Tristan Bernards Im Going Essay Example for Free

Tristan Bernards Im Going Essay According to The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia literature is, â€Å"Words set apart in some way from ordinary everyday communication. In the ancient oral traditions, before stories and poems were written down, literature had a mainly public function mythic and religious. As literary works came to be preserved in writing, and, eventually, printed, their role became more private, serving as a vehicle for the exploration and expression of emotion and the human situation. † Literature enables us to develop our minds analytically and promotes open minds. We can see the world through the eyes of different writers from different cultures and in turn learn to better handle certain scenarios in our own lives. It allows the reader to escape to a different world temporarily. In Tristan Bernard’s I’m Going! , it shines a light on an issue that is true with many couples all over the world and in all times. I liked it for the fact that is like a genre of comedies with a social message. This play is relatable to many people in the world. Unlike other works in our textbook, this play seems to have a specific issue that many couples relate to, lack of communication. In this paper, I will critique parts of this works using the reader’s response approach, the lacks of communication brought upon by the main characters and support it with evidence. I always understood the fact that we humans are essentially the same everywhere in the world. We have similar ambitions and dreams. We want and hope for mostly the same things for our families and us. I was intrigued by Bernard’s play, I’m Going! As it shows us clearly how not only couples dynamics are similar but even that most couples mistakes and arguments are similar as well. In this case, the lack of communication comes across in every point made by Henri and Jeanne. It shows us a satirical look on how communication should be effective and the misunderstandings that keep occurring with this couple. Their ineffective communication could lead to a horrible life and a game of cat and mouse that seems endless. (Clugston, 2010) I have seen many Henris’ and Jeannes’ throughout my growing up and the solution seemed always to be clear to all, except to the couple in question. In the play, Henri would never admit his obsession and addictions to his wife Jeanne. Due to the nature of their relationship, it seems his pride won’t let him open up to his partner. Instead, he tries to keep a persona that is much stronger and able than he is. Jeanne, on the other hand, does not have a clue how to persuade her husband to spend more time with her as well as abandon the habit of gambling and going to the races so often. They clearly avoid the subject until it’s time for the race again. Jeanne exhibits some fear of her husband, as well as not knowing what to do, when Henri states any excuse to have an argument avoiding the true problem. He states all the fake issues and fake reasons†¦Jeanne’s fast walk, the financial cost of her joining him to watch the races, and even the weather, all in an attempt to persuade Jeanne not to go with him. On the other hand, Jeanne does not seem to know how to face her husband or convince him reasonably why he should not go to the races anymore. She tries delicately to make it about her and his lack of effort to spend time with her. The reality is that Henri needs time for himself like everybody and needs to quit these races as a responsible head of family should know. On line 157 of I’m Going, Henri shows that us that he does love his wife but that he also is trying to outsmart her by saying just enough to keep her quiet on the matters at hand so he can enjoy the races with no consequences at home or on his own conscience. (Clugston, 2010) I like this play and the subject matter brought up. I did wish, however, to see more comedic lines to make the point even stronger. Lack of communication could be the demise of any couple in the long term and that message could have been even more emphasized. I believe this play pointed at one of the most dangerous issues couples go through in all times and places. This play reinforces the importance of communication and the importance of opening up to your other half and partner in life is a necessity. Since the first chapter, our textbook has asked us to â€Å"connect† with literature. It was asked of us to find a personal link to a story, poem or play. While examining I’m Going, I chose the reader response approach. This approach encourages, through the use of specific prompts, the readers to have personal interactions with the text, personal experiences and prior knowledge. (Kelly, 1989) This comedy uses the imagination and humor in a very smart way. It forces us to open our mind and heart to an issue that not all couples are even able to pin point. Humor can educate us about very serious matters that other types of art, schools or even life experiences may not be able to get through. With Henri and Jeanne’s ineffective communication, it brings to light other issues instead of the one at hand. They focus on other issues but if they focused on communication, they may be able to repair their relationship. Without acknowledgement of the true issue, only time can tell how long they can make it last.

A Good Man is Hard to Find :: essays papers

A Good Man is Hard to Find In â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† Flannery O’Conner tells the story of a family in route to their Florida vacation and the trouble the grandmother gets them in. The grandmother does not want to go to Florida on vacation and tries many methods of changing her son, Bailey’s mind. Although she tries many methods, none of them have the effect on him she desires. Bailey is as stubborn as his mother, completely shutting the door on every proposition his mother makes. When she finally makes some progress in delaying their travels things go horribly. Bailey and his family discover the hard way just how ironic life can be. The grandmother uses many excuses for the family to go to Tennessee instead of Florida on vacation. The first of her many excuses is â€Å"The Misfit†, a serial killer that has escaped from prison and is headed toward Florida, claiming that she would never take her children anywhere near a man like that. This didn’t have the desired effect on Bailey so she explains to him and his wife how the children need more variety and they should take the children to see different parts of the world, East Tennessee for example. Once again her plea to Bailey and his wife had no effect. Even after they had left home she continued to try and divert them from their coarse. Finally succeeding when she convinced the children they would like to visit an old plantation home she had visited during her own childhood. There were many clues as to what was unfolding during the story, although one would have trouble noticing them upon initial reading. The first of the clues was, of coarse, the mentioning of â€Å"The Misfit’s† escaping from prison. As the family was eating at a small restaurant the second clue was given. The owner was discusing with grandmother the criminal nature the society has compared to the old day an example was three men had stolen gas from him only a few days earlier. The next clue came after grandmother and the children persuaded Bailey to turn off the main road in search of the old plantation home. The road had not been driven on in months, suggesting the perfect, deserted, hiding places for escaped prisoners. While traveling down the dirt road grandmother remembered that the house was actually in Tennessee, not Georgia.

Bestfoods Case study Essay

Bestfoods can only perform effectively through interactions with the broader external environment of which it is a part. The structure and function ¬ing of the international organisation must reflect, therefore, the nature of the environment in which it is operating, including workforce diversity issues. In order to ensure its survival and future success Bestfoods must be readily adaptable to the external demands placed upon it using appropriate structure and support of its HR management team. In this case, Bestfood is responsive to change through workforce diversity management. To operate internationally, Bestfoods has to provide diversity management in order to leverage differences between employees. 1. The key diversity challenges facing by the company include: – two-thirds of employees working outside the USA; – disproportionate number of women and minorities who leave Bestfoods; – gender inequalities (women can reach only middle management level); – women and minorities have less opportunities for career development than men (according to the survey); – high turnover level among women and minorities at every management level; – attitudes and behaviour barrier for promotion; – few women at high positions. These challenges shows that Bestfoods has high diverse workforce that prevent the company to grow rapidly. Managing gender and racial differences should be the part of the management concerned with the maintenance of human relationships and ensuring the physical well being of employees so that they give the maximum contribution to efficient working 2. To overcome diversity problems, Laura Brody was appointed to develop and implement equal opportunity campaigns involving international divisions of the company. She called her task as a â€Å"double edge sword† aimed to propose everyone equal opportunities for carrier development. The key actions helped this strategy to succeed include: – global action learning programs and an incremental change; – the first woman appointed as a country general manager; – the diverse board of directors consisted of two female, an African American CEOs and four males form other countries; – senior-management training programs; – long-term objectives of the company rather than compliance; – Diversity Advisory Council. These key issues encompassed a strategic perspective of the company and were closely related to the management process as a whole demanding that each functional manager and supervisor apply the principles effectively. 3. In order to implement diversity programs, Bestfoods took several steps. (1) Brody changed the nature of Diversity Advisory Council implemented a team-building approach aimed to establish a common vision. If a team is to be successful and perform effectively there must be a spirit of unity and co-operation, which can be achieved through scheduling and decision-making. As a part of this action, the Council developed a Balance Scorecard for diversity. (2) Examining and borrowing experience from leading companies about â€Å"leveraging workforcce† (p. 529) (outside practitioners, gathering best-practice and benchmarking studies). This step helped to avoid possible mistakes and faults. (3) A Cultural Connections program was implemented. It helps to reconcile the gap between what should happen, and desire-targets and standards of performance; and what is happening and levels of work performance. It involved: educational programs, training, sexual harassment prevention training, motivation for further education, etc. (4) Forum initiative. 4. In general, the idea of a Forum was very effective helping to join employees, increase their confidence, motivation and commitment; provide recognition, enhanced responsibility, and promotion; give a feeling of personal satisfaction and achievement, and broader opportunities for career progression. The idea of Forum could help to improve organisational perfor ¬mance as it increases the level of individual and organisational compe ¬tence. Nevertheless, the drawback of this policy was that Brody decided to involve only women as participants. Instead of a blend of competence, the Forum resulted in greater diversity within organization. (5) An alternative action to this program can be the International HR management Forum involving male and female employees, HR managers from different countries and the USA. This strategy would be more effectible in terms of overall company’s policy towards diversity management. This International HR Form would ensure human resources policy as an essential part for every manager and supervisor aware of diversity management. It would develop an integrated approach for organisations to locate equality issues in their mainstream activities. (6) The main problems faced by Brody and Shoemate included negative attitudes of male employees and women excluded from discussions the diversity issues. In general, this approach broadened gander diversity, and created a negative image of females as executives. Many women were afraid that: â€Å"after attending an all-women forum might encourage others to think their success was owed primarily to their status as women rather to their competence† (p. 540). The challenge was that the Forum forced some executives to rethink their attitude towards women’s potential and look objectively at their competence and professional skills. (7) Unfortunately, the Forum was negatively perceived by male employees. For some of them it was nothing more than â€Å"koffee-klatch† (p. 541) and discrimination on the gender basis. It is possible to treat this meeting as indirect discrimination depriving most employees from opportunities to be involved in problem-solving and strategic planning. This policy did not offend only male employees, but women who had not been invited. Most women called it another â€Å"private club† party (p. 540). Brody and Shoemate did not develop a sense of people per ¬ception, and did not understand the feelings of staff, their needs and expectations. (8) In any case, leadership played a crucial role helping to held female employees together and motivated them to give their best effort to the job. Communication strategies helped to provide satisfaction of members’ social needs, and a sense of personal identity and belonging to organization. Communication provided additional channels and means of motivation, for example, through status, social inter ¬action. Decision-making about the future strategy of the organization was made and implemented by employees. It was very important that employees were involved in this process. The unity of leadership, communication and decision-making created an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect between managers and employees. (9) Bestfoods and Brody can institutionalized the position of a diversity manager in every office around the world. This strategy will help to address not only women question, but to cover equal employment opportunities for all employees in spite of their gender, position in the company or racial/national differences. The Forum should be based on an elective principle which means that every employee in the company has an equal opportunity to take part in it. The Forum can address different questions involving all employees of Bestfoods. This strategy will increase team effectiveness which depends upon different strategies including a spirit of unity and co-operation, which can be achieved through leveling of differences. In an opening letter to all CPC Employees, Shoemate underlined that the policy of the company is: â€Å"an ongoing process that affects everyone in the company. †¦ we need to engage every person in this effort† (p. 546). Nevertheless, the Forum did not present different groups of employees focused only on gender diversity question. To overcome this drawback, the Forum can create separate working teams examining gender diversity, minorities’ rights, equal opportunities and equal pay issues. Recognising that men and women present different cultures at work, as well as different ethnic groups, and that this diversity needs to be managed, is key to promoting a positive environment of equal opportunity, which goes beyond merely fulfilling the demands of the statutory codes. References 1. Case Study: Bestfoods.

The Impact Of Maritime Technology On The Age Of Exploration

Maritime Technology’s Aid in the Age of Exploration The innovation of maritime technology has revolutionized travel throughout history. Prior to ships and sea travel, humans were separated by vast oceans and confined to their homeland for life. Because of these large boundaries, discoveries and inventions were only shared within land masses and trade as a whole was very limited. This uncharted, inaccessible territory caused a major separation of mankind. However, these oceans sparked curiosity and desire for explorers to venture beyond their native land. This curiosity was the driving force to the invention of naval travel, a highly important and massive step for all growing communities during the Age of Exploration. Maritime technology’s advancements through history greatly aided in the Age of Exploration, allowing provinces to break their land boundaries and make monumental steps towards the advanced world humans populate today. People living the the 15th century had multiple reasons for venturing beyond its confinement of land. Scientific curiosity of the world played a major part in the advancement of naval travel, but it was not the main cause of exploration in these times. The Age of Exploration was sparked by Europeans wanting to find sea routes to East Asia, which they called the Indies. Merchants and crusaders were bringing goods to Europe from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. These trade routes were controlled by the Muslims and the Italians. However, flawsShow MoreRelatedSignificance Of Marco Polo s Voyages1136 Words   |  5 PagesPolo’s voyages to the â€Å"East† for our understanding of world history. The silk routes, has for many centuries, connected the world through a series of overland and maritime routes reaching from China, India, the Middle East and Europe. 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