CatS Cradle Essays - Kurt Vonnegut, Nonce Words, Cats Cradle

Cat'S Cradle In questioning the value of literary realism, Flannery OConnor has written, I am interested in making a good case for distortion because it is the only way to make people see. Kurt Vonnegut writes pessimistic novels, or at least he did back in the sixties. Between Slaughterhouse Five, Mother Night, and Cats Cradle, Vonnegut paints a cynical and satirical picture of the degradation of society using distortion as the primary means to express himself. In Cats Cradle, the reader is confronted with the story of the narrator, John, as he attempts to gather material to write a book on the human aspect of the day Japan was bombed. As the story progresses, he finds that becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish reality from illusion. He meets up with a midget, a dictator, and a nations object of lust as his journey progresses, and he eventually ends up the sole leader of a remote island and witnesses the end of the world. Using implausible stories and unbelievable characters and situations to convey his message, Vonneguts utilization of literary distortion allows him to move the reader and prove his point in a far greater way than he could by just blatantly sho uting his opinions. Anyone unable to understand how useful a religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either(16), states the narrator, concerning Cats Cradle. Throughout the text, Vonnegut uses the religion of Bokononism, which is a fictitious faith founded on the basis of deception, to establish that people can prosper and be happy under false beliefs. When two men founded the island nation of San Lorenzo, Cats Cradles model for society, it was decided by them that the only way to keep starving natives from revolting was to create a religion focusing on the individual and then outlaw it. By doing this, the people could all employed full time as actors in a play they understood, that human being everywhere could enjoy and applaud (144). So became Bokononism, one of the men taking charge of the government, and the other, Bokonon, retreating into the forest to preach his faith. After exploring the theory of Bokononism, and machinations of the men behind it, the re ader is left wondering if Vonnegut is implying that democracy and our American ideals could be, perhaps, an elaborate hoax. Bokonons words: I wanted all things To seem to make more sense, So we all could be happy, yes Instead of tense. And I made up lies So that they would all fit nice And I made this sad world A par-a-dise (109) Upon his arrival at San Lorenzo, John is struck by the illusionary visage that the island projects. From his room in the luxurious Casa Mona, he is blessed with a view of the islands one paved street, the harbor, the airport, and a multiplicity of well manicured lawns and hedges. However, the squalor and misery of the city, being to the sides and back of the Casa Mona, were impossible to see (131). This clouded sense of beauty projected by the hotel may be interpreted as yet another metaphor blasting the concept of nationality. Perhaps the bells and whistles decorating our freedom and independence are merely distracting us from the corruption and destructio n being planned behind the scenes? Perhaps we really have no business calling ourselves one nation under god, as we are simply millions of people with millions of different interests? As John states: a seeming team that [is] meaningless in terms of the ways God gets things done, a textbook example of what Bokonon calls a granfallon. Other examples of granfallons are the Communist party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the General Electric Company, the International order of Odd Fellows-and any nation, any time, anywhere. (82) Bokononism says that if there is a god, he is a practical joker, and the destruction of the world is thought of to be the Almightys final horrible joke. In one of his last statements, Bokonon states that this God is hardly the all-loving entity he is perceived to be. Someday, someday, this crazy world will come to an end, and our God will take things back that He to us did lend.

Zheng Hes Treasure Ships of the Ming Dynasty

Zheng Hes Treasure Ships of the Ming Dynasty Between 1405 and 1433, Ming China under the rule of Zhu Di, sent out enormous armadas of ships into the Indian Ocean commanded by the eunuch admiral Zheng He. The flagship and other largest treasure junks dwarfed European ships of that century; even  Christopher Columbuss flagship, the Santa Maria, was between 1/4 and 1/5 the size of Zheng Hes. Drastically changing the face of Indian Ocean trade and power, these fleets embarked on seven epic voyages under Zheng Hes guidance, resulting in a rapid expansion of Ming Chinas control in the region, but also of their struggle to maintain it in years to come due to the financial burden of such endeavors. Sizes According to Ming Chinese Measurements All of the measurements in the remaining Ming Chinese records of the Treasure Fleet are in a unit called zhang, which is made up of ten chi or Chinese feet. Although the exact length of a zhang and chi has varied over time, the Ming chi was probably about 12.2 inches (31.1 centimeters) according to Edward Dreyer. For ease of comparison, the measurements below are given in English feet. One English foot is equivalent to 30.48 centimeters. Incredibly, the largest ships in the fleet (called baoshan, or treasure ships) were likely between 440 and 538 feet long by 210 feet wide. The 4-decked baoshan had an estimated displacement of 20-30,000 tons, roughly 1/3 to 1/2 the displacement of modern American aircraft carriers. Each had nine masts on its deck, rigged with square sails that could be adjusted in series to maximize efficiency in different wind conditions. The Yongle Emperor ordered the construction of an amazing 62 or 63 such ships for Zheng Hes first voyage, in 1405. Extant records show that another 48 were ordered in 1408, plus 41 more in 1419, along with 185 smaller ships throughout that time. Zheng Hes Smaller Ships Along with dozens of baoshan, each armada included hundreds of smaller ships. The eight-masted ships, called machuan or horse ships, were about 2/3 the size of the baoshan  measuring approximately 340 feet by 138 feet. As indicated by the name, the machuan carried horses along with timber for repairs and tribute goods. Seven-masted liangchuan or grain ships carried rice and other food for the crew and soldiers in the fleet. Liangchuan was about 257 feet by 115 feet in size. The next ships in descending order of size were the zuochuan, or troopships, at 220 by 84 feet with each transport ship having six masts. Finally, the small, five-masted warships or zhanchuan, each about 165 feet long, were designed to be maneuverable in battle. Though tiny compared with the baochuan, the zhanchuan were more than twice as long as Christopher Columbuss flagship, the Santa Maria. The Treasure Fleets Crew Why did Zheng He need so many huge ships? One reason, of course, was shock and awe. The sight of these enormous ships appearing on the horizon one by one must have been truly incredible for the people all along the Indian Oceans rim and would have enhanced Ming Chinas prestige immeasurably. The other reason was that Zheng He traveled with an estimated 27,000 to 28,000 sailors, marines, translators and other crew members. Along with their horses, rice, drinking water, and trade goods, that number of people required a staggering amount of room aboard the ship. In addition, they had to make space for the emissaries, tribute goods and wild animals that went back to China.

Why My Brother Is My Best Friend Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Why My Brother Is My Best Friend - Essay Example I told him that Aljendro was there. The teacher called Aljendro in the classroom and showed him my blank page of class work. The teacher also showed Aljendro that I had been missing the classes on the attendance register. Alejandro told the teacher that he would take care of that. The teacher also placed confidence in Aljendro because Aljendro had been holding the first position throughout his education. Alejandro left the class. I was terrified that Aljendro would tell mom and dad, and they would be furious with me to know that I had been missing the classes as well as class work. I was very upset until I realized that Aljendro did not say a word to mom and dad. It so happened that he came to me in my room to talk to me about the teacher’s complaint. I had a beautiful and comfortable relationship with him, so I thought not to lie to him. I told him that I was having trouble gaining certain concepts. Aljendro identified those areas and personally taught me them with such detai l that I grasped those concepts. Aljendro also helped me organize my work by designing a schedule for me. As I had full confidence in Aljendro and wanted to be a position holder for him, I tried my best to follow his schedule, and it did work for me. A few days later, the teacher again called Aljendro in the classroom, but this time, it was not for a complaint, but for a reward. The teacher thanked Aljendro for helping me focus on the studies and told the class to clap and appreciate the efforts of an elder brother for a younger brother.... Aljendro also helped me organize my work by designing a schedule for me. As I had full confidence in Aljendro and wanted to be a position holder like him, I tried my best to follow his schedule, and it did work for me. Few days later, the teacher again called Aljendro in the classroom, but this time, it was not for a complaint, but for a reward. The teacher thanked Aljendro for helping me focus on the studies and told the class to clap and appreciate the efforts of an elder brother for a younger brother. Aljendro really helped me improve my academic performance. Had he told mom and dad all that the teacher had confided in him, that would have shattered my confidence as well as my trust upon him, but he kept that from happening. I believe that elder brother is always much more responsible for the type of relationship between two brothers, because he is wiser and is looked up to by the younger brother in all aspects. Younger brothers imitate elder brothers, so they naturally display ru de or nice behavior when they see elder brothers doing either of the two. Also, since elder brother has got more resources and authority than younger brother at any point in time, he is more able to affect the relationship for better or worse. For example, I remember my friend Bob whose elder brother would not let him touch his computer and that made Bob dislike him. My brother was never like that. Whatever he got, he shared it with me with a view to teaching me new things and inculcating new skills in me. From the books to his clothes, Aljendro has shared his every belonging with me, and has really fulfilled all responsibilities of an elder brother. Today, I fundamentally attribute my sense of

How far can conceptual tools such as carrying capacity, limits of Assignment

How far can conceptual tools such as carrying capacity, limits of acceptable change and environmental impact assessment actually - Assignment Example The WTO, World Tourism Organization, defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four (24) hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited"(emoiz.com). Thus, mankind’s fascination with experiencing the unknown, coupled with improvements in technology and rising standards of living around the world have ensured that tourism has percolated into every strata of society, and resulted in rapid growth of that industry. However, tourism to view and admire natural environment and natural wonders (apart from the man-made ones) has started having major negative impacts on the natural environments, even leading to sizable destructions. These destructions not only damages those natural wonders, but also wide range of flora and fauna, whose habitats get destroyed in the process. Thus, with the positi ve activity of tourism turning into a nightmarish activity, there have been calls for sustainable form of tourism. As stated by Hens and Ni (cited in Nath, 1999) no form of tourism exists that does not cause environmental stress, and so the challenge is to find a ways towards sustainable tourism development that harmonises economic benefits importantly with the protection of natural diversity. Implementing sustainability in tourism involves a series of steps that has to be taken by various stakeholders. To actualize that, few conceptual tools can be used particularly â€Å"Carrying Capacity†, limits of acceptable change and environmental impact assessment. Each of these tools can protect the environment and its habitants, even while allowing human exploration of the environment in the form of tourism. So, this paper will discuss how these conceptual tools can be optimally utilized to create sustainable forms of tourism. â€Å"Carrying Capacity† and how it can help to c reate sustainable form of tourism The term or concept â€Å"â€Å"Carrying Capacity†Ã¢â‚¬  can be used in various contexts, however it basically â€Å"refers to the number of individuals who can be supported in a given area within natural resource limits, and without degrading the natural social, cultural and economic environment for present and future generations.† (gdrc.org). Every environment including a tourist environment or spot can have a limit on how many people and how much of their activities, it can support and sustain. If that limit is breached and more people enter that particular area, it could lead to instability and could cause repercussions to the already existing people. Although, the â€Å"Carrying Capacity† for any specified area is not a fixed one, and it can be altered through various means including technology, it is not a positive step. Because any alteration or modification of the â€Å"Carrying Capacity† will always result in p roblems to both the existing people as well as the entering people. Any restriction in the resources, when the â€Å"Carrying Capacity† increases beyond limit will lead to dearth of land, shortage of food, or decline in water quality and availability, which will quickly put the brakes on both types of growth. (Chant 2011). Thus, the tourist department and the authorities can come up with a tentative â€Å"Carrying Capacit

Enhancing internal marketing to solve potential conflicts between Dissertation

Enhancing internal marketing to solve potential conflicts between marketers and engineers within construction firms - Dissertation Example The focus of this paper is a study of how enhancing internal marketing can help solve potential conflicts between marketers and engineers within construction firms doing business in United Arab Emirates. The purpose of the study is therefore to explore whether businesses work better when applying the internal marketing model on the construction companies working in the said area under study through improving the relationship between marketers and engineers or not for future business escalation. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to acknowledge certain institutions and individuals for their valuable contribution to the successful completion of this dissertation. I’m particularly indebted to my Dissertation Adviser for guiding, supporting and encouraging me throughout my research work. Special thanks go to the University library staff for availing vast resources that added tremendous value to this dissertation. I also wish to record my special gratitude and sincere appreciation to all my co lleagues and close family members for the support and encouragement they accorded me. Lastly but not the least, I wish to register my sincere thanks to all the respondents who took part in the study. Table of Contents Page Running Head 1 Executive Summary 2 Acknowledgement 3 Table of contents 4 List of tables 7 CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 8 1.1. Overview 8 1.2. Background Information 9 1.3. Significance of the Study 10 1.4. Problem Statement and Research questions 11 1.5. Scope of the research 11 1.6. Research objectives 12 1.7. Research questions 12 1.8. Research design 12 1.9. Chapter Summary 13 CHAPTER TWO: Literature review 14 2.1. Introduction 14 2.2. The role of internal marketing and employees relationships 15 2.3. The concept of internal marketing 16 2.4. Implementation of Internal Marketing and Marketing Mix 18 2.5. Characteristics of Internal Marketing-Oriented Organization 22 2.6. Conflict between Engineers and Marketers 23 2.7. Importance of internal marketing 26 2.8. Conc lusion 30 2.9. Chapter Summary 32 CHAPTER THREE: Methodology 33 3.1. Introduction 33 3.2. Design Appropriateness 33 3.3. Area of study 34 3.4. The target population 34 3.5. Sampling technique 35 3.6. Instrumentation 36 3.7. Data Collection process 37 3.8. Statistical data analysis 38 3.9. Reliability and Validity 38 3.10. Ethical considerations 39 3.11. Chapter Summary 39 CHAPTER FOUR: Findings 40 4.1. Introduction 40 4.2. Characteristics of Respondents 40 4. 3. Descriptive Data 42 4.4. Chapter Summary 51 CHAPTER FIVE: Discussions and Implications 52 5.1. Introduction 52 5.2. Discussion of the results 52 5.3. Practical implications of this study 56 5.4. Chapter Summary 57 CHAPTER SIX: Conclusions and Recommendations 58 6.1. Introduction 58 6.2. General summary of findings 58 6.3. Limitations of the Study 60 6.4. Recommendations for future research 61 6.5. Concluding remarks 62 6.6. Personal Reflections 63 6.7. Chapter summary 63 BIBLIOGRAPHY 64 APPENDICES 66 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: 4P elements of marketing mix 20 Table 2: Characteristics of Respondents 41 Table 3: Relationship between engineers and marketers 43 Table 4: Assessment of engineering-marketing

What Factors Influence Uk Voting Behaviour Politics Essay

What Factors Influence Uk Voting Behaviour Politics Essay Voting behavior is the Psychological way of saying how people decide to vote in elections. Although voting is an individual act, it does not take place in isolation. Votes are influenced by a host of factors. These factors can be put in to two main groups. There are sociological factors which is called long-term factors looking at how people vote. Also political factors which is called short-term factors which focuses on the way people vote in general elections. psephologists have discovered various of theories to explain the factors that influence voting behavior in general elections. There are evidence which shows fewer people identify with a stronger party compare to 40 years ago. Elections are becoming more volatile. The 1997 General Election was apolitical Earthquake, which swigged of over 10 percent from Conservative to Labour. Long-term factors Class de-alignment plays a significant importance in voting behavior. Class de-alignment have long been the most significant influence on voting behavior in Britain. Historically, Labour always been a working-class party and Conservative was richer and middle-class party. A weakening relationship between social class and party support has been evident for some years now.   The evidence supporting the class de-alignment thesis may be seen in the fall of the majority voting for their natural class. In their classic study Butler and Stokes (1974) showed that between 1945-1970 Conservative regularly gained four-fifth of middle-class vote and Labour three-fifth of working-class vote. After 1970s these margins fell to Conservative three- fifth and Labour one-half. Less than half of the people voted with their party-class compare to second period. Political scientists such as (Crew 1977) have argued that the link between occupational class and party preference at election times has dimini shed. It is also linked to changes in social class itself. People are now less easily identifiable in class terms. According to Heath (1985) there was no evidence that there had been a fall in working-class loyalty to the Labour party. Rather, the overall decline in the Labour vote reflected a reduction of the size of the working-class as a whole. However, Curtice (1997) rejected Heaths study and claimed that survey indicates that increase in Labours support were fairly evenly spread across the different classes. He stated the rise in Labours support compared with 1992 was more or less the same in each social grade. The differences between the social grades were largely the same in 1997 as in 1992. Rather than being accompanied by the emergence of some long-lost relationship between class and vote, Labours 1997 victory appears to have done little to disturb the relationship between class and vote. Ethnicity is seen as a factor in voting behavior.   This is largely because ethnic minorities account for only 5% of votes.   However, even among the Blacks and Asians in the U.Ks, there is an emerging pattern. The 1997 election demonstrated that 70% of Asians and 86% of Blacks voted for Labour compared to the 25% of Asians and 85% of Blacks who voted for the Conservatives. A reason behind this could be that a large number of ethnic minorities are in low paid jobs which back the reasons to why their needs would suit Labours political policies. With regard to age differences in voting, Labour has done particularly well among voters the age of 30, 28 percent lead over the Conservatives in 1945 and 16 percent lead in 1974. Whereas, Conservatives has done well among the middle age (50-65) leading 18 percent in 1950 and 23 percent in 1974. It has been traditionally argued that women were more likely than men to vote Conservative and less likely than men to vote Labour. Party identification or (partisan alignment) party identification is clearly linked with some of the long-term factors connected with voting behavior. People in particular social class will be aligned to the political party which they identify as being the one which has the interests of their class at heart. In recent decades we have seen clear evidence of partisan de-alignments this means that fewer voters are strongly attached to a political party the emotional bond of loyalty between voter and their party is in decline implying that the electorate is becoming more volatile in its voting behaviour and more likely to adopt a judgemental approach before casting a vote. Short-term factors Issues and values it seems altogether that voters should look at issues and values of the political parties they are voting for. Over the last 15 years political issues has clearly grown.   For example, in 1992 the Conservatives were seen to be the strongest party due to their involvement in defense, taxation, prices and inflation issues, ultimately this shows why they won the election.   However, it is evident that in 1997 Labour maintained the highest success rate because their policies were based on the NHS, unemployment, education, taxation and relations with Europe which resulted in Labour gaining power.   Therefore, the evidence suggest that there is a significant link between party policies and voting behavior. Party leader one thing which will influence voters when it comes to vote is the personality of the person who stands for election. There are two aspects of this, first, the personality of the party leader may count as one of the policy issues on which the consumer-voter bases his/her vote at a general elections. People want their country run by someone who is honest, reliable, clever, eloquent, strong and also good at talking to others. Wilson remained more popular than Heath in 1970, but still lost. Callaghan was preferred to Thatcher as prime minister by the margin of 44 percent to 33 percent in 1979, but it was the Conservatives led by Thatcher that decisively won the election. In 1992 Major was perceived to be better than Kinnock and won, while in 1997 Major was perceived to as worse than Blair and lost. This is the evidence to say that this factor in voting behaviour has grown in recent years with the increased media focus on party leaders and the growth of presidentialism. (Lea ch 2006). Party image an image may in some ways be very close to old-fashioned ideology, repackaged for the modern world. The image will consist of a sense of what the party stand for, or which principle lie behind what it aims to achieve in power. Labour was successful under Tony Blair in putting across a clear image. It became New Labour modern and young. It was sober and sensible in economic terms, but also caring and compassionate on the social front. In 1997 and 2001 Conservatives could not shake off a negative image, old fashioned, faintly bigoted, sleazy and obsessive. In 2005 Conservatives were beginning to change their image partly because Labour was developing some of these traits itself. (Holmes 2008)

Women and Welfare Essay -- essays research papers

The Struggle of Women on Welfare   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Women in today’s society face many adversities. In this essay I will discuss fact versus stereotypical perceptions about the various social and economic problems women must face everyday. I grew up on the Upper East Side in Manhattan mostly comprised of wealthy, socialite families. I attended The Convent of Sacred Heart, also one of the top, private, all girl schools in Manhattan. The majority of the students come from very privileged families and are, more often than not, very spoiled and naà ¯ve to the world around them. While I was attending High School, I found it very hard to make friends with some of the students that went to Sacred Heart. I hated the way â€Å"rich kids† thought. They always spoke about Welfare and made absurd comments about how it should not exist because the people feeding of their tax dollars were nothing but the bottom-feeders in the world. The people I was surrounded by could never move past the fallacies their parents w ould talk about. They never realized that many people on welfare struggled. These unfortunate people were not lazy; they weren’t all drug dealers and prostitutes that just kept getting pregnant so that the city would write them a check every month. The only thing they were guilty of was being born a minority and from birth, growing up in some of the worst conditions imaginable.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Over the summer my friend and I decided to join the Coalition for Homeless Women. I learned a lot while visiting the numerous women shelters and I can admit that I too had very stupid and naà ¯ve perceptions of some of these women. Even though I was not as â€Å"rotten† as some of the girls I attended school with, my parents sheltered me. I will always remember walking down the street one day and as I passed by a homeless woman I handed her my dollar. My father immediately looked at me funny and said â€Å"Sonia, you shouldn’t have given her your allowance, she will only use it to buy drugs or alcohol. She will not use it for anything good!† At the age of ten those words resonated in my head for some time. My perception of homeless people was somewhat flawed until I was old enough to understand the world for myself. I was really happy when I visited shelters and spoke to some of these remarkable women. They weren’t on drugs, they weren ’t alcoholics, and these are wo... ...not on welfare do not have more children if they cannot support their families. Middle and Upper class families are paying the government in tax dollars to support mothers who continue to have children even though they know they cannot support themselves. Also, a single mother who chooses to have another child while being on welfare severely decreases her chances to go off welfare because she will need to stay at home with her children. This promotes a woman’s dependency on welfare.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To wrap up my essay, I will simply say that people who continue to talk about welfare in ways that it should be taken away or controlled have not educated themselves enough to fully understand what it is they are talking about. I believe that everyone in the world serves a purpose. The wealthy are not the only people who should have the right to enjoy life. People on welfare, may need help but at least they are trying. To say they are all failures is wrong. The majority of women on welfare face so many problems. People make ludicrous preconceptions about these women. People should open their eyes and realize what really goes on in the world instead of living in on a cloud.