Report dominos pizza free essay sample

Analysis of the current Dominos ecommerce and marketing strategy from an external standpoint identified missed opportunities and prospective areas for improvement relating to their ecommerce structure. Specifically it was identified that Dominos had the potential to leverage the established business structures of eBay and utilise them with speed and efficiency to create an innovative solution to fill a gap in the market place. Utilisation of an eBay store would grant Dominos first mover advantage in an extremely competitive industry with high buyer power that is heavily dominated by discounting offers. This innovation can target not only existing customers but also actively engage in the pursuit of a new customer base. In a marketplace dominated by traditional bricks and mortar business structures the online store allows Dominos to market to a wider consumer base and generate a point of difference. With comparatively low overall financial outlay, a successfully established online business that customers are directed towards and the ability to harness the proven business structures of eBay, the Dominos eBay Store is capable of meeting the market in rapid succession following approval. We will write a custom essay sample on Report dominos pizza or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Table of Contents Contents Introduction The purpose of this report is to present and critique the potential of Domino’s pizza establishing an eBay store in order to increase overall customer awareness of brand and generate income. An assumption is made that eBay would be conducive to a partnership of this nature and that non-monetary vouchers for foodstuffs does not breach the limitations of eBay listing guidelines. Without direct access to Dominos marketing strategy and brand research conducted by the Dominos group the report is limited to review of strategy and business operations from an external perspective. It is identified that the Pizza Industry specifically and the Fast Food Industry as a larger whole is highly competitive. Dominos currently enjoys large market share and positive representation of brand, however incremental evolution of the business is required in order to ensure stability in this volatile marketplace before growth can be considered. The process of analysing the potential of this innovation was multi-faceted and considered the existing marketing and ecommerce strategies of Dominos. Clearly establishing the gap in the Market in light of the Industry standard practice, competitor activity and customer expectations reveals that value perception of the Dominos brand can be positively impacted from both a customer and business perspective. Moving from the industry standard traditional bricks and mortar business structure to the dynamic online marketplace would grant Dominos first mover advantage in a marketplace that all direct competitors are yet to capture. Utilisation of the exiting information structures within the business limits business transformation requirements and significantly mitigates both financial outlay and time investment required to implement the innovation. Inclusion of a Rich Picture in the Appendices visually highlights the incorporation of the innovation into the Dominos ecommerce strategy. History Currently Dominos, via the letterbox and newspaper insertion of vouchers, invests heavily on residentially centralised marketing localised to the immediate vicinity of the franchise outlets. Although geographically targeted to those residence with the most convenient access to the stores there is little manner in which to track customer engagement and follow through. This method of distribution also limits customer exposure to the frequency the store engages in the circulation campaign. Existing Dominos electronic marketing populates the majority of its clientele database with data entered directly by the customer engaging with the online ordering interface (Image 1). Severely limited in scope it requires the customer to both be already committed to purchasing from Dominos and amicable to receiving electronic marketing. Further, this method of data collection requires Dominos to trust that the information being entered by the Customer is complete and accurate with limited ramifications on the Customer for inaccurate or incomplete information. Image 1 – Dominos Customer Interface Market Gap Analysis Overview Currently eBay has millions of daily users and unique domains within 8 countries in the Asia Pacific Region that Dominos already has a recognized presence in. See Appendix 1 (EBay 2014) and Appendix 2 (Dominos 2014). By partnering up with an established and successful ecommerce business and utilising a focused marketing strategy Dominos, with an already established presence in the majority of countries in this region, is presented with a portal for advertising and brand exposure in addition to the ability to sell voucher deals. Existing strategy is geared towards the evening dinner market and is utilised predominately by customers who ring up or go online to order when they are hungry. This innovation creates a limitless potential for exposure to new customers and an exponential sales increase via creating the option of purchasing a voucher at any time to utilise at their convenience. Marketplace Background Dominos online sales currently make up 15% of their profit margin with a growing trend and is forecast to become accountable for more than 50% of their profit margin. (Dominos 2013, p.8) Examination of the pizza industry with Porters Five Forces reveals High buyer power, threat of substitute products and rivalry, Medium threat of new entrants and Low supplier power (Appendix 3). This highly competitive and volatile marketplace makes it essential to create a point of difference and establish and maximise perceived brand value. Immediate Benefits With society become increasingly mobile and demanding of ins tant gratification (Muther 2013) Dominos needs to be able to meet and embrace this emerging culture. Successfully harnessing the clicks and mortar (Baltzan et al.2010, pg. 123) structure of an EBay store would allow Dominos to leverage what could effectively be described as a Customer to Customer relationship in a Business to Customer (Baltzan et al. 2010, pg. 125) interface. The EBay store would feature all the benefits of a pureplay (Baltzan et al. 2010, pg. 125) business whilst deferring the majority of hosting and data management costs to EBay. With the online store able to host multiple auctions the customer is able to access an auction at their convenience and leisure irrespective of time of day or location. A customer currently residing outside the established distribution catchment of vouchers could conceivably purchase a voucher for a store in a town that they were visiting in a week at 11. 00pm at night. Dominos would also benefit from increased accuracy and completion of their clientele database as it is in the Customers best interest to ensure that shipping details, a mandatory requirement for any EBay account, and email addresses, required to create an EBay account, are up to date (Image 2). Image 2 – eBay registration requirements Value perception Customer Given that value perception is the perceived value that a customer rates a good or service, â€Å"it is therefore vitally important for a company to use a customer focused strategy to obtain a competitive advantage over its competitors by making the target market value your good or service higher than your competitors†( Rahikka et al. 2011, p. 359). By implementing eBay as a Business to Consumer portal it targets a much larger consumer base. It also empowers existing customers. This enables customers to bid on bargains at their leisure. With this new option of buying discounted pizza in advance it gives the consumers new options for buying pizza deals and using them at their convenience. This new business strategy will change the customer perception of Domino’s Pizza from a bricks and mortar fast food outlet that provides a quick service when you’re feeling hungry to an online fast food outlet that can be brought any time of the day in advance at discounted prices. Business Incorporating a business partner such as eBay grants Dominos instant access to millions of new customers, in the established eBay customers. It also gives them more access to their existing customers as their existing customer base are known to be regular eBay users (Domino’s 2013). The benefits of this are increased brand exposure using eBay as a portal to advertise their products and brand names. The new customer base generated from this will result in increased traffic to their website which promotes the brand name and creates growth for the business. With this proposed innovation the company will be the first to utilise an already successful business with a huge customer base. It also creates a larger awareness by people bidding on their deals at different times of the day not just when their hungry. The innovation also creates pre-sales, a significant advantage for Dominos as they can secure payments weeks in advance opening up potential investment funding opportunities which no other competitor in the industry have been able to secure. This grants Domino’s another first to market advantage in line with their digital advancement strategy (Domino’s 2013). A value chain analysis in light of the balanced scorecard (IntraFocusUK 2012) of the innovation reveals that the perception of an increased level of personal interaction as Dominos engages directly, rather than anonymously, with the customer would assist in a positively accumulated switching cost via both increased brand loyalty and customer perception. It will also give Domino’s pizza a competitive advantage over competing fast food companies for the short term until rival competitors replicate similar strategies. Information and Communication Technology Strategies As this collaboration with EBay is the first within a vast and already successful environment, having a clear strategy is imperative to ensure it is successful. This introduction does not change the existing business process rather it works as an additional tool to enhance customer engagement, loyalty and awareness. A key focus within the innovation will be on customer relationship management (CRM). Taylor (2010, p. 1) defines CRM as a process by which businesses seek to exploit information relating to

Didion Essays

Didion Essays Didion Paper Didion Paper Joan Doing On Keeping a Notebook In On Keeping a Notebook, Doing writes about the Importance In keeping a notebook to record events and personal feelings. She makes It vital to write In the moment that these events, thoughts, and feelings occur. Although, the point Sins to be accurate or persuasive but rather personal to reflect and reveal what she discovers about herself In the process while still applying rhetorical devices of ethos, pathos, and logos In her essay. Her notebook Includes personal experiences written erratically, versus to writing In a diary dally. Some of the entries Jotted down have little to no significance to her life and this format enforces the effects to writing In a notebook the same way any average person would. Some of these stories are questionable to her and are used to make a point of how writing in a notebook isnt about finding a meaning but keeping in touch with yourself in the end. Dingos writing structure is informal to the way its written with random stories ND using casual language that is easy to understand as if she were speaking to the reader. This makes for the persuasive method of ethos that enables the reader to trust her writings to make a point in using the notebook usefully and efficiently. She asks the reader questions throughout the essay that makes the reader think about how a notebook comes in handy. Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of it actually happened? Did any of it? Why do I keep a notebook at all? It is easy to deceive oneself on all those scores. (76). As she continues to keep the reader questioning, she successfully resumes authority over the reader when she adds in another personal entry. Doing does not make against any argument, but comes to avoid it as she successfully attempts to inform the reader that Sometimes even the maker has difficulty with the meaning,(79) while bringing in playful sarcasm to her explanations, . Yet there it is in my notebook, labeled FACT. 79) causing the reader to respect her point of view. Overall, what she tries to get across to the reader Isnt to record, analyze, or conclude but to keep bits of mindful thoughts. Doing By lexicons In On Keeping a Notebook, Doing writes about the importance in keeping a notebook to record events and personal feelings. She makes it vital to write in the moment that these events, thoughts, and feelings occur. Although, the point is nt to discovers about herself in the process while still applying rhetorical devices of ethos, ethos, and logos in her essay. Her notebook includes personal experiences written erratically, versus to writing in a diary daily. Some of the entries Jotted down have little to no significance to her life and this format enforces the effects to writing in a notebook the same way any average person would. Some of these stories are explanations, Yet there it is in my notebook, labeled FACT. (79) causing the reader to respect her point of view.

Financial Performance of Apple Inc from 2002 to 2011 Research Paper

Financial Performance of Apple Inc from 2002 to 2011 - Research Paper Example The current ratio position of the company, which is â€Å"greater than 1,† offers a high leeway of liquidity (Kennon p 1). The Quick Ratio of Apple, which is 1.35, indicates their liquidity in terms of readily available finance. Similarly, the leverage ratio is 1.52 which indicates a sound debt and equity position, where investors can expect high returns. Moreover, a proportionate increase occurred in the Earning Per Share. The EPS has risen from 0.09 $ to 27.68 $ during the period between 2002 and 2011. This accounts for an appreciation of over three thousand times in ten years or an average growth of 300 times a year. Thus, the company stands to attract a lot of investors, which, in turn, will further escalate the rate of their share and add further value to the company. The price/sales ratio was 4.23%, compared to companies such as HP, Google, and Samsung. Apple, a leading manufacturer of computer hardware and software, iPods, mobile phones and other gadgets, was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, with the former as the CEO. Tim Cook was appointed for new CEO. From 2011, Dr. Arthur D Levinson was the director of Apple. The SVP heads are Mr. Jeffery E Williams (SVP Operation), Mr. Peter Oppenheimer (SVP and CFO), Mr. Guy Tribble (VP Software Technology), Mr. John Browett (SVP Retail), Mr. Eduardo H. Cue (SVP Internet Software and Services), Mr. Craig Federighi (SVP Software Engineering), Mr. Scott Forstall (SVP iOS Software) and Mr. Jonathan Ive SVP Industrial Design.  

Reflective Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reflective Summary - Essay Example As a student, I must attest to the fact that it provided me with a platform to test some of the beliefs I have developed overtime, thereby determining assumptions that work and at the same time enabled me develop new ideas. The colleges, notably the professors view the process as an opportunity to support students by helping them tackle some of the challenges they might come across in the course of the activity. At the same time, the industry partners, which in this case was YWCA Niagara region benefited in the sense that as a team, we identified some of the HR concerns facing them, and developed strategies and action plans of successfully tackling each issue. One of the essential challenges that my team members faced in the course of working on the assignment was the fact that all of us were passionate of our ideologies, and wanted each member to buy into our perceptions. Nonetheless, we realized that it was better to share a common goal, and that made it easier for us to complete the

Statment of purpuse for MBA school Personal Statement

Statment of purpuse for MBA school - Personal Statement Example The MBA prepares a student in the field by motivating one to use and develop analytical decision-makings which are very useful for employers because such preparation demand less assistance from other employees. Creative skills are also developed while one analyses a situation and develop solutions to the problem posed and the ingenuity of how it is resolved can measure an individual’s ability to look into strategies that are commendable. Consequently, the person is now trained to be self-reliant and would not always need other people’s attention to himself rather could be trusted to be able to complete a task without much assistance. As the title of the course suggests, entrepreneurship is one of the paths that one is developed, being given information that would be virtually important to this endeavor, not to mention being updated with the latest business trends. Effective communication, presentation and negotiation skills are also deemed important in the current compe titive business world and the MBA prepares a student to such through intensive training not only in theory but especially through immersion to the tasks and business people through ‘on the job’ training programs.

Theories of Mental Health Illness Within Sociology

Theories of Mental Health Illness Within Sociology Compare and contrast two of the five approaches to mental health illness within Sociology. (social causation, social reaction (labelling theory), critical theory, social constructivism social realism) Mental Health Illness The issue of mental health has long been an object of study for society, the psychiatric professions and sociology has similarly had a long tradition of offering theoretical insights into the phenomenon. Why this might be is open to debate and many of the key sociological theories in relation to mental health have in fact as much to say about the prevailing viewpoints within society and within professional bodies towards mental health as they do about those who suffer from mental health related problems (Cockerham, 1992). The two most radical of the sociological theories concerning mental health have been social reaction or labelling theories as well as that of social constructivism. Both these theories examined within this essay offer a radical conception of mental health in comparison to what might be called the dominant medical and social views on mental health. However while both of these theories offer a radical view of mental health they differ substantially in the theoretical framework which they respectively utilize towards understanding mental health. These differences can be located in broader trends which have occurred within the discipline of sociology itself as a shift in the major theoretical traditions within the discipline, (Delanty, 1999). The two sociological theories examined are that of social reaction and social constructivism. Social Reaction This critical theory emerged in the 1960s which in itself might serve to highlight the broader critical strands present within society when this theory was formulated. Labelling theory works from the simple premise that to define someone as mentally ill conveys upon them a stereotypical image which the person will then act. It drew its framework from the symbolic interactionism school of sociology so at its root this theory sought to examine the ways in which roles and actors interacted and played out within the drama of mental illness (Pilgrim and Rogers, 1999. Thus for labelling theory the relationship between the patient (or the individual defined as ill), family, medical professions and society generally is the determining factor for analysis in relation to mental illness. For labelling theorists then the primary framework for analysing mental illness is to examine the twin concepts of primary deviance and secondary deviance. Primary deviance relates to things which might actually be wrong or actions or circumstances which involve actual rule breaking, (Pilgrim and Rogers, 1999) and for labelling theorists the most interesting item regarding this is the way those around sufferers rationalise and ignore this behaviour up unto a point, (Ineichen, 1979:11). Perhaps the most illustrative study of this phenomenon was the work of Yarrow, Schwartz, Murphy and Deasy (1955) which illustrated the various ways in which wives would dismiss strange behaviour up until a point was reached in terms of deviant behaviour. However it is secondary deviance which labelling theory sees as the much more problematic of the two forms of deviance and it is here that the links also between the second of our theories examined are strongest. For labelling theorists secondary deviance has a number of critical factors. But simply put secondary deviance refers to those manifestations of symptoms which are not related in any way to the actual physical incidence. Thus we might say that the aetiology of secondary deviance is a function of the societal conditions surrounding the individuals rather than intrinsic conditions within the individual themselves. As Rosenham (1973) states The question of whether the sane can be distinguished from the insaneis a simple matter: do the salient characteristics that lead to diagnoses reside in the patients themselves or in the environmentsin which observers find them (250). In Rosenhams case where eight pseudo-patients gained entry into hospitals on the pretence of being insane to answer to this question lay firmly in the area of the observers. While popular at first with a number of studies finding the concepts expressed in the theory to be true in a number of famous studies labelling theory has not decreased in popularity with a number of major criticisms being levelled at the theory as a result of further investigation and continued studies While labelling theory surmised that primary and secondary deviance were linked in that one will tend to lead to the other as a result of the ensuing interaction between the individual sufferer and those that label the sufferer this was not borne out by the research. In the case of Rosenhams study it was found that the label of deviant though at first an uncomfortable and disturbing experience did not persist for a great length of time with the pseudo-patients in the experiment, (Pilgrim and Rogers, 1999). Another weakness expressed in labelling theory is the relationship between the stereotypical images of the insane believed to be held by the public. If society was to blame for labelling the insane then it would have been expected that the images lay people had conformed to the images of diagnosis, yet research has shown that this is not the case. Indeed lay perceptions to mental illness have been demonstrated to only marginally relate to the images associated with medical diagnosis, (Pilgrim and Rogers, 1999:18). Labelling theory accepts then (and is a criticism of the theory) that a distinction can be drawn between physical disorders, primary deviance, and the ensuing reaction from society which causes secondary deviance. For the second theory we examine here the existence of both categories is dependent on society or in other words that mental illness exists as a completely subjective definition. Social Constructivism While referring to a broad range of social critiques across a many wide variety of disciplines it is perhaps best represented in terms of its comments on mental health by the works of the French theorist Michel Foucault. In particular his seminal work The Birth of the Clinic sets out the radical viewpoint with which social constructivism is associated. In this Foucault argues that insanity exists as a classificatory concept derived from the subjective description of medical knowledge. Or that the objectification of insanity occurred after as well as in tandem with the development of psychiatric knowledge, the insane developed as a problematised group which in turn led to strategies being developed to manage them, (Foucault, 1976) Superficially then we can see many similarities between these two theories in that both see a critical role for society in the determination of the meaning of mental illness. The critical difference is that while for social reactionists and labelling theorists a division exists between primary deviance which has a physical locus and secondary deviance which arises out of societal causes whereas social constructivists assign the loci of mental health strictly to the social environment. It does this through utilising the theoretical framework of discourses, thus the subjectivity of being mad is defined through the objectifying process of psychiatric or medical knowledge generally (Pilgrim and Rogers, 1999). While many works recently have adopted social constructivist viewpoints in relation to medical knowledge it is Foucaults works which are the best known and also which have been the most influential in developing this theoretical viewpoint. Foucaults work was in particular concerned with how the shifting conceptions of what madness meant to society led to the development of a discrete set of knowledges which pathologise mental states according to a classificatory system related to madness and what were the strategies which developed as a result of this knowledge towards the control and management of the insane (Foucault, 1972, 1976). This concept has had radial implications for a consideration of mental health and how it is defined in as well as by society. This theoretical framework can be seen thusly to criticise not only psychiatric practice but also psychiatric knowledge and even more critically the processes through which psychiatric knowledge is generated. Indeed from a social constructivist viewpoint it is the very construction of knowledge which leads to the boundaries and categories which delineates and determines who it is we call insane and indeed what it is that makes them insane for society. Perhaps the biggest criticism we can make of the social constructivist viewpoint is the lack of a normative basis to its analysis. While the critique may be valid social constructivist theories can be distinctly vague about resistances to the all powerful discourses which they describe and analyse. Similarly the ability to formulate social policies arising out of the critique may similarly be limited (Rogers and Pilgrim, 2001: 175). A secondary point and one which we have already made in relation to labelling theory is that perhaps social constructivism deconstructs too much certain incidences of mental illness, perhaps there are some illnesses which in their aetioloigcal sense reveal themselves to be indeed physical manifestations of what we might actually be able to call a disorder (Zinberg, 1970). Thus from this analysis we can see the close links as well as the clear differences between these two theories. While both are radical in their outlook we can argue that social constructivism has even been more radical. Similarly while social reaction theories have fallen out of favour along as well it must be noted as symbolic interactionsim in general social constructivist theories have been and continue to be hugely influential not only in relation to mental illness but to a broad range of social scientific disciplines and social issues. References Cockerham, W. C. (1992); Sociology of Mental Disorder; 3rd Ed., Simon and Schuster Co.; New Jersey US Delanty, G. (1999); Social Theory in a Changing World, Polity Press, Malden US Foucault, M. (1976); The Archaeology of Knowledge, Tavistock, London UK Foucault, M. (1976); The Birth of the Clinic, Tavistock, London UK Ineichen, B. (1979); The Social Structure of Modern Britain: Mental Illness, Longman, London UK Pilgrim, D. and Rogers, A. (1999); A Sociology of Mental Illness, 2nd Ed., Open University Press, NY US Rogers, A. and Pilgrim, D. (2001); Mental Health Policy in Britain, Palgrave, Basingstoke UK Rosenham, D.L. (1973); On Being Sane in Insane Places; Science, Vol 179 Jan Yarrow, M., Schwartz, C, Murphy, H. and Deasy, L. (1955); The Psychological Meaning of Mental Illness in the Family, Journal of Social Issues, Vol 11 No. 12 Zinberg, N. (1970); The Mirage of Mental Health, British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 21 No. 3

Aristotelian Rhetoric: Progression of Sophists Nascent Teachings Essay

Scholars and historians of rhetoric consider the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, one of the great contributors to our present understanding of this art which, since its early origins and until present, has been a controversial field of study because of its association with persuasion and influence. However, readings of the many ancient and contemporary texts and analyses of the origins and the developments of this ancient art marginalized the role of the Sophists, who were the first to introduce rhetoric to Greece, and usually associated them with the bad reputation rhetoric has acquired over the years. Undoubtedly, Aristotle developed rhetoric in a more comprehensive and systemized explanation than what the Sophists offered, but an examination of how this great philosopher reached his findings, and what elements formed his theory on rhetoric points out that the Sophists, who initiated this art, deserve a re-evaluation of their role and an explanation of their â€Å"unethical† p erspectives. In this essay, I consider the Aristotelian rhetoric to be a progression of the Sophists’ nascent teachings in rhetoric. Arguably, the â€Å"disdained† Sophists introduced a novel field of study that constituted a base for Aristotle’s theory. My argument is based on a chronological reading of the origins and development of rhetoric and recent studies on the Sophists and their discredited achievements almost since the great philosopher, Plato, staged his battle against them. I also regard the platonic versus sophistic approach to the definition of rhetoric, its goals and purposes, and its relation with the public as consequential factors of development of this art. Accordingly, I assume that this rivaling situation could not have existed without the sophisti... ...e’s concern of ethos was closely related with what he considered abuses of previous orators, including the sophists, who exaggerated the use of ethos and gave â€Å"rhetoric a bad name† (p. 89). However, Allen (1994) had another interpretation: Aristotle â€Å"infuse(d) ethos with a strong recognition of kairos: the speaker†¦adjusts his/her character to fit the moment, in order to establish a sense identification – of credibility as a member of the community† (p. 7). Aristotle is undoubtedly a great philosopher whose contributions in many fields, including rhetoric, constitute a foundation of our modern education and research. However, many scholars suggested that his theory was an evolution of a preliminary sophistic rhetoric that developed through the years by a group of travelling teachers who formed this art and played a major role in reinforcing democracy in Greece. Aristotelian Rhetoric: Progression of Sophists' Nascent Teachings Essay Scholars and historians of rhetoric consider the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, one of the great contributors to our present understanding of this art which, since its early origins and until present, has been a controversial field of study because of its association with persuasion and influence. However, readings of the many ancient and contemporary texts and analyses of the origins and the developments of this ancient art marginalized the role of the Sophists, who were the first to introduce rhetoric to Greece, and usually associated them with the bad reputation rhetoric has acquired over the years. Undoubtedly, Aristotle developed rhetoric in a more comprehensive and systemized explanation than what the Sophists offered, but an examination of how this great philosopher reached his findings, and what elements formed his theory on rhetoric points out that the Sophists, who initiated this art, deserve a re-evaluation of their role and an explanation of their â€Å"unethical† p erspectives. In this essay, I consider the Aristotelian rhetoric to be a progression of the Sophists’ nascent teachings in rhetoric. Arguably, the â€Å"disdained† Sophists introduced a novel field of study that constituted a base for Aristotle’s theory. My argument is based on a chronological reading of the origins and development of rhetoric and recent studies on the Sophists and their discredited achievements almost since the great philosopher, Plato, staged his battle against them. I also regard the platonic versus sophistic approach to the definition of rhetoric, its goals and purposes, and its relation with the public as consequential factors of development of this art. Accordingly, I assume that this rivaling situation could not have existed without the sophisti... ...e’s concern of ethos was closely related with what he considered abuses of previous orators, including the sophists, who exaggerated the use of ethos and gave â€Å"rhetoric a bad name† (p. 89). However, Allen (1994) had another interpretation: Aristotle â€Å"infuse(d) ethos with a strong recognition of kairos: the speaker†¦adjusts his/her character to fit the moment, in order to establish a sense identification – of credibility as a member of the community† (p. 7). Aristotle is undoubtedly a great philosopher whose contributions in many fields, including rhetoric, constitute a foundation of our modern education and research. However, many scholars suggested that his theory was an evolution of a preliminary sophistic rhetoric that developed through the years by a group of travelling teachers who formed this art and played a major role in reinforcing democracy in Greece.

Locke and Hobbes: Cause of Religious Toleration Essay

Historically, Locke’s treatment of toleration was one riddled with religious change, religious turmoil, and political changes that were shaped largely by religious tensions. This was a time when religion, specifically the Christian Church, became fractioned and led to widespread war and death in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Locke’s Letter on Toleration promoted separation of church and state, arguing that each institution has legitimacy and power in certain areas. The state exists to protect people’s interests, and can use force to protect these interests. However, the state will not be able to coerce its people to believe in a certain religion. In Leviathan, Hobbes provides ideas that support Locke’s toleration of religion. Hobbes belief in the state of nature, state of war, and covenants helps to paint a clearer picture of a world without religious intoleration. Locke’s plea for tolerations is one of religious toleration in general but more specifically toleration among Christians. Locke speaks out against Christians whom â€Å"deprive (men) of their estates, maim them with corporal punishments, starve and torment them in noisome prisons, and in the end even take away their lives†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Letter p.24). This type of intolerance is itself intolerable because it violates many mandates that should characterize a true Christian. The mandates of charity and meekness are violated, and those who have committed these aggressive and violent actions against others are in themselves hypocritical. These people are usually careless about their own virtues, imposing on others something they don’t practice. According to Locke, instead of looking into others moral salvation, they should practice looking into their own moral salvations as well as the salvations of family and friends. These same people are spending time and effort on trivial things like doctrinal matters and ceremonial preferences. Locke urges that one should not worry so much about matters that, on the surface are nice and intricate, but â€Å"exceed(s) the capacity of ordinary understandings†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Letter p. 24). Instead of wasting time on these futile activities, one should actively try to better oneself. Separation of church and state is an important premise that buttresses his argument throughout the letter. It is a separation of civil versus religious authority and who has power of what domain. Locke argues that civil government has certain responsibilities for its citizens, which include preserving and advancing the civil interests, well-being and life of its citizens. Locke defines the one who wields civil authority as a magistrate and it is the magistrate who is enjoined to tolerate any religious doctrine, provided that these doctrines do not violate rights or disrupt the peace. Locke is intolerable of violations of rights of citizens and crime, or anything that disrupts the peace. Individuals do not have the power and position to respond and punish the criminals. That task is left to the magistrate. The magistrate has the ability to enforce laws through force but his coercive power must be kept out of religious matters, in so long as the religious matters do not hinder citizens’ rights and their peace. Locke believes that in religious matters, true belief in a religion requires more then the coercive power to make one believe. He argues if people are forced to believe in a religion against their will, it will not be as strong and effective unless the person consciously makes his own effort to believe. The ability for the magistrate to impose its power on its people is something Hobbes believes is a requirement and duty of a civil government. Men have an inclination towards peace, which is why men build commonwealths. Men want to get out of this state of war in favor of peace. Therefore, men come together in a commonwealth to make a covenant with every other man to establish peace and order. This sovereign now has the authority to enforce civil laws. This is a necessity because men by themselves cannot externally judge conflicts and will be naturally inclined to certain biases. By agreeing to this covenant, the people bestow upon a man or group of men power over sovereign. This covenant also holds responsibility for the people because they are the ones who gave power to the magistrate. To actually ensure peace, Hobbes says that a sovereign of this power is necessary. The question of the individual’s coercive power is another argument in favor of religious toleration. â€Å"No private Person has any Right, in any manner, to prejudice another Person in his Civil Enjoyments, because he is of another Church or Religion† (Letter p. 31). Tolerance brings about respect for the autonomy of the other. Since religious beliefs are freely chosen, there is no room for coercion to be a useful end because coercion and freedom cannot coexist in religious matters. Skepticism is another way religious believers can tolerate others holding different religions. Every religious person must tolerate one another because it would be foolish to believe that one person can have all the truths to the world. Similarly, Hobbes supports this argument through the state of nature. Having the freedom to choose ones religion is from the fact that individually, we are all equal. Hobbes believes that people are equal in strength of body and manifest of mind. There are differences, obviously, but Hobbes argues that these differences do not amount to much. We are fundamentally equal because we all have the ability to kill one another, whether it is through force or deceit. This constant threat of war between man and man is an important reason why men try to constantly seek peace. This state of nature provides us the liberty to our own self-governing because in the state of nature, there is no authority over man. Since man has no authority over him in the state of nature, naturally it would mean that man has no authority over another man. However, Hobbes continues that this natural condition of mankind is decidedly undesirable and should be avoided. From the natural state of man the desire for a stable government arises. Men are naturally equal but Hobbes believes self-preservation can only be had by constantly trying to acquire new property, or power. Power is the man’s means to some future good and the acquisition of more power is a constant cycle. Concerning the question of religious power, religious authorities also do not have the power for any coercive actions. Since religious authorities do not have the power to change someone who is not willing, they must respect and tolerate other religious churches or societies, even if there is disagreement with certain doctrines. Locke’s reasoning for the toleration of other churches stems from the belief of orthodoxy of the church. Every church believes that it is the Orthodox Church but Locke argues that people can never know which is the true Orthodox Church. However, he goes on to say that the true Church is the one that practices the idea of toleration. Despite Locke’s adamant stance on toleration, Locke does discuss certain beliefs that should not be tolerated. Locke specifically targets atheism because he believes that men should enter into some religious society because God should be publically worshipped. To Locke, atheists are the weak bones to a society because covenants and promises have no power over atheists. This causes problems within society because covenants and promises are the bonds of human society. Similarly, Locke also considers Catholics intolerable because of the political threat they represent. Catholic’s pledge allegiance to a foreign king. Locke views this as a problem because it brings into question who the Catholic pledges his loyalty to, the foreign king or his homeland king. Locke says that a person should be under the rightful king and not a foreign king. This means that any foreign jurisdiction in one’s country and any influence from the Vatican State is not acceptable. Locke also mentions odd religious practices, such as human sacrifice, as intolerable. The magistrate should make a conscious effort to not tolerate such practices because it could hurt society as a whole. Just because something is a religious matter should not dictate the legality of the practice. Hobbes would probably agree that atheists would not be tolerable under the condition that covenants and promises are not kept because they hold no power over atheists. Hobbes First Law of Nature is that human beings always seek a state of peace because it is the most advantageous to their survival. The Second Law of Nature is the creation of covenants. In Hobbes’s mind, the ideal covenant would be a leviathan government that would make and regulate laws very effectively. The Third Law of Nature is derived from the second, which states that it is necessary for men to perform their covenants. From these three laws, as stated earlier, men create a commonwealth to ensure peace. If covenants hold no power over atheists, the commonwealth and essentially peace is destroyed. Hobbes is adamant that to fortify this social contract, the members of the contract need steps to prevent others from breaching it. The Third Law of Nature creates a society where peace is established, but if a citizen is not held under contract, the political disruptions are more likely to occur. Locke’s primary rationale for toleration in the individual is the self-governing of the other. In Christina writing, loving ones neighbors is a key element in a Christian’s salvation. Locke emphasizes that one should only care for one’s own salvation rather than worrying about his neighbors or others religious teachings. By practicing toleration, one must ignore the content and be satisfied with the fact that the other has reached his conclusion autonomously. Before worrying about someone else, Locke urges that one must focus on ones own salvation because there are many instances where hypocrisy can rise by imposing ones beliefs. However, there are instances where non-intervention can be unjust because some matters are so offensive, it would be unjust to let it slide. Matters where injury or death can occur are justifiable for others to intervene. Even though this Lockean autonomy works most of the time, there are times where it would not. Locke’s reasoning for writing this letter, on the surface, seems to be from a religious perspective. However, a careful reading of the letter suggests that Locke is not interested in religious doctrines or practices. Locke finds that the religious differences are too insignificant for discussion. Although it is a letter concerning toleration of religion, this toleration is meant to benefit from a political standpoint. Reading the document with this point of view shows that Locke was writing it exclusively political in nature. Even though there was widespread religious violence and opposing opinions during the time Locke wrote the letter, it was a way for Locke to talk about the politics of society. This document was on religious toleration only because Locke viewed religion as having potential for civil disruption. This letter is a way for Locke to say what he believed was the means for maintaining peace and stability. To maintain peace and stability in a society requires sovereignty. The sovereign has the power and authority to govern its principality. Because it has the power to govern, it also gives the sovereign the right to use coercion. This does not give the right to religious institutions to use coercion because it has historically not worked in favor of the religion. The separation of church and state is therefore a way that Locke foresees peace in sovereign. Peace in sovereign is an important aspect to Hobbes’s Leviathan perspective because he views peace as the main reason we create societies. Religious toleration is therefore a tool that both Locke and Hobbes would advocate because it creates peace and unity in a sovereign.

Como Agua Para Chocolate

Verbal and Visual Representation of Women: Como agua para chocolate / Like Water for Chocolate By MARIA ELENA DE VALDES Como agua para chocolate is the first novel by Laura Esquivel (b. 1950 ). Published in Spanish in 1989 and in English translation in 1992, followed by the release of the feature film that same year, the novel has thrust this Mexican woman writer into the world of international critical acclaim as well as best-seller popularity.Since Esquivel also wrote the screenplay for director Alfonso Arau, the novel and the film together offer us an excellent opportunity to examine the interplay between the verbal and visual representation of women. Esquivel's previous work had all been as a screenwriter. Her script for Chido Guan, el Tacos de Oro ( 1985 ) was nominated for the Ariel in Mexico, an award she won eight years later for Como agua para chocolate. The study of verbal and visual imagery must begin with the understanding that both the novel and, to a lesser extent, the film work as a parody of a genre.The genre in question is the Mexican version of women's fiction published in monthly installments together with recipes, home remedies, dressmaking patterns, short poems, moral exhortations, ideas on home decoration, and the calendar of church observances. In brief, this genre is the nineteenth-century forerunner of what is known throughout Europe and America as a woman's magazine. 1 Around 1850 these publications in Mexico were called â€Å"calendars for young ladies. Since home and church were the private and public sites of all educated young ladies, these publications represented the written counterpart to women's socialization, and as such, they are documents that conserve and transmit a Mexican female culture in which the social context and cultural space are particularly for women by women. It was in the 1850s that fiction began to take a prominent role. At first the writings were descriptions of places for family excursions, moralizing tales , or detailed narratives on cooking. By 1860 the installment novel grew out of the monthly recipe or recommended excursion.More elaborate love stories by women began to appear regularly by the 1880s. The genre was never considered literature by the literary establishment because of its episodic plots, overt sentimentality, and highly stylized characterization. Nevertheless, by the turn of the century every literate woman in Mexico was or had been an avid reader of the genre. But what has been completely overlooked by the male-dominated literary culture of Mexico is that these novels were highly coded in an authentic women's language of inference and reference to the commonplaces of the kitchen and the home which were completely unknown by any man. Behind the purportedly simple episodic plots there was an infrahistory of life as it was lived, with all its multiple restrictions for women of this social class. The characterization followed the forms of life of these women rather than t heir unique individuality; thus the heroines were the survivors, those who were able to live out a full life in spite of the institution of marriage, which in theory, if not in practice, was a form of indentured slavery for life in which a woman served father and brothers then moved on to serve husband and sons together with her daughters and, of course, the women from the servant class.The women's fiction of this woman's world concentrated on one overwhelming fact of life: how to transcend the conditions of existence and express oneself in love and in creativity. 3 Cooking, sewing, embroidery, and decoration were the usual creative outlets for these women, and of course conversation, storytelling, gossip, and advice, which engulfed every waking day of the Mexican lady of the home. 4 Writing for other women was quite naturally an extension of this infrahistorical conversation and gossip.Therefore, if one has the social codes of these women, one can read these novels as a way of life in nineteenth-century Mexico. Laura Esquivel's recognition of this world and its language comes from her Mexican heritage of fiercely independent women, who created a woman's culture within the social prison of marriage. 5 Como agua para chocolate is a parody of nineteenth-century women's periodical fiction in the same way that Don Quijote is a parody of the novel of chivalry. Both genres were expressions of popular culture that created a unique space for a segment of the population.I am using the term parody in the strict sense in which Ziva Ben-Porat has defined it: â€Å"[Parody is] a representation of a modeled reality, which is itself already a particular representation of an original reality. The parodic representations expose the model's conventions and lay bare its devices through the coexistence of the two codes in the same message† (247). Obviously, for the parody to work at its highest level of dual representation, both the parody and the parodic model must be pre sent in the reading experience.Esquivel creates the duality in several ways. First, she begins with the title of the novel, Like Water for Chocolate, a locution which translates as â€Å"water at the boiling point† and is used as a simile in Mexico to describe any event or relationship that is so tense, hot, and extraordinary that it can only be compared to scalding water on the verge of boiling, as called for in the preparation of that most Mexican of all beverages, dating from at least the thirteenth century: hot chocolate (Soustelle, 153-61).Second, the subtitle is taken directly from the model: â€Å"A Novel in Monthly Installments, with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies. † Together the title and subtitle therefore cover both the parody and the model. Third, the reader finds upon opening the book, in place of an epigraph, a traditional Mexican proverb: â€Å"A la mesa y a la cama / Una sola vez se llama† (To the table or to bed / You must come when you ar e bid). â€Å"The woodcut that decorates the page is the typical nineteenth-century cooking stove. The fourth and most explicit dualistic technique is Esquivel's reproduction of the format of her model.Each chapter is prefaced by the title, the subtitle, the month, and the recipe for that month. The narration that follows is a combination of direct address on how to prepare the recipe of the month and interspersed stories about the loves and times of the narrator's great-aunt Tita. The narration moves effortlessly from the first person to the third-person omniscient narrative voice of all storytellers. Each chapter ends with the information that the story will be continued and an announcement of what the next month's–that is, the next chapter's–recipe will be.These elements, taken from the model, are never mere embellishments. The recipes and their preparation, as well as the home remedies and their application, are an intrinsic part of the story. There is therefore a n intricate symbiotic relationship between the novel and its model in the reading experience. Each is feeding on the other. In this study I am concerned with the model of the human subject, specifically the female subject, as it is developed in and through language and visual signification in a situated context of time and place.The verbal imaging of the novel makes use of the elaborate signifying system of language as a dwelling place. The visual imagery that at first expands the narrative in the film soon exacts its own place as a nonlinguistic signifying system drawing upon its own repertoire of referentiality and establishing a different model of the human subject than that elucidated by the verbal imagery alone. I intend to examine the novelistic signifying system and the model thus established and then follow with the cinematic signifying system and its model.The speaking subject or narrative voice in the novel is characterized, as Emile Benveniste has shown, as a living prese nce by speaking. That voice begins in the first person, speaking the conversational Mexican Spanish of a woman from Mexico's north, near the U. S. border. Like all Mexican speech, it is clearly marked with register and sociocultural indicators, in this case of the land-owning middle class, mixing colloquial local usage with standard Spanish. The entry point is always the same: the direct address of one woman telling another how to prepare the recipe she is recommending.As one does the cooking, it is quite natural for the cook to liven the session with some storytelling, prompted by the previous preparation of' the food. As she effortlessly moves from first-person culinary instructor to storyteller, she shifts to the third person and gradually appropriates a time and place and refigures a social world. A verbal image emerges of the model Mexican rural, middle-class woman. She must be strong and far more clever than the men who supposedly protect her. She must be pious, observing all the religious requirements of a virtuous daughter, wife, and mother.She must exercise great care to keep her sentimental relations as private as possible, and, most important of all, she must be in control of life in her house, which means essentially the kitchen and bedroom or food and sex. In Esquivel's novel there are four women who must respond to the model: the mother Elena and the three daughters Rosaura, Gertrudis, and Josefita, known as Tita. The ways of living within the limits of the model are demonstrated first by the mother, who thinks of herself as its very incarnation.She interprets the model in terms of control and domination of her entire household. She is represented through a filter of awe and fear, for the ostensible source is Tita's diary-cookbook, written beginning in 1910, when she was fifteen years old, and now transmitted by her grandniece. Therefore the verbal images that characterize Mama Elena must be understood as those of her youngest daughter, who has b een made into a personal servant from the time the little girl was able to work.Mama Elena is depicted as strong, self-reliant, absolutely tyrannical with her daughters and servants, but especially so with Tita, who from birth has been designated as the one who will not marry because she must care for her mother until she dies. Mama Elena believes in order, her order. Although she observes the strictures of church and society, she has secretly had an adulterous love affair with an African American, and her second daughter, Gertrudis, is the offspring of that relationship.This transgression of the norms of proper behavior remains hidden from public view, although there is gossip, but only after her mother's death does Tita discover that Gertrudis is her half-sister. The tyranny imposed on the three sisters is therefore the rigid, self-designed model of a woman's life pitilessly enforced by Mama Elena, and each of the three responds in her own way to the model. Rosaura never questions her mother's authority and follows her dictates submissively; after she is married she becomes an insignificant imitation of her mother.She lacks the strength, skill, and determination of Mama Elena and tries to compensate by appealing to the mother's model as absolute. She therefore tries to live the model, invoking her mother's authority because she has none of her own. Gertrudis does not challenge her mother but instead responds to her emotions and passions in a direct manner unbecoming a lady. This physical directness leads her to adopt an androgynous life-style: she leaves home and her mother's authority, escapes from the brothel where she subsequently landed, and becomes a general of the revolutionary army, taking a subordinate as her lover and, later, husband.When she returns to the family hacienda, she dresses like a man, gives orders like a man, and is the dominant sexual partner. Tita, the youngest of the three daughters, speaks out against her mother's arbitrary rule but cannot escape until she temporarily loses her mind. She is able to survive her mother's harsh rule by transferring her love, joy, sadness, and anger into her cooking. Tita's emotions and passions are the impetus for expression and action, not through the normal means of communication but through the food she prepares. She is therefore able to consummate her love with Pedro through the food she serves.Tal parecia que en un extranio fenomeno de alquimia su ser se habia disuelto en la salsa de rosas, en el cuerpo de las codornices, en el vino y en cada uno de los olores de la comida. De esta manera penetraba en el cuerpo de Pedro, voluptuosa, aromatica, calurosa, completamente sensual. (57) It was as if a strange alchemical process had dissolved her entire being in the rose petal sauce, in the tender flesh of the quails, in the wine, in every one of the meal's aromas. That was the way she entered Pedro's body, hot, voluptuous, perfumed, totally sensuous. 52) This clearly is much more than communication through food or a mere aphrodisiac; this is a form of sexual transubstantiation whereby the rose petal sauce and the quail have been turned into the body of Tita. Thus it is that the reader gets to know these women as persons but, above all, becomes involved with the embodied speaking subject from the past, Tita, represented by her grand-niece (who transmits her story) and her cooking. The reader receives verbal food for the imaginative refiguration of one woman's response to the model that was imposed on her by accident of birth. The body of these women is the place of living.It is the dwelling place of the human subject. The essential questions of health, illness, pregnancy, childbirth, and sexuality are tied very directly in this novel to the physical and emotional needs of the body. The preparation and eating of food is thus a symbolic representation of living, and Tita's cookbook bequeaths to Esperanza and to Esperanza's daughter, her grandniece, a woman's cr eation of space that is hers in a hostile world. Not only was the film adaptation of Como agua para chocolate written by the novelist herself, but in this case the screenplay represents a return to her original discipline.There are many cinematographic elements in the novel, primarily the numerous cuts and fade-outs of the story in order to feature the cooking. The camera is intrusive and can engulf its subject in a visual language that is unique to the voyeur or can replace verbal referentiality by overwhelming the viewer. For example, the opening shot of the film, filling the entire screen with an onion that is being sliced, plunges the viewer into food preparation in a way that no spoken word could parallel for its immediate effect.Similarly, the numerous close-ups of food being prepared, served, and eaten heighten the dominance of the performance of cooking and eating as both sustenance and social ritual. Contrast these images and this emphasis on the joy, sensuality, and even l ust of eating the Mexican cuisine of Tita's kitchen with the scenes of the monks eating in Jean-Jacques Annaud screen version of The Name of the Rose or the raw meat displayed in the monastery's refractory, where the emphasis is on the denial of the flesh through mortification. Gabriel Axel film Babette's Feast, on the other hand, contains both poles of this opposition between gratification and mortification of the body. The minister's two daughters, who substitute religious practice for living and who eat as punishment for having a body, are suddenly exposed to the refinement of food as art, pleasure, and gratification. ) In the film Como agua para chocolate the preparation of food is expressed visually, and the consummation of eating is seen in the faces of the diners; but it must be also emphasized that there is a full spectrum of effects here, ranging from ecstasy to nausea.Perhaps the major difference between Esquivel's novel and the film version is that there is a visual inter text in the latter that evokes the Cinderella fairy tale by using the ghostly appearance of the mother and making her death the result of an attack on the hacienda by outlaws. In the novel Mama Elena does not die until long after the attack and lingers on in partial madness, convinced that Tita is trying to poison her. By cutting short her death to one sudden violent episode and having her visage return to taunt Tita until the latter is able to renounce her heritage, the film makes Tita the Cinderella-like victim of personal abuse.In the novel the rigidity and harshness of Mama Elena is overwhelmingly sociocultural and not peculiar to Tita as victim. The visual intertext of fairy-tale language creates an effective subtext in the film, bringing out the oppression of the protagonist and her magical transcendence. Instead of a fairy godmother, Tita has the voice of her Nacha, the family cook who raised her from infancy amid the smells and sounds of the kitchen. Instead of a magical tra nsformation of dress and carriage to go to the prince's ball, Tita is able to make love through the food she prepares; she is also able to induce sadness and acute physical discomfort.She is therefore able to keep Pedro from having sexual relations with Rosaura by making certain that Rosaura is fat, foul of breath, and given to breaking wind in the most nauseating manner. Mama Elena's ghost first appears one hour into the film and quietly gains the upper hand, since she threatens to curse the child Tita is presumably carrying. The final confrontation between Tita and the ghost comes ten minutes later: Tita defeats the ghost by revealing that she knows Gertrudis is illegitimate and that she hates Elena for everything she has never been to her.The film's visual language is able to evoke images of provocation, contempt, and abuse that are not in the novel. From the fortieth to the forty-fifth minute of the film, part of Tita's immensurably Cinderellalike duties are enacted. Tita is the only one permitted to assist Mama Elena in her bath and with her dressing. The despotic abuse of Tita by Mama Elena clearly borrows the visual images of the cruel stepmother. The magical intermediary is not a beautiful woman in a ball dress, but rather a wrinkled old woman, the cook Nacha, who had given Tita the love Mama Elena denied her.Nacha's voice and face guide Tita. It is Nacha who tells her to use the roses Pedro gave her for the preparation of quail in rose petal sauce, and it is Nacha who prepares the bedroom for the final consummation of love between Tita and Pedro at the end of the film. Tita's magical powers are all related to food, with the exception of the kilometer-long bedspread she knits during her lengthy nights of insomnia. Tita's cooking controls the pattern of living of those in her household because the food she prepares becomes an extension of herself.The culmination of this process of food as art and communication is food as communion. The transubstantiatio n of Tita's quail in rose petal sauce into Tita's body recalls the Roman Catholic doctrine of the communion wafer's becoming the body and blood of Christ, but on a deeper level it is the psychological reality of all women who have nursed an infant. When the baby Roberto loses his wet nurse, Tita is able to take the infant and nurse him in spite of the fact that she has not given birth.Her breasts are filled with milk not because she wishes she were the mother of the child, but because the child needs to eat and she is the provider of food. The viewer of the film Como agua para chocolate must develop her expressive capacity as she broadens her affective experience. Mexican women–and to some extent Latin American women–seeing the film relive their family history, and this is so not only because of the strong and open cultural links between Latin American women in this century, on which both the novel and film draw, but also and perhaps primarily because of the skillful u se of the parodic model.The intertext of women's magazines and the loves, trials, and tribulations featured in the stories they published is used by Esquivel as a discursive code that transcends whatever regional differences may exist. The social registers, the forms of address, the language of the female domain are somewhat lost in translation, because as in cooking, the substitution of ingredients changes the taste.The representation of women in Esquivel's novel and in the film touches on that deepest reservoir of meaning which is the human body as described, seen, and, on the deeper level, understood as the origin of identity. Women from other cultures and other languages can develop an empathetic relationship with Tita, her cooking, her love, and her life. Men of any culture, but especially Mexican men and Latin American men, have the greatest deficiency in experiencing this film and therefore have the most to learn.They must gain access to some fragment of the expressive code o f visual and verbal images that are the infrahistoric codes of their mothers, wives, and daughters. If they cannot gain access to the expressive system, they will not have access to the affective experience of these lives. The imagery of nourishing the body in both the novel and the film provides us with the means for articulating the experiences of cooking, eating, making love, and giving birth in previously unsuspected ways, and thus allows the male intruder a peek into reality.Women's recuperation of artistic creativity within the confinement of the house, and especially the kitchen and the bedroom, is presented by Esquivel not in an ideological argument but rather by means of an intertextual palimpsest which is the hallmark of postmodern art. 6 I want to conclude with three observations on feminist art in this context. 1) This is not a protest movement; it is a celebration of the space of one's own which may have been hidden from view in the past but is now open to all. ) At the center of postmodernism there is the vesting of creative weight on the reader, and this makes intertextuality a means of providing an interpretive context; in the case of Esquivel that context is our grandmother's kitchen and bedroom. 3) The maturity of feminist criticism has moved beyond the need to go headhunting among the misogynist hordes of patriarchy; the challenge today is to celebrate women's creativity in the full domain of the human adventure, from the so-called decorative arts to the fine arts and science.

Free Essays on Megans Law

Megans Law By: Jim E-mail: Jim_bean79@yahoo.com Megan's Law has had a profound effect on not only convicted sex offenders and prosecutors, but also on the community including real estate brokers and apartment owners. Megan's Law is a collection of statutes that were passed in 1994 in response to the death of Megan Kanka, who was killed by a convicted sex offender who lived across the street from her home. Two of the laws are collectively known as the Registration and Community Notification Law (RCNL) and are composed of the: 1.Registration Law that requires certain sex offenders to register with law enforcement officials, and 2.Community Notification Law, which requires notification of the registrant's presence in the community by the County Prosecutor. The purpose of the RCNL is to assist law enforcement officials in apprehending sex offenders and enable communities to protect themselves from such offenders. What you should do: The law specifically directs licensees to refrain from making any inquiry as to whether registrants live on or near the premises, and not to provide information on notifications from county prosecutors. The law also provides that licensees shall inform the person making the inquiry that information about sex offenders is maintained by the county prosecutor. The insert the following in the predominant size print in the document in all contracts and leases, prepared by licensees: Lease Provision: Megan's Law Statement: Under New Jersey law, the county prosecutor determines whether and how to provide notice of the presence of convicted sex offenders in an area. In their professional capacity, real estate licensees are not entitled to notification by the county prosecutor under Megan's Law and are unable to obtain such information for you. Upon closing, the county prosecutor may be contacted for such further information as may be disclosable to you. Consequently, the Megan's Law Statement must be included in leases ... Free Essays on Megans Law Free Essays on Megans Law Megans Law By: Jim E-mail: Jim_bean79@yahoo.com Megan's Law has had a profound effect on not only convicted sex offenders and prosecutors, but also on the community including real estate brokers and apartment owners. Megan's Law is a collection of statutes that were passed in 1994 in response to the death of Megan Kanka, who was killed by a convicted sex offender who lived across the street from her home. Two of the laws are collectively known as the Registration and Community Notification Law (RCNL) and are composed of the: 1.Registration Law that requires certain sex offenders to register with law enforcement officials, and 2.Community Notification Law, which requires notification of the registrant's presence in the community by the County Prosecutor. The purpose of the RCNL is to assist law enforcement officials in apprehending sex offenders and enable communities to protect themselves from such offenders. What you should do: The law specifically directs licensees to refrain from making any inquiry as to whether registrants live on or near the premises, and not to provide information on notifications from county prosecutors. The law also provides that licensees shall inform the person making the inquiry that information about sex offenders is maintained by the county prosecutor. The insert the following in the predominant size print in the document in all contracts and leases, prepared by licensees: Lease Provision: Megan's Law Statement: Under New Jersey law, the county prosecutor determines whether and how to provide notice of the presence of convicted sex offenders in an area. In their professional capacity, real estate licensees are not entitled to notification by the county prosecutor under Megan's Law and are unable to obtain such information for you. Upon closing, the county prosecutor may be contacted for such further information as may be disclosable to you. Consequently, the Megan's Law Statement must be included in leases ...

Fresias Deconstruction of American History Essay

Fresias Deconstruction of American History - Essay Example Fresia's thesis examines the criterion of democracy through the nodes of different 'centres', in his case historical personalities, who produce an ideological discourse. He discovers the manner in which it affects the society and how its "spontaneous" thought processes are absorbed in the cultural set-up of a nation. What is most important to notice in his assumptions is the manner in which he cites historical back-ups to his arguments. He starts off by claiming that the Framers of the American constitution were a conglomeration of people who wanted to create a situation of power for themselves. By citing various quotes, such as Benjamin Rush, who considered the plebs as "scums", Fresia makes it clear that the original motif of these people were to create a situation where by they could carry on the legacy of dominance and pass it off by qualifying it as democracy. In doing so, he points the bloody manner in which the so-called 'sacred' American constitution came to be chartered: "Perhaps even more shocking than the personal opinions of the Framers, is the process by which the Constitution was ratified secrecy, deceit and even violence played key roles in the Constitution's passage. These unsavoury tactics were used by the Framers and their allies because the majority of the people were against the ratification of the Constitution." Fresia connects the historical facts with the contemporary American policy of elite decision-making. He points out that whenever, the interests of elites and the public interest coincide, and even if it does not, the elites tend to call the rosters. Fresia blames the policy of "unchecked corporate power" for this and goes on to elucidate the hypocrisy of these corporate-government elites, who in the name of national interest, formulates laws violating accepted standards of decency. He also explains that these covert and anti-democratic measures are not new developments but have been the method of guaranteeing class rule "ever since the Framers decided that they needed the present political system to protect their power and privilege". Fresia's deconstruction of American history follows Bordieu's pattern of the 'habitus' and describes how the discourse of Americanisation has been aided by the structuring of thought-processes, social engineering and archetypal pattern of understanding in a particular way (like the Christian concept of good and evil). The Descartian sense of logic which are propagated by these power mongers make them institutionalised instruments of Repressive State Apparatus: agents of repression, like the Police, that teach by force and violence, in order to maintain the necessary consensus. Fresia says: "As citizens we are supposed to be like the nation's school children who are given no choice but to stand by their desks and mindlessly recite a pledge of allegiance to a flag, a pledge that was introduced into schools at the turn of the century to counter the influence of ideas that immigrant school children had received from their parents and from distant lands." He goes on to quote Benjamin Rush's famous lines: "I consider it possible to convert men into republican machines. This must be done, if we expect them to perform their parts properly, in the great machine of the government of the state.": and deduce that the motif of

The Ultimate Reality of the Good God Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Ultimate Reality of the Good God - Essay Example The Ultimate Reality of Good and Bad Taoism proposes that Yin Yang is the cosmic symbol of primordial unity and harmony and manifest phenomenal quality; the two great regulating forces of cosmic order in the unparalleled world. If Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, is correct in his notion as regards the coexistence of good and bad in one body to attain balance, God then is not wholly good, or rather God does not manifest balance. God is good can be understood as a twofold claim: â€Å"God is wholly good—there is no defect or blemish in God or in his actions for He never does anything which is ultimately wrong or evil, and God is necessarily good because He is utterly invulnerable to evil† (Morris 48). As each of us perceives good and evil differently, there can be no definite meaning to both. What one sees as good can be evil in the eyes of another, or what appears to be a bad inception can yield a good result. Nonetheless, man has the tendency to accept a thing as good only if it satisfies his desires. God at times relates to man in ways that cannot be deduced by an ordinary mind, yet His purpose is incontestably good however it affects man. God gives us opportunities to rejoice and grieve, to triumph and suffer defeat, to love and hate for reasons that do not often come out on the surface. As in the story of Job when he was sardonically urged by his wife to curse God for all the mishaps that b efell him, he retorted â€Å"Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?† (Job 2:10 NIV). ... As in the story of Job when he was sardonically urged by his wife to curse God for all the mishaps that befell him, he retorted â€Å"Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?† (Job 2:10 NIV). Good and bad are â€Å"at one and the same time a division and reunion, and if they are spoken of as contending forces, they are also co-operating powers and the tension in which they are held is that of harmony, of the mutual play of creation, not of conflict† (Cooper, Fitzgerald and Stoddart 20). Apart from the nature of God, this is also evident in the way children are reared. The intention of a mother is constantly disposed at what begets good for her offspring, thus will put into practice again the approaches that proved favourable on her first. Despite growing up under the same roof and direction though, children do not grow to be identical in character, nor in fate. Good and bad demonstrates balance in the art of healing. Patients suffering from the same illness may be prescribed different doses of medicine, or different types of medication, for that matter. While a certain remedy benefits one, does not create a firm basis that it will not harm the other. It is true that good and bad are in two distant poles; yet the poles are not separate but bent towards each other to form a connection; that without the combined perception of good and bad, there lies no success in an endeavour. Balancing Reality in Pursuit of Holism Author Brian Luke Seaward (146) states that balance does not necessarily mean a 50/50 ration with whatever sits on either side of the scale. Rather, it might be proportional to a 60/40, 30/70 split, or any combination that equals to a whole (146). The opposites which Taoists suppose as contents of a whole are but merely stages in