The Good Earth Essays - The Good Earth, O-Lan, Wang Lung, Sons, Wang

The Good Earth In the critically acclaimed novel The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck depicts a humble farmer and his obedient wife O-lan. The Nobel Prize winning classic, set in late eighteenth century China, begins with Wang Lung going to the "Great House of Hwang"(49) to collect the wife that was betrothed to him by his father. Wang Lung lived with his father, wife, and five children, one of whom is mentally retarded. Although Wang Lung supplied all the physical needs for his family and upheld all the family traditions, he showed a strong insensitivity through his extra marital affairs. The story continues to portray the trials and tribulations of their life in a time when a persons livelihood came from the earth. From the earth, Wang Lung receives wealth, food, and prosperity. The earth also brought him dispair through natural disasters, but the earth remained his sole source of innerpeace. Wang Lung was sometimes caring and sometimes insensitive, but he always followed tradition. Wang Lung was a caring and compassionate man with a strong sense of family and adaptation to simple life. For example, Wang Lung showed extreme respect and appreciation for his wife in a time when women were considered to be no more then slaves. In the early chapters of the novel when Wang Lung was poor, he gave O-lan four silver pieces so she may return to the House of Hwang in grand style. He also offered to pay five thousand silver pieces for her recovery after he discovered she had a "fire in her vitals"(170). He then spent the rest of her days by her death bed and bought her the best quality coffin. Furthermore, Wang Lung had a special relationship with his first daughter, Poor Fool, his mentally retarded offspring. Poor Fool did not speak and did nothing more Pagliei 2 then twiddle a piece of cloth in the sun. Although Wang Lung had servants and slaves, he personally took care of his daughter after O-lan died. He also yelled at his love Lotus when she called Poor Fool an idiot: Now I will not hear my children cursed, no and not by anyone...For he was most angry of all that Lotus dared to curse this child of his and call her idiot, and a load of fresh pain for the girl fell upon his heart, so that for a day and two days he would not go near Lotus, but he played with the children and he went into the town and he bought a circle of barley candy for his poor fool and he comforted himself with her baby pleasure in the sweet sticky stuff.(212) His affection for Poor Fool was genuine and he was comforted when she was happy; "Well, and that poor fool of mine brings me more comfort then all the others put together" (234). Another example of Wang Lung's caring is the time and love he put into his land. When his life was in shambles and nothing else made sense, he found innerpeace, tranquillity and understanding about the events in his life when he was out tending to his land. When he had extra money, he did not want pearls, concubines, or rubies, "If I had the gold and the silver and the jewels, I would buy land with it, good land, and I would bring forth harvests from the land" (124). Wang Lung's caring nature was the foundation for a stable family. Although it was rarely displayed, Wang Lung's heartlessness and sheer cruelty deeply scarred the most beloved members in his family. For instance, Wang Lung's Pagliei 3 infatuation with Lotus temporarily blinds his true love for O-lan. Instead of the caring husband O-lan grew to love he was mean and he assaulted her with insults about her lack of beauty and highlighted her extremely large features: He saw for the first time that her hair was rough and brown and unoiled and that her face was flat and coarse-skinned, and her features too large altogether and without any sort of beauty or light. Her eyebrows were scattered and her hairs too few, and her lips too wide and her hands and feet were large and spreading...I would

ottoman empire essays

ottoman empire essays The Ottoman Empire was founded in the late thirteenth century and last until the early twentieth century. This empire was one of historys greatest military empires(564 McKay, Hill, Buckler) that was centered around the present day country of Turkey. The Ottoman Empire, once, at its peak had controlled a vast area extending from the Balkan Peninsula to the Middle East and North Africa in the middle of the sixteenth century. This was accomplished under the rule of Suleiman the Magnificent. This empire was a Muslim based society. The Ottomans, also known as the Apostles of Islam, had not forced the conquered Christians to convert to Islam. Instead they had to pay a special poll tax called the cizye. These non-muslims that paid the tax were granted a covenant of protection called the dhimma. The sultan, the leader of the Ottoman Empire, exploited the land and the people of his empire as he saw fit. Everyone was a slave to the sultan. There was no personal landholding; everything belonged to the sultan. The sultan also levied an annual tax of one to three thousand male children on the Christians. These children were taken to Turkey and brought up as Muslims and trained to fight and administer. Some of these children rose up to the ranks of the Sultans bureaucracy. The others formed an elite group of the Sultans army called the Janissary Corps. The Janissaries were governed by different laws and had the privilege of protecting the sultan. There devotion to such discipline had made them a powerful army allowing them to conquer and rule the most powerful empire in the world during the sixteenth century. ...

A Business e-mail being sent to a CEO and CFO of a company Assignment

A Business e-mail being sent to a CEO and CFO of a company - Assignment Example The training course for the fifty employees may be costly if they attend at once since it cost approximately two thousand dollars per individual. Therefore, it is my opinion that the employees be divided into two groups of twenty five people each to ease the company spending the huge amounts all at once. After the first group will have completed their training, the second group may then get their chance to be trained too. The training is meant to equip the employees with the knowledge of relating with customers based on the principles of Dale Carnegie training. The training will instill the trainees with the skills of handling customers well by applying the principle of; do not criticize, complain or condemn. Criticizing clients is a terribly dangerous trend and can lead to a drastic fall in the number of clients. Whatever the clients do, our employees should not complain or condemn them. They should be treated with the extreme reverence and their resolutions respected without complaints. Our employees should also learn to appreciate clients and be honest with them. Every time they are working for the clients, they should remember to appreciate them sincerely. This will make the clients happy, satisfied and appreciated. Consequently, this will make them ask for our future services and attract more clients who need similar services. The third principle that the learners will acquire is; arouse in the other person and eager want. This basically means that our employees should focus on the desires and wishes of clients. The clients should be treated with regard and their desires should be attended to as a matter of priority. Additionally, the trainees will learn to be genuinely interested in other people. Applying this principle to employees is extremely essential and it makes them feel adored and important. Another

Compare and contrast the marketing strategies of two major brands, Essay

Compare and contrast the marketing strategies of two major brands, Apple and Samsung - Essay Example ke Apple to continuously come up with products such as iPhone, iPad, Macbook etc, that are popular among consumer segments (Ferral and Hartline 2012, 1). The uncertainty of the external environment provides greater motivation for a company, particularly ones operating in the high-tech electronic industry, to continuously innovate and develop high quality products. Development of marketing strategy enables evaluation of a company’s strengths and in turn allows an organization to capitalize on its strengths thereby providing a competitive advantage. Apple and Samsung, both virtually operating the same industry, employ their marketing strategy to survive the competition in the companies’ macro-environment. Availability of resources is an important aspect of marketing strategy for organizations operating in the electronics industry (Viardot 2004, 196). The fast-paced environment in the digital world necessitates the presence of ample amounts of resources in order to keep the technology updated. For Apple, continuous innovation in technology and the need to develop popular consumer products requires large amounts of both, human resource as well as capital for research and development (R&D). Such availability is vital to a brand’s image, particularly ones that deal in high-tech goods and services. Same is the case with Samsung where effective marketing strategy has allowed it to move its reputation to a premium electronics brand that has grown its market share tremendously. All aspects of marketing strategy including pricing, distribution, etc, play a central role in the delivery of consumer satisfaction with the product (Chang 2011). Marketing strategy altogether acts to provide consumers with a superior user experience. Today’s electronics industry is increasingly dynamic and the development of effective strategies and marketing plans are important for the success of organizations that operate in the growingly competitive environment. Speaking about Apple

Can a torturer be tried anywhere in the world Discuss the concept of Essay

Can a torturer be tried anywhere in the world Discuss the concept of universal jurisdiction of the 1984 Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment - Essay Example Article 1 of the CAT 1984 act contains requirements that the forbidden acts be inflicted to a person with the consent of a public official or any other person acting in an official competence1. The CAT 1984 requires that signatories take appropriate measures aimed at ensuring that they end torture within the jurisdiction in their territories and to term all cases of torture as criminal cases. Unlike other international bodies and agreements prohibiting torture, CAT gives a general definition and description of the term torture2. In the convention, it is clearly stated that each state party is entitled to take judicial and legislative measures aimed at preventing torture within the territories of the state party. The clause also states that no circumstance whether wars or internal political instabilities or any other emergency of political interest shall be cited as justification of torture. This means that a torturer is subjected to trial and must be prosecuted if found guilty of torture irrespective of the state party he or she is residing at that particular period3. It is enshrined in the constitution under 3 that no party can eject a victim of torture to another country/state, instead, cases of torture must be dealt with at the state party where the victim was faced with the case. For instance, it means that law to allow the Germany government, if they chose to; prosecute a U.S official for torture crimes committed in Iraq. The definition of word torture, which emerged in the Torture Declaration, was not considered as precise and was largely criticized by Mach lawyers, researchers and scholars on various points. Various discussions resulted in a more precise and elaborate though more complex. This definition appears in the Torture Convention, article 1, paragraph 1. Torture is thus defined as an act that causes physical or mental pain or suffering when

Duke Ellingtons Contribution To American Jazz Film Studies Essay

Duke Ellingtons Contribution To American Jazz Film Studies Essay The famous U.S. jazz musician known as Duke Ellington was born on April 29, 1989 to two musician parents who both played the piano. His legal name at birth was Edward Kennedy Ellington, and the nickname Duke was one he acquired from childhood friends who believed that the way he dressed and the manner in which he carried himself gave him a regal appearance. (Wikipedia, 2013). While he himself eschewed the use of the term jazz to define the kind of music he played, opting instead to refer to it as simply American music, critics have repeatedly identified him as one of the seminal figures in the development of jazz, which is often identified as one of the few authentically U.S.-developed musical forms. (Biography, 2013). Ellington was an African-American and his maternal grandmother was an ex-slave. His own introduction to music in a formal sense occurred when he was seven years old, with him commencing piano lessons. His passion for music was intense, even during his youth and he is recorded as having written his first song, :Soda Fountain Rag, which some called Poodle Dog Rag, in 1914 at a time when he was personally working at a soda fountain at a restaurant known as the Poole Dog Cafe. At the time, his formal music training did not include the reading and writing of music notes on paper. He was to develop those skills later in life. (Wikipedia, 2013). As a young man, in addition to the restaurant job, he worked at the games of the Washington, D.C. Senators baseball team as a peanut vendor. Other recreations included playing pool, and it was there that he encountered many contemporary piano players who provided entertainment there, utilizing a variety of styles, including ragtime. It was only then that he started to entertain the notion that he might himself become a professional musician. Ellington himself described both his early life and his musical career in an autobiography he published in 1973 entitled Music is my Mistress. (Ellington, 1976). By the summer of 1916, he declined to pursue an offered scholarship to study art in Brooklyn, New York at the Pratt Institute, preferring instead to provide musical entertainment in various small venues in and around Washington, D.C. for money, although the amounts earned were relatively meager compared to the success he was to experience later in life. He continued, for a time, to attend commercial art classes at the Armstrong Manual Training School, but abandoned those studies a mere 90 day or so before a scheduled graduation. (Ellington, 1976). It was after that occurred that he summoned up the courage to assemble small groups of musicians to band together to play for dances and other social events, while working on the side as a sign painter to augment his otherwise meager income. His first more permanent formal band was formed in 1917 and was known as The Dukes Serenaders, who were described as Colored Syncopators in an ad he took out in the then relatively new media of the local telephone directory. (Ellington, 1976) Because Washington, D.C. was the capitol of the U.S., Ellington also managed to survive economically in those early years by working as a messenger for the State Department and U.S. Navy. Later, his band would become quite a local hit playing at parties put on by foreign embassies located in the capitol as well as for society dances and balls. While this was an era where there was still much segregation in the U.S., his group did manage to play to both white and African-American audiences, which was unusual at the time. (Wikipedia, 2013). Ellington got married on July 2, 1918 to Edna Thompson, who had attended the same high school as he did, and they had a son, Mercer Kennedy Ellington, himself a musician skilled in the use of both the piano and trumpet, who at times operated as the business manager for his fathers more successful group while also running his own band. (Wikipedia, 2013). Looking back on his career, which only ended with his death on May 24, 1974 from lung cancer and pneumonia, music critics widely agree that his influence helped raise the regard of jazz among other forms of music in the U.S. At the time of his death, despite his advanced age and ill health, he was continuing to actively work as an orchestra leader. He did not exclusively play jazz. however, and at times delved into the areas of classical, popular, gospel and blues music, as well as composing scores for popular motion pictures. As the U.S. recording industry took off, Ellington and his groups recorded music for many companies, while continuing to tour widely and play live. In 1924 alone, Duke Ellington released eight records, indicating the beginning of a very fertile period for him that continued almost unabated until his death. (Wikipedia, 2013). Ellington became a seminal figure in the so-called Harlem Renaissance and gradually expanded the size of his musical group, with it becoming the house band in the legendary Cotton Club in Harlem, New York in 1927. Ellingtons fame grew and he was widely known for playing the bugle at the end of many performances. Radio broadcasts of his music live from the club helped him develop an audience that stretched nationwide and encompassed many people who had never seen him perform live in New York. (Biography, 2013). A song that Duke Ellington recorded with his orchestra and Adelaide Hall in the fall of 927, entitled Creole Love Call became a runaway hit, selling widely through the world, and firmly establishing Ellington and his group as star musicians. (Wikipedia, 2013) Ultimately, Ellington became perhaps best known for expanding the concept of the small jazz band, playing only in tiny nightclubs, to a full big band experience, with his group becoming a full orchestra with him as the leader. The size and scope of the group gave Ellington much more latitude to experiment with new musical pathways and attempt things never tried before. (Wikipedia, 2013). His versatility was shown by the fact that he recorded for numerous recording labels, often at the same time, an unusual thing. He sometimes would create different versions of the same compositions for inclusion on records for the different companies. (Wikipedia, 2013). He obtained even broader popularity after appearing at the prestigious Newport Jazz Festival, where his orchestras performance was met by the audiences passionate acclaim, and went on long as the festival organizers had planned to shut things down. The result was worldwide frenzied publicity, including Duke Ellingtons appearance on the front cover of Time magazine, and Ellingtons best-selling recording of his entire career, Ellington at Newport.(Wikipedia, 2013). One area where he experienced a rare lack of success was his inability to breakthrough in the new medium of television, where jazz was somewhat ignored as a form of music. But both his live performances and his popular recordings continued throughout his life. His musical career spanned the Great Depression, the Second World War, the 1950s, the turbulent 1960s with the explosion of the civil rights movement and the conflict over the Vietnam war, and the Watergate Era of Richard Nixon. Throughout those changing times, Duke Ellingtons commitment to experiment with his music and burst through staid conventions of form and length remained the one constant thing, raising the standard high for other jazz musicians to try to emulate. Critics believe that there are few, if any, figures in the development of American jazz more important and more central than Duke Ellington. (Wikipedia, 2013). Ellingtons root strength was as a skilled jazz pianist, but he is often more remembered for his orchestral arrangements and composing of both jazz and other popular musical pieces. His group for the bulk of his career was known simply as the Duke Ellington Orchestra and it continues to tour the world today under the aegis of his son, who serves as the archivist for his fathers rich legacy. (Wikipedia, 2013). Duke Ellingtons contributions to American music were recognized by no fewer than twelve Grammy awards, starting with his first one in 1959 with three awards for music he composed and performed for Anatomy of a Murder, a major motion picture. He composed and performed music for a number of other motion pictures. Most of these awards, however, were for jazz performances and compositions, with three of the awards given after his death, including the last one in 1999 for the historical jazz album The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition, collecting the recordings he made for the RCA Victor company from 1927-1973. He received a special Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 1966. (Biography, 2013). Nine of his recordings were also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, starting with Black and Tan Fantasy in 1928 and concluding with Far East Suite in 1967. His 1932 jazz hit It Dont Mean a Thing (If It Aint Got That Swing) was also inducted, was highly popular worldwide, and is still widely played today. He was also given a Special Citation by the Pulitzer Prize Committee after his death, and received a U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969. He was also inducted into the French Legion of Honor in 1973. (Wikipedia, 2013).

Crossover Control: Homeostasis Essay -- Biology, Chromosome Engeneeri

Crossover Control: Homeostasis in Yeast Meiosis Control of formation of crossovers for proper chromosome segregation is governed by the crossover – non crossover ratio i.e., crossovers are formed at the expense of non crossovers; better known as the crossover homeostasis. Subject Terms: Meiosis, Crossover Control, Crossover Interference, Crossover Homeostasis Cell division is inevitable for the proper growth and development of any organism. While Mitosis helps in the somatic cell division, Meiosis acts in the germ cell for gametic division or gametogenesis. Meiosis starts with Prophase – 1 where the formation of crossover takes place. Crossovers are really important as they result into proper segregation and disjunction of chromosomes (Page and Hawley, 2003) and also, they bring about the variation in the species. Lack of crossover formation results into improper segregation and non-disjunction of chromosome and this results into aneuploidy, which can be detrimental for the organism. Thus, formation of crossovers in Meiosis is highly important. Upstream of crossovers are the double strand breaks (DSBs) that lead to the formation of crossovers (Keeney, 2001). The quality of double strand breaks to give rise to guaranteed crossover formation is known as obligate crossover or chiasma (Jones, 1984). For the accurate segregation of chro mosomes, it is highly necessary that there should be at least one double strand break hence at least one crossover formation per chromosome pair. Thus, formation of crossover is a tightly controlled and regulated event in Meiosis (Kleckner et al., 2004). This control is achieved by two important factors. First is the phenomenon of crossover interference in which the formation of one crossover affec... ...ion. These research statistics suggest that the work carried out by Martini et al. has definitely opened up a whole new field for research, and lots of work needs to be done to achieve valuable insight of the regulation of crossover control in meiosis. Several researchers are currently working on to unravel the mystery of the underlying molecular mechanism by which the regulation of crossover control takes place. Also, tremendous work needs to be done to propose the mechanism of crossover homeostasis with regards to crossover interference and the region specific differences arising in the HIS4LEU2 gene locus. Probably by using chromosome engineering we can further our understanding about this. Figure 2: Flow diagram explaining the control of crossover formation and regulation of meiosis through crossover homeostasis and crossover interference in S. cerevisiae.