Mending Wall Essay -- essays research papers

What is so important about mending a wall? Robert frost a down to earth, phenomenon has used his supernatural skills to write a poem which may seem to be a simple, ordinary poem, yet what lays hidden behind the veils may be unraveled. That is the spiritual world that you and me may learn to understand the philosophical basis of human nature that provokes the human revolution. Believe it or not this poem was ingeniously devised by Robert Frost to articulately open up a world of ideas that acumen imagination and its complexities. That is what I will be elaborating on in terms of textual evidence. Like many of Frost’s poems, ‘mending wall’ involves a journey. We are introduced to two farmers in an annual meeting at the wall that separates their properties. They walk the length of the wall, repairing damage that has been done during the year. This process allows Frost to probe the whole question of communication or, more precisely, the way we put up walls and create barriers between ourselves. As happens in this poem, Frost moves in his thinking from a basic, natural setting to an abstract consideration of human behavior. The very first word of the poem establishes the sense of that which colours its entire atmosphere. This opening line establishes a mystery; there is ‘something’ that doesn’t want the wall to be there. Whatever it is, it is a powerful force: it creates a ‘frozen grounds swell’ that attacks the wall from the base, forcing the boulders on the top to tumble off. Wintertime is when the destroyer does its work. The effect is not a small one, but a gap contrived is as wide as two people are. The question is ‘what has caused them?’ In this stanza, he breaks from his consideration of this mysterious wall-hater for the moment to discount hunters as culprits. He knows that hunters damage walls. He has repaired the damage they have done. They cause a lot of damage to let the dogs get at rabbits that hide amongst the rocks of the wall. The hunting image becomes, however, but a dramatic aside to the main concern of the poem. A more earthly consideration of an expression of that force which is responsible for the unexplained gaps which seasonally and mysteriously appear in the wall and await discovery in the spring with all the patience of the cosmos. We return to the air of mystery. These gaps that appear just seem to have happened, with no one seei... ... not go behind this saying to test whether it has any validity. Frost has tried to guide him behind it with his questioning, but to no assistance. The neighbour in fact takes pleasure in repeating this piece of derived ‘wisdom’. The poem leaves us with a somewhat comic character who like an untested saying, derived from his father, who probably derived it from his, and so on back into the ‘old-stone’ age. His neighbour ends the poem, in something of an anticlimax and wins the ‘argument’; the wall is fixed and they will meet again next year. A strong feature of Frost’s poetry is his use of symbols. He starts a story and gathers an additional meaning and significance as the poem develops. The wall represented barriers, divisions, irrational and unnatural dividers that keep people apart, nature symbolises a unifying force, the stone-age man represent unthinking man and that civilisation has passed him by while spring symbolises a new birth in nature. Changes of seasons are important on Frosts’ poem where the neighbour rejects the chance for a new start. So as you can see this poem is just a poem about mending a wall, but it has significant meaning which relate to human behaviour.

The People and Landscape of the Welsh Hillcountry :: R.S. Thomas Poems Poetry Essays

The People and Landscape of the Welsh Hillcountry R.S. Thomas writes about the people and landscape of the Welsh â€Å"hillcountry.† By referring closely to at least two of his poems, show how he makes the Welsh countryside and its inhabitants vivid to the reader. RS Thomas was born in Cardiff in 1913. He was a Parish Priest in Wales for more than 20 years. During this time he taught himself the Welsh language in order to understand the remote hill farmers that are under his care. He writes almost exclusively about the people and landscape of the Welsh hill country. The poems that he writes are lacking in mental emotion but they never lack tender or compassion for the massively hardworking farmers he knows so well. The landscape that Thomas describes so well reflects the grimness of the men’s lives. The people’s lives are never sweetened nor romanticized and the poet has no illusions on its harshness. Yet he has a deep understanding for the hill country and its workers. This shows that R.S Thomas can relate to the Welsh hill country very well. The first poem that I am writing about is called â€Å"The Hill Farmer Speaks†. This poem talks about the life of a farmer who has been greatly affected by his work. The first verse of this poem talks about a man who has no love and no friends. This we learn is because of the land as it says, â€Å"I am the farmer stripped of love and thought and grace by the lands hardness.† This shows the hard work that the man has done over the years has taken from him his love, thought and grace it is also a metaphor making this vivid for the reader. But he wants us to know that he is still a human by saying, â€Å"Listen, listen, I am a man like you.† Alliteration is used here (listen, listen), to cause the affect that the man really is talking to you. The same affect is caused when he says, â€Å"But what I am saying.† It shows you that the mans surroundings are very empty and hostile by it saying, â€Å"Desolate areas rough with dew.† This is also a metaphor showing its vividness to the reader. The second verse of this poem tells us of the wind going over the hill pastures, hill pastures being a feature of any hill farm. After this he says, â€Å"Year after year,† making this process seem constant. In the next three lines there seems to be a link between the ewes and the farmer, where it says, â€Å"The ewes starve, milkless, for want of the new

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

Everyone wants a child that does well in school. Teaching your child to have the right mind-set for success is crucial to helping your child succeed. The two mind-sets (according to Carol Dweck who wrote an article on â€Å"The Secret To Raising Smart Kids†) can change the way your child learns. These two mind-sets can be applied to any student which would be carried out to the child’s athletics and working career.To have a fixed mind-set, Carol says that students who believe that they only have a certain amount of intelligence and that’s it. They want to look smart without being smart. Dweck insists that, â€Å"They had a negative view of effort, believing that having to work hard at something was a sign of low ability. They thought that a person with talent or intelligence did not need to work hard to do well.†This thought can prevent bosses from getting along with workers. Scientists have discovered that managers tend not to take advice from their emplo yees with a growth mind-set because they already feel as if they are smarter than the employees and know better than them, causing the workplace to decline. Athletes who think they know better become unteachable later on. They, â€Å"value talent more than hard work† causing them to not get any further than what they are praised for.The kids with a growth mind-set are taught that intelligence can be developed through education and hard work. These students are, â€Å"†¦destined for greater academic success and were quite likely to outperform their counterparts,† even with no greater skills. They use challenges as opportunities. This can register to workers as well. When dealt with a problem, workers that, â€Å"believe people can change and grow, however, are more confident that confronting concerns in their relationships will lead to resolutions.†The workers see that there is a problem and work to take care of it in the idea that they will grow and get mor e knowledge while resolving the problem. After doing so, they have stronger relationships and more confidence to conquer the next difficulties that lay ahead. Athletes with a growth mind-set take this into consideration. Athletes who want to learn and  perfect the technique will have more confidence in playing a tournament; â€Å"Believing that the more you labored at something, the better you would become at it.† Working and being athletic are very similar in the state of resolving the problem.As Dweck said, â€Å"Our society worships talent†. What people don't understand is that talent can be a very negative thing when people are praised and encouraged too much for motivation. In doing that, they get little work done. Praising your children for their hard work creates a growth mind-set and goes a farther distance than praising them for their smartness which in contrast does the opposite by teaching them the fixed mind-set. Which shows in their progress in athletics , grades in school, and success in work.

Battleship Potemkin

To many, Battleship Potemkin remains as powerful today as it was when it saw its initial release in 1915. A great deal of the power the film projects derives from its ability to draw on the emotional content of viewers who hold a dissatisfied feeling towards the government, a perennial feeling that never â€Å"goes out of style. † But does the film’s political statement undermine the credibility of the film as a work and sway it into the realm of propaganda?In a word, no as this is a highly skilled cinematic presentation that does not fall into the common trapping of propaganda cinema. To say the Battleship Potemkin contains a political point of view is an accurate statement; but, to say that the film is a work of propaganda may not entirely be correct. The reason for this is that propaganda generally involves a dishonest attempt to present a point of view that plays to the viewer’s emotions.Yes, Battleship Potemkin does present its anti-tsarist point of view so as to stimulate the viewer’s emotions to align with anti-tsarist sentiment however; life under the tsar was hardly one that was popular with the â€Å"common person. † In fact, the entire Russian revolution would have been impossible if the population held the ruling class in high esteem. So, the film does not so much change a point of view as much as it reflects what had been a common point of view.

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

Competition is becoming more and more fierce while the market is becoming globalization. With higher consumer sovereignty, customers are no longer satisfied with qualify products and good services. The society concerned more about the business ethic and environmental issues. Companies are expected to act virtuously nowadays. The ideas of Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Citizenship are spreading faster than ever before and become one of the hottest business models in the recent decades. â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)† is defined as â€Å"the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life† at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in 2000. The main idea of CSR is that corporations should be responsible to the stakeholders which include the customers, shareholders, suppliers, employees or any other party that may be influenced by the corporate actions. Different organizations may have formed different social responsible programs which can be categorized in four major components: the environment, the community, the work place and the market place. Different companies will emphasize on different aspects to create the social responsible programs. â€Å"Particular CSR initiatives may do good, or harm, or make no difference one way or the other, but it is important to resist the success of the CSR idea. â€Å" (Briggs & Verma, 2006) Mounting evidences show the benefits brought by the CSR Programs. For example, corporations made huge donation to disasters nationwide and to the bottom billions. However, not every CSR Program can be built up successfully. Nestlà © had suffered from a boycott last over 30 years which is the result from its failed CSR Program. Known as the baby killer, Nestlà © is blamed to kill thousands of Babies in the less developed region. They promoted and distributed free instant formula milk powder to replace breastfeeding and led to severe health problems or even death to the babies (Sethi, 1979). The two opposite results of CSR programs bring up queries for CSR programs. Is there a business case for CSR? How can corporations be benefitted from CSR? Theses questions will be discussed in this essay and so as the answers. B. Is there a business case for CSR? â€Å"Corporations are expected to be good citizens† asserted by Briggs and Verma (2006). Customers are demanding more from the corporations. Responsible corporates are required to meet the â€Å"Triple Bottom Lines† which are the economic sustainability, environmental sustainability and social sustainability. Join Elington illustrate the interrelationship of the triple bottom line in 1997, â€Å"Society depends on the economy – and the economy depends on the global ecosystem, whose health represents the ultimate bottom line† (Elkington, 1997). CSR programs can also help the company to achieve sustainable growth which is the ultimate goal for every CSR program. Sustainable development is development to satisfy the needs of present generation without sacrificing the ability of future generations to development (WCED, 1987). Study indicates that sustainable growth and business success cannot be achieved solely by maximising short-term profits, but instead th rough market-oriented and social responsible programs (Neal, 2006). The CSR programs may engage with the following four aspects: the environment, the community, the workplace and the market place (World Business Council, 2000). As the foundation of every human being in the earth, responsible to environment is an essential part of CSR programs. Learnt from the Industrial Revolution when people sacrifice environment for business growth, private organizations today have worked to improve the environment. For example, Toyota has developed the hybrid card models which can use both fuel and electricity as power source. It can help to reduce the air pollution and reduce the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This innovation is also being considered as long-term oriented and sustainable for future development so both the customers and investors are satisfied with it. The second aspect of corporate social responsibility is the community. Corporations have to be responsibility to the local community as they are the essential for the business success. Social responsible firms should hire local labour force in the work place. Corporations often make donation after huge disasters such as earthquake or hurricane. For example, companies had donated over US$547 millions after the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (Briggs & Verma, 2006). Although some criticize that the corporations are making disasters into opportunities for public relationship, the donation can certainly help the community to rebuilt their home afterward, The third aspect of corporate social responsibility is the workplace. Companies are responsible to ensure the safety and ethnic in the workplace. The employees are generating the profit so the companies should be responsible to them by creating harmless and harmony working environment. For example, Nike, and other American and European sports wear production companies, promise to monitor the working conditions in its supplier factories in less developed countries (Vogel, 2005, 1). Corporations should also be responsible to the market place. Not just manufacturing quality product but also meeting the needs of various customers. For example, although smart phones are becoming popular in recent years, some people with visual disability may not able to use those products without assistant from other people. By introducing the Voiceover application, customers with visual disability can use the smart phone or other devices created by Apple easily. Besides the positive point of view, there have always been criticisms of CSR ever since it was invented. In 1970, the Nobel Price winner, Friedman wrote â€Å"The Social Responsibility of Business is to increase its Profits† and the three main arguments he stated in his article have become the foundation for the criticisms against CSR. In his first argument, Friedman claimed that only human beings have a moral responsibility for their actions (Friedman, 1970). As a collected entity, companies do not have the responsibility of the decision made by the management. However, corporations act like human in many ways. For examples, in legal terms, corporations are consisted as an artificial person whose behavior is decided by the corporate internal decision structure and the organizational culture. Many corporations are acting progressively to create a public perception of good citizenship to gain positive image and competitive advantages from the society (Brigs and Verma, 2006). In the following article, Friedman pointed out that the government, instead of the private business section, should be responsible to solve the social issues and problems (Friedman, 1970). Later scholars support his argument that with huge amount of tax collected by the government, the responsibility of social support should be transferred to the government and the public sectors. However, in some cases, government may not be able to take the responsibility due to insufficient funds or malfunction of government agent. Geoge Kell, executive head of the United Nations’s Global Compact Office, indicated that â€Å"So long as government fail to do their part and so long as business goes global, CSR helps fill an important void† (Brigs and Verma, 2006). The last argument of Friedman is that the managers should be responsible for the interest of shareholders (Friedman, 1970). Charring out CSR programs may increase the cost and weaken the company’s performance. In which way, the interests of the shareholders are harmed (Henderson, 2001). This argument is proven wrong by the countless successful business cases of CSR programs. C. How can corporations be benefited from the CSR programs? 1. CSR can help the corporates to increase the profits. Corporations can be benefited from the CSR programs in many aspects. Since the most important goal for the company is maximise its profit, scholars and managers are working to figure out how CSR programs will influence the company’s profitability. Companies generally increase their profitability by two means: Cut cost and Differentiation (Porter, 1985). An effective CSR Programs can help the corporations to achieve both points. Cost reduction can be achieved by CSR Programs directly or indirectly. The direct way is to reduce the cost by using the raw material or energy in a more efficient way. For example, by reducing the packaging, companies can cut the unit cost of product and protect the environment by producing less waste at the same time (Welford, 2000). The other way is to reducing the indirect cost such as the employee training cost, the management cost. For example, the employee caring programs can lower the employee turnover rate and reducing the hiring and training cost for new employees. By this mean, the employees are more satisfied to the companies and will be less likely to resign and have better performance in the workplace. Google has been paid attention to this issue. The company created the â€Å"best† working environment in the world and create the most satisfied. The CSR program successes in increasing ability to attract and retain employees and reducing operating cost. Another way to increase profitability is differentiation. By using differentiation strategy, the products can be outstanding among the competitors (Welford, 2000). Corporates have been using CSR programs as differentiation points long ago and achieve positive result. Take the Body Shop as an example. They differentiate their products from the other skin care products by using all natural ingredients and making statements such as â€Å"no animal test† and â€Å"support community fair trade†. By building such social and environmental responsibility image, the Body Shop successfully build up its brand image and reputation and create the customer loyalty. 2. CSR can enhance brand competitiveness. Today’s companies can no longer afford to ignore CSR. More and more corporates build up their own CSR programs to enhance their brand competitiveness by enhancing the image and reputation of the corporates. Firstly, customers nowadays focus more on the image and reputation of the brands. They demand more than quality product and nice services. According to the research conducted by the PR firm Hill & Knowlton, 79% of Americans take corporate citizenship into account when makings purchase decision (Briggs and Verma, 2006). Corporate Social Responsibility Programs can help the corporate to gain the public trust and support which will enhance the brand competitiveness. Customer sovereignty has further supported the ideas that with high degree of freedom and information, customers can make their choices among different brands. The brand with better image or reputation will be more likely to win in the industry. Secondly, Corporate Citizenship is demanded by the government. Especially for some sensitive business that companies need to maintain nice relationship with the government. For example, Casino Industry in Las Vegas and Macao are expected to make large donation to the â€Å"responsible gambling program† or the charity funds. By making public donation, the firms may be able to build up better image to reduce the resist in the society and the government. Managers continually encounter demands from multiple stakeholder groups to devote resources to corporate social responsibility (McWilliams & Siegel, 2001). Investors consider more about the social responsibility of the invested firms nowadays. Companies cannot managing their impact on society and the environment if engaging in CSR (Brigs & Verma, 2006) D. Conclusion Corporate Social Responsibility is becoming the trend of social public relationship strategies in the recent decades. In this essay, questions of CSR programs have been discussed in many aspects. With thousands of successful cases of corporate citizenship, companies all working hard to catch up with the trend and develop their own CSR programs. Although there are criticisms about the intention and the necessity of corporate social responsibility programs, the effective of CSR programs is ascertained. Later study shows that successful CSR program can benefit the society and the company at the same time. The corporations can enjoy higher profits and better brand competitiveness by setting up CSR programs. Therefore, companies should work with the community to achieve the â€Å"win-win† situation. Bibliography: Briggs, W. & Verma, A. 2006. ‘Sharing the wealth’. Communication world. January – February 2006. pp. 25-28 Freeman, R.E. 1984 ‘Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach’. Marshfield, MA: Pitman Publishing Inc. Friedman, M. 1970 ‘The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits’. The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970 Henderson, D. 2001. ‘The Case Against â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. Policy Vol.17 no.2. pp. 28-32. Winter 2001 Neal, A. C. 2007. ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: Governance Gain or Laissez-Faire Figleaf?’. HeinOnline. 2007-2008. pp. 460-474 Robison, M. 2002. ‘RSA Wold Leaders Lecture – Beyond Good Intentions: Corporate Citizenship for a New Century’. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. London, 7 May 2002. Sethi, S. P. 1979. ‘A Conceptual Framework for Environmental Analysis of Social Issues and Evaluation of Busin ess Response Patterns’. The Acdemy of Management Review, Vol.4, No. 1, pp. 63-74 Vogle, D. ‘The Market for Virtue: the Potential and Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility’. 2005. Harrisonburg, Virginia WCED. 1987. ‘Our Common Future, World Commission on Environment and Development’. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Welford, R. 2000 ‘Corporate environmental management 3: Towards sustainable development’, London: Earthscan.

Want and Ambition

1. What spring in to your mind when you hear the word â€Å"ambition†? Whenever I hear the word ambition as if there’s someone beside me and telling to take actions! I have so many ambitions in life that I need to fulfill. These ambitions will help me to strive harder and reach the goal to be a successful one. 2. Are you ambitious? Yes, I am ambitious. Definitely I am, we all need to accept the facts that people meant to be ambitious to take harder or strive to get what we goal in life. Related article: My Aim Is To Become A CollectorPeople who are â€Å"ambitious† are viewed sometimes as either selfish or unrealistic. But still no matter how we look on it, there are no such bad things in having ambition. All we need to do is admit it to ourselves and give ourselves permission to pursue it. 4. Who is the most ambitious person you know? I am ambitious person; I have many ambitions in life that I need to fulfill. I knew inside me that I have many things I want to have or achieve. In family, career and even in fame there are a lot of these ambitions in my life. 5.What were your ambitions when you were a child? When I was small, I was dreaming to become a journalist. Whenever I hear someone reporting on television I will face in front of the mirror and will hold anything and pretend that it’s a microphone and start repeating the message that the reporter stated on the news. Later on I decided that I would like to build a big shop where kids would be able t o find everything they needed so as their dreams would come true. My parents were always smiling at me, charmed by my high ambitions in life.While growing, I started to form more  definite picture of my future  and was almost sure that I want to be a diplomat. 7. What ambition do you have that you think you'll realize and won't realize? 8. Why do you have ambitions? I have my ambition because, having ambition in hard times like things are not going well, will lead me to get myself out of them and find happiness and success. If we have no ambition in our life, we have no drive for anything. Nothing will seem important. 9.What’s the different between ambition and a dream? To dream is without effort as if your only dreaming for an impossible thing to happen while ambition you have to take step by step to reach each of your ambition and take risks to fulfill all of these. 10. What ambition have you held the longest? The ambition I held the longest in real life is to graduate in a diplomat with a degree holder. Wherein I can find a good job to help my parents and provide them own house and live with a happy and contented life. 11.What happens after you have fulfilled all your ambitions? The best is when the source of ambition becomes my desire to reach my big goal or to fulfill my life in purpose. The only thing that will happen after fulfilling my ambition is contentment. 12. What do you think it feels like to fulfill a lifetime ambition? I think it feels like I am the happiest person and will having a peaceful mind. Of course everyone is asking and striving to reach a lifetime ambition. And if that happens to me and in God’s will, I’ll thank him.

Strategic Marketing Management of Nintendo Assignment

Strategic Marketing Management of Nintendo - Assignment Example Furthermore, members of this club have access to limited edition products that are not available to non members. Finally, the company sells video games that are segmented by games for Nintendo Wii, Wii U, DS and 3DS. Although majority of the games are sold through retailers, some are available for download on the company’s e-shop website. Current market/s including customer behavior issues, demand and trends The company uses differentiated positioning for its offerings. While the company has historically targeted the segment of gamers, it has recently shifted its attention to incorporate non-gamers. This segment comprises of families, women as well as individuals who are ‘not’ hard-core gamers. In other words, Nintendo now targets individuals who want quick-fix gaming solutions in addition to serious gamers (MaRS, 2012). This has been matched by a shift in the company’s value proposition which has evolved from the delivery of intensely realistic gaming expe riences to providing fun-filled family entertainment. The company soon realized the changing customer demographics and saw a large potential in the market for women and pensioners. As of 2010, Wii was presented by 90% of primary console female players (ESRB, 2010). Overall, women account for 40% of video game players (ESRB, 2010). This has opened up new markets for Nintendo, thereby reducing reliance on the market for hard-core gamers which has become highly competitive. While price and performance plays a key role in determining customer response to the company’s products, emotional attachment to the product is just as important in order to capture customer value. Furthermore, the company’s use... The researcher of this essay focuses on the analysis of the current business products and product lines that the Nintendo uses to gain benefits today. Nintendo seems to have used the latter with majority of its products carrying the â€Å"Nintendo† label. The product lines include the Nintendo Wii U, Wii, Nintendo 3DS as well as services such as Club Nintendo and Video Games. The Nintendo Wii comprises is a hardware – game box that is motion controlled and allows users to play games on it. The researcher presents tdifferent products of the company and states that the company also sells video games, that are segmented by games for Nintendo Wii, Wii U, DS and 3DS. Although majority of the games are sold through retailers, some are available for download on the company’s e-shop website. Current markets including customer behavior issues, demand and trends are later discussed in the essay. The researcher also describes how the Nintendo company uses differentiated pos itioning for its offerings, where price and performance plays a key role in determining customer response. Nintendo outsources its production, that is, it makes limited term contracts with various companies that manufacture its products in their factories. This is because the company had initiated a blue ocean strategy whereby it attempted at broadening its customer base. The researcher then concluds that Nintendo can capitalize on its core competency of being the pioneer in the video gaming industry - a competency which is both valuable and rare.