The Life and Works of Honoré de Balzac, French Novelist

The Life and Works of Honorã © de Balzac, French Novelist Honorã © de Balzac (conceived Honorà ©Ã‚ Balssa, May 20, 1799 †August 18, 1850) was a writer and dramatist in nineteenth-century France. His work framed piece of the establishment of the pragmatist custom in European writing, with specific spotlight on his surprisingly perplexing characters. Quick Facts: Honorã © de Balzac Occupation: WriterBorn: May 20, 1799 in Tours, FranceDied: August 18, 1850 in Paris, FranceKey Accomplishments: Groundbreaking French author whose pragmatist style and complex characters formed the cutting edge novelSelected Work: Les Chouansâ (1829), Eugã ©nie Grandet (1833), La Pã ¨re Goriot (1835), La Comã ©die humaine (gathered works)Quote: There is nothing of the sort as an extraordinary ability without incredible will power.† Family and Early Life Honor㠩’s father, Bernard-Francois Balssa, was from an enormous lower-class family. As a youngster, he endeavored to scale the social stepping stool and in the long run did as such, working for the administrations of both Louis XVI and, later, Napoleon. He changed his name to Francois Balzac to sound progressively like the blue-bloods he currently cooperated with, and in the end wedded the little girl of a well off family, Anne-Charlotte-Laure Sallambier. The age hole was impressive †thirty-two years †and was organized in appreciation for Francois’s help to the family. It never was an adoration coordinate. Regardless of this, the couple had five kids. Honorã © was the oldest to endure early stages, and was nearest in age and friendship to his sister Laure, brought into the world a year later. Honorã © went to the nearby punctuation school, however battled with the unbending structure and thus was a poor understudy, even once he was come back to the consideration of his family and private mentors. It was not until he entered college at the Sorbonne that he started to flourish, examining history, writing, and theory under a portion of the incredible personalities of the day. After school, Honorã © started a profession as a law representative on the exhortation of his dad. He was seriously disappointed with the work, yet it provided him with the chance to come into contact with and watch individuals of varying backgrounds and the ethical situations inalienable in the act of the law. Leaving his law profession caused some disunity with his family, yet Honorã © held firm. Early Career What might be compared to present day â€Å"trashy† soft cover books. He took a stab at reporting, remarking on the political and social condition of the post-Napoleon period in France, and bombed hopelessly at his undertaking when he attempted to get by as a distributer and printer. In this scholarly time, two explicit subgenres of books were stylish both fundamentally and famously: authentic books and individual books (that is, those which portray a particular person’s life in detail). Honorã © grasped this style of composing, carrying his own encounters with indebted individuals, the printing business, and the law into his books. This experience set him apart from the common authors of the past and a large number of his peers, whose information on different lifestyles was altogether gathered from past writers’ delineations. La Comedie Humaine In 1829, he composed Les Chouans, the principal novel he distributed under his own name. This would turn into the main section into his profession characterizing work: a progression of interweaved stories portraying different features of French life during the Restoration and July Monarchy periods (that is, from around 1815 to 1848). At the point when he distributed his next novel, El Verdugo, he again utilized another name: Honorã © de Balzac, instead of just â€Å"Honorà © Balzac.† The â€Å"de† was utilized to mean honorable causes, so Honorã © embraced it so as to more readily fit into regarded circles of society. In a large number of the books that make up La Comedie Humaine, Honorã © moved between clearing pictures of French society all in all and the little, close subtleties of individual lives. Among his best works were La Duchesse de Langeais, Eugenie Grandet, and Pere Goriot. The books ran enormously long, from the thousand-page epic Illusions Perdues to the novella La Fille aux yeux d’or. The books in this arrangement were striking for their authenticity, especially when it went to their characters. As opposed to composing characters who were paragons of acceptable or abhorrence, Honorã © portrayed individuals in a considerably more reasonable, nuanced light; even his minor characters were concealed with various layers. He likewise increased a notoriety for his naturalistic delineations of time and spot, just as driving accounts and complex connections. Honor㠩’s composing propensities were the stuff of legend. He could compose for fifteen or sixteen hours every day, with abundant measures of espresso to fuel his focus and vitality. In numerous occurrences, he got fixated on culminating the littlest subtleties, frequently making change after change. This didn’t essentially stop when the books were sent off to the printers, it is possible that: he baffled numerous a printer by revising and altering much after the verifications were sent to him. Social and Family Life In spite of his over the top work life, Honorã © figured out how to have a flourishing public activity. He was well known in the public arena hovers for his narrating ability, and he tallied different acclaimed figures of the day †including individual author Victor Hugo †among his colleague. His first love was Maria Du Fresnay, a kindred author who was despondently hitched to an a lot more seasoned man. She bore Honor㠩’s little girl, Marie-Caroline Du Fresnay, in 1834. He had likewise had a previous paramour, a more established lady by the name of Madame de Berny, who had spared him from money related ruin preceding his novelistic achievement. Honor㠩’s incredible romantic tale, however, started in a way that appears to be something from a novel. He got an unknown letter in 1832 that condemned the pessimistic portrayals of confidence and of ladies in one of his books. Accordingly, he posted a notice in a paper to draw in his critic’s consideration, and the pair started a correspondence that endured fifteen years. The individual on the opposite side of these letters was Ewelina Hanska, a Polish royal lady. Honorã © and Ewelina were both exceptionally shrewd, enthusiastic individuals, and their letters were loaded with such points. They initially met face to face in 1833. Her a lot more established spouse passed on in 1841, and Honorã © ventured out to St. Petersburg, where she was staying, in 1843 to meet her once more. Since the two of them had confounded accounts, and Ewelina’s family was doubted by the Russian tsar, they couldn't wed until 1850, by which time they were both enduring medical problems. Honorã © had no youngsters with Ewelina, in spite of the fact that he fathered kids from other before undertakings. Passing and Literary Legacy Honorã © just making the most of his marriage for a couple of months before he became sick. His mom showed up so as to bid farewell, and his companion Victor Hugo visited him on the day preceding his passing. Honorã © de Balzac kicked the bucket unobtrusively on August 18, 1850. He is covered in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, and a sculpture of him, the Balzac Monument, sits at a close by convergence. The best inheritance Honorã © de Balzac deserted was the utilization of authenticity in the novel. The structure of his books, wherein the plot is introduced in consecutive request by an omniscient storyteller and one occasion causes another, was persuasive for some later essayists. Artistic researchers have likewise centered around his investigation of the connections between social standing and character advancement, just as a faith in the quality of the human soul that has suffered right up 'til the present time. Sources Brunetiere, Ferdinand. Honorã © de Balzac. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1906.â€Å"Honore de Balzac.† New World Encyclopedia, 13 January 2018, newworldencyclopedia.org/section/Honore_de_Balzac.â€Å"Honore de Balzac.† Encyclopedia Brittanica, 14 August 2018, https://www.britannica.com/history/Honore-de-Balzac.Robb, Graham. Balzac: A Biography. W. W. Norton Company, New York, 1994.

Cultural Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Social Critique - Essay Example Jihad (heavenly, or strict, war) is pursued by the mujahideen (‘strugglers’ or Muslim contenders). Jihad is presently regularly connected with fear based oppression Terrorism (hostile to state, state-supported, strict, and so on.) has existed in each country, state and society in some structure or the other (physical, enthusiastic, mental, financial, natural, and so forth.) since times prehistoric. It is intrinsically idle in fundamental human instinct, just it differs in degree and structure from individual to individual and circumstance to circumstance. Fear mongering can be followed back to the ‘Before Common Era’, a non-strict option in contrast to the utilization of BC in assigning the principal time of the Gregorian Calendar. As indicated by Encyclop?dia Britannica Online, â€Å"The antiquated Greek student of history Xenophon (c. 431â€c. 350 BC) composed of the adequacy of mental fighting against adversary populaces. Roman sovereigns, for example, Tiberius (ruled promotion 14â€37) and Caligula (ruled advertisement 37â€41) utilized expulsion, seizure of property, and execution as intends to demoralize restriction to their rule.† The string of psychological warfare persistently extended and â€Å"In the late spring of a.d. ... nce by neighborhood whites in a crusade of psychological militant brutality that toppled the reconstructionist governments in the American South and restored segregation† (Bryant 2002) and in â€Å"1898, 10 September, Empress Elisabeth of Bavaria of Austria-Hungary (ordinarily called Sisi) was cut to death by a youthful Italian revolutionary named Luigi Lucheni, in Geneva† (New York Times 7). Fear monger and damaging exercises have been executed by pretty much every faction and culture, be they in the attire of the Crusades (One to Nine), exercises of the Jewish Zealots known as Sicarii, against frontier struggle among Ireland and the UK, Algeria and France and Vietnam and France and the United States, struggle between national gatherings, for example, Palestinians and Israelis, battling between strict categories, for example, Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, inward clashes between progressive powers and built up governments, for example, the replacement co nditions of the previous Yugoslavia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Peru, fundamentalist strict ideological conflicts, for example, ?amas and al-Qaeda, self destruction besieging strategies by ?amas and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, psychological oppressor exercises of the Japanese Red Army, Puerto Rican FALN, Palestine Liberation Organization, among others. It is plentifully clear that fear based oppression isn't a selective quality of a specific socio-strict gathering, faction, nationality, and so forth. It is the indication of the dissatisfactions of disappointed twisted or indoctrinated minds which have been shrewdly controlled to serve the interests of fear based oppressors in doing damaging acts. Psychological militant has no face, persona, religion or ethics. His lone character is dread. He is a confused and misled, without a doubt intellectually enthralled, ‘victim’ prepared for

Before you make plans for Monday COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog

Before you make plans for Monday COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog Instead of our standard display of   our weekly event schedule, today well leave you with a taster for Monday, April 14.   One day at SIPA will enrich your life but if you are looking for more, you can check out our event calendar. The Art of Life in Ãœrümchi: Development Aesthetics and the City in Chinese Central Asia 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm, International Affairs Building, Room 1219 A discussion with Darren Byler, University of Washington Sponsor: Harriman Institute, OASIES Deans Seminar: Governance of the Internet 12:00 pm to 1:15 pm, International Affairs Building, Room 1501 Join Merit E. Janow, Dean, School of International and Public Affairs; Professor, Practice of International Economic Law and International Affairs and an all-star panel of technology experts to discuss regulation and supervision of the internet. Panelists include Gordon Goldstein, Managing Director, Head of External Affairs, Silver Lake Group; Ambassador David Gross, Partner, Wiley Rein, LLP; Eli Noam, Professor of Economics and Finance and Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Business Responsibility at the Columbia Business School; Laura DeNardis, Professor and Associate Dean in the School of Communication at American University; Director of Research for the Global Commission on Internet Governance. Watch live at https://sipa.columbia.edu/live Sponsor: School of International and Public Affairs. Financial Innovation in International Development for Africa 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, International Affairs Building, Room 407 A talk by Benoît Chervalier, African Development Bank Group Sponsor:   International Finance and Economic Policy Concentration, Alliance Program, Economic and Political Development Concentration SAI: Mary Keatinge Das Lecture with Muzzafar Alam (Chicago) 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm, Knox Hall, Room 208 A talk by Muzzafar Alam, University of Chicago Sponsor: South Asia Institute Varieties of Backyard Management: EU Integration and the Evolution of Economic State Capacities in the Southern and Eastern Peripheries of Europe 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm, International Affairs Building, Room 1201 A talk by Laszlo Bruszt, European University Institute Sponsor: Harriman Institute, Blinken European Institute Strive to Thrive: Redefining Success in the Modern World 6:00 pm to 7:15 pm, Uris Hall, Room 301 A lecture and book signing with Arianna Huffington.  Registration required. Sponsor: Columbia Business Schools Chazen Institute of International Business How the Putin Project is Affecting LGBTI Human Rights in Russias Near Abroad Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova 6:15 pm to 8:00 pm, International Affairs Building, Room 1219 A panel discussion on LGBTI Human Rights with Olena Shevchenko, Anna Kirey, Matthew Schaaf. Sponsor: Harriman Institute, Freedom House Come visit us at SIPA.   Were sure you will be hard-pressed to find nothing of interest. For details on future SIPA EVENTS, go to: https://sipa.columbia.edu/experience-sipa/events/list

Illegal Immigration and Equal Rights Essay example

Illegal Immigration and Equal Rights Should immigrants receive the same tolerances that other minority groups have received in the past decades? Should their struggle for equal rights over- shadow the fact that immigration laws are ignored? Pro Amnesty and Anti-Immigration groups have different opinions about these issues The immigration laws that exist in the U.S are not the problem, the problem exist with the people who refuse to enforce them because they contrast the immigrant’s struggles with those of early equal rights movements. The simple fact that the immigration system in this country is broken comes as no surprise to Americans. America admits more legal immigrants than any other country in the world; (Johnson Mac 1) however†¦show more content†¦This should be the other way around, immigrants who enter into our country legally or otherwise should be required to learn and speak English. As this regards to the civil rights argument,’’ By the 1960s , African Americans had multiplied to such an extent that for the first time in American history entire cities--Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Gary, Washington, and others--became majority-black, yielding a new geography of segregation across municipal boundaries. When we first pick up municipal-level segregation in 1950 the black--white dissimilarity across city lines was .35, but three decades later it had reached a value of .49’’ (Douglas S. Massey, Jonathan Rothwell, and Thurston Domina 2). A nation’s identity is reflected in claims regarding the ethnic origin of its citizens, the immigrants fail to assimilate into the original population, and replace its culture with their own. They often isolate themselves into micro level communities and refuse to learn the local language, there self attempts to segregate does not coincide with their claims for equal rights. 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Why Did Lincoln Issue a Proclamation Suspending Habeas Corpus

Shortly after the start of the American Civil War in 1861, President of the United States Abraham Lincoln took two steps intended to maintain order and public safety in the now-divided country. In his capacity as commander in chief, Lincoln declared  martial law in all states and ordered the suspension of the constitutionally protected right to writs of habeas corpus in the state of Maryland and parts of the Midwestern states. The right of writs  of  habeas corpus  are granted in Article I,  Section 9, clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which states,  The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it. In response to the arrest of Maryland secessionist John Merryman by Union troops, then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Roger B. Taney defied Lincolns order and issued a writ of habeas corpus demanding that the U.S. Military bring Merryman before the Supreme Court. When Lincoln and the military refused to honor the writ, Chief Justice Taney in Ex-parte MERRYMAN declared Lincolns suspension of habeas corpus unconstitutional. Lincoln and the military ignored Taneys ruling. On Sept. 24, 1862, President Lincoln issued the following proclamation suspending the right to writs of habeas corpus nationwide: By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation   Whereas, it has become necessary to call into service not only volunteers but also portions of the militia of the States by draft in order to suppress the insurrection existing in the United States, and disloyal persons are not adequately restrained by the ordinary processes of law from hindering this measure and from giving aid and comfort in various ways to the insurrection; Now, therefore, be it ordered, first, that during the existing insurrection and as a necessary measure for suppressing the same, all Rebels and Insurgents, their aiders and abettors within the United States, and all persons discouraging volunteer enlistments, resisting militia drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice, affording aid and comfort to Rebels against the authority of United States, shall be subject to martial law and liable to trial and punishment by Courts Martial or Military Commission: Second. That the Writ of Habeas Corpus is suspended in respect to all persons arrested, or who are now, or hereafter during the rebellion shall be, imprisoned in any fort, camp, arsenal, military prison, or other place of confinement by any military authority of by the sentence of any Court Martial or Military Commission. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington this twenty fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the 87th. Abraham Lincoln By the President: William H. Seward, Secretary of State. What is a Writ of Habeas Corpus? A writ of habeas corpus is a judicially enforceable order issued by a court of law to a prison official ordering that a prisoner must  be brought to the court so it can be determined whether or not that prisoner had been lawfully imprisoned and, if not, whether he or she should be released from custody. A habeas corpus petition is a petition filed with a court by a person who objects to his own or anothers detention or imprisonment. The petition must show that the court ordering the detention or imprisonment made a legal or factual error. The right of habeas corpus is the constitutionally bestowed right of a person to present evidence before a court that he or she has been wrongly imprisoned.

In-Class Portion of Final Exam Free Essays

IT630 – Computer Simulation Modeling In-Class Portion of Final Exam (50 points) Dr. Seidman June 10, 2010 DIRECTIONS – READ THIS FIRST INTRODUCTION Exam is from 6:00 pm to 9:15 pm. Answer both questions. We will write a custom essay sample on In-Class Portion of Final Exam or any similar topic only for you Order Now Total of 50 points. This is an open book, open notes, and open computers exam. This is an individual exam. No collaboration of any kind is permitted. No network connections until you post your answer files to Blackboard when you are done with the exam. You are on the honor system. You have your instructor’s implicit trust. But, you must still hear the consequences of any cheating: immediate failure of the course and a report to the School of Business Dean for possible expulsion from the university. DELIVERY OF ANSWER FILES Put all of your answer files into one folder named: yourNameIT630InClassFinalExam located on your computer desktop. Zip this file. Zip file name should be: yourNameIT630InClassFinalExam. Post to Bb Deliver Here in folder named: WEEK 11: IN-CLASS PORTION OF FINAL EXAM. Check with instructor to see that zip file is posted correctly. After this, you may leave the exam room. QUESTIONS: If you have any questions during the exam – ask your instructor. DIRECTIONS – READ THIS FIRST INTRODUCTION Exam is from 6:00 pm to 9:15 pm. Answer both questions. Total of 50 points. This is an open book, open notes, and open computers exam. This is an individual exam. No collaboration of any kind is permitted. No network connections until you post your answer files to Blackboard when you are done with the exam. You are on the honor system. You have your instructor’s implicit trust. But, you must still hear the consequences of any cheating: immediate failure of the course and a report to the School of Business Dean for possible expulsion from the university. DELIVERY OF ANSWER FILES Put all of your answer files into one folder named: yourNameIT630InClassFinalExam located on your computer desktop. Zip this file. Zip file name should be: yourNameIT630InClassFinalExam. Post to Bb Deliver Here in folder named: WEEK 11: IN-CLASS PORTION OF FINAL EXAM. Check with instructor to see that zip file is posted correctly. After this, you may leave the exam room. QUESTIONS: If you have any questions during the exam – ask your instructor. Question #1 Airport Terminal Arena model (25 points total) PART I: BASE MODEL (10 points) Management wants to study Terminal #1 at a hub airport with an eventual eye toward improvement. The first step is to model it as it is (i. e. , BASE model) during the eight hours of the busiest part of a typical weekday. You will create an Arena model of the check-in and the security operations, only. Once passengers get through security they are on their way to their departure gate and leave the system. Passengers arrive one at a time through the front entrance from curbside ground transportation with interarrival times distributed Expo(0. 5) minutes. [All time units are in minutes. ] Of these arriving passengers, 33% go left to an old-fashioned manual check-in counter. And, 57% of the arriving passengers go right to a new automated check-in counter. These two types of passengers take no time to move from the front entrance to their check-in locations. The remaining 10% of arriving passengers do not need to check in at all and go directly from the front entrance to security. It takes these passengers Unif(3, 5) to move from the front entrance to security. There are two agents at the manual check-in station, fed by a single first-come-first-server queue. Manual check-in service times are Triangular(1, 2, 5). After manual check-in, it takes passengers Unif(2. 5, 6. 5) to walk to the security area. The automated check-in consists of two kiosks and is fed by a single first-come-first-server queue. Automated check-in times are Triangular(0. 5, 1, 1. 5). After checking in, these automated check-in passengers take Unif(1, 3) to walk to the security area. Notice that all types of passengers eventually go to the security area where there are 6 check-in pods fed by a single first-come-first-serve queue. Security check-in times are Triangular(1, 2, 6). This time covers the many security activities in a pod like: x-ray, metal detector, bag search, etc. Once through security, passengers head to their gates and leave the model. Simulate this system for 8 hours and 1 replication. The performance metric of interest is the average total time in the system of passengers (for all types combined). Place this average somewhere on the model in a text-box. Arena file name: YournameIT630Q1BASE. doe. Place file into folder: yourNameIT630InClassFinalExam. Warning: It is your responsibility to make sure that your files are present in your yourNameIT630InClassFinalExam folder and that they open properly. Question #1 (continued) PART II: ALTERNATIVE MODEL (5 points) In PART I, the airline noticed that a lot of people who opt for the manual check-in really don’t need the extra services there and could have used the automated check-in. Instead of the original 33% manual check-in and 57% automated check-in, suppose that the airline is able to encourage only 15% of the arriving passengers to go to the manual check-in and 70% to go to the automated check-in. The other 15% of the arriving passengers go right to security. Nothing else in the Part I model changes. * Revise your Part I Arena model to reflect these changes and name it YournameIT630Q1ALT. doe. Simulate this system for 8 hours and 1 replication. The performance metric of interest is the average total time in the system of passengers (for all types combined). Place this average somewhere on the model in a text-box. PART III: ARENA OUTPUT ANALYZER (10 points) You will need to run the both models for 100 replications. Using the Arena Output Analyzer, compare the average total time in the system of the BASE model against the ALT model to determine whether or not the changes you made actually made a statistically significant difference. Hint: Use the Statistics module. [You may want to turn off the animation to speed things up. Run/Run Control/Batch Run (no animation). ] Place a screen shot of the Output Analyzer comparison results on the YournameIT630Q1ALT. oe model. In a text-box on the same model, say whether the changes made make a statistically significant difference. * Save the Output Analyzer file as: OutAnalyzCompareQ1BASEALTdrg. ————————————————- ALL PARTS OF Q1 Arena file names: yournameIT630Q1BASE. doe yournameIT630Q1ALT . doe yournameOutAnalyzCompareBASEALT. dgr Place these three files into folder named: yourNameIT630InClassFinalExam. Warning: It is your responsibility to make sure that your files are present in your yourNameIT630InClassFinalExam folder and that they open properly. Question #2. Restaurant Arena model (25 points) ————————————————- ————————————————- One customer at a time enters a restaurant according to an Exp(3) minutes distribution. [All time is in minutes. ] This is the lunchtime crowd that eats here between 11:30 am and 2:30 pm. ————————————————- ————————————————- Each customer waits Exp(5) for a table. At the table, the customer places an order which is sent from the customer to the kitchen. The kitchen takes Uniform(5. 5, 9. 5) to prepare the food and then it takes Exp(1. 5) for the lunch food to be sent from the kitchen to the customer’s table. Of course, the food must match up with the particular customer who sent the order. Hint: Use a Separate module (and other associated modules) to accomplish this. ————————————————- ————————————————- When the order arrives to the customer who sent it, it takes the customer Uniform(12, 17) minutes to eat the meal. Then, the customer leaves the table and queues up at the single cashier where it takes the customer Expo(2. 5) to pay for the meal. The customer then leaves the restaurant. ————————————————- * ————————————————- The performance metrics of interest are the 95% Confidence Interval of the average length of time a customer spends in the system and the 95% Confidence Interval of the average number of customers leaving the system after they eat lunch. ————————————————- ————————————————- Run the model for 3 hours and make 20 replications. Report the performance metrics in a text-box on the model. Also, if necessary, note any assumptions you made on a text-box on the model. ————————————————- Arena file name: yournameIT630Q2. doe. Place file into folder: yourNameIT630InClassFinalExam. Warning: It is your responsibility to make sure that your file is present in your yourNameIT630InClassFinalExam folder and that it opens properly. ————————————————- ————————————————- ———————————————— ——————à ¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- ————————————————- ————————————————- ——————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————- ————————————————- END OF IN-CLASS PORTION OF FINAL EXAM —————†”——————————- You may leave when done. ————————————————- How to cite In-Class Portion of Final Exam, Papers

The Tension Displayed in W.B Yeats Poetry free essay sample

When one hears the name ‘Yeats’, one most likely thinks of the man many consider to be Ireland’s greatest ever poet. However, if you were to ask these poets to discuss their favourite aspects of his poetry, I am sure that the response would amount to little more than some ‘umming’ and ‘errring’ and the occasional ‘his alliteration’ from those who remember their days at school. I must admit, I was the same before I began studying his work. Now, however, I consider myself well versed on the subject of Yeats’ poetry. I can identify, as many others can, with his longing to escape the pressures of civilisation and with his desire to possess the courage his heroes did. Above all, I can identify with his wish for an ideal world. Quite frankly, Yeats was a bitter, arrogant and cynical man who, despite his riches and comfortable lifestyle, never seemed happy. An Anglo-Irish descendant, he spent part of his childhood in England, before returning to Dublin for the later part of his education. He was greatly influenced by Maud Gonne, his unrequited lover, and Lady Augusta Gregory, an old friend of his. Yeats spent his life moaning about the problems with the modern world and with his own body. He longed to escape to his ideal world, where he could be young and carefree once again, and be free of the pressures that so irritated him during his life. Many themes are evident throughout Yeats’ work. He displays themes of nature, pacifism and of immortality through art. However, the most visible theme presented in his work is his desire to live in the ideal world. The manner in which his poetry is driven by a tension between the real world in which he lives and his ideal world he imagines is fascinating. The late great Seamus Heaney (another personal favourite) described Yeats as ‘a dreamer, an idealist’. It is hard to disagree with him. Perhaps the clearest example of Yeats’ ideal world is shown in one of his most well-known poems, ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’. This popular poem is, in comparison to some of his other work, softly written. It is less a condoning of London, where he was based at the time, and more of a tale of the beauty of Innisfree. Yeats chooses to contrast the dull, grey city life with the vibrant life one can obtain by living in isolation on the isle. He repeats the phrase ‘I will arise and go now’ to great effect in this poem. He wants to go, to escape, to be at one with the world of nature by the lake. He is fed up of London and longs to escape again. There, he can build a small cabin ‘of clay and wattles made’. He will have ‘nine bean rows’ and ‘a hive for the honey bee’. Already, one can see why Yeats desires to live here. What he is describing is beautiful, vibrant, and alive with colour and life. At the same time, he will have ‘some peace there’, which he will have ‘from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings’. Yeats continues to describe his ideal world when he uses alliteration, assonance, sibilance, onomatopoeia and rhythmic metre in one single line, ‘I hear lake water lapping by the shore’. This is the most descriptive line in the poem. I completely identify with what Yeats is saying here. The imagery he uses is magnificent. This comes in sharp contrast to the ‘roadway’ and ‘pavements grey’ he is currently standing on. He realises he cannot go to his ideal world; he must stay, and like everyone else, deal with the pressures of civilisation. He hates the world he lives in, and loves Innisfree. The tension is again evident here. In my opinion, Yeats is simply describing the dream of millions in this poem. We all want to escape to this ideal world (I know I do! ) but we can’t. One has to look on a deeper level to find the ideal world in ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’. It is not presented to us in the most orthodox manner, it has to be said. However, through the theme of time passing, we can find Yeats’ ideal world. It is, quite simply, a world where Yeats is young and carefree once again. He stands at the lake edge at Coole Park and counts ‘nine and fifty swans’. Unfortunately for Yeats, swans travel in pairs. This means that a swan has died; they are no longer the sixty they used to be. Time has passed; age has crept up on Yeats and the swans. Despite the fact that they appear immortal, even the swans have fallen victim to time. If the swans cannot withstand time, what chance has Yeats? It is now ‘the nineteenth autumn since I first made my count’. He admits that ‘all’s changed since I trod with a lighter tread’. He is no longer youthful and energetic; he is getting old and weary. His ideal world would to be one of ‘those brilliant creatures’ who are ‘unwearied still’. ‘Their hearts have not grown old’, unlike Yeats’. As he gets older, his creativity is also in decline. He worries that ‘the woodland paths are dry’, a metaphor for his concern that his reservoir of literary genius is drying up. Once again, the tension is evident. If only he were young once more, but he is not. He isn’t now and he never will be, and Yeats cannot stand this. For me, I found it difficult to discover the ideal world in ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His Death’. Eventually however, by looking deep into the meaning of the poem, I was able to find this ideal world. It links strongly to the other two poems I will discuss, ‘September 1913’ and ‘Easter 1916’. It is here that Yeats first outlines his admiration of courage. Through the theme of escapism once again portrayed, Yeats discusses the boldness and determination of Major Robert Gregory, son of Lady Augusta. He fought and died in World War I, however the irony here is that Gregory died a hero’s death in a war he didn’t care for. ‘Those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love’. Why, then, did Gregory fight ‘somewhere among the clouds above’? From my point of view, it is because, to him, ‘the years to come seemed waste of breath’. ‘I balanced all’, he says. ‘I know that I shall meet my fate’, he admits. It is this impulsive decision to escape from the monotony of everyday life that Yeats so admired. Gregory was Yeats’ ideal man living in an ideal world. The ideal world was where one could live their life as they wished. Gregory had the ultimate delight of death in life. WE would all like to escape to a world where we can do as we please. Very few of us have the courage. Gregory was brave enough to escape, although ultimately it cost him his life. Here lies my issue with Yeats. Once more, he presents the tension between the ideal world he imagines and the real world in which he lives. In my eyes, Yeats is blinded by his admiration for Gregory. He seems to forget that Gregory has paid the ultimate price for his bravery. His suicidal, irrational behaviour is neither brave nor courageous. It is downright stupid, yet Yeats cannot seem to see this through his hatred of the real world. The next poem I shall discuss is my personal favourite of Yeats’. It is ‘September 1913’. The theme here is obvious for anyone to see; it is the theme of idealism of the past. This is perhaps the clearest poem in which Yeats displays the tension between the real world and his ideal world. ’ In this poem, the poet attacks the materialistic modern day Irishmen and glorifies the heroes of her revolutionary past. He comes across as bitter, cynical and contemptuous in the first verse as he describes the scrooge-like, cowardly modern man, who would ‘fumble in a greasy till and add the half-pence to the pence†¦ until you have dried the marrow from the bone’. Already one can see how Yeats is debasingly accusing modern Irishmen for their greediness. They are so desperate; they will add any half-pence they can find to their pence. They hide behind their religion by adding ‘prayer to shivering prayer’. They ‘were born to pray and save’, according to Yeats, but one can identify a pun on the word ‘pray’ here. It could be thought of as ‘prey’ and has links to the predator in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s ‘The Eagle’. Either way, Yeats does not like these men. Neither do I after hearing the poet’s description; it is a withering, cynical evaluation of them. Clearly, they are not like Yeats’ heroes of ‘Romantic Ireland’, ‘Edward Fitzgerald†¦ and Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone’, the men ‘for whom the hangman’s rope was spun’. To Yeats, these men were ideal; they sacrificed their lives for the cause, and displayed courage similar to Major Robert Gregory in ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His Death’, reckless, irrational courage, but courage nonetheless. Tension again is evident here, as these courageous patriots are shown in sharp contrast to the greedy, materialistic men of modern Ireland where Yeats lived. In ‘Easter 1916’, however, Yeats appears to retract and subsequently alter these views of the modern man. He once again displays the theme of idealism here as he pays tribute to his heroes, however these heroes are actually the greedy, materialistic men he attacked in ‘September 1913’ three years previously. In the first verse, he tells of how he used to view the volunteers. He would offer them only a ‘nod of the head’ if he passed them in the street, and would then proceed to think of ‘a mocking tale or gibe’ about them. They all lived in a country where motley, the joker’s clothes, are worn. This country is Ireland. Soon however, his opinion is ‘changed utterly’ and Yeats realises that he is, at last, living in his ideal world. In ‘September 1913’, Yeats criticised the modern man for being greedy and self-centred. Now, all has been ‘transformed utterly’. Yeats lists out the heroic republicans who fought and died, each with ‘a stone of the heart’, as he described them. ‘That woman’, Con Markiewicz, ‘this man’, Padraig Pearse, this other ‘Thomas MacDonagh’. All sacrificed their lives and all deserved a mention in Yeats’ poem. Even ‘this other man†¦ a drunken and vainglorious lout’, Yeats’ mortal enemy and lover of Maud Gonne, John MacBride, ‘has resigned his part†¦ he too has been changed’. Unfortunately, despite his extreme admiration for their courage, Yeats has his reservations. He is not fully converted to the ‘dream†¦ of†¦ Connolly and Pearse’, as he described it. He wonders, despite them being the resolute ‘stone in the midst of it all’, would Ireland have received Home Rule regardless? ‘For England may keep faith for all that is done and said’. In the end, it doesn’t matter; they have allowed Yeats to at least partially live in his ideal world. The first of the two poems I discussed, ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ and ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’ present the ideal world of Yeats as being one where he can be free of the pressures of civilisation, and be young and carefree again. Simply, he wants to be relieved of any pressure. The three other poems, ‘An Irish Airman Foresees His Death’, ‘September 1913’, and ‘Easter 1916’ are closely linked. In the first poem, Yeats depicts the airman as not only brave and admirable but also reckless, impulsive and perhaps even a little crazy. This echoes his presentation of ‘men in action’ in the other two poems. ‘September 1913’, whilst it praises the courage of past Irish leaders, it suggests there was an element of ‘delirium’ in their extreme willingness to lay down their lives for the cause. Similarly, ‘Easter 1916’ praises the bravery of Pearse and MacDonagh but acknowledges that there was something terrible about their self-sacrifice. In the end however, Yeats admired this reckless courage displayed. As Seamus Heaney said, he truly was an idealist.

Christian Spirituality in Lewiss Works about Narnia

Friendship essays

Friendship essays Friends. Can you imagine what life would be like without them? Who would you hang out with in the cafeteria during lunch? Who would you tell about the new love in your history class whos both cute and smart? Who would you have those marathon phone conversations with, you know, the ones that drive your parents crazy? As one grows older, their view on friendship changes and the group of friends they had becomes smaller. ...youngsters seek integration in the peer group, they are inclined to distance themselves from social control, parents and other authorities (Rutger 675). As a young child, friendship does not really exist, the friends that a child really has is more like an encounter. Playing with another child one day and then going home, that was that until the two kids happen to meet again, which is generally in preschool. When a child is playing with another child it is as if everything revolves around each childs needs. What toy you wanted and where you wanted to play (Kalb 56). As the youngster proceeds into the elementary grades they begin to understand that friendship is more than just a playmate. They start to see their friends point of view, share secrets, plans and feelings and help seek solutions to problems. Middle school soon comes and besides the body changing, so do the friends that a person has. During this time in life the adolescent goes through pressures from peers, school, and male/female relationships and to cope with these pressures, it is easier to talk to a person in the same situation instead of a parent that will more than likely criticize. In adolescence, according to Dianna Booher, ...friendship is the most important relationship in their lives. Maybe thats because friendship is a relationship we freely choose to satisfy our specific personal needs. Our parents, brothers, and sisters were given to us (11). T...

Research Proposal on a topic that links Knowledge Management System

On a topic that links Knowledge Management System with Cloud Computing - Research Proposal Example Explicit knowledge is the type of information that an individual has and he is more conscious of, and he can communicate the same with other people, this kind of knowledge is the one that organisations focus on capitalising on. Cloud computing is a term that is used to refer a large interconnection of computers that share data, this means that instead of using the local servers or personal devices to handle applications, organisations rely on sharing of computing resources through the use of internet. The interlink between knowledge management and cloud computing in an organisation comes in several ways where an organisation will use the cloud computing resources in knowledge management. Cloud storage, which has a vast of storage space in comparison to the typical storage spaces such as the hard disks, is a key driver of knowledge management tools such as blogging, micro-blogging pages, wiki, individual web spaces, podcasts, webcasts that require large volumes of storage space. The f lexibility that cloud computing offers in terms of the dedicating space when it is needed is convenient for knowledge management activities such as teleconferencing, web calls and lead capture, the ease of access of information that has been stored in the cloud computers by multiple users facilitates fast approval of information which has allowed workflow to be more efficient. Knowledge management has been ineffective for a long time due to several reasons; one of the reasons is that knowledge management has been confined to the walls of the organisation for a long time. This is despite the common knowledge that most of the useful information to the employees of a company is present outside these walls, which would improve the innovativeness and efficiency of the employees. With the discovery and growth of internet, most of the organisations that used intranet in knowledge management from actively managing the productivity of critical knowledge assets have made it become a publisher of informational assets. With the introduction of cloud computing in knowledge management, every individual either within or out of an organisation will become a knowledge manager. as tools become easier to use, individuals will actively contribute to the relevance of the information that is available within an organisation, in addition to this, individuals will be able to contribute to the improvement of the of practises and improvement of decision making. It will as be possible to send the information available within an organisation outside and also monetize it for the benefit of the organisation, however this will require companies to change their policies that govern how knowledge is shared within an organisation and new ways on how to gain a competitive edge using knowledge. While knowledge management has been a priority to most of the organisations for many years, addressing the challenge that comes with it has been relatively hard for most of the organisations (Kambil, 2009 , p67). With the current increasing economic uncertainties, reducing loyalties among customers, a very diversified workforce and increasing competition have made companies to find new and innovative ways to advance their knowledge management standards to match these challenges. These problems have been made

ISO Standards and Excellence - work paper Coursework

ISO Standards and Excellence - work paper - Coursework Example These categories entail over twenty plus criterions based items. The five categories of ISO 9000 include the following: A quality management system comprises of set of rules that need to be fulfilled. Some of these require practical steps related to the ongoing processes, the others require the documentation and written material which include the declaration of the Standard Operating Procedures. Monitoring of processes, activities, timeline following and providing the employees with working manuals that clearly define their tasks and responsibilities are few of the basic requirements set forth by a Quality Management System. A quality system is a broader concept and application of the basic principles of quality services and delivery. The quality manual on the other side is a documented form of company and policy material which is largely based on the quality system manifesto and mechanisms. Quality system is a broad line definition and quality manual is the part of entire project and work which is presented as an organizational work policy representative documents. Quality procedures are set of steps and actions that are set forth before the workers prior to their working execution. The quality process include the practical demonstration of the steps so undertaken during the course of action. The work instructions comprise of the clear dos and don’ts of the organization which provides a clear path following to the organization and project accomplishment. Quality objective comes along as the part of the quality Management system and quality policy manifesto. Under the objectives, the workers are provided with the guidelines that need to be accomplished. The processes are clearly chalked out. The objectives roughly define the project goals and organizational management setup. I.S.O defines the quality objective and makes it an integral part of the organizational manifesto, the I.S.O accreditation is subject to

The Concept Of Microfinance

The Concept Of Microfinance In the recent years, most of the countries across the globe are in a sweeping mood to promote microfinance not only as a positive rural development intervention but also as a rural development panacea. As a result, the developmental economists in underdeveloped and developing economies have increasingly become enthusiastic in promotion and development of microfinance as one of the rural development initiatives. The purpose of such an initiative is to promote the welfare of the society as a whole by targeting the most talked developmental objectives of poverty alleviation (Shah,2008) and balanced regional development (Barman et al. , 2009). Micro-finance today though has become one of the most debated topics but it is a much confused buzzword among the bankers and the policy makers. Micro-finance is more than just a word as it has much wider meaning and implications. It is an instrument and a tool that has power to collectively address poverty, empower the socially poor, address gender issues and thereby strengthen the society as a whole. Micro-finance has therefore emerged as a powerful mechanism which ensures the social and economic empowerment of poor (Sriram, 2004). Concept of Microfinance Microfinance, according to McGuire and Conroy (2000), is the provision of financial services, primarily savings and credit, to poor households that do not have access to formal financial institutions. The Task Force on Supportive Policy and Regulatory Framework for Microfinance set up by NABARD in November 1998 defined microfinance as the provision of thrift, credit and other financial services and products of very small amounts to the poor in rural, semi urban or urban areas, for enabling them to raise their income levels and improve living standards (Sharma, 2001; Reddy, 2005, Reji, 2009). These financial services, according to Satish (2005) and Dasgupta (2006), generally include deposits, loans, payment services, money transfers, and insurance to poor and low income households and their microenterprises. However, the expression microfinance according to Torre and Vento (2006) denotes offering the financial services to Zero or low income beneficiaries. Wanchoo (2007) defines microfinance as any activity that includes the provision of financial services such as credit, savings, and insurance to low income individuals who either fall below the nationally defined poverty line or fall just above that, with the goal of creating social value. The creation of social value means making efforts in direction of eradication of poverty, improving livelihood opportunities for the poor through the provision of capital for micro-enterprise, promotion of savings for poor so that current problems and future risks can be minimized. However, how much below or above the poverty line has not been defined anywhere in the literature so far. Arabi (2009) and Satish (2005) defines microfinance as small scale financial services primarily credit and deposits that are provided to people who farm, fish or herd and adds that it operates small or microenterprises both in urban and rural areas. According to Dinesha and Jayasheela (2009), these financial services are provided by financial institutions to the poor to meet their normal financial needs life cycle, economic opportunity and emergency. In the words of Dhandapani (2009) microfinance means extension of small loans to the poor, especially women to start business, invest in self employment works with the aim to increase their income and standard of living. As per the definition of Nagayya and Rao (2009), microfinance refers to entire range of financial and non-financial services including skill upgradation and entrepreneurial development of poor. Sehrawat etal. (2011) however, defines microfinance as a financial service provided by financial institutions to the poor which may include savings, credit, insurance, leasing, money transfer, equity transaction, etc. to meet their normal financial needs like life cycle, economic opportunity and emergency. In short, it can be said that the concept of microfinance involves Banking for the poor and Banking with the poor. Such banking initiatives open doors of finance for destitute and underprivileged people who otherwise do not have access to finance from formal financial sources due to lack of collateral security (Nagayya and Rao, 2009; Barman et al. 2009). Microfinance targets the poorest segment of clients. They are self-employed and household-based entrepreneurs. Their diverse micro-enterprise includes small retail shops, street vending, artisanal manufacture, etc. Components of Microfinance (Microfinance vs Microcredit) The term `microfinance and `microcredit are often used interchangeably but in reality there is the difference between the two. Microcredit is the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Microfinance is a broader concept encompassing not only the extension of credit to the poor, but also the provision of other financial services like savings, cash withdrawals and insurance (Dasgupta, 2006; Nagayya and Rao, 2009). Microcredit is the component of microfinance. There are four components of microfinance: Microcredit: It is a small amount of money lent to a client by a bank or other institution. Microcredit can be offered, often without collateral, to an individual or through group lending. The purpose of such a loan is to provide credit to those who require it. Microsavings: These are small sums of money that allow poor people to save small amounts of money for future use. These saving accounts are often without minimum balance requirements. It helps low households to save in order to meet unexpected expenses and plan for future investments. These are the means of collateral to microcredit (Sinha, 2005). Microinsurance: It is an economic instrument characterised by low premium designed to service low income people not served by typical social or commercial insurance schemes and helps in mitigating risks affecting property and health (Khandelwal A.K., 2007). Remittances: These are transfers of funds from people in one place to people in another, usually across borders to family and friends (Khandelwal A.K., 2007). The Rise of Microfinance Movement / the Beginnings of Microfinance The concept of Microfinance is not new as it has had its prevalence in the long past. The imprints of microfinance can be traced back to Indonesia which points towards the formation of Indonesian Peoples Credit Banks which were set up in 1895 and which had close to 9000 units. Later, efforts were made to bring about revolution in Pakistan (now Bangladesh) by Akhtar Hameed Khan in 1959 in form of formation of Academy for Rural Development (Khandelwal, 2007). In the late 1970s, the economists round the world recognised that poor lack access to financial services (McGuire and Conroy, 2000; Tiwari and Fahad,1997 ; Barman et al., 2009). From this developed a new emphasis on establishing better financial systems which could direct credit to poor clients on a more sustainable basis than had been possible under previous discredited schemes of directed credit (McGuire and Conroy, 2000). At that time, Professor Muhammad Yunus popularised the concept of microloans as he believed that peace prevails only when hunger is quelled (Shetty and Veershekharappa, 2009). He started Grammeen Bank in 1976 in the outskirts of Chittagong University campus in the village of Jobra, Bangladesh with only a meagre amount of $27 as loan and made it a target to grant loans to the poorest of the poor. He felt concerned for the miserable landless women who were labouring for other people. He reasoned that if these women could work for themselves instead of working for others, they could retain much of the surplus generated by their labours, currently enjoyed by others. He started giving loans to even beggars. He was also of the view that if beggars can go to houses for getting money, they can go to houses to sell a product also. The Grameen Bank lending procedures are simple and effective. The first and foremost step in receipt of credit is the formation of the group of five members that gather once a week for loan repayment (Dasgupta, 2001). Loans are initially made to two individuals in the group, who are then under pressure from the rest of the members to repay in good time. The borrower has to repay the loan in weekly instalments spread over a year. The functioning of Grameen Bank also involves enchanting of 16 Decisions at the start of their weekly session. These decisions include production of fruits and vegetables in kitchen gardens, investment for improvement of housing and education for children, use of latrines and safe drinking water for better health, rejection of dowry in marriages etc. Although observance of these decisions is not mandatory, in actual practice it has become a requirement for receiving a loan (Tiwari and Fahad, 1997). In order to promote thrift habit, it is compulsory for every member to save one Taka per week which is accumulated in the Group Fund. This account is managed by the group. The amount in the Fund is deposited with Grameen Bank and earns interest. A member can borrow from this fund for consumption, sickness, social ceremony or even for investment (if allowed by all group members). In case of default in repayment or failure to attend meetings, the defaulters may be charged with a fine or may be expelled. The members are free to leave the group before the loan is fully repaid; however, the responsibility to pay the balance falls on the remaining group members. Some of the key strategies adopted by the Grameen Bank are listed below: I) There is an exclusive focus on the poorest of the poor. This is exclusivity ensured by: establishing clearly the eligibility criteria for selection of targeted clientele and adopting practical measures to screen out those who do not meet them. in delivering credit, priority has been increasingly assigned to women. the delivery system is geared to meet the diverse socio-economic development needs of the poor. 2) Borrowers are organized into small homogeneous groups. Such characteristics facilitate group solidarity as well as participatory interaction. Organizing the primary groups of five members and federating them into centers. The Centers are functionally linked to the Grameen Bank, whose field workers have to attend Centre meetings every week. 3) Special loan conditions which are particularly suitable for the poor. These include: a) very small amounts of loans given without any collateral b) loans repayable in weekly instalments spread over a year c) eligibility for a subsequent loan depends upon repayment of first loan d) individual, self-chosen, quick income-generating activities which employ the skills that harrowers already posses. e) close supervision of credit by the group f) stress on collective borrower responsibility or peer pressure g) special safeguards through compulsory and voluntary savings to minimize the risks that the poor confront. h) Undertaking of social development agenda addressing basic needs of the clientele. This is reflected in the sixteen decisions adopted by Grameen borrowers. Thus, the lending operations of Grameeen Bank include the use of group guarantees, inculcating compulsory savings habit and transparency of credit transactions (Mcguire and Conroy, 2000). A still more interesting feature is the ingenious manner of grant of credit without any collateral security. The availability of lending outlets near the clients, simple application procedures, and quick disbursement of loans are the special techniques to ensure good repayment rates (Tiwari and Fahad,1997 ). The Grameen Bank is now lending loan size of $ 800 million a year with an average loan size of almost $130, the bank has 7 million borrowers, 97 percent of them are women and an unmatched repayment rate of 98 percent(Tiwari and Fahad,1997 ; Singh and Kumar,2008). The microloans not only helped the poor in getting finance in Bangladesh and facilitated the lives of millions of poor but also earned Muhammad Yunus a Nobel Prize in the year 2006. Evolution of microfinance in India The Grameen Bank model of microfinance based on joint liability of members has received wide international appeal and popularity in numerous emerging economies like India. In fact the developing economies have even tried to replicate these models for developing small scale business and reducing poverty levels (Jha, 2002; Idolor and Imhanlahimi, 2011). The evolution of Indian MF can be broadly divided into four distinct phases: Phase 1: The Cooperative Movement (1900-1960) During this phase, there was dominance of two sources of credit viz. institutional sources and non-institutional sources. The non institutional sources catered to 93 percent of credit requirement in the year 1951-52 and institutional sources accounted to 7 percent of total credit requirements pertaining to that year. The preponderance of informal sources of credit was due to provision of loans for both productive and non productive purposes as well as for short term and long term purposes and simple procedures of lending adopted. But they involved several malpractices like charging high rates of interest, denial of repayment, misappropriation of collaterals, etc. At that time, government considered cooperatives as an instrument of economic development of disadvantaged masses. The credit cooperatives were vehicles to extend subsidized credit to poor under government sponsorship. They were characterized as non exploitative, voluntary membership and decentralized decision making. The Primary Agricultural societies (PACS) provide mainly short term and medium term loans and Land Development Banks provide long term loans as a part of cooperative movement. Phase 2: Subsidized Social Banking (1960s 1990) It was observed that cooperatives could not do much as was expected of them. With failure of cooperatives, All India Rural Credit Survey Committee in 1969 emphasized the adoption of Multiagency Approach to Institutional Credit which assigned an important role to the commercial banks in addition to cooperatives. Even Indian planners in fifth five year plan (1974-79), emphasised Garibi Hatao (Removal of poverty) and the growth with social justice. It was due to this approach that in 1969, 14 leading banks were nationalized and later on five regional rural banks were set up for the purpose on October 2, 1975 at Moradabad and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Bhiwani in Haryana ,Jaipur in Rajasthan and Malda in West Bengal. Hence, as a result of Multiagency approach and other planning initiatives, Government focused on measures such as nationalization of Banks (Shetty and Veerashekharappa, 2009; Sriram, 2005), expansion of rural branch networks, establishment of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and the setting up of apex institutions such as the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the Small Scale Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the central bank of the country played a crucial role by giving overall direction for providing credit and financial support to national bank for its operations. Therefore, after the multiagency approach, the commercial banks and regional rural banks assumed a major role in providing both short term and long term funds for serving the poorest of poor. Despite, the multiagency approach adopted, a very large number of the poorest of the poor continued to remain outside the fold of the formal banking system(Reddy and Manak, 2005; Singh and Kumar, 2008; Nagayya and Rao, 2009; Shetty and Veershekharappa, 2009). While these steps led to reaching a large population, the period was characterized by large-scale misuse of credit, creating a negative perception about the credibility of micro borrowers among bankers, thus further hindering access to banking services for the low-income people. However the gap between demand and supply of financial services still prevailed due to shortcomings of institutional credit system as it provides funds only for productive purposes, requirement of collateral, massive paper work leading to inordinate delays. As a response to failure of formal financial system in reaching the poor and destitute masses, the micro finance through Self-help groups was innovated and institutionalized in the Indian scenario. While no definitive date has been determined for the actual conception and propagation of SHGs, the practice of small groups of rural and urban people banding together to form a savings and credit organization is well established in India. In the early stages, NGOs played a pivotal role in innovating the SHG model and in implementing the model to develop the process fully (Reddy and Manak2005). The first step towards Micro-finance intervention was establishment of Self Employed Womens Association (SEWA), non formal organization owned by women of petty trade groups. It was established on the cooperative principle in 1974 in Gujarat. This initiative was undertaken for providing banking services to the poor women employed in unorganized sector of Ahmadabad. Shree Mahila Sahkari Bank was set up as urban cooperative bank. At national level, SHG movement involves NGOs helping in the formation of the groups. During this time, the planners and policy makers were desperately searching for the viable ways of poverty alleviation. Around that time, the Government of India launched the Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP), a large poverty alleviation credit program, with the purpose of providing credit to poor and under-privileged which involved provision of government subsidized credit through banks to the poor. But the IRDP was a supply led programme and the clients had no choice over the purpose and the amount. At this stage, it was realised that the poor really needed better access to these services and products, rather than cheap subsidized credit. That is when the experts started talking about microfinance, rather than microcredit. Keeping in view the economic scenario of those days, a strong need was felt for alternative policies, procedures, savings and loan products, other complementary services, and new delivery mechanisms, which would fulfil the requirements of the poorest, especially of the women members of such households ( Barman et al. 2009; Shetty and Veerashekharappa, 2009). It was during this time, NABARD conducted a series of research studies independently and in association with MYRADA, a leading NGO from Southern India, which showed that a very large number of poor continued to remain outside the fold of the formal banking system (Reddy and Manak, 2005). Later on PRADAN in its Madurai projects started forming women SHG groups (Satish, 2005). During 1988-89, NABARD in association with Asia Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) undertook a survey of 43 NGOs in 11 states in India, to study the functioning of microfinance SHGs and their collaboration possibilities with formal banking system (Satish P, 2005; Shetty and Veerashekharappa, 2009). Both these research projects laid the foundation stone for the initiation of a pilot project called the SHG linkage project (Satish P, 2005). Phase 3: SHG-Bank Linkage Program (1990 2000) The failure of subsidized social banking lead to delivery of credit with NABARD initiating the Self Help Group (SHG) Bank Linkage Programme in 1992 (SBLP), aiming to link informal womens groups to formal banks. This was the first official attempt in linking informal groups with formal lending structures. To initiate this project NABARD held extensive consultations with the RBI. This resulted the RBI issuing a policy circular in 1991 to all Commercial Banks to participate and extend finance to SHGs (RBI, 1991). This was the first instance of mature SHGs that were directly financed by a commercial bank. The informal thrift and credit groups of poor were recognized as bankable clients. Soon after, the RBI advised Commercial Banks to consider lending to SHGs as part of their rural credit operations thus creating SHG Bank Linkage ( Reddy and Manak,2005). The program has been extremely useful in increasing banking system outreach to unreached people. The programme has been extremely advantageous due to reduction of transaction cost due to less paper work and record keeping as group lending rather than individual lending is involved (Barman et al. 2009). The SHG bank linkage is a strong method of financial inclusion, providing unbanked rural clientele with access to formal financial services from the existing banking infrastructure. The major benefit by linking SHGs with the banks is that it helps in overcoming the problem of high transaction cost of banks as the responsibility of loan appraisal, follow up, recovery of loans are left to poor themselves. On the other side, SHGs gain by enjoying larger and cheaper sources (Varman, 2005). Later, the planners in Ninth Five year plan (1997-2002) laid emphasis on Growth with Social Justice and Equality. The objective of Ninth plan as approved by the National Development Council explicitly states as follows: Promoting and developing participatory institutions like Panchayati Raj Institutions, cooperatives and Self -Help Groups. Hence, it was ninth five year plan that expressly laid down the objective of establishment of Self Help Groups in order to achieve the objective of Growth with Social Justice and Equality as a part of microfinance initiative. Meanwhile, in 1999, the Government of India merged various credit programs together, refined them and launched a new programme called Swaranjayanti Gram Swarazagar Yojana (SGSY). The aim of SGSY was to continue to provide subsidized credit to the poor through the banking sector to generate self-employment through a Self-Help Group approach (Sriram, 2005). Phase 4: Commercialization of Microfinance: The first decade of the new millennium This stage involves greater participation of new microfinance institutions that started taking interest in the sector not only as part of their corporate social responsibility but also as a new business line. A number of institutions have been set up overtime which were required to meet the credit requirements of the new society and downtrodden. At present Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012) aims at Towards More and Inclusive Growth. The word inclusive growth means including and considering those who are somehow excluded from the benefits which they (poor) should avail. Microfinance is a step towards inclusive growth via inclusive finance which moves around serving the financial needs and non financial needs of poor in order to improve level of living of rural masses. Demand and Supply forces of microfinance 1.5.1 The Demand for Microfinance Traditionally the targets of microfinance meant the poorest of the poor and the poor. More, recently, microfinance focus is changing as it has now started serving people who, although, not living in poverty, have general difficulty in obtaining the credit (Torre and Vento, 2006). This is on account of socio-economic changes that have put forward potential new microfinance clients. In this way, modern microfinance is expanding its horizon from poorest of poor to the victims of financial inclusion. The phenomenon of financial inclusion has been defined in literature as inability to access finance in an appropriate way ( ). These victims of financial inclusion involve disadvantaged individuals who are unable to bear the cost and conditions of financial products offered. Another category of microfinance targets included the marginalised people who mainly comprise of small scale entrepreneurs who are running small businesses, self-employed workers and individuals who unable to obtain cred it (Torre and Vento, 2006). In this category, women assume major significance. This is due to the more responsible nature of women who are more responsible in repayment of loan then men. The continuing involvement of poorest of the poor, poor, disadvantaged and marginalised people determines the greater complexity of the supply forces of Indian microfinance structure and thus, a more decisive move away from traditional pattern of credit. 1.5.2 The Supply of Microfinance In any economy, most of the day-to-day activities require finance. Finance is required both for productive and non productive purposes. The productive purposes include requirement of fixed capital for commencement of business, funds for working capital requirement to meet day today activities, trade related emergencies, exploring investment opportunities etc. On the other hand, finance may be needed for non productive purposes, such as for celebration of marriages, births and deaths, for litigation. In order to satisfy in above needs there are two available sources of credit available to the poor: institutional sources or formal sources, non-institutional sources or informal sources. Formal institutions are the registered entities subject to all relevant laws. These include commercial banks (including public and private sector banks), regional rural banks and cooperative banks. Recognizing the potential of micro finance to positively influence the development of the poor, the Reserve Bank, NABARD and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) have taken several initiatives over the years to give elevation to the micro finance movement in India. The Commercial Banks and Regional Rural Banks provide both short term and long term funds for serving the poorest of poor. The Primary Agricultural societies (PACS) provide mainly short term and medium term loans and Land Development Banks provide long term loans. The National Bank of Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) is the apex institution at national level for agricultural credit and refinance assistance to the agencies mentioned above .The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the central bank of the country plays a crucial role by giving overall direction for providing credit and financial support to national bank for its operations. On the other hand, government owned societies like Rashtriya Mahila Kosh(RMK), Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies, private sector companies like specialized NBFCs are also involved in providing credit to the poor. Informal institutions include self help groups, money lenders, traders, relatives, commission agents. They are providers of microfinance services on a voluntary basis and are not subject to any kind of regulation. 1.6 Self Help Groups Defined A Self Help Group is a basic unit of micro-finance which comprises of 15 to 20 people having homogeneous social and economic background (Singh and Kumar, 2008) that voluntarily come together to save small amounts regularly and mutually agree to contribute a common fund. The aim of such formation is to meet present and emergency needs of the members on mutual help, solidarity and joint responsibility basis. Self Help Groups (SHGs) are necessary to overcome exploitation, create confidence and creation of feeling of self worth for the economic and social self-reliance of rural poor, particularly among women who are mostly invisible in the social structure. The Self Help Groups are the basis for further action and change which help members become self reliant economically and socially. It also helps building of stable relationship for mutual trust between the promoting organization and the rural poor (Singh and Kumar, 2008). Though loan repayment is a joint liability of the group but, in reality, individual liability is stressed upon (Singh and Kumar, 2008). Maintaining group reputation leads to the application of tremendous peer pressure. The group members use collective wisdom and peer pressure to ensure proper utilization of credit and its timely repayment thereof. In fact, peer pressure has been recognized as an effective substitute for collaterals (Barman et al. , 2009).

Food Warning Labels

Warning Labels Sergio Mansilla Devry University People know what are they exactly they are eating? No because there is no warning labels in the food packages. Same may oppose my position. To argue that warning labels are necessary for fast food. It would cause consumers to think twice before they decide to eat fast food. However, my research has says warning labels should be on food and help people understands what they are eating. â€Å"Americans continue to face many challenges as they debater these important issues and aim to make the food supply as safe as possible†.Warning labels should be including in food packages because they will help people take control of what they consume and food industries will have to provide healthier options. People will become more aware of what they are eating if there are labels on food packages. It would help them be more involved in what they eat. And with food labels they will be more educate know more about the facts on the nutrition la bel. In this book by Victoria Sherrow are a published author and an illustrator of children’s books and young adult books.Some of the published credits of Victoria Sherrow include Jonas Salk: Beyond the Microscope (Makers of Modern Science), about food safety (2008) it touches on an issues how important is labeling laws. They say that currents laws give food product companies too much give discretion, in terms that what they are list and how they are listing it. One contentious area is involves labeling genetically modified the GM foods. Publication of the FDA stated that labeling is required for information that is material, to avoid false misleading statements (Sherrow 2008).This means that the food labeling is required for most prepared foods, such as breads, cereals, canned and frozen foods, snacks, desserts, drinks. Nutrition labeling for raw produce fruits and vegetables, fish is voluntary. We refer to these products as conventional foods. Because nutrition labeling in accordance with be provided upon request for any restaurant food or meal for which a nutrient content claim a health claim and permitted by a regulation in is made, except that information on the nutrient amounts.Those are the basis for the claim determined by nutrient databases, cookbooks or by other reasonable bases that provide assurance that the food, meal meets the nutrient requirements for the claim. Because nutrition labeling may be in various forms including those provided in other reasonable means. My opposition may argue† It would be enormously impractical to label every genetically modified new crop and would falsely imply a difference in foods’ safety† (Sherrow 2008 p. 86).While seems reasonable I argue that show food label product will help people to be healthier and not risk their own life of getting sick and not getting dangerous diseases. Without labels there is no need for industries create healthier food for people if they aren’t aware of what they are eating. It will lead to diseases don’t know what they are eating there plate. In this article by Marion Nestle she is the Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University.She is author of food politics and with Malden Nesheim why calories count: From science to politics, which will be published in March. Nestle spoke to Nutrion Action’s Bonnie Liebman from New York (Nestle 2011 p. 10-11) touches on the legal issues of how the food industry influence what we eat. The food industry tries to influence us what to eat, but company lobbyists meet with officials in the federal agencies to make sure that the government does not say that people should be eating less of their food products (Nestle 2011).The food environment wants us to eat unhealthy food, they controls the kinds of food are the intakes are better at getting people to eat more and not less. But they are also designed to make sure that you are not starvi ng at all and that your brain has fuel and your body has energy all the time. Local and organic and seasonal foods are important because they give consumers a choice of you to represents an â€Å"explicit critique â€Å"of the existing food system. The mainstream companies are buying organic food companies.Some of which sell organic, healthy sounding chips, cookies, sodas, but they are still sailing some other unhealthy junk food we eat. But also there not enough food to give to everyone in world but if everyone purchase a little more of organic food from farmers markets it would make a huge differences. Right now only a small fraction of the population is buying more organic foods with labels, also fraction are growing and the food industry needs growth for us to eat healthier. Adding a Nutrition information panel will guide buyers to choose healthier products to help eople avoid unhealthy diets. The food industry influences nutrition and health. In negative or positive way that depending if it has a food label Nestle Marion ascertains food producers and manufactures of dietary supplements convinced the public, and congress that their products did not need to be regulated by the a Food and the Drug Administration. Also questionable effects of â€Å"fortifying foods† considered junk food is that practice that promotes unhealthy eating more negative affect of the food industry are also examined. Children are also a prime target for food industry.The producers know exactly what is going on with our food products and manufactures because they have seen it in person when pursues the food products. It the food companies should be involved in food and nutrition by putting labels on food packages. The professionals in marketing campaigns show encouraging by hiring experts’ consultants giving them research grants, providing support of food products and manufactures to emphasize the benefits or minimize of the potentially adverse effects of their produc ts. They show you how dairy industries that took issue with the depiction on a healthy diet .It should base on the plants foods and the limit of the amount of meat and dairy foods, are exposed. Putting food labels will causes industries to make healthier foods. Peter Shawn Taylor is currently editor at Large of Maclean’s magazine. He earned a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Alberta in 1989; and was senior analyst for the Alberta Liberal Caucus in the early 1990s under Liberal Leader Laurence Decore says taxation on junk food, warning labels on unhealthy foods is a good idea in order to assist consumers to eat healthy (Taylor 2013 p. 2). Today, it’s recently affecting the demanded new taxes on junk food and grotesque warning labels on pizza boxes, similar to the ones on cigarettes. Consequently, if the information on the nutritional quality of food is not provided to the public, people who consume unhealthy food products could be exposed to he alth risks. What is worse, they could face the difficulty of making the right decisions on choosing food products. The article describes in detail that food taxes can make people make the right choices with the food.As for dark warnings, public-health worries that rising levels of obesity mean Canadian children will live shorter lives than their parents, however, the evidence to support such a claim simply does not exist. There are many people in the world who are dying of junk foods because they are so addicted to the fast food and can’t stop anymore. They are overweight and can’t do anything because they are too fat and then they are increasing their chances of getting diseases which is also risking their own lives. The call to action is to demand food labels on food products.Consumer reports touch on legal issues of labels that tell people where beef comes from could be unhealthy for them. The labels help consumers become more informed of what choice to pick when it comes to food. There is an outbreak that of food contamination in a certain country that could help you avoid those food products. Consumers need evidence that there is maker of product called Pom. That is now required to provide two randomized that controlled human clinical trials to back to disease related claims. And this juice product helps supports claims that helps prevent heart diseases and prostate cancer.That why this company appealing the decision of putting a labels this product for all the people that buys this juice product is good and health help you in getting any kind of diseases or some other sickness. Food labels will help us design a healthy diet . With all the information that I have collected about food labeling, all of them had negative thoughts about the legal standard terms. In conclusion, the newly resolved problem with the food labeling standard terms need to get more recognition because in the future consumers won’t have to fight any more for infor mation to help them choose the foods they want and eat in a healthy diet.Food labels contain vital information, not misleading or untrue. References Nestle, M. (2011, October). Buy Me! How the food industry influences what we eat. NutritionAction Health Letter, pp. 10-11. Reports, C. (2013, April 4). Where does your food come from? p6. Sherrow, V. (2008) Food Safety (Point/ Counterpoint). New York: Chelsea House. Taylor, P. S. (2013, 1 April). You can’t tax yourself thin. Canadian Business, pp. 22-22.

Euphemism in Cross-Cultural Communication

Cross-Cultural Communication Vol. 8, No. 6, 2012, pp. 66-70 DOI:10. 3968/j. ccc. 1923670020120806. 1356 ISSN 1712-8358[Print] ISSN 1923-6700[Online] www. cscanada. net www. cscanada. org Cross-Cultural Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms WANG Xiaoling[a]; ZHANG Meng[a],*; DONG Hailin[a] [a] College of Foreign Languages, Hebei United University, West Xinhua Road, Tangshan, China. * Corresponding author.Supported by Study on Application of Cross-Cultural Teaching Concept in New Standard College English Teaching; Key Project of Ministry of Education for the Year 2010, the Eleventh Five-year Plan for Educational Sciences (Grant No. gpa105030). Received 18 August 2012; accepted 7 December 2012 Abstract The use of euphemisms is a common linguistic phenomenon in all languages. By using euphemisms, people can indirectly and politely express their ideas, without making the listeners feel awkward and unpleasant. As a mirror of culture, the generation and development of euphemis ms are closely related to culture.Euphemisms in English and Chinese are also abundant, but they have both differences and similarities in expressions and cultural connotations. The cross-cultural contrastive study of English and Chinese euphemisms can help people correctly understand the deep meaning in English and Chinese languages and overcome the obstacles in crosscultural communications. Key words: Euphemisms; Culture; Cross-culture; Contrastive study WANG Xiaoling, ZHANG Meng, DONG Hailin (2012). CrossCultural Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms.CrossCultural Communication, 8 (6), 66-70. Available from: http://www. cscanada. net/index. php/ccc/article/view/j. ccc. 1923670020120806. 1356 DOI: http://dx. doi. org/10. 3968/j. ccc. 1923670020120806. 1356. â€Å"speech†, so the word â€Å"euphemism† literally means â€Å"word of good omen†. Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics (2000) defines â€Å"euphemism† as â€Å"A kind of expressing method which aims at making people feel less embarrassed by using some words with vague and ambiguous meaning instead of those which may make people feel unpleasant and not respected†.The generation of euphemism has its social foundation. While communicating with others, people often face the situation where they can not directly express what they want to say, or sometimes a direct expression will cause the listeners awkward and unpleasant. In these cases, people tend to choose an indirect and roundabout way to express their ideas and thoughts, so as to avoid the embarrassment. With this purpose, euphemisms come into being. Whereas the use of euphemisms is not only a social phenomenon, it is also a cultural one.The generation of euphemism is also closely related to culture. Due to the low social productivity in the early stage of human society, people were lack of scientific and cultural knowledge, thus there existed a superstitious belief that the direct call of t he name of God or a ghost will bring them bad fortune. Then the names of God and ghosts became language taboo and people found substitutes of these names. These substitutes then became euphemisms of that time. With the development of the society, euphemisms in all languages also changed.And this on-going change has always being relying on culture. Different nations possess different natural environment, social patterns, ideological systems, modes of production and values. All these can be reflected in the use of language, including the use of euphemisms. 1. EUPHEMISM AND ITS RELATION WITH CULTURE The word â€Å"euphemism† originated from a Latin word. Its prefix â€Å"eu† means â€Å"good†, and â€Å"phemism† means 2 . C U LT U R A L S I M I L A R I T I E S A N D DIFFERENCES REFLECTED BY ENGLISH AND CHINESE EUPHEMISMS When we compare different cultures, we will find that theCopyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 66 WANG Xiaolin g; ZHANG Meng; DONG Hailin (2012). Cross-Cultural Communication, 8 (6), 66-70 similarities and differences of the developing course of human society are manifested in cultures. Language is not only the mirror of culture, but also a part of culture. So the similarities and differences of cultures are undoubtedly reflected by English and Chinese languages, including euphemisms. 2. 1 Cultural Similarities Reflected by Euphemisms Euphemism as a cultural phenomenon has its specific role to play in culture.Cultural similarities reflected by English and Chinese euphemisms can be concluded by the functions of euphemisms. Basically speaking, the functions of English and Chinese euphemisms are the same, which can be divided as taboo-avoiding function, politeness function, and deception function. These functions show the universal characters of human culture. 2. 1. 1 Taboo-Avoiding Function In English and Chinese, there are some words that cannot be directly said out.For example, during the ti me when Christianity was prevalent in the western countries, the name of God â€Å"Jehovah† became the biggest taboo, so many euphemisms were created to replace the name, such as â€Å"the Almighty†, â€Å"the Supreme Being†, â€Å"Holy one†, â€Å"the Eternal†, â€Å"the Creator†, â€Å"the Maker†, â€Å"the Savior†, â€Å"the light of the world†, â€Å"the Sovereign of the Universe†, â€Å"Our Father†, etc.. In ancient China, the names of emperors are also tabooed. For example, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, changed â€Å" † (the first month of a lunar year) into â€Å" † so as to avoid the pronunciation of the character â€Å"? which is the same as the character â€Å"? † used in his name. Another example is the euphemistic expression of â€Å"death†. People generally believe that the greatest misfortune is nothing than death, so there are taboos and euphemisms ab out death both in English and Chinese. The word â€Å"death† cannot be directly mentioned, and euphemisms about death are various. In English, the word â€Å"die† can be replaced by â€Å"to pass away†, â€Å"to expire†, â€Å"to be no more†, â€Å"to breathe one’s last†, â€Å"to come to an end†, â€Å"to join the majority†, â€Å"to go to one’s rest†, â€Å"to sleep the final sleep†, â€Å"to be gathered to one’s father†, â€Å"return to dust†, â€Å"run one’s race†, â€Å"be no onger with us†, â€Å"to be at peace†, â€Å"to be at rest†, â€Å"to be asleep in the arms of God/ Jesus†, â€Å"pay the debt of nature†, etc.. In Chinese, the word â€Å"? † can be replaced by â€Å" † etc.. 2. 1. 2 Politeness Function It is a normal human psychology for everybody to be respected and keep dignity before the others. So to avoid hurting others’ feelings and pride in a conversation, people often use euphemistic expressions in stead of words that will lead to the unwanted result. For instance, in Chinese, people will call those who are physical handicapped â€Å"? ?† in stead of â€Å" . Similarly, in English, the word â€Å"handicapped† is euphemistically expressed by â€Å"disabled† to show people’s respect. The â€Å"deaf† people are described as â€Å"hard of listening†, and â€Å"blind† people are â€Å"the visually challenged†. At present, euphemisms about body figure are more often used than ever before. As more and mo re people pay attention to their figure, you need to be careful while talking to those who have much weight. The word â€Å"fat† could never be used. But you can use words like â€Å"plump, stout, out-size, over-weight† to describe such person. In Chinese, it is also more polite to use words like â€Å" † etc..The politeness function of euphemisms is well demonstrated by the description of these low or humble occupations. To some extent, the occupations people are engaged in can show their social status, so people in the low hierarchy are usually sensitive towards their jobs. A decent and respectful call of their occupation will show respect for such persons. Therefore, â€Å"sanitation engineer† is created for â€Å"garbage collector†, â€Å"cleaning operative† is created for â€Å"road-sweeper†, â€Å"domestic help† is created for â€Å"maid† and â€Å"security officer† is created for â€Å"janitor†. In modern Chinese, there are also similar euphemisms about occupations.For example, people call â€Å" † in stead of â€Å" †, and â€Å" ?† or â€Å" † in stead of â€Å" †. These euphemisms about occupations not only show the raise of civilization level, but also people’s awaren ess of social equity. 2. 1. 3 Deception Function With the development of the society, the use of euphemisms is not only limited in avoiding taboos and caring for the listeners’ feelings. On many occasions, it is also employed to hide the facts, and to achieve some ulterior goals. Euphemisms of this kind are widely seen in political and economic areas to deceive the public or distort the pacts.For example, words used in war, such as â€Å"invasion† and â€Å"raid† are disguised as â€Å"incursion†, â€Å"involvement† and â€Å"military action†; Failure in a war is disguised as â€Å"break off contact with enemy†; The thousands of homeless people in the war are called â€Å"transfer of population†; â€Å"Attack† is disguised as â€Å"active defense†, etc.. These cosmetic words conceal the nature and cruelty of war, and provide reasonable excuse for waging wars. For politicians, these euphemistic words are good tools to whitewash themselves and protect themselves from being excused or charged. Euphemisms in the economic area are also widely seen.For example, â€Å"economic crisis† is replaced by â€Å"depression† or â€Å"recession†; â€Å"poor nations† is replaced by â€Å"underdeveloped nations†, â€Å"developing nations†, or â€Å"emerging nations†. These words all cover up the reality to some extent, and the real meaning of these words need careful thinking. 2. 2 Cultural Differences Reflected by Euphemisms Due to the culture difference between English and Chinese, a topic often being talked about in one culture 67 Copyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture Cross-Cultural Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms ay be tabooed in another culture, and something unacceptable in one culture may be quite normal in another. 2. 2. 1 Different Attitudes Towards â€Å"Old Age† The westerners are afraid of old age. In their opinion, old age indicates decay. So in many western countries, inquiring others’ age is seen to be an offense, because â€Å"age† is a sensitive topic. There are many euphemisms describing old age, such as â€Å"senior citizen, advantage in age, the mature, seasoned man, full of ages, be feeling one’s ages, past one’s prime† etc.. On the contrary, it is a tradition for Chinese people to respect the old.As far as Chinese people are concerned, â€Å"old age† stands for wisdom and experience. In Chinese, people often add the word â€Å"? † after a person’s family name to show his respect, such as â€Å" † and â€Å" †. Besides, the word â€Å"? † can also be added before a person’s family name to show intimacy with this person, such as â€Å" †, â€Å" †. If a person has much experience in an occupation and is respected by others, people will call him or her â€Å" ?† â€Å" † or â€Å" † etc.. Other words indicating old age like â€Å" † all show respect to these old people. 2. 2. Attitudes Towards Privacy The westerners attach much importance to privacy, which includes age, marriage, income, religious belief, political tendency etc. , and they do not want the others to know much about these contents. For example, a western lady will take an immediate aversion if she is asked about her age and marriage state. While in China, you can often hear people around talking about age, marriage and even income. Topics like â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" † are not forbidden either. Inquiring others’ salary or the price of some private belongings is also seen as impolite in the west.If you really want to know the price of an item, you can ask â€Å"It is expensive? † in stead of directly asking â€Å"How much is it? † But in China, you will have no worry to ask the price. Religious belief and political tendency are also private in the west. Questions like â€Å"What party do you vote for? † and â€Å"What’s your religion? † cannot be asked. But in China, these questions are also free to ask. 2. 2. 3 Naming and Appellation Chinese people attach more importance to family than people in the west, and their respect for the elder generation is also shown in naming and appellation.The name of a young should not be the same as his or her elder generation, even the pronunciation should be different. Young people could not directly call the name of the elderly ones; Instead they call them according to the rank in the family such as â€Å" , , , ? ?† etc.. Comparatively, English-speaking people do not have such strong sense of family rank and social stratum. In the western countries, there is no taboo in naming and appellation. People of different rank in the family hierarchy and social status could call each other’s name directly. It is common to hear children call their parents and even grandparents’ names.And it is also very common for a younger person to have a same name with the elder generation. The westerners believe this kind of appellation and naming is a way of showing intimacy and will draw close the relationship between people. To some extent, it reflects the westerners’ pursuit of equality. 2. 2. 4 The Use of Numbers Cultures about numbers exist in both Chinese and English. There are different taboos about number in different cultures. In the western culture, the number 13 is seen as an unlucky number which people tend to avoid in their daily life.For example, it is rare to see 13 people gather around the same table while having dinner or meetings. It is also forbidden to have 13 dishes on the dinner table. House number, storey number and other number marks all avoid using this number. In Chinese, the pronunciation of â€Å"4† is similar to the character â€Å"? † (die) , so people are unwilling to use this number in doorplate, story number, phone number etc.. The pronunciation of number â€Å"3† is similar to the character â€Å"? †, so weddings and birthday parties are not held on this day.Besides, there is a saying in Chinese that good things should be in pairs, so it is also a tradition to hold important things on even number days, so as to wish that good luck could come. 3. EUPHEMISMS AND CROSSCULTURAL COMMUNICATION 3. 1 The Definition of Cross-Cultural Communication Chinese scholar JIA Yuxin and GUAN Shijie defined cross-cultural communication as â€Å"communication between people from different cultural background† (JIA, 1997) and â€Å"communication between people or group from one cultural background and people or group from another cultural background† (GUAN, 1996).Larry offered his definition of â€Å"intercultural communication† as â€Å"Intercultural communication is communication between people whos e cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event† (Larry, 2009). In conclusion, inter-cultural communication, which is a kind of communication behavior, is the communication between people from different cultural background, social psychology, and people speaking different languages. 3. The Influence of Culture Differences on Cross-Cultural Communication While communicating with a person of another language, people always carry out the communication process on the basis of their own language and culture. Obviously culture differences will manifest themselves in the understanding and use of euphemisms throughout cross-cultural Copyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 68 WANG Xiaoling; ZHANG Meng; DONG Hailin (2012). Cross-Cultural Communication, 8 (6), 66-70 communication. Thus cross-cultural understanding barrier or improper use of euphemisms will lead to pragmatic failures. . 2. 1 Pragmatic Failures Cause d by Different Expression Modes English and Chinese euphemisms are typically different in structure and expression mode. Because of these differences, speakers of one language often have difficulty in grasping the information of another language. For example, Chinese speakers will be confused when they hear those English euphemisms consisted by numbers like â€Å"go to the fourth† (go to the toilet) and â€Å"a forty-four† (a prostitute). There are also some euphemisms in the form of abbreviation, like B. O. (body odor), V. D. C. (venereal disease), and T. B. tuberculosis), which will lead to understanding difficulty if the readers are lack of relative background information. Similarly, the profound Chinese culture has given birth to quantities of unique expressions, such as â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" †, which also make the westerners confused. Besides, the use of twopart allegorical sayings, such as â€Å" — (? )†, â€Å" — à ¢â‚¬ , and â€Å" — (? )† etc. is also a unique feature of Chinese euphemisms. The use of this special structure can help release the mood in an over straightforward Chinese expression, and help readers guess the meaning inside it.But the English readers are not familiar with this kind of Chinese expressions, so they can only sigh towards the contained meaning inside this kind of euphemisms. 3. 2. 2 Pragmatic Failures Caused by Different Value Orientations in Euphemisms The cultural value difference of euphemisms is best illustrated by words in political and social area. Many euphemistic words in political area are used to conceal the real political purpose. For example, in the Vietnam War, the U. S. government called the invasion â€Å"U. S. nvolvement in Vietnam†; The air raid to Libya is called â€Å"surgical strikes†; Civilian casualties in the Iraq War are understated as â€Å"collateral damage†. These euphemisms reflect the subtle attitude of the U. S. government to some extent, and at the same time, they show the handiness and concealment of political words. It is easy to be cheated by these diplomatic words without enough cross-cultural study. For another example, in the western countries, the word â€Å"sexy† is used to describe an attractive and charming person. If a lady is described as â€Å"sexy†, she will take it as praise and will be very happy.But in traditional Chinese culture, the connotation of â€Å"sexy† is somewhat close to â€Å"coquettish†. If a westerner who does not know much about Chinese culture describes a Chinese lady as â€Å"sexy†, she must feel uncomfortable and take it as an insult rather than praise. But with China enhancing its communication with the western countries, more and more Chinese people have accepted the western culture and began to praise others as â€Å"sexy†. 3. 2. 3 Pragmatic Failures Caused by Different Class Concept Many words in our daily life such as â€Å"big and small†, â€Å"high and low†, â€Å"good and bad†, â€Å"rich and poor† all indicates social rank.Compared with Chinese, English euphemisms about social rank are larger in quantity and more alert in usage. For example, in the western countries, people advocate democracy and pursuit gender equality, so they have much difficulty in understanding males in Chinese feudal society calling their wives â€Å" † and â€Å" †. English-speaking people are also alert to the rank below â€Å"the first class†. So in 1989, when West Germany held the 56th World Foundry Congress, the English instruction classified hotels as follows: A) Deluxe B) First Class C) Standard D) Private rooms.This kind of ranking criteria does not define the hotels below the first class into â€Å"the second class† and â€Å"the third class†, thus avoiding people’s psychological gap. At the same time, it upgrades each class invisibly. However this kind of ranking is difficult for Chinese people to understand and use. In cross-cultural communication, in order to avoid these pragmatic failures, language user of both English and Chinese need to sharpen their cross-cultural awareness. It is also necessary to acquire as many as possible euphemistic expressions in another language.The more characteristics we know about the culture and its euphemisms, the less barriers and pragmatic failures we will encounter. Of course, we should also bear in mind the proper situation where a certain euphemism is used; otherwise the overuse of euphemisms will appear to be pretentious and unnatural. CONCLUSION To sum up, euphemism is a common and long-standing linguistic as well as socio-cultural phenomenon in both English speaking countries and China. As a mirror of culture, euphemisms strongly reflected similarities and differences between English and Chinese cultures.These similarities and differences have brought ab out conveniences and difficulties in the process of crosscultural communication. Only when people from different cultures are fully aware of the different cultural background, cultural value orientations and cultural conventions, can they remove pragmatic barriers and carry out smooth and harmonious communication successfully. REFERENCES Bussmann (2000). Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. CAI, Yan (2005). 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