Is American Patriotism Also Blind Patriotism Essay

It seems that patriotism is one of the most common terms used during times of war. Governments often use propaganda about nationalism to advocate their political views of the hostilities. Sometimes they even force patriotism on their constituents with fear-mongering techniques, which can have dangerous implications. That’s not to say that patriotism is inherently bad—many wars have been won for just causes because of it. However, it is a mistake to only think of war at a national level. There are devastating effects on the soldiers, families, and victims of war hostilities. The stories read this week discuss the struggle between concern for macro-society (patriotism) and micro-society (family/personal interests) during war. While no†¦show more content†¦Their wives have different opinions, though. The first wife doesn’t believe there is a war; she even suspects that her husband is using it as an excuse to cheat on her. However, the second wife is truly w orried about her husband, calling him and checking on his safety quite frequently. Both women are concerned more with micro-society, yet in very different ways. The second wife is simply concerned about the well-being of her family, much like the mother from â€Å"Loyalties†. Her worries—although considered ridiculous by her husband—are certainly understandable and justified. The flaw of the perspective lies in the viewpoint of the first wife. She doesn’t understand the war and underestimates its potential for serious consequences. Even her husband acknowledges this, stating that â€Å"She didn’t believe we were at war† (147). This speaks to an issue that is quite prevalent in the United States. Like many Americans, the second wife can’t relate or understand the dangers of war because she hasn’t seen any of it firsthand; it has never been fought around her home. Therefore, by focusing on the micro-society and ignoring all sense of macro-society, she takes the war for granted without appreciating the actions of her husband. â€Å"An Easy Death† is another story which depicts the consequences of macro-society and patriotism. The soldier in the narrative has a great deal of success in life before going to war. He isShow MoreRelatedPatriotism in Spiderman Movies982 Words   |  4 Pages What is arguably the strongest emotion in many people is the feeling of patriotism. As George Bernard Shaw said, Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. Though this feeling is not necessarily based on logic, it is none-the-less one of the most powerful feelings along with hatred and love. Depending on when a movie is made, the amount of patriotism portrayed is directly related to the political and social climate on theRead More Patriotism in Spiderman Movies Essay955 Words   |  4 Pagesotherwise. What is arguably the strongest emotion in many people is the feeling of patriotism. As George Bernard Shaw said, â€Å"Patriotism is your convic tion that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.† Though this feeling is not necessarily based on logic, it is none-the-less one of the most powerful feelings along with hatred and love. Depending on when a movie is made, the amount of patriotism portrayed is directly related to the political and social climate on the timeRead MoreAmeric Land Of The Free, And Home1411 Words   |  6 PagesAmerica: land of the free, and home of the brave. People have often traveled long and far to live in a safe, and esteemed environment, when in reality the core values of America change as time goes by. Even though Americans often value individualism, patriotism, nationalism, and individual liberty, history has proven otherwise. Wars, social norms, rights restrictions, expectations and peer pressure have gotten in the way of the values that many believed highlighted America. The saying, ‘history repeatsRead More Patriotism Essay561 Words   |  3 PagesTrade Center and the Pentagon have caused confusion on the topic of patriotism. The best way to start understanding patriotism is to simply define it. Patriotism is a person’s level of loyalty toward their country. Displays of true patriotism are prominent in times of despair, such as wars and terrorist attacks. However, many people have discrepancies on what displays of patriotism really are. Some people believe that showing patriotism can be accomplished by waving the flag and singing the nationalRead MoreSuper Sad True Love Story1410 Words   |  6 PagesSing America, are all story/poems that in some form or another address the theme of American exceptionalism and patriotism. In each of the titles, it is established that America is not as revered as it once was or possibly could be and that change needs to take place. Through dystopian tales, satirical speeches and exaggerated ideals the authors of these works of literature try to identify the issues faced in America n society. Super Sad True Love story is a novel set in a futuristic world that portraysRead MoreWar Of A Reasonable Patriotism, By George Kateb, And American Patriotism Essay1406 Words   |  6 Pagesbirth places. Ultimately, patriotism causes arbitrary detachments between human beings for illogical reasons. It is fueled by reactionary emotions rather than reason, and although it begins with good intentions, it can also escalate to catastrophic levels. To understand the role of patriotism in the modern day, it is helpful to discuss the following articles: On Patriotism, by George Kateb; In Defense of a Reasonable Patriotism, by William Galston; and American Patriotism is Unique, by Richard MorrisRead More Patriotism: Use with Caution Essay2153 Words   |  9 PagesPatriotism: Use with Caution Patriotism has a different face for everyone. Some follow it blindly, some reject and oppose it, some stand indifferent, and others choose to follow it cautiously. Patriotism is also now a challenge for multi-cultural societies because the back bone of social unity can no longer be merely similarities in ethnicity, culture, or religion. In this essay, I shall state the risks of following patriotism blindly and the risks involved in rejecting patriotism completelyRead MorePatriotism Vs Human Rights. Linking Patriotism And Human1022 Words   |  5 PagesPatriotism vs Human Rights Linking patriotism and human rights seems like an odd couple but it should go hand in hand. Patriotism is the love of a nation and human rights is the love of mankind. Bringing them together to show that, no matter your background, having a love for your country and of human beings should be treated the same. Finding a connection between the constitutional patriotism, that gives an understanding of both state and politics, and human rights is hard to connect to unpatrioticRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Unknown Citizen 1518 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"The Unknown Citizen† by W.H Auden and â€Å"next to of course god america i† by e.e. cumming are two poems that deal with similar issues. They both address the issue of dying soldiers and blame blind patriotism for the deaths of these soldiers. The theme of both poems deals with the need for citizens to become more outspoken and follow their own beliefs instead of simply following their country. However, each poem addre sses a topic that isn’t found in the other poem, and the poems themselves are structurallyRead MoreSummary : Indoctrinate Blind Patriotism 1151 Words   |  5 PagesQuestion 1: What is your interpretation of the statement on page six that includes, â€Å"†¦indoctrinate blind patriotism†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Answer 1: In Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen asserts that American history texts are harmful to students because of nationalism and books that â€Å"†¦are often muddled by the conflicting desires to promote inquiry and to indoctrinate blind patriotism† (Loewen 6). Loewen argues that American history texts are failing to teach students the â€Å"the bad, and the ugly† truths along with the

On The Acquisition And Nature Of Morality - 1662 Words

On the acquisition and nature of morality: What we must consider as we move forward in contemplating how to best instill morals Michael Cravey mc44996 6008619005919804 Freshman first semester The University of Texas at Austin In an article titled Conceptual and Informational Features in Moral Decision Making, Cecilia Wainryb and Elliot Turiel discuss how we are presented with the problem of how best to educate morally with the answer potentially lying in teaching methods that take morality attainment processes into account. An explanation of such processes is linked with the attributes of moral decision-making. In pursuit of potential superior teaching methods, contributors to the article consider a host of research findings as well as considering, more specifically, a group of differentials between conceptual and informational characteristics fundamental to social as well as moral decisions. In the article, we are first presented in the form of a story about the widely accepted, deeply held, societal method of morality acquisition known as character education. On May 19, 1992, Vice President Quayle, a mere two weeks before the California presidential primary, delivered a speech in which he attributed the riots in Los Angeles to a dearth of traditional values among many denizens of American inner cities. According to him, a general lack of values had come about in the rise of a generalized cultural atmosphere in which 20 to 30 years prior, many young people hadShow MoreRelatedThe Better Morality: Kant and Aristotle on Happiness1538 Words   |  7 Pagesargues that happiness and morality are nearly synonymous (in the respect that virtue necessarily leads to happiness), Kant claims that not only does happiness have no place in the realm of morality, but that a moral action usually must contradict the actor’s own inclination toward happiness. Because Kant and Aristot le hold practically equal definitions of happiness, the difference must arise from the respective relationships between happiness and each author’s framework of morality. Because Kant offersRead MoreThe Prince Machiavelli Analysis1490 Words   |  6 Pagessense of morality by not condemning cruelty. Due to the fact that Machiavelli prioritizes the stability of power in the state, his moral compass always points towards the good of the state. Thus, any action to pursue this cause is warranted and moral. Harsh But Necessary Action to Benefit the State As mentioned throughout this essay, self-interested and cruel actions are committed to benef the state. This section will examine state benefits in more detail to pinpoint to what extent morality comesRead MoreThe Hypocrisy Of The Upper Class By Edith Wharton1179 Words   |  5 PagesEdith Wharton’s novel, House of Mirth, develops a critical view of the immorality of the upper class through Lily Bart and her failure to fully attain social mobility. Wharton comments on the corruption of the upper class, and implies that the acquisition of wealth and social status comes at the cost of a compromised moral sense. While some wealthy individuals may not necessarily be corrupt, it is clear that the upper class as a whole is primarily concerned with self-preservation and personal gainRead MoreThe Foundation of Utility and John Stuart Mill Essay711 Words   |  3 Pageslooking past such extrinsic influences that may render the individual to seek a biased sense of satisfaction. In or der for Utility to function as Mill wanted it to, honest judgment and objectivity must be an essential part of ones drive for the acquisition of the greatest good. In order for the insistence that equity and impartiality to hold true to Mills Utility, we must find a foundation from within his argumentation that will support it. Thus we turn to Mills sanctions, or incentives that heRead MoreIntellectual Merit Of Studying Moral Cognition Essay977 Words   |  4 PagesIntellectual Merit of Studying Moral Cognition Morality is a collection of cognitive devices that interferes with our selfish nature, enabling human cooperation [1.2.3.4.5]. Furthering understanding of the cognitive processes that are employed while making moral judgments informs us as to how morality works and provides important information about how the brain interacts with itself. As we come to better understand these processes, we will become better equipped to enhance them. Broader ImpactsRead MoreWhy Do Some States Engage In War? This Has Been A Crucial1744 Words   |  7 Pagesfor humanity as well as for many international relations scholars that study the relationship between states and how they coexist in the international context. Throughout history, many influential thinkers have come up with theories to explain the nature of the international system and the behavior of states. Liberal theories such as the democratic peace theory argue that war can be justifiable if it represents the establishment of a democratic government, which would then represent a collective goodRead MoreMarx s Views On Private Property1157 Words   |  5 Pagesto protect an individual’s private property. When a state of nature is in place, there is no way for an individual to ensure that their property is safe from another person. This spurs conflict over private property, motivating people to come together and use their reason to produce a social contract. This so cial contract will protect themselves as well as their property. Locke goes on to say that men live in an egalitarian state of nature, but the introduction of private property gives society a hierarchalRead MoreThe Moral Limits of Market by Michael Sandel1063 Words   |  5 PagesMarket by Michael Sandel argues the relationship between markets and our morality. His central concern is the influence of money on the sphere of life traditionally governed by nonmarket norms such as rights as a citizen, care for others, and civic duties. He demonstrated that market is responsible for destroying our sense of morality by placing monetary value to it. This paper will argue the relationship between market and morality through demonstrating the type of goods corrupted by money, the flawsRead MoreThe Portrayal of Industrialization in London by William Blake526 Words   |  3 Pages In â€Å"London† by William Blake the grunge, and domineering nature of a city engaged in a tra nsformation of industry, is articulated through the setting. London of the poem, and the 1700s and 1800s, was griped by a sense of overwhelming entrapment in the mechanical comings and goings of industry. This massive shift is expressed through the stark nature of the setting, and the speaker’s awareness of a sense of confinement, and malaise in the face of great progress. Blake’s choices in the portrayalRead MoreAnalysis Of Aldous Huxley s Brave New World1079 Words   |  5 Pagescreated in the novel. There is no such thing as â€Å"perfection† and in order to function everyone should choose who they want to be, which is the complete opposite of the society formed in the Brave New World. In this society there is no such thing as morality, freedom or individual identity. The philosophy of Ethics plays a big factor to show that the behavior portrayed in the book shows no distinction between right and wrong. Their world and ours fall into two very complex and di fferent ranges. From

ideal Philippine president Essay Example For Students

ideal Philippine president Essay Ideal Philippine President Slam! The only sound made by our couch as I flock on it when I got home from school late and tired. Eventually my attention was caught by Mike Enriquez as he report the breaking news about the whom they called Pork Barrel Queen. At first, it was Just nothing for me to think that Im not involve on it since I havent pay that TAX for Im just a simple student so I dont mind it and continue what am I doing. Time passed and I had decided to watch television but instead of enjoying it, I Just got pissed ecause every channel I switch is all about news where Janet Napoles is involve. I dont have a choice so I Just watch it till it ends. Knowing things from the news I have watched made me realize the true effect of what Napoles did. Why we discover it late? How can her conscience take that? Swimming to the wealth of her countrymen while others are swimming to mud Just to have food for their dinner? How can our President return all the wealth secretly wasted by someone? Intelligent, tactful, brave and caring are the common traits which every Filipino wants o an Aspiring Leader of us. The type of man who will break the rule Just to help the poor people is what we need. The type of man who will make a new direction for us to be on the right path is what we looks for. The type of man who will make a new direction for us to be on the right path is what we aim. Also the type of man who can think and decide well is the best. Maybe it is good to have a President who can stand on his promised words. A leader who can lift us up again from our flood like problems. A President who can truly open his eyes to see the reality on his Vicinity. To see those people who have a light but light from a car and a street post. To see those people who have the bed but made of asphalt that sometimes covered by cartons. A leader having big ears like rabbits is better than those who have small. At least, he can hear the crying of the nation. He can eavesdrop to the whispers of the poor. He can listen to the song of the Filipinos asking for a change. He can use his hearing ense to listen to the voice of those who beg for help. Travelling in a rough and not so straight path with a paradise in its ending is much better than walking to a straight path having a finish line full of suffering. If the next President will lead us to the right path, he must bring a map and a compass for us not to be lost like what we are now. He must have a good instinct when it comes to directions. He must have an ability of a simple Navigator so he needs to master the right Navigation. ideal Philippine president By ronalisa-alcedo

Recycling Essays (516 words) - Waste Management, Water Conservation

Recycling RECYCLING. Recycling is an ancient practice with many modern applications. It refers to the recovery and reuse of materials from spent products. In recent years recycling has become a major part of environmental policy, mainly because of the increased costs of solid- and hazardous-waste disposal, the scarcity of natural resources, and the growing concern over polluted land, water, and air. There are two types of recycling operations: internal and external. Internal recycling is the reuse in a manufacturing process of materials that are a waste product of that process. Internal recycling is common in the metals industry. External recycling is the reclaiming of materials from a product that has been worn out or considered obsolete. An example of external recycling is the collection of old newspapers and magazines for the manufacture of newsprint or other paper products. In some areas, industries are required to pretreat wastewater before it is funneled into a waterway. In homes, wastewater is sent to a sewage-treatment plant, where it is purified, recycled, and put back into the water-supply system. Many gardeners recycle organic, biodegradable kitchen scraps by mixing them with leaves and grass clippings in a compost mound. There the organic waste decomposes and is biochemically transformed into usable soil. Successful recycling programs depend on several factors. There must be a general awareness of the problems caused by solid-waste disposal and an effective, inexpensive method for separating and collecting the recyclable materials. It also must be economically possible for industries to use and market recycled materials. In 1976 the United States Congress passed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, encouraging states to formulate solid-waste recovery plans. Many states set up special departments to assist local communities in their recycling efforts. Some communities adopted legislation that gives consumers the option of returning containers in exchange for a small deposit paid at the time of purchase. In the United States, more than 150 million tons of solid waste are generated every year. This amounts to more than 3 pounds (1.4 kilograms) per person per day. In metropolitan areas, the daily production of solid waste is usually higher. Residents of New York City, for example, discard 26,000 tons of solid waste daily almost 7 pounds (3.2 kilograms) for each resident. Domestic recycling efforts usually involve the salvage of materials associated with disposable products packages, bottles, and labels. The cost of disposing of the solid-waste materials mainly paper, glass, aluminum, and steel has steadily increased. In many cases the land used for garbage disposal, known as landfill areas, is too valuable to use as a dumping ground. As existing landfills reach their capacity, many municipalities turn to recycling programs as a relatively inexpensive alternative to landfill disposal. Some cities also solve energy-shortage problems and the need to dispose of growing amounts of organic wastes and garbage by converting waste into energy. This is done by pyrolysis, the incineration of refuse with a deficiency of air. While pyrolysis permits recovery of certain fuel gases, chemicals, and heat energy, it can also contribute to air pollution. Science

7 Active Reading Strategies for Students

7 Active Reading Strategies for Students Active reading techniques can help you stay focused and retain more information, but its a skill that takes time and effort to develop. Here are some strategies to help you get started right away. 1. Identify New Words Most of us develop a bad habit of glossing over words that are vaguely familiar to us, often not even realizing we are doing so. When you  read a difficult passage or book for an assignment, take a few moments to really observe challenging words. You will likely find that there are many words that you think you know- but that you can’t really define. Practice by underlining every noun or verb that you cannot replace with a synonym. Once you have a list of words, write the words and definitions in a logbook. Revisit this log several times and quiz yourself on the words. 2. Find the Main Idea or Thesis As your reading level increases, the complexity of your material will likely increase as well. The thesis or main idea may no longer be provided in the first sentence; it may instead be located in the second paragraph or even the second page. Finding the thesis is crucial to comprehension. You’ll need to practice finding the thesis of the text or article each time youre reading. 3. Create a Preliminary Outline Before you dive into reading the text of a difficult book or chapter, take some time to scan the pages for subtitles and other indications of the structure. If you don’t see subtitles or chapters, look for transition words between paragraphs. Using this information, you can craft a preliminary outline of the text. Think of this as the reverse of creating an outline for your essays and research papers. Going backward in this way helps you absorb the information you are reading. Your mind will, therefore, be better able to â€Å"plug† the information into the mental framework. 4. Read With a Pencil Highlighters can be overrated. Some students commit highlighter overkill and end up with a sloppy multi-colored mess. Sometimes it’s more effective to use a pencil and sticky notes when you write. Use the pencil to underline, circle, and define words in the margins, or (if you’re using a library book) use sticky notes to mark a page and a pencil to write specific notes to yourself. 5. Draw and Sketch No matter what type of information you’re reading, visual learners can always create a mind map, a Venn diagram, a sketch, or a timeline to represent the information. Start by taking a clean sheet of paper and creating a visual representation of the book or chapter you’re reading. Youll be amazed by the difference this will make for retaining information and remembering details. 6. Make a Shrinking Outline A shrinking outline is another useful tool for reinforcing the information that you read in a text or in your class notes. To make a shrinking outline, you need to re-write material you see in your text (or in your notes). While it is a time-consuming exercise to write out your notes, it is also a very effective one. Writing is a necessary part of active reading. Once you have written out a few paragraphs of material, read it over and think of one keyword that represents an entire paragraph’s message. Write that keyword in the margin. Once you have written several keywords for a long text, go down the line of keywords and see if each word will prompt you to remember the full concept of the paragraph it represents. If not, re-read the paragraph and choose a more accurate keyword. Once every paragraph can be recalled by a keyword, you can begin to create clumps of keywords. If necessary (e.g. if you have a lot of material to memorize) you can reduce the material again so that one word or acronym helps you remember the clumps of keywords. 7. Read Again and Again Science tells us that we all retain more when we repeat a reading. It’s good practice to read once for a basic understanding of the material, and read at least one more time to grasp the information more thoroughly.

Secrets to a Successful Marketing Strategy by EssaySupply.com

Secrets to a Successful Marketing Strategy Secrets to a Successful Marketing Strategy Marketing has only one goal – to get customers. Years ago, someone opened a business and advertised in the newspaper and on the radio. S/he put big signs in the windows advertising sales. Not a lot of that happens anymore, except for television advertising that that the big players can afford. Now, it’s all about being found online, and being found everywhere online; it’s about driving traffic to your website; it’s about creating content that is wonderfully engaging; and it is about being all over social media. And the goal is conversions – whether that is capturing an email address for future marketing communication or, ultimately, getting someone to take a free trial or, ultimately make that purchase. There’s a Lot of Research Out There People have been at this content marketing stuff for a long time now, and there are very sophisticated tools and strategies that you can take advantage of, if you want the right plan of action to spread your brand, generate traffic, and get those conversions. Use the strategies that the experts tell you are correct, and you will achieve your goals. Three big things should drive everything you do – spreading your brand, building relationships, and using analytics to target your market. Spreading Your Brand The web-based shopper has to know you exist. You can’t just build a â€Å"killer† website and think these shoppers will come. You have to go to them, and you have to do this in smart ways. Here is what you must do at a minimum: Get a blog. Get a great blog. This means that you have absolutely great content that people want to read and share with others. It means that the content you have will be noticed by search engines, so that your SEO rankings will rise. You can’t just slap up a few posts each week. Those posts have to be engaging and compelling, written well, and give readers something they need or enjoy. If you do not have the time to maintain an absolutely extraordinary blog, then you need to contract with people to do this for you. Over time, the expense will more than pay for itself. If you don’t know where to go for experts, you can begin with an online essay writing service that has real pros for copywriting. They are pretty reasonable and will see to it that your blog posts are absolutely stellar. Get all over social media. Tell great stories about yourself and your team. Solve problems for people. Run contests; conduct surveys; offer special deals; offer free things with links to your website for them to get the great stuff you are offering. Give â€Å"teasers† to those great posts that are now on your blog to drive you targets to your site. Remember – brand spreading is a long-term, gradual process. Be patient – if you do it right, it will happen! Building Relationships Shoppers today want to know who they are buying from – particularly Millennials who were responsible for $5 billion in Internet sales last year. Customers are not walking into your store and having conversations with you. They are finding you online, and building relationships are much harder. So, here is what has to be done: Your blog and your social media pages need to tell your story and the stories of your team. Get lots of photos and videos up there that show you and your team at work and at play. Take up a cause and show how committed you are to it. Offer to donate to that cause with each purchase; publicize you and your team participating in events sponsored by that cause. You can do something as simple as sponsor a child or two in a third world nation and post photos and updates; if you are local, find a local charity with which to become involved. Millennials want to do business with companies that take social responsibility seriously. Feature your customers as much as possible – have a customer of the month. Have a contest and publicize the winners. Using Analytics Start with Google Analytics and then graduate to more sophisticated tools such as those offered by Crazy Egg. You know who your target market is. Now find out where they hang out online; find out when and from where visitors come to your site; learn about where they stay and when and where they bounce out; learn which devices they are using. All of this information should drive your site content, the CTA’s you use, and the design of content for multiple devices. You can have a great website that really rocks on a PC, but if your targets are using tablets and phones, and you have not re-designed for those devices, you have lost them. If you don’t have the time, hire this out. It’s just too important! The big takeaway if this: It takes time for a marketing strategy to work. If you are not seeing results in a week or two, do not â€Å"jump ship.† It takes months, and progress is gradual.

How do you view the unification of women on campus, and how would you Essay

How do you view the unification of women on campus, and how would you improve it - Essay Example Hence, it is essential for women to come together on campus and address the issues that are affecting them both in the school and the outside world. This paper will assess the issue of women coming together on campus, illustrating its benefits and ways of improving this unification. As mentioned above, the unification of women on campus is a positive event for many reasons. Firstly, it enables the preparation of young women for life after college. When women come together they should use this opportunity to teach the younger girls about their rights and empower them to stand up for themselves. Women would not have the opportunity to learn about such situations in detail and unification enables this educational procedure to occur. Unification of women is also a supporting mechanism for women as they are able to encourage each other in a world that places them at an unjustified disadvantage (Boswell, n.p). Unification on campus also trains women to be more expressive. The voice of a group of people is much louder than that of an individual; hence the women can work together towards achieving a common goal. Unification is also good in the sense that it enables the women at the college to form stronger ties with one another, and create both friendships and professi onal connections which will help them in the future. Unification of women is also good from the sense that it enables them to strategize and create new ideas that improve their lives in college and beyond. The more women that are present, the higher the chances that more problems facing women will be vocalized and therefore rectified. In addition, when working together the strategies being implemented to improve certain issues have a higher level of success (Boswell, n.p). I feel unification of women can be improved by formalizing the unions that are created by women on campus. This will give a better

Preparation of Acetyl Salicylic Acid (Aspirin) Lab Report

Preparation of Acetyl Salicylic Acid (Aspirin) - Lab Report Example In the following experiment we embark to acquaint ourselves with a simple laboratory protocol for the synthesis of aspirin. This procedure will use acetic anhydride and sulfuric acid as the acid catalyst of the reaction. Objective: To illustrate the synthesis of the drug, aspirin and determine its purity by a chemical test Materials and methods: Synthesis of Aspirin A water- bath was prepared by filling half-way a 400mL beaker with water and the water heated to boiling point. 2.004g of salicylic acid was placed in a 125mL Erlenmeyer flask. Carefully 3mL of acetic anhydride was added to the flask and while swirling 3 drops of concentrated sulfuric acid were added. To avoid eye irritation and burns caused by acetic anhydride and sulfuric acid respectively, the chemicals were handled in the hood in gloves. The reagents were mixed and then the flask was placed in the boiling water-bath and heated for 15minutes. The setting of the practical is as shown in the diagram 1.1 below. This disso lved any solid while the solution was occasionally swirled. The Erlenmeyer flask was removed from the bath and left to cool to approximately the room temperature. The solution in the flask was then poured into a 150-mL beaker containing 20mL of ice water and mixed thoroughly before placing the beaker in an ice bath. The water destroyed any remnant of unreacted acetic anhydride and caused the insoluble aspirin to precipitate from the solution. The crystals were collected by filtering under suction with a Buchner funnel as shown in diagram 1.2 below. The side-arm of a 250mL filter flask was connected to a water aspirator with heavy wall vacuum rubber tubing. The Buchner funnel was inserted into the filter flask through a one-hole rubber stopper and a filter paper placed into the Buchner funnel making sure the paper covered all the holes. Finally the water was poured to the paper to wet it and then the water aspirator was turned on to a maximum water flow and the solution in the beaker poured into the funnel. The crystals were washed with two portions of cold water each 5mL and then followed by a one 10mL portion of cold ethanol. The suction of air was continued through the crystal for several minutes so as to dry them. The crystals were placed between several sheets of filter paper using a spatula and press-dried. A 50mL beaker was weighed before placing the crystals and reweighing the beaker. The weight and percentage yield of the crude aspirin was determined. Diagram 2: filtering using the Buchner funnel Procedure to determination of aspirin purity Three test tubes each 100 x 13 mm were labeled 1, 2, 3 and a few crystals of salicylic acid placed in the test tube-1 and in test tube-2 a small sample the newly synthesized aspirin was placed whereas for test tube-3 a small sample of crushed commercial was placed. In each of the test tubes, 5mL of distilled water was added and test tubes shaken to dissolve the crystals and a further 10 drops of 1% aqueous ferric ch loride was also added to each test tube. Observation and comparisons were made from the three test tubes and recorded. Results and Discussion Theoretical yield 2.004g salicylic acid X Weight of 50-mL beaker = 39.21 Weight of the aspirin and the beaker = 40.69 Weight of aspirin = Weight of the aspirin and the beaker - Weight of 50-mL beaker 40.69 – 39.21 = 1.48 g Weight of crude aspirin = 1.48 g Percent yield = 56.70% Chemical test with ferric chloride Presence of unreacted salicylic acid can be detected with 1% ferric chloride

Romeo and Juliet Essay Example for Free

Romeo and Juliet Essay How does the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet grab the audiences attention? How does Shakespeare prepare us for what happens in the rest of the play? Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeares most famous romantic tragedies, which was written in 1599. This tale of romance and hatred starts with a dramatic first scene of the opposing families. These characters are shown in the first scene, focusing on the way Shakespeare captures the audiences attention and how he created this action packed, tense first scene to prepare us for the rest of the play. Shakespeares Act 1 Scene 1 sees two angry characters enter armed with swords and bucklers which are publicly seen in their possession. In the society of that time, this would have been common and the audience would not find it strange whereas the society of today would find this threatening, as well as illegal. This gives us an impression of what the people and the society was like 400 years ago. These two fiery characters are Capulet servants called Sampson and Gregory who start the first scene off with humour: Well not carry coals Sampson. No, for then we should be colliers Gregory. This would have been funny in Shakespearean times as Gregory is contradicting what Sampson has said, and is taking him literally to make light of the situation. Shakespeares audience would have understood the reference whereas a modern audience would see the implication differently and the joke wouldnt be understood, as the Shakespearean language is not commonly known these days. Shakespeare uses sexual references towards the Montague household and Sampson comments that he is a pretty piece of flesh. This sexual reference would have been amusing to the Shakespearean audience, and even though we do not fully understand the comment, we would still pick up what he is implying. We still have amusing sexual references in plays and films today which show how the society then and the society now use sexual comments in their scripts to create humour. This humour helps to capture the audiences attention. These two characters help start off the first scene as they help us to realise the anger and hatred between the two families, and prepare us for what we hope will be more fighting and excitement later on in the play. The next two characters to enter are Montague servants called Abram and Balthasar. Sampson and Gregory are clearly angered by their arrival, and comment that they will bite their thumb at them. This action was an insult in Shakespearean times, and would have been taken in an offensive way. The two Montague servants begin quarrelling with the Capulets, and they begin provoking each other: Do you bite your thumb at us sir? Abram No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you Sampson Later on in Act 1 they continue: Do you quarrel sir? Gregory Quarrel, sir? No sir. Abram. As the provocation warms up, and the two opposing families begin to get angrier, the pace of the play quickens. Modern audiences may not have understood the insult of biting thumbs, but we would feel the tension that was building up on stage between the Montagues and the Capulets, and would see that the characters are very much alike in the fact that they detest the other family and use aggressive language to try and provoke each other. These two characters are added to make the plot more interesting, although they do not show the anger they have for the Capulets as much as the Capulets show us their hatred for the Montagues. Evidence of this is that Sampson and Gregory in Act 1 Scene 1 talk about how they will inflict pain and violence on the Monatagues if they come across one: A dog of the house of Montague moves me. The bickering between these four characters adds tension and excitement to the first scene of the play, and helps move the scene along. The next character to enter is Benvolio and he is clearly angered by the fighting that has occurred between the two families. He beats down their swords saying put up your swords; you know not what you do. We can already see a big contrast between Benvolio and the other four characters: Benvolio is a peacemaker who wishes for the family feud to end, whereas the others provoke each other into a fight, quarrel and hold hatred for each other. Tybalt then enters, angry and fired up over the Montague presence. He speaks of how he hates the word peace as he hates hell, all Montagues and thee. We begin to learn that Tybalt is a very angry and aggressive character that would love to get his own revenge on the Montague household. Although the language is still written and spoken as if in Shakespearean times, we would still feel the tension and pace quickening, and understand the personalities of the different characters. Shakespeare has given Benvolio and Tybalt different tones of language: Tybalts is strong, aggressive and angry whereas Benvolios is a little less strong and is more polite when talking. These two characters, I feel, are created by Shakespeare to add tension and excitement to the play, and prepare us for more action packed scenes with the two characters later on. The contrast between these two characters would grab the audiences attention and leave us wondering what will happen between these two later on in the play. This fighting leads to several citizens (which are split between the Monatgues and the Capulets) that next enter the scene. A big fight ensues between the two families, and the citizens get involved. This would make us (and the audience 400 years ago) very edgy and would add tension in the audience. These characters are added to show us the hatred that has built between the Capulets and Montagues, and to show us that the anger and contempt between them goes as far as the citizens. Watching this on stage would add fear and tension between the characters on stage and the audience, and Shakespeare would have added swords and angry colours to show the hatred. Capulet, Lady Capulet, Montague and Lady Montague enter and when seeing the upheaval of the fights go to join in. The Ladies of the two households try to calm them down but they are defiant; Hold me not; let me go. Montague This shows us that the women in the society of that time did not have any power or say over their husbands, and is a factual part of the play that helps us understand what society was like 400 years ago. During these fights, our next character, Prince Escalus, enters. He immediately stops the fight and issues his last warning. If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. In Shakespearean times, there was no government to help rule the country: it was the princes last word that everyone followed. Shakespeare uses this language as it is a clear and stern statement that easily makes the audience anticipated on what may happen further on in the play. This would add contrast to the play as we would know that we were to expect more fighting, but the Princes ultimatum would leave us wondering what was going to happen next, which would create more interest in the play and change our first thoughts of what we were to expect as we think that Shakespeare will cause more hatred and fighting between his characters to keep us interested. Shakespeare creates a very clear, polite but strong character here with an easy dialogue that audiences of today would easily understand. All the characters exit leaving Montague, Lady Montague and Benvolio talking of what happened. In this part of the scene, Shakespeare shows us that not only is Benvolio a peacemaking character, but also a truthful one that we can trust. This ensures us that whatever may happen later on in the play, we can trust Benvolio to tell the truth. The language Shakespeare uses is clear and to the point, giving as much detail as possible without giving to much away of what is to come later on in the play. They then start talking about Benvolios cousin, Romeo. This is when Shakespeare introduces his main, love struck character. We learn that Lady Montague is particularly caring about her son: O where is Romeo? Right glad I am he was not at this fray. They talk of how he shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out, and our first impressions of Romeo is that he is a very miserable, lonely person (not the person we originally think of when we hear his name). Shakespeare leaves us again confused of what may happen later on in the play as the name Romeo is synonymous with romance, but when we hear what Romeo is like, we are left wondering if the play will be as it was first expected. Modern audiences would understand this part of the play, as the language is clear and understandable. The dialogues are introducing the contrast of hatred to love but at the same time it also stays informative and gives us our first impressions of Romeo. This part of the play is important as it helps move the scene along from the fighting earlier on, and informs us on our first of the main characters, Romeo. Our main character now enters and Shakespeares language tells us a lot of how Romeo is feeling: Is the day so long? Ay me! Sad hours seem long. We learn that Romeo is an extremely depressed character who doesnt seem to be this romantic character (that we suspected from his name) we first imagined. Shakespeare keeps us wondering about why Romeo is depressed, giving Romeo small dialogues of little information. We later learn that Romeo is out of her favour where I am in love. This now tells us more of Romeos character and instead of what our first impressions were, we now feel that he is a soppy romantic who is in love with love. Romeo later talks in riddles as he states: O heavy lightness O loving hate feather of lead This shows us how he feels confused over his feelings of love, and that he will feel no love like this. Again our impression is that he is very romantic and loves to be loved. This part of the scene from when Romeo enters prepares us for more romance and we feel that the romance and love will be the cause of the fighting later on in the play, which links to Prince Escalus warning. In conclusion, I feel that this first scene is successful in helping us predict but also wonder what will happen later on in the play. It prepares us for more fighting and for a romance that may be the cause of death, betrayal and hurt. Ive learnt of how inferior the women were 400 years ago, and how royalty ruled everything. Shakespeare has used the period that he lived in to create this play, and along with being an interesting love tale, it is in some ways factual as well. This play is very dramatic, tense and action-packed and I feel that this first scene starts the play off brilliantly.

Flowers and Fairytale :: Free Descriptive Observation Essay

Flowers and Fairytale By the school, there is a little garden with a water fountain and several little trees around it. Each tree is grounded in a two-foot high cement block. The tree is covered with leaves, and the leaves have scattered flowers around them. The fountain contains several little water shooters, shooting out forms of water, which resembles the flower as a dancing fairy. The flowers start at the bottom of the tree. The ring of flowers surround the tree. They are made up of many bright colors of red, pink, violet, blue and white. From a distance there appears to be a swarm of them. The flowers’ petals are soft and sweet smelling. They don’t suffocate my senses, though. The flowers are like a weak perfume. They are gentle and subtle. When I touched one of the flowers in my hand, it was as soft as silk. I realized that they were so fragile, because they sliced apart very easily. The flowers are held captive by the army of leaves. The green leaves are mixed in with the flowers. The shades of the green leaves range from light yellowish green to dark bluish green. Most of them are shaped like tiny bananas and others are wider, like pears or apples. The crashing water near by drowns out the scent of the leaves’ chlorophyll. Some of the leaves are almost as smooth as the flowers, but some are rough, similar to a rug. The leaves are grouped together like many little trees. The trees and leaves cover the soil and the bottom part of the tree—like a drooping green gown. The tree is very much like a queen, wearing its dress of leaves. I would not reach out and touch it—because it would be rude. At the shoulders of the tree—the branches fork off into three directions. The thick branches hold up more green leaves—the delicate kind—shaping the head of the tree like a mushroom. The tree resembles a green Queen Amadalia—young and bright. When I looked up at her, you see the sunlight reflect off her hair—the leaves—creating a peaceful glow. It blurs everything, however, and I had to stop looking. The wind does blow the leaves, but it is so lightly that you can barely tell. The fountain near by spurts out water in this direction. I look over there and see groups of dancing water in the wide square pool. Flowers and Fairytale :: Free Descriptive Observation Essay Flowers and Fairytale By the school, there is a little garden with a water fountain and several little trees around it. Each tree is grounded in a two-foot high cement block. The tree is covered with leaves, and the leaves have scattered flowers around them. The fountain contains several little water shooters, shooting out forms of water, which resembles the flower as a dancing fairy. The flowers start at the bottom of the tree. The ring of flowers surround the tree. They are made up of many bright colors of red, pink, violet, blue and white. From a distance there appears to be a swarm of them. The flowers’ petals are soft and sweet smelling. They don’t suffocate my senses, though. The flowers are like a weak perfume. They are gentle and subtle. When I touched one of the flowers in my hand, it was as soft as silk. I realized that they were so fragile, because they sliced apart very easily. The flowers are held captive by the army of leaves. The green leaves are mixed in with the flowers. The shades of the green leaves range from light yellowish green to dark bluish green. Most of them are shaped like tiny bananas and others are wider, like pears or apples. The crashing water near by drowns out the scent of the leaves’ chlorophyll. Some of the leaves are almost as smooth as the flowers, but some are rough, similar to a rug. The leaves are grouped together like many little trees. The trees and leaves cover the soil and the bottom part of the tree—like a drooping green gown. The tree is very much like a queen, wearing its dress of leaves. I would not reach out and touch it—because it would be rude. At the shoulders of the tree—the branches fork off into three directions. The thick branches hold up more green leaves—the delicate kind—shaping the head of the tree like a mushroom. The tree resembles a green Queen Amadalia—young and bright. When I looked up at her, you see the sunlight reflect off her hair—the leaves—creating a peaceful glow. It blurs everything, however, and I had to stop looking. The wind does blow the leaves, but it is so lightly that you can barely tell. The fountain near by spurts out water in this direction. I look over there and see groups of dancing water in the wide square pool.

Ancient Chinese Inventions

Ancient Chinese Inventions It is well known that China has an ancient and glorious history, from the feudal periods ending in 222 BC through the three Imperial and Intermediate Eras, up to the Modern era – over 4000 years of dynastic reigns. It may also be well known that China is the source of many wonderful and useful inventions from spaghetti to gunpowder. This list, however, will take a slightly different slant of the topic: Chinese inventions and developments that were not known to or adopted by the Western (European) world for many decades and sometimes centuries after they were common place in China.Some you may be familiar with, others perhaps less so. First on the list is Row Planting, which is from Feudal period through 6 century BC. The Chinese begin planting crops in rows sometime around 6 century BC. This allows the crops to grow stronger and a lot faster. It allows more efficient planting, weeding, harvesting and watering. There is also proof documented that they realized that when the wind travels over rows of plants it causes less damage to the crop. This development was not introduced in the western world for another 2200 years.A Chinese man by the name of Master Lu wrote in the â€Å"Spring and Autumn Annals†: If the crops are grown in rows they will mature rapidly because they will not interfere with each other’s growth. The vertical rows made for skill, the horizontal rows must be drawn well, for if the lines are straight the wind will pass gently through. Along with the above we have mechanical clock mechanisms. This was invented around 725 AD. This clock operated by dripping water that powered a wheel, which made one full revolution in 24 hours. A bronze and iron system of wheels and gears made the clock rotate.Accurate mechanical clocks were developed because of a belief in the form of astrology. This was based upon the moment of conception rather than the time of birth. In ancient years retainers would listen outside of royal bedrooms to record the possible times of conception of royal children. This event was important enough that considerable effort was devoted to developing accurate timing mechanisms. Next on the list would be the compass, which was developed around Feudal period through 4th cent BC. The Chinese developed a lodestone instrument to ndicate direction which is known as the compass. Upon development the compass were only south pointing and were primarily use for land as divination tools and direct finders. It was written that lodestone makes iron come or it attracts it. Spoons were used to point the direction, while mounted on plates. The spoons were made from lodestone, while the plates were of bronze. Later in year of 1040 thermo-remanence needles were produced for mariners. The common use of this was recorded around year 1119. The thermo-remanence technology is still in use today.Then we have deep drilling, the Chinese invented a tool used for deep drilling boreholes. This wa s invented around circa 202 BC through 220 AD. It is listed that some of these boreholes would reach the depths of 4800 feet. This technology would be easily recognizable to a modern engineer. The Chinese would stack rocks with center holes which were tube or doughnut shaped from the surface to the deep stone layer as a guide for their drills. In the search for salt wells the Chinese developed a technology of driving bamboo poles deep into the earth.In addition to brine this drilling also often tapped into reservoirs of natural gas. The natural gas was captured in barrels and used as fuel to evaporate the water from brine to produce salt. They used the gas to boil sea water which separated the salt allowing it to become drinkable. The Chinese also invented gun powder; this was invented around 850 AD. An enterprising alchemist mixed 75 parts saltpeter with 15 parts charcoal and 10 parts sulfur. This mixture had no discernible life-lengthening properties, but it did explode with a fla sh and a bang when it was exposed to an open flame.What is noted in text from the era is that smoke and flames result so that hand and faces have been burnt, and even the whole house where they were working burned down. Then we have something that is widely used and appreciated throughout countries, cities and societies, the commonly used paper. This was invented around 105 AD and was made from a suspension of hemp waste in water, washed, soaked and beaten with a wooden mallet. A paper mold, probably a sieve of coarsely woven cloth stretched in a four sided bamboo frame, was used to dip up the fiber slurry from the vat and hold it for drying.Initially it was used for clothing rather than writing material. It was used to make body armor for soldiers. Now we have the ancient Chinese great unique invention of porcelain, which was invented around 16 century BC. In very ancient times the Chinese discovered that with the right choice of clay and firing techniques pottery could be made so thin that is was translucent. Such porcelain became universally known as china. Last but definitely not lease we have the known Chinese invention of a fabric that is soft to the skin. This fabric is called silk, which was invented around 3000 BC.For more than two thousand years the Chinese kept the secret of silk altogether to themselves. It was the most zealously guarded secret in history. The Chinese discovered that the cocoons of silk worms could be unwound and the filaments used to weave an especially light strong and beautiful cloth. All of these inventions were invented by original everyday pioneers. The saying goes everyday people do extraordinary things. Out of all of these wonderful inventions that were discussed, the invention of silk, paper, row planting and the mechanical clock mechanism would be the choice of the most important.Let’s briefly go over the reasons why these four would be the most important inventions. The invention of silk has paved the way for cent uries of fabric wearers. In the ancient years a person could distinguish who was royalty by the silk garment that was worn. Silk is 100% natural fabric and is healthy for your breathing due to the fact that silk is naturally hypoallergenic. The invention of row planting allowed more efficient growth of produce for farming which allowed more and better food to sell and to eat.The invention of the mechanical clock mechanism has evolved in time to be a much needed daily device called the clock. A clock is an instrument use to indicate, keep and coordinate time. A clock refers to any device for measuring and displaying time. This clock mechanism invention has involved into personal time keepers like a wrist watch, pocket watch etc. The invention of paper would be one of the best great inventions due to the fact that paper is used for everything in daily life. Paper was used to spread information that was on hand written letters. Paper is also used for drawings and painting.Not to mentio n that paper is used for books, newspaper and lets not forgot paper is used for making what we all love to spend money. Of all of the inventions listed above if there were one invention that would be listed as a must have invention would be the invention of paper. The invention of paper has evolved into the making of paper money. Paper money consists of 1, 5, 10, 20 dollar bills and etc. Money is something generally accepted as a medium of exchange, a unit of account or a store of value. The first advantage to having money is that fact that stuff costs money. If you want things you have to have money to pay for them.Vary rarely do people just give their stuff away, they want something for it and money is the universal trade item. You can trade money for almost anything in the world. If you want a lot of stuff you need to have a lot of money. We now know that we owe a whole lot to the ancient Chinese for inventing so many things that are of important value to our lives. Makes you won der if they knew back then how important these inventions would become to be. References â€Å"About the Collection. † About the Collection. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Aug. 2012. <http://www. ipst. gatech. edu/amp/collection>. CHINESEA   INVENTIONS. † Chinese Inventions. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Aug. 2012. <http://www. vhinkle. com/china/inventions. html>. â€Å"History of Silk. † History of Silk. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Aug. 2012. <http://www. silk-road. com/artl/silkhistory. shtml>. â€Å"Natural Gas Exploration. † Natural Gas Exploration. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Aug. 2012. <http://www. explorations. org/natural_gas_exploration_cont. html>. â€Å"Origin of Chinese Porcelain. † Origin of Chinese Porcelain. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Aug. 2012. <http://www1. chinaculture. org/gb/en_artqa/2003-09/24/content_37884. htm>.

Important Choice in of Mice and Men

Choices are made by everyone at some point in life. Choices can be complicated or as simple as yes or no. Decisions can be difficult or easy to make. Some choices are impulsive while some require a lot of premeditation to make. In the novella, Of Mice and Men, written by George Steinbeck, George chose to kill his best friend Lennie. Lennie and George were friends for a long time. They both worked at a farm together. Lennie was retarded and George took care of him and watched over him. Throughout the book Lennie displays blind loyalty to George and their hope of a better life.George is a very dynamic character through the book while Lennie is constant displaying incredible amounts of physical strength and being dim witted. Killing Lennie was no easy task for George. This important choice was a choice that affected others, affected George, and had to be motivated to be made. George was motivated to kill his friend, Lennie. Lennie had always loved to pet soft things. He would often kill mice just by petting them. Lennie had also killed a puppy on accident. These incidents occurred out of his innocence.He was unaware of his own strength and killed animals because of it. Lennie killed Curley’s wife in an effort to simply pet her soft hair. A mob of people from the farm chased Lennie and George from the farm in an effort to kill Lennie. Curley said he wanted to kill Lennie in the most painful way possible. George and Lennie effectively escaped their pursuit for a brief minute. In this moment George tried to calm Lennie down by reminding him of their shared dream of a better life. This involved them owning their own farm and tending rabbits for Lennie to pet.This undoubtedly brought Lennie to a calm place. In that moment when people began to close in, George killed Lennie by shooting him in the back of the head. This act was influenced by the impending doom Lennie had coming. The other men from the farm that had chased Lennie would have killed him much less pea cefully. If George did not do it, Curley would have done it much less humanely. While this reason for killing Lennie may seem to be merciful, what if George had killed him for selfish gain? George was held back by Lennie as long as he had been accompanying him.This was not the first time they had gotten in trouble with the law. Lennie also kept George from getting any type of romantic relationship or even a stable job. Is it possible George was motivated by his own selfish inclinations? Several factors influenced George to kill Lennie. George’s choice to kill Lennie was motivated by others but also affected him. It is reasonable to believe that George looked out for both Lennie and his own interest in deciding what how he must confront the situation mentioned earlier. Killing Lennie affected George’s life in depth.In the entire book George and Lennie are depicted as being together. George would have to adjust to being slightly more lonesome for the time being. Lennie w as a companion to George but he was also a hindrance. George had said how Lennie keeps him from doing many things. George was upset at this and said â€Å"If I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want. Why, I could stay in a cathouse all night.I could eat any place I want, hotel or any place, and order any damn thing I could think of. An’ I could do all that every damn month. Get a gallon of whisky, or set in a pool room and play cards or shoot pool. † Lennie knelt and looked over the fire at the angry George. And Lennie’s face was drawn in with terror. â€Å"An’ whatta I got,† George went on furiously. â€Å"I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time. † Here George act s as if he doesn’t want Lennie so it would be natural to assume that with Lennie dead George would be happy.On the contrary George is disappointed at the loss of his friend as he does not want to live an isolationist life like the other members of the ranch. The choice George made affected him negatively from his own viewpoint but also allowed him to live a less tethered lifestyle. The adverse effects of this choice affected George the most. In addition to having affected George, this choice also affected others in the ranch. Lennie was the one most affected. Obviously Lennie died because of George's decision to kill him. What could have happened had an alternate ending taken place?Instead of killing Lennie, George could have escaped and found other work. This scenario was spelled out in the beginning of the book when it says how the duo had left a ranch in Weed for undisclosed reasons. There is no reason why Lennie could have been spared in this fashion. Perhaps George reali zed the cycle that could have proceeded where they escape to another ranch only to find Lennie falls into the same pattern where they end up repeating the same steps over and over. In that case George's decision was still the right one. Lennie did not understand what death was in its full sense.When he killed animals he did not care they were dead but wanted them for comfort. In the same way George killed Lennie while he was in a comforted state. Lennie most likely wanted it that way. When Lennie was killed, their dream of the ranch was also killed. This deeply hurt those like Candy and Crooks who emotionally invested in this dream that had become theirs as well. Candy insisted that George goes ahead and buys a farm anyway. The represented freedom and lack of prejudice for Candy and Crooks. When the idea was gone, they were very upset as their dreams of a better life did the same.George's decision to kill Lennie affected others as well as him. The important choice to kill Lennie was a choice that was motivated by others, affected George and affected others. The decision was motivated by Curley’s desire for revenge. George will be forced to live an isolationist life just like the other members of the ranch in the Great Depression. Crooks and Candy’s dream of an improved life was crushed with George’s choice. Everyone has to make important choices in their life and they will usually be for the better and the worse.

Daniel Keyes essays

Daniel Keyes essays Daniel Keyes was born in Brooklyn in 1927. Once an editor, he married a fashion photographer and had 2 daughters. Keyes was once an English teacher at Midwood High School for 6 years after getting his Bachelors and Masters Degree at Brooklyn College. He was also the junior commissioner for Wayne State University in Michigan. Keyes won the Hugo award in Science Fiction for his short story, Flowers for Algernon. After winning that, Flowers for Algernon was bought and made into a made for TV movie. Since people loved this story so much, Keyes decided to write a full novel with the same name in 1966, and the same people who bought the book and made the made for TV movie bought the full novel in 1966 and made it into a major motion picture entitled Charly with Cliff Robertson as Charlie in 1968. ...

Honor Killings or Shame Killings in Asia

Honor Killings or Shame Killings in Asia In many of the countries of South Asia and the Middle East, women can be targeted by their own families for death in what is known as â€Å"honor killings.† Often the victim has acted in a way that seems unremarkable to observers from other cultures; she has sought a divorce, refused to go through with an arranged marriage, or had an affair. In the most horrifying cases, a woman who suffers a rape then gets murdered by her own relatives. Yet, in highly patriarchal cultures, these actions – even being the victim of a sexual assault – are often seen as a blot on the honor and the reputation of the woman’s entire family, and her family may decide to maim or kill her. A woman (or rarely, a man) does not have to actually break any cultural taboos in order to become an honor killing victim. Just the suggestion that she has behaved inappropriately may be enough to seal her fate, and her relatives will not give her a chance to defend herself before carrying out the execution. In fact, women have been killed when their families knew they were completely innocent; just the fact that rumors had started going around was enough to dishonor the family, so the accused woman had to be killed. Writing for the United Nations, Dr. Aisha Gill defines an honor killing or honor violence as: ...any form of violence perpetrated against females within the framework of patriarchal family structures, communities, and/or societies, where the main justification for the perpetration of violence is the protection of a social construction of ‘honour’ as a value-system, norm, or tradition. In some cases, however, men may also be victims of honor killing, particularly if they are suspected of being homosexual, or if they refuse to marry the bride selected for them by their family. Honor killings take many different forms, including shooting, strangling, drowning, acid attacks, burning, stoning, or burying the victim alive. What is the justification for this horrific intrafamilial violence?   A report published by Canada’s Department of Justice quotes Dr. Sharif Kanaana of Birzeit University, who notes that honor killing in Arab cultures is not solely or even primarily about controlling a woman’s sexuality, per se.  Rather, Dr. Kanaana states: What the men of the family, clan, or tribe seek control of in a patrilineal society is reproductive power.  Women for the tribe were considered a factory for making men. The honor killing is not a means to control sexual power or behavior. What’s behind it is the issue of fertility, or reproductive power. Interestingly, honor murders are usually carried out by the fathers, brothers, or uncles of the victims – not by husbands. Although in a patriarchal society, wives are seen as the property of their husbands, any alleged misbehavior reflects dishonor on their birth families rather than their husbands’ families. Thus, a married woman who is accused of transgressing cultural norms is usually killed by her blood relatives. How did this tradition begin? Honor killing today is often associated in western minds and media with Islam, or less commonly with Hinduism, because it happens most often in Muslim or Hindu countries.  In fact, it is a cultural phenomenon separate from religion. First, let’s consider the sexual mores embedded in Hinduism. Unlike the major monotheistic religions, Hinduism does not consider sexual desire to be unclean or evil in any way, although sex just for the sake of lust is frowned upon. However, as with all other issues in Hinduism, questions such as the appropriateness of extramarital sex depend in large part upon the caste of the persons involved. It was never appropriate for a Brahmin to have sexual relations with a low caste person, for example. Indeed, in the Hindu context, most honor killings have been of couples from very different castes who fell in love. They might be killed for refusing to marry a different partner chosen by their families, or for secretly marrying the partner of their own choice. Premarital sex was also a taboo for Hindu women, in particular, as shown by the fact that brides are always referred to as â€Å"maidens† in the Vedas. In addition, boys from the Brahmin caste were strictly forbidden from breaking their celibacy, usually until around the age of 30. They were required to devote their time and energy to priestly studies, and avoid distractions such as young women. We could find no historical record of young Brahmin men being killed by their families if they strayed from their studies and sought the pleasures of the flesh. Honor Killing and Islam In the pre-Islamic cultures of the Arabian Peninsula and also of what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan, society was highly patriarchal. A woman’s reproductive potential belonged to her birth family and could be â€Å"spent† any way they chose – preferably through a marriage that would strengthen the family or clan financially or militarily. However, if a woman brought so-called dishonor on that family or clan, by allegedly engaging in premarital or extramarital sex (whether consensual or not), her family had the right to â€Å"spend† her future reproductive capacity by killing her. When Islam developed and spread throughout this region, it actually brought a different perspective on this question. Neither the Koran itself nor the hadiths make any mention of honor killing, good or bad. Extra-judicial killings, in general, are forbidden by sharia law; this includes honor killings because they are carried out by the victim’s family, rather than by a court of law. This is not to say that the Koran and sharia condone premarital or extramarital relationships. Under the most common interpretations of sharia, premarital sex is punishable by up to 100 lashes for both men and women, while adulterers of either gender can be stoned to death. Nonetheless, today many men in Arab nations such as ​Saudi Arabia, ​Iraq, and Jordan, as well as in Pashtun areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, adhere to the tradition of honor killing rather than taking the accused persons to court. It is notable that in other predominantly Islamic nations, such as Indonesia, Senegal, Bangladesh, Niger, and Mali, honor killing is a practically unknown phenomenon.  This strongly supports the idea that honor killing is a cultural tradition, rather than a religious one. Impact of Honor Killing Culture The honor killing cultures that were born in pre-Islamic Arabia and South Asia have a world-wide impact today. Estimates of the number of women murdered each year in honor killings range from the United Nations’ 2000 estimate of about 5,000 dead to a BBC report’s estimate based on humanitarian organizations’ counts of more than 20,000. Growing communities of Arab, Pakistani, and Afghan people in western countries also means that the issue of honor killings is making itself felt across Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere. High-profile cases, such as the 2009 murder of an Iraqi-American woman named Noor Almaleki, have horrified western observers. According to a CBS News report on the incident, Almaleki was raised in Arizona from the age of four and was highly westernized. She was independent-minded, liked to wear blue jeans, and, at age 20, had moved out of her parents’ home and was living with her boyfriend and his mother. Her father, enraged that she had rejected an arranged marriage and moved in with her boyfriend, ran her over with his minivan and killed her. Incidents like Noor Almaleki’s murder, and similar killings in Britain, Canada, and elsewhere, highlight an additional danger for the female children of immigrants from honor killing cultures.  Girls who acculturate to their new countries – and most children do – are extremely vulnerable to honor attacks. They absorb the ideas, attitudes, fashions, and social mores of the western world. As a result, their fathers, uncles, and other male relatives feel that they are losing the family honor because they no longer have control over the girls’ reproductive potential. The outcome, in too many cases, is murder. Sources Julia Dahl. â€Å"Honor killing under growing scrutiny in the U.S.,† CBS News, April 5, 2012. Department of Justice, Canada. â€Å"Historical Context – Origins of Honour Killing,† Preliminary Examination of so-called â€Å"Honour Killings† in Canada, Sept. 4, 2015. Dr. Aisha Gill. â€Å"Honour Killings and the Quest for Justice in Black and Minority Ethnic Communities in the UK,† United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women. June 12, 2009. â€Å"Honor Violence Factsheet,† Honor Diaries. Accessed May 25, 2016. Jayaram V. â€Å"Hinduism and Premarital Relationships,† Hinduwebsite.com. Accessed May 25, 2016. Ahmed Maher. â€Å"Many Jordan teenagers ‘support honour killings,† BBC News. June 20, 2013.

In France, appropriate conduct, trust and understanding of social Essay

In France, appropriate conduct, trust and understanding of social status are vital factors for success - Essay Example International business management comprises learning different cultures of the nations where a company intends to enter. Cross-cultural management helps to gain understanding about business tactics, human personality and leadership/management style that are significant for possessing effective business relationships with people in foreign countries (Bowie, 2008). The paper describes the business environment and culture of France and China for conducting business of a retail fashion organisation in the United Kingdom named River Island. The objective of the paper is to recognise the cross-cultural aspects of China and France with respect to leadership style and business practices which need to be considered by River Island in order to conduct business in foreign nations. Furthermore, the paper analyses the business environment and legal structure of both nations for assessing the suitability of conducting business. Business Environment of France France is regarded as the international cultural capital. It is one of the biggest and most diverse nations in Europe. France is also recognised as a modern nation among the European countries with respect to technology and business. France has always been the core of international business and trade. France is an extremely consolidated nation. Among many larger cities in France, Paris plays a significant part with respect to governmental regulations and business opportunities. France has advanced rail network and structured road transport system that offer smooth access to major capitals and metropolises (Nouel, 2005). Economic Environment France is known as the world’s fifth biggest economy with respect to gross domestic product (GDP). In the year 2007, the GDP of France was almost â‚ ¬1892 billion and inflation rate was about 1.5%. In the year 2002, France had accepted Euro as its domestic currency (Moore Stephens International Limited, 2009). France is also considered as one of the biggest exporters of the world. In the year 2008, France had exported US$767 billion worth of goods (MGI World, 2009). France not only has progressive industrial economy, but also is advanced in automobile industry, aerospace, information technology, electronics, chemicals and fashion industry. France is one of the significant members of G8 leading industrialised nations (MGI World, 2009). Fashion Retail Industry of France France plays a vital role in catalysing enthusiasm about fashion all through the nation. The fashion industry of France has acquired its acceptability from high-end and high creative sector. The brand management capability, affluence and commercial aptitude of France gradually dribbled over the mass fashion retail market segment by motivating the appearance of international brands (Girod, 2012). In the year 2009, the total income of French apparel retail industry was worth US$48,956.4 million which accounted for compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.6% (Datamonitor, 2009). In order to

School History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 18

School History - Essay Example   I am a member of Biology Society, which has consisted of those who have the deep interest in biology and medical science. As a part of the society, I have organized and participated in meetings with health organizations to learn more about human anatomy and other biological issues. My strong interest in economics led me to become a member of Economics and Finance Society of Rutgers, which is an organization, offers many seminars with executives from recognizable corporations such as JP Morgan. The American Student Dental Association for pre-dental and dental students has helped me immensely to prepare for the dental school. I am also a part of the Pre Health Society which works closely with Biology Society and arrange meetings among medical and dental students to help us excel in our careers. Being a member of Student Doctors Society, which consists of medical and pre-medical students, I was able to participate in programmes in which we could exchange information about experiences within medical field. I worked as a sales representative in a telecommunication industry and learned to interact with various kinds of people. I worked as a floor director at Korean Broadcasting System. My job was to support PD. It is one of the most important positions to keep productions flow. I have also worked for Japan Camera Repair, which required me to have highly skilled hand-eye coordination as it dealt with many minute components of cameras. I will wake as a tutor to teach biology students at Rutgers University and hope to get chances to interact more with professors and students through learning and teaching.

The Sacred Realm of Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Sacred Realm of Art - Essay Example The essay provided distinct art forms exemplified by four religions, to wit: the jade statue of the ancient Olmecs, revealed to have existed some 1500 to 300 b.c.; the masks of the indigenous Bwa from West Africa; the painting of images of the Tathagata Buddha from Central Tibet; and the painting of the image of the Virgin Mary, as Madonna Enthroned from Italy. There were marked differences but also intriguing similarities depicting prominent figures, profound meanings, portrayal of messages through expressions, positions of body parts and symbolisms. The jade figure of the ancient Olmecs, for instance, revealed contrasting expressions of two images manifesting the significant role of a shaman, an intermediary between two worlds. The masks of the Bwa people, on the other hand, likewise serve as a spiritual manifestation of presence that provides guidance and assistance to humans through various traditions and practices. The comparative discourse provided by the paintings of the image s of the Tathagata Buddha and the Madonna Enthoned showed remarkable similarities despite the diversity in religious beliefs. Depicting the central image as the signifying the most reverent role in the respective religions (Buddhist and Christian), the juxtaposition of body parts (hand, face, and other images) give meaning to the viewers.

Sales promotions

Sales promotions In the United Kingdom, most of the companies that are known as the big advertising spenders allocate more money on sales, promotions than advertising. Due to the movement towards relationship marketing and integrated marketing communications, growth of direct mail and increasing cost, advertising lost its dominant importance over other communication mix in last two decades. The ratio of advertising budget against promotions budget is 30:70 (advertising: promotions) which was 60:40 in 1990s in UK (Kotler, 1997). This fact underlines the importance of sales promotions. However, sales promotions fail to be successful unless they are clearly targeted, well communicated and original. Companies can use sales promotions for different purposes such as: increasing a particular products usage, improving sales of existing product, retaining and rewarding loyal customers and helping to introduce new products, data capturing. Depending on the time and the way that these sales promotions methods are employed, they could be tactical or strategic tools (Pickton Broderick, 2001). More often sales promotions are used as tactical tools to have short term outcomes- for example, as a response to competitors activity or improving the sales of a product or service. Alternatively, some sale promotional techniques can be combined with customer relationship management programmes which seek more strategic and long term approaches (Hackley, 2005). For example, free samples and contest entry forms are used to capture customer information in order to create a customer database which adds value to business as importance of direct database marketing is rapidly increasing. Furthermore, cus tomer retention programs and rewarding loyal customers with sales promotions assist to create a brand loyalty over long run. Mintels (2008) report discovered that high street pubs and bars spend more money on sales promotions than any other communication mix. Particularly with the effects of credit crunch, reluctance of spending money on alcoholic drinks and night-outs made it indispensible to lower prices or add extra value through sales promotions to lure potential customers. This is one of the most important reasons why sales promotions became very important in bar industry in recent times. In order to retain customers, some bars and restaurants started to give price cuts, 2 for 1 offers and meal deals. To respond to competitors move and overcome the reluctance of spending money on entertainment, other bars and restaurants also used sales promotions. This current economic climate created a great opportunity for bars and restaurants to gain competitors customers by the way of using sales promotions to bring customers in to experience their service. If they can make good use of the opportunity, those cust omers can be loyal customers. Marketing communications are vital for a companys success. Regardless what product or service is offered by an organization, messages should be sent to potential customers through marketing communication methods. In most cases, combinations of those methods are used in marketing plan. Product life cycle is a tool that helps managers to plan their communication mix. Sales promotions can be employed in each stage of a product or services life cycle. Sales promotions help to strengthen the messages that are sent through advertising, public relations and other promotional activities. However, their purpose of use depends on what stage they are used. In introduction stage, they tend to encourage potential customers to try the service in order to create awareness. In growth and maturity stages, the main aim of the sales promotions is to build brand loyalty and reinforce the messages (Varey, 2002) that are given in introduction stage and increase the usage of a product or service. More in d epth uses and analysis of product life cycle will be discussed in chapter 2 and chapter 4. Pitcher Piano, a bar chain with branches located throughout the UK and owned by Marstons Public Limited Company, is one of the many bar chains which emphasise the importance of sales promotions by employing these tools as both a tactical and a strategic tool very often. There are three types of sales promotions: customer sales promotions, trade sales promotions and employee sales promotions (Wright, 2000). This study will mainly focus on customer sales promotions. The purpose of this research is, by using relative literature on the topic and with the help of primary data, to examine the usage of customer sales promotions and the methods and discover whether these methods are used to influence a service or brands performance in bar industry in short term or long term. 1.3 Brief Background of Pitcher Piano Pitcher Piano is a bar chain with branches located throughout the UK. Since 1996, the brand operates as a part of Marstons Public Limited Company. The first Pitcher Piano was opened in 1986 in Fulham. When Pitcher Piano Fulham opened its doors to public, it was one of the first wine bars in the UK. This new wine bar concept was an alternative to traditional British pub culture. The concept became very popular and over time other brands like All-Bar-One, Slug Lettuce emerged. There are 27 Pitcher Piano bars around UK now. Recently, company decided to sell some of their branches in London in order to focus on the branches where the venues are owned by the company and that are profitable. Main competitors of Pitcher Piano are All-Bar-One, Slug Lettuce, Grand Union and Living Room. Pitcher Piano bars offer a wide range of wines, spirits and beers as well as party snacks and food. Even though Pitcher Piano bars all operate under the same brand name each bar has its own strengths tailored to the customers demand in the area. While some are led by food sales, others are renowned for their party atmosphere and drinks. Hence, individual branch has its own promotions which are decided by house general manager depending on their customer base and target. In 2004, to help government to tackle increasing binge-drinking related crime, along with some of other pub groups, the company decided not to consider Happy Hours or similar promotions campaigns (Evening Standard, 2004). However, heavy competition, current economic climate and plans for creating customer database for direct marketing pushed the company to use sales promotions methods again. 1.4 Rationale of the Chosen Topic During the current economic climate, most companies use sales promotions to encourage recession-hit people to spend money on their products and services. In this context, the bar industry is one of the most interesting industries since the priority of entertainment lost its place to the primary needs such as satiating hunger. Therefore, it caused bar industry to employ sales promotions as tactical tools extensively. Particularly, in bar industry, heavy competition made it compulsory to use sales promotions in order not to lose customers to other bars at the same time attract competitors customers. Furthermore, having worked in bar industry for five years, out of which 4 years in Pitcher Piano, the researcher has gained knowledge and understanding of various usages of marketing communication mix, particularly, sales promotions in bar industry. This experience also helped the researcher to observe how the company reacts to internal and external changes. Even though sales promotions are common tools employed by marketers as a tactical weapon, it has become more complex and also interesting for the researcher to analyse them during the current economic climate within bar industry. That is the main reason why the topic, which is to examine methods of sales promotions employed by Pitcher Piano and analyse effects of these methods on the companys performance, was chosen to. This research will help the researcher to gain a valuable knowledge about marketing the communication mix and more importantly, sales promotions. 1.5 Aims and Objectives of Research The main aim of the research is to explore different methods of sales promotions, when and where to use appropriate methods, either as a strategic tool or tactical tool, and understand their pros and cons in the hospitality industry. In order to understand the methods, this research will evaluate the above mentioned bar Pitcher Piano that use sales promotion frequently. In this context, the objectives of this research can be described as follow; To find out what kind of sales promotions used by Pitcher Piano, To evaluate the outcomes of the employed sales promotion techniques, To assess the effectiveness of the given methods and suggest areas in need of improvement where necessary, To analyse the use of sales promotion in the context of tactical or strategic tools. 1.6 Significance of the Study This research provides several significances such as; This research will provide information to marketers on the uses of consumer sales promotion in bar industry and help them to have an understanding of some of the consumer sales promotion methods. This research can help other researches on this particular topic, sales promotion and related topic. In general, the usage of sales promotion amongst all communication mix is rapidly increasing, particularly in bar industry, in the UK. However, sales promotion always perceived as a supporting activity of advertising and public relations. Many academics underlined its efficiency of achieving short term goals. Nevertheless, its long term impacts have been ignored. Although the debate is on-going whether sales promotions are strategic or tactical tool, in the context of question industry examined in this research, they can be specifically interpreted as strategic tools in such activities as building customer database, encouraging trial use and repeat purchase. 1.7 Brief Structure of the Study This study consists of 5 sections. Each section includes some explanations and opinions to help enlightening the subject matter. This study attempts to find out the uses of customer sales promotion in bar industry and whether these promotions are employed as tactical or strategic tool. Chapter 1: This chapter contains the introduction on the changing nature of sales promotion within promotion mix and a brief view on related models and topics. This chapter also includes the usage and the importance of sales promotions in brief and succinct background information about Pitcher Piano. Finally, aims and objectives, rationale and significance of the study are covered in this section. Chapter 2: In this chapter, all current and related topics are examined. Different opinions that have been expressed by academics on strategic uses of sales promotion are discussed. Furthermore, various consumer sales promotion methods, communication methods in service industry, importance of sales promotions in direct marketing and usage of product life cycle for promotional mix are explained with the help of existing vast literature on these topics. Chapter 3: This chapter explains the methodology that is employed by researcher while doing this research. Approaches of the researchers and the methods adopted to collect and analyse the primary data are critically argued. Finally, shortcomings which are faced by researcher in the research process are included in this chapter. Chapter 4: This chapter represents the analysis of the data collected and the findings of this research. In this chapter, it is also focused on that to what extend the findings are related to the literature review. The researcher also Chapter 5: This chapter includes conclusions and recommendations. Conclusions are made with the help of literature review, analysis and the primary data. Recommendations were given to bar industry to advise on the strategic use of sales promotion methods. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW This section will attempt to explain the current argument on the topic and present different views by academics. It will help to understand concepts and models relating to sales promotion in the context of question as well. However, the usage of these models and concepts in practice will be related in data analysis section with the help of observed examples and primary data. 2.1 Sales Promotions 2.1.1 Sales Promotion and Current Debate on Sales Promotion Sales promotion is one of the four aspects of promotional mix along with advertising, personal selling and public relations. Sales promotions which, are also known as below the line promotions, are methods that are used by marketers to attract consumers. Sales promotions have been in use in trading for a long time. Shopkeepers and stallholders had been employing on the spot offers to convince people to purchase a product (Mullin and Cummins, 2008). Sales promotions are, traditionally, defined in the most textbooks as activities such as deals, discounts, coupons, loyalty programs, refunds, contest, sampling and special displays that are encouraging the target audience to act in a particular way by reducing the perceived value of the product being promoted usually to achieve short term goals (Fill, 2006; Pickton and Broderick, 2001). According to Institute of Sales Promotion (2004; cited in Yeshin, 2006, p1), sales promotion is defined as a planned and implemented marketing activity that both enhances product and service appeal and changes customer behaviour positively in return for an additional benefit for purchase or participation. Lamb et al. (2004, p323) also interpret sales promotion as generally a short run tool used to stimulate immediate increase in demand. Most definitions underpinned the immediate encouragement to buy the product and service at the time. Nevertheless, the definitions do not convey the same message whe ther it has short term or long term effects. Most of the definitions above agree that sales promotion is a short term tool. Similarly, Shimp (2000, p508) considers that sales promotion has a short term nature by stating that in contrast to advertising, which typically, though not always, is relatively long term in orientation and best suited to enhancing buyer attitudes and augmenting brand equity, promotion is more short-term oriented and capable of influencing behaviour (rather than just attitudes or intensions). Fill (2006, p635) is another supporter of this school of thought. He believes that just as advertising seeks to work over the long term, sales promotion can achieve short term upward shifts in sales. When comparing advertising and sales promotion, Kotler (2008, p85) underlined that whereas advertising offers a reason to buy a product or service, sales promotion offers reasons that would achieve immediate sale. However, Yeshin (2006) opposes to the views stated above and claims that objectives of sales promotion have dramatically changed in recent years. Wilmshurt and Macay supported Yeshin (2006) by stating that companies have increasingly realized, however, that whilst sales promotion has tactical uses it has strategic implications (2002, p211). According to Gupta et al. (1997 cited in Yeshin, 2006), many empirical researches have focused on identifying short-term effects of sales promotion. Thus, most practitioners and, in particular, academics failed to see long term effects of sales promotion. Schultz et al. suggested that sales promotion can be strategic by stating sales promotions are marketing and communications activities that change the price / value relationship of a product or service perceived by the target, thereby generating immediate sales and altering long term brand value (1998, p7). Kotler and Armstrong (2008, p502) suggest that in general, rather than creating only shor t term sales or temporary brand switching, sales promotions should help to reinforce the products position and build long term customer relationship. In addition, they (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008, p.502) claim that if properly designed, every sales promotion tool has the potential to build both short term excitement and long term consumer relationship. Mullin and Cummins (2008) believe that a good sales promotion should prompt a customer to consider a product or service and help them to make a decision after the promotion campaign. Brassington and Pettitts (2003, p720) definition covers all the characteristics of sales promotion. They believe sales promotion is a range of tactical marketing techniques designed within a strategic marketing framework to add value to a product or service in order to achieve specific sales and marketing objectives. This extra value may be of a short-term tactical nature or it may be part of a longer-term franchise-building programme. Finally, Boone and Kurtz (2001, p509) noticed the shift in the usage of sales promotion in recent years by stating that today, however, marketers recognize them as integral parts of many marketing plans, and the focus of sales promotion has shifted from short-term to long-term goals of building brand equity and maintaining continuing purchase. They supported their argument with frequent-flyers programs that can create a base of loyal customers. It should be noted that sales promotion is a great tool to get immediate affects. However, sales promotions capability of creating a long term affects should not be ignored. While the debate, whether sales promotion is short term or long term, is still on-going, the use of sales promotion has increased enormously in last two decades. Smith and Taylor state that the importance of sales promotions over advertising have been increased because of various reasons which are; a)the movement towards relationship marketing, b) the growth of direct mail, c) the emergence of promotion-literate consumers who expect promotions with certain product types, d) during recessions, price-conscious customers search for value-for-money promotions, e) powerful retailers favour suppliers whose products sell quickly, f) high television advertising costs force marketing managers to look for more cost effective below-the-line tools. (Smith and Taylor, 2004 p. 356) Even though they are widely used by many companies, some academics disagree to use them extensively. Many of them underline the facts that extensive and repetitive promotions of a product can damage the brand value, sales and cash flow (Schultz et al., 1998). 2.1.2 Strengths and Weaknesses of Sales Promotions Each communication mix can accomplish a certain objective that other elements cannot (Burnett and Moriarty, 1998; Shimp 2000). For example, advertising cannot change a product or services sales trend in short term however sales promotion can. What sales promotion is capable of accomplishing; Motivate sales force to sell a new, improved or mature product. When personal selling methods becomes boring and monotonous, exciting sales promotions can stimulate sale forces enthusiasm and make the job easier for them (Shimp, 2000). Stimulate sales in maturity stage of a product or service. By changing price / value relationship, it can encourage more people to use a product or service (Schultz et al., 1997). Counteract a competitors communication campaign. Competitors advertising and sales promotion campaign can be neutralized by using counter sales promotion campaigns (Shimp, 2003). Encourage consumers to try a new service or product (Fornell et al., 1985). When a product or service is being introduced into the market, it is very important to encourage people to experience it (Mela et al., 1997). Consumers would not know if the product or service is high-quality unless they try it. Many consumers would not try a new product without any sales promotion activity. Retain existing customers through repeat purchases. Sales promotion can be used to prevent existing customers to go to competitors. Shimp, (2000, p516) states that strategic use of sales promotion can encourage at least short-run repetitive purchasing. Besides short-term repetitive purchasing, continuous sales promotion programs such as loyalty card scheme encourage customers to repeat purchase. Reinforce the messages given with advertising and public relations campaigns. Sales promotion can be a main tool for an organizations communication plan. However, it can also help to emphasise messages given with any other communication tools (Burnett and Moriarty, 1998). Help to build a customer database. The importance of direct marketing is increasing. In order to build a database to contact consumers directly, sales promotion are used to capture their contact details. Some sales promotions require customers to provide their details in return of a free products or discounts (Mullin and Cummins, 2008). What sales promotion is not capable of accomplishing; Inability to change opinion about an undesired product or service. Consumers would not purchase a product or service if they do not like it. Sales promotion usually will fail to help to compensate a low quality product or bad service (Boone and Kurtz, 2001). Unable to compensate for poor advertising. Sales promotions cannot fix a problem caused by weak brand image or lack of brand awareness. It can help in the short run. However, it is unrealistic to expect a good result in long run. Sales promotions can have negative effects on long term (Jedidi et al., 1999). If sales promotion is used repeatedly, it can create confusion on perceived value of a product or service. Thus, customers would not buy the product or service once the promotion is over and wait for the new promotion. 2.1.3 Consumer Sales Promotions and Methods According to Fill (2006), sales promotions are used for various reasons such as reaching new customers, reducing distributor risk, rewarding behaviour, retention, adding value and assisting segmentation. There are three types of sales promotions depending on who they target: consumer sales promotions, trade sales promotions and employee sales promotions (Srinivasan and Anderson, 1998; Wright, 2000; Fill, 2006; Boone and Kurtz, 2001). The focus of this study will be on consumer sales promotions, as it is mentioned in Chapter 2 and on discovering what types of sales promotions methods are used by Pitcher Piano and whether they are tactical or strategic. Pickton and Broderick define consumer targeted sales promotion as pull promotional activities designed to encourage demand by end-customers that will pull products through distribution channels (2001, p539). Objectives of sales promotion and analysis of whether the objective is strategic or tactical are given in the Table-1. Consumer targeted promotions are used for improving sales of existing products, encouraging repeat purchase, trial of new products and brand loyalty, giving a response to competitors move and capturing customer database information. There are different tools of consumer targeted promotions. The most popular and widely used ones are sampling, couponing, premiums, money-off, bonus-packs, prize draws and refunds. However, Pitcher Piano uses sampling, premiums (2 for 1s, 3 for 2s), money-off and contests and sweepstakes more often, for example, last summer, Pitcher Piano customers could win Bacardis global music festival tickets on completion of registration forms (Appendix 1). Price-offs offer consumer discount on the regular price of a product. They are used to accomplish different objectives. They can be used to reward the existing customers. In this case, price-offs collaborated with loyalty card schemes (Hobbs and Rowley, 2008). Another use of price-offs is to encourage consumers to stockpile the product. It is a good way of pre-empting competitors. Those customers who stockpiled the product are out of marketplace until they consume the product. They would not buy competitors brand during that time (Shimp, 2000). Price-offs can be offered to customers on a specific time of the day. For example, happy hours in pubs and bars is a good example of it. The objective behind is that to pull the customers inside the venue at slow periods to increase volume (Reid and Bojanic, 2006). Combination offers or bundling are one of the most popular methods that are employed by restaurant and bar industry (Kotler et al., 1996). Two or more products or services are combined together and offered on a price that would be more if they are purchased separately. Such examples are restaurants 3 course meal deals, two for one deals and drink and meal at a specific price deals. 2.1.3.2 Premiums Premiums are products or services that are offered free or at relatively low cost when buying a product; such as buy a meal get the drinks free or purchase this meal and get a baseball cap free (dAstous Jacob, 2002). Premiums are typically given to consumers as a reward for behaving in a particular way, usually visiting a store or buying a product or service (Burnett and Moriarty, 1998). They can also be used to add value to product and represent an advantage over competitors products (Pickton and Broderick, 2001). The main target of premiums is to encourage the trial of a product. There are two types of premiums which are direct premiums and mail premiums. Incentives are provided at the time of the purchase with direct premiums. Direct premiums can be given to customers in the store, be placed with the package, be inserted in the package or the container itself can be the premium (Yeshin, 2006). Mail premiums require consumers to provide a proof of purchase of a product or service before being handed. Some of the mail premiums are given free after the customer sending the proof of purchase and some requires customers to save a specific number of coupons or special labels (Burnett and Moriarty, 1998). 2.1.3.3 Sampling Sampling means offering standard or trial-sized samples of a product for free or at a reduced price in order to either create an awareness of a new product / service or increase the consumption of an existing one (Shimp, 2003). Sampling is usually used to aid when a new product or service is launched. Although it is very effective, it is the most expensive way of introducing a product or service. If the consumers are not targeted properly, the losses can be big (Kotler et al., 1996). Thus, companies should avoid giving samples to consumers who would never purchase the product or service in future. Samples are widely used in hospitality sector as well (Reid and Bojanic, 2006). Some restaurants and bars offer samples of their potential customers or people whose opinion is respected in the area. One of the reasons for that is to create a positive word of mouth about the service. 2.1.3.4 Coupons Coupons are the legal certificates by manufacturers that offer customers discount when buying a specified products (Schultz et al., 1998). They can be mailed or emailed (direct mail), given with newspapers, magazines or with another product. According to Kotler et al. (1996), coupons are very popular in restaurant and bar industry. Srinivasan and Anderson (1998) suggest that the value of the discount should be decided very carefully. If the face value is low, consumers are reluctantly to redeem the coupons. However, if the face value is raised, more people redeem it on a price lower than they would have redeemed. Moreover, excessive uses of the coupons can make customers feel they are getting poor value, if they purchase the product or service without a coupon. 2.1.3.5 Contests and Sweepstakes Different forms of competitions such as contests, sweepstakes, prize draws, where they can win a prize without having to spend extra money, are used in order to attract customers (Boone and Kurtz, 2001). This kind of competitions creates an excitement amongst consumers. A sweepstake is a sales promotion technique where customers are required to submit their names and e-mails in a drawing in which they have the chance to win cash, trips or a product or service. The winners are determined purely on the basis of their luck (Egan, 2007). Because of its low cost comparing with other methods, simplicity and ability to accomplish a variety of marketing objectives, the usage of sweepstakes have increased recently (Shimp, 2000) Contests are also another technique for sales promotion. Unlike the sweepstakes, in order to win a prize, contestants compete with others on the basis of skills or ability (Fill, 2006). They are usually asked a contest problem or proof of purchase. The winners are sele cted by judges. Regardless the type of sales promotion, all the sales promotion campaigns should go through an ethical consideration. Consumer oriented promotions such as coupons, contests and premium offers fail to be ethical if the consumers are promised a reward for acting in a certain way wished by promoter and the reward is never given (Shimps, 2000). For example, contests that are making people believe the winning odds are high when they actually are not or lowering the quantity or quality of a product or service when they are on promotion and advertising it as normal. Consumers can also be guilty of unethical behaviour. For example, filling coupons with fictitious names and addresses in order to get the reward. 2.2 Marketing Communications and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Marketing communication is an important aspect of an organizations overall marketing mission and key determinant of its success. Marketing communication is the process of reaching and acknowledging target audiences about a product or service. According to Thomas and Housden, there are four main objectives of marketing communications which are to initiate a relationship (prospecting), to develop the relationship into a sales transaction (conversion), to maintain the relationship (loyalty building) and to resurrect a lapsed relationship (re-activation) (2002, p13). Companies apply different approaches and methods in order to communicate with their target audiences. Advertisements, salespeople, store signs, point-of-purchase displays, product packages, direct-mail marketing, publicity releases, sponsorships, sales promotions are all various forms of communication devices for marketers (Shimp, 2000). All these devices are used to create awareness or to promote a product or service. Any activity that an organization is involved in can deliver messages to their consumers. These messages can either be planned or unplanned. Planned messages are sent to consumers through communication mix. Unplanned messages would include all other communications such as store cleanliness, distributors, employee attitudes and the exterior surroundings of your business, in other words, any elements related with the company that are capable of delivering implicit messages. For example, unfriendly bartender, dirty glasses in a bar, untidy back bar can all deliver negative messages that can have more impact than all the planned marketing communication messages (Burnett and Moriarty, 1998). The term marketing communication mix and promotion mix from 4Ps of marketing mix are used interchangeably in existing literature. Therefore, they are also used interchangeably throughout this research. In 1980s, many academics and practitioners treated each communication tool as separate and distinct. This approach, sometimes, could create some confusion for customers. For example, messages from advertising campaign could fail to match with the messages from public relations campaign, since the sources of the messages were different. Thus, this could give two different messages to consumers about the same product, servic