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Friday, September 6, 2019

Explore the presentation of revenge in Hamlet Essay Example for Free

Explore the presentation of revenge in Hamlet Essay Revenge is a key theme in Hamlet. It is not only essential to understanding Hamlets character, it forms the structure for the whole play, supporting and overlapping other important themes that arise. Though it is Hamlets revenge that forms the basis for the story, tied into this is the vengeance of Laertes and Fortinbras, whose situations in many ways mirror Hamlets own. By juxtaposing these avengers, Shakespeare draws attention to their different approaches to the problem of revenge and how they resolve these. see more:theme of revenge in hamlet The idea of revenge is first introduced by the appearance of the ghost in act 1 Scene 5, and linked to this is the theme of hell and the afterlife. At the end of this scene, Hamlet is irreversibly bound to revenge for the duration of the play, speak, I am bound to hear So art thou to revenge. The ghost appears with the sole aim of using his son to obtain revenge on his brother, and so every word he speaks is designed to enrage Hamlet and stir in him a desire for vengeance. He uses very emotive language to exaggerate the enormity of the crime, and he concentrates Hamlets attention on the treachery of Claudius. His description of the murder itself demonises Claudius and contains many references to original sin, the serpent that did sting thy fathers life now wears his crown. Hamlet, who has been brought up with absolute notions of good and evil, is susceptible to these religious references, o all you host of heaven! O earth! And shall I couple hell? It is ironic that the ghost refers to his own torment, trapped in purgatory, in order to demonstrate to Hamlet the injustice of the situation, yet this serves only to warn Hamlet of the possible consequences of revenge. Instead of enraging him, Hamlet is now wary of acting rashly or without proof as it could place him in a similar situation to his father. The other revengers in the play do not have this wariness, they act immediately without considering the spiritual consequences and it is unclear whether Hamlet would have had a similar attitude had he not been inadvertently alerted to this danger by old Hamlets ghost. Though Hamlets immediate reaction to news of his fathers murder is one of anger and a desire for action, by the end of the scene his desire for revenge is already blunted, for a number of reasons. Unlike Laertes and Fortinbras, Hamlet receives the information of his fathers murder from a secret and unreliable source, which means that not only is he unsure of the truth, he is forced to act out his revenge in secret. Throughout the play, Hamlet frustrates the audience with his lack of action, especially as all around him his contemporaries are visibly taking their own revenge. Fortinbras is in a similar situation to Hamlet, as his father had been murdered by old Hamlet and his land taken. The land itself is worthless and Fortinbras stands to lose more than he can gain; yet like Hamlet it is a matter of honour. Both are exacting revenge for something that nobody else cares for or remembers; a dead king for whom nobody grieves and a patch of worthless land. Part of Hamlets dilemma is the moral question of whether his desire for revenge is worth disrupting and endangering the lives of all those around him, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them However, unlike Hamlet Fortinbras does not pause to contemplate the idea of revenge; he acts on it, sharked up a list of lawless resolutes and marched on Denmark. The difference in their characters is obvious; Fortinbras character matches his name, strong in arm. He is a man of action, not of words, he has a strong presence and a commanding attitude which demands obedience, Go captain, from me greet the Danish king I will dot my lord. Fortinbras situation is infinitely less complex than Hamlets own; the boundaries between good and evil, personal and public, right and wrong, are for him, clearly defined. He is able to act openly, uninfluenced by friends and family. Hamlet on the other hand is surrounded by people who have obligations to both himself and the king, and is therefore unsure of whom to trust. Hamlets dilemma is founded on this; that any action he takes carries with it risks and possible consequences which could destroy the foundation of his very existence, so he hesitates and does nothing, all the while hating himself for his inaction, makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of. The problem for Hamlet is that the murder is too close to home, so he is unable to define the boundaries between personal and public. He cannot publicly confront Claudius without proof because he risks losing his claim to the thrown, alienating his friends and family and being exiled from Denmark, as it would be seen as an attempt by the prince to regain the throne, rather than a son avenging his fathers murder. On top of this Hamlet hopes to avoid jeopardising his relationship with his mother, but at the same time he wants revenge on her for her betrayal. In order to fully understand Hamlets psyche and therefore the reasoning behind his actions, it is important to understand how religion affected all aspects of life in Elizabethan times. It was believed that a person who was able to confess his sins before death would be absolved and therefore go to heaven, but if a person were unable to do this their soul would be condemned to purgatory until they were able to confess and repent. Old Hamlets soul is in purgatory and Hamlet wants Claudius to suffer the same fate, a villain kills my father and for that, I his sole son do this same villain send to heaven. Why, this is hire and salary not revenge. For this reason Hamlet has to wait for the opportune moment to kill Claudius, when he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, at game, a-swearing or about some act that has no relish of salvation in it. However, the other problem which religion creates is that of Hamlets own afterlife. If murder for revenge is wrong then by killing Claudius, Hamlet condemns his own soul along with that of Claudius. On the other hand, Hamlet is honour bound to exact revenge for his fathers murder, and the consequences of not doing so could be even more drastic. Even suicide offers no solution, as the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns, puzzles the will, and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others we know not of. Hamlets indecisiveness is not just a result of his uncertainty about the consequences his actions will have. He is in emotional turmoil at this point in the play, and is feeling betrayed and rejected by those whom he had relied on so far in his life. His anger and frustration at his mothers behaviour is amplified by her lack of grief, and his desire for revenge at the start of the play is mainly fuelled by his own grief and a sense of injustice. His anger towards Claudius diminishes, as he is distracted form revenge by more immediate concerns, such as his relationships with Ophelia and with his mother. Part of Hamlets feelings of isolation stem from what he sees as betrayal by his friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and his lover Ophelia. Hamlets critical relationship with Claudius forces all three to take sides, and decide to whom they owe the strongest allegiance. Ophelias father Polonious, Claudius right hand man, instructs her to shun Hamlet and, as his dependant she is forced to obey him. Women were viewed as property during Shakespearian times, and without a male protector her future prospects were slim. Also, the emphasis placed on family duty and loyalty was far greater, so to disobey her father would be tantamount to treason. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were given a direct order from their king, so to disobey would actually have been treason. Added to this was their ignorance of Hamlets situation due to both Hamlet and Claudius deceit, which meant that they were unsympathetic with Hamlets mental instability and obsession with old Hamlets death. Hamlet refuses to recognise the impossible situation his friends were placed in, and resents them for abandoning him when he needs them most, even though it is his feud with Claudius that has forced them to into it. Feeling betrayed, he has no compunctions in using them to further his own gains. All three are, ultimately, fatalities of Hamlets vendetta against Claudius, as Hamlet brings about the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and drives Ophelia to madness and suicide. Ophelia especially is very much a victim, as in obeying her father she loses Hamlet, and when Hamlet kills Polonious she loses him as well. With Laertes away, she has no-one left to protect her and is very much alone. In many ways, Hamlet himself is a victim of revenge, as he used as a tool by his father, to instigate revenge against old Hamlets killer. By placing this obligation on Hamlet, on top of all his emotional instability, Old Hamlet effectively pushes his son over the edge and renders him incapable of decisiveness. It is unsurprising that Hamlet is unable to take revenge or in fact make any significant decisions, as he is under considerable emotional and mental strain. Laertes is in a similar situation, as Hamlet his friend has murdered his father and driven his sister to madness. His vulnerable state of mind makes it easy for Claudius to use him as a tool against Hamlet, so the two friends become instruments in the power struggle between the two brothers, a struggle which crosses the divide between life and death. Laertes situation resembles Hamlet in other ways. They are joined by their love for Ophelia, Hamlet as a lover and Laertes as a brother. When Laertes returns to find his father murdered, he faces the same dilemma that Hamlet originally had in that, as far as he knew, the king of Denmark had murdered his father. Unlike Hamlet who promptly chose to employ deceit in order to combat Claudiuss deceit, when Laertes discovers this he immediately confronts Claudius. By doing this he achieves his revenge far sooner than Hamlet, but consequently becomes a tool for Claudius against Hamlet. These two revengers differ in their approach to revenge, but ultimately they come to the same end. They both fall victim to the corruption that surrounds the court of Denmark, with Claudius at the centre. Claudius use of deceit throughout the play hides the truth under a veil of dishonesty. Claudius uses other people as tools to achieve his aims, so if they fail he escapes the brunt. He uses Polonious, he uses the king of Norway against Fortinbras, and finally he uses Laertes against Hamlet himself. His corrupting influence means that nobody in Denmarck knows the truth, and Hamlets only attempt to break this veil of deceit causes the death of Polonious instead of Claudius. In act 3 scene 3, Shakespeare uses the curtain concealing Polonious as a metaphor for the corruption surrounding Denmark, making it impossible for Hamlet to take revenge as he is unaware of the truth. Though Hamlet tries to cut through the curtain, he fails and ends up killing the wrong man. This shows him that it is no good trying to confront the problem, he must remove the cloak of deceit and reveal Claudius for what he truly is before he can take his revenge. Though Hamlet tries to get around this problem by being deceitful himself, and Laertes tries to confront the problem face on, both end up being used as weapons in a fight that kills them both. The ending of the play is very satisfying despite, or perhaps because of, the deaths of nearly all the characters. For a neat ending, it was necessary that all the characters achieve their revenge, and as there were so many intertwining strands of revenge, it was inevitable that a large proportion of characters would be killed. The play ends with a new beginning, as the corruption at the heart of Denmark dies with Claudius and Hamlet. Hamlet succeeded in taking revenge on Claudius and revealing the truth about his character, and Laertes succeeded in killing Hamlet but died in the process. All this clears the way for Fortinbras, who we see is far more suited to leadership than the indecisive Hamlet. Fortinbras was more successful in his revenge than Hamlet and Laertes for a number of reasons. He is not held back by the dilemma that freezes Hamlet; of having to choose between betraying his fathers trust or losing the throne and alienating everyone he loves. Hamlet is held back by his proximity to Claudius and the situation, whereas Fortinbras is free to act uninfluenced by the people around him. Another factor in Fortinbras favour is that, unlike both Hamlet and Laertes, Fortinbras made the decision to take revenge alone, so it was entirely his responsibility. Revenge has to be nurtured in Hamlet and Laertes, and both are used as tools in the ongoing feud between the two brothers. Fortinbras is a man of action, and doesnt waste time pondering the philosophy behind the revenge mentality, as Hamlet does. And unlike Laertes, he plans and organises his revenge, he doesnt rush straight into confrontation unprepared. In fact, he represents the best qualities of both of them, so it is fitting that it is he who emerges with not only his life, but the throne of Denmark to go with it.

Explore the presentation of revenge in Hamlet Essay Example for Free

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Social mobility

Social mobility What is social mobility? Drawing on different perspectives, assess the impact of the education system on opportunities and life chances on the basis of social class. What implications does this have for the work of helping agencies? Social mobility simply describes how people move along the social ladder. For this to happen there must necessarily be some form of social class in place. Social class occurs everywhere, even in the poorest communities. Take a typical village in Ghana for example, you will find that probably the village palm wine tapper or renowned farmer may be at the top of the social ladder; by village standards, they are the rich guys; these in addition could also serve as money lenders or movers and shakers. In the middle of the social ladder in the said village you might find the middle class who constitutes probably the majority of villagers with average incomes making just about enough from their farming or other vocations to make ends meet. Of course, at the bottom of this ladder will be the lower classes that have no jobs or qualifications and are at the mercy of the rich palm wine tapper. Social mobility describes how the classes move from their level of class upwards or downwards. This movement could involve the acquisition of new skills or education in the bid to get better jobs and hence get more income. Sometimes movement is caused by for example winning the lottery, an inheritance from parents or relatives or any procedure either deliberate or accidental which moves a person from one class to another. Social mobility or intergenerational mobilityas economists prefer to call it measures the degree to which peoples social status changes between generations. It is seen by many as a measure of the equality of life opportunities, reflecting the extent to which parents influence the success of their children in later life or, on the flipside, the extent to which individuals can make it by virtue of their own talents, motivation and luck. (Blanden J et al 2005) The Sociology guide has described Social mobility as a vital part of social stratification and an inseparable part of social stratification system because the nature, form, range and degree of social mobility depending on the very nature of the stratification system. Stratification system means the process of placing individuals in different layers or strata. In a social mobility paper Stephen Aldridge describes social mobility as a movement or opportunities for movement between different social groups and the advantages that go with this in terms of income, security of employment, opportunities for advancement etc. (Aldridge, 2001) There are types of social mobility. Intra-generation is when there has been a change in a persons social position. A typical example will be clerical assistant who works his/her way up in an organisation. However, if a persons social position changes over a generation it is called inter-generation mobility. An example is Margaret Thatcher and many others. She became prime minister as a grocers daughter. There appears to be significant intergenerational mobility in the United States, although perhaps less than is sometimes believed. Origins significantly affect destinations. Specifically, adult sons and daughters are more likely to look like their parents in terms of occupation or income than one would predict on the basis of chance. Still, there is considerable mobility. Indeed, even when occupations or income categories are broadly defined, a majority of adult offspring occupy a different occupational or income category than their parents.(Daniel P et al 1997) Horizontal mobility is another type of social mobility where a person changes their job-related position but does not change social class. An example is where a clerical assistant moves from Wellingborough to London and becomes an administrative officer. Vertical mobility on the hand takes the stage where people change their job-related position and change their social class as well. An example of vertical mobility will be for example a street cleaner becoming a solicitor or an army officer becoming a cleaner. They have fundamentally changed their socio-economic position. There are types of vertical social mobility. If someone moves down the social ladder it becomes downward mobility. When they move up on the social ladder it becomes upward mobility. For example if an Army officer is promoted in rank it becomes an upward mobility. The magazine Business Week in 2007 wrote an article about how mobile phones in Africa are creating high standards of living and boosting upward mobility. Only a few years ago, places like Muruguru didnt even register in the plans of handset makers and service providers. What would a Kenyan farmer want with a mobile phone? Plenty, as it turns out. To the astonishment of the industry, people living on a few dollars a day have proven avid phone users, and in many parts of the world cellular airtime has become a de facto currency. The reason is simple: A mobile phone can dramatically improve living standards by saving wasted trips, providing information about crop prices, summoning medical help, and even serving as a conduit to banking services. (Business Week, 2007) Another recent example of downward mobility is in this article in the telegraph. Though she is married to a builder, the 27-year-old housewife has rickety wooden planks for walls and covers her roof with plastic sheeting to keep out the rain in Harares Hatcliffe suburb far from the neighbourhood where she used to live. Right now I dont have a housing lot, but we are paying money to local co-operatives (to save for a down payment) so we may get lots to build houses, Chama said. And she is far from alone. According to official estimates, around two million Zimbabweans in this country of 12.2 million need accommodation. (Reagan Mashavave, 2009)- Another type of social mobility is structural mobility which involves vertical mobility but its movement is brought about by a major disorder. It can also be brought on by changes in society that brings improvement to a large number of people. Typical examples will be industrialisation, expansion of education and computerisation. These changes have all brought improvement to people in the UK and around the world. People have through it acquired higher social status and found higher paid jobs than their parents. There is also individual mobility which involves people being hindered from taking opportunities because of where they were live, their colour, gender, religion, their educational background, job, wellbeing and many others. The impact of the education system on opportunities and life chances on the basis of social class is enormous and hasnt changed much since education began. It is still difficult for working class children to access grammar and good comprehensive schools as the middle class and upper class have populated areas where these schools are placed. Childrens social class is still the most significant factor in determining their exam success in state schools, the Governments head of teacher training acknowledges today. In an interview with The Independent, Graham Holley, the chief executive of the Training and Development Agency, said: The performance of a school and a child in it is highly linked to social class. If you turn the clock back on pupils in school today 15 years and predict their outcomes from where they were born, you can do it. (Garner, 2008) Working class families are tied to the low paid jobs and often live in areas where schools are failing. Jobs are hard to find in these areas and its inhabitants are usually heavily dependant on benefits. Their lives are occupied with how to manage everyday living and not on reading to their children and giving them music and language lessons. The poorest children still have little chance of becoming lawyers, doctors, senior civil servants and financiers, a report published by the Liberal Democrats today shows. The Social Mobility Commission, set up by the party, said billions of pounds spent on improving social mobility over the past decade has helped middle-class rather than working-class children. Last year only 35% of pupils eligible for free school meals obtained five or more A* to C GCSE grades, compared with 63% of pupils from wealthier backgrounds.(Shepherd J, 2009) Disadvantaged children have little chance of watching educational programmes on television nor do they have the chance of reading the broad sheets. They are simply not patronised in their households. Libraries are rarely used and mobile libraries are not highly participated in working class areas. Areas in London for instance have seen various housing developments but they are not in the reach of the low paid. Overcrowding has many implications for the already struggling families as there is often no where to do homework. After school clubs charge for their services leaving low paid families out in the cold. Therefore chances of disadvantaged children reaching high levels of achievement in school are slightly dim. Young people in manual social classes remain under-represented in higher education in Great Britain. Despite increasing from a participation rate of 11 per cent in 1991/92 to 19 per cent in 2001/02, participation remains well below that of the non-manual social classes. Participation rates for the non-manual social classes increased from 35 per cent to 50 per cent over the same period. (http://www.statistics.gov.uk) The consequences of the manual or low class remaining under-represented in higher education is unthinkable as children from these background will experience either downwardly mobile or not move on the social ladder at all as a result of them not entering higher education. Todays job market is very competitive and even those with good qualifications are finding it difficult to hold onto their jobs. It means that most all white collar jobs will be held by the middle class and upper class families. All the independent evidence shows overall standards to be rising. But the bad news is that when it comes to the link between educational achievement and social class, Britain is at the bottom of the league for industrialised countries. Today, three-quarters of young people born into the top social class get five or more good GCSEs, but the figure for those born at the bottom is less than one-third. We have one of the highest university entry rates in the developed world, but also one of the highest drop-out rates at 16.(Independent, 8 September 2003) Anthony Giddens writes in Sociology and Social Mobility that education is not necessarily a means to an end. Education would have to work with other factors to foster social mobility. Education shouldnt be seen as a panacea for all societys problems. It has a significant role to play, but we cant hold schools and Universities solely responsible for promoting social mobility. Its important not to think of the education system as if it works in a vacuum factors like changes in employment and the economy, and the social determinants of childrens educational attainment, are critical in determining patterns of mobility.(Giddens, 2007) However, education definitely has opportunities for people to progress along the social ladder by providing relevant new skills, information, courses and therefore creating opportunities in life for them. A few years back a hair dresser did not need know too much about what she/he did as a hair dresser but in today environment he/she would have to know all the science there is to cutting, dressing and managing the business. Technology and other factors have raised the standard of work so high that without continuous professional development opportunities are not stretch far. In this new labour market, the value of college degrees overall is greater than ever before. Between 1984 and 2000, employment in jobs requiring a college degree grew by 20 million in the US, accounting for two-thirds of total job growth. Over the same period, wages for college graduates increased. In contrast, high school graduates in America who did not continue with education saw their wages fall below middle class levels for the first time. As a consequence, the opportunities for Americans with terminal high school diplomas are less than a generation ago.(Social Mobility Foundation, 2008) Although a small percentage of poor families are accessing higher education there is evidence that the UK government for instance is working frantically to improve the chances of the less privileged through innovations like Every Child Matters. This innovation is to give every child the chance of accessing education and other services in the community to give them better outcomes in life. Hence the establishment of Surestart Centres which is a one stop service for early education, childcare, health and family support. This Government has invested heavily in policies designed to give all children the chance to succeed. There have already been significant improvements in educational achievement, and reductions in teenage pregnancy, re-offending and children living in low income households. Todays children and young people experience wider opportunities and benefit from rising prosperity, better health and education than those in previous generations. The implications on the work of helping agencies are many. Helping agencies like Childrens Centres pick up the brunt of any inequalities that lay in society. We bid or vie for large sums of money to run various courses and projects that underpin social mobility. In the bid of helping families read we have set up borrow a chattersack in our childrens centre. This is to encourage parents who might otherwise not access libraries or buy books for their children. The books and toys are expensive but we charge a very minimal fee for them. Often people bring to us various problems like divorce, debt and housing issues which we do our best to refer to other agencies for further assistance. We hold classes with Citizen Advice Bureau to advise people on budgets and other financial incapability. Many of our clients are lone parents or young families struggling on low incomes. They are often in debt and or have little financial knowledge. They often live on large council estates where aspirations are not that great. The recent recession has hit these areas hard and some people are experiencing downwardly mobility. This comes with various demands like counselling, retraining and financial loss. Equality of opportunity is a sine qua non for any modern society and, in Britain, is a principle supported by all mainstream political opinion. Despite this, household income remains the biggest single predictor of a childs future success, and a recent report by the Sutton Trust found that, all too frequently, young people from financially disadvantaged backgrounds end up in a cul de sac of opportunity. (Social Mobility Foundation, 2008) Below is an example of some the types of work some helping agencies do. They use government funds to bridge the gap between rich and poor by organising trips to parks, educational establishment to boost confidence and increase knowledge. Nearly 175,000 bright children on free school meals will be given a chance at the age of 11 to visit a university as part of a drive to lift the aspirations of working-class people and increase stalled social mobility in Britain. Young people in the top 20% of ability based on test results, and who are eligible for free school meals, are about half as likely to go to university as those who are not eligible for free meals. They will now be offered two chances to visit universities. (Wintour, 2007) We organise sporting activities that will encourage the less privileged to put their feet in door of expensive sporting activities. We work with other agencies to bring information and understanding to parents who in effect calve their childrens place on the social ladder. A new report by the British think-tank Demos has hit the headlines, with its claim that Parents are the principal architects of a fairer society. Based on research from the Millennium Cohort Study, the report argues that how children are parented has a more significant impact upon their future life chances than just about anything else, including poverty and the social class into which they are born. (Bristow J, 2009) Helping agencies are faced with many demands for services they can and cannot provide. At our centre for instance there is the demand for certain services like computer classes, some sort of back to work training, cooking classes but we havent got the facilities and the man power to run such courses. We are therefore forced to send clients to other childrens centres in that losing their business. If we do manage to run any of the courses that put pressure on our facilities then we have to limit the numbers which in turn causes us to run the courses several times to fit everyone in. There is also a steady demand for information on sensitive family matters like finance. Education seems to be one the important factors manipulating social mobility. In todays society, education is becoming increasingly important as it used to ascertain the jobs people will end up in. Education is also used to determine peoples social class position. The recent government for instance has introduced many initiatives. Free child care for two year olds was trialed for sometime and is going to be offered to children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Back to work incentive of Ã‚ £500 and the investment into early years, FE schools and workplace training are all initiatives which research has suggested that has not boosted social mobility. In 1999 Tony Blair told the Labour Conference: If we are in politics for one thing, it is to make sure that all children are given the best chance in life. A decade on, the Government has had to admit that billions of pounds of investment in nurseries and schools and on training has failed to bridge the class divide, and that social mobility in Britain has stalled. (Bennett and Bahra 2007) As mentioned before there are many factors contributing to this fact. One such fact is the advantage that middle class families have over poorer families when it comes to education. References Web Sources Daniel P et al (1997) Intergenerational mobility in the United States [online] Available from: http://www.urban.org/publications/406796.html [Accessed 16/12/09] http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_39/b4051054.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech[ Accessed 27/12/09] http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/about/background/background/ [Accessed 16/12/09] http://www.polity.co.uk/giddens5/news/sociology-and-social-mobility.asp#intro[Accessed [16/12/09] http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=7308 [Accessed 27/12/09] Jennie Bristow (2009) There is more to human character than sharing toys [online] Available from: http://www.parentswithattitude.com/parentsforum/tag/social-mobility[19/12/09] Non Web Sources (2003), Class still counts in Britain. Independent, Monday Sept 8 Bennett and Bahra (2009), Social mobility: Labour tries to revive flagging crusade to help poor children. The Times, Wednesday Jan 14 Blanden J et al (2005), Social Mobility in Britain Low and falling, Centrepiece 2005 Mashavave R. (2009) Downwardly mobile in Zimbabwe. Telegraph, Tuesday Dec 15 Richard G (2008), Social class determines childs success. Independent, Thursday Sept 18 Shepherd J (2009), Social class still determines success. Guardian, Monday Social Mobility Foundation (2008) A national project for social mobility Stephen A (2001), Social Mobility , A discussion Paper , Performance and Innovation Unit The Sutton Trust (2008) : Social Mobility and Education. London Wintour P (2009), Social mobility drive focuses on schools. The Guardian, Wednesday Jan 14

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Homelessness and Children Essay -- essays research papers

Around the world millions of children are found homeless, sleeping in the streets, under bridges, or on deserted properties. Their days are spent hustling by prostitution or petty crimes. They prey on each other as well as people passing by that they manage to steal from. Yet still this is home to these children, where they are deprived of the most basic human needs, housing, food, and clothing. Since they have no family or relatives and no hope for the future, they have been tagged Ã¢â‚¬Å"NobodyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s ChildrenÃ¢â‚¬ or Ã¢â‚¬Å"Throw away KidsÃ¢â‚¬ , living each day as if it were the last, causing them to become outlaws, which as a result is a threat to the security of the community we live in. There are various reasons that children are found homeless, ranging from their own desire to leave home to become independ...

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

The Impact of Slavery on Black Women Essay -- Slavery Essays

The Impact of Slavery on Black Women Ã¢â‚¬Å"Only by experience can any one realize how deep, and dark, and foul is that pit of abominations.Ã¢â‚¬ (Jacobs, 120). These words are spoken by Harriet Jacobs (also known as Linda Brent) and after reading about her life experience as a slave, I have come to believe that slavery was far worse for women than it ever was for men. Jacobs never states that black slave men had it easy during the slave years, in fact she tells a few stories about how some slave men were beaten. She also tells about the life experience of a slave girl, herself. Her own experiences made me feel blessed that I was never born as a black woman during the time of slavery. I do not think that I would have been strong enough to endure such times. LetÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s begin with the living conditions and the rights and honor of a slave, male or female. First of all, slaves were given one pair of shoes, two pairs of pants, and maybe one shirt that was to last them for at least a year. Most of the time, their shoes were used or old shoes. Once their shoes got holes and wore down, they wore nothing on their bare feet, even through the winter times. When it came to rights, no black slave had any rights. When I say any, I mean none. Just to name a few; they, and this was for women too, had no right to protect their families, marry who they wish, or own any property. Black men were considered to have no honor. Having honor was something that the Elite white men believed that only they could possess Honor in their eyes of the white man was represented by a dual. If you were a black slave, you could not defend yourself or your family because according to the whites, slaves and women had no honor. If they even thought about proving themse lves, which was rare, they were either whipped or killed by their Masters. Slaves were not looked at as men. They were looked as property, nothing but a working tool. The physical torture that a slave went through was not based on how they were treated in regards to work, but on how they were punished. Most of the time they were beat with a whip made from cow hide, until they bled. They would whip the slaves until the overseer (the person who watched over the slaves) was tired. Other times, slaves were not so lucky. For example, Frederick Douglas, an American slave, told a story that went like this. (Douglas, 34 & 35) Ã¢â‚¬Å"Mr. Gore on... ...tress would convince her husband to sell the child. Women were also denied the right to marry because the Mistress did not want the slave to take time away from tending or nursing her white children so that they could take care of their own baby. Hopefully I have explained enough of what I have learned about slavery to make you understand the injustice treatments that the black slaves had to endure. When I look back at what I have learned in these readings, I remind myself how lucky we are. We are able to marry who we want, keep our children, and have the right to be respected as a person. Today people whose children are abducted go through probably an unimaginable devastation, and slaves back then were expected to continue life as if nothing happened. It is very sad. Slave men did suffer but in my opinion, women by far had it the worst. Works Cited Douglas, Frederick, Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. New York: Random House, Inc., 2000. Evans, Sara M., Born for Liberty. New York: First Free Press, 1997. Jacobs, Harriet, Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl. New York: Random House, Inc., 2000.

Monday, September 2, 2019

AIDS and Religion in Africa :: Free AIDS Essays

Introduction: Presently, somewhere between 34 and 46 million people live with AIDS worldwide. In total, Africa holds the highest number with just under 30 million people suffering from AIDS. Sub-Saharan Africa, by itself, accounts for between 25 and 28.2 million people. These numbers leave Northern Africa with just over one million people living with HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Any news you hear regarding the AIDS Epidemic, a main topic involves Sub-Saharan Africa. Besides a somewhat different climate, what else is special about Northern Africa that seems to keep the populationÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s HIV/AIDS prevalence rates low compared to the southern portion of the continent. Look at the two figures in the Appendix. One figure represents the religious spread including Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Indigenous Religions. The other figure illustrates the spread of AIDS in Africa. Notice the similarities in spread. High correlation exists between low rates and the Islam territory and with high rates and Christianity. Religion seems to have immense influence over the spread of AIDS. The history of African religion dates back centuries through original tribal religions, Islam, Christianity with some Judaism. Within this paper, I will briefly describe the spread of each of these religions including tensions between each other and the already present traditional religions. Following this description, I will describe the main ideas behind each religion in a theological viewpoint as well as any social implications. These tenets are long developed with distinct traditions and beliefs backing them through the centuries. Over the last 20 years, a new factor has developed in Africa exerting extreme pressure on many of these long-lived traditions. I want to explore the relationship between the rise of the AIDS epidemic and the subsequent public health campaigns challenges focusing on the traditions behind the main religions. I look to explore how some of the already present traditions aid and also hurt the fight against AIDS, some of the religionsÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ reactions to the epidemic and future predictions on how the epidemic will reshape religion in Africa and possibly globally. Islam in Africa: The actual definition of the word, Ã¢â‚¬Å"IslamÃ¢â‚¬ , Ã¢â‚¬Å"refers to the peace that come from surrender to GodÃ¢â‚¬ (World Religions: Islam). The book of Islam is the Quran, an unedited version of The Holy Prophet MuhammadÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s messages of AllahÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s teachings. The Islamic religionÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s main tenets involve the Ã¢â‚¬Å"affirmation of one God, with total repudiation of polytheism and all forms of idolatry, including the use of imagesÃ¢â‚¬ with importance stressed with overall justice, humility and submission (McCasland, Cairns and Yu, 328).

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Case Study Summary of Zara and Oxford Industries Essay

Zara specializes in inexpensive fashions for women and men between the ages of 16 and 35. In keeping with the spirit of that demographic, Zara moves quickly. Like many apparel retailers, it has two seasonsÃ¢â‚¬â€fall/winter and spring/summerÃ¢â‚¬â€but selections change frequently within those periods. Items spend no more than two weeks on the shelf before making way for new merchandise, and stores are replenished twice a week. With annual growth of around 20 percent in both sales and number of stores, Zara was finding that strategy increasingly difficult to execute. Part of the Inditex group of fashion distributors, it currently has more than 1,100 stores in 68 countries. With so much volume flowing through the supply chain, the company could no longer rely on guesswork by store managers as to how much product it needed to replenish at each location. In the summer of 2005, Zara heard about research being done on mathematical models for retailing, by professors Jeremie Gallien of the MIT Sloan School of Management and Felipe Caro of the UCLA Anderson School of Management. They were invited to ZaraÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s headquarters in La Coruna, Spain. The focus was on making better stock-allocation decisions for ZaraÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s growing network of stores. A prototype of the resulting model was implemented between March and July of the following year, as part of a six-month internship at Zara by MIT graduate student Juan Correa. Between August and December, researchers ran a live pilot involving distribution of a dozen products to ZaraÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s stores worldwide. An identical selection of products was dispatched to stores under the old process, for purposes of comparison. The mathematical model drew on historical sales data plus available stock in the warehouses to come up with a final number for each store. Gallien says the task was exceedingly complex. Each store carries several thousand items in up to eight sizes, with exact quantities to be determined for twice-weekly shipments. Through use of the model, computers could take over the basic number crunching, with humans left to make adjustments based on exceptions such as bad weather or unexpected disruptions in the sales channel. The emphasis on fast turnaround motivates consumers to purchase items on the spot. Unlike in many clothing stores, where seasonal lines remain on the shelves for weeks or months, a particular style in a Zara store can disappear within a week. Zara speeds up its supply chain by strategically selecting and locating suppliers. A Ã¢â‚¬Å"proximity modelÃ¢â‚¬ judges not only their geographic placement, but their ability to respond quickly to production orders. About half of the retailerÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s production meets the proximity threshold, mostly coming from suppliers in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. From a geographic standpoint, nearly 65 percent of production is sourced in Europe. Zara also buys from suppliers in Asia, but because of the need for speed, their number is Ã¢â‚¬Å"considerably lessÃ¢â‚¬ than the industryÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s average. The model has yielded additional benefits. Product now spends more time on the sales floor, and less in a back room or warehouse. With a reduction in misallocated inventory, there are fewer returns to the warehouse and transfers between stores. And, as ZaraÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s distribution network continues to grow, the retailer wonÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t need to expand its warehouse team as fast as the old process required. Summary of Oxford Industries Oxford Industries began in 1942 as a domestic manufacturer of basic, button-down shirts for mid-level retailers, particularly department stores. In recent years, however, the company has shifted its business model to focus on apparel design and marketing, with third-party producers handling manufacturing. As part of this transformation, the Atlanta-based company embraced a brand-focused business strategy. In 2003, Oxford acquired the island-inspired Tommy Bahama operations, followed by the 2004 acquisition of Ben ShermanÃ¢â‚¬â€a well-known London-based brand made famous by the popularity of its shirts among British rock stars. OxfordÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s legacy business units, Lanier Clothes and Oxford Apparel, also evolved. As one of the leading suppliers of menÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s tailored clothing to retailers, Lanier Clothes designs and markets suits, sports coats, suit separates and dress slacks. While continuing to sell these under private labels, it also has licensed a number of well-known brands, including Geoffrey Beene, Kenneth Cole and Dockers. These products span a wide price range and are sold at national chains, department stores, specialty stores and discount retailers throughout the United States. Oxford ApparelÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s products range from dress shirts and western wear to suit separates and golf apparel, designed mostly for private-label customers like LandsÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ End, Federated Department Stores and MenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Wearhouse. Oxford Industries also sells through 55 of its own stores. In the late 1980s, early in its transformation process and prior to the acquisition of Tommy Bahama and Ben Sherman, Oxford realized that it needed to bring its business divisions up to speed with more robust information technology. After completing the implementation of a company-wide enterprise resource planning system, the company contracted with an independent consulting firm to determine where it should invest time and money to further increase operational efficiencies and performance. The result of that in-depth study ultimately led to Oxford IndustriesÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ decision to implement two solutions from JDA Software: Demand Planning and Master Planning. With so many possible permutations of size, style and color for each of its products, improving forecast accuracy was critical. Prior to implementing JDA Demand, Oxford relied on its retail customersÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ demand forecasts for its private-label products, as well as information provided by the companyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s own sales associates. If too much or too little product was created based on the retailerÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s or the sales associatesÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ forecast, both Oxford Industries and that customer paid the price via lost sales or markdowns. JDA Demand enabled the company to better understand consumersÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ evolving requirements and current trends, along with historical buying patterns, resulting in the ability to create more accurate forecasts and synchronize demand for replenished product with sources of supply. Oxford Industries can now compare its forecasts with those of its retail customers to ensure that the right amount of product is manufactured, leading to improved collaboration and service levels with its trading partners. The implementation of JDA Master Planning leveraged the solutions automated functionality to compile product information and production constraints to generate weekly sourcing and inventory plans from style to the SKU level. The solution also simultaneously considered factory capacities including special features, raw-material availability, and manufacturing and customer lead-times. Since Master Planning generated a first version of the supply plan by noon each Monday, Oxford IndustriesÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ planners had four and a half days to resolve any issues to accommodate unplanned demand, which translated to an 85-percent improvement in planning efficiency. Although the companyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s sourcing model has since shifted from a typical manufacturing process to more of a purchase process, manufacturing and customer lead-times, SKU-level decisions and some capacity constraints still need to be factored into the supply planning process. Master Planning provides the tools to let managers manage instead of serving as data-entry technicians.