Why Everyone Should Read Neil deGrasse Tyson’s New Book

Science is intimidating. Despite the fact that we live our lives constantly interacting with and relying on technology and the science that forms the foundation of our modern lives, the vast majority of people regard science as a discipline and general body of knowledge that is beyond their ability to understand, control, or use. Not everyone was born to be a scientist, of course, and we all have areas that interest us more (or less) and in which we demonstrate more (or less) aptitude. That makes it easy to imagine that science is both unnecessary for our daily lives as well as impenetrable — after all, a subject like astrophysics doesnt seem like something youre going to need for the Monday morning scrum meeting, and it also seems like an unimaginably vast subject that relies on math far more than most people are prepared for. And those things are both true — if you are discussing necessity and mastery. But theres a middle ground between being, say, Neil deGrasse Tyson and simply being curious about the universe we exist in. The fact is, a book like Astrophysics for People in a Hurry offers more than dry, stiff scientific knowledge — and there are plenty of reasons everyone should read it. Perspective There’s a reason that the stars have fascinated us for pretty much the entirety of human existence. No matter what your philosophy, religion, or political slant, the stars and planets in the night sky represent obvious proof that we are just a small part of a much, much larger whole — and that means the possibilities are endless. Is there life out there? Other habitable planets? Will it all end in a â€Å"Big Crunch† or Heat Death or will it go on forever? You may not realize it, but every time you look up at the night sky — or check your horoscope  Ã¢â‚¬â€ these questions flash through some level of your consciousness. That can be disturbing, because those questions are huge, and we don’t have a lot of answers for them. What Tyson aims to accomplish with this short book is to give you an anchor of knowledge to demystify the universe a little. That kind of perspective is crucial, because those huge, universal-scale questions also inform and affect our small-scale interactions and decisions here on Earth. The more you know about how the universe works, the less susceptible to fake news, fake science, and scaremongering you’ll be. Knowledge, after all, is power. Entertainment That being said, Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of the most accomplished and charming writers and speakers in our modern world. If you’ve ever seen him interviewed or read any of his articles, you know that the man knows how to write. He manages to make these complicated scientific concepts not only seem comprehensible, but downright entertaining. He’s just that guy you enjoy listening to, and his writing style often evokes the chummy sense that you’re sitting down and having drinks with him as he talks about his day at work. The writing in Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is peppered with anecdotes about famous scientists, interesting little asides about a whole range of things, and plain old jokes. It’s one of those books that will fuel your cocktail party chatter for months to come as you dole out some of the fascinating facts you glean from its pages. Format If you’re still feeling intimidated by the word astrophysics, relax. The chapters in this book were originally separate essays and articles Tyson has published over the years, which means the book comes at you in bite-size, easily digestible chunks — and there’s no test at the end. This is the sort of science book you can read in easygoing bits and pieces, because Tyson’s goal isn’t to turn you into a scientist overnight. His goal is to leave you familiar with the fundamentals. The chapters aren’t overly long, and there’s no math. Let’s repeat that: There is no math. There’s also no jargon or scary scientist lingo — Tyson knows who his intended audience is, and he writes in a chatty, open style. Jargon is designed to close off a conversation to only people in the know, and Tyson avoids it like the plague, opting instead for a vocabulary that everyone, no matter their personal scientific background, will be comfortable with. The end result? No, you won’t be a Ph.D. in astrophysics when you finish the book, but you will have a clear understanding of the forces that control our universe. Knowledge is power, and this is some of the most important knowledge you can learn. Bottom line: This is a fun, fascinating, and informative book that requires no prep work to read, and might just leave you smarter than when you came in. There’s no reason not to read it.

Plato s Symposium, By Plato - 1273 Words

In the book,† Plato’s Symposium,† by Plato, who was a philosopher in Greece, he illustrates the dialectic discussion at a party at Agathon’s to celebrate his triumph of his first tragedy. In the Symposium; the guests Phaedrus, an Athenian aristocrat; Pausanias, the legal expert; Eryximachus, a physician; Aristophanes, eminent comic playwright; Agathon ,a tragic poet and host of the banquet; Socrates, eminent philosopher and Plato s teacher; and Alcibiades, a prominent Athenian statesman, orator and general; discuss their own versions and viewpoints to praise the god of love. First, we have Phaedrus, who starts to say that love is the most ancient of the gods and should be praiseworthy, next we have Eryximachus who states that love affects everything in the universe and that it should be protected, next we have Aristophanes, who states that the reason why love is on earth is because god has split humanity in half and that man should fear the gods and should e mbrace love to feel whole again, and last we have Socrates who suggests what Diotima explains that love is in the middle of two things or objects and has both characteristics. Phaedrus starts off the conversation of love stating how the god Love doesn’t get much attention in songs and that he should be praiseworthy because he has helped men to gain honor and blessedness. This begins the symposium and functions as a way to tell the reader what the topic would be about and why the guests in the party should discuss it.Show MoreRelatedComparing Plato s The Symposium1704 Words   |  7 PagesIn one of his most accomplished works, Plato brings to light the topic of alcohol and the significance of drinking in The Symposium. Through this text, Plato is writing about philosophy is the setting of a narrative in order to reinforce the context of the story. Plato was a metaphilosophist that supported the theory of forms. He believed that understanding pure form, achieving true wisdom, is something that cannot be defined or reduced to words, and all people should strive to understand pure formRead MoreThe War And Plato s Symposium, And The Man Discussed1769 Words   |  8 Pageswork, and the effects of the depiction upon the rest of the specific work. These works are of course Thucydides’, The History of the Peloponnesian War and Plato’s Symposium, and the man discussed is the Athenian giant, Alcibiades of the Alcmaeonidae. The authors, of course, have their own aims and reasons for writing their works, Plato, writing an allegory on love likely to defend his teacher Socrates, and Thucydides, to inform on what he believes to be the most significant war in history. The genresRead MorePlato s Symposium : The Nature Of Love1320 Words   |  6 PagesPlato’s Symposium explores the nature of love through several different telling’s of what love is by philosophers of the time. The speeches of Socrates, Alcibiades, and Aristophanes are of mai n focus, as their similarities and differences help the reader to decide the truth of the nature of love. Throughout the Symposium, the accounts of love vary from speaker to speaker. The speech given by Socrates differentiates from the viewpoints of Alcibiades and Aristophanes, as well as all of the other speechesRead MorePlato s The Symposium And The Epic Of Gilgamesh2326 Words   |  10 PagesStairway to Immortality Besides being a phenomenal writer and philosopher, it seems Plato had the gift of foresight as well. At a glance, a Greek novel about love and an ancient Mesopotamian epic seem to have nothing in common. However, what is interesting to see is that not only do the two share very similar themes, but one acts as a how-to guide for the other. In both novels, Plato’s The Symposium and The Epic of Gilgamesh, the main protagonists deal with the concept of immortality. In GilgameshRead MorePlatoï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½s Symposium, And Ovids The Art Of Love1109 Words   |  5 Pagesattacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.† Since the beginning of time, writers and philosophers have been trying to discover the origins of this â€Å"attack,† and many attribute different reasons for this immense feeling. In both Plato’s Symposium, and Ovid’s The Art of Love, Aristophanes and Ovid attempt to address the genesis of love by asking: what is the feeling that d rives us towards another human: Is it physical attraction? Sexual desire? Experience in the field of dating? Or is thisRead MorePlato s Symposium : A Glimpse Into Antiquity Of Some Philosophical Conversations On Love762 Words   |  4 PagesPlato’s Symposium is a glimpse into antiquity of some philosophical conversations on love. The focus here is on two different perspectives between Aristophanes and Socrates. Aristophanes gives us his view on love by telling a mythical account on how human nature came to be. There were once three types of beings, male-male, female-female and male-female, which the later would be known as androgynous. They were each round with four arms, four legs, and two faces on opposite sides of their being andRead MorePlato s Symposium, Sequential Speeches Praise The God Of Love, But They Stray From Truth1694 Words   |  7 PagesIn Plato’s Symposium, sequential speeches praise the god of Love, but they stray from truth until Diotima’s speech provides a permanent form in which love â€Å"neither waxes nor wanes† (Sym. 211A). Through the speeches, love shifts from identifying with the concrete to the abstract, but still ultimately advances goals of present: Phaedrus sees love as helping â€Å"men gain virtue,† Aristophanes as only a â€Å"promise† to restore humans to their â€Å"original nature† and Pausanias and Eryximachus have to use twoRead MorePlato ´s The Symposium and it theme Compared to the French Song La Vie En Rose614 Words   |  2 PagesLife is pink, or so says Louis Armstrong’s version of Edith Piaf’s beautiful French song, La Vie En Rose. Plato is arguably the most famous philosopher from Ancient Greece. The Symposium, one of Plato’s most famous works, is a brilliant piece of literature centered on a group of men telling their own versions of what they believe to be Love. The Goddess of Love however, is the main focus of Plato’s work more so than the act of actually being in love. This becomes the men’s main focal point for theRead MoreThe Great Philosopher728 Words   |  3 Pages2017 The Great Philosopher Plato Plato is known as one of ancient Greece’s greatest philosophers. Plato was born in Athens, Greece during 428 BCE. Some people believe that Plato s real name is Aristocles, if in fact this is true he would have received this name from his grandfather. Historians believed that Plato had two full brother, one sister, and one half brother. They are unsure if Plato was the eldest. They believe that he was since he inherited his grandfather s name, and tradition was thatRead MoreA Comparison Of Thomas Mores Utopia, And The Symposium By Plato1607 Words   |  7 Pages Utopia by Thomas More, and The Symposium by Plato are similar in that they both challenge pre-existing notions in society. The two stories prompt readers to reconsider certain aspects of life which one might have found to be quite one-sided. Thomas More introduces us to an island called Utopia which serves as a model of perfection in each facet of everyday life. In The Symposium, Plato and his friends contribute distinctive interpretations on the origin and meaning of love. Both author’s purpose

Priming Of Social Attitudes Free Essays

string(108) " measured the total number of people to interupt in each condition, rather than the time taken to interupt\." Abstract Previous research has indicated that social behaviour can be automatically activated when primed by traits (Higgins, Rholes Jones, 1977). The present study investigated whether participants are more like to interrupt an experimenter and unseen confederate when primed by words semantically associated with rudeness, compared with positive and neutral words. It represented a replication of the Bargh, Chen and Burrows experiment (1996) with one alteration; the total number of interruptions rather than time taken to interrupt was measured. We will write a custom essay sample on Priming Of Social Attitudes or any similar topic only for you Order Now 54 undergraduate students aged between 19 and 25 participated in a between-subjects experiment, and were randomly assigned to one of three experimental levels. Participants were asked to complete a Scrambled Sentence Task containing either rude, polite or neutral words. In order to indicate their completion, participants had to interrupt the conversation of the experimenter. As hypothesised, particpants allocated to the rude condition were significantly more likely to interrupt the experimenter than those in the neutral or polite conditions. Introduction The extent to which one has intentional control over their own thoughts and behaviours has formed the basis of much research in the field of social psychology. During the 1970’s the distinction between automatic and conscious thought processes emerged, and has became the focus of much attention (Bargh, 1989). Research concentrating on social cognition and attitude formation has documented that many phenomena are unintentional or automatic in nature. Stereotypes, for example, can be automatically elicited merely by the presense of physical features commonly associated with the stereotyped group. Similarly, the presense of an ‘attitude object’ can automatically elicit an attitude, which in turn exerts influence on behaviour (Bargh, Chen Burrows, 1996). Both are examples of priming, which refers to the effect observed when exposure to a certain stimulus influences responses to a second stimulus. In social psychology, priming can be understood in terms of the tendenc y for recent information to influence subsequent thoughts. An early example of this came from Higgins, Rholes and Jones (1977). In this research, particpants read a passage involving a man attempting certain ambitious physical feats. Prior to this, particpants were told they were particpating in a memory task, and were given a list of attributes to read. Half of the particpants were ‘positvely primed’ and given words such as ‘adventurous’ and ‘brave’. The other half were ‘negatively primed’ and given words such as ‘foolish’ and ‘reckless’. After reading the passage, particpants were asked to give their impressions of the man in the story. Those who had been positively primed formed more positive impressions of the man in the passage than those who had been negatively primed. Forgas and Bower (1987) looked at the effect of priming on how people judge information about others. Participants were assigned to one of two conditions. In the first condition, participants were given information that primed a happy mood. In the second, particpants were given information to prime a sad mood. Participants in both conditions were then given identical person descriptions to read. They found that those who had been primed to experience a happy mood formed more positive impressions of the people in the person descriptions than those primed to experience a sad mood. An experiment by Bargh, Chen and Burrows (1996; exp2) demonstrated that priming influences behaviour, investigating the behavioural consequence of automatic stereotype activation based on the premise that a typical stereotypical view of the elderly concerns slowness. Participants were presented with scrambled sentences containing words that related to elderly stereotypes, or sentences containing neutral words. Importantly, the authors ensured that none of the words in the ‘elderly’ condition were directly related to slowness. This ensured that any observed behaviour change was attributable to the stereotype of elderly being activated (and the associated assumptions of slowness) rather than focusing attention on the single trait of being slow. Following this, particpants were asked to leave the room, and were timed walking down a hallway to return to the waiting area, to test whether priming participants with the concept of elderly would automatically and unconsciously ch ange their behaviour to emulate the elderly. As predicted, participants who were primed with the stereotypical information took longer to walk down the hallway than those who received the neutral information. Carver, Ganellen, Froming and Chambers (1983) demonstrated the priming effect of aggression on particpant’s subsequent behaviour. Participants were divided into two conditions and given scrambled sentences containing either aggressive or neutral concepts, diguised as part of a seemingly unrelated study. They were then asked to participate in an experiment of human learning where particpants were able to punish another participant (actually a confederate) by administering electric shocks for incorrect responses. Those in the aggressive condition administered stronger shocks than those in the control condition. The studies discussed thus far have indicated that priming can influence both perceptions and behaviour. From this premise, Bargh et al. (1996, exp 1) investigated whether this effect overrode the typical processes one uses in everyday life, such as social judgement. In this experiment, 34 participants were informed that they were taking part in a test of language ability, and presented with a scrambled sentence test. They were randomly assigned to one of three conditions priming conditions, rude, polite and neutral. Participants were asked to complete the task individually, then notify the experimenter in another room. When the participant entered the second room, they found the experimenter in conversation with a second participant (a confederate). The critical outcome measure of the study was the length of time the participant took to interupt the conversation between the experimenter and confederate. They found that those in the rude condition did interupt significantly faster th an those in the polite and neutral conditions. However, the results suffered from significant ceiling effects; 21 of the 34 participants did not interupt at all. The present study was a replication of Bargh et al.’s(1996) experiment and borrows heavily from their methodology, but with one critical difference. In an attempt to address the methodological issues caused by the strong ceiling effects observed by Bargh et al., the current experiment measured the total number of people to interupt in each condition, rather than the time taken to interupt. You read "Priming Of Social Attitudes" in category "Essay examples" Based on the findings of Bargh et al., the experimental hypothesis predicted that significantly more particpants in the ‘rude’ condition would interupt the experimenter than those in the ‘polite’ and neutral conditions. Furthermore, it was predicted that there would be no significant difference in the number of participants in the polite and neutral conditons who interupted the experimenter. Method Participants A total of 54 undergraduate psychology students, 34 females and 19 males, aged between 19-25 (mean age 20.3), volunteered to participate in the experiment. Materials Each of the participants was presented with â€Å"Scrambled Sentence Test† which was presented as a test of language ability. Comprising 30 items, participants had to use listed words to form a grammatically correct four-word sentence as quickly as possible. There were three versions of the scrambled-sentence test: for the rude and polite conditions, 15 of the 30 items contained words that were associated with the trait in question. In the neutral condition, these 15 were replaced with neutral words. The remaining 15 items were idetical across the three conditions. Design ?he design of the experiment was between subjects, and had three experimental conditions. Participants were randomly assigned to each condition. The independent variable was the condition that the participant was assigned to and had three levels; rude, polite and neutral. The dependent variable was the number of participants who interupted the experimenter. Procedure Participants took part in the experiment one at a time. They were informed that they were to participate in a language ability study, and their consent to participate was obtained. Each participant received an envelope that contained 30 scrambled sentences, and were told the task was concerned with grammatical construction. They were asked to form a grammatically correct four-word sentence from a list of five-word scrambled sentences. Particpants were then given one of three versions of the test (rude, polite or neutral) of the scrambled-sentence test, and asked to complete it as quickly as possible. Upon completion, participants were asked to find the experimenter in a second room and notify them of their completion, in order to move on to the next experimental task. Participants was randomly assigned to each condition, to which the experimenter was blind. When the participant entered the second room, the experimenter appeared to be engaged with another unseen particpant (actually a confederate). The experimenter and confederate continued their discussion until interupted by the participant. The confederate noted which of the participants elected to interrupt. Results Table 1: Total number of participants who did/did not interrupt in each condition (polite, neutral, rude). Word Type Polite (n)Neutral (n)Rude (n) Did not interrupt15108 Interrupted3612 The dependent variable of the experiment was the total number of participants that interrupted the experimenter in each word type condition, and as can be seen from Table 1, participants in the rude condition interrupted most frequently (n = 12). Participants in the polite condition interrupted the least (n = 3). The propensity to interrupt increased across the levels of the independent variable; a higher number of participants in the neutral condition (n = 6) interrupted than in the polite group. A higher number again interrupted in the rude group. The results of this experiment were statistically analysed used a Chi-square goodness-of-fit test. This test was selected as the data was categorical, numerical and discrete. It produced a goodness-of-fit between the observed and expected values. If priming had no effect on interrupting behaviour, distribution across the conditions would be equal. The Chi-square test demonstrated whether the observed frequencies differed significantly from the expected frequencies. The result of the Chi-square was significant; participants in the rude condition were significantly more likely to interrupt the experimenter than participants in the neutral or positive condition, x2 (2, N = 54) = 7.50, p 0.5. Discussion This study examined whether priming traits (rudeness and politeness) could have an impact on social behaviour. It was hypothesized that participants primed with rude traits would be more likely to interrupt an experimenter ostensibly engaged in a conversation with an unseen ‘participant’ than those who were primed with positive or neutral traits, and this hypothesis was fully supported by the results of the experiment. The study confirmed that people, when influenced by a rude prime condition, would demonstrate a negative impact on social behaviour, whilst the social behaviour of those who were influenced by a polite or neutral prime condition were unaffected. This finding supported the results of Bargh et al. (1996) despite the change to the dependent variable. This provides compelling evidence for their hypothesis regarding the automatic activation of social behaviours in the face of certain environmental features (in both cases, the rude primes). Not only does the replication confirm the original study findings, but the change in the dependent variable in the study under discussion improves on the methodological design flaw of the original. Interestingly, the present study also supported the original study finding of no significant difference in interrupting behaviour between the polite and neutral groups. This indicates that it is rude behaviour that is most likely to be automatically activated. Priming a participant with polite trait information does not appear to increase an individual’s politeness, or a significant difference between the neutral and polite levels would be observed. This is somewhat at odds with previous resea rch which indicated a bias towards increased postivity via priming (Higgins et al., 1977; Forgas Bower, 1987). However, these studies looked at the effect of priming on judgement, and not on behaviour. If the result of the present study is compared with Carver et al. (1983) study of negative priming and electric shock administration, both show an increased bias towards the propensity to prime negative behaviour. Although the change in the dependent variable from time to interrupt to presence of interrupting behaviour resolved the issue of ceiling effects described by Bargh et al. (1996), whilst producing a similar result, some detail was lost. Moving from a numerical scale (time) to a categorical measurement meant that the choice of statistical analysis available was limited. A future replication might involve measuring the total number of participants that interrupted, and the time taken among those that did. A second factor that should be considered is the possibility that those in the rude condition were simply a ruder group of participants and were more likely to interrupt despite the priming effect. To control for this possibility, a future replication could incorporate a personality questionnaire to control for propensity towards rude behaviour. The current study was a replication of Baugh et al.’s (1996) experiment 2. To resolve the original study’s problem of ceiling effects, a change was made to the dependent variable; instead of measuring the time taken to interrupt, the total number of those interrupting in each condition was measured. The results supported the finding of the original study, presentation of the rudeness trait primes subsequent rude behaviour; therefore social behaviour can be automatically triggered without conscious thought. References Bargh, J. A. (1989). Conditional automaticity: Varieties of automatic influence in social perception and cognition. In J. S. Uleman, J. A. Bargh (Eds.), Unintended Thought (pp. 3-51). New York: Guilford Press. Bargh, J.A., Chen, M., Burrows, L. (1996). Automaticity of social behavior: Direct effects of trait construct and stereotype activation on action, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 230-244. Carver, C., Ganellen, R., Froming, W., Chambers, W. (1983). Modelling: an analysis in terms of c ategory accessibility. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 403–421. Forgas, J. P. Moylan, S. J. (1987). After the movies: The effects of transient mood states on social judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 13, 478-489. Higgins, E. T., Rholes, W. S., Jones, C. R. (1977). Category accessibility and impression formation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,13, 141–154. How to cite Priming Of Social Attitudes, Essay examples

Importance of Process Design of Service NHS

Question: Describe about importance of process design of service, overall aims and objectives of product or service, stages of service for illustrating the design concept and impact of the performance objectives on the design? Answer: Introduction National Health Services or NHS is the largest public health care organisation. Since the establishment of the organisation in 1948, it is providing health care service to the citizens of United Kingdom. Since the through reform of the organisation in 2013, the organisation has faced several changes in the different fields. Now the health care services are much flexible for the further improvement. The organisation has recently decided to improve its performances in the care for the elderly people. The advanced instruments for moving elderly or disabled patients were a difficult job (Vera and Kuntz, 2007). The existing slings and hoists were good but better alternatives can be introduced for the improvement of the health care provisions. This report will evaluate the need of the process design for the improvement of the facilities and service for the elderly and disabled people. The provisions of the health care service improvement, the aims and objectives of the service, concept of the service design will be assessed in the report. The report will further investigate on the possible impacts of the performance objectives for the modification and improvement of the design. Importance of process design of service The process design is necessary whenever a new service is being introduces or a existing service is being modified. It comes after the completion of the plan of a new project. The complete project is the combination of different processes, which are interrelated with each other. The process-deign helps to form a flow chart of these processes so that the project can be completed in the most efficient way and in optimum cost (Migdadi, 2012). For a service providing organisation, the proper allocation and availability of the different resources should be assured by the by the efficient process design. The design will help the project to be success full to meet the target objectives of the project. In this case, NHS is trying to modify the health and social care services of the elderly and disabled people so that they can be provided by the most advanced and safe infrastructure. The process needs to introduce different new instruments, facilities, trained employees and technologies. The project also requires selecting the best practices and best technologies among the available modern practices. The introduction of a new system always needs proper financial and human resource support. The project planning will have significant impact over the process design. The aim of the project is segmented by the different objectives, which will be met after the completion of the project. The perfect process designing will help a project to make the overall process so efficient that it will meet all of the objectives successfully. The National Health Service (NHS) provides health car services to the patients. The safety and security of the patients are the ultimate goal of the organisation (Blackhurst et al., 2005). The inefficient service can even cause life risks for the patients. Specially, in case of the vulnerable adults, the health care service should be more secured. They are not very much healthy to withstand any small difficulties. The risk elimination needs to be modified through the advanced instrumentation for moving the vulnerable adults from one pace to other efficiently. This project will help to improve the system with a systematic approach. The process design will help NHS to carry out the modification of the service system to the vulnerable adults and the disabled persons. The process design also has effect on the performance of the individual processes of a project. As all of the processes are interrelated and mostly dependent on each other, with out proper arrangement abruptly carried out process will obviously fail (DING et al., 2009). Thus, process design for this issue is very much important for the project of service modification in NHS. Overall aims and objectives of product or service The overall aims and objectives of a project should be properly addressed so that the outcome of the project can be targeted throughout the completion of each of the processes. The plan of the project will indicate the aims and objectives of the service improvement that will help NHS to improve its service efficiency. For setting the service aims, it is necessary to understand the existing system and the probable future system that is gong to be implemented. The different systems and technologies are available in the modern medical service related science (AHMADI et al., 2009). The organisation can implement any o the services that will meet their requirements of the service improvement. The flexibility is one of the most important issues that should be integrated in the improvement of the system, as an implementation of a system not so flexible can affect the provision of the further improvement or development oft eh system. Thus, the aims and objectives of the project must be set c onsidering these factors. The aims and objective have direct impact on the process designing methods. The overall aim of the project is to provide the best facilities to the vulnerable adult patients of National Health Service (NHS). The difficulties of moving the patients and the risk factors involving in the existing system of moving the patients are aimed to eliminate through this project. The project aims to implement a modified system by introducing new technology, infrastructure, expert employees and instruments by analysing the existing and the available systems. The objectives of the project are set so that the project processes can be identified specifically and carried out in a systematic order. The objectives of the service modification of NHS are as follows. To carry out a risk assessment program on the exiting system of moving elderly and disabled patients To understand the different available new technologies for serving similar services To evaluate the efficiency and drawbacks of the existing system by analysing the existing systems in comparison with the provisions of the available new systems To select the best alternatives and the areas where the modification is required To improve the efficiency of the service and the safety of the patients with in the NHS service system towards elderly and disables patients by implementing advanced and better system by modifying the exiting one These objectives are to be met through the process designing (Lu and Wood, 2006). The different stages of the processes are to be arranged by process designing methods so that these objectives can be met efficiently. Stages of service for illustrating the design concept The process designing should include several processes through different stages. The stages help to make the performance to be more efficient. The process deigns help to arrange the content of the different stages in an overall project. A systematic process overview should be selected after evaluating the opportunities and the risk factors of the project (Ding, 2015). In case of the modification of the existing system, it is necessary to understand the strength and weakness of the existing system. The risk factors of the existing system are to be evaluated for the system evaluation and selection of the best alternatives. The study of the available system will help to understand the opportunities of the growth of the infrastructure of the organisation. The national Health Services (NHS) is an organisation that always needs to perform safely. Thus, the safety requirements are to be evaluated in the existing and the expected system most precisely. Again, the areas of the modification ar e to be detected so that the project team can lead the process effectively. After the detection of the required improvement areas and the existing system drawbacks, the stages of the service design will helps to improve the organisational service (zkan-Seely et al., 2015). However, the outcome is the improvement of service and the improvement of the safety measures. Thus, the following stages will help to concept of the design of the service modification of the project. Allocating resources: The very first stage after the selection of the best alternatives of the existing system is to locate the availability of the resources. The resources may be instruments, machineries or financial requirements. The safety measures will also be considered as the resources. The safety practices will be assured if all of the resources that will be necessary are allocated perfectly (Donk and Fransoo, 2006). Again, the system implementation also needs to carry out the optimisation of the cost resources. This process of optimisation of cost must not affect the outcome of the resources. The project will need to replace the hoists and the slings of the organisation with the new and modified one with added facilities and instruments. The automotive system for moving the patients will also be added with the system. Employee recruitment and training: The recruitment and training is very much necessary in the project (Fixson, 2005). As the existing employees may not be as efficient in operating the new technologies as they were with the existing technologies. Thus, it is necessary to carry out a recruitment and selection process. The existing employees will also require to be trained with the use of the new technology so that they can carry out their health care activities efficiently. Systematic change and replacing the existing system with the new one: The employees of the organisation and the patients of the organisation are in continuous service. It is not possible to stop services for implementing or modifying the system of NHS. This could hamper the safety of the patients. Thus, it is necessary to make a team that will guide the modification process. Thus, it is necessary to inform all of the employees regarding the changes (Greasley, 2006). The change will be carried out through several stages the employees should be trained part by part and the replacement of the instruments and system should be carried out accordingly. Monitoring and further improvement: When the implementation of the new system is complete, it is not the end of the project. A project team will further carry out their activities of the project by monitoring the activities of the organisation (Vos et al., 2007). The performance of the implementation should be evaluated by the [project team so that the efficiency of the performance of the new project can be measured and decisions regarding the further changes can be taken for the improvement of the services. Impact of the performance objectives on the design The design o the process will be improved by the performance objectives. The performance objectives are set so that the improvement of the activities of the organisation can be identified efficiently. The project should be carried out o that the aims of the project could be reached.teh performance objectives are the final goal for NHS. The efficiency of the project regarding the meeting of the performance objectives can be evaluated though the measuring the performance before and after the implementation of the modified system (Kastberg and Siverbo, 2013). The safety performance can be measured by carrying out the risk assessment program after the implementation of the new system. The performance objectives also reflect on the customer satisfaction measurements. The feedback of the customers of NHS can be analysed for the measuring the success of the project. The project design should be one in accordance with the performance objectives. The choice o the best alternatives will be mod ified with the performance objectives. The highest level of safety performance should be reached with the most appropriate technology (Kumar and Suresh, 2009). The consumer satisfaction will also affect the modification necessities. The time also has impact over the design of the project. The modification should be carried out with in a scheduled time. Thus, the design of the project should be modified in accordance with the time constraint. Conclusion The project management is a tough work, as the managers need to understand all of the necessary factors that have impact over the project there are different factors that can be considered as the risk of the existing system (Krajewski et al., 2010). The implementation process also may have different drawbacks that affect the performance. However, the proper operations management NHS need to modify its existing system of the safety movement of the elderly and disabled patients. The proper process design will help to lead the project complete efficiently and meet the performance objectives of NHS. References AHMADI, J., AHMADI, R. and RAO, J. (2009). PRODUCT/PROCESS DESIGN IN MASS PLACEMENT PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD ASSEMBLY.Production and Operations Management, 4(4), pp.401-413. Blackhurst, J., Wu, T. and OGrady, P. (2005). PCDM: a decision support modeling methodology for supply chain, product and process design decisions.Journal of Operations Management, 23(3-4), pp.325-343. DING, J., GONG, L. and TANG, K. (2009). EFFECTS OF RANDOM SHIFTS OF TESTING EQUIPMENT ON PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM DESIGN AND SELECTION OF PROCESS CONTROL POLICIES*.Production and Operations Management, 11(2), pp.125-138. Ding, X. (2015). The impact of service design and process management on clinical quality: An exploration of synergetic effects.Journal of Operations Management, 36, pp.103-114. Donk, D. and Fransoo, J. (2006). Operations management research in process industries.Journal of Operations Management, 24(3), pp.211-214. Fixson, S. (2005). Product architecture assessment: a tool to link product, process, and supply chain design decisions.Journal of Operations Management, 23(3-4), pp.345-369. Forza, C., Salvador, F. and Rungtusanatham, M. (2005). Coordinating product design, process design, and supply chain design decisions.Journal of Operations Management, 23(3-4), pp.319-324. Greasley, A. (2006).Operations management. Chichester, England: Wiley. Kastberg, G. and Siverbo, S. (2013). The Design and Use of Management Accounting Systems in Process Oriented Health Care - An Explorative Study.Financial Accountability Management, 29(3), pp.246-270. Krajewski, L., Ritzman, L. and Malhotra, M. (2010).Operations management. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. Kumar, S. and Suresh, N. (2009).Operations management. New Delhi: New Age International. Lu, Q. and Wood, L. (2006). The refinement of design for manufacture: inclusion of process design.Int Jrnl of Op Prod Mnagemnt, 26(10), pp.1123-1145. Migdadi, Y. (2012). Identifying the effective banking service delivery process design strategy in developing economies (the case of Jordan).International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 11(4), p.428. Miller, L. and Park, C. (2005). A Learning Real Options Framework with Application to Process Design and Capacity Planning.Production and Operations Management, 14(1), pp.5-20. zkan-Seely, G., Gaimon, C. and Kavadias, S. (2015). Dynamic Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Development for Product and Process Design Teams.Manufacturing Service Operations Management, 17(2), pp.177-190. Petersen, K., Handfield, R. and Ragatz, G. (2005). Supplier integration into new product development: coordinating product, process and supply chain design.Journal of Operations Management, 23(3-4), pp.371-388. Vera, A. and Kuntz, L. (2007). Process-based organization design and hospital efficiency.Health Care Management Review, 32(1), pp.55-65. Vos, L., Groothuis, S. and van Merode, G. (2007). Evaluating hospital design from an operations management perspective.Health Care Management Science, 10(4), pp.357-364.

Asian American Studies essays

Asian American Studies essays Although there have been a number of readers published in the growing field of Asian American Studies, none approach the subject matter with more clarity, depth and understanding than Zhou and Gatewood's Contemporary Asian America: A Multidisciplinary Reader. As one who is taking Asian American Studies courses I appreciate Contemporary Asian America for its commitment to providing historical readings on the birth and development of Asian American Studies, as well as articles on Asian American community formation, new immigrant and refugee populations, Asian American visual culture, multiethnic Asian Americans, and queer Asian America, among many other topics. I found the evidence to the claims that Asian Americans there. Compared with other regions of the world, U.S. race relations are still largely characterized in Black and White terms, and that's the way it should be to a large extent because of the history of this country and the persistent struggles. At the same time, given the rapidly changing demographic nature of American society, race relations have to be framed in broader terms. And here, I don't mean it's going to be White and Latino or White and Asian or White and American Indian. Race relations are so complex today that we need to think about race relations between peoples of color. And how that, in turn, informs us about Black/White relations. For example, some of us, in analyzing what happened in Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict, the so-called Los Angeles uprising, realized that the conflict, which was ostensibly an intense one between Blacks and Asians, was much more complicated than that. To be sure, the stores of some two thousand Korean shopkeepers were looted and burned. But it would be too simplistic to leave it at that and read this as something between Blacks and Asians in Los Angeles. One needs to ask, why were the Koreans there and how ...

Drama Analysis of Hamlet by Shakespeare

Drama Analysis of Hamlet by Shakespeare In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare who is one of the most influential writers in history has elaborated the contemporary themes in society into a piece of literature as revealed in the drama. Due to his universal way of creating themes, he has been able to influence the western literature. In the contemporary theatre of the western, they still view Shakespeare’s work being relevant. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Drama Analysis of Hamlet by Shakespeare specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Shakespeare therefore uses the stylistic device of a play within a play to pass his information to the audience as well as helping him develop his plot. Shakespeare has in this case therefore used the main actor Hamlet in portraying this device. Hamlet who is a character in the play is again seen in another play within the play, which he acts in order to be in a position to kill Claudius. Hamlet is a play that depicts a vi vid drama of melancholy and insanity as well as famous of its ghostliness. In this play, Shakespeare has used various elements of literature to develop the plot of the play. In this case, the writer has used characters, settings, symbols, themes, characterization and other elements of literature in the development of the plot. The writer has used these elements correlatively to achieve his plot. Themes are used to develop characters in the play. For instance, the writer has used the theme of betrayal to develop the main character Hamlet in the play hence the development of the plot. The writer used the name of the play as the name of the main actor while other characters in the play helped in development of the predominant theme in the main character. Therefore, four main characters have greatly contributed by playing major roles. Hamlet experienced character development through the betrayals of Ophelia with whom he is romantically involved. Gertrude is his mother and Claudius†™ wife while Gildernstern and Rosencrantz were his friends from the University of Wittenberg. When the scene begins, there is a very close relationship between Hamlet and the mother, which later fades off when Gertrude remarries his uncle Claudius two months after his father’s death. This culminated the distrust in women since his mother was the most important female in his life. He therefore uses mockery phrases like â€Å"such dexterity to incestuous sheets† and â€Å"frailty, thy name is woman†. Such phrases illustrated how disgusted and disappointed he was towards his mother and women as well as depicting how isolated he was as a young man.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The theme of madness has also played major role in the development of the plot. Insanity was used in many revenge tragedies like in the first revenge tragedy of Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus. Unlike in the case of Hamlet where the madness is ambiguous, other revenge tragedies in the character have been unambiguous. In the source of Shakespeare’ plot in Hamlet, the main protagonist feigns his madness to be in the position to revenge without being suspected by the king (Claudius) whom he plots to kill. In the play, Hamlet’s madness tends to distract him from accomplishing his mission as it is depicted in the play as being with very little interest in accomplishing the mission of the ghost even after proving that Claudius is guilty (act 4 scene 2). Hamlet therefore acts like a mad person in the play since he is aware in a bizarre manner that he should act as a mad man to accomplish the role of revenge in Hamlet. He knows the role that he is supposed to play even though to some extent he does not attain it satisfactorily. This in return built Hamlet as a character who wants to revenge. Ophelia is another character who plays the part of a ma d person but in her case, she is innocently mad. Ophelia loses her senses of self-knowledge and composure completely and therefore insane. Suicide is another theme that has been used by Shakespeare to develop the plot in Hamlet. The play has been shaped using Ophelia as well as Hamlet. Hamlet deeply contemplates about the issue of suicide and this is seen in his soliloquies. He keeps on asking himself questions about the act of murder. Hamlet had the fear to kill because of his social as well as religious morals. He views suicide as a crime in the societal view and even before God who gives life. He also had the fear of what happens to the person after he has departed from this world and going to the world of the deaths. Ophelia’s death also arouses many issues where some people say that she died a natural death while others say that she committed suicide. According to Hamlet’s mother, Ophelia’s death was accidental because she drowned while on the other hand, the priest and the gravediggers said it clearly that Ophelia killed herself. This therefore left the people feeling that Gertrude’s narration was just a story to cover up the whole issue of murder since it was viewed as an immoral act in the society (act 5).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Drama Analysis of Hamlet by Shakespeare specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In Hamlet, Shakespeare has used women characters in the development of the plot. In the play, women are seen to play minor roles but very essential in development of the plot. In the play, Gertrude and Ophelia are the two women in direct relationship with the main protagonist. The writer develops the theme of love in the play using Gertrude who is the main protagonist’s mother. This is seen when Gertrude tries to stop the death of his son because Hamlet never loved her as a mother. This is because; he felt that her mother was involved in the mu rder of his father. She is concerned about the well-being of her son, which proves the reason why Claudius could not inform her about the plot of killing his stepson. Ophelia is portrayed as loving because after the death of her father she became insane. This is evident when she started using abusive language in public without fear as she used to behave in the previous scene, where Hamlet could abuse her and she could not respond due to the fear she had as woman who was under the power of a man. The theme of patriarchal is built around the two women to show how they were not allowed to make decisions on their own. For example, in the case of Ophelia, she is forced by the father (Claudius) and her brother Laertes not to love Hamlet because the brother feels that Hamlet is playing with her feelings. Trying to satisfy the wants of the father and brother, Hamlet blames her and even insults her, but since Ophelia does not have power to explain to him what was underlying the whole issue , she ends up suffering. The husband on the other hand see Gertrude as a less repressed person but Claudius married her so that he can be able to promptly take over the throne after Hamlet’s death and pretend that he is good just like the previous king by remarrying his wife. Ophelia has been used to develop the stylistic device of symbolism in the play towards the development of the plot. The symbolism of her language in the play increases the range of meanings depicted in the play. For example, Ophelia is emotional after hearing about the death of her father and throws flowers in every place around her as a sign of purity (act 4 scene 4). On the contrary, this symbolizes her deflowering as a person, on the other scene of her madness.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Lastly, the two characters have contributed in the development of the plot and again helped the writer to portray the fate of his heroes in the play. When Ophelia rejects Hamlet, Hamlet’s disgust his mother’s remarriage, taints the opinion about all women hence making him an isolated man. The madness death of Ophelia fortifies her brother’s determination of revenging on Hamlet, which results to the final catastrophe in the play. Gertrude cared for his son but could not control the tragedy from taking place. The writer has used Hamlet who is the main character in the play to build other themes hence the development of the plot. After the death of Hamlet’s father, Hamlet plots on how to kill Claudius after the spirit confirmed to him that Claudius is the one who killed his father. However, in the play Hamlets avenge on Claudius. â€Å"†¦ I, his son, do this same villain send to heaven, why, this is hire and salary, not revenge† (Act 3 scene 3 7 8-84). Honor is another theme portrayed through Hamlet the main protagonist. This theme is best depicted when Hamlet takes order from the ghost to revenge on Claudius as if the order came from God. â€Å"†¦ With wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love may sweep to my revenge† (1.v.35-37). The writer develops the plot using Claudius, Hamlet’s brother the king who later marries Gertrude his brother’s wife. In the play, he is Hamlet’s major avenger who is portrayed as lustful because he took his brother’s wife, Shrewd. He takes the throne that does not belong to him and allows his son revenge on Hamlet. Due to these characters, he stands out as a man with contrasting characters from other men in the play. The ideas of Hamlet are just, honest and full of revenge but Claudius ensures that his power is maintained. In conclusion, the writer has also used other elements in correlation like the setting of the play to bring out the meanin g in Hamlet. Shakespeare therefore does not present various elements of literature as single entities in the play but he uses his concept of unity to express them as a single entity. Therefore, in this case, he uses characters in the play to develop themes and stylistic devices as well as using the themes to create the characters hence the clear development of the play.

Taget market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Taget market - Essay Example on of Apple’s target market is different from the competitors, because focus of the company is to target end users while other companies focus on targeting the overall market. The business plan of many organizations is based on market size, but there are companies like Apple, which realizes that people are the one who accepts or rejects any product. The selected target market of Apple has become so successful that many organizations are now willing to buy products of Apple, as they have realized that Apple has been able to define the needs of their customers on the basis of differentiation strategy. For the convenience of its users, Apple has converted complicated technology in a convenient technology, and this is the reason that millions of people around the world are attracted towards the products of Apple. The article has extended concepts that are discussed in the class that it is important for the companies to select appropriate target market for their products or service and without selecting proper target market, products of the company cannot become successful. Apple has tried to change concept of target market in such a way that company do not consider market size while selecting target market instead, the company aims to focus on targeting end user. This strategy of Apple has helped me to understand the significance of targeting end user, and I will try to understand needs of the end users in my professional career

Risk assessment 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Risk assessment 3 - Essay Example Here we have production of the Formaldehyde that is supplied to a number of Industrial Customers throughout the UK and Europe. The main problem we are facing is with the place where our company is situated. This place is outside the industrial centre of the city and is relatively close to three housing estates and a small village, which in total have a population of 3000 people. The next problem is the tributary to the River Dee that passes directly alongside to company’s site boundary. This River is a successful habitat for salmon and other species of wildlife. Our production of Formaldehyde and industrial wastes are danger to these habitats. The main advantage of this location is the facilities of adjacent road and rail network which is utilized to transport our products. And also this plant is here over 40 years and it is really a prime location. There is also leakage from the tanks of Formaldehyde because a small formaldehyde leak from an on site storage tank about three years ago. The leakage was contained within the tank storage bund. There is a great danger to the levies of employment and residential people those are approximately 1250 persons. The production of the formaldehyde is a major bossiness constitute of our company so we did not stop its production. The thing we can de is the enhancement of companies overall working system. For this all we have to do a compliance risk analysis research and the identification of weak sectors where we need to so work. The main purpose of this report is to streamline the major risk factors and devising a mitigation plan for there resolution. In this section I will present a detailed risk assessment using a quantitative method. The main purpose of this assessment is to discover risks to our business from the on site process and transportation off site of formaldehyde. Here I have selected the event tree analysis

Value that Merck Places on Employee and Diversity Essay

Value that Merck Places on Employee and Diversity - Essay Example Besides, Merck & Co. has created a culture that appreciates collective power and differences that come from having a diverse workforce. It offers more opportunities for employees to grow both personally and professionally at the workplace and in the community at large. Finally, it has taken a global approach to diversify the company by creating three major resources: Global Diversity and Inclusion Centre, Employee Business Resource Groups and Employee Resource Groups. In 2003, the workforce demographics were low as compared to the current situation. The various areas of profession included officials, sales marketers, technicians, clerical, craft workers, operators, laborers, service workers among others. The minorities relatively occupy a significant percentage in the managerial positions compared to other groups. For instance, their demographic composition in the administrative post was 18 percent compared to 36.5 percent of the women. Men had the higher workforce. The total workforce percentage among minority groups was 21.2 percent, and the females were 50.3 percent. However, there was diversity in the workforce (Merck & Co., 2014). Considering the U.S demographics, America is less diverse. There is the high level of discrimination in the workforce and the minority groups are often harassed. The number of aged employees is high due to the low birth rate. Craft workers are mainly minority groups compared to the whites who occupy the managerial positions.  Ã‚  

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Analysis Essay

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Analysis Essay With reference to one or two episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer studied in class, explain how the series encourages the viewer to question assumptions about high and low culture and/or television as a form of popular culture. You may wish to consider issues of genre, authorship and gender. Vampires are widely known for their slick back black hair, fanged teeth and black and red capes; however, in the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer these traditions have made different way for female fighters and ghoulish monsters. We each have our own different thoughts about what and who vampires are, but the media use their power on public to create a strong image of what are vampires should look like and have endorsed traditions believed for many years. In order to maximise viewing figure, the producers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer have made a good mix of the horror genre and the typical, classical American high school show. This mixture of different genres is suitable for many different class or age groups and tastes. The first episode is titled Welcome to Hellmouth this name is an oxymoron as it uses words that express good and bad. The build up to the episode shows a young couple breaking into the school through a window in the science lab. This action not only ads tension but also shows a link between science and the supernatural, something that has been talked about for hundreds of years. The woman turns into a green hideous monster and kills that boy. This is very rare for a vampire tale as traditionally vampires did not look like monsters and also they only attacked defenseless females. The episode starts properly when Buffy Summers, a 16 years old girl moves to Sunnydale, from LA with her mother. This is not the setting that the audience would expect for a vampire story as the word Sunnydale hardly paints a picture of a dark, horror place full of vampires. Therefore, this name subverts the traditional signifiers. On the first day of school, the popular girl named Cordelia inducts Buffy into the cool crowd, Buffy attempts to be friends with three other students,Willow, Xander and Jesse. This gesture shows us that Buffy is a good judge of character, strong minded and that she is a leader not a follower. Buffy goes to the school library to get some text books. The library, although a more unusual setting was much more like something from a vampire story, it was dark and empty. To add tension the producers used scary disjointed music to try and set the scene and the camera moves in onto a newspaper article, to which you can read the headline which refers to a missing teenage boy. This article casts a question mark over the normal nice Sunnydale. Then a figure appears behind Buffy, it is Buffys new watcher and the new school librarian,Giles. He brings a book with Vampyr on the cover and scares Buffy off. This endorses the old traditions as the book was old, and full of cobwebs, possibly to add more mystery to this section. The spelling Vampyr again highlights the books age and tries to make it look even more strange, this also brings more history and tradition into the episode, two elements that are important to any gothic style story. The show seems to take a different twist when a dead body is found in the school changing rooms. It is unusual that the body was discovered in the school and another good point to note is that the victim was a man, which is unusual for a vampire story, as traditionally the victims were all defenseless females. Buffy to investigate and found the body was killed by vampires. At home, Buffy prepares for her night out to the Bronze, Sunnydales only night club. Her mum thinks that everything is going to work out in Sunnydale and that they will be able to have a happy life there. It is very ironic as Buffy knows that bad things are just around the corner and also this shows that her mother is unaware that she is a vampire slayer. On her way to the Bronze, Buffy senses she is being followed and heads into an alleyway. A tall young man comes out of the shadows searching for her. She swings down from a bar above him and knocks him to the ground. He claims not to bite and that he just wants to help her. This section endorses up to the point where Buffy swings down and attacks the man. He warns her of the Harvest and tells her about the Hellmouth. This name paints a bad picture in the audiences minds and it is the total opposite to Sunnydale. Later at the Bronze, Buffy chats with Willow about boys. She tries to inspire Willow to stop waiting and to seize the day. Buffy spots Giles upstairs and goes up to talk to him. He continues to tell her she is the Slayer and has no choice in the matter. At first the setting for this scene may seem to be totally radical in a vampire style story, however after thought the venue is dark and full of young potential victims so is a modern adaptation of the settings for the older tales. For example, the more traditional tales were set in a graveyard or spooky house, which was dark and the time was always in the dead of night. These characteristics can also be linked to the nightclub used in Buffy, as it too is dark and people only go to th ese clubs during the hours of darkness.The show seems to take a different twist when a dead body is found in the school changing rooms. It is unusual that the body was discovered in the school and another good point to note is that the victim was a man, which is unusual for a vampire story, as traditionally the victims were all defenseless females. Buffy to investigate and found the body was killed by vampires. At home, Buffy prepares for the night out to the Bronze, the only night club in Sunnydale. Her mum thinks that everything is going to be fine in Sunnydale and they can have a happy life there. It is very ironic as Buffy knows that bad things are just around the corner and also this shows that her mother is unaware that she is a vampire slayer. On her way to the club, Buffy senses she is being followed and heads into an alleyway. A tall young man comes out of the shadows searching for her. She swings down from a bar above him and knocks him to the ground. He claims not to bite and that he just wants to help her. This section endorses up to the point where Buffy swings down and attacks the man. He warns her of the Harvest and tells her about the Hellmouth. This name paints a bad picture in the audiences minds and it is the total opposite to Sunnydale. Later at the Bronze, Buffy chats with Willow about boys. She tries to inspire Willow to stop waiting and to seize the day. Buffy spots Giles upstairs and goes up to talk to him. He continues to tell her she is the Slayer and has no choice in the matter. At first the setting for this scene may seem to be totally radical in a vampire style story, however after thought the venue is dark and full of young potential victims so is a modern adaptation of the settings for the older tales. For example, the more traditional tales were set in a graveyard or spooky house, which was dark and the time was always in the dead of night. These characteristics can also be linked to the nightclub used in Buffy, as it too is dar k and people only go to these clubs during the hours of darkness. Buffy spots a vampire in the crowd below them and then realizes hes talking to Willow. The guy leaves with Willow as Buffy goes searching for him. She mistakenly attacks Cordelia and then pretty much ruins her chances for popularity. As Buffy leaves, she runs into Xander and asks him where Willow may have gone or else there will be one more dead body tomorrow. The vampire manages to lead Willow into the cemetery where he throws her into a tomb stone. As he tries to escape, Darla arrives with Jesse. Buffy and Xander turn up and Buffy kills one of the vampires and then fights with Darla as Xander gets Willow and Jesse out to safety. A vampire shows up and fights with Buffy. While they are fighting, Darla escapes to get Jesse, Xander and Willow. The vampire throws Buffy into a coffin where he jumps in and leans in to bite. Apart from Buffy, a female fighter, who manages to attack all the vampires single handed. This endi ng endorses the signifiers we think off when we talk about vampires. As the setting, a graveyard is the usual place for an attack in a gothic or vampire story. It is also interesting to note that the episode concludes with a cliffhanger, an unusual ending for many gothic style stories and films. As traditionally, the story finished with either the death of a victim or of the attacker. In any television programme or feature film, camera angles and effects are important as they portray certain feelings that the producers want to show to the audience, these may be something like making the audience think a character is small and weak by using a high angle shot, which looks down on the character. Or you could use the opposite effect by making a character look strong and powerful from using a low angle shot (looking up). In Buffy The Vampire Slayer they producers use one effect which is featured on several occasions. This is where a quick series of flashing images is presented to the vie wers; this technique is called a montage of images. In episode 1 this feature is used twice, in the first case, the montage is used as a title sequence and shows images that both subvert and endorse the conventions, including images of signifiers including black cats, stakes and green monsters along with modern things like female fighters. This sequence promises viewers fast pace, all action entertainment and shows clips of future episodes in order to encourage continual viewing throughout the series. The second montage is shown where Buffy is in bed dreaming at the beginning of the actual programme, after the introduction and the title sequence. This series of images is showing the audience that she is restless as there is some kind of distortion in the images, and some are not fully visible. This makes the viewers to try and understand the sequence and the majority suggest that Buffy is involved in someway with vampires or as a protector of some description. The images shown inclu de an old book which suggests the cultural history of vampires, a cross which represents Christianity and the way to kill vampires. Because of this legend, the cross points out that Buffy is a protector. Moreover, Buffy creator Joss Whedon described Buffy the Vampire Slayer as an all over the place transcending-genre kind of thing. (Stein, 2002) Well the text is mainly considered to be of the teen genre it does contain elements of the horror genre to. The fight against monsters and the idea of a patriarchal society is all central to the horror genre. The way that Buffys world is invaded by monsters, horror invades home is another shared convention between horror and BVS. However one aspect of the show that goes against the horror genre is the role of women. In previous horror texts women were weak and frightened; however BVS changes traditional genre and ideological views. Buffys embodied strength, power, and assertiveness destabilize the traditional masculinity power of the vampire character in the horror genre, in effect policing those who prey upon the feminized (Owen, 1999). Through the text femininity is conveyed as a forceful strong identity. Buffy is stronger then all the men she meets both physically and mentally. However Buffy is not empowered by past feminist movements in the text. She is empowered by herself. Indeed Karras writes that Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffys relationship with her mother can be understood as a metaphor for the tenuous relationship between second and third wave feminists(Karras, 2002) Buffys mother feels angry at the fact that Buffy doesnt take full use of the rights she now has to the feminist movement of the 60s. In conclusion,Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a popular culture because it provides a good blend of many aspects of both low and high cultures. It contains scenes that are scary, action packed and also offers addictive viewing like a soap opera. Buffy can be viewed by many different age groups as it seems that there is almost something for all, just the opening episode included many different styles of programming, from comedy to gothic style features. ‘Yet Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ also manages to defy convention by establishing its protagonist as an all strong, powerful willed women. Buffy as an open-image hero expose stereotypes and coded symbols that shore up a rigid war-influenced gender system in an attempt to chart new meanings for womanliness and manliness (Early, 2001) Reference list Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 Episode 1 â€Å"Welcome to the Hellmouth† Owen, A. Susan. 1999. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Vampires, postmodernity, and postfeminism. Journal Of Popular Film Television 27(2): 24-31 Irene Karras, 2002. â€Å"The Third Waves Final Girl:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer.† [http://journals.sfu.ca/thirdspace/index.php/journal/article/viewArticle/karras/50] Francis H. Early, 2001. â€Å"Staking Her Claim: Buffy the Vampire Slayeras Transgressive Woman Warrior† [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0022-3840.2001.3503_11.x/abstract] â€Å"Chose an episode of any teen TV programme of your choice and identify the generiv conventions of this TV text.† [http://www.markedbyteachers.com/as-and-a-level/media-studies/chose-an-episode-of-any-teen-tv-programme-of-your-choice-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-and-identify-the-generic-conventions-of-this-tv-text.html]

Innate Evil and the Temptations of the Devil Essay -- American Literat

Early American literature is unique in that it is abundantly influenced by Biblical themes and ideas. Being that this country was founded by the strict, fundamentalist Puritans, it seems obvious that the literature would be pervaded by such things as the presence of evil and its impact on goodness and holiness. The â€Å"evil† that is found in Melville and Hawthorne is interesting because it reflects the Biblical idea of evil tempting good and attempting to convert it rather than simply destroy it. The stories of Poe reflect the turmoil and evil that is contained within a person and tempts him or her to commit evil acts. What is fascinating about this literature is that in Billy Budd, The Scarlet Letter, â€Å"The Imp of the Perverse,† and â€Å"William Wilson,† evil is always victorious. In today’s society, it is tempting to read stories and watch films in which good always prevails and the characters live happily ever after; however, at the time of these writings, there was still an air of Calvinism and the lasting idea that mankind is innately evil. Modern society is uncomfortable with the term â€Å"evil,† but at the time of this literature, it was a common term that was used freely and had clear definitions. Therefore, because of the strong Biblical influence, the aforementioned tales are centered on this presence of evil and its temptation and torturing of that which is holy until goodness is overcome. Melville’s Billy Budd is a tale in which the Biblical influence is quite obvious. There are many images of snakes and serpents, which is often symbolic of Satan. Many critics read the story as an allegory to the Christ story in which Billy and Claggart â€Å"play the roles of Jesus and Judas† (Wright 133). There is imagery throughout th... ...he adultery and temptations in The Scarlet Letter, and the murder in both â€Å"The Imp of the Perverse† and â€Å"William Wilson† all were easily classified as evil. Today, many of these actions would be subscribed to the doers’ childhoods or to other traumatic experiences and the people themselves would not necessarily be held responsible. It is difficult in today’s society to classify good and evil because those areas are no longer black and white; however, in early American times, evil was easy to identify and was seen as the influence of the devil. The aforementioned literature of Melville, Hawthorne, and Poe all contains tremendous influence from the Bible and therefore displays this evil temptation from the devil himself. Sadly, in each of the stories, evil always seems to triumph, and the characters are forced to realize their own wickedness and depravities.

A Good Man is Hard to Find Analysis

â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is a short story written by Flannery O'Connor, a significant American writer and essayist. Her writing style reflects the ethnic relation in the South and her own Christian faith. The author writes in third person limited point of view to portray the tragic journey of a family who lived in Georgia in 1953. Bailey wants to take his family to Florida, but his mother, â€Å"the grandmother† disagrees with him because there's a dangerous criminal named The Misfit who is also on the way to Florida.Bailey ignores the grandmother's concern and headed to Florida. On the road, The kids and the grandmother persuade Bailey to drive them to the see a plantation which the grandmother visited when she was a lady. Unfortunately, the family gets into an accident on the desolate dust road to the plantation. The only thing the family can do is to wait for help, and it turns out that their help is none other than The Misfit and his buddies. The Misfit ord ers his buddies to take all the family members except the grandmother into the wood and shoot them.Hopelessly, the grandmother calls The Misfit her child and wants to touch him on the shoulder, but this angers The Misfit. As a result, he shoots the grandmother three times on the chest. The author uses characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to illustrate the theme that the tendency to manipulate people's actions and thoughts may introduce tragic outcomes to the love ones. In the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† , the author applies both direct characterization and indirect characterization to exhibit the selfishness of the grandmother, the innocence of the children, and the wickedness of The Misfit .In the exposition of the story, the grandmother wants to go to Tennessee to visit her connections instead going to Florida, so she tells Bailey that he † ought to take [the kids] somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and b e board. They have never been to east Tennessee† (O'Connor 403). From this quote the readers can perceive that the grandmother is good at manipulating her son by saying that going to Tennessee can be beneficial to the kids in order to achieve her own purpose.She also mentions that The Misfit is also on the way to Florida and she â€Å"couldn't answer to [her] conscience† (O'Connor 402) if she brings the kids to Florida. In this quote, the grandmother uses the word â€Å"conscience† to threat Bailey with the idea that he is going to put his children in danger, so he would give up the trip to Florida. In Katherine Keil's article â€Å"O'Connor's ‘Good Man is Hard to Find'†, Katherine analyzes â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† and comments that â€Å"the grandmother shows her indifference for creation by selfishly manipulating and nagging to get her way on the family's vacation â€Å"(Keil 45).Keil's analysis is reasonable because through the i nteractions between the grandmother and other family members on the issue about the family trip, the grandmother is used to manipulate people's decisions by taking advantage of the vulnerable side of people's mind and being selfish without knowing it herself. The kids, John Wesley and June Star, are innocent compare to their selfish grandmother. After the family encounter The Misfit in the country, John Wesley notices that The Misfit is holding a gun, so he asks him: â€Å"‘What you got that gun for?†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(O'Connor 410).Under this kind of circumstance, probably most of the people would be quiet in order to avoid trouble, but John Wesley mentions the gun just because he is simply curious. Unfortunately, his inquiry brings The Misfit into action, and results in tragedy. Although The Misfit is not present until the final pages of the story, he influences the story from the exposition of the story when the grandmother tells Bailey that he flees from the prison, and is on the way to Florida.The author uses a clear and detailed direct characterization to portray The Misfit when he first appears in the story. The author describes him as a man whose Hair just beginning to gray and he wore silver rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look. He had a long creased face and didn't have on any shirt or undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and a gun. (O'Connor 410) It is easy for the readers to realize that he is an antagonist from his appearance– long ceased face, unsuited clothes, holding a gun, a typical image of villains.The conversations between The Misfit and the grandmother also reveal the evil inside The Misfit. After the execution of Bailey and his son, The Misfit tells the grandmother that he † found out the crime doesn't matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner you're going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it†(O'Connor 414). John Desmond's, a professor of English at Whitman College made comment in his article that † the Misfit acts under the delusion that his actions are somehow good, i. e.  good for him.Since he cannot make sense of his spiritual condition, he now tries to reduce ethical mystery to a perverse pleasure-pain principle†(Desmond135). Desmond's comment reveals the characteristic of The Misfit because The Misfit's demeanor exhibits that his values is tangled, and he has developed his own philosophy, which is evil and lawless. As a result, his philosophy blinded his conscience, and make his sinful actions look naturally appropriate to himself. Besides characterization, foreshadowing is also a significant literary element throughout the story .The author uses foreshadowing to give the story its air of suspense, and to hint the outcome of the story. At the beginning of the story, the grandmother refers to the news that â€Å"The Misfit is al oose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida† (O'Connor 402). Initially, the grandmother just wants to use this scary news to threaten Bailey, and tries to change his mind. The reference to a dangerous criminal raises a sign of hazardousness. The grandmother's dress on the day of departure also foreshadows the misfortune of the family.â€Å"[S]he had on navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet†(O'Connor 404). In the book Short Stories for Students, the author of the article ‘Overview: â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ analysis that † as the family prepares to embark on their vacation, the grandmother plans her outfit with an eye toward tragedy†(Short Stories for Students 103).Wilson's analysis is fair because when people die, they usually are dressed in their best outfit, just like the grandmother is dressed in her best clothes, so its clear that the grandmother holds a pessimistic view on the family trip. On their way to Florida, the family â€Å"passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island†(O'Connor 404). It is pretty disturbing for people who are on a family trip to see thing like graveyard, and the number of the graves clearly represent the six family members, including the baby. When the family are waiting for help after the accident, they encounter TheMisfit, who drives â€Å"a big black battered hearse-like automobile† (O'Connor 409). It is very obvious that the appearance of the car is a vigorous example of foreshadowing, which foreshadows the tragedy that is about to happen. In Arthur F. Bethea's article, he states that â€Å"O'Connor's villain is relentlessly associated with death: he worked as an undertaker , drives a black â€Å"hearse-like automobile,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(Bethea 239). Bthea's interpretation is vigorous because the image of a hearse-like automobile gives rise to a bodeful ambience which perfectly foreshadows the debut of The Misfit.Other than characterization and foreshadowing, irony is another essential literary element that helps to carry out the purpose and the theme of the whole story. Both verbal irony and situational irony are used by the author in this story to illustrate how the grandmother's manipulative behaviors lead the whole family into deadly situation. In the exposition of the story, the grandmother warns Bailey that she â€Å"wouldn't take [her] children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it â€Å"(O'Connor 402).Ironically, she is exactly the person who take the family into dangerousness when she deliberately excites the children in order to force Bailey to take them to see the plantation, where they meet The Misfit. In order to convince Bailey, the grandmother announces that taking the kids to the old plantation â€Å"would be very educational for them†(O'Connor 408). To educate the children is not the purpose of the trip to the plantation in the grandmother's mind, it is just a excuse that used to disguise her selfishness.In Stanley Renne's article he comments that the grandmother is a â€Å"blind old woman, a failed parent who has ruined her own offspring, with a false and destructive dream of the past and an equally false and destructive self-perception in the present†(Renner 127). Renne's analysis is reasonable because the grandmother always wants others to accept her idea, and force his family members to do what she thinks is right and what she thinks is good for them, but the grandmother doesn't perceive that herself is being selfish and nostalgic all the time.As a result of her selfishness and nostalgia, the grandmother ultimately brings misfortune to the family. After the car accident, the kid says: â€Å"But nobody's killed†(O'Connor 409) with great disappointment. It is very awkward that a kid could has this kind of horrible thought, and it is an example of verbal irony because at the end of the story every family member gets killed eventually. Another irony happens when the grandmother is giving her grandkids a lecture on respecting others.She announces that in the old times â€Å"children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else†(O'Connor 404), but at the same time, she saw an African American child on the roadside and says: â€Å"Oh look at that cute pickninny† (O'Connor 404). It is ironic that the grandmother is teaching her grandkids the importance of respect while she calls an African American child pickninny, which is disrespectful.In Stephen Brandy's article he analysis and describe the grandmother as a old woman who † is filled with the prejudices of her class and her time† (Brandy 110). Brandy's comment is agreeable because although the grandmother's conversations make her seems like a nice and traditional Southern old lady, her mindless insult on African Americans reveals that the racism is rooted in her mind for a very long time that even herself does not notice it, or she ignore this issue deliberately.I the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†, the author applies characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to illustrate the theme that the tendency to manipulate people's actions and thoughts may introduce tragic outcomes to the love ones. By using both direct and indirect characterization, the author is able to portray the characters in detail, and create a vivid image of interactions between characters.Foreshadowing is also a important literary element that the author applies in this short story because foreshadowing gives the story its air of suspense thus make the story more interesting and dramatic. Through both situational irony and verbal i rony, the author shows how the grandmother's character trait brings misfortune to the family, and unlock the theme of the story. Being manipulative not only distances a person from his or her family, but also could cause trouble to the love ones. A Good Man is Hard to Find Analysis â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is a short story written by Flannery O'Connor, a significant American writer and essayist. Her writing style reflects the ethnic relation in the South and her own Christian faith. The author writes in third person limited point of view to portray the tragic journey of a family who lived in Georgia in 1953. Bailey wants to take his family to Florida, but his mother, â€Å"the grandmother† disagrees with him because there's a dangerous criminal named The Misfit who is also on the way to Florida.Bailey ignores the grandmother's concern and headed to Florida. On the road, The kids and the grandmother persuade Bailey to drive them to the see a plantation which the grandmother visited when she was a lady. Unfortunately, the family gets into an accident on the desolate dust road to the plantation. The only thing the family can do is to wait for help, and it turns out that their help is none other than The Misfit and his buddies. The Misfit ord ers his buddies to take all the family members except the grandmother into the wood and shoot them.Hopelessly, the grandmother calls The Misfit her child and wants to touch him on the shoulder, but this angers The Misfit. As a result, he shoots the grandmother three times on the chest. The author uses characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to illustrate the theme that the tendency to manipulate people's actions and thoughts may introduce tragic outcomes to the love ones.In the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† , the author applies both direct characterization and indirect characterization to exhibit the selfishness of the grandmother, the innocence of the children, and the wickedness of The Misfit .In the exposition of the story, the grandmother wants to go to Tennessee to visit her connections instead going to Florida, so she tells Bailey that he † ought to take [the kids] somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be board. They have never been to east Tennessee† (O'Connor 403). From this quote the readers can perceive that the grandmother is good at manipulating her son by saying that going to Tennessee can be beneficial to the kids in order to achieve her own purpose.She also mentions that The Misfit is also on the way to Florida and she â€Å"couldn't answer to [her] conscience† (O'Connor 402) if she brings the kids to Florida. In this quote, the grandmother uses the word â€Å"conscience† to threat Bailey with the idea that he is going to put his children in danger, so he would give up the trip to Florida.In Katherine Keil's article â€Å"O'Connor's ‘Good Man is Hard to Find'†, Katherine analyzes â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† and comments that â€Å"the grandmother shows her indifference for creation by selfishly manipulating and nagging to get her way on the family's vacation â€Å"(Keil 45).Keil's analysis is reasonable because through the int eractions between the grandmother and other family members on the issue about the family trip, the grandmother is used to manipulate people's decisions by taking advantage of the vulnerable side of people's mind and being selfish without knowing it herself. The kids, John Wesley and June Star, are innocent compare to their selfish grandmother. After the family encounter The Misfit in the country, John Wesley notices that The Misfit is holding a gun, so he asks him: â€Å"‘What you got that gun for?†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(O'Connor 410).Under this kind of circumstance, probably most of the people would be quiet in order to avoid trouble, but John Wesley mentions the gun just because he is simply curious. Unfortunately, his inquiry brings The Misfit into action, and results in tragedy. Although The Misfit is not present until the final pages of the story, he influences the story from the exposition of the story when the grandmother tells Bailey that he flees from the prison, and is on th e way to Florida.The author uses a clear and detailed direct characterization to portray The Misfit when he first appears in the story. The author describes him as a man whose Hair just beginning to gray and he wore silver rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look.He had a long creased face and didn't have on any shirt or undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for him and was holding a black hat and a gun. (O'Connor 410) It is easy for the readers to realize that he is an antagonist from his appearance– long ceased face, unsuited clothes, holding a gun, a typical image of villains.The conversations between The Misfit and the grandmother also reveal the evil inside The Misfit. After the execution of Bailey and his son, The Misfit tells the grandmother that he † found out the crime doesn't matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner you're going to forget what it was you done and just be pu nished for it†(O'Connor 414).John Desmond's, a professor of English at Whitman College made comment in his article that † the Misfit acts under the delusion that his actions are somehow good, i. e.  good for him. Since he cannot make sense of his spiritual condition, he now tries to reduce ethical mystery to a perverse pleasure-pain principle†(Desmond135).Desmond's comment reveals the characteristic of The Misfit because The Misfit's demeanor exhibits that his values is tangled, and he has developed his own philosophy, which is evil and lawless. As a result, his philosophy blinded his conscience, and make his sinful actions look naturally appropriate to himself. Besides characterization, foreshadowing is also a significant literary element throughout the story .The author uses foreshadowing to give the story its air of suspense, and to hint the outcome of the story. At the beginning of the story, the grandmother refers to the news that â€Å"The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida† (O'Connor 402). Initially, the grandmother just wants to use this scary news to threaten Bailey, and tries to change his mind. The reference to a dangerous criminal raises a sign of hazardousness. The grandmother's dress on the day of departure also foreshadows the misfortune of the family.â€Å"[S]he had on navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet†(O'Connor 404). In the book Short Stories for Students, the author of the article ‘Overview: â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ analysis that † as the family prepares to embark on their vacation, the grandmother plans her outfit with an eye toward tragedy†(Short Stories for Students 103).Wilson's analysis is fair because whe n people die, they usually are dressed in their best outfit, just like the grandmother is dressed in her best clothes, so its clear that the grandmother holds a pessimistic view on the family trip. On their way to Florida, the family â€Å"passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island†(O'Connor 404).It is pretty disturbing for people who are on a family trip to see thing like graveyard, and the number of the graves clearly represent the six family members, including the baby. When the family are waiting for help after the accident, they encounter TheMisfit, who drives â€Å"a big black battered hearse-like automobile† (O'Connor 409). It is very obvious that the appearance of the car is a vigorous example of foreshadowing, which foreshadows the tragedy that is about to happen. In Arthur F. Bethea's article, he states that â€Å"O'Connor's villain is relentlessly associated with death: he worked as an undertaker, dri ves a black â€Å"hearse-like automobile,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(Bethea 239). Bthea's interpretation is vigorous because the image of a hearse-like automobile gives rise to a bodeful ambience which perfectly foreshadows the debut of The Misfit.Other than characterization and foreshadowing, irony is another essential literary element that helps to carry out the purpose and the theme of the whole story. Both verbal irony and situational irony are used by the author in this story to illustrate how the grandmother's manipulative behaviors lead the whole family into deadly situation.In the exposition of the story, the grandmother warns Bailey that she â€Å"wouldn't take [her] children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it â€Å"(O'Connor 402).Ironically, she is exactly the person who take the family into dangerousness when she deliberately excites the children in order to force Bailey to take them to see the plantation, where they meet The Misfit. In order to convince Bailey , the grandmother announces that taking the kids to the old plantation â€Å"would be very educational for them†(O'Connor 408). To educate the children is not the purpose of the trip to the plantation in the grandmother's mind, it is just a excuse that used to disguise her selfishness.In Stanley Renne's article he comments that the grandmother is a â€Å"blind old woman, a failed parent who has ruined her own offspring, with a false and destructive dream of the past and an equally false and destructive self-perception in the present†(Renner 127).Renne's analysis is reasonable because the grandmother always wants others to accept her idea, and force his family members to do what she thinks is right and what she thinks is good for them, but the grandmother doesn't perceive that herself is being selfish and nostalgic all the time.As a result of her selfishness and nostalgia, the grandmother ultimately brings misfortune to the family. After the car accident, the kid says: â€Å"But nobody's killed†(O'Connor 409) with great disappointment. It is very awkward that a kid could has this kind of horrible thought, and it is an example of verbal irony because at the end of the story every family member gets killed eventually. Another irony happens when the grandmother is giving her grandkids a lecture on respecting others.She announces that in the old times â€Å"children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else†(O'Connor 404), but at the same time, she saw an African American child on the roadside and says: â€Å"Oh look at that cute pickninny† (O'Connor 404). It is ironic that the grandmother is teaching her grandkids the importance of respect while she calls an African American child pickninny, which is disrespectful.In Stephen Brandy's article he analysis and describe the grandmother as a old woman who † is filled with the prejudices of her class and her time† (Brandy 110). Brandy 's comment is agreeable because although the grandmother's conversations make her seems like a nice and traditional Southern old lady, her mindless insult on African Americans reveals that the racism is rooted in her mind for a very long time that even herself does not notice it, or she ignore this issue deliberately.I the short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†, the author applies characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to illustrate the theme that the tendency to manipulate people's actions and thoughts may introduce tragic outcomes to the love ones. By using both direct and indirect characterization, the author is able to portray the characters in detail, and create a vivid image of interactions between characters.Foreshadowing is also a important literary element that the author applies in this short story because foreshadowing gives the story its air of suspense thus make the story more interesting and dramatic. Through both situational irony and verbal irony, t he author shows how the grandmother's character trait brings misfortune to the family, and unlock the theme of the story. Being manipulative not only distances a person from his or her family, but also could cause trouble to the love ones.