Of mice and men Essay Example for Free

Of mice and men Essay What does this section reveal about Curley’s wife? In Steinbeck’s description of Curley’s wife, he talks a lot about how well dressed she is and how she behaves so flirtatious. This means that she is the complete opposite to George. If she can afford ostrich feathers and all the luxuries of her clothing then she must have a lot of money or just spends it all on this. Steinbeck uses phrases such as â€Å"she bridled a little† to describe her actions. This is another comparison to animals that he uses to animalise people and in more than one case, women. By the way that Curley’s wife speaks and behaves we can tell she isn’t really the cleverest of all people. This means she wouldn’t work and instead get her money from inheritance of Curley himself. The colour red portrays passion and danger which foreshadows her later role in the book. Steinbeck suggests to the reader that Curley’s wife is â€Å"jailbait†. Curley’s wife obviously likes to take care in her appearance because in Steinbeck’s description of her, he says she is â€Å"heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters† this suggests to the reader that she is trying to get attention or is acting as a â€Å"tart†. She has no reason to dress up this extravagantly however as she is already married and there are no other women on the ranch, meaning she therefore she has no one to impress. What does the novella reveal about 1930’s America? The paragraph â€Å"She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes [†¦] which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers† describes what she wears. Her items of clothing seem very expensive especially during the 1930’s when the people of America were experiencing the Great Depression and had very little money. This means that whatever money she has, she spends it on clothes. This links contextually to the rise of Hollywood as people (women) were caring more about their appearances. Also, the fact that Curley’s wife is never named is a key point as this indicates to us how women were not important and were more of an item that one would have as later on George reveals his dream in which he â€Å"could live so easy and maybe have a girl† which tells us in first person what men thought of women; as objects to own which was a rising ‘issue’ in the 1930’s America. The fact that Slim addresses her as â€Å"Good-lookin’† really proves this point. We notice how the G is capitalised as if he is implying that that she does not need a proper name and is referred to by beauty and not personality. This relates to the Rise of Hollywood as during the 1930’s the role of women changed significantly. They became images and no longer people.

Intercontinental Hotels Group Analysis

Intercontinental Hotels Group Analysis Intercontinental Hotel Groups is an international hotel company that has a goal that it always aims at achieving is that to create Great hotels that the Guests love. Intercontinental hotels group which is also known in short form as IHG has more guest rooms available under their banner than any other hotel group. IHG has grown from a very small company to a massive company handling various branded hotel properties under its wings. IHG has more than 650.000 rooms in over 4,400 hotels across 100 countries the total stays that are done by guest in the IHG properties is over 130 million every year. 1(IHG website) With a clear view of what are its priorities, IHGs main purpose is creating Great Hotels Guests Love with everything done focused on the guest the staff. It operates hotels in three different ways as a franchisor, a manager and on an owned and leased basis. It also operates seven leading hotel brands InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites. It also manages the worlds largest hotel loyalty programme in the industry known as the, Priority Club Rewards, which has 48 million members worldwide. IHG is molded around these three regions: The Americas; Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Asia Pacific. 2(IHG Annual Report) 1 Strategic Corporate Development History of IHG: The formation of IHG has gone through various stages as any other company would have gone through which was taken successfully by William Bass who had a brewery in 1777 slowly but gradually entered in the hotel industry by acquisition of a breweries like the Mitchells Butlers in the 1960s which grew considerably large which when the government realized issued orders in legislations that breweries cannot hold on a large number of pubs which then made Bass reduce the pubs it owned dramatically which triggered a huge amount of cash flow which gave Bass an ability to develop an international hotel business which started with the acquisitions of a few hotel groups like Holiday Inn in 1988 also launched the Holiday Inn Express to be complementary to the Holiday Inn brand, side by side Bass grew his pub business side by side acquired The Harvester Chain of Restaurants in 1994 also launched its new brand of hotels known as Crown Plaza Hotels resorts climbing up to the upscale hotel mar ket. In 1996 bass tried to acquire  ½ of Carlsberg Tetley which again was hampered by the UK government which helps Bass to come back on line concentrate on the hotels pubs divisions leaving breweries aside. A year later in 1997 the hotel business focus becomes truly brand focused because Bass had already sold a few north American midscale hotels but held back to the brand name of the hotels through franchising agreements. Also that year Bass created launched a new brand of hotels known as the Staybridge Suites which was targeted at the upscale hotel market. Staybridge suites became the fastest brand in this upscale segment to reach 50 units in America. In 1998 Bass acquired the intercontinental hotel company, adding adding to its fold another upscale brand to its hotel portfolio. It was another considerable acquisition to cost saving synergies to the fold of hotel portfolio run by Bass. In 1999 Bass again acquired 550 handpicked high potential sites in UK also a strong 3500 strong pub estate from allied domecq. In 2000 Bass went on to acquire the Southern Pacific Corporation (SPHC) in Australia, which guaranteed Basss position as the leading hotel company in Asia Pacific. Later in the year Bass sold of his Bass breweries for 2.3 billion pounds. This was the final step by Bass to completely focusing on being the international hospitality retailer from being a domestic brewer a process which took a long period of 10 years to complete. Over the period of time Bass sold off name of bass and changed the name to Six Continents PLC. a name which it bettered into to reflect the global spread of the groups business. In the month of February 2001 Six Continents sold 988 of its smaller unbranded pubs for 625million pounds, which further funded the buying of the European Posthouse chain of hotels for 810million pounds. The acquisition of this company which had strategically placed hotels could be converted to Holiday Inn concentrating the Holiday Inn brand in UK Europe. Later that year it went on to acquire Intercontinental Hong Kong for 241 Million pounds strengthening its position in the Chinese Asia Pacific markets. On 1st October 2002 Six Continents Plc announced its separation of the groups hotel soft drinks businesses (to be called Inter Continental Group Plc) from the retail business (to be called Mitchells Butlers Plc) of which 700 million Pounds of the proceedings returned capital to shareholders. The whole procedure of separation was completed on the 15th of April 2003. Intercontinental Hotels Group Plc (IHG) from then on is a distinct, discrete company, listed in the UK US stock markets. In July 2003 IHG sold Staybridge Suites to Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT) entered into a 20year management agreement. Later in the year they added a midscale extended stay brand Candlewood Suites to its portfolio. In the year 2004 IHG announced the introduction of a new brand, hotel Indigo which focused on providing affordable boutique accommodation. In the same month, the group adopted new standards for selling and re-selling hotel rooms for guest stay through online travel companies. Following the success of the Up Scale market brand of Staybridge Suites North America IHG launched its extension of Staybridge suites to UK in April2005. Also in 2005 IHG went ahead disposed of its soft drinks 100% holdings in Britvic Plc. With this disposal IHG became a company with a pure hotel focus. In 2006 IHG went ahead signed a joint venture with All Nippon Airways (ANA), resulting the following projects IHG ANA hotels group Japan will be the largest international hotel operator in Japan, the worlds second largest hotel market. The deal saw the introduction of three new brands created for Japan. ANA-IHG, ANA-Crowne Plaza ANA Holiday Inn. In the year 2007 IHG announces that a worldwide relaunch of the Holiday Inn brand family, comprising Holiday Inn, Express by Holiday Inn Holiday Inn Express. The re launch was done with the intention of giving it a refreshed contemporary brand image. All the hotels were supposed to have completed the re launch in 2010 with the 1st re launch taking place in 2008. In the year 2008 after the re launches of Holiday Inn taking place Staybridge Suites extended its brand more in UK the first Hotel Indigo opened in London. In 2009 the1500th hotel was relaunched over the 40% of Holiday Inn Holiday Inn Express. Strategy used from the start to the current time period: Bass the main brain behind the whole formation of the Intercontinental Hotel Group has played a major role in the slow but steady growth of this company from a small company to a worldwide known company. Bass has grown this huge group through the basis of trial error round which he has experimented in various concepts of owning then selling then franchising finally managing properties. Bass has being following the linear model of growth through various acquisitions. InterContinental Hotels Group PLC was formed by the separation of Six Continents PLC (previously Bass PLC) on 15 April 2003. The restaurant and pubs part of Six Continents became Mitchells Butlers plc. However, IHGs brands trace their history back much further than 2003. Our Holiday Inn brand, one of the worlds most recognized was created in the 1950s by Kemmons Wilson in the US. InterContinental, another of our brands was created by Pan Am in the 1940s, when hotels were built in many of Pan Ams destinations. 3(ihg.com) Over the past few years, Intercontinental hotels group has maintained itself strategically to be more efficient and effective and make full use of their global status. A predominantly franchised and managed, fee-based business was the main focus of IHG. The strategy that IHG followed made their income stream predictable with a strong cash generation which allowed it to continue in growth because all their new hotels were funded by third-party investment. IHG went ahead and relaunched Holiday Inn in 2007 and although the unexpected economic circumstances that came by IHG during that time period, it went on and got on with the $1 billion programme because of the belief of the heads of IHG that it was exactly the right time to go ahead with the relaunches. The relaunch went on to building back peoples perceptions of Holiday Inn. The guest wanting to try Holiday Inn with IHG with its value theyre giving the Brand once down another try and liking and accepting what they found. Guest satisfaction was going up and owners could see the Revenue per rooms out perform. These economic circumstances might seem like a great reason to shy away from making such big changes, but time will show that it is both a very opportune and very effective initiative for this, our biggest brand, as quoted by the CEO of IHG Mr. Andrew Cosslett. 3 http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=40 Current strategy used by Intercontinental Hotels Group: Bass the main brain behind the whole formation of the Intercontinental Hotel Group has played a major role in the slow but steady growth of this company from a small company to a worldwide known company which currently has an operating strength of 4400 hotels with 130 million guests visiting a year and under its umbrella has and widely known and reputed hotel brands covering all the major segments of the market, also have a reservations system which consists of 10 call centers in 29 languages it has also strived to be the top leader in the market has been able to position itself through its strategy of growing doing retailing in hotel sector have been able to position itself among the 6 largest hotel market, much more than any other company. Intercontinental hotel group has also been able to make the no.1 website for its guests investors in 13 different languages. They also have a global sales team of 8000 to conduct the sales of the hotels situated all over the 100 countries that they have their presence. Intercontinental hotels also has a loyalty programme which offers priority club rewards which are largest in the industry for over 48milllion of the guests which has been planned so strategically that . It has been stated on IHGs website that We have moved from investing heavily in hotel properties to return to our roots as a hotel franchise and management company with only a few owned assets. This change of focus has led to an industry-leading asset sale programme. Since 2003 we have sold  £2.9 billion worth of property. Many of these hotels have remained under our brands with management or franchise contracts, thereby creating a future income stream for IHG 4 (ihg.com). Over the past few months, IHGs continued growth in new rooms has helped to put off some of the revenue lost from Revenue per room declines. Driving in coming revenue into the hotels had been a priority and its system is the key to delivering this. Their system comprises of world class reservations centres, websites, global sales teams and Priority Club Rewards loyalty scheme and delivered 68 per cent of rooms revenue to the hotels in 2009. Reducing the overall cost base of IHG was crucial to managing through the downturn. IHG was already reducing costs to run the properties more effectively but with the economic downturn they steeped up the pace of change that was being gradually run. While they were reducing costs by taking better advantage of their way of operation as well their spread being worldwide, this also forced them to make reductions in the number of staff which unfortunately impacted jobs of IHG staff all over in the majority of properties. All these actions were taken in 2009 to reduce costs, while it was a very difficult period of the economic downturn; it allowed IHG to save a lot of cash and continue its investments in those things that attract guests to come to its hotels and revenues to the owners. The great working relationship that IHG shares with the owners of their properties, both directly and through the IAHI, which is IHGs Owners Association, has also been major contributor to the quick recovery also to the massive expansion taking place. By working alongside with the hotel owners, IHGs able to focus on the guest experience and on delivering Great Hotels Guests Love. 5 (ihg.com). 4http://www.ihgplc.com/files/reports/ar2009/files/pdf/2009_Annual_Report.pdf 5http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=40 The 48 million members of IHGs Priority Club Rewards programme remained loyal though the economic downturn and had been most supportive during the difficult times. Not only did these guests stay with IHG more often, they spent more when they did. A guests loyalty can never be taken for granted it is something that can take years to achieve and seconds to lose. So IHG had made sure they have continued to add benefits to the loyalty programme right through the downturn, and made membership of it even more worthwhile. In 2009 it enrolled six million new members into the programme thats a significant number of people whose first choice will now be to stay in one of IHGs hotels. IHGs future growth will be achieved predominantly through franchising and managing rather than owning hotels which in turn will drive down costs increase profits by the fact that all the investment in the hotels would be done by third parties. Approximately 641,000 rooms operating under the Group brands are franchised or managed and 5,800 rooms are owned and leased. The franchised and managed fee-based model is attractive because it enables the Group to achieve its goals with limited capital investment at an accelerated pace. A further advantage is the reduced volatility of the fee-based income stream, compared with ownership of assets. A key characteristic of the franchised and managed business is that it generates more cash than is required for investment in the business, with a high return on capital employed. Currently 87% of continuing earnings before regional and central overheads, exceptional items, interest and tax is derived from franchised and managed operations. The Current Strategies followed by IHG Hotels Group: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 90% of deals signed in scale markets and key gateway cities; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 10 signings of Hotel Indigo and Staybridge Suites outside of North America; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 439 hotels opened globally. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Increased proportion of revenue delivery through IHG global reservations channels and PCR members direct by four percentage points to an average 68% of global hotel rooms revenue in 2009 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Major procurement savings made; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Increased use of offshore transaction processing; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Technology infrastructure developed to support owner management and loyalty marketing. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Continued to cascade Great Hotels Guests Love in hotels and corporate offices; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Meeting ongoing resourcing requirements to match hotel growth in scale markets; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Managing employee engagement; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Continued focus on attracting and retaining talent. 1,697 relaunched Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels open around the world; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Industry-leading Priority Club Rewards (PCR) loyalty programme with 48 million members, contributing $5.6bn of global system rooms revenue à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Green Engage sustainability management system developed (patent pending); rolled out to over 900 hotels by 31 December 2009; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Extensive consumer research undertaken to quantify green opportunity with consumers; and (IHG annual report) 3 Future strategies to be used by Intercontinental Hotels Group: IHGs prime focus should be on growing faster by making its brands the first choice for both guests and hotel owners. We will do this by building the hotel industrys strongest operating system, focused on the biggest markets and segments where scale really counts. 5 (ihg.com). During these tough economic times, IHG had taken decisive action both to strengthen the efficiency of its businesses and to keep their course with its growth strategy. IHG should continue to invest in its staff, its systems and its brands, while moving even closer in working relationships with its hotel owners and partners. With momentum and a united, winning spirit inside the business, IHG is well placed to make the most of the upturn when it comes. As quoted by the CEO of IHG Mr. Andrew Cosslett. IHGs Ambition IHG should focus on its core purpose of creating Great Hotels Guests Love as the moto has always been, which is a growing crave to deliver among other key performance indicators (KPIs), closely enduring top quartile shareholders returns when measured against a broad global hotel peer group. For the three-year period of 2007 to 2009, IHG was fourth among its peers on Total Shareholder Return (TSR) and should always remain focused and try to come to the 1st position. Measuring IHG against a collection of specific KPIs aimed at delivering its core purpose, cascaded to the hotel level. Successful performance against various combinations of these metrics would result in higher profitability.. IHGs Future Strategy: IHGs strategy has seen significant development through 2009 as it moved to make its core purpose a reality, despite challenging economic circumstances. In 2009, IHG took a hard look at its operations and capabilities to focus on what really matters most to deliver Great Hotels Guests Love. It has backed this up with a major effort to align its staff and measure the most important drivers, resulting in a clear, target-based programme within the hotels to motivate teams and guide behaviors. IHGs strategy encompasses two key aspects: Where does it choose to compete; and How will it win where it competes? The Groups underlying Where strategy is that IHG would grow a portfolio of differentiated hospitality brands in select strategic countries and global key cities to maximise the scale advantage. The How aspect of our strategy flows from our core purpose and our research at the hotel level as to what really makes a difference for guests. In support of this overall strategy there are key priorities like Where we compete and How we win. To help IHGs hotels and corporate staff measure their efforts in achieving Great Hotels Guests Love, IHG provides clear metrics aligned with the four How we win priorities against which progress is gauged. The Group strategy also translates into specific regional objectives and priorities. . IHGs Delivery System:C:UsersdDesktopUntitled.png Driving demand IHGs operating system is made up of all the things we do to drive demand for our brands. This includes our advertising and marketing campaigns, our 10 global call centres, 13 local language websites, an 8,000-strong sales force, Priority Club Rewards the worlds largest hotel loyalty scheme which has 48 million members and all the advantages that IHGs global hotel distribution and scale brings to brand awareness. Hotel distribution IHG has over 4,400 hotels in over 100 countries worldwide. Our brands are in the top 3 in 7 of the 12 largest hotel markets in the world. When people travel, they look for familiar brands they know from home, increasing the demand for hotels that operate under our brands around the world. Advertising and marketing Each year, IHGs franchisees pay a fee into a central fund. This fund is used on their behalf for marketing and promotions to drive guest demand for IHGs brands. Brand sponsorships, television and print advertising campaigns and public relations activity across the globe are all ways in which the fund can be used. Priority Club Rewards IHGs Priority Club Rewards is the largest hotel loyalty scheme in the world, with 48 million members. Web presence The 13 local language websites take over 7.4 million bookings a year theyre a shop window for the hotels across the world under IHG,s banner, 365 days a year. www.holiday-inn.com is one of the industrys most visited websites, notching up 75 million site visits in 2005. The websites operate in the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish. Reservation system IHG,s 10 global reservation offices are available to take hotel bookings from guests 24 hours a day in 26 languages including Arabic, Cantonese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog and Thai. They deal with 700 transactions per minute. Sales force IHG have a global sales force of more than 8,000 professionals throughout the world, talking about and selling the booking of hotels under our brands to individuals and companies. Considering the future strategy which is goin to be used to the growth achievement of IHG are as follows: Consumer understanding: As one of the worlds largest hotel groups, IHG has gained valuable insights into where and how consumers seek hotel information and make reservations across various channels and from various local, regional and global sources. This information has shaped the way we engage with our customers and enabled us to drive up returns for owners. Global Reservations System All IHG hotels benefit from the worlds most advanced reservation system Holidex Plus.The system links more than 230,000 terminals worldwide and processes over 130 million stays a year thats about 700 transactions per second. This is serviced by our 12 worldwide reservation centres which receive up to 14 million calls annually in 15 different languages. Global Distribution Systems (GDS) Our reservation systems also link with all the major GDS, the channel of choice for travel professionals and large corporate buyers. This gives us global around the clock access to the travel trade. IHG online Our websites continue to be a fast-growing reservation channel. They offer a comprehensive, customer-friendly and secure booking service in 13 languages and provide a low cost of sale. We receive more than 5 million unique web visitors per month and also benefit from the lowest clicks-to-book rate in the industry. Worldwide sales IHGs worldwide sales team is more than 8,000 strong. As well as generating new revenue, the team also manages key corporate and agent accounts and provides local hotel sales support to maximise revenue and keep IHG hotels top of mind. 6 (IHG.com) Some Of the Future Milestones to be achieved: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Continue international roll-out of Staybridge Suites and Hotel Indigo; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Execute growth strategies in agreed scale markets; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Continue to leverage scale and build improved strategic position during the economic downturn Increase global sales force effectiveness; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Continue further procurement programmes to identify efficiencies; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Begin migration to next-generation revenue management IT systems; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Continue focus on owned and managed estate margins and return on capital employed (ROCE), especially in our key InterContinental assets. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Drive greater efficiency and simplicity through better use of technology; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Focus on developing skills to support the key goals for responsible business, guest experience and financial returns. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Complete Holiday Inn repositioning roll-out; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Continue to simplify brand standards process to improve owner returns without impairing guest experience; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Continue to enhance experience for PCR members in hotels and across global reservations channels; increase IHG business from PCR members à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Continue to roll out the Green Engage sustainability management system to 100% of our owned and managed hotels and expand into the franchised estate in all three regions; and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Focus on innovation within new and existing brands to deliver valued green related hotels and services to guests. (IHG annual report) 6 http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=293 BIBLOGRAPHY: 1http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=16 2http://www.ihgplc.com/files/reports/ar2009/files/pdf/2009_Annual_Report.pdf 3 http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=40 4http://www.ihgplc.com/files/reports/ar2009/files/pdf/2009_Annual_Report.pdf 5http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=40 6 http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=293

Gringo by Sophie Treadwell :: Essays Papers

Gringo by Sophie Treadwell As a journalist in 1920 for the New York Herald Tribune, Sophie Treadwell was assigned to go to Mexico to follow the situation after the Mexican Revolution. (Mexican Revolution 1910-1917) She covered many important aspects of the Mexican Revolution during this time, including relations between the U.S. and Mexico. She was even permitted an interview with Pancho Villa in August 1921 at his headquarters. This interview and other events that she experienced in Mexico are presumably what led her to write the play Gringo. In Gringo Treadwell tries to depict the stereotypical and prejudicial attitudes that Mexicans and Americans have about each other. There is a demonstration of how Mexican women are looked at in the Mexican culture and how they see themselves. The play also corresponds to similar events that occurred during the Mexican Revolution. Sophie Treadwell was born on October 3, 1885 in Stockton, California. She is known mostly as a playwright, but wrote in various other genres also. Her written works not only include plays, but also books and novels, fiction and non-fiction. Her journalism career was quite successful. Her commentaries and articles were always captivating to the public eye. Sophie frequently followed sensational stories in the news, some of which gained much acclaim, one being her interview with Pancho Villa. Gringo was written in 1922 and premiered on December 12, 1922. Gringo became a sensation on Broadway soon after it was written. This play has three acts that all take place in Mexico between the lives of Mexicans and Americans. The first act of Gringo takes place at a mine that is owned by an American named Don Juan Chivers. The mine is located in Mexico where Mr. Chivers discovers what he assumes is a new ore deposit. Mr. Chivers has a daughter named Besita (meaning "The Little Kiss") who is half-Mexican by a Mexican mother. Besita's mother is not around. There are several ironies found in the character of Mr. Chivers throughout this play. Mr. Chivers constantly talks down to the Mexican workers at the mine, on the other hand, he also show kindness to them by taking care of a wounded mine worker. He demonstrates a sort of superiority about himself and the fact that he is an American.

Suicide :: essays research papers

Wrong and Even Scary Certain people believe that life is not valuable. Although they may not admit this as being true it is evident through their behavior. They admit it through behavior such as believing that it is acceptable to decide one others fate. To believe that it is satisfactory for one human being to decide if another human being should live or die is wrong and even scary. Doctors should not be legally able to assist terminally ill patients to commit suicide. The most precious gift that God has given human beings is the gift of life. Even with this being true people abuse this gift everyday. They abuse this gift in many ways. One way is by attempting to play the role of God. People who assist in deciding one others fate also believe that they are God. This may sound strange but it 100% true. Human beings who assist terminally ill patients to commit suicide believe that they are God. People who believe that it is justifiable for doctors to assist terminally ill patients comm it suicide believe that is acceptable for others to play the role of God. Both of these types of Lee, 2 people are equally wrong. Both of these people's beliefs are also disgusting. There is no way that any human being should be allowed to decide when another human beings time to die is. Terminally ill patients are not exactly thinking 100% correctly during their illness. Some are just not thinking at all. Being terminally ill would be a very dramatic period in anyone's life. So this being said when patient who knows that they are going to die asks another human being to aid them to commit suicide they are not thinking straight. They might believe in their own mind that this is what they want but in reality if they were thinking straight they would not want this at all. This can be proven as well. If one were to ask another when they were perfectly healthy if that they ever became terminally ill if they would like to commit suicide the answer would be no. But yet if that same person were to become terminally ill they might want the exact opposite.

1920-1930 Essay -- Essays Papers

1920-1930 The 1920’s are also known as the "Roaring 20’s". It was the first modern decade experienced by this country, as America flourished after WW I. The average number of hours worked per week dropped from 60 hours to 48 hours (Rayburn). For the first time, people felt that it was just as important to play as it was to work; family outings and weekend trips had become things that workers expected (Rayburn). Women became more open by appearing in public smoking and drinking. Trojan condoms first appeared and sex became an open issue for discussion. During these years, Prohibition caused the rich and the common folk to come together in the name of alcohol. The business of America had become business (Rayburn). Calvin Coolidge was president for most of the decade. He won his first election with the slogan, "Keep Cool With Coolidge" (Library of Congress). At this time, credit first appeared, and people took advantage by buying all the things they wanted like cars and radios. This mindset eventually led to the Great Stock Market crash, October 24, 1929. Women were becoming more open with their bodies and showed them with the clothes they wore. Fashion trends showed that skirts were getting shorter, but many expected them to return to the full-length style of the past after a year. Instead skirts and dresses continued to get shorter from that point. Many people also accepted the fact that women were now drinking and smoking. In the World there was an uncertain peace. World War I had just ended and some peoples had felt that peace negotiations were unfair. In 1922 Joseph Stalin was voted to be the general secretary of the Communist Party. He eventually became head of the Communist Party and issued his first five year plan in... ...s, 1931. Betts, John Rickards. America’s Sporting Heritage: 1850-1950. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1974. Hamilton, George Heard. 19th and 20th Century Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Lucas, John. The Radical Twenties. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1997. Rayburn, Kevin. The Roaring 20’s. March 1997. "Calvin Coolidge and History in the 1920’s." The Online Library of Congress." http://www.memory.loc.gov Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization A Brief History. London: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1999 Buildings on Campus. Dayton: 1937. Archives Collection, Albert Emanuel Hall, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio. Wehrle, William O. History of the University of Dayton. Dayton: 1981. Archives Collection, Albert Emanuel Hall, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio.

China and Debt Bomb

Six years ago, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao cautioned that China's economy is â€Å"unstable, unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable. † China has since doubled down on the economic model that prompted his concern. Mr. Wen spoke out in an attempt to change the course of an economy dangerously dependent on one lever to generate growth: heavy investment in the roads, factories and other infrastructure that have helped make China a manufacturing superpower. Then along came the 2008 global financial crisis.To keep China's economy growing, panicked officials launched a half-trillion-dollar stimulus and ordered banks to fund a new wave of investment. Investment has risen as a share of gross domestic product to 48%—a record for any large country—from 43%. Even more staggering is the amount of credit that China unleashed to finance this investment boom. Since 2007, the amount of new credit generated annually has more than quadrupled to $2. 75 trillion in the 12 months through January this year. Last year, roughly half of the new loans came from the â€Å"shadow banking system,† private lenders and credit suppliers outside formal lending channels.These outfits lend to borrowers—often local governments pushing increasingly low-quality infrastructure projects—who have run into trouble paying their bank loans. Since 2008, China's total public and private debt has exploded to more than 200% of GDP—an unprecedented level for any developing country. Yet the overwhelming consensus still sees little risk to the financial system or to economic growth in China. That view ignores the strong evidence of studies launched since 2008 in a belated attempt by the major global financial institutions to understand the origin of financial crises.The key, more than the level of debt, is the rate of increase in debt—particularly private debt. (Private debt in China includes all kinds of quasi-state borrowers, such as local governments and state-owned corporations. ) Enlarge Image Corbis On the most important measures of this rate, China is now in the flashing-red zone. The first measure comes from the Bank of International Settlements, which found that if private debt as a share of GDP accelerates to a level 6% higher than its trend over the previous decade, the acceleration is an early warning of serious financial distress.In China, private debt as a share of GDP is now 12% above its previous trend, and above the peak levels seen before credit crises hit Japan in 1989, Korea in 1997, the U. S. in 2007 and Spain in 2008. The second measure comes from the International Monetary Fund, which found that if private credit grows faster than the economy for three to five years, the increasing ratio of private credit to GDP usually signals financial distress.In China, private credit has been growing much faster than the economy since 2008, and the ratio of private credit to GDP has risen by 50 percentage points to 180%, an increase similar to what the U. S. and Japan witnessed before their most recent financial woes. The bullish consensus seems to think these laws of financial gravity don't apply to China. The bulls say that bank crises typically begin when foreign creditors start to demand their money, and China owes very little to foreigners.Yet in an August 2012 National Bureau of Economic Research paper titled â€Å"The Great Leveraging,† University of Virginia economist Alan Taylor examined the 79 major financial crises in advanced economies over the past 140 years and found that they are just as likely in countries that rely on domestic savings and owe little to foreign creditors. The bulls also argue that China can afford to write off bad debts because it sits on more than $3 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves as well as huge domestic savings.However, while some other Asian nations with high savings and few foreign liabilities did avoid bank crises following credit booms, they non etheless saw economic growth slow sharply. Following credit booms in the early 1970s and the late 1980s, Japan used its vast financial resources to put troubled lenders on life support. Debt clogged the system and productivity declined. Once the increase in credit peaked, growth fell sharply over the next five years: to 3% from 8% in the 1970s and to 1% from 4% in the 1980s.In Taiwan, following a similar cycle in the early 1990s, the average annual growth rate fell to 6%. Even if China dodges a financial crisis, then, it is not likely to dodge a slowdown in its increasingly debt-clogged economy. Through 2007, creating a dollar of economic growth in China required just over a dollar of debt. Since then it has taken three dollars of debt to generate a dollar of growth. This is what you normally see in the late stages of a credit binge, as more debt goes to increasingly less productive investments.In China, exports and manufacturing are slowing as more money flows into real-estate spec ulation. About a third of the bank loans in China are now for real estate, or are backed by real estate, roughly similar to U. S. levels in 2007. For China to find a more stable growth model, most experts agree that the country needs to balance its investments by promoting greater consumption. The catch is that consumption has been growing at 8% a year for the past decade—faster than in previous miracle economies like Japan's and as fast as it can grow without triggering inflation.Yet consumption is still falling as a share of GDP because investment has been growing even faster. So rebalancing requires China to cut back on investment and on the rate of increase in debt, which would mean accepting a rate of growth as low as 5% to 6%, well below the current official rate of 8%. In other investment-led, high-growth nations, from Brazil in the 1970s to Malaysia in the 1990s, economic growth typically fell by half in the decade after investment peaked. The alternative is that Chin a tries to sustain an unrealistic growth target, by piling more debt on an already powerful debt bomb.

To what extent do the novels Nineteen Eighty Four and the Road support or refute this view?

The dystopian novels The Road and Nineteen Eighty Four demonstrate the push and pull between the utopian and dystopian societies in their narratives. Dystopian literature often seems to be a deterrent to the reader the nightmarish lifestyles presented to us by each individual protagonist characters dehumanized due to the desolate and barren lifestyles presented in each text. However, despite this, the bleak settings seem to send messages of optimism, and to some extent hope, through the interactions of characters in each novel. In The Road the boy and the father are seen to be two people left who are not dehumanized by the new apocalyptic society. They do not conform to cannibalism, rape or murder; however their humanity is tested through the desolate landscapes and their lack of human contact and refusal to help those they do meet in this new society. Although the father only has the boy his humanity is clear as they are â€Å"each other worlds entire† showing he only lives for his son. We can also see the boy knows that without his father he would not be able to defend for himself and would be lonely. When the father asks him â€Å"what would you do if I died† the son replies â€Å"if you died I would want to die too/†¦. so I could be with you† This love between the boy and the father allows us to over look the apparent loneliness the boy has, with the humanity between the two characters shining through. Conflict does exist between the father and the son, when they have different opinions on whether to help fellow survivors or not, yet the conflict itself is not destructive as they always come to a joint decision. Jon Wilkins. Theoretical evolutionary biologist and professor at Santa Fe Institute believe the son and the father â€Å"are two individuals with separate wills but their paths and fates are inseparable†. McCarthy makes use of graphology, or rather a lack of it, to show how desolate and dehumanized life has become, or perhaps draws attention to the things in life that really matter when characters are travelling a dystopian landscape. The setting is said to be sublime. To expand the point, the author's use of declarative sentences makes his prose bleak, and certainly positions the reader in such a way as to be able to empathise with the stark sense of grim reality that the man and boy are confronted with. McCarthy's own remark that he sees no need to â€Å"blot up the page with weird little marks† using as little punctuation as possible, enables him to present a narrative whose prose is as scarce and unwelcoming as the actual highway itself. These sorts of structural decisions on the writer's part add to the sense of inhumanity in The Road but ironically also contribute to the closeness of the relationship between the father and son – although the narrative may appear to lack conventional direction the relationship between the two characters certainly does not. Another way in which the human spirit seems to be alive in McCarthy's dystopian landscape lies in the absurd nature of the world that is presented. The father and son must â€Å"keep walking to survive†, despite the fact that where they are walking to or from is not always clear. As a result their efforts often seem pointless given the inevitability of their death at the hands of roaming bands of cannibals. However, what is clear is that they repeat the same routine every day, drawing parallels to the absurdity of life – this alludes to thee Greek Mythology figure Sisyphus whose existence consisted of rolling a boulder up a hill only for it to fall down on a daily basis. Mundane as it is like a nightmare, it is repetitive nonetheless it is through this repetition that the two characters manage to develop their close bond. It may be the case that the absurd of their journey is dehumanising yet it is through this cyclical process that McCarthy allows their humanity to shine through. In terms of ‘The Road' the man and boy must walk, just as Sisyphus had to roll, however the absurdity of their existence is somewhat lesser than that of Winston from Nineteen Eighty Four. Winston's life is also presented as absurd. Orwell creates a world capable of inducing suicide. The narrative is filled with a nihilistic and soulless atmosphere, where there is no ‘God' present, making the world seem like there is no meaning and no essence to life dehumanising the protagonist. This continues to the portrayal of the dangers of living in a totalitarianism society when has the main objective of control over its subjects to any extent emphasising the absurdity of life. Through oppression and stripping away basic human rights through extreme restriction making, Big Brother himself seems like an absurdist. Although there is no official law about it, it seems to be common knowledge what it is expected for them to do so they are not punished and placed in room 101. Orwell's London becomes more absurd when there is no official rule to punish Winston, and therefore more dehumanising as it is difficult to tell what justice is if individuals can not be truthful on what you know is wrong and right, blurring the lines in terms of what the public know Big Brother is doing. Through the allusions to Everyman, where the Father in The Road, and Winston in Nineteen Eighty= four play as characters they also play a part of the Christian from the Pilgrims Progress, this is allude to the journeys and challenges presented to both of the men bringing another sense of optimism to themselves and to the reader. While this journey tends to out way the dangers and hardships they are going face on their way. McCarthy's journey is a pilgrimage, the father and boy are searching for a place of hope, and it is a contrast with Winston. He is searching for truth in a society that is created through lies, and manufactured stories of the past. Religion seems to be absent in The Road there is no god, but a slight biblical reference â€Å"There is no God, we're his prophets† suggesting that he and the boy are meant to spread the knowledge of the last society. He said â€Å"if he is not the word of God, God never spoke†. McCarthy seems to use â€Å"taken them from this world†. So that we would think the prophets were taken from this world, and suggest a Religious war may have destroyed civilisation. Contrasted within Nineteen Eighty Four where religion is apparent and focused on the antagonist Big Brother as a god like figure although there is no formal religion. He seemingly has omnipotent and omniscient qualities that dehumanise those around him into fear of him as a substitute of patriotic feeling, as they know that â€Å"Big brother is watching you†. We see his use of power through the denial of the past and ever changing present that Winston has to work to keep the system working the way Big Brother wants it to. Thus creating a society with no memory framework, they can not be truly counted as real if they have no recollection events as they continue to change, they just go along with the next story because they have no way of thinking otherwise. This is familiar to how God can see everything and how it seems that they are continuously scrutinized this could dehumanise them as there is no sense of privacy, but in this society there is no way to avoid neither him nor can they get away from his followers. He also seems to be in a god like place as there is no way to tell where he is, or even if he exists at all. Although this could confuse the protagonists as they have their right to choose their own religion taken, so their individuality has been demolished and decided for them. Nevertheless it seems to give the impression of a very primitive religion based around human sacrifice, although the sacrifices themselves seem to be presented as punishment for those who are deemed evil under the acts of a powerful of the â€Å"saviour† represented furthermore dehumanising the protagonists as they have to choice but to be part of the sacrifice. Echoes of atravism behaviour are present in The Road with to us with the flashbacks the father has, each provoking a different feeling like with the Coca Cola he remembers a time when he was happy and then tries to hand over these memories to his son. It provokes a nostalgic feeling in the father. He also recalls the time where he was close to his wife, he wanted to save her scent although remembering this is dangerous as it distracts him from the grim battle between life and death against the bands of cannibals. However the son doesn't appreciate this as he was born into the post apocalyptic world and does not share the feelings of his father. It is also evident when they enter houses the son is cautious of the house when the father seems to assume that the one from his past is safe like in the memories, and how to the father it brings a sense of home, in spite of this it is still dehumanising as he is estranging himself from the new world it also dehumanised him to knows it is impossible for him to get back to these times. The soulless nature in Nineteen Eighty Four suggests there is a lack of aspiration their lives are laid out for them; they have no spirit to do anything in a different way. Yet in spite of this experience Winston Smith offers hope to the reader through his actions, many of which present humanity in an optimistic light. For instance, there is â€Å"hope within the proles† as there are no restrictions as they are seen no better then animals, but they are free. Winston seems to be jealous when he watches the prole woman singing freely a song which was manufactured by the totalitarian world, making him have an ironic feel to it. In The Art of Fiction David Lodge suggests that Orwell's novel should be read as prophetic as it was written for the future. This view adds weight to the argument that it is not just a book about stripping away humanity; if the reader sees it as prophetic then it would seem that Orwell is suggesting that the future might too hold hope, as well as the threat of inhumanity. Lodge remarks that â€Å"Orwell draws on many recognizable features of life in â€Å"austerity† post-war Britain, as well as on reports of life in Eastern Europe, to create a depressing atmosphere of London†. Orwell's vision is bleak is beyond question, but to suggest that there is no hint of humanity and decency in the text would be missing one of Orwell's key themes that he apposes alongside the cautionary nature of the book. Eventually, the worlds which Orwell and McCarthy create dehumanise the individuals from their societies in the protagonists eyes, therefore making them outcasts from their societies, the lack of justice present backs this, as they both have lost legal systems and punishments are not officially known, although in the Road justice as the new post apocalyptic society seems to be chaos. Winston is an outcast but no one else seems to care or even notices and therefore he is dehumanised although he does conform in the end, it is forced on him whereas the father and the son are outcasts within the Road as two of the few people left who are not dehumanized by the new apocalyptic society. They do not conform making them different as they try to hold on to the fathers past giving them aspects of atavism, and an outcast for it, these characters usually can not survive in the new society, Neither society is allowed privacy, someone is always looking into their lives whether they are a controlling leader or a cannibal