Case study of yellow auto company Essay

Kelly and two other westerners working in Japan on the JET program had a dispute with their Japanese supervisor over sick leave. This report aims to analyze the decisions and issues in the case study from a personality and values perspective. The key decisions identified are in relation to recruitment, contract and training. The JET program did not require the ALT candidates to have any knowledge of Japanese. The salaries received by the JET participants were  considered unfair by their Japanese colleagues. The contract received by the JET participants were ambiguous and imprecise. In addition, the Japanese employees in the host institution expected the foreigners to work like the Japanese rather than following the terms of their contract. The program provided pre-departure training for JET participants, but did not provide the same level of training for Japanese employees on how to work with foreigners. Based on Hofstede’s Framework, it is found that the weaknesses of the decisions were mainly due to the differences in values of Japanese and western cultures. Japan is a society with high power distance, extremely high uncertainty avoidance, strong collectivism, strong masculinity and a long-term vision, whereas western societies have almost the opposite values. The seniority-based salary system, lifetime employment, the expectation to conform to social norms, dedication to work, loyalty to the employers and a male-dominated workplace are all features of the Japanese management system that the JET participants were unaware of. It is recommended that the JET program reassess its recruitment policy to include Japanese as a compulsory requirement for candidates, and adjust the salary package to reflect the seniority-based culture. It is also recommended to draft a rigorous contract to avoid any ambiguity. In addition to making the pre-departure training compulsory, Japanese employees should receive the same level of cross-cultural training. Moreover, better Personality-Job fit and Person-Organization fit may be achieved if applicant’s personalities are taken into account in the recruitment process. ​- 7 – 1. INTRODUCTION Kelly, Mark, Andrea and Suzanne, all in their 20’s, were hired by the JET program to work in Japan. During their placement, there was a bitter dispute between them and Mr. Higashi, the supervisor of the foreign JET participants, over sick leave. This report aims to explore the critical  decisions and issues in this case from a personality and values perspective. Firstly, the critical decisions regarding recruitment, contract and training will be analyzed. Secondly, there will be a discussion of the issues in national culture, values and personality. Finally, recommendations will be provided to facilitate future improvement. 2. CRITICAL DECISIONS 2.1 Key Decision 1 – Recruitment The JET program made the decision of hiring native English speakers to assist in foreign language teaching in Japan. The positions of Coordinator for International Relations (CIR) and Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) both required the candidates to have a university degree and an interest in Japan. CIRs were required to have a functional knowledge of Japanese, but ALTs were not required to do so. The above recruitment decision recognized the importance of native-speakers in foreign language teaching and the educational background of the candidates, however, the lack of Japanese language requirement for ALTs was a fundamental flaw in the recruitment decision. This language barrier caused difficulty in communication between the Japanese employees and JET participants. In addition, Mr. Higashi had to act as an interpreter because he was the only person who could speak English. Kelly, Mark, Andrea and Suzanne were young and inexperienced, yet they were paid the same salary as Japanese supervisors in the host institution. According to Adhikari (2005) and Hofstede (1993), Japan has a unique culture in which employees’ salaries are based on seniority rather than position. It is therefore unsurprising that the Japanese employees, all worked for more than 20 years in their career, felt uncomfortable about the salary of the JET participants. 2.2 Key Decision 2 – Contract All the JET participants in the office had a standard North American contract which set out the working hours, number of vacation days and sick leave they were entitled to. However after Kelly, Mark and Suzanne fell ill, they were  forced to use 2 paid vacation days rather than sick leave, which caused a serious tension between the JETs and Mr. Higashi. The strength of the contract was that it stated a set of rules for the JET participants to follow, but the weakness was that it was not rigorously written. Shaules (2008) argues that western contracts are explicit and detailed, whereas Japanese contracts can be flexible and open to interpretation. This cultural difference is reflected in the contract received by the JET participants. The definitions of â€Å"paid leave†, â€Å"paid holidays† and â€Å"special holidays† were ambiguous and they seemed to be used interchangeably within the contract. Section 1 of Article 11 says that the JET participants are entitled to 20 paid holidays, but Section 3 of Article 12 says that the special holidays (including sick leave) are paid holidays. Depending on the interpretation of â€Å"paid holidays† and â€Å"special holidays†, these two clauses either contradict with each other or repeat themselves. Apart from the wording of the contract, the ability to honour the contract was also problematic. Although the JET participants acted within the terms of their contract, their Japanese colleagues still expected them to stay past 5pm on weekdays and work on Saturdays. The contract said that a doctor’s certificate was only required if the JET participants took three or more consecutive days of sick leave, but Mr. Higashi asked Kelly to bring in the note even though she only took 2 day’s sick leave. 2.3 Key Decision 3 – Training The Conference of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR) provided the JET participants with lots of information about working and living in Japan, and offered pre-departure training sessions about life in Japan and its potential problems. The strength of the above decision was that it recognized the cultural differences of Japan and western countries and the challenges faced by those JET participants working in Japan. The weaknesses of the decision were that  it did not make the pre-departure training sessions compulsory, and it did not offer similar training sessions for Japanese employees on the cultural differences and problems of working with westerners. The consequences of the above weaknesses were that Kelly found herself in unfamiliar and difficult situations because she had no experience or knowledge of the Japanese workplace. Had she attended the training sessions, she would have been better prepared for the difficulties of working in another country. Similarly, due to poor knowledge and understanding, the Japanese colleagues disapproved the lack of commitment of the JET participants, and did not know how to deal with them in an effective and harmonious manner. If the Japanese employees had received training on working with westerners, they would have had a better working relationship with the JET participants. 3. ISSUES 3.1 National Cultures and Values The weaknesses of the key decisions discussed in Section 2 mainly rooted from the differences in national cultures and values. Hofstede’s (1980, 1983, 1991, 1993, 2001) Framework for Assessing Cultures provides a theoretical ground for cross cultural management and research. The framework identified five value dimensions of national culture: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, and long/short-term orientation. The GLOBE Framework (House, et al., 2001; House, Javidan and Dorfman, 2002; Javidan, et al., 2005; Robbins and Judge, 2007) further extended Hofstede’s Framework to include assertiveness, in-group collectivism, performance orientation and humane orientation. Because the JET participants in the case study came from Canada, Great Britain and United States, the western cultures and values discussed below will refer to these specific countries. According to Hofstede’s (2001) findings, Japan has a higher power distance than western cultures, although the difference is not significant. However, Japan ranked notably higher in  uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, masculinity and long-term orientation. 3.1.1 Power Distance Japan has a seniority-based promotion and reward management system and a highly hierarchical society in general (Adhikari, 2005; Oishi, et al. 2005; Shaules; 2008). This is mainly influenced by the Confucian values which emphasize hierarchy and harmony. Mr. Higashi acted more like a father than a manager, because in a traditional Confucian family, the father is the head and always at the top of the hierarchy. Unaware of these Japanese values, the JET participants constantly challenged the authority of their supervisors. As a result, the Japanese employees working at the senior level were annoyed that these inexperienced young foreigners were hired to tell them how to do their jobs. Moreover, paying a manager-level salary to these young foreigners were also against the Japanese norm of a seniority-based salary system. 3.1.2 Uncertainty Avoidance Adhikari (2005), Brightman (2005) and Shaules (2008) all agree that Japanese culture expects everyone to conform to social norms and discourages individualism. This confirms the high uncertainty avoidance in Japanese society as claimed by Hofstede. Uncertainty avoidance was the reason why Mr. Higashi insisted to deal with the foreign JETS in the Japanese way. Because Mr. Higashi had lived all his life in Japan, the belief of conforming to social norms was deeply rooted in him. Shaules (2008) asserts that Japanese prefer to resolve conflicts in an indirect and mediated manner, whereas westerners tend to adopt a direct rule-based approach. This explains why the JET participants clearly referred to the contract and tried to resolve the sick leave issue with Mr. Higashi in a direct manner. On the other hand, even though Mr. Higashi was extremely agitated, he still chose to resolve the matter through the accountant rather than clarifying it there and then. 3.1.3 Collectivism Various literature (Adhikari, 2005; Brightman, 2005; Javidan et al., 2005; Lucier et al., 1992; Oishi et al., 2005; Shaules, 2008; Wang et al., 2005) claims that Japan is a highly collective society, which means that the needs of a group are always viewed as more important than individual needs, and  individuals are expected to sacrifice their own needs if there is a conflict between them. On the contrary, western societies tend to encourage individualism (Hofstede, 1991; Javidan et al., 2005). Scholars believe that the strong level of collectivism in Japan is due to the influence of Confucian values, which emphasize group orientation, relationships between individuals and showing respect (Fang, 2003, Wang et al., 2005; Yan, 2004). This explains why Japanese employees are so dedicated to their work and have great loyalty to their employers, whereas the JET participants prefer to use every single day of their holiday and fulfil their personal goals. 3.1.4 Masculinity Japan ranked No.1 in masculinity in Hofstede’s (2001) findings. Women often leave their work to look after the family after getting married, therefore, very few women work at the senior management level in Japan (Adhikari, 2005; Kei et al., 2010). This was the reason why all senior Japanese employees in the JET program were men. This also explains why Mr. Higashi kept asking Kelly to sign up to flower arranging classes or tea ceremony, as these were traditionally considered women’s activities. 3.1.5 Long-term Orientation Japan has a long-term oriented culture whereas western cultures tend to be short-term oriented (Lucier et al., 1992; Fang, 2003). One of the key characteristics of Japanese-style management is lifetime employment (Adhikari, 2005; Lucier et al., 1992). This was why the Japanese employees and supervisors all complained that the JET participants were never long enough to become part of the team, as they viewed the organization as a long-term family. On the other hand, Kelly had a short-term aim to make money, see the other part of the world and improve her Japanese. With this mismatch between the goals of the Japanese and western employees, neither of them could understand each other. 3.2 Personality The Big Five Model identified five factors of personality: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience (Robbins and Judge, 2007; Roccas et al., 2002). It was clear that the JET participants and the Japanese employees had very different personalities. For example, Mark is an introvert who prefers to work alone, whereas most  Japanese employees tend to be extroverts who enjoy social gatherings after work. Mr. Higashi and other Japanese employees are highly conscientious whereas the JET participants are less so. The JET participants have lower emotional stability because they tend to get angry and distressed easily. In order to increase employee job satisfaction and reduce turnover, Holland (1996) and Gardner et al. (2012) promote the theory of Personality-Job fit and Person-Organization fit. This means to fit an individual’s personality with the characteristics of the job and the organization. The JET program should learn from the issues identified in this report and aim to increase the Personality-Job fit and Person-Organization fit in its future recruitment process. 4. CONCLUSION This report analyzed the critical decisions and issues in the case study from a personality and values perspective. The analysis was mainly based on Hofstede’s Framework, together with the Big Five Model, GLOBE Framework and Holland’s Person-Job Fit theory. It has been identified that the weaknesses of the decisions were mainly due to the lack of mutual understanding in culture and values. Different personalities also affected the harmony of the work relationship in this case. The next section will list the recommended actions in order to overcome the weaknesses identified in the analysis. 5. RECOMMENDATIONS The JET program is advised to take the following actions: 1. to introduce Japanese language requirements for all JET participants; 2. to assess the applicants’ personality in order to increase Personality-Job fit and Person-Organization fit; 3. to revise the remuneration package of JET participants so that they receive less salary than the Japanese supervisors; 4. to appoint a lawyer experienced in employment contract to draft a detailed and rigorous contract; 5. to make pre-departure training and orientation a compulsory requirement for JET participants; 6. to provide cross-cultural training to Japanese employees; 7. to consider extending the  maximum term of the JET participants’ contract or even consider offering permanent positions. ​- 7 – REFERENCES Adhikari, D. R. (2005) National Factors and Employment Relations in Japan, Japan Institute of Labour Policy and Training, Tokyo. Available from [accessed: 30/10/2013]. Brightman, J.D. (2005) Asian Culture Brief Japan, National Technical Assistance Centre, 2(6), available from [accessed 31/10/2013] Fang, T. (2003) ‘A critique of Hofstede’s fifth national culture dimension’, International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 3(3), pp.347-368. Gardner, W.L., Reithel, B.J., Cogliser, C.C., Walumbwa, F.O. and Foley, R.T. (2012), ‘Matching personality and organizational culture: effects of recruitment strategy and the Five-Factor Model on Subjective Person-Organization Fit’, Management Communication Quarterly, 26(4), pp.585-622. Hofstede, G. (1980) Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Hofstede, G. (1983) ‘Dimensions of National Cultures in Fifty Countries and Three Regions’, In: J.B. Deregowski, S. Dziurawiec and R.C. Annis (eds.) Expiscations in Cross-cultural Psychology, pp. 335-355. Lisse: Swets and Zeitlinger. Hofstede, G. (1991) Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. London: McGraw-Hill. Hofstede, G. (1993) ‘Cultural Constraints in Management Theories’, Academy of Management Executive, 7(1), pp. 81-94. Hofstede, G. (2001) Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Holland, J.L. (1996) ‘’Exploring careers with a typology: What we have learned and some new directions’, American Psychologist, 51, pp.397-406. House, R., Javidan, M.,Hanges, P. and Dorfman, P. (2001) ‘Project GLOBE: An Introduction’, Applied Psychology: An international Review, 50(4), pp.489-505. House, R., Javidan, M. and Dorfman, P. (2002) â€Å"Understanding cultures and implicit leadership theories across the globe: an introduction to project GLOBE†, Journal of World Business, 37, pp. 3-10. Javidan, M., Stahl., G.K., Brodbeck, F. and Wilderom, C.P.M. (2005) â€Å"Cross-border transfer of knowledge: Cultural lessons from Project GLOBE†, Academy of Management Executive, 19(2), pp. 59-76. Kei, K., Koichi, T. and Miwako, H. (2010) The survey of Japanese value orientation: analysis of trends over thirty-five years, NHK Broadcasting Studies, Japan. Lucier, C., Boucher, M. White, J. Cangemi, J. and Kowalski, C. (1992) ‘Exploring values of Japanese and American management systems’, Education, 112(4), pp. 487-498. Oishi, S., Hajm, J., Schimmack, U., Radhakrishan, P., Dzokoto, V. and Ahadi, S. (2005), ‘The measurement of values across cultures: a pairwise comparison approach’, Journal of Research and Personality, 39, pp.299-305. Robbins, S. P. and Judge, T. A. (2007) Organizational Behaviour, 12th Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Roccas, S. Sagiv, L., Schwarts, S.H. and Knafo, A. (2002) ‘The Big Five personality factors and personal values’, PSPB, 28(6), pp.789-801. Shaules, J. (2008) ‘The deep culture of Japanese values’, tcworld, available from [accessed 30/10/2013]. Wang, J., Wang, G.G., Ruona, W.E.A. and Rojewski, J.W.(2005), ‘Confucian values and the implications for international HRD’, Human Resource Development International, 8(3), pp.311-326. Yan, J. (2004) ‘The influence of Confucian ideology on conflict in Chinese family business’, International Journal of Cross Culture Management, 4(1), pp. 5-17.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay

Characters: Huckleberry Finn – The protagonist and narrator of the novel. Huck is the thirteen-year-old son of the local drunk of St. Petersburg, Missouri, a town on the Mississippi River. Tom Sawyer – Huck’s friend. Tom serves as a foil to Huck: imaginative, dominating, and given to wild plans taken from the plots of adventure novels, Tom is everything that Huck is not. Widow Douglas and Miss Watson – Two wealthy sisters who live together in a large house in St. Petersburg and who adopt Huck. Jim – One of Miss Watson’s household slaves. Jim is superstitious and occasionally sentimental, but he is also intelligent, practical, and ultimately more of an adult than anyone else in the novel. Pap – Huck’s father, the town drunk and ne’er-do-well. Pap is a wreck when he appears at the beginning of the novel, with disgusting, ghostlike white skin and tattered clothes. Plot: The story is all about a young boy named Huck, and a slave named Jim. Huck had faked his death and left town and then met the runaway slave,Jim.The two of them travel on a raft up the Mississippi river and meet and have to overcome many obstacles which bring them closer together as they both learn lessons all the way through to the end. Conflict: When Huck’s dealings with Jim, as Huck must decide whether to turn Jim in, as society demands, or to protect and help his friend instead. Climax: When Huck considers but then decides against writing Miss Watson to tell her the Phelps family is holding Jim, following his conscience rather than the prevailing morality of the day. Instead, Tom and Huck try to free  Jim, and Tom is shot in the leg during the attempt. Denouement: When Aunt Polly arrives at the Phelps farm and correctly identifies Tom and Huck, Tom reveals that Miss Watson died two months earlier and freed Jim in her will.  Ending: When Jim is free, Tom’s leg is healed, Huck still has his $6,000, and Aunt Sally has offered to adopt him. Lesson learned: I learned that I learned that we should never judge people by their appearances. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn touches upon controversial racial issues that many people believe are not appropriate for young children. Understanding the novel’s satirical aspects requires a certain amount of intellectual maturity. Students below this level of aptitude may misconstrue the novel’s vulgar comments as racist, rather than an ironic portrayal of slavery. Some people feel that the elementary and secondary school students that read the book will only recognize the prominent issues of the novel and will overlook Mark Twain’s depiction that slavery is morally wrong. It is a fallacy that junior high students would be blind to Twain’s underlying references. The renowned literary work should be used as a way to educate students about the cruelty that occurred in our nation’s past. Confronting these deep racial issues could enlighten students and ease existing race relations. Huckleberry Finn should be read in schools prior to high school to familiarize students with important social issues. Those that oppose Huckleberry Finn’s presence in elementary and secondary school curricula claim that its advanced material is not suitable for children of those ages. At this point, they argue, students have not matured enough to form their own views and are susceptible to negative influences. Reading Huckleberry Finn would expose students to acts of prejudice and belittlement of the black population. For example, the repeated use of the word â€Å"nigger† is disrespectful and students should not hear it used so frivolously. This word not only has a negative connotation, but it is a reminder of the inequality that once existed and alienates blacks. Furthermore, Jim, the black protagonist of the novel, is ridiculed and reduced to less than human by the novel’s conclusion. Jim’s character starts out as an enslaved black man oppressed by the white population. As he and Huck travel down the river, Jim gains confidence and the reader sees his true intelligence and compassion for Huck. Only shortly later, Jim gets drawn into Tom Sawyer’s extravagant plan to â€Å"free† him, where he is once again at the mercy of others’ cruelty. This vicious degradation of a human being far too advanced for young children to comprehend. Black students specifically may find this material embarrassing and discomforting. Young students of other ethnicities may have not yet had experiences that teach them the effects of this chauvinistic mentality and may see this behavior as acceptable. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn uses language that is offensive and contains subject matter that illuminates the separation between races. Twain purposely shares these truths in order to denounce and ironize the entire institution of slavery. The belief that elementary and secondary school students cannot understand Twain’s underlying intentions completely underestimates their mental capacity. Discussing these issues could shape students’ ideas and thwart any preconceived derogatory notions. Leslie Fiedler, an advocate of Huck Finn praises the novel for, â€Å"enabling us finally—without denying our horror and guilt—to laugh therapeutically at the ‘peculiar institution’ of slavery† (Fiedler, 1984, Huckleberry Finn: The Book We Love to Hate, p. 6). He sees the novel as a way to objectively address slavery and free our nation of its lasting burden. In a classroom setting with the help of an instructor, every element of the story would be explained. Teachers are important mentors that can guide each student to an understanding of the evolution and importance of human rights. Descriptive Outline Proposition: Huckleberry Finn should be read in schools prior to high school because it is informative about important social issues. Plan: Present the argument. Take a position. Provide a concession to my position. Confirm my position with specific reasons. Paragraph 1: Says: Huckleberry Finn is a complex novel, yet young children would be able to understand and benefit from reading it in a classroom setting. Does: Sentences 1 introduces the topic. Sentences 2 and 3 further develop the issue. Sentence 4 gives one view of the argument. Sentence 5 disproves the previous sentence. Sentences 6 and 7 support the latter side of the argument. Sentence 8 is the proposition of the essay. Paragraph 2: Says: Elementary and secondary school students will misinterpret the purpose of the racial slurs in Huckleberry Finn. Does: Sentence 1 states the topic of the paragraph. Sentence 2 supports clarifies the preceding sentence. Sentences 3 says the ultimate reason for this position. Sentences 4 and 5 state one reason that backs up this claim. Sentences 6, 7 and 8 state another reason for this claim with specific evidence from the novel. Sentence 9 connects these reasons to the proposition. Sentences 10 and 11 explain further the effects of this side of the argument. Paragraph 3: Says: Students are entirely capable and should read Huckleberry Finn in schools at an age before high school. Does: Sentences 1 and 2 acknowledges the opinion in the former paragraph as a transition into the opposing view point. Sentence 3 challenges the concession in the preceding paragraph. Sentence 4 gives a general reason supporting the first sentence. Sentence 5 is a direct quote from an advocate of Huck Finn that supports the proposition. Sentence 6 explains the quotation. Sentences 7 and 8 state two benefits of adhering to the proposition. Kaila McDonnell Concession Essay Second Draft February 19, 2010 Moral Education through Literature The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn touches upon controversial racial issues that many people believe are not appropriate for young children. Understanding the satirical aspects of the novel require a certain level of intellectual maturity. While the book is read in many elementary and secondary school classrooms, some people feel that these students will only recognize the prominent issues of the novel and will overlook the inherent moral value that Mark Twain wishes to convey. If only the immediate context of the novel is interpreted, the book could be perceived as a sanction of racism. Students should be aware of the cruelty that occurred in our nation’s past. It is a fallacy that students in junior high would be blind to Twain’s underlying references that denounce slavery and discrimination. Confronting these deep racial issues could enlighten students and ease existing race relations. Huckleberry Finn should be read in schools prior to high school because it educates students about important social issues. Those that oppose Huckleberry Finn’s presence in elementary and secondary school curricula claim that the advanced material in the novel is not suitable for children of those ages. At this point, students have not matured enough to form their own views and are susceptible to negative influences. Reading Huckleberry Finn would expose students to acts of prejudice and belittlement of the black population. For example, the repeated use of the word â€Å"nigger† is disrespectful and is not something students should hear used so frivolously. This word not only beholds a negative connotation, but it is representative of blacks’ entire brutal struggle with inequality. Further, Jim, the black protagonist of the novel, is ridiculed and reduced to less than human by the end of the novel. Jim’s character starts out as a typical enslaved black man oppressed by the white population. As he and Huck travel down the river, Jim loses his slave persona as he gains confidence and the reader sees his true intelligence and compassion for Huck. Shortly after, Jim is involved in Tom Sawyer’s extravagant plan to â€Å"free† him, where he is once again at the mercy of others’ cruelty. This vicious degradation of a human being is far too advanced for children of a young age to comprehend. Black students specifically may find this material embarrassing and discomforting. Young students of other races may have not yet had experiences that taught them the effects of this chauvinistic mentality and may see this behavior as acceptable. The belief that students in elementary and secondary schools cannot handle the messages present in Huckleberry Finn is a complete underestimation of their mental capacity. Discussing these issues could shape students’ ideas and thwart any preconceived derogatory notions. Leslie Fiedler, an advocate of Huck Finn praises the novel for, â€Å"enabling us finally—without denying our horror and guilt—to laugh therapeutically at the ‘peculiar institution’ of slavery† (Fiedler, 1984, Huckleberry Finn: The Book We Love to Hate, p. 6). He sees the novel as a way to objectively address slavery and free our nation of its lasting burden. In a classroom setting with the help of an instructor, every element of the story would be explained. Teachers are important mentors with their guidance each student could reach a full understanding of the evolution and importance of human rights. Descriptive Outline PROPOSITION: Huckleberry Finn should be read in schools prior to high school because it is informative about important social issues. PLAN: Present the argument. Take a position. Provide a concession to my position. Confirm my position with specific reasons. PARAGRAPH 1: Says: Huckleberry Finn is a complex novel, yet young children would be able to understand and benefit from reading it in a classroom setting. Does: Sentences 1 and 2 introduce the topic. Sentences 3 and 4 give one view of the argument. Sentence 5 serves as the link to the next idea. Sentences 6 and 7 state the other side of the argument. Sentence 8 is the proposition of the essay. PARAGRAPH 2: Says: Some believe that students are not mature enough at an elementary or secondary school level to see Huckleberry Finn for what it’s worth. Does: Sentence 1 states the topic of the paragraph. Sentence 2 supports clarifies the preceding sentence. Sentences 3 says the ultimate reason for this position. Sentences 4 and 5 state one reason that backs up this claim. Sentences 6, 7 and 8 state another reason for this claim with specific evidence from the novel. Sentence 9 connects these reasons to the proposition. Sentences 10 and 11 explain further the effects of this side of the argument. PARAGRAPH 3: Says: Students are entirely capable and should read Huckleberry Finn in schools at an age before high school. Does: Sentence 1 disproves the concession in the preceding paragraph. Sentence 2 gives a general reason supporting the first sentence. Sentence 3 is a direct quote from an advocate of Huck Finn that supports the proposition. Sentence 4 explains the quotation. Sentences 5 and 6 say exactly why the proposition is true. Kaila McDonnell Concession Essay Draft February 16, 2010 Moral Education through Literature The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn touches upon many racial issues that many people believe is not appropriate for young children. Understanding the satirical aspects of the novel require a certain level of intellectual maturity. While the book is read in many elementary and secondary school classrooms, some people feel that these students will only recognize the prominent issues of the novel and will overlook the inherent subject matter that Mark Twain wishes to convey. If only the immediate context of the novel is interpreted, the book could be perceived as a sanction of racism. However, now over a century since the first emancipation of slaves, the enactment of slavery should not be forgotten. Students should be aware of the cruelty that occurred in our nation’s past. It is a fallacy that students in junior high would be blind to Twain’s underlying references that denounce slavery and discrimination. Confronting these deep racial issues could enlighten students and ease existing race relations. Huckleberry Finn should be read in schools prior to high school because it is informative about important social issues. Those that oppose Huckleberry Finn’s presence in elementary and secondary school curriculums claim that the advanced material in the novel is not suitable for children of those ages. At this point, students have not matured enough to form their own views and are still susceptible to negative influences. Reading Huckleberry Finn would expose students to situations that are prejudice and belittling to the black population; for example, the repeated use of the word â€Å"nigger† in reference to blacks. This word not only beholds a negative connotation, but it is representative of blacks’ entire brutal struggle with inequality. Further, Jim, the symbol of the black community in the novel, is ridiculed and reduced to less than human by the end of the novel. This subject matter is far too advanced for children of a young age to understand its significance. Black students specifically may find this material embarrassing and discomforting, while students of other races may see this chauvinistic behavior as acceptable. The belief that students in elementary and secondary schools cannot handle the messages present in Huckleberry Finn is a complete underestimation of their mental capacity. At a young age, students should not learn to be blind to important issues, such as race relations. Leslie Fiedler, an advocate of Huck Finn says that he would have parents, â€Å"prize Twain’s dangerous and equivocal novel not in spite of its use of that wicked epithet, but for the way in which he manages to ironize it; enabling us finally—without denying our horror and guilt—to laugh therapeutically at the ‘peculiar institution’ of slavery. † Prior to high school is when students are developing their own opinions and need to be guided to proper moral judgment. Huckleberry Finn addresses many relevant moral issues. In a classroom setting with the help of an instructor, every element of the story would be explained and each student could reach a full understanding of the evolution and importance of human rights. Descriptive Outline PROPOSITION: Huckleberry Finn should be read in schools prior to high school because it is informative about important social issues. PLAN: Present the argument. Take a position. Provide a concession to my position. Confirm my position with specific reasons. PARAGRAPH 1: Says: Huckleberry Finn is a complex novel, yet young children would be able to understand and benefit from reading it in a classroom setting. Does: Sentences 1 and 2 introduce the topic. Sentences 3 and 4 give one view of the argument. Sentence 5 serves as the link to the next idea. Sentence 6 states the other side of the argument. Sentences 7 and 8 state and verify the proposition of the essay. PARAGRAPH 2: Says: Some believe that students are not mature enough at an elementary or secondary school level to see Huckleberry Finn for what its worth. Does: Sentence 1 states the topic of the paragraph. Sentence 2 supports clarifies the preceding sentence. Sentences 3, 4 and 5 say why this position is plausible with specific evidence from the novel. Sentences 6 and 7 state the importance and relevance of the prior examples. PARAGRAPH 3: Says: Students are entirely capable and should read Huckleberry Finn in schools at an age before high school. Does: Sentence 1 disproves the concession in the preceding paragraph. Sentence 2 expands upon the first sentence. Sentence 3 is a direct quote from an advocate of Huck Finn that supports the proposition. Sentences 4, 5, and 6 say why in fact the proposition is true. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Ernest Hemingway probably summed it up best when he said, â€Å"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn† (source). We’re dealing with quite a book here. Published in 1885, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain’s follow-up to the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, carved new territory into the American literary landscape in several ways. As one of the first novels to use a specific region’s vernacular in its narration, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn set a precedent for many other distinctly American works to follow. Some readers didn’t exactly â€Å"get† this new colloquial style, however. Accustomed to the proper prose of Hawthorne, Thoreau, and Emerson, some readers didn’t know what to do with Huck’s particular way of storytelling. Aside from the novel’s new style of writing, Twain’s decision to use thirteen-year-old Huck as the narrator allowed him to include certain content that a more civilized narrator probably would have left out. At first, Twain’s novel was labeled crass by some readers. The book was even banned in schools for its use of the n-word which is ironic, given that the novel is up in arms over slavery. Even today, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn makes â€Å"Banned Books† lists. Look more:  social satire essay Twain’s novel jumped head first into one of the biggest issues of its day: racism. Although the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed over two decades before Huckleberry Finn’s original publication date, African-Americans everywhere were still victims of oppression and racism. They were technically â€Å"free,† but often by name only in Reconstruction-era America. Many southerners were bitter about the outcome of the Civil War. By guiding his characters through several states of the Confederacy, Twain was able to reveal the hypocrisy of many pre-war southern communities. As a southerner himself, Twain had first-hand experiences to draw on, and he was able to walk the fine line between realistic depiction and ironic farce. Not to mention, Twain created the now-iconic character of Jim, a runaway slave who convinces Huck that African-Americans are deserving of freedom, and that equality is a goal for which we all should be fighting. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is now considered to be one of the Great American Novels, mostly due to how it so heartily champions the American ideals of freedom, independence, and rugged individualism. Huck’s dedication to his own moral standards and his bold sense of adventure and self-sufficiency have earned him a place in the All-American Hall of Fame. In addition, Twain is a hilarious storyteller, and the plot of this novel is a roller-coaster ride of moral dilemmas – so trust us when we say that if you haven’t taken the ride yet, you probably should. Why Should I Care? Mark Twain wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn twenty years after the American Civil War. Slavery had been abolished, and the North and South were making up (albeit with some residual anger). So why publish a highly moralistic tale about a system that was no longer in place? Weren’t race issues a moot point once slavery was out of the picture? Hardly. Freedom didn’t mean equality by any means – not legally, socially, or practically. (See Shmoop History’s â€Å"Jim Crow in America† for more.) Actually, come to think of it, this isn’t an outdated notion at all. Rules and laws often don’t accurately reflect what’s really going on. From a legal standpoint today, we have equality of race; yet racism is still a problem. Men and women are equal, yet many still see a â€Å"glass ceiling† for women in the workplace, meaning they often have invisible boundaries to advancement. That doesn’t mean laws are useless. Laws may not immediately effect change, but we’ve seen that they do precede change. While laws can affect how people act, it takes more to change the way we think. We can’t rely on laws alone. That’s where The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn comes back into the picture. We need people like Mark Twain to remind us not to be self-congratulatory for starting a process in motion, but instead to realize that greater change is always necessary. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay What Huck finally realizes is that life’s questions should be answered from the heart. He also decides that humanity has evolved into a corrupt species whose ideas aren’t worth the â€Å"headache†. His answer is to flee society and all of it’s constraints and live in nature where he is free from civilization. Holden has a tougher decision to make since he must completely reverse his thinking. The first step is to realize his hypocrisy which he was able to do. Even though he was able to achieve this, it couldn’t truly solve his problem and he was forced to seek professional help in the end. Fortunately, both characters ultimately progress onto the next step by some means outside the conformity of normality. The Journey towards Maturity and Identity Life itself is a journey full of bonding and experiences which lead to wisdom and understanding. Without maturity one may never have these life teaching experiences. This leads to an empty shell of a person never truly feeling passion, love or peace. In the â€Å"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn† by Mark Twain, Huck Finn is trying to find purpose and identity through his moral battle with society, while Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is an adolescent struggling to mature into manhood. In comparison they are both on a journey towards maturity and identity. Holden and Huck are similar in their threshold crossing, road of trials, and flee and return. The threshold crossing is the place or the person that the character crosses over or through into the zone unknown, being the place where journey into self discovery begins. Many times the call to their adventure includes going by desire, chance, abduction, or by being lured by an outside force. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is forced with the dilemma of whether to stay with his father and continue to be abused or to leave. Huck leaves because he desires to begin his journey. He also realizes that he will be forced to choose between his morals and his conscience, and will have to decide which of these morals to hold true. Huck also witnesses a symbolic death. He sets up his fathers cabin to look like he was brutally murdered. He emerges from this as a runaway child and now must be careful of what he does so that he does not get caught. He tells people false aliases for himself so that no one knows his true identity. Every time Huck does this, he is symbolically dying and re-emerging a more experienced person. At this point, Huck is now on his way to begin his journey into self discovery. Just like Huck, Holden also crosses over into the zone unknown, but starts his journey in a different way. Holden Caulfield is a very privileged kid. Throughout his life, his parents were able to send him to wealthy private schools hoping he would mature and begin to learn more about his own self. His call to adventure comes because he is mentally torn between experience and innocence. It would seem to him that an outside force is luring him to do something, but in actuality he is beginning his journey because of his desire. It is evident that Holden cares nothing about school and about his own education. He wants to leave so he can begin the journey of self discovery and escape the phoniness that surrounds him. Holden’s symbolic death is very similar to Huck’s. Holden also uses fake names, but he symbolically dies through fainting, changing the position of his red hunting hat, and his association with bathrooms. The bathroom motif, or the reoccurring appearance of the bathroom, symbolizes death for Holden because he enters bathrooms with a neurotic and pragmatic frame of mind and exits with a cleared mind. The symbolic death is what gets Holden and Huck onto their journeys and into the road of trials, where they experience many things that will change them forever. The road of trials is where most of the characters journey takes place. It is on the road of trials that the character begins to experience different obstacles that will change his life forever. For Huck Finn, his learning adventure takes place on the Mississippi River. Huck finds freedom on the river and it is here that he truly learns about himself. However, he still faces problems with moral decisions of right and wrong and helping a runaway slave to achieve freedom. Huck’s companion’s in travelling is Jim. As anti- society that Huck is, you would think that he would have no qualms about helping Jim. However Huck has to have feelings that slavery is correct so we can see the ignorance of racial bigotry. Huck and Jim’s journey begins as Huck fights within himself about turning Jim over to the authorities, but he decides not to. This is a monumental decision because it shows that Huck has decided to turn his back on everything home stands for, and that his true moral identity is slowly shining through. Even though Huck has made his decision about Jim, early in the voyage we see Huck’s attitude change towards Jim as racist. Eventually Huck plays a mean trick on Jim, It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I wasn’t ever sorry for it afterward, neither. Again, we see Huck’s attitude changing when later in the story Huck saves Jim from two slave catchers by tricking them to think Jim is Huck’s small pox ridden father. What is going through Huck’s mind as he alters his attitude on Jim, is unknown, however, his own identity is one that is truly caring and just. When Huck encounters the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons, he becomes aware of the hypocrisy of the family’s feud with each other. When attending church with them, he is amazed that while a minister preaches about brotherly love, both the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons are carrying weapons. When the feud erupts, Huck hides in a tree wishing he never came ashore. The river allows Huck the one thing that he wants to be, and that is Huck. It is the river and what Huck encounters on the river that helps him to mature and to find purpose behind his own true identity. As Huck learned his identity on his adventure, Holden does much of same on his, so as to mature and to accomplish the journey of self discovery. Holden Caulfield’s road of trials takes place from Pencey Prep to New York City. Holden deals with his own mental hallucinations, cognitive disotience, and his desire to stay innocent. At the start of Holden’s journey, he appears to be a very irresponsible person. When he is assigned to look after his schools fencing equipment, he leaves the equipment on the train. He does not care about what he has done and does not even want to go back and look for it. Also, his attitude towards learning are atrocious, and when he finally flunks out of school, he does not bother to tell his parents. Instead, he escapes to New York City where he begins to learn things about himself and about others. However before he goes, he decides to visit his social studies teacher, who flunked him, to say good-bye. Also, he visits his previous English teacher to tell him he has flunked out of yet another school. Maturity is evident because he is trying to persevere relationships with people he cares about. Along his journey, though, small changes suggest that Holden is growing up. He was once very selfish and did not like to share. However when he encounters two poor nuns travelling to another church, he gives them a large portion of his remaining money. This is a major step in Holden’s own self discovery. Holden requires much help to come to terms with his maturity. Even though he constantly speaks as if he is experienced in connection and bonding, they were always just facades. Even when in the city Holden feels he is superior to his environment because he has a false knowledge of it and it’s workings. This is shown when he wants to have a meaningful relationship with his old friend June but does not know how to come to grips on how. Despite of all he thinks he knows he is really only the faker he despises. While in the city Holden finds much comfort when with his sister Phoebe. When Holden first checks into the hotel, he is depressed and wants to call Phoebe but doesn’t because its too late. But I certainly wouldn’t have minded shooting the old crap with Phoebe for a while. In comparison, Holden and Huck in their adventures show that they choose to live in a decadent society in order to help other live as they wish to live rather than to withdraw in order to preserve their own scruples or force their own brand of salvation on others. The road of trials that both Holden and Huck experienced helped them to mature and find their own true identities. What Holden went through helped him to grow, and what Huck experienced helped him to mature. This now brings way to their flee and return where both Huck and Holden are forced to make decisions with where they want to go. The flee and return comes after the character completes his obstacles and is allowed to return to reality, the real world. At this point, the characters have now mentally grown and have shown new signs of maturity. Huck and Holden are both social misfits and want to escape civilization. After Huck frees Jim, he chooses to set out for new territory. He has arrived at maturity and self sufficiency and he is poised at the end in a delicate balance. So many things Huck witnessed like the cheating of the King and Duke, the lack of caring by the townspeople for Boggs, the naive of the Wilks’ sisters, and the lack of common sense by Tom Sawyer guided him to making the right moral choices. Throughout the adventure you have Huck Finn trying to find the one thing he could only find on the river, freedom, but a person can only stay on the river for so long, and so you have to go on land to face the injustices of society. As harsh as it seems its true. Huck may never understand why society is the way it is, but his flee is from all that’s wrong. However Holden Caulfield has nowhere to set out to. Consequently he is placed in a mental institution where he is forced to accept his own problems. Holden is fated at the critical age of 16 years, to fall from innocence, to experience the death of the old self and to arise a new Holden to confront the world afresh. The flee and return for both characters comes at the end of their journeys because now they have grown and have understood more about the society’s they each live in. Huck wants to just set out and find new territory. He wants to flee to nature where he is free from civilization. In Holden’s case, he has to realize his hypocrisy and accept that his problem forced him to get professional help in the end. Holden and Huck are similar in their threshold crossing, road of trials, and flee and return. Both Holden and Huck completed their own journeys to become more complete individuals. Children have an innocent perception of the world around them, but as adults we realize the world is not black and white but various colours. Huck and Holden’s journeys can be compared to the metamorphosis which a caterpillar goes through. The caterpillar starts out innocent (black and white) and goes through stages or obstacles to become a butterfly. In the end the caterpillar emerges colourful as well as more complete and experienced. Salinger has embodied in his novel a dream of innocence, of a sincere subtlety in the characters and has made it during general aiming at success and enrichment, and consequently, and on moral indiscriminateness. Holden Caulfield has become a kind of common noun, a person possessing the thinnest sense of what he called â€Å"falseness†, artificiality, a pose, self-deception and narcissism. And his hero was ready to leave school, lose privileges and material security in order to keep this granted to him the god vigilance to the truth. America has easily forgotten a moral climate of war. But Salinger with his military experience did not want to give in to vanity. In his works there are no absolutely any political implied senses. But his heroes always are in obstinate, though and not demonstrative opposition to authorities, including authority of opinions accepted by all. If this authority too presses on the hero, he runs away from it. Holden Caulfield has remarkable predecessors in the American literature – Huckleberry Finn in the XIXth a century and the hero of Hemingway – Jack Barns in the XXth. When Huck felt that he can’t bear any more the close frameworks of public establishments, he ran away on the river, in a wood, in the places which were yet not habitable by people. And Hemingway’s Barns left abroad – for France. But the uninhabited grounds are not present more. The abroad is inaccessible to the teenager, and for Holden Caulfield there is no place to leave, except for how to leave in itself. † Salinger’s works belong to the old American cultural tradition revealing discrepancy of the validity to democratic ideals, the contradiction between material progress and spiritual impoverishment of the person. The aversion of the world around is combined by Salinger with searches of strong values on which it is possible to build, as he said, a life which is† beautiful and peaceful†. The novel â€Å"The Catcher in the Rye† rejected the conformist like-mindedness and consumer way of life. Teenager Holden Caulfield sharply feels the dissonance in a society, school and family relations through the false world of adults. To a certain extent the novel has expressed moods of the writer and sociologist P. Goodman who has referred a phenomenon of public immaturity to that part of youth which did not wish to mature. The society is deprived of worthy purposes. However the writer did not become isolated in self-sufficing negativism. Freedom for Caulfield – it doesn’t not end in himself, and society seems to him hostile, first of all, because it does not allow make disinterested, kind businesses. The impossibility to reconcile with the existing causes confusion in Caulfield’s soul. Salinger accents infantilism of the hero that is not a tribute to a literary fashion, but conscious author’s reception. Defects of the bourgeois world are especially evident if to take a pure, natural glance from the country of the childhood. The generality of Caulfield’s picture of the world with a vital position of other â€Å"natural† people of 50th is doubtless. Honesty and freshness of a sight, and also the constant Caulfield’s â€Å"aspiration for revolt † (fighting, runaway from school, etc. ) gave to Salinger’s to narration a strong conflict background what made his novel rather popular. Huckleberry Finn of the Bilberry and Holden Caulfield undertake trip to self-opening. Huck also tries to find the worthy purpose and identity among inconsistent morals. While Holden Caulfield in â€Å"the Catcher in the Rye† is the teenager who is trying to find a maturity and courage. On comparison, both of them are on their way maturity and identity as the life is a long trip as well. Huckleberry Finn – a young boy deciding which of morals to follow. Searches of what way is correct are long and confusing. During his adventure he is compelled to choose between his moral and his conscience. When he faces hunters of generosity, he is compelled to make one of these decisions. He should choose whether to turn in his impetuous friend to the slave. Fortunately, his desire is strong, and he resorts to a complex lie in order to prevent Jim’s capture. Huck searches for a refuge in area where the lie does not exist and the beauty of a life will be what is really important. Bibliography 1. Salinger, J. D. â€Å"The catcher in the rye†. Little, Brown & Co. : 2002. 2. Christopher Brookeman, â€Å"Pencey Preppy: Cultural Codes in The Catcher in the Rye,† in New Essays on The Catcher in the Rye, Ed. Jack Salzman, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991, 57-76 3. Pinsker, S. , Pinsker, A.. Understanding The Catcher in the Rye. Greenwood Press, 1999. 4. Constant, P. Just Like ‘The Catcher in the Rye’. Seattle’s Only Books Section. 2006. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay The name comes from the Biblical phrase â€Å"casting pearls before swine†. This shows how Hester felt about the people in town who judged her based on her mistakes. She never tried to hide Pearl. In fact, she did quite the opposite by dressing her in elaborate dresses. Hester basically cast her â€Å"pearl† before the â€Å"swine† of the community who condemned her for her wrong-doings. The author used several other symbols in his novel that all could have been and are seen differently in each person’s eyes. Mark Twain, much like Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses many different symbols in his Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck and Jim travel along the river on a raft which symbolizes something like a utopian world. Before their journey began, their lives were hard. Jim was a slave, as he is a Negro; therefore he was treated as property, which is rather self-explanatory. Huck was living very unhappily as an orphan with the Widow. He felt somewhat â€Å"trapped† because he was being raised an entirely different way than he was meant to be. He wanted to be â€Å"free†, an impossible idea due to the way he was being raised. As they begin their journey along the river, the raft gives them a sense of hope. On the raft, Huck and Jim can be whoever they want to be. There is no one to tell them how to act or what to do. In their eyes, the life on the raft is perfection, in itself. The Mississippi River begins as the ultimate symbol of freedom for Jim and Huck. Literally, Jim is searching for freedom from his being enslaved. Figuratively, Huck is searching for freedom from living with fear of his father and from becoming civilized. They find this freedom as they float along the river. As time passes, however, the river becomes more of a symbol of life, in general, and all its misleadings and injustices. Despite their newfound freedom, they find they are not completely free from the evils and influences of the towns and the river’s banks. The river also brings them into contact with criminals, wrecks, and stolen property. This is the breaking point at which reality intrudes upon them and their raft paradise. The Mississippi River truly represents a false sense of freedom and the reality of life. Uncertainty of the future is seen in Jackson Island. On one hand, it symbolizes a life in which Huckleberry and Jim can live exactly the way they’d like to – free of scrutiny and judgment for the way they are. On another hand, however, life on the island would mean living in fear of being found and sent back to the wretched lives they escaped from. Again, like Hawthorne, Twain’s novel contains numerous other examples of symbolism and each can have a different meaning, depending on the examiner. There are so many forms of symbolism in today’s world and novels. Life, itself, can even be considered a symbol for something. However, no matter how many different types of symbolisms you come across in your lifetime, there will always be someone who sees their meanings differently than you. The old saying goes along perfectly with this idea. â€Å"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. † Symbolism is in the eye of the beholder. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Miscellaneous section. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Growing up, children are often told things that grown ups would question, as people grow they learn to question those things too. In the book The Adventures of Hucklberry Finn written by Mark Twain. Huck faces the challenge of either following what everyone is telling him is right, but he knows is wrong, or going against the grain and standing up for what he knows is right. Throughout the book Huck is unsure in what he believes and struggles to determine if what he is taught is wrong. The widow took over the role as guardian for Huck since his father and mother are both out of the picture. When Huck was being raised by his father he wasn’t taught any morals or values, so the widow took this as an opportunity to make Huck into a person whose life was all about morals. In the book the widow tells Huck that hell is bad and that heaven is good, but Huck is unsure that he should believe everything that she is telling him. Huck decides that going to â€Å"hell,† if it means following his gut and not society’s hypocritical and cruel principles, is a better option than going to everyone else’s heaven. â€Å"All right then, I’ll go to hell! (245). † This is Huck’s true break with the world around him. Huck faces the moral conflict of whether or not to turn Jim in because it is what society dubbed as the right thing to do. â€Å"I was paddling off, all in a sweat to tell on him; but when he says this, it seemed to kind of take the tuck all out of me (89). † Right off from the beginning, Huck wanted to turn Jim in because it was against society’s rules to help a slave escape and Huck knew it. But when Jim said that, â€Å"Huck; yous de bes fren Jims ever had; en you is de only fren; ole Jims got now (89). † helped Huck to grasp the concept that there is a friendship in the making. Even though Huck didn’t turn Jim in, he is till troubled by his conscience when the slave catchers were leaving because he knows it is wrong to help a slave. Still Huck cannot bring himself forward to tell on Jim, thus showing that his innate sense of right exceeds that of society. The con-men’s attempt to pose as the brothers of the late Peter Wilks is an important part of Huck’s moral development. The Duke and King try to take Peter’s estate, however, Huck decides to return the money to Peter’s three daughters. This action demonstrates further moral growth, as he does choose to abandon the two con-men. Huck learned that people can be nice and show each other that they care about one another. Women would walk up to Peter’s daughters and â€Å"kiss their foreheads, and then put their hand on theirhead, and looked up towards the sky, with the tears running down, and then busted out and went off sobbing and swabbing, and give the next woman a show (159). † Huck has never seen anything â€Å"so disgusting. † When Huck Finn sees one of the daughters crying beside the coffin, it makes a deep impact on him. Hucks religious beliefs and moral standards cross pathes as he handles the situation. When Huck says, â€Å"All right then, I’ll go to hell! (245). † He has decided to go against what society tells him to do by freeing Jim. Throughout the entire book Huck struggles with separating his own moral beliefs and what society tells him is the right thing to do. From the beginning of the book Huck showed that he did not always believe what people told and went against the grain when he said he wanted to go to hell instead of heaven. The moral development that Huck shows throughout the book causes Huck to develop other traits as well, such as compassion and sincerity towards others. Huck really came out of his shell and fully developed his moral beliefs when he gave the money back that the con-men stole to the three girls. It allowed Huck to get in touch with his emotional side of his moral beliefs and it told him what th right thing to do was.

Consolidation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Consolidation - Case Study Example The preparation of the consolidated financial statements DOES NOT involve any adjustments to the financial statements of either the parent or the subsidiary companies. In this case, the parent is Batman and the subsidiary is Robin. A. This means that the investing company, Batman is willing to pay more that the total value of the stockholder's equity. There are many good reason why companies agree to pay more than the acquired company's actual net worth. some of the reasons are: A. The pre acquisition journal entry is also known as the elimination entry. The journal entry made such as investment in subsidiary is credited. The original entry where the stockholders' equity amounts are credited is now debited. The main reason for such pre -acquisition entry is to produce a correct combined financial statement where the assets, liabilities and stockholders' equity accounts are lumped together. Based on the above declaration, the dividends declared after acquisition is bigger than the dividends declared before acquisition. The main reason is that the income derived from combined financial statement shows that the is higher then the pre acquisition net income.

Whether the Code of Ethics is an Effective Way of Effective Media Essay

Whether the Code of Ethics is an Effective Way of Effective Media Practice - Essay Example The emergence of developed techno-economic paradigm inevitably increases greater attention of the organisations or the agencies in order to revitalise their overall economic performance. According to the recent practices of the media and communication organisations it has been recognised that the codes of media related practices have drawn major interest towards increasing attention on a particular media enquiry, which has transformational influence on the overall communication and media industry (Christians, 2009). Moreover, the codes of practices also have been recognised to draw attention about any required changes in the media and communication policies in order to contribute to a transformational economy. However, ethics or the codes of media practices in Australia has also been recognised to bring major hurdles for the country’s media and communication industry in terms of substantially improving the media performance of the organisations (Media Entertainment & Arts Alli ance, 2013). Few of the key roles played by the ethics/codes of media practices have been critically described in the following sections. According to the current media and communication of Australia, the codes of ethics has long been witnessed to play a pivotal role not only to increase community awareness, but it also has major contribution on the transformational economic growth of the nation. The code of ethics of the nation has also been recognised in securing best practices of the media and communication organisations along with their wide range of practices. The codes of ethics in Australian media industry possess relatively simple and clearly identifiable factors that determine to improve efficiency of the organisations. The code of ethics of the country relies basically on four major factors, including honesty, fairness, independence and respect for the rights and liberties of others (Australian Press Council, 2014). In the context of honesty, conserving the way of honestly reporting and interpreting essential facts has been identified as a set of common and relatively best practices in the Australian ethical codes of media practices. In order to meet the requirement of honesty in response to the ethical codes, the process of striving accuracy along with fairness and revelation of each essential fact can be dully accepted towards securing ethical media practices across the nation (Australian Press Council, 2014).  

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 2

Marketing - Essay Example All the shampoos and conditioners of the line are packed and labeled in a similar manner, but each type of the product has a different color of packaging (Palmolive Hair Care 2011). The bottles that are used for packaging all have a label that outlines the purpose of each separate product (for brilliant color or for smoothing hair, for instance), and stresses that the shampoo or conditioner includes natural ingredients. The life itself is called Palmolive Naturals. There are no extra services or products that the consumer gets when purchasing the product. Palmolive shampoos and conditioners are mass consumer goods (Kotler and Keller 2006). For this reason, their search cost is low – all similar products are located in one place, so a consumer can instantly compare them all and make a choice. Substitutes will be accepted as well. 1.2 Current Pricing The market of shampoos is rather competitive. Though it requires quite high entry costs, the number of current competitors of Colg ate-Palmolive is quite significant, and includes such large companies as Procter & Gamble, Church & Dwight Co, L’Oreal and Unilever. The market is characterized by strong buying power of retailers, high threat of substitutes and high degree of rivalty (Morningstar, Inc. 2010). Currently the price of Palmolive Naturals shampoo ranges from $4.45 (Getprice.com.au 2011) to $5.13 (Thefind.com 2011). The price for the conditioner ranges from $3.55 to $4.60 (Getprice.com.au 2011). At the same time, Thefind.com (2011) reports that Procter & Gamble Pantene shampoo prices start at $4.99. The price in most cases is higher than that of Palmolive shampoos. The cheapest L’Oreal shampoo sells at $5.49. So, Palmolive products seem to be the cheapest famous brand goods in their niche. Though there are some competitors’ products, the price of which is rather close to Palmolive’s, the number of such shampoos is not great. At the same time, the number of highly priced produc ts of the rivals is very significant. So price can be said to be one of the competitive advantages of Palmolive. Therefore, if Palmolive changes the price for its products, consumer demand for them may decrease since there will be more similarly priced substitutes. Since Palmolive is a mass-consumer shampoo, consumers do base their purchase decision on price: David Mercer outlines that individual consumers always tend to spend less (Mercer 1996). However, brand awareness is important as well. The price of the product is determined on the basis of business’s costs in the first place. Business’s costs determine the minimum price at which the product can be sold to cover the business’

Traumatic Brain Injury in the military Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Traumatic Brain Injury in the military - Essay Example According to DHCC (2010), "TBI is often associated with severe multiple trauma, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or undiagnosed concussions and screening patients who are at risk for a TBI is important in order to ensure that TBIs are identified and appropriately treated." In this essay, TBI among military personnel will be discussed briefly. Any insult to the brain due to some form of external force is known as traumatic brain injury. According to DHCC (2010), "A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the function of the brain." The injury can lead to any sequelae like altered consciousness, impaired cognition, delirium and impaired physical functioning. These changes can lead to various problems with thinking, language, movement, concentration and even sensation. TBI can also lead to other emotional and personality changes, tiredness, depression, violence, irritability, disinhibited behavior and lack of ability to carry out day-to-day activities. Among the military personnel, those who are on active duty are at more risk of suffering TBI when compared to their civilian peers. In general, statistics show that men between 18- 24 years of age are at increased risk of TBI when compared to other age groups (DVBIC, 2009). It is also important to note than TBI can occur even during daily activities, especially when they are unusual. Military personnel frequently enjoy certain non-service activities like climbing mountains, parachuting, riding motor cycles and car racing. These activities may be a part of their daily physical training. These services are basically intended to increase their quality of life, however; they are also fraught with increased risk of TBI (DVBIC, 2009). Spinal cord injuries and TBI account for about 25 percent of casualities related to combat (DVBIC, 2009). The most common type of combat-related injury is concussion and mild traumatic brain injury. In current scen ario, use of protective devices like Kelvar helmets and various types of advanced body armours have infact, minimized the incidence of TBI and have saved the lives of many military personnel. But these gadgets do not protect the frontal aspects of the head, the facial parts and also the spinal cord. Thus, though advanced medical care helps in improving survival rates, the long terms effects of the injuries continue to haunt the personnel (DVBIC, 2009). TBIs in military operations are often complex and can be of multiple types. A blast can cause sudden both external and internal injuries. It can cause contusions and concussions in the brain. Flying fragments of the blast can cause tear of various structures and lead to various sequelae. The various signs and symptoms related to TBI depend on the extent and area of injury. In war, poly trauma can occur and due to other organ damage and injury to other parts of the body, it is often difficult to predict the extent of brain injury. Whil e most symptoms are obvious immediately after the injury, some may manifest a few days or even a few weeks after injury. Some patients may present with simple problems like confabulation wherein the individual cooks up stories in gaps of memory (Kennard, 2006). In mild TBI, there may be no obvious changes on CT or MRI scan. However, the patient may present with few symptoms like blurring of

Na Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Na - Essay Example Thereby, it is the very brevity, simplicity and limited scope of these photographs that highlights the enormity and complexity of urban life. In other words these photographs accentuate urban complexity, by capturing simple themes, which in this case happens to be roads, paths and stairways. It does need to be mentioned that the chosen theme is something that is recurring and ubiquitous in all urban scenarios. The idea behind this portfolio is not to showcase amazing things, but rather to present simple aspects of urban life in a way that amazes and provokes. These photographs provoke the viewers to perceive the regular and mundane aspects of their urban existence in a new way. The photographs I have selected distil a facet or quality of the urban life in a very physical and confined manner. Though all these photographs subscribe to a common theme, yet, they do capture utter diversity underlying the regular urban commutes. To achieve versatility and variety, they rely on the contrasts between the ambiance, setting and architectural style marking each specific path and road (Liggett 120). The strategy to shoot these photographs from different elevations has added a subtle third dimension to them. The amazing thing is that though people are absent from many of these shots, still they are emphatically evident, going by the fact that these allays, stairways and paths accrue relevance in relation to people only. It is their inseparable association with the urban human existence, which imbues them with a range of meanings, contexts and ideas (Liggett 120). Though these photographs do not catch people directly, yet, they speak much about them and the kind of lives they live. It is this aspect of this portfolio that adds multiple layers of meaning and appeal to each individual photograph and makes it more dynamic. The one other thing that makes this urban

Electronic Arts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Electronic Arts - Essay Example The EA has a significant market share of sports and hero-based video games. The Electronic Art's core competence is its ability to develop high-quality sports and feature games and offer a fascinating gaming experience to the kids, teens, and young adults in many countries around the world. Concentration: Although there are relatively few large competitors in the worldwide video game industry, it is still a heavily saturated market. The high fixed costs of developing a new game lead to increasing competition among the game programmers for the additional unit sales. Product Differentiation: Attributable to EA's efforts to diversify its products from other video games, it has been able to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. They have a few areas in which true product differentiation exists - graphics, price, use of celebrities and licensed themes etc. Cost Conditions: due to the short product life and low customer price sensitivity the economies of scale do not have significant impact on the industry performance. Nevetherless, the learning curve effects are present. There is little threat of entry from companies outside of the video games market, however, within the market there is possible threat from manufacturers not yet fully established in the video games (i.e. manufacturers of game consoles), and even then there are significant barriers. Capital Requirements There are moderate capital requirements associated with entering the video games market as supplies can be outsourced and no major investment into R&D and equipment is needed. Access to Channels of Distribution The channel of distribution is another barrier to entry. This has to due to the fact that the retail channels are already saturated with a variety of competing products from established brands. In addition, there may be preference for distributors to sell products with higher margins or greater marketability and volume, making entry difficult. Threat of Substitutes/Complements Buyer propensity to substitute: There are very few other forms of entertainment that can be considered as direct substitutes for video games. However, within the video games market segment there are a number of substitutes because each manufacturer offers their own product range and the customers rarely have high brand loyalty. Complements: video games constitute a complementary good themselves with regard to the game consoles. Although the demand for them can not be considered purely derived, the video games market capacity does depend on the spread of the gaming devices. Bargaining Power of Buyers Price Sensitivity: the end customer perceives price as an indicator of quality and, therefore, is often price insensitive within certain price range. Concentration: Size of the end customer (i.e. consumer) is small and size of one purchase is small, so the end customer itself lacks the bargaining power. However, the wholesale distributors and retailers are bigger in size and their purchases have impact on the total amount of purchases, so they have also more

Privatization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Privatization - Essay Example Private individuals who buy these public shares will be able to participate in the decision-making process of these organizations and will be able to change their policies. On the other hand, some people argue that private sector organizations will emphasize more on their profits and not on the protection of public rights. They will keep increasing prices in order to earn greater profits. Opponents also argue that the ownership of some goods should remain in the hands of the government to ensure equality. These goods and services include healthcare and education facilities. These public goods should be facilitated by the government just as the private goods should be provided by the private sector. Through privatization, governments try to improve the performance of their duties like infrastructure etc. In the past, privatization has occurred in many different countries. In the Great Britain, privatization started with partial privatization of British Petroleum in 1979. A large numbe r of industries were privatized after this like British ports, British Telecom etc. In 1987, one of the largest airlines in Europe, British Airways was also privatized. Along with these, many other assets such as buildings, roads, and buildings were also privatized. In U.S. many services have been privatized including hospitals, parking lots, water utilities etc. One of the most significant examples of privatization was that of Chicago Skyway and Indiana Toll Road in the U.S (Government Privatization, Web).

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

Pitfalls - Essay Example This primarily happens due to the selection of wrong statistical methods or wrong size of survey population or both. It is highly expensive to select a large survey population and conduct interviews/form fill-ups extensively. So samples are smaller than the target population. However, sophisticated methods like purposive sampling may help, but still it is important to accommodate as many respondents as possible in a given survey population. 2. Making conclusions from non random samples too can prove to be a dangerous tendency. Samples must me random. Suppose, a woolen garment manufacturer conducts a survey only in the colder countries of northern Europe. In this way, they will calculate high demands existing in the global market, if they don’t randomize. In order to randomize, they will have to interview customers in temperate regions (e.g. southern Europe) and arid regions (e.g. Sub Saharan Africa). Then only a realistic view of market demand for woolen garments can be obtained. Hence, randomization is necessary to prevent biasing, especially in the case we need globally applicable inferences. 3. Attaching importance to rare observations is a clever strategy but risky practice. If rare observations are given as much importance as random observations, general behavior of the majority of the target population may be interpreted wrongly. It is a far better idea to mark rare observations as exceptions so that they can be studied separately by the means of statistical segregation in a more controlled business environment. 4. Using poor survey methods is the worse mistake. Survey methods are crucial. For example, when research involves exploration of natural resources, data has to be collected with the help of researchers who have trekking/exploration/fieldwork expertise. In the case of intellectual property research, we would need researchers who can research on databases and patent archives. That will involve extensive Internet/library research expertise. In

Extra Sensory Perception Essay Example for Free

Extra Sensory Perception Essay The term Extra Sensory Perception, or ESP, denotes the ability to gather information by means not related either to common five sences or to person’s previous experience. The most common abilities classified as ESP are telepathy, precognition and clairvoyance. Studies of ESP, together with vast number of other unexplained psychic abilities attributed to human brain – such as, but not limited to, pyro- and psychokinesis, astral projection, bioenergetic healing and so on – are grouped under the term of parapsychology. Abilities grouped under the term of ESP were rumoured to exist from times of old, but conventional science started to examine them only in late XIX century. Since 1884, British Society for Psychical Research began to experiment with card-guessing, the ESP definition method bordering between clairvoyance and telepathy (the subject was to tell the card in sealed opaque envelopes, to tell the card at certain place on the table in other room and so forth). At 1930s, they were joined by American experiments (by J. B. Rhine and L. Rhine), and the results were thoroughly analysed in order to find any deviations from statistical norm. Though not all experiments were equally conclusive, some methods of guessing were found to produce results unexplained by statistics. Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (1990), English mathematician who was assisting the Society for Psychical Research in analysis of its experiments, wrote: In any case the frequencies differ much more than they would in 748 cards drawn independently and truly at random. The 12 degrees of freedom score 50. 5267 and of this the preference component contributes 24. 1360, a very marked preference, nearly five times its standard error. †¦ in Table E you certainly have â€Å"got a phenomenon†. In British Society for Psychical Research Ina Jephson and S. G. Soal did their experiments with playing cards; after it was found that people choose some cards more often than others based on numerical value, set, or color, J. B. Rhine in Duke Univercity, North Carolina, decided to find a more emotionally neutral media for experiments. A set of special cards with simple symbols on them was developed, called Zener cards after the name of Karl Zener, their inventor. There were 25 cards total in the pack, with 5 each of circle, cross, star, wavy lines and square. With only 5 types of cards it was easier to analyse the results – first by manual accounting, then by computers. Now, Zener cards are the common practice used in ESP experiments. Later, J. B. Rhine (1940) and his Duke Univercity colleagues collected information about their own studies and previous experiments in ESP from XIX century to present time. Considering Duke Univercity experiments, they reported some most unusual results, differing from statistical expectations: In one set of experiments, 2400 total guesses were made and an excess of 489 hits were noted†¦ The statistical probability of this outcome is equivalent to odds of 1,000,000 to 1†¦ †¦ 27 of the 33 [sets of experiments] produced statistically significant results. In Soviet Russia, independent researches in ESP were made with significant successes. Ostrander and Schroeder (1970) in their review Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain cite the results of experiments by some Karl Nikolayev and Yuri Kamensky. Not only they have sent and received telepathic pulses from each other being in different cities 400 miles apart, but their brains were scanned while performing acts of ESP. It was reported that different areas of the brain were becoming active depending on what kinds of information – visual or sound – was being telepathically received. More, the telepathic pulses Nikolayev claimed to be receiving were also indicated by EEG machine connected to his brain, and the distinction between long and short pulses was definite. Soviet parapsychologists’ studies were later put to some use by Western inventors. Ostrander and Schroeder (1997) in their second book tell about some experimental military devices based on ESP principles: Highly reliable sources tell us the Western military saw possibilities in Sergeyevs remote sensors and did some inventing of their own. They created a special helmet to help pilots handle the split second moment of maximum danger when an enemy plane carrying a rocket approaches. The unconscious percieves an event an instant before it becomes conscious to us. The sensors in the helmet pick up a shift in the brains fields in advance and automatically trigger firing a missile before the pilot could do it consciously. Still, there is a wide field of questions that lies before the parapsychological studies. For example, the fact is noted that people who believe in ESP show better results in parapsychology tests than those who do not. This itself is one of the best arguments in favour of accepting ESP as science-proven. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (2007) tells about one case of such studies: Seventy-four participants were recruited through media advertisements. The experimenters employed blind coding and recoding procedures, and let the participants touch the objects to obtain impressions. Six trials were completed. Participants were categorised as either psychic, ‘ESP skilled’ (N = 44), or non-psychic, ‘ESP experients’ (N = 30). The ESP skilled group scored higher psi-hitting than the ESP experients group, who scored at the level of mean chance expectation. The difference between groups was significant. So, the question of whether the ESP can be classified as scientific fact is still open, but there are very definite arguments for it to be considered as such. References Fisher R. A. (1990). Statistical Inference and Analysis: selected correspondence of R. A. Fisher, edited by J. H. Bennett. London: Oxford University Press J. B. Rhine, J.G. Pratt, Charles E. Stuart, Burke M. Smith Joseph A. Greenwood. (1940). Extra-Sensory Perception after Sixty Years. A Critical Appraisal of the Research in Extra-Sensory Perception. New York: Henry Holt Co. , Inc. Ostrander, S. Schroeder, L. (1970). Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Ostrander, S. Schroeder, L. (1997). Psychic Discoveries: The Iron Curtain Lifted. New York: Marlowe and Company. Parra A. Argibay J. C. (2007, July). Comparing psychics and non-psychics through a ‘token-object’ forced-choice ESP test. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, pp. 80-90.

Yellowstone National Park Essay Example for Free

Yellowstone National Park Essay â€Å"Leisure, in its broadest sense, provides an excellent lens through which we can better understand contemporary Western society’s relationships with nature. † Such a thesis can be best understood through a socio-cultural exploration of the complex relationship of man with nature, and how it has evolved through time. Engaging the literature reveals that there is NO singular ‘nature’ as such, only a diversity of contested natures each â€Å"constituted through a variety of socio-cultural practices from which such natures cannot be plausibly separated† (Macnaghten and Urry, p. 1). For Williams (1972) the idea of ‘nature’ contains an enormous amount of human history, of which the current understanding derive from a complicate array of ideas, linked to may concepts of Western thought (i. e. modernity, democracy, romanticism, etc. ) The ways in which has historically been made singular, abstract and then personified provides key insights on how people thought about themselves, their place in the world, their relationships with each other and the land, their sense of general power and powerlessness in the shaping of their lifeworlds (Macnaghten and Urry, p. 8). In understanding human-nature relationships, a popular theme appears to be religious in tone – the Christian interpretation of the Genesis story. From Merchant (2003), one gets the idea that mankind’s attempt to return to Eden has been a driving force behind Western culture. In the Age of Enlightenment, this manifested in the European zeal to discover new territory, and transforming it into a new paradise through colonization (Adams and Mulligan, 2003; Merchant, 2003) From the patriarchal white European perspective, the New World is depicted as a hapless female in need of rescue. This narrative derived from the story of the Fall of Adam and Eve has been to the detriment of women and people of color (Merchant, 2003; Gibson, 2002). From an environmental frame, we are faced with the message that man ‘screwed up’ paradise, we’re still falling and if we don’t get our act together, things are bound to get worse and we instead get hell on earth (Rees, 2003) – as if we are witnessing endless reruns of Lord of the Rings’ â€Å"The Two Towers† or Star Wars’ â€Å"The Empire Strikes Back. † On the other hand, the mainstream frame on nature maintains that though we did make terrible blunders in managing resources, weve also accomplished a lot for human progress in terms of innovation, technology, and hard work (Porritt, 2005; Boyden, 2004) – a grace-saving â€Å"Return of the King† or â€Å"Return of the Jedi,† of sorts. Images of and references to nature as female, particularly as a â€Å"Mother,† are also found in popular culture. Roach (2003) uses three approaches – gender studies, psychoanalysis, and theology – to unearth the meanings behind the â€Å"Mother Nature† theme, which according to her are generally three: good mother (nurturing and life-giving), bad mother (i. e. gendered references to natural disasters), and hurt mother (repair-based pattern of reconnecting to nature). She illustrates the â€Å"bad mother† motif using an advertisement for the Nissan Pathfinder (a sport utility vehicle), urging the consumer to control your mother, as the SUV helps you control just about anything Mother Nature throws your way. The advertisement’s underlying message is the human conquest of nature and in a gendered manner, the male conquest of females, common throughout Western history and tradition: from Pandora and Eve’s fall from grace, to the Salem witch trials and Sigmund Freuds view of women as ‘morally inferior,’ among others. Movies have also shaped our perception of nature – the untamed, vengeful mother – as evidenced by the popularity of film genres with man-hunting beasts such as â€Å"Jaws† (a great white shark terrorizing a New England town) and â€Å"Anaconda† (a monstrous snake strikes a travelling party deep in the heart of the Amazon). On the other hand, films such as â€Å"Free Willy† tend to highlight Mother Nature’s nurturing side, as the young troubled boy Jesse befriends and develops a bond with fellow orphan Willy, an orca whale in the park aquarium. At the same time these films bring attention to the plight of endangered animals in the wild, and the need for humans to help and protect these creatures. Cartoons and animation targeting the young audience also have a consistent roster of animal characters – think of old Yogi Bear in Yellowstone National Park, Simba the Lion King in the plains of Africa, and more recently Nemo and his underwater exploits. In the end, Roach (2003) argues for the need to draw on other possible images for nature, including the home, as coupling nature too closely to gender affects both feminist and environmental causes negatively, to a certain degree. Cable channels such as Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and National Geographic also provide regular in-depth nature-oriented programs. In a way, these help inform and familiarize today’s largely urban-based generation with nature and ‘the wild,’ and are also powerful means of getting the environmental message across: we need to help save our planet, stop the destruction of ecosystems and protect endangered species. Music is also one influential component in garnering support for the environmental movement. Global concerts in support of environmental causes and projects feature top performers and tend to draw young crowds, such as the 2007 â€Å"Live Earth† concert series initiated by former US Vice-president Al Gore to bring attention to climate change. Overall, the utilization of mass media and technological advances help bring nature closer to people. A recent development is what has been referred to as ‘wildlife tourism,’ based on encounters with non-domesticated animals (Higginbottom, 2004). Tourism is recognized as a very large global business enterprise because people seem to really like travelling. And exotic places, where encounters with wildlife provide people new experiences, stimulate their emotions, and create different impressions, are fast gaining popularity. Wildlife tourism is a fairly recent, specialized aspect of this tourism phenomenon. From a historical perspective, only a generation or two ago, peoples encounter with animals was virtually everyday, with wildlife ubiquitous in the countryside. Today, visions of nature in its gloriously natural state are made available through television. Electronics is now the standard medium for people to experience the wild. Though people may not necessarily be physically in touch with nature, they might be connected mentally to certain aspects of wildlife. Thus in this way, wildlife tourism offers an opportunity to people to get closer to the virtual reality of experiencing nature as our ancestors did. Wildlife tourism provides urbanites the chance to renew their relationship with nature the promise of a different thrill when one faces lions in a safari, or scuba-diving and swimming with whale-sharks in the Pacific. In view of large-scale habitat destruction in the name of progress and development, wildlife tourism provides an essential appeal for governments to help conserve biodiversity. Wildlife tourism now appears to be an important phenomenon, one that has both negative and positive impacts on animals affected by such activities. Negative effects can be in short-term physiological/behavioral changes in individual animals or long-term, i. e. increasing mortality of entire populations which in turn affect the ecosystem. Thus, there is a need for wildlife tourism to be properly managed in a sustainable manner, so as to minimize the impact of animals and their ecosystems. Though people often assume that wildlife tourists tend to empathize with conservation efforts, even they can cause damage, as well as socially and environmentally irresponsible wildlife tour operators. Wildlife tourism is a modern form of leisure, one that augurs well for sustainable development if it could be properly managed and regulated. On a parting note, leisure in its various forms is shaped by our relationship with nature; particularly the way we interact with it, as influenced by our own understanding of nature and how it relates to human existence. Bibliography Adams, W. M. and Mulligan, M. eds. (2003) Decolonizing Nature: Strategies for COnservation in a Postcolonial Era. Sterling, Earthscan Publications. Boyden, S. (2004) The Biology of Civilization: Understanding Human Culture as a Force in Nature. Sydney, University of Sydney Press. Gibson, D. (2002) Environmentalism: Ideology and Power. New York, Nova Science. Higginbottom, K. ed. (2004) Wildlife Tourism: Impacts, Management and Planning. Victoria, Common Ground. Macnaghten, P. and Urry, J. (1998) â€Å"Rethinking nature and society† in Contested Natures. London, Sage. Merchant, C. (2003) Reinventing Eden: The Fate of Nature in Western Culture. London, Routledge. Porritt, J. (2005) Capitalism as if the World Matters. London, Earthscan. Rees, M. (2003) Our Final Century: Will Civilization Survive the Twenty-first Century? London, Arrow. Roach, C. M. (2003) Mother/Nature: Popular Culture and Environmental Ethics. Bloomington, Indian University Press. Williams, J. (1972) as cited by Macnaghten, P. and Urry, J. (1998) â€Å"Rethinking nature and society† in Contested Natures. London, Sage.