgin. In this short-lived yet dynamic life of Oscar Wao, the reality of youth being the most colorful and upbeat period of a person’s life is once again justified. Thus, considering how Oscar’s life ended, it can be inferred that childhood is the happiest time of life, and although Oscar’s life ended there, his life tells that childhood is also the period of life that one should enjoy to the fullest. Works Cited Diaz, Junot. The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. London: Riverhead Books, 2007. Dickens, Charles. â€Å"A boy’s story is the best that is ever told. † Quote Junkie (British Edition). Ed. Hagopian Institute. California: Create Space, 2008. 16 Flanagan, Mark. â€Å"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. † About. com. Sept. 2007. 29 July 2009. . Kakutani, Michiko. â€Å"Travails of an Outcast. † The New York Times. 4 Sept. 2007. 29 July 2009. . Scott, A. C. â€Å"Dreaming in Spanglish. † The New York Times. 30 Sept. 2007. 29 July 2009. .