A response to The Bell Jar Essay

You would expect anybody to want the story of depression and suicidal thoughts to leave your memory as soon as the last page was over. However, The Bell Jar is more about the spirit of survival when you are trapped inside yourself and frightened because the rest of the world expects something completely different from you – something you cannot give them. Something you don’t want to give them, if it were your choice. This is a highly auto-biographical account by Plath of a young girl finding that when she should be most excited about her life, she instead finds that things aren’t what she expected, and that the culture of the 1950’s doesn’t seem to allow for all that she wants, which begins her descent into depression. The Bell Jar is in the form of a Roman à   clef, with the main protagonist (Esther Greenwood) succumbing to mental illness. Esther begins the book thinking about the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenburg, and thinking about cadavers, which is a motif that recurs later on in the book. Esther thinks being executed â€Å"must be the worst thing in the world† so we can tell already that she isn’t exactly a light-hearted character. Instead, throughout the novel, we discover that she is brutally honest and self deprecating. She wins a fashion writing contest, but she isn’t overly happy about it, viewing the gifts and girls there superficial: â€Å"Girls like that make me sick.† She appreciates that she is meant to be â€Å"the envy of thousands of other college girls† but her future prospects trouble her: she can either marry, or, become a secretary and then marry. Neither satisfies her. â€Å"So I began to think maybe it was true that when you were married and had children it was like being brainwashed†, so women in the fifties are meant to want to marry and start a family, and Esther knows this too well. It isn’t considered right to think otherwise, so these opinions stay inside her head. Perhaps, this is why mental illness festers within her; she bottles up her emotions and they mix with more menacing thoughts. Buddy laughs at her when she refuses his marriage proposal, saying that she’s â€Å"crazy† and she’ll â€Å"change her mind.† She thinks he is a hypocrite, and no longer sees him in admiration because of his double standards. Esther observes the gap between what society says she should experience at her age and what she does experience, and this gap intensifies her madness and makes her more aware of any problems she may have, because she is now able to see everything wrong with her in somebody else’s eyes. Esther feels she must repress her natural gloom, cynicism, and dark humour and falsify opinions. Esther’s aversion to convention and conforming is perhaps why she feels so alone and her darker thoughts take over: â€Å"†¦it’s really you getting smaller and smaller and lonelier and lonelier†. Esther’s descent into depression and suicidal thoughts begins on the ski slopes, when she begins scared but â€Å"aims straight down.† This is only the first of numerous suicide attempts: she wants to experiment hanging, drowning, pill overdoses and cutting her wrists, but there are flaws in all of them. When Esther tries to kill herself, she finds that her body seems determined to live. Esther believes that she could kill herself if she wanted, but she must remove the barrier of her body. The beating heart symbolizes her life, as her heart beats, â€Å"I am I am I am.† This is again enforced because she never assigns a blame to her depression, but rather lets us see what it feels like to be in it and living through an experience like it, as she wrote – â€Å"I am I am I am.† But I think the whole book can be summarized by something that Buddy said to her on the ski slopes: â€Å"’You were doing fine,’ a familiar voice informed my ear, ‘until that man stepped into your path.’†

An Information Technology Entrepreneur Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

An Information Technology Entrepreneur - Essay Example It results in job creation, a forward looking and self sufficient society as well as increased foreign trade. It leads to the development of certain areas especially rural areas where certain factories are setup to achieve lower costs. Entrepreneurship results in competition between businesses thereby leading to better quality and more choice for the consumer. Another advantage of entrepreneurship is its ability to promote modern technology in small scale manufacturing to enhance productivity. Thereby entrepreneurship and innovation must be encouraged. (Langlois, 2) Entrepreneurship is not limited to a certain field, nation or profession. It transcends all such boundaries to become a major force in the development of a society. Information technology is a field in which exemplary entrepreneurial talents have emerged. It is also an area which requires constant innovation and entrepreneurship. This is because technology keeps getting upgraded and the world keeps moving forward in this field. The information technology explosion has taken the world by storm and has lead to an entrepreneurial culture which has given way to many scientific advances, the likes of internet, portable networking and email included. (Brown and Ulijn, 83) Many entrepreneurs in the information technology arena came and went. Many were successful others not so. However, none have left a mark on the information technology industry like Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft Corporation has. Microsoft Corporation is the largest software company in the world. It is the company that made Bill Gates the second richest man in the world being its largest stockholder and the youngest self-made billionaire. He is worth a whopping $6.1 billion. In 1994 his company made $953 million last year on sales of $3.75 billion. Microsofts $25 billion market value tops that of Ford, General Motors, 3M, Boeing, RJR Nabisco, General Mills, Anheuser-Busch or Eastman Kodak.  

CASE4 MGT 491 INTERNATIONAL HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CASE4 MGT 491 INTERNATIONAL HRM - Essay Example This paper will discuss various challenges that private organizations encounter when they station expatriates overseas. The will seek to explain the key issues of successful expatriation and will provide suggestions on how private firms can help the repatriation process. The paper will be written from a point of view of newly elected International HRM manager in India. The International HR Manager is required to extend the positive image of their organization to a new country. The culture of the firm should not be carried forward to the new branch. Being in a foreign country, it takes time for the HR manager implement a culture especially when dealing with new employees of a new country. The international HR manager undergoes a feeling of exception and thus do not settle down mentally within a short period of time. Psychologically, when a human being is taken to new places, they develop a characteristic of adventuring in order to learn their new environs. This nature affects international managers, and they end up giving little devotion to their job responsibilities. A company spends a lot of finances as allowances for the Human resource managers. Some managers are emotionally overwhelmed by the large sums of money and end up engaging in a vacation/ exploration rather than concentrating on the assigned business duties. Every organization has its internal laws that are governed by the external laws of the country. Human resource managers might find themselves in complex situations when the internal law of the organization does not comply with international laws. The International HR manager deals with a new workforce which has different characteristics with what they are used to (Harris, Brewster & Sparrow, 2004). It, therefore, becomes challenging to control the workforce effectively and meet the organizations production expectations. The organization is thus exposed to the risk of business failure or

Investment appraisal as a form of management control Essay

Investment appraisal as a form of management control - Essay Example This is then followed by the various investment methods in practice. The traditional and discounted cash flow methods are then discussed in detail. It is essential for the management to choose the appropriate investment appraisal technique to be followed and hence the next section focuses on the selection approach. This section throws light on the merits and demerits of the various investment appraisal techniques as well. In order to understand the importance of security projects (non-financially justifiable), a case study is then taken, where a security team makes a proposal to the management to invest on a security project. It is evident that, in the corporate world, the management takes decision based on financial benefits and hence the security team has to justify the investment. The case study uses two methods, NPV and IRR, to arrive at the benefits from the investment. Based on the results, one of these methods is finalized and presented to the management. In order to understand the need for investment appraisal to management control, it is essential to discuss about the various types of investments and the degree of impact they have on a company’s growth. Any growing company continuously invests on new projects to increase its net worth or value. There are various types of investments made by companies every year. These investments can be as large as setting up an entire unit or as small as buying stationery for the company. The management needs to ensure that all the investments made by the company are justified and are necessary for the business. This is very essential as these decisions directly affect the value of the company and in turn, the shareholders. Management generally classifies all investments into financially justifiable investments and non – financially justifiable investments (Weston and

INTERNATIONAL LITIGATION law 2010 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

INTERNATIONAL LITIGATION law 2010 - Essay Example regulation since the parties are from different states and the dispute related to commercial matters as we can see in the article 1 which mentions the scope of this regulation. Article 2 of the Brussels Regulation gave a general provision that gives a claimant the right to sue in a country where he is domiciled whatever his nationality is. Section 2 of Article 2 says that the rules of jurisdiction applicable to nationals of that state will be applied in such cases. Article 60 mentions that for the purpose of the Brussels Regulation, a company’s nationality will be deemed to be the state where it has its statutory seat, or central administration, or principal place of business. According to section 2 of this article means of statutory seat in England and Ireland which is the registered office or, the place of incorporation or the place under the law of which the formation took place. This article add extra jurisdiction for the member state. In the case of sale of goods, a claimant can sue in the different state in some case one of them which mention in section 1 (b) in this article which gave jurisdiction to the place where the goods are delivered or should be delivered. Article 23 in Brussels Regulation left its optional for the parties domiciled in member state. They have a choice as to which court or courts have jurisdiction to try and decide any dispute that may arise between the parties in connection with a particular legal relationship. But this choice is subject to certain condition. One of the conditions is that there must be an agreement to this effect between the parties. Further, according to the provisions of the regulation, this agreement must be in writing or evidenced in writing. Applying article 23 of the Brussels regulation on the fact of this case it can be said that only the German courts have jurisdiction that is the right to settle the dispute. This is so because of two reasons 3) Despite the above jurisdiction clause, Black horse

Nationalalism identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nationalalism identity - Essay Example The United States of America boasts as sole superpower of the world also identifies their self with all prides of national identity. The British and Western Europeans are not lagging behind in their race for clinching to their national identities. Amongst Europeans the British nation didn't join the single currency rope of Euro in 2000. While French, German, Dutch, Spanish Portuguese, and Italians adamantly claim to be superior primitive European nations in their own way. They never compromise on the labels of their languages and still find themselves proud of their respective languages. Their language is their own medium of education in all sought of manifestations. Exactly same is the case with Japanese as a nation and language. The Spanish, Italian, French and Dutch languages find themselves rich in art, architecture, literature, medicines and technologies. So it cannot be safely said that English language, both British and American versus other Europeans languages are competent at par with each other as a medium of instruction and education in all manners of past, present and future. While coming to Asia and Middle East, the fast developing nations like Malaysians, Koreans, and Chinese are not at all oblivious to the facts mentioned in case

Economics & the Legal Environment of Business Research Paper

Economics & the Legal Environment of Business - Research Paper Example Macroeconomic factors The macroeconomic conditions are very important for business. Conducive macroeconomic conditions help a business to earn excellent profit, whereas unfavorable macroeconomic situations may convert the profits into losses. There are several macroeconomic factors that can influence the business operation of the company. Some of the vital factors are total production or GDP (gross domestic product) of the country in which the company is located, unemployment situation, prevailing and expected rate of inflation, and rate of interests. (Culp, 2001) If the country in which the company is located has been suffering from negative growth of GDP, then it will produce some adverse impacts on the construction industry also as it a part of the entire economy. For example, if a country is going through recession, then every industrial sector will feel the heat in the form of decreased demand and lower production. On the contrary, if an economy is going through economic expansi on with high rate of GDP growth then, purchasing power of the population will increase which might help in creating higher demand in the construction industry. (Culp, 2001) Similarly, unemployment situation is also a vital factor that might influence the business operation. ... (Culp, 2001) Inflation rate is also a quite vital thing to consider for the growth of a construction company. If the overall consumer price index for an economy is rising for quite a long time, then industry specific consumer price index will also feel its impact. Thus in the presence of high rate of inflation, consumer price index for the construction industry will also be quite high. This mainly happens because in the presence high rate of inflation in an economy costs of production in almost all the industries increase which is in turn reflected in the prices. Now in the presence of high consumer price index of construction industry, the construction company will loose many customers as the prices may not fit to the pockets of the customers. On the contrary, during low level of inflation, the company will get more customers and thus it can expand its production. (Culp, 2001) Interest rate is another vital macroeconomic factor in case of construction industry. This is so as most of the potential customers of a construction company very often depend on loans at the time of purchasing a product of this company. no matter whether the buyer is a government or any private agency or any individual, credit lending plays an important role here. Thus, if interest rate becomes higher, then the cost of borrowing becomes higher and consequently, the products of the construction company will look more expensive. This will simply reduce potential customers of the business entity. However, in the events of lower interest rate, the company will get more customers without changing its prices for its products. (Culp, 2001) Microeconomic factors: Microeconomic factors