Equality and Socialist Ideology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Equality and Socialist Ideology - Essay Example Further, a great deal of historical context also needs to be considered with regards to determining how ideological and egalitarian concepts are born, gain notoriety, and work to incorporate themselves into a type of collectivized worldview that is ultimately translated back into the culture via the form of representative government. Although analyzing all of this necessarily lends itself to seeking to answer the age old riddle of what came first the chicken or the egg, the analysis itself will show that the process is symbiotic rather than mutually exclusive. Furthermore, by seeking to know and understand the levels to which these factors interlace and help to define the context of the culture and form of governance that pervades the current system, the reader can hope to gain valuable insights and key understandings with reference to seeking to better understand the world in which we live. As the two are so interlinked and bear such a high level of relation to one another, the firs t which will be discussed is equality with the second being ideology. Next a discussion of how these two forces interact and have an impact on culture and vice versa will be discussed followed by a final section on the impacts that both have on governance, self identity, and culture. The first determinant which will be discussed is that of ideology. As was noted in the introduction, the two terms which will be analyzed within the course of this essay are somewhat nebulous and do tend to feed back into one another at various junctures; however, for purposes of clarity, ideology should be tackled first. The reason for tackling the definition and means by which ideology influences upon equality first is due to the fact that in nearly every emergent movement, ideology or culture is the level of equality that the components seem to have concerning their members. This can be understood as a type of baseline for without it the level to which identity formation can begin to congeal is minim al (Angeloff et al 2012, p. 21). This has of course been noted time and time again throughout history as groups self actualize, form an identity, gain an ideology and only then consider the level to which the component parts will share in equality among the rest (McConnell 2010, p. 140). The ideological formation is extraordinarily important due to the fact that the components that are built within this phase directly impact upon the level of equality which is possible once the ideology itself has been formulated. Although the process that has herein been described appears to be something of rigid concept, the fact of the matter is that it is most fluid and open to the interpretation of the individuals that seek to form the ideology in the first place. This level of fluid change allows for the process to evolve in any number of ways; thereby making a firm and solid definition of the term even more difficult for the researcher. While on the topic of ideology, it is important to note that the process that has herein been described does not of course have to come as a function of forming a new system entirely; rather, it can come from redefining necessary components of a working system, worldview, or personal take on a given issue. As a function of this, the level to which these terms interrelate and coalesce becomes even more complex when one takes the issue outside of the bounds of systemic change and incorporates them into the realm of individual and worldview modulations (Whitely 1978, p. 211). This complicates the definition somewhat due to the fact that this level of incorporation necessarily bends and redirects the original ideology and identity that helped to form the

Design for change in practice Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Design for change in practice - Research Paper Example Design for change in practice is largely based on the framework proposed by Rossuwurm and Larrabee (1999). According to Rossuwurm and Larrabee (1999), design for change in practice is manifested through protocols, procedures, or standards. In the case with communicating terminal diagnosis to patients in order to improve their quality of life design relies on the mechanism of protocols distributed to medical personnel. Since the overall complexity of design determines the likelihood of change acceptance (Rossuwurm and Larrabee, 1999, p.320), protocols contain only well-structured and detailed information regarding terminal diagnosis disclosure practice and follow up procedures aimed to improve patients' quality of life. Because feedback from patients (stakeholders) is essential when designing a change in practice (Rossuwurm and Larrabee, 1999), design also includes a questionnaire produced to measure changes in patients' quality of life. (1) Practice of terminal diagnosis full disclosure. ... As explained by Fitch (1994) once a word like "cancer" or "terminal" is heard, a mental retreat is often enacted and thus true communication may not take place until the stark essence of the initial message has been absorbed. Similarly, when news of terminality are communicated rapidly, the patient may remember very little of what has been said. Therefore, in order to implement this change in practice some patients should have information about their terminal diagnosis divided into manageable stages so that self-perceptions gradually shift from well, to ill, to dying over a period of days or weeks. The fundamental premise of this change in practice is that physicians should exclusively opt the strategy of full disclosure of terminal diagnosis for their patients. (2) Eliminating avoidance practices. The issue of death and dying like any topic or situation that creates anxiety tends to trigger avoidance responses. In medical practice, two types of avoidance may be seen: physical avoidance, in which an individual makes an effort to avoid being in the presence of persons, places or objects that cause anxiety; and topical avoidance, in which a clinician avoids thinking or talking about an anxiety-producing issue. Physicians and nurses tend to avoid patient feelings (i.e., depression, anger, or anxiety) by focusing on the explicit content of the patients' message (Dilbeck, 1996). Related to this response in medical personnel is the finding that patients report that technological interventions and procedures cause them to feel that their need for support through compassion and caring is being denied (Super & Plutko, 1996). Patients cannot

Chateau Lafite Rothschild (China) Essay Example for Free

Chateau Lafite Rothschild (China) Essay Situation in China: China is one of the most important markets in the world, and with a growth of the Chinese economy in the past decades; it has encouraged international suppliercompaniess to enter the Chinese market. Living standards as well as purchasing power parity have improved since the countries openness to a market-oriented economy. Due to this openness foreign companies have attracted the consumption of wine from the middle-class, generating an increase in the last years of wine sales. Wine consumption continues to grow at a rapid rate in the country. The Chinese wine market is a complicated due to its numerous wine producers (local producers) and wine companies entering china to exploit the wine market. China as the most populated country in the world is a commercial paradise for all the enterprises wanting to expand to new markets. By the gain in market share by the introduction of new products to the Chinese market, foreign companies take advantage of a growing market. In the last years the French wine companies have been exporting to china expecting to gain market share in the wine sector taking advantage of one of the world’s fastest growing economy. For French wine export companies, it is important to understand the market, due to the Chinese wine companies and local wine production and how they have been gaining ground in the wine market. Due to the countries emerging economy and the growth in economical aspects the population in china have been entering a new era of consumption of foreign products, and due to this reasons most foreign companies have set up subsidiaries or the most common joint ventures with other Chinese companies to enter the country’s market and gain some ground on the major cities. One of the most important and emerging sectors in the Chinese society are the luxurious products. After the purchasing power of the individuals, luxurious products have acquired more interest and represent an improvement in status of the Chinese population either local or international status. The wine sector represents an important sector for upcoming expenditures for the Chinese population, although the purchase of wine is more business oriented than for personal consumption. The preferred wines for this type of consumption are the high-end French wines (Bordeaux and Burgundy). The market situation is very open nowadays due to the facility of the Chinese consumers o access wines imported from major foreign producing countries as well as local produced wines (France, Italy, USA, Chile and Australia). To have great success in the Chinese wine market the companies have to apply a strong marketing promotion compared to the local mass promotions by Chinese producers. The foreign brands have to apply a strong marketing promotion, but due to lack of resources the advertisements from foreign companies has a limited reach. To improve the image of foreign wine brands, foreign companies must intensify their promotions and advertisements, generate a consumer education by creating events, wine demonstrations and wine-food events, as well as lowering the prices to accommodate them to the population’s purchasing power (different levels of purchasing power). STRENGHTS: †¢ Luxurious and high-end wine. †¢ Renown wine company over the world. †¢ French presence and popularity in the wine market. Bordeaux and Burgundy wines considered one of the best wines in the world. WEAKNESES: †¢ Weak marketing. †¢ High product prices. OPORTUNITIES: †¢ Fastest growing market in the world. 20% growth from 2006-2011 and with a forecasted growth of 54% for 2015. †¢ Most populated country in the world. †¢ Economy has been growing at over twice the world’s average, generating future markets for imported products. †¢ Wine market in china is expected to continue its growth, placing itself in 4th place in the world’s markets. †¢ Elevated purchasing power from the Chinese consumers. Accelerated increase in consumption. THREATS: †¢ Corruption and smuggling from the neighboring countries. †¢ Chinese wine producers awakening. Chinese wine companies have gained the majority of market share in the country. †¢ Growth of china’s vineyards has surpassed the production from three countries combined (Australia, Chile and South Africa).

STA Travel Business Strategy

STA Travel Business Strategy STA travels primary aim is attract young and active as well as adventurous consumers anywhere around the world. A sensible business strategy might be to offer what the customer want when they need it, By operating more than 400 retail agencies around the world STA continues to take more risky environment and would planning to expand into new markets to further its reach in to the student travel world. As many of organizations, STA travel managers give the impression that upgrading or changing components of information system will positively impact a business strategy. Therefore it takes advantage to expand it market by developing staff training mechanisms on networking system and modernizing its electronic communication with their customers. STA provided BLUEe which is a single booking system pointed to every purchase in STA travel by offering features on network, infrastructure, finance and operating system. Furthermore STA make available to their customers a highly interactive webs ite which attributing video reports STA customers about their travel destinations and freely downloading facilities the second life client or mainland as an advantage to becoming a playing member. It is important to balance the strategy triangle. By making any changes in the information strategy or organization strategy in first then the triangle getting out of balance and will be have an effect on other involving areas too. By considering on that view point when STA building their virtual world they do changes in business strategy like making staff are more productive and making widest possible work place opportunities. As well as STA travel is trying to attract more customers by holding expensive resources, using expertises knowledge and international programs in their group service division. By building these changes they trying to make connection between managers and their travelers. STA travel build a contract to develop their marketing attendance on second life through the computer simulated virtual world. As a well run organization the business strategy of the STA makes the rest of the organizational and informational strategy is not appear a big different. Organisation Strategy When considering the STA travel organisation design, STA had grown-up and spread out its global reach through a chain of mergers. To responsive to their globally distributed and various cultural consumers that the STA organised around responsiveness and would be including elements of autonomy, empowerment and authority as close to the action as possible. If organisation needs to have responsive, it would not work to have centralized decision making authority. Because it takes long time to get information up and decisions back to the field. The travelling process organised through the market analysis and service histories. Also they do series of organisational process (such as STA travel second life, by building a virtual world) and make sure customers the STA travel is able to actually ready to provide their booking service when customer need their service. STA designed web portal attract more travellers in to business and provide more information by downloading second life client software guide. From this second life web site STA travel offer their potential players to free download game and through the online the software connected to the grid computer servers and it is hosting one small area of many islands and the mainland. The new organisation structure in STA is centralized and provide more flexible infrastructure. Accordingly it has most advantageous of environment for monitor and implement new process. STA travel implements shared services measurement for certain processes and functions. And also STA provide level of structure when they making any decisions (CODA Group, p.3) In STA second life travel locations structure organisation would include; Dedicated portal and orientation island this will provide easy ways students to joint their second life and learn to find the way to the virtual world Virtual dorms helps to have private meetings and get together. Virtual travel destination provide experience in Mayan ruins, Asian temples and French cafes. STA travel main office provide the tour package information Produced Live weekly events and tours Sandbox provide practice to build own their virtual world. Information Strategy STA travels information strategy supports its business strategy through the innovation and openness. It has decentralized information strategy in each business unit and each unit responsible for their own IT operations. Currently STA has consistent and cost effective IT base that provide facilities to maintain of their world around operations. (Savvis ,2009,p.) Its web portal attract potential travellers by permitting their customers to downloads their client software and maintain online travel arrangements to suit the needs of the business. Their web sites provide mechanism to connect to their world wide travellers, to take their bookings, to provide services when the traveller needs more information regarding any destination and link to other branches. In STA most counties web pages consist look and feel and each country marketers feel free to design their marketing campaign using methods attach to internet. Fir instance, the US office run a virtual marketing campaign for spring break called body shots. To get more advantage they advised it on face book and Myspace too and also they offer facility to their customers to contact them through emails. STA taking the advantages of the through their new web technology such as they used to advertise, set up discussion groups and entertainment , use tools like second life to promote its services. Furthermore, STA travel information strategy support to their business strategy by helping to meet their business objectives of revenue generation as well as increasing referral income and improving online business sales conversion rates. Moreover, STA travel accept to work with IBM global Business Service and build up long term business plan with them to develop their business strategy. Also they help to STA travel to implement a global electronic commerce technology system to control STA across multiple web sites as the same time they offering the elasticity to adopt their local content. By having support from IBM and Open Text, STA travel keep up their latest online tends to get more benefit on their global business. The STA travel increasing their sites demand by offering new facilities, such as user generated travel log access and personal recommendation. Very speedily they rolled out new online services to thirteen countries. They can easily and quickly make the updates and changes in the web sites. Because the template or code of the web site updates are implement only once to the master project. (Open Text, 2009) It is good having virtual staff with proper information technology knowledge according to their whole system changes, because it will be more efficient and lead to increase their production and business operations. The STA travel flexible information structure supports the innovation and creativity to its business strategy. 2. According to porters value chain model STA travel also do some activities that create, deliver and support the organizations service. The real world From the beginning STA travel attract their customers through the retail travel agencies. Most of these agencies located in the near or on the campuses. When they started to run their application through internet they met new online competitors. For a instance, student universe and student city and less focused online travel agencies like Travelocity and Expedia. However porters value chain model suggests that competition can come from lowering the cost to perform activities and adding value to product or services. To be approachable to their global and culturally different customers STA travel gives more independent, responsibility and authority coverage. STA travel branches in each country have a power to maintain their own travel sales and marketing arms. north American STA division owned highly interactive web site which providing video reports about their travel destinations. As we can also think that there is tremendous relationship between STA travel business and information strategy. Because of the information system completely support what STA travel trying to accomplish in their business plan. Such as STA travel provide flexible and reliable information on a worldwide scale through their web site. They introducing different cultures, provide the experiencing with variety people and places around the world, make study groups, works and entertainment facilities. STA travel business model build up to meet the individual customer requirements through their on line booking and information system. STA travel expecting feed back about their quality vision from customers. Also they visible in the value chain on the product and service selling point, the place the where the travelers buying their tickets, in the airline operating point. STA always able to provide best value for their customers and had world class finance foundation in the financing system. (CODA Group, p.) The virtual world The work package as described in the contract with Electric Sheep Company (ESC) will develop virtual marketing on second life. This package given more attention to the island by designing high visibility site regarding on second life, producing the island and manage the events. Also by using electronic performers firm organized to marketing in virtual environment. From the second life web site players can download the client game software. Once in the online the client software connected to a grid of computer servers, each hosting area contain many islands and mainland which present in the second life. Machinima competition among current residents of second life is important point in the virtual world value chain because machinima is a style of movie making by using avatar as members of the cast and then using those entire make a film mix with virtual world context too. Selected videos provide within second life with their service information. STA travel provides opportunities to players to make up initial design of their online persona their avatar. From this mechanism players can see back of their avatar, nearby people, signs and buildings. And For new players system provide basic tool including instant massage and chat capabilities for communication with each other. In the contract mentioned that island include the STA mall and presenting free or with payment virtual goods which providing from second life trades, community lounge area, exhibition area for holding the events, STA information centre, various online initiatives and information about their travel partners. Further more plan to provide mix of tours of second life, live music from local musicians as well as tutorial sessions. 3. STA is a larger globally expanded student travel agency, presently attracting more than 6 million travelers world widely. It provide reasonably price as well as wide spread services to their customers. Such as financing air and train tickets, booking facilities for travelers accommodations, work and tours and study programmers. Furthermore they provide subsidiary services relating to their main services. Such as shopping discount cards, travel insurance, electronic visa processing system and discounted cell phone services too. Additionally, STA travel organization locates their retail agencies around the world and operates numerous call centers and stylish web site which make easier access to their world wide customers when their bookings and online travel research and customer support service. (Savvis ,2009,p.) STA travel is more competitive, well leading sales organization. By presence in second life, STA travel arranged more web base analysis and activities than earlier life. By providing free downloading client software to second life or occurring facilities to visit mainland. Because of more entertainment and new technology they use STA able to achieve more customer satisfaction and attraction. Second life strategy generates numerous destination islands to attract more customers and holding machinima competition among the second life clients. Machinima the movie making style make films by using avatar as cast members and with the context of virtual world. The main idea is to boast second life members who already make virtual world. STA travel used some of selected movies to provide information regarding existing visiting places and more details about those packages. The orientation island is another important element in the second life strategy. Most of the organization makes it to promote their island but it is main barrier to newcomers. For the eve ry newcomers orientation island provide lessons in communication, mobility and also avatar outfitting. However, it is difficult to maintain and attract return visitors in Destination Island. Newly, STA introduce new social community service to their customers such as share stories and questions with each other in the world. In the second life strategy STA travel try to maximize their online campaign by keep an eye on all activities on web applications. Additionally, make the improvement in visitors online visit by using analytics web tools and given that broader approaching to business performance. 4. As mentioned in case, still STA travels does not sign contact and its work package explain that commitments to develop virtual market in the second life. The Electronic Artists, a specializing company in marketing virtual environments will be going to create web blog. However keep the machinima completion with other second life residents. It is good idea making movie in the context of virtual world and planning to attract more clients and by using best selected movies to provide same real world services to second life. By taking advantage in virtual STA in second life customers can save time and money taking information from web portal before actually they make any tour. other interesting point in here is the earlier visit traveler can make an web account by placing their own tour experiment in second life and have a discussion group and also they can make feed back about STA travel campaign. STA virtual world applications help to predict customer behavior by providing Enjoyment attractions. 5. When considering the STAs virtual world, there are several threads we can face, such as use of new technology, IT support, business development, arising legal security issues, grown up content and discussion group and cost.For the large scale of virtual world need speedy computer processor and video cards with steady network. Therefore players want to familiar with the new technology parts and need to have knowledge in IT environment. STAs virtual world completely run by the grid computer server therefore it is essential for the IT support to maintaining and running the STAs virtual world. by considering current and future business development it is essential to take expertises support in their IT strategy and wants to handle the system carefully. Another challenge STAs virtual world has to face with the personal information safety and data protection. Players mostly concerns security issues given by the vendors before they enter to the second life. When bearing in mind the content o f the virtual world, concerns of the legal issues important point to vendors, for an instant gambling. When providing software guide about the virtual world it is vital to think about time they have to spend. Most of players expecting shot time leaning curves. STA needed carefully planned about their investment for lon term virtual world development.( Penfold, 2008,p.) The SWOT analysis used to concerns the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threads for STA virtual world in second life. Strengths Providing better travelling experience with enjoyment is main advantage I can see in the STA virtual world in second life. Pdf6 Considering the network services it is providing quicker, easier online facilities such as through the web portal they can access user travel logs and private advice. STA own independently running web sites all around the world. (Open Text, 2009) Weaknesses main disadvantage is the cultural differences they have to face with when they expanding globally. Technology difficulties are the next weakness that the STA has to familiar in their virtual world in second life. Because the there are able to occurring functionality difference from site to site. and also to provide learning-edge services to younger generation is more costly. (Open Text, 2009) Opportunities STA virtual world in second life adding variety of interactivity and enjoyment opportunities for their clients life. Social interaction and group communication is another opportunity can be able to access. ( Penfold, 2008,p.) During the team players communication virtual world helping them by providing instant feedback, can be set up trust through several communication paths and enable to remove boundaries in geographic and culture differences. Can offering a chance to improve their member attraction by providing playful environment. (Owens,Davis,Murphy,Khazanchi Zigurs, 2009) Threats when considering further more, the time limits, new technology support and available resources are main challenges in the second life. ( Penfold, 2008,p.) It is challenging to find new technology well-known and educated audience in each location. In addition, it is not easy task to control content of individual sites and always to keep STA travel organizations information current. (Open Text, 2009) 6. It is not true that attendance of STA virtual world cannibalizing its real world presence. STA virtual world just only taking more advantages in business strategy than real world by improving their earlier web based technology capabilities. For a instance the machinima style just has step further technology advantage only the content or the services by using it same as STA provided in their real world, providing existing visiting places information and information reflect to how to travelers get there. Because of virtual world capabilities providing more facilities to collaborate and interact its more attractive with second life members. Furthermore in the virtual world student can easily and quickly give feedback on their experience and to make upgrades and changes in the web sites is quicker than eailer. (Owens, Davis, Murphy, Khazanchi Zigurs, 2009) The virtual world development and vividness of environment have some similarities to the real world web. In the virtual business in second life have joint technology like stream media, 3D together with grid computing and all are apply in to the virtual world structure. Therefore in conclude can suggest development of the virtual business strategy is parallel to the earlier web base business development have in the real world. And these business relationships more effectively help to the virtual world developments. (Wei, 2007,p.) 7. To get better answer for this question I suggest it is important to go beyond with the benefits severing by STAs virtual world in second life. Second life is likely a virtual world society. Virtual world has brightness environment and new technology ability to make available occasion to build social interactions and partnership with other team members. Also virtual world and its technology ability support teams to take challenges in IT field. This technology facility is unique advantage in the virtual world. By using STAs virtual world technology capabilities quickly members can have face to face group discussion using their avatar in virtual space. Members can modify, design and build their avatars like to produce direct trust. Another advantage and possible chance that people can taken from current virtual world technology is can share virtual objects and documents in between virtual world and other software tools too. And new technology expertises expect that this opportunity will be explore within the virtual competitors. (Owens,Davis,Murphy,Khazanchi Zigurs, 2009) Furthermore, virtual world provide more cost effective platform to discover STAs travel destinations. For the newcomers they provide a flexible introductory programmers and chances to have an experience in virtual world and offering student support for innovation and research on traveling destination. Another point we need to bare in mind that most of second life competitors having the benefit from virtual world technology. Virtual world is not just a fun space it have potential improvement in educational programmes too. ( Penfold, 2008,p.) By considering above facts I suggest that STA management may taken this action by bare in mind that their main target audience is younger generation and usually students like to move to virtual world in second life fun to use, make more interest in learning and have an interactive experience. In addition, uses and technology capability provide in the virtual world in the second life be able to carry on wider grow globally. Because currently, most of the young people use virtual technology to learn, entertain and work as also build up more social interaction. More over, nowadays among the younger generation the time virtual world is becoming a more common place for communicating with each other including instant massage, chat facilities and email service in the virtual space. (Penfold, 2008)

The Jungle Essay examples -- Essays Papers

The Jungle "The Jungle" portrays the lower ranks of the industrial world as the scene of a naked struggle for survival. Where workers not only are forced to compete with each other but, if they falter, are hard pressed to keep starvation from their door and a roof over their heads. With unions weak and cheap labor plentiful, a social Darwinist state of "the survival of the fittest" exists. The real story revolves around the integration and eventual disintegration of Jurgis Rudkis and his family, Lithuanian immigrants who move to the Chicago stockyards in hopes of a better life. Unfortunately, their hopes quickly disintegrate; like thousands of other unskilled immigrants at the turn of the century, financial necessity forces them into virtual slave labor in order to survive. For Jurgis and his family, the slave master is the ruthless and greedy meat packing industry, whose leaders value their workers no more than the animals they slaughter. "The Jungle" shows the relationship between the animals that were being slaughtered and the workers who were slaughtering them, from very early in the novel. It compares the workers to the animals who are penned up and killed every day in the stockyards, which are moved along on conveyer belts by machinery that cares nothing for their individual desires. In the monotonous killing of each of the hogs, "They had done nothing to deserve it; and it was adding insult to injury, as the thing was done here, swinging them up in this cold blooded, impersonal way, without a pretense of apology without the homage of a tear."(Pg. 35) The key comparison is the condition of the workingmen; as cold, efficient machinery assimilates them, a blind fate swallows them up. A few of the men are even swallowed up literally when they would fall into huge vats and emerges as "Durham’s Pure Leaf Lard". (Pg. 99) "The Jungle" also shows precisely how wounded, diseased, and pregnant animals are turned in to food under just the same unhealthy conditions that soon leave healthy men wounded and diseased; "There was no heat upon the killing beds; the men might as well have worked out of doors all winter†¦. On the killing beds you were apt to be covered with blood, and it would freeze solid; if you leaned against a pillar, you would freeze to that, and if you put your hand upon the blade of your knife, you would run a chance of leaving your skin on i... ...e for him. There had to be something to show him the meaning of his sacrifices. It is then that he happens upon a Socialist political meeting. At this point, Jurgis truly is a beaten man. However, when he listens to the political speaker, he finds that he expresses the essence of all his pain and frustration. He takes Socialism to his heart, believing that it is the only political philosophy that can save his kind. "They were so innocent, they came so very trustingly; and they were so very human in their protests-and so perfectly within their rights!"(Pg. 35) This is exactly how each of the immigrant families came over to America just like the hogs, cattle, sheep and many other animals that came into to the stockyards of Chicago only to find that a shadow of a deadly fate was awaiting their arrival. Each family arrived with hopes and dreams of succeeding in this free country were they could work for honest wages and live peacefully, but with each dream and hope came death and despair. It was a huge rat race, in which it was every man for himself, but not even the strongest could survive in this urban jungle for only the wealthy and corrupt were the ones who made it to the top.

Bill Bundy Essay -- essays research papers

Ted Bundy The name Theodore Bundy, more commonly known as Ted Bundy, is a household name. Not only is Ted Bundy a household name, it is one that sends chills through the bodies of those who hear it mentioned. This bone gnawing effect is felt more so through those who have daughters away from home, in college. For over two decades now, the mentioning of his name has gotten this exact reaction and will continue to do so for decades to come. Over the course of his killing career, Ted Bundy made himself one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, while going undetected for years. "He hid his murderous 'hobby' from all those who knew and loved him," (Faces of Ted 1). He was a very deceiving man, through his actions, his speech, everything about him. It was very easy for Ted to deceive his victims. "He was described at various times as the perfect student, a genius, as handsome as a movie idol, a sensitive psychiatric social worker, and 'a young man for whom the future could surely hold only success'," (Sears 1). All of these are traits that are incredibly dangerous in a serial killer. Serial killings have been one of the most terrifying, violent crimes in the United States for a great deal of time now. Serial killers "Typically commit their murders over a considerable span of time - sometimes years," (Serial Killers). Serial murderers tend to have a bit of down time between murders. They also tend to target a certain type of victim and commit their murders in similar places (Serial Killers). "Serial murder has become one of the central concerns in homicide investigation†¦" (Keppel 3). There are two distinct reasons for this. One is because it happens so frequently. The other is because it befuddles investigative agencies with its unique problems (Keppel 3). Ted Bundy grew up in what today's society would call "a dysfunctional home." For the first 23 years of his life, Ted believed that his grandparents were his parents and his mother was his sister. He was born Theodore Robert Cowell on November 24, 1946 to 22- year-old Eleanor Louise Cowell (Bell 2). Throughout his entire life, Ted never knew his real father, Lloyd Marshall. The confusion that Ted lived his life through came into play shortly after his birth. He and his mother moved back to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to live with her paren... ...y is a four-year-old child who has spent most of his life on the road with his mother, whom he thinks is his sister. He has never seen his real father, although he did live with his grandfather for a while and thought he was his father. Then he was pulled away from a home where he thought he lived with his parents, brought across the country to live with different relatives, and forced to change his name. Granted, at the age of only four, Ted might not be able to grasp all that has been going on, but he must have been a bit confused. Ted then grew up and went to school, only to be made fun of and bullied. He then grew older and moved on to college, only to have his heart broken, an event that would lead directly to his twisted ways. So right from the day he was born, Ted Bundy was basically living a false life. He was not Theodore Robert Cowell as he was at birth. Nor was he Theodore Robert Nelson as he was when his name was legally changed. The entire time, he was Ted Bundy, the demented serial killer who got his thrills through brutally torturing and tormenting beautiful, young women. Now, the name Ted Bundy will forever be synonymous with murder (Bell 2).

Metafiction and Happy Endings (Margaret Atwood) Essay

Metafiction A. Definition: The narrator of a metafictional work will call attention to the writing process itself. The reader is never to forget that what she is reading is constructed–not natural, not â€Å"real.† She is never to get â€Å"lost† in the story. B. Possible Contents: intruding to comment on writing involving his or herself with fictional characters directly addressing the reader openly questioning how narrative assumptions and conventions transform and filter reality, trying to ultimately prove that no singular truths or meanings exist C. General Characteristics Metafiction often employs intertextual references and allusions by: examining fictional systems; incorporating aspects of both theory and criticism; creating biographies of imaginary writers; presenting and discussing fictional works of an imaginary character. Authors of metafiction often violate narrative levels by: intruding to comment on writing; involving his or herself with fictional characters; directly addressing the reader; openly questioning how narrative assumptions and conventions transform and filter reality, trying to ultimately prove that no singular truths or meanings exist Metafiction also uses unconventional and experimental techniques by: rejecting conventional plot; refusing to attempt to become â€Å"real life†; subverting conventions to transform reality into a highly suspect concept; flaunting and exaggerating foundations of their instability; displaying reflexivity (the dimension present in all literary texts and also central to all literary analysis, a function which enables the reader to understand the processes by which he or she reads the world as a text). It also poses questions about the relationship between fiction and reality by drawing  attention to its characteristic as an artifact by itself. No sense of reality in its entire spectrum as a genre even though the extremes of each end are minute acceptance and merely exploration of fictionality to the other end being utter denial of reality itself. D. Examples: Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. 1979. Mitchell, David. Cloud Atlas. 2004. HAPPY ENDINGS A. Characters: The author uses common names for the characters which allows him the versatility of putting them into different situations. Doing so supports the way the author puts much importance on what happens during the story instead of how it ends. John one of the most common boy names, has ranged from musicians (John Lennon), to leaders (John F Kennedy), to philosophers (John Locke) etc. This can emphasize the author’s use of putting the character into different contexts, changing the plot and how he plays different roles, yet emphasizes that it all ends the same (death). -Idea that the ending of a story is always the same, but only the middle matters In the story he is a loving husband, adulterous partner, womanizer Mary meaning of the name Mary is: Wished-for child; rebellion; bitter. Famous Bearers: the Virgin Mary; Mary Magdalene; Mary, Queen of Scots. Also shows how the author putes his characters in different situations. James -minor character Fred – minor character Madge – minor character B. Setting: The author employs the use of place as setting in the story. Various examples of setting seen in the story are an apartment, as seen in story B, and a â€Å"charming house,† as seen in story A, C and As seen in the line, â€Å"Remember, this is Canada. You’ll still end up with A, though in between you may get a lustful brawling saga of passionate involvement, a chronicle of our times, sort of,† the setting of the story and each of its segments is a medium for what each character does before he reaches the end. The setting of the story could have an influence on what one could do before he dies, the end which everyone eventually reaches. This is seen in the story wherein each segment (letters) had different bodies of story, yet everything â€Å"continues as in A† in which the characters live on with their lives then die. D. Concepts: Ex: How do elements in the story help to create meaning? Like: setting, tone, imagery, symbol, irony, etc Metafiction in Happy Endings  The author tackles the â€Å"What?† question in the writing process through his story Happy Endings. He goes through many scenarios but shows us that the conclusion to each scenario is the same. The question â€Å"What?† only leads to the ending of the story which we already know will be the same. The important things to ask rather are â€Å"How?† and â€Å"Why?†. These questions make up the middle of the story, the events that happen, the part that counts. Textual Irony Title is Happy Endings but the real endings are al the same and result in death Conflict Is always changing depending on the situation given. Always has something to with the subject of love. SYMBOLS E. Title â€Å"Happy Endings† Most people usually focus on the ending of a story Everyone wants a happy ending, but in reality we all meet an equal end which is that we eventually die There is no such thing as a happy ending. All are the same in which we all eventually pass away. What matters is what is done as we reach the end. F. Theme What matters the most in the story is not the ending, but what what we do on the way there, because we can change our situations by choosing to act in the present, but not matter what you do you can’t change your inevitable end. —————————————————————————————————————————- RANDOM NOTES Margaret Atwood’s Happy Endings is an illustration of the idea that the ending of a story is always the same, but only the middle matters. And Love plays an important factor in all scenarios. SYNOPSIS: It includes six stories in one, each ending with death. The author believes that this is the only sure ending to anything. The stories are all inter-related, containing the same characters and similar actions. Behind the obvious meaning of these seemingly pointless stories lies a deeper and more profound meaning†¦. What is the common denominator between all these scenarios? In case you missed it, Atwood sums it up in her concluding remarks. ‘John and Mary die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die.’ ‘Happy Endings’ forces us to question the point of life. Every story, carried to its ultimate logical conclusion, has the same ending, because all lives have the same ending. We may die in the heat of battle; we may die in our sleep. We may die in infancy, in a gang war, in a nursing home. But we’re going to die. The story isn’t in the ending — it’s in what we do on the way there. RESOURCES USED http://ronosaurusrex.com/metablog/list-of-metafictional-works/ http://www.geneseo.edu/~johannes/Metafiction.html http://postcolonialstudies.emory.edu/metafiction/#ixzz2e1Z087Wr http://www.storybites.com/book-reviews/happy-endings-by-margaret-atwood.php characters http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-happyendings/char.html themes http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-happyendings/themes.html (online copy: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~rebeccal/lit/238f11/pdfs/HappyEndings_Atwood.pdf )