Report after Attending a Concert

Elvis Aron Presley Essays - Elvis Presley, Graceland, Memphis Mafia

Elvis Aron Presley Essays - Elvis Presley, Graceland, Memphis Mafia Elvis Aron Presley At the time, no one realized that The world of music and entertainment would forever change. It was noon, on January 8, 1935, when Gladys Smith Presley, a poor Mississippi God-fearing sewing machine operator and wife of farm hand Vernon Elvis Presley, gave birth to twin sons Elvis Aron and Jesse Garon Presley. Buried in an unmarked Priceville, Mississippi grave, Jesse Garon died within six hours of birth. Jesse?s twin, Elvis Aron, was to become the most influential force in the history of popular music and a melding force between cultures. As the world?s most endearing and successful entertainer of his age, Elvis sold over three hundred million records, and created thirty-three films. Today, Elvis is known world wide as The King of Rock n? Roll.? The dirt-poor with his polite and well-mannered ways, patterned his famous ?wiggle? and early singing style form the gospel revival preachers he grew up with at the family?s First Assembly of God Church. ?We were broke, man, broke, and we left Tupelo overnight,? Elvis said, a quote which typifies his early life, following his parents from job to job. In 1939 the total combined Presley salary was $35 a week, when young Elvis was enrolled in L.C. Humes High School in Memphis, Tennessee. After graduation from Humes High School in 1953, while driving a truck for an electric company, Elvis passed a sign that would lead him to fame. The sign read, ?Memphis Recording Service-Make your own records...Four dollars for two songs.? This is where Sam Phillips of Sun Records found his man. In August 1954, WHBQ radio in Memphis released the birth of a Rock n? Roll legend with, ?That?s All Right, Mama.? After an unsuccessful Grand Ol? Opry stint, 1955 brought ?Good Rockin? Tonite? and ?Milk Cow Blues Boogie.? The flamboyant personal manager/promoter, Colonel Tom Parker, who was managing the big talents of the day like Eddie Arnold and Hank Snow, started quietly helping Elvis with bookings. My July 1955, ?Baby, Let?s Play House? hit the national best seller charts. In 1957, Elvis moved from his suburban East Memphis home on Audubon Drive, to his new home, Graceland. March 1960 brought Elvis home from the war as a civilian. Huge crowds followed him home to Graceland. The Colonel worked hard to gain Elvis? favor back, and by mid 1960, five thousand fan clubs were generating 30,000 fan letters a month. Elvis was forced into seclusion, as any public appearance would cause a riot. An entourage of Memphis men soon referred to as the ?Memphis Mafia? escorted him everywhere. Endless work and strange eating habits followed. Too much peanut butter and banana sandwiches, burnt bacon, olives and vegetable soup pushed his weight up dramatically. On October 19, 1973, Elvis and Priscilla separated after five years of marriage. Elvis sited the tremendous strain of six months on the road. Priscilla was awarded custody of their only child, Lisa Marie. Nights were filled with Gospel signing, and days were spent sleeping, as Elvis entered into his forties. Extreme dieting and exhaustion landed him in the hospital, and Vegas gigs became predictable while fanatical fandom worshipped him overseas. In 1975 Elvis bought a jet airliner and named in after his daughter, ?The Lisa Marie?. His meteoric rise to fame, and the following legions of idolizing fans, is truly a phenomenon beyond this world?s experience. We can only marvel at his achievements, and live along side his mystic legend and following. Elvis and his fans were symbiotic, each depending, sharing, and supporting the other. On August 16, 1977, a shocked world would learn of his death. Rushed to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, from Graceland, Elvis was pronounced dead on arrival of cardiac arrhythmiaerratic heart beat. Thousands gathered at his home in Graceland to mourn and weep in disbelief. Thousands more still made the pilgrimage to the Graceland grave each year for the ritual August Candlelight Vigil. The King lives on today in our memories, his family, his films, his recordings, and in our hearts. It is rare in this world, that such an impression is made on the people in one?s own time.

To what extent does restructuring transform corporate market and Essay

To what extent does restructuring transform corporate market and financial performance Discuss using an extended example - Essay Example It plays a vital role in decreasing the stress between debt holders and equity holders due to which they can come up with instant solutions of different problems. And on the other hand it also reduces financial crisis and losses. Financial performance and corporate markets have been transformed through restructuring to some extent, but the degree of transformation is the main question. This question is answered in the following example of a worldwide food processing company â€Å"THE HEINZ COMPANY†. According to Gordon Donaldson, â€Å"We have become so familiar with the phrase financial restructuring in the past decade that we often fail to ask why financial structure became such a battleground for contending agents of change.† (Donaldson 1994, 6) â€Å"H.J Heinz Company† was originated in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania in 1869. The company was founded by German Henry John Heinz. At that time Heinz was only 25 years old and initially he used to distribute condiments to limited grocers by Horse-drawn wagon. Initially the company’s original name was â€Å"Anchor Pickle and Vinegar Works†. The first product line of the company had only horseradish but later tomato ketchup and pickles were also introduced. In 1874 L.C Noble became the partner of Heinz Company. After their partnership the company’s name changed from â€Å"Anchor Pickle and Vinegar Works† to â€Å"Heinz, Noble & Company† and they moved to a larger headquarter located near Pittsburgh. Their assets increased to 30 acres of Horseradish, 24 horses, 12 wagons, 100 acres of garden and a vinegar factory in St. Louis. In 1875, banking panic and economic chaos forced Heinz into bankruptcy and their business failed. But soon after in 1876, Heinz restructured its company with an aim to repay all his creditors and introduced a new product in its product line â€Å"Tomato Ketchup†. Heinz formed a partnership with its cousin Frederick and brother John. In 1877, their product line further extended

Negotiation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Negotiation - Assignment Example A lack of communication can be a barrier that hurts a negotiation. A second component of communication that can facilitate the negotiation process is having good persuasion ability. During a negotiation each party is supposed to influence the other party to reach the desirable terms of the deal. Being good at persuading other can help you score points in your favor during a negotiation. Politicians are a great example of people that use persuasion in their negotiations and public messages to the general population. When using persuasion one must concentrate on focusing on the most important terms of a deal. A third communication component that can positively impact the ability of a person to succeed during negotiation is active listening skills. Active listening can be defined as act of mindfully hearing and attempting to comprehend the meaning of words spoken by another in a negotiation can create an offer that meets the needs of both parties (Businessdictionary). Whenever I’m in a negotiation I like to listen to others first in order to analyze my options in a more analytical manner. Listening well to others also helps me understand the wants of the opposition which can help me garner bargaining power by creating offers based on those needs. I agree with you that to be good at negotiating its takes a lot of practice. A person is not born with negotiation skills. People get better at negotiating by themselves, through lifetime experiences, and through training. Being able to read another person can help in a negotiation. The use of active listening skills can help a person decipher what others want. In your post your post you mentioned the importance of verbal and non-verbal communication. Body language can help decipher the intention of others. The mood of a person can influence the outcome of a negotiation. I agree with you that reading and understanding the intentions of the second party involved in a negotiation is

Project Management (CASE STUDY) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Project Management (CASE STUDY) - Essay Example For the Scantel project the tabulation of the time required by various activities and the estimation of the critical path method is calculated and shown in Appendix - 1. From the table it is known that the most critical events are No. 1, 4, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15,34, 35, 36, 46, 47, 48, 40 and 50. The meaning of this is that, the completion of these activities are crucial for the completion of the project. If there is a delay in these activities, the entire project can get delayed. If these event numbers are interpreted from the Scantel event listing, (Appendix 21.3), it shows that the critical path activities lie mostly in the processes of The activities that are related to these activities are the start systems engineering, complete interface transient tests, complete compatibility testing. These activities can cause delay because this was the first time such system was being developed. It will be very critical because, Callister has to first decide the major parts of the system, their functions and how they are related to each other. After the architecture is decided the next issue is to decide whether the components should be developed in-house or to be bought and redesigned. Hence, the procurement of all the prototypes and overall simulation is going to be a potentially time delaying event. The next group of ac... The instrument Development team which was heavily consulted by the Scantel team for these activities, had very little experience of this type of work. Also in the Instrument development team, young software engineer had been recruited to handle this job for the Scantel project. But based on his expertise it was difficult to determine the completion times confidently. All testing activities which include events 34, 36, 47, 48 and 49 are all events that can cause potential time delays. These testing activities can cause potential time delays because it involves the coordination and analysis of all the subsystems. But it is healthy for the project to be on a tight schedule in this phase because it will be advantageous in the later stages of the project. The cost or time overrun in the early stages of the project might actually be a superior design effort which would reduce the time and money required for the entire effort. If early stages of the project looks expensive, it is possible that it could bring down the costs at the later stages of the project. Especially event 34 can be delayed because of possible delays in development of lens, development of chassis and body and development of the display system. In the network it is shown that the main tasks associated are separated into engineering, testing and rework phases. It seems that each phase i s independent. But the potential threat of rework after the system and integration testing would be strongly dependent on the amount and quality of prior engineering. The testing events may cause time delay to the project because all the prior engineering works have to pass this stage and sometimes

Big Cities Vs Small Towns Cultural Studies Essay

Big Cities Vs Small Towns Cultural Studies Essay When speaking to an individual of experience, possibly an explorer or an elder, someone may be informed about the way people from particular towns behave. Such as, people from big cities are always in rush or citizens from smaller towns are friendlier. As John Jake states, The big city and small town have been stereotyped in the American experience as being at opposite ends of an imagined social gradientthe former more a place of cold impersonality in social relations and the latter more a place of warm personalized community. Assumptions about urban-based mass society largely blinded Americans through the twentieth century to the existence of, and importance of, locality-based community in big cities. Early in the century, most urban Americans emigrated from rural and small town circumstances, bringing to the nations cities strong rural and small town proclivities at neighboring. Both central city working-class neighborhoods and affluent suburbs mirrored the small town.(Jakle,1) But , for someone born, raised and living in that small town, these differences may seem clearly an opinion, and perhaps some distinctions are. So why, then do so many people prefer one type of life style over the other? Specific characteristics such as economics, population, crime rate, traffic, city planning and also architecture, differentiate one region from the next. In order to form an opinion, one must analyze two towns on opposing ends of the spectrum. By comparing two towns: a small town, and also a busy suburb, the differences in the characteristics of citizens, the city, and their daily life, make it seem as though small towns and big cities are practically from different countries. As John Jake confirms, Americas small towns and big cities occupy opposite ends of an urban spectrum. Early in the twentieth century, commentators on American life clearly differentiated towns and cities as socially differentthe two kinds of place sustaining very different ways of life.(Jakle,1) In a small town, at first one might notice the appearance. It is not generally uncommon to see an assorted crew of soiled young children come running into the neighborhood supermarket without shirts or shoes and buy candy. The cashier, rather than ushering the inadequately clothed children out the door, asks them how their parents have been, they just so happen to live next door. This sort of incident would not go over so well in a big city. The same young children would have been asked to leave and later admonished by their parents for going out in public looking so disarrayed. For example, in a Clockwork Orange a young fifteen-year-old boy known only by the name of Alex is the antihero. Alex and his three droogs are a gang of youngsters who goes around in the dangerous streets of London, fighting, raping, pillaging, and all the basic doings generally associated with anarchy. In a small town, this would be less likely to happen. Overalls, dirty jeans and hats are not uncommon appare l for citizens out running errands and are almost a necessity for the distinguished elderly man. Aside from the readily differences, citizens of small towns seem to have contrasting personality traits as well. Take the scene of a crowded store during the holidays, for instance. In a busy, crowded big city, a shopper with a cart overflowing with items in the checkout lane would simply be focused on checking out and planning on where they need to go next. However in a small sleepy town, that same shopper may check to see if the person just behind them, with only a couple of items, might want to go ahead. Then, possibly even strike up a conversation with a total stranger. As John Jake explains, To Simmel, large cities overloaded residents with social stimuli, producing in people defensive behaviors both patterned and regularized. The urban personality was reserved and detached. Contact person-to-person in the city might be face-to-face, but even those encounters tended to the imperson al, the superficial, and the transitory (Wirth 1938). The metropolis was seen as a mass of separate individuals variously practicing social avoidance, especially in public spaces. City streets were seen as cold and unfriendly (Gross 1965). Small towns, on the other hand, with limited populations interacting in limited geographical areas, tended not to produce social overload. There, people could personalize relationships, even the cursory spontaneities of chance encounter in public space. Small town streets were warm and friendly. The idealized small town was likened to a nurturing extended family, whereas the city was made out to be a place of alienated individuals (Smith 1966).(Jakle,1) Another strange exception happens to be a relative disregard for locking the doors at night or even at all. This such behavior is unheard of in the big cities of larger towns. In small towns neighbors have a tendency to look out for the good of the neighborhood, and are always cautious, but with su ch low crime occurrences, such preventative measures as door-locking are not required. The appearance of a small town is also entirely different when contrasted against a larger city. As John Jackle mentions, This study argues that towns and cities shared much in common, the result of one important fact. Most big city residents in Americas early twentieth century cities came from small town or rural backgrounds. They brought small town ways to big city life.(Jackle,1) Some small towns themselves, nowadays seem like massive tangled knot of parking lots, avenues, service roads, and highways exactly like in big cities. Expanding businesses and developing neighborhoods all connect and intersperse within the maze of asphalt, making it very problematic for an unfamiliar traveler to get from one destination to the next without help. Small, box-like buildings snap together like tinker toys to house businesses for a year or so and then are left empty, only to be replenished by another business soon thereafter. Massive, lighted signs tower over buildings, coupled with billboards outlining the busiest roadways all advertising to the highest bidder. While tiny, insignificant trees limp around consistent, lifeless houses in an attempt to re-beautify a deforested city. A small town, in contrast, is a large grid work, nearly the whole town divided into two blocks with only a few outer roads and two highways entering and existing the city limits. As Bethany Warner explains, Living in close proximity, such as in a small town or distinct city enclave, creates community bonds because people see each other continuously. European cities are structured around this idea, having central squares and preserved green spaces. (Warner,28) In Lars and the real girl, Lars arrives at work and The receptionist greets him and encourages him to talk to the new girl and get a date. He politely ignores her and disappears behind the double doors. This is where all of the cubicles are. He walks to his desk and passes by the new girl. At this point you finally understand he lives in a pretty small town. Each of said city blocks is cut down the middle by at least one alleyway, possibly two. These alleyways serve such intention as garbage pickup and parking for residences, garage access, and the most notable job of all, a playground for the neighborhood children. Most of small towns is housing. Each house is unique, some ranging from a few years old to hundreds of years old, family built to Victorian- style mansions. In the housing district, trees tower over all, stretching ancient branches across the street to form an arboreal canopy across brick and asphalt streets alike. Small family owned businesses and restaurants all share the same space and are built into old houses. The only busy roadway is a section of highway that comes directly through town, there is where residents will find fast food chains, department stores, hardware stores, all sharing the small parking lot and signs. A typical day in a small town is very much at ease, especially when compared to wh irlwind of city life. the opening scene summarily characterizes Blue Velvet in theme and plot. Following the lush, fifties-style opening credits, the screen shows a blue sky, flowers, the local firefighters riding through town waving, and Jeffreys father watering the lawn, all in brilliant, almost surreal color. Then the scene, which might have come from a generation earlier, is interrupted by a massive stroke that drops Mr. Beaumont to his back. The camera pans deeply into the well groomed lawn and uncovers combating insects. Likewise, the camera plunges unflinchingly into the unseen, discomforting side of Lumbertown. In the small town, since most of the businesses are in same proximity, morning and noon rush are not that intimidating, unlike complicated games of bumper cars that is rush hour in the big city. After work, most families go and spend time together, perhaps going to the movies or dinner. Most children come home and run about the neighborhood until dark, without fear of a run-in with a car. During the weekend, it is not uncommon to see many families or even groups of neighbors barbecuing in the back yard and drinking alcohol in plain sight. Some may have a bonfire, though such fires a technically illegal, local law enforcement rarely, if ever, interferes unless it gets out of control. One of the most popular activitys among citizens is to spend a day at one of the parks around towns. As John Jackle states, If the small town was seen to excite tight bonds of social security, then the city did not. If the city represented the cold realization of a new mass society, the small town did not. Stereotypic thinking has always been (and always will be) influential in how Americans not only conceptualize, but configure the nations built environments.(Jackle,1) For some individuals, the stress and speed of big city life is a trip to insanity. Others cannot stand the slow, inactivity of a small town. à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"To each, his ownà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚  it is said, and such statement applies well to the choice between living large and living modestly. Small towns sadly may be a increasingly dying species at the current rate of human expansion. As Paul Kantor remarks, Small-town America is easily overlooked. The spreading of suburbia has usually enveloped (or paved over) little towns located near the rim of metropolitan areas. Interstate highways typically by-pass them. Similarly, the attention of academic urban specialists is more likely to be directed to big cities, not small-towns, in order to understand the dynamics of urban change(Kantor,415) Perhaps someday, cities will all merge together and memories of simple, small rural areas will fade. But for now, it is nice to sit back and notice the sometimes staggering conflicting difference between the two life styles.

The Effects of Media Violence on Children Essay examples -- Media Viol

   Abstract   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In recent times, the news media has cried out against violent media, painting it as the leading cause for youth violence. Following events such as the Columbine massacre, news sources have vilified violent media, claiming that it is a primary cause of violent behavior in youths. This analysis provides firm research on the subject from the opposing and supporting sources, giving a thorough definition to the term â€Å"violent media† and  Ã‚  brings forth evidence that other psychological effects and environmental factors are more significant causes of increased youth aggression than violent media.         Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Youth violence is a significant issue in modern society. Every new generation of high school and college students seems to have a new and increasingly violent incident of students being violent to others, often resulting in large numbers of injured or killed children. Whether it be the Columbine High School shooting, the Virginia Tech incident, or any of the dozens of school shootings that have occurred worldwide in the twenty-first century, violence is rapidly becoming more prevalent and more recognizable in youth culture. That being said, shootings are not the only source of violence in the new youth generation. Fighting, gang activity, and other organized violence is quickly increasing in number and severity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most intimidating factor of this massive increase in violent behavior is that nobody really knows why it is happening. Youths are simply becoming more violent. Researchers in child psychology are trying to find the leading causes of violence, but simply cannot—a child or young adult can easily have his or her mind influenced by a number of outside factors. One's peers may make any measurable change in how a child behaves, leading the child to act in a more violent or aggressive manner to fit in. A youth may be influenced by his or her environment, whether it is poor and obtrusive enough to lead the youth to begin making poor lifestyle decisions or positive to the point the youth begins rebelling by lashing out. Witnessing violence first-hand may also have a lasting effect on a child, in some cases going as far as to give the child a permanent personality disorder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  News authorities constantly fill the airwaves with stories of youths committing heinous, harmful acts against others—whether they ar... ...Of Violent Video Games."  Psychiatric Quarterly  78.4 (2007): 309-316.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.   Ferguson, Christopher J. "The School Shooting/Violent Video Game Link: Causal Relationship Or Moral Panic?."  Journal Of Investigative Psychology & Offender Profiling  5.1/2 (2008): 25-37.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.   Margolin, Gayla, and Katrina A. Vickerman. "Posttraumatic Stress In Children And Adolescents Exposed To Family Violence: I. Overview And Issues."  Professional Psychology, Research & Practice  38.6 (2007): 613-619.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. Polman, Hanneke, Bram Orobio de Castro, and Marcel A.G. van Aken. "Experimental Study Of The Differential Effects Of Playing Versus Watching Violent Video Games On Children's Aggressive Behavior."  Aggressive Behavior  34.3 (2008): 256-264.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. T. L. Cheng, et al. "Urban Youths' Perspectives On Violence And The Necessity Of Fighting." Injury Prevention  10.5 (2014): 287-91.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. "Violence."  Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.    The Effects of Media Violence on Children Essay examples -- Media Viol    Abstract   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In recent times, the news media has cried out against violent media, painting it as the leading cause for youth violence. Following events such as the Columbine massacre, news sources have vilified violent media, claiming that it is a primary cause of violent behavior in youths. This analysis provides firm research on the subject from the opposing and supporting sources, giving a thorough definition to the term â€Å"violent media† and  Ã‚  brings forth evidence that other psychological effects and environmental factors are more significant causes of increased youth aggression than violent media.         Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Youth violence is a significant issue in modern society. Every new generation of high school and college students seems to have a new and increasingly violent incident of students being violent to others, often resulting in large numbers of injured or killed children. Whether it be the Columbine High School shooting, the Virginia Tech incident, or any of the dozens of school shootings that have occurred worldwide in the twenty-first century, violence is rapidly becoming more prevalent and more recognizable in youth culture. That being said, shootings are not the only source of violence in the new youth generation. Fighting, gang activity, and other organized violence is quickly increasing in number and severity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most intimidating factor of this massive increase in violent behavior is that nobody really knows why it is happening. Youths are simply becoming more violent. Researchers in child psychology are trying to find the leading causes of violence, but simply cannot—a child or young adult can easily have his or her mind influenced by a number of outside factors. One's peers may make any measurable change in how a child behaves, leading the child to act in a more violent or aggressive manner to fit in. A youth may be influenced by his or her environment, whether it is poor and obtrusive enough to lead the youth to begin making poor lifestyle decisions or positive to the point the youth begins rebelling by lashing out. Witnessing violence first-hand may also have a lasting effect on a child, in some cases going as far as to give the child a permanent personality disorder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  News authorities constantly fill the airwaves with stories of youths committing heinous, harmful acts against others—whether they ar... ...Of Violent Video Games."  Psychiatric Quarterly  78.4 (2007): 309-316.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.   Ferguson, Christopher J. "The School Shooting/Violent Video Game Link: Causal Relationship Or Moral Panic?."  Journal Of Investigative Psychology & Offender Profiling  5.1/2 (2008): 25-37.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.   Margolin, Gayla, and Katrina A. Vickerman. "Posttraumatic Stress In Children And Adolescents Exposed To Family Violence: I. Overview And Issues."  Professional Psychology, Research & Practice  38.6 (2007): 613-619.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. Polman, Hanneke, Bram Orobio de Castro, and Marcel A.G. van Aken. "Experimental Study Of The Differential Effects Of Playing Versus Watching Violent Video Games On Children's Aggressive Behavior."  Aggressive Behavior  34.3 (2008): 256-264.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. T. L. Cheng, et al. "Urban Youths' Perspectives On Violence And The Necessity Of Fighting." Injury Prevention  10.5 (2014): 287-91.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. "Violence."  Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.   

Alexander Pope’s the Rape of the Lock Essay

The Rape of the Lock begins with a passage outlining the subject of the poem and invoking the aid of the muse. Then the sun (â€Å"Sol†) appears to initiate the leisurely morning routines of a wealthy household. Lapdogs shake themselves awake, bells begin to ring, and although it is already noon, Belinda still sleeps. She has been dreaming, and we learn that â€Å"her guardian Sylph,† Ariel, has sent the dream. The dream is of a handsome youth who tells her that she is protected by â€Å"unnumbered Spirits†Ã¢â‚¬â€an army of supernatural beings who once lived on earth as human women. The youth explains that they are the invisible guardians of women’s chastity, although the credit is usually mistakenly given to â€Å"Honor† rather than to their divine stewardship. Of these Spirits, one particular group—the Sylphs, who dwell in the air—serve as Belinda’s personal guardians; they are devoted, lover-like, to any woman that â€Å"re jects mankind,† and they understand and reward the vanities of an elegant and frivolous lady like Belinda. Ariel, the chief of all Belinda’s puckish protectors, warns her in the dream that â€Å"some dread event† is going to befall her that day, though he can tell her nothing more specific than that she should â€Å"beware of Man!† Then Belinda awakes, to the licking tongue of her lapdog, Shock. Upon the delivery of a billet-doux, or love-letter, she forgets all about the dream. She then proceeds to her dressing table and goes through an elaborate ritual of dressing, in which her own image in the mirror is described as a â€Å"heavenly image,† a â€Å"goddess.† The Sylphs, unseen, assist their charge as she prepares herself for the day’s activities. Commentary The opening of the poem establishes its mock-heroic style. Pope introduces the conventional epic subjects of love and war and includes an invocation to the muse and a dedication to the man (the historical John Caryll) who commissioned the poem. Yet the tone already indicates that the high seriousness of these traditional topics has suffered a diminishment. The second line confirms in explicit terms what the first line already suggests: the â€Å"am’rous causes† the poem describes are not comparable to the grand love  of Greek heroes but rather represent a trivialized version of that emotion. The â€Å"contests† Pope alludes to will prove to be â€Å"mighty† only in an ironic sense. They are card-games and flirtatious tussles, not the great battles of epic tradition. Belinda is not, like Helen of Troy, â€Å"the face that launched a thousand ships† (see the SparkNote on The Iliad), but rather a face that—although also beautiful—prompt s a lot of foppish nonsense. The first two verse-paragraphs emphasize the comic inappropriateness of the epic style (and corresponding mind-set) to the subject at hand. Pope achieves this discrepancy at the level of the line and half-line; the reader is meant to dwell on the incompatibility between the two sides of his parallel formulations. Thus, in this world, it is â€Å"little men† who in â€Å"tasks so bold†¦ engage†; and â€Å"soft bosoms† are the dwelling-place for â€Å"mighty rage.† In this startling juxtaposition of the petty and the grand, the former is real while the latter is ironic. In mock epic, the high heroic style works not to dignify the subject but rather to expose and ridicule it. Therefore, the basic irony of the style supports the substance of the poem’s satire, which attacks the misguided values of a society that takes small matters for serious ones while failing to attend to issues of genuine importance. With Belinda’s dream, Pope introduces the â€Å"machinery† of the poem—the supernatural powers that influence the action from behind the scenes. Here, the sprites that watch over Belinda are meant to mimic the gods of the Greek and Roman traditions, who are sometimes benevolent and sometimes malicious, but always intimately involved in earthly events. The scheme also makes use of other ancient hierarchies and systems of order. Ariel explains that women’s spirits, when they die, return â€Å"to their first Elements.† Each female personality type (these types correspond to the four humours) is converted into a particular kind of sprite. These gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and nymphs, in turn, are associated with the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water. The airy sylphs are those who in their lifetimes were â€Å"light Coquettes†; they have a particular concern for Belinda because she is of this type, and this will be the aspect of feminine nature with which the poem is most concerned. Indeed, Pope already begins to sketch this character of the â€Å"coquette† in this initial canto. He draws th e portrait indirectly, through characteristics of the Sylphs rather than of Belinda herself. Their priorities reveal that the central concerns of  womanhood, at least for women of Belinda’s class, are social ones. Woman’s â€Å"joy in gilded Chariots† indicates an obsession with pomp and superficial splendor, while â€Å"love of Ombre,† a fashionable card game, suggests frivolity. The erotic charge of this social world in turn prompts another central concern: the protection of chastity. These are women who value above all the prospect marrying to advantage, and they have learned at an early age how to promote themselves and manipulate their suitors without compromising themselves. The Sylphs become an allegory for the mannered conventions that govern female social behavior. Principles like honor and chastity have become no more than another part of conventional interaction. Pope makes it clear that these women are not conducting themselves on the basis of abstract moral principles, but are governed by an elaborate social mechanism—of which the Sylphs cut a fitting caricature. And while Pope’s technique of employing supernatural machinery allows him to critique this situation, it also helps to keep the satire light and to exonerate individual women from too severe a judgment. If Belinda has all the typical female foibles, Pope wants us to recognize that it is partly because she has been educated and trained to act in this way. The society as a whole is as much to blame as she is. Nor are men exempt from this judgment. The competition among the young lords for the attention of beautiful ladies is depicted as a battle of vanity, as â€Å"wigs with wigs, with sword-knots sword-knots strive.† Pope’s phrases here expose an absurd attention to exhibitions of pride and ostentation. He emphasizes the inanity of discriminating so closely between things and people that are essentially the same in all important (and even most unimportant) respects. Pope’s portrayal of Belinda at her dressing table introduces mock-heroic motifs that will run through the poem. The scene of her toilette is rendered first as a religious sacrament, in which Belinda herself is the priestess and her image in the looking glass is the Goddess she serves. This parody of the religious rites before a battle gives way, then, to another kind of mock-epic scene, that of the ritualized arming of the hero. Combs, pins, and cosmetics take the place of weapons as â€Å"awful Beauty puts on all its arms.† Canto 2 Summary Belinda, rivaling the sun in her radiance, sets out by boat on the river Thames for Hampton Court Palace. She is accompanied by a party of glitzy ladies (â€Å"Nymphs†) and gentlemen, but is far and away the most striking member of the group. Pope’s description of her charms includes â€Å"the sparkling Cross she wore† on her â€Å"white breast,† her â€Å"quick† eyes and â€Å"lively looks,† and the easy grace with which she bestows her smiles and attentions evenly among all the adoring guests. Her crowning glories, though, are the two ringlets that dangle on her â€Å"iv’ry neck.† These curls are described as love’s labyrinths, specifically designed to ensnare any poor heart who might get entangled in them. One of the young gentlemen on the boat, the Baron, particularly admires Belinda’s locks, and has determined to steal them for himself. We read that he rose early that morning to build an altar to love and pray for success in this project. He sacrificed several tokens of his former affections, including garters, gloves, and billet-doux (love-letters). He then prostrated himself before a pyre built with â€Å"all the trophies of his former loves,† fanning its flames with his â€Å"am’rous sighs.† The gods listened to his prayer but decided to grant only half of it. As the pleasure-boat continues on its way, everyone is carefree except Ariel, who remembers that some bad event has been foretold for the day. He summons an army of sylphs, who assemble around him in their iridescent beauty. He reminds them with great ceremony that one of their duties, after regulating celestial bodies and the weather and guarding the British monarch, is â€Å"to tend the Fair†: to keep watch over ladies’ powders, perfumes, curls, and clothing, and to â€Å"assist their blushes, and inspire their airs.† Therefore, since â€Å"some dire disaster† threatens Belinda, Ariel assigns her an extensive troop of bodyguards. Brillante is to guard her earrings, Momentilla her watch, and Crispissa her locks. Ariel himself will protect Shock, the lapdog. A band of fifty Sylphs will guard the all-important petticoat. Ariel pronounces that any sylph who neglects his assigned duty will be severely punished. They disperse to their posts and wait for fate to unfold. Commentary From the first, Pope describes Belinda’s beauty as something divine, an assessment which she herself corroborates in the first canto when she  creates, at least metaphorically, an altar to her own image. This praise is certainly in some sense ironical, reflecting negatively on a system of public values in which external characteristics rank higher than moral or intellectual ones. But Pope also shows a real reverence for his heroine’s physical and social charms, claiming in lines 17–18 that these are compelling enough to cause one to forget her â€Å"female errors.† Certainly he has some interest in flattering Arabella Fermor, the real-life woman on whom Belinda is based; in order for his poem to achieve the desired reconciliation, it must not offend (see â€Å"Context†. Pope also exhibits his appreciation for the ways in which physical beauty is an art form: he recognizes, with a mixture of censure and awe, the fact that Belinda’s legendary locks of hair, which appear so natural and spontaneous, are actually a carefully contrived effect. In this, the mysteries of the lady’s dressing table are akin, perhaps, to Pope’s own literary art, which he describes elsewhere as â€Å"nature to advantage dress’d.† If the secret mechanisms and techniques of female beauty get at least a passing nod of appreciation from the author, he nevertheless suggests that the general human readiness to worship beauty amounts to a kind of sacrilege. The cross that Belinda wears around her neck serves a more ornamental than symbolic or religious function. Because of this, he says, it can be adored by â€Å"Jews† and â€Å"Infidels† as readily as by Christians. And there is some ambiguity about whether any of the admirers are really valuing the cross itself, or the â€Å"white breast† on which it lies—or the felicitous effect of the whole. The Baron, of course, is the most significant of those who worship at the altar of Belinda’s beauty. The ritual sacrifices he performs in the pre-d awn hours are another mock-heroic element of the poem, mimicking the epic tradition of sacrificing to the gods before an important battle or journey, and drapes his project with an absurdly grand import that actually only exposes its triviality. The fact that he discards all his other love tokens in these preparations reveals his capriciousness as a lover. Earnest prayer, in this parodic scene, is replaced by the self-indulgent sighs of the lover. By having the gods grant only half of what the Baron asks, Pope alludes to the epic convention by which the favor of the gods is only a mixed blessing: in epic poems, to win the sponsorship of one god is to incur the wrath of another; divine gifts, such as immortality, can seem a blessing but become a  curse. Yet in this poem, the ramifications of a prayer â€Å"half† granted are negligible rather than tragic; it merely means that he will manage to steal just one lock rather than both of them. In the first canto, the religious imagery surrounding Belinda’s grooming rituals gave way to a militaristic conceit. Here, the same pattern holds. Her curls are compared to a trap perfectly calibrated to ensnare the enemy. Yet the character of female coyness is such that it se eks simultaneously to attract and repel, so that the counterpart to the enticing ringlets is the formidable petticoat. This undergarment is described as a defensive armament comparable to the Shield of Achilles (see Scroll XVIII of The Iliad), and supported in its function of protecting the maiden’s chastity by the invisible might of fifty Sylphs. The Sylphs, who are Belinda’s protectors, are essentially charged to protect her not from failure but from too great a success in attracting men. This paradoxical situation dramatizes the contradictory values and motives implied in the era’s sexual conventions. In this canto, the sexual allegory of the poem begins to come into fuller view. The title of the poem already associates the cutting of Belinda’s hair with a more explicit sexual conquest, and here Pope cultivates that suggestion. He multiplies his sexually metaphorical language for the incident, adding words like â€Å"ravish† and â€Å"betray† to the â€Å"rape† of the title. He also slips in some commentary on the implications of his society’s sexual mores, as when he remarks that â€Å"when success a Lover’s toil attends, / few ask, if fraud or force attain’d his ends.† When Ariel speculates about the possible forms the â€Å"dire disaster† might take, he includes a breach of chastity (â€Å"Diana’s law†), the breaking of china (another allusion to the loss of virginity), and the staining of honor or a gown (the two incommensurate events could happen equally easily and accidentally). He also mentions some pettier social â€Å"disasters† against which the Sylphs are equally prepared to fight, like missing a ball (here, as grave as missing prayers) or losing the lapdog. In the Sylphs’ defensive efforts, Belinda’s petticoat is the battlefield that requires the most extensive fortifications. This fact furthers the idea that the rape of the lock stands in for a literal rape, or at least re presents a threat to her chastity more serious than just the mere theft of a curl. Summary The boat arrives at Hampton Court Palace, and the ladies and gentlemen disembark to their courtly amusements. After a pleasant round of chatting and gossip, Belinda sits down with two of the men to a game of cards. They play ombre, a three-handed game of tricks and trumps, somewhat like bridge, and it is described in terms of a heroic battle: the cards are troops combating on the â€Å"velvet plain† of the card-table. Belinda, under the watchful care of the Sylphs, begins favorably. She declares spades as trumps and leads with her highest cards, sure of success. Soon, however, the hand takes a turn for the worse when â€Å"to the Baron fate inclines the field†: he catches her king of clubs with his queen and then leads back with his high diamonds. Belinda is in danger of being beaten, but recovers in the last trick so as to just barely win back the amount she bid. The next ritual amusement is the serving of coffee. The curling vapors of the steaming coffee remind the Baron of his intention to attempt Belinda’s lock. Clarissa draws out her scissors for his use, as a lady would arm a knight in a romance. Taking up the scissors, he tries three times to clip the lock from behind without Belinda seeing. The Sylphs endeavor furiously to intervene, blowing the hair out of harm’s way and tweaking her diamond earring to make her turn around. Ariel, in a last-minute effort, gains access to her brain, where he is surprised to find â€Å"an earthly lover lurking at her heart.† He gives up protecting her then; the implication is that she secretly wants to be violated. Finally, the shears close on the curl. A daring sylph jumps in between the blades and is cut in two; but being a supernatural creature, he is quickly restored. The deed is done, and the Baron exults while Belinda’s screams fill the air. Commentary This canto is full of classic examples of Pope’s masterful use of the heroic couplet. In introducing Hampton Court Palace, he describes it as the place where Queen Anne â€Å"dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea.† This line employs a zeugma, a rhetorical device in which a word or phrase modifies two other words or phrases in a parallel construction, but modifies each in a different way or according to a different sense. Here, the modifying word is â€Å"take†; it applies to the paralleled terms â€Å"counsel† and â€Å"tea.† But one does  not â€Å"take† tea in the same way one takes counsel, and the effect of the zeugma is to show the royal residence as a place that houses both serious matters of state and frivolous social occasions. The reader is asked to contemplate that paradox and to reflect on the relative value and importance of these two different registers of activity. (For another example of this rhetorical techniq ue, see lines 157–8: â€Å"Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast, / when husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their last.†) A similar point is made, in a less compact phrasing, in the second and third verse-paragraphs of this canto. Here, against the gossip and chatter of the young lords and ladies, Pope opens a window onto more serious matters that are occurring â€Å"meanwhile† and elsewhere, including criminal trials and executions, and economic exchange. The rendering of the card game as a battle constitutes an amusing and deft narrative feat. By parodying the battle scenes of the great epic poems, Pope is suggesting that the energy and passion once applied to brave and serious purposes is now expended on such insignificant trials as games and gambling, which often become a mere front for flirtation. The structure of â€Å"the three attempts† by which the lock is cut is a convention of heroic challenges, particularly in the romance genre. The romance is further invoked in the image of Clarissa arming the Baron—not with a real weapon, however, but with a pair of sewing scissors. Belinda is not a real adversary, or course, and Pope makes it plain that her resistance—and, by implication, her subsequent distress—is to some degree an affectation. The melodrama of her screams is complemented by the ironic comparison of the Baron’s feat to the conquest of nations. Belinda’s â€Å"anxious cares† and â€Å"secret passions† after the loss of her lock are equal to the emotions of all who have ever known â€Å"rage, resentment and despair.† After the disappointed Sylphs withdraw, an earthy gnome called Umbriel flies down to the â€Å"Cave of Spleen.† (The spleen, an organ that removes disease-causing agents from the bloodstream, was traditionally associated with the passions, particularly malaise; â€Å"spleen† is a synonym for â€Å"ill-temper.†) In his descent he passes through Belinda’s bedroom, where she lies prostrate with discomfiture and the headache. She is attended by  Ã¢â‚¬Å"two handmaidens,† Ill-Nature and Affectation. Umbriel passes safely through this melancholy chamber, holding a sprig of â€Å"spleenwort† before him as a charm. He addresses the â€Å"Goddess of Spleen,† and returns with a bag of â€Å"sighs, sobs, and passions† and a vial of sorrow, grief, and tears. He unleashes the first bag on Belinda, fueling her ire and despair. There to commiserate with Belinda is her friend Thalestris. (In Greek mythology, Thalestris is the name of one of the Amazons, a race of warrior women who excluded men from their society.) Thalestris delivers a speech calculated to further foment Belinda’s indignation and urge her to avenge herself. She then goes to Sir Plume, â€Å"her beau,† to ask him to demand that the Baron return the hair. Sir Plume makes a weak and slang-filled speech, to which the Baron disdainfully refuses to acquiesce. At this, Umbriel releases the contents of the remaining vial, throwing Belinda into a fit of sorrow and self-pity. With â€Å"beauteous grief† she bemoans her fate, regrets not having heeded the dream-warning, and laments the lonely, pitiful state of her sole remaining curl. Commentary The canto opens with a list of examples of â€Å"rage, resentment, and despair,† comparing on an equal footing the pathos of kings imprisoned in battle, of women who become old maids, of evil-doers who die without being saved, and of a woman whose dress is disheveled. By placing such disparate sorts of aggravation in parallel, Pope accentuates the absolute necessity of assigning them to some rank of moral import. The effect is to chastise a social world that fails to make these distinctions. Umbriel’s journey to the Cave of Spleen mimics the journeys to the underworld made by both Odysseus and Aeneas. Pope uses psychological allegory (for the spleen was the seat of malaise or melancholy), as a way of exploring the sources and nature of Belinda’s feelings. The presence of Ill-nature and Affectation as handmaidens serves to indicate that her grief is less than pure (â€Å"affected† or put-on), and that her display of temper has hidden motives. We learn that her sorrow is decorative in much the same way the curl was; it gives her the occasion, for example, to wear a new nightdress. The speech of Thalestris invokes a courtly ethic. She encourages Belinda to think about the Baron’s misdeed as an affront to her honor, and draws on ideals of chivalry in  demanding that Sir Plume challenge the Baron in defense of Belinda’s honor. He makes a muddle of the task, showing how far from courtly behavior this generation of gentlemen has fallen. Sir Plume’s speech is riddled with foppish slang and has none of the logical, moral, or oratorical power that a knight should properly wield. This attention to questions of honor returns us to the sexual allegory of the poem. The real danger, Thalestris suggests, is that â€Å"the ravisher† might display the lock and make it a source of public humiliation to Belinda and, by association, to her friends. Thus the real question is a superficial one—public reputation—rather than the moral imperative to chastity. Belinda’s own words at the close of the canto corroborate this suggestion; she exclaims, â€Å"Oh, hadst thou, cruel! been content to seize / Hairs less in sight, or any hairs but these!† (The â€Å"hairs less in sight† suggest her pubic hair). Pope is pointing out the degree to which she values outward appearance (whether beauty or reputation) above all else; she would rather suffer a breach to her integrity than a breach to her appearance. The Baron remains impassive against all the ladies’ tears and reproaches. Clarissa delivers a speech in which she questions why a society that so adores beauty in women does not also place a value on â€Å"good sense† and â€Å"good humour.† Women are frequently called angels, she argues, but without reference to the moral qualities of these creatures. Especially since beauty is necessarily so short-lived, we must have something more substantial and permanent to fall back on. This sensible, moralizing speech falls on deaf ears, however, and Belinda, Thalestris and the rest ignore her and proceed to launch an all-out attack on the offending Baron. A chaotic tussle ensues, with the gnome Umbriel presiding in a posture of self- congratulation. The gentlemen are slain or revived according to the smiles and frowns of the fair ladies. Belinda and the Baron meet in combat and she emerges victorious by peppering him with snuff and drawing her bodkin. Having achieved a position of advantage, she again demands that he return the lock. But the ringlet has been lost in the chaos, and cannot be found. The poet avers that the lock has risen to the heavenly spheres to become a star; stargazers may admire it now for all eternity. In this way, the poet reasons, it will attract more envy than it ever could on earth. Commentary Readers have often interpreted Clarissa’s speech as the voice of the poet  expressing the moral of the story. Certainly, her oration’s thesis aligns with Pope’s professed task of putting the dispute between the two families into a more reasonable perspective. But Pope’s position achieves more complexity than Clarissa’s speech, since he has used the occasion of the poem as a vehicle to critically address a number of broader societal issues as well. And Clarissa’s righteous stance loses authority in light of the fact that it was she who originally gave the Baron the scissors. Clarissa’s failure to inspire a reconciliation proves that the quarrel is itself a kind of flirtatious game that all parties are enjoying. The description of the â€Å"battle† has a markedly erotic quality, as ladies and lords wallow in their mock-agonies. Sir Plume â€Å"draw[s] Clarissa down† in a sexual way, and Belinda â€Å"flies† on her foe with flashing eyes and an erotic ardor. When Pope informs us that the Baron fights on unafraid because he â€Å"sought no more than on his foe to die,† the expression means that his goal all along was sexual consummation. This final battle is the culmination of the long sequence of mock-heroic military actions. Pope invokes by name the Roman gods who were most active in warfare, and he alludes as well to the Aeneid , comparing the stoic Baron to Aeneas (â€Å"the Trojan†), who had to leave his love to become the founder of Rome. Belinda’s tossing of the snuff makes a perfect turning point, ideally suited to the scale of this trivial battle. The snuff causes the Baron to sneeze, a comic and decidedly unheroic thing for a hero to do. The bodkin, too, serves nicely: here a bodkin is a decorative hairpin, not the weapon of ancient days (or even of Hamlet’s time). Still, Pope gives the pin an elaborate history in accordance with the conventions of true epic. The mock-heroic conclusion of the poem is designed to compliment the lady it alludes to (Arabella Fermor), while also giving the poet himself due credit for being the instrument of her immortality. This ending effectively indulges the heroine’s vanity, even though the poem has functioned throughout as a critique of that vanity. And no real moral development has taken place: Belinda is asked to come to terms with her loss through a kind of bribe or distraction that reinforces her basically frivolous outlook. But even in its most mocking moments, this poem is a gentle one, in which Pope shows a basic sympathy with the social world in spite of its folly and foibles. The searing critiques of his later satires would be much more stringent and less forgiving.

Old to New SAT How to Convert 2400 to 1600

Old to New SAT How to Convert 2400 to 1600 SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you are taking the new SAT in spring 2016 or later, your test will be significantly different from the current SAT. What are the main differences between the old and new SAT? How do you convert between the two tests? How do these changes affect you as the test taker? Differences Between Old and New SAT There will be a lot of minute differences between the two tests, but the big changes are: There will be twosections instead of three: Math andEvidence-Based Reading and Writing. Due to these section changes, the composite scores range will be 400 to 1600, instead of 600 to 2400. The types of questions asked will be changed. For example, the newEvidence-Based Reading and Writingsection will no longer have the sentence completion vocabulary questions. Instead, there will bemore passage-based critical thinking questions. There will be no penalty for guessing on questions. On the old SAT, you received minus  ¼ point for every incorrect answer. There are many more changes to the new SAT, and I recommend you read about the others as well. However, the changes I mentioned are the biggest and most important to understanding the conversion. How to Convert 2400 to 1600 The College Board has not announced any specific conversion method (nor have colleges announced how they will compare the old and new test). However, here at PrepScholar, we have come up withtwo possible conversion methods. Fast Method: Simply multiply the old SAT score by â…”. For example, if you received 1800 on the old SAT, the calculation would be 1800 x â…” = 1200. Yournew SAT score would be 1200.There are a couple issues with this fast method. It doesn’t take into account that Math will be more heavily weighted on the new SAT (since it will make up  ½ instead of â…“ of the score), while the Critical Reading and Writing will count less as they are combined. Our next method resolves this issue. Weighted Method: First, average the Critical Reading and Writing section scores. Then, add that average to the Math section. For example, if you received 1800 on the old SAT (Math 700, Critical Reading 650, Writing 450), you would first average 650 and 450. (650 + 450) / 2 = 550, then add that to Math, 550 + 700 = 1250. Yournew score would be 1250. However, if you received 1800 on the old SAT but your score breakdowns were Reading 700, Math 450, Writing 650, you would have a different new composite SAT score. (700+650) / 2 = 675, then add Math. 675 + 450 = 1125. Your new score would be 1125. With the same composite score (1800), you can end up with two different new SAT scores based on the Fast or Weighted Method. Using the Weighted Method, your composite score will be higher if Math was your best section or lower if Math was your worst section.Use the Weighted Method for a more accurate conversion that takes into account the importanceof each section on the new SAT. What Does This Conversion Mean For You? As I mentioned before, Math is more heavily weighted, as it will now account for  ½ your composite score instead of â…”. If you're good at Math, this is great news! As you could see above, your high Math score will bring up your composite score. If, on the other hand, you struggle in Math, this change isn'tso great. As you could see above, if Math is your weakest section, you will end up with a lower composite score on the new SAT.You'll need to do more SAT Math preparation to make sure you get a high Math score, so you get a high composite score. Also, the types of questions asked will be changing. As I mentioned, there will no longer be any fill in the blank vocabulary questions. Instead, there will be more critical thinking and data analysis questions. If your strength is memorization, you'll probably not do as well on the new SAT. If you are better at critical thinking, you'll score better on the new SAT. What’s Next? Learn more about the new SAT: How to Study for the New SAT in 2016 5 Reasons the New SAT Changes Aren't Revolutionary Complete Guide to the New SAT in 2016 New SAT Essay Prompts: How Are They Changing? Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

7 Tips for Using Hyphens with Adjectives

7 Tips for Using Hyphens with Adjectives 7 Tips for Using Hyphens with Adjectives 7 Tips for Using Hyphens with Adjectives By Mark Nichol A team of two or more words that band together to provide detail about a person, place, or thing are called phrasal adjectives, or adjectival phrases. The name’s not important, but it is essential that you employ hyphens to link these tag teams to clarify the relationships between adjectives (and, sometimes, conjunctions) and the nouns they modify. Here are some types of phrasal adjectives: 1. â€Å"She’s showing the classic fight or flight reaction.† What kind of reaction is it? Fight or flight. That’s a single type of reaction, so the phrase â€Å"fight or flight† is linked with hyphens to indicate its unity: â€Å"She’s showing the classic fight-or-flight reaction.† 2. â€Å"Black and white photographs from the 1930s show Nebraskans fueling their Fords at corn-ethanol blend stations.† Are some photographs black and others white, or are they all black and white? The latter choice is correct, and, because the phrase â€Å"black and white† modifies photographs, you should hyphenate the phrase into one string: â€Å"Black-and-white photographs from the 1930s show Nebraskans fueling their Fords at corn-ethanol blend stations.† 3. â€Å"Check the list of publications below for more nontoxic pest-control information.† Again, study the connections between words, then fortify the links. The information about pest control isn’t nontoxic; it’s about nontoxic pest control: â€Å"Check the list of publications below for more nontoxic-pest-control information.† Better yet, relax the sentence by rephrasing it: â€Å"Check the list of publications below for more information about nontoxic pest control.† 4. â€Å"He was laid off from his high-tech customer-relationship-management sales-support job.† If too many hyphenated phrases in one sentence makes it look like a train wreck, again, relax the sentence: â€Å"He was laid off from his high tech sales-support job in customer-relationship management.† (â€Å"High tech† is in the dictionary as such, so it needs no hyphenation before a noun.) 5. â€Å"Our waterworks have reached the classic ‘run to failure’ moment.† Avoid scare quotes quotation marks employed to call attention to an unfamiliar phrase but because the phrase within them here modifies moment, its words should be strung together: â€Å"Our waterworks have reached the classic run-to-failure moment.† 6. â€Å"The woman can’t see how agents confused her diminutive brother with a 6-foot tall fugitive.† This sentence describes a tall fugitive with six feet surely, difficult to confuse with anyone else. Make sure every element in the modifying phrase is attached: â€Å"The woman can’t see how agents confused her diminutive brother with a 6-foot-tall fugitive.† 7. â€Å"The farmer-turned-land planner is taking on both industrial irrigation and the lawn industry.† Turns of phrase that include turned to describe a transformation don’t require hyphenation: â€Å"The farmer turned land planner is taking on both industrial irrigation and the lawn industry.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Addressing A Letter to Two People8 Types of Parenthetical PhrasesConfusion of Subjective and Objective Pronouns

Kempinski Hotels in United Arab Emirates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Kempinski Hotels in United Arab Emirates - Essay Example At the moment the Kempinski Hotel of Ajman is in its growth period and it is expected that it will soon reach its zenith in the hospitality industry. (Sen, 448-50) 2) It is always difficult to enter any industry and the hospitality industry in UAE was no different. However with proper execution of five forces it becomes logically viable for a new company enter into a specified market Michael Porter in his famous idea of the Five Forces condenses his theory regarding the 5 separate forces, which, according to him, influence any given industry. These forces include the force of Rivalry, rampant between all the firms in the industry. Threat of substitutes is another force i.e. the threat posed by outside products which do not belong to the same industry as the product it tends to threaten. Buyer Power Barriers is another which, if high, can even set the price for things available in the market. The next one is the Supplier Power which, if high, can even bite of a good chunk of the manufacturers profit by simply supplying raw materials at a higher price. The last one is the Barriers to Entry, which is the principle key in the hands of the old firm s to keep new firms from entering the market. Porter's five forces train a new competitor to scrutinize these 5 important forces before taking decisions pertaining to strategies your firm might be keen to pursue. Porter is quick to provide antidotes to deal with each of the force he so carefully describes. To combat either of the forces he outlines 3 different types of strategies; the corporate level strategy, the business unit level strategy and the functional or departmental level strategy. These strategies ought to be utilized for successfully confronting and overpowering the problems posed by any of the 5 forces he outlines. From the parameter of the paper it could be stated that Kempinski Hotels did exactly this and thus the entry was made possible with comparative smoothness. 3) In the context of hospitality industry in UAE it can be stated that the Kempinski Hotels made a late movement into the market of UAE. It is a certainty that the first movers enjoy a considerable advantage of over the late movers and in this case hotels like Marco Polo Hotel, Millennium Hotel, Landmark Suites Hotel, Lotus Grand Hotel and Rimal Rotana all penetrated the UAE hospitality market on an earlier date than the Kempinski Hotels. However, with their brand equity of the mother concern and with the incorporation of the effective business strategies the Kempinski Hotels compromised the disadvantages of late entry and came out as winners in the long term. (King, 34-5) 4) Kempinski Hotels started their campaigns in UAE in a high note. Like all successful organizations they followed the path of strategic management and became successful. With the boom of tourism industry in UAE it was logical that there would be a heady demand for accommodation and thus the market can be stated as well secured. It has been reported that the average room occupancy in 5 and 6 star hotels range from 75% to 90% which is extremely high under all conditions. Under such circumstances it would relevant to mention that the basics of the product are already well positioned as the Kempinski Hot

How newspaper work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

How newspaper work - Essay Example The article by Michael D. Shear and Peter Baker talks of the political hullabaloo around the increase in restrictions revolving the use of firearms in America. While doing so, it also takes into account several of the problems that affect legislation in this regard. This includes the lobbying that is done by many people who are a part of the firearms industry. This article explores the legal aspects of the problem that affects many parts of the United States of America (2013). Another aspect that the article explores is that of the immediate provocation for the government to initiate these proceedings. This is the shooting that took place in Connecticut recently. This took the lives of many young people as a result of the lax laws related to the possession of firearms within America (Aarthun and Candiotti, 2012). These laws have then to be looked into in a more serious and critical way and new methods have to be found out so as to deal with these problems. The article also talks abou t the problems that the government is likely to run into with the companies that manufacture firearms. Such companies would be hit hard due to the problems associated with that of the reduction of the use of firearms (Holland, 2013). This would then lead to problems where lobbying has to be dealt with in a firm manner since lax laws have led to high rates of violence within America. (Warning shot: Gun violence lands US lowest life expectancy among rich nations, 2013). One of the most important