What Makes a Pizza More Acceptable than Another Essay Example for Free

What Makes a Pizza More Acceptable than Another Essay Pizzas are often preferred by majority of fast-food consumers since they are available in different sizes with fresh toppings at an affordable price. They are ideal during a family get-together when large size pizzas can be ordered for a free home delivery with a choice for vegetarian or non-vegetarian type. Besides, pizzas are sold as a handy slice, which can be eaten by a busy professional while commuting. Among the leading pizza brands, Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza and Papa John’s have been able to develop brand fidelity by creating a variety of tasty pizzas according to different tastes of consumers. Although the tastes of different pizzas depend on toppings, the crispiness, and the quality of wheat dough, a health conscious consumer chooses a pizza according to the calories present in it. Diet Bites reports different calories in a single slice of 14† cheese pizza of three different brands. In case of Domino’s Pizza, the number of kcal is 272, while for Papa John’s, it is 304 kcal, and in case of Pizza Hut, the number of kcal per slice of 14† pizza is 266. Marketing strategy also differs for the pizza brands. According to Stern (2007), Papa John’s has been able to create a niche in the market by delivering pizzas within 30 minutes of an order placed through SMS on the mobile phone. This marketing strategy of Papa John’s has been successful to beat the existing marketing efforts of Domino’s and Pizza Hut. During delivery of pizza from a restaurant to the customer’s place, it should remain hot and crispy without loosing its fresh taste. Alva (1986) reported the claims made by Domino’s group that it makes every effort to retain freshness and taste of its pizzas while delivering hot pizzas to its customers, and that is why Domino’s has been more successful than its competitors. Thus, different brands of pizzas have contrasting tastes, marketing strategies, and consumer preferences. References Alva, M. (1986, October 20). Domino’s and Pizza Hut stress different aspects of delivery. Nations’ Restaurant News. Retrieved from http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_v20/ai_4479642/ Diet Bites. (n. d. ). Calories in Pizza- Calories in Domino’s, Little Caesar’s, Papa John’s and Pizza Hut pizzas. Retrieved from http://www. dietbites. com/calories/calories-in-pizza. html Stern, A. (2007, November 15). Papa John’s mobilizes pizza ordering to beat Pizza Hut/ Domino’s. Center Networks. Retrieved from http://www. centernetworks. com/papa-johns-goes-mobile

Importance of Supportive Communication

Importance of Supportive Communication EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Communication is an everyday activity. There is nothing that can be done without communication. However this essential of life can be very damaging if not use it properly or accurately. It is every body’s wish that all people behave, act, think, response, move, learn and communicate just as he/she was made off. As a result of inequalities and imperfection of human nature, all of us cannot act the same. It is often and always easier to communicate good news and happy moments to our love ones, work mates, school mates, family members etc. however the moment of truth is when to communicates the opposite to those that are close to us, colleagues, family members etc. and when not handled properly can ruin a hard fought relationships cultivated over the year. This is because we are inclined by nature to receive good news than the bad news though it might be the fact. Therefore cultivating the skills of supporting communication an inevitable tool for every person irrespective of the level of responsibility one finds itself. Supportive communication seeks to preserve or enhance a positive relationship between you and another person while still addressing a problem, giving negative feedback, or tackling a difficult issue with such person. There are numerous benefits associated with companies which ideologies the concept of supporting communication that companies who does not as carried by various surveys. In such context one can be an asset to a group, work environment, family when he/she is able to communicate supportively to the up build of the group, work and family and in this direction I chose to work on my supporting communication skills. Before I read and participated in the classroom on this skill, my skill assessment score was below the mean quartile in comparing with 5000 students who undertook the same assessment. My score after reading and class participating almost threepuled above even above the highest quartile. This does not mean that I can skillfully applied supportive communication. Practical steps have been put in place to apply this knowledge into full use. These steps includes; by asking two same case study group to assess my reaction when giving counsel on performance of a group member, a planned friendship with those who their attitudes and behaviors I disguise so much and finally being asking my children to note down whenever I get angry in the process of giving the feedback. INTRODUCTION Communication is an everyday activity. And is the ordinary interaction that occurs between coworkers, friends, acquaintances, or intimates on daily bases. Communication comes in different forms. Verbal communication which includes sounds, words, language and speaking whiles non-verbal communication involves physical ways of communication like, tone of voice, touch, smell and body language. The quality of communication and how communications are evolves and is maintained are the basis of whether a relationship amongst individuals are stable, become more intimate when appropriate and if additional information is shared between individual reflecting trust between the both parties in every facet of human life. Ineffective communication may lead individual to dislike each other, be offended by each other, lose confidence, refuse to listen and disagree to each other as well as causing a host of other interpersonal problem. (Whatten Camaron, 2011) Normally positive interpersonal relationships results when always things are going on well and people do what they are expected and suppose of them. However, when communicating to an individual who has a negative attitude, such as a personality conflict with coworker or hasn’t perform up to expectation, the risk of putting the employee on the defensive is very high. Individual often react defensively if they feel they are being punished or threatened by communicating, and thus they devote attention to identify counter arguments rather than listening. Thus communication is more productive when it is done constructively or done supportively. SUPPORTIVE COMMUNICATION Supportive communication is interpersonal communications that help individuals to communicate accurately, especially in difficult situations and times. Supportive communication seeks to preserve or enhance a positive relationship between you and another person while still addressing a problem, giving negative feedback, or tackling a difficult issue. It allows you to communicate information to others that is not complimentary, or to resolve an uncomfortable issue with another person but, in the process, strengthen your relationship. Supportive communication builds and strengthened relationships when delivering negative feedback or when you have to point out few shortcoming of another person. It thus seek to preserve or enhance a positive relationship between two people whiles still addressing issue. It allows communicating information to others that is not complementary but rather that strengthen the relationship. Companies fostering supportive communication enjoy higher productivity, faster problem solving, higher quality outputs, and fewer conflicts and subversive activities than groups or organizations where relationships are less. (Robbins Coulter, 2007) it goes on to present a survey conducted with conclusion, that companies with presence of good supportive communication between managers and subordinate were three times more powerful in predicting profitability in major cooperation’s over a five year period than the most powerful variables – market size, firm size and saves growth rate-combined. There are arguably eight attributes of supportive communication of which all other research shared the same thought as far the scope of this research is concern. This indicates that to communicate supportively one must adhere to these characteristics when communicating. ATTRIBUTES OF SUPPORTIVE COMMUNICATION Problem oriented, not person oriented. Problem-oriented communication focuses on a problem that can be solved rather than the person who is responsible for the problem. Person-oriented communication puts the listener on the defensive and focuses the attention on blame rather than on avoiding or solving future problems Congruent, not incongruent. Congruent communication conveys what the speaker is thinking and feeling. There are definitely situations where discretion is a more appropriate choice than full disclosure of what we think and feel. However, in most communication situations, we communicate more effectively when were candid. If we arent honest, listeners wont trust what we say. Descriptive, not evaluative. Evaluative communication expresses judgment of the listener, or his or her actions. To be an effective constructive communicator, we should objectively describe problems rather than speak in an evaluative manner. Evaluative communication puts the listener on the defensive. Validating, not invalidating. Validating communication helps people feel understood, valued, and accepted. In contrast, invalidating communication treats people as if they are ignored, worthless, or alienated. Invalidating communication is superiority-oriented, rigid, impervious and/or indifferent and its avoid treating the listener like a lesser person. Specific, not global. There are two key drawbacks to global statements of problems; theyre often too large to be resolved and they tend to oversimplify and misrepresent problems. Conjunctive, not disjunctive. Disjunctive communication takes at least three forms; not letting the other party speak, long pauses, and switching topics. Disjunctive communication can result in the other party thinking that their input is not being considered. Owned, not disowned. When we own our communication, we take responsibility for our statements and acknowledge that we are the source of the ideas conveyed and not someone else. We disown communication when we search for third parties to attribute our comments to. Listening, not one-way message delivery. Explains, effective listening is actively absorbing the information given to you by a speaker, showing that you are listening and interested, and providing feedback to the speaker so that he or she knows the message was received. Effective listening is often taken for granted, but its a valuable managerial tool. PERSONAL ASSESSMENT SUPPORTIVE COMMUNICATION In order to be sincere and able to know my managerial shortcoming in this skill area, I assessed myself based on the following questionnaires before and after reading and participating during lectures. The evaluation of these questionnaires is as a result of weakness observed when learning this skills and much effort is needed to overcome these shortcomings as comparing myself to 5000 students who also took the same assessment. Rating Scale 1. Strongly disagree 2. Disagree 3. Slightly disagree 4. Slightly agree 5. Agree 6. Strongly agree Assessment Pre Post Questionnaires 3 6 When I give feedback to others, I avoid referring to personal characteristics and focus on problems or solutions instead 2 6 I always link negative feedback to a standard or expectation that has been violated 2 5 When I try to correct someone’s behavior, our relationship is almost always strengthened. 1 6 I am descriptive in giving negative feedback to others. That is, I objectively describe events, their consequences, and my feelings about them 3 6 I always suggest specific alternatives to individuals whose behavior I’m trying to correct 3 6 I reinforce other people’s sense of self-worth and self-esteem in my communication with them. 2 5 When asking questions of others in order to understand their viewpoints better, I generally ask â€Å"what† questions instead of â€Å"why† questions 2 6 I don’t dominate conversations with others. 1 6 I hold regular, private meetings with people with whom I work and with whom I live. 2 5 I strive to identify some area of agreement in a discussion with someone who has a different point of view Table # 1: supporting communication questionnaires and responses. SKILLS ASSESSMENT INTERPRETATION The first five questionnaires are in respect of how I can effectively communicate negative feedback, the higher the scores the better for one to communicate effectively negative feedback than the lower scoring. Whereas the last five questionnaires are also in respect of how I can be effective in communicating supportively, and again the higher the scoring the better than the lower scoring. The total scoring before the reading and class participating as shown above was 21 scores as compares to an average 5000 student mean quartile scores of 45 out of possible 60 scores and my score after was 57 out of possible 60 scores. This indicates better understanding and knowledge on how I can effectively communicates negative feedback to someone in a supportive manner. PRACTICAL APPLICATION – SUPPORTIVE COMMUNICATION The above after reading and acquiring the knowledge does not make me a better person to be effective in supporting communication, is just acknowledgement of how critical supporting communication is in every facet in one’s life. It takes several practices and on the field application of this knowledge that one become effective communicating supportively. However since practice make man perfect; the following are planned practical steps activities to help me to communicate supportively. First in the MBA program, working in groups are integral part of the program, hence supporting commununication is very important at all level of group activities. That is from group formation, sharing of responsibilities, embarking on assigned group assignment and holding rehearsal presentations within the group. To put supportive communication into practice, I have asked two group members to assess me whenever is my turn to communicate feedback to a group member who has presented during group rehearsals on his/her weakness as well as whenever is my turn to be counseled after my presentation. Two different will let me know objectively about the assessment. I will also purchase a voice recorder so that I can listen to it after group discussion. Secondary I have planned to be friend with those who generally I don’t associate better due to their character traits, race, culture and religion. Trying to form friendship with such people will always help me to improve on my supporting communication skills. The reason being that since I have a perceived mind already regarding them, accepting them as friends will be a real challenge, however that will also help me improve on not always dominating but also welcoming others viewpoint in discussions which is one of the eight attributes of good supporting communication. Finally in the house since children are active when ever decisions goes their way, I will ask each of them to count the number of times I get angry and why when am having discussions with them or in dealing with each individuals in the house. This will help me to work on my anger level since it will be difficult for someone with high level of anger to be supportive in communication especially when communicating negative feedback. REFERENCES Whetten, D., Cameron, S. (2011). Developing Management Skills (8th. ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. Vucaj, I. (2013). Managing human resources. Blog at wordPress.com. Robbins, S P., Coulter, M. (2012). Management (11th. ed.). Pearson education. Schmidt, J., Uecker, D. (2007). Increasing understanding of routine/everyday  interaction in relationships. Communication Teacher, 21, 111-116.

freeaw The Awakening as a Story of Independence and Freedom :: Chopin Awakening Essays

The Awakening as a Story of Independence and Freedom Kate Chopin's The Awakening is a work of fiction that tells the story of Edna Pontellier, Southern wife and mother. This book presents the reader with many tough questions and few answers. It is not hard to imagine why this book was banished for decades not long after its initial publication in 1899. At that time in history, women did just what they were expected to do. They were expected to be good daughters, good wives, and good mothers. A woman was expected to move from the protection of her father's roof to the protection of her husband. Edna didn't fit this mold, and that eventually leads her husband to send for a doctor. It is here that Edna Pontellier says words that define The Awakening, "I don't want anything but my own way. That is wanting a good deal, of course, when you have to trample upon the lives, the hearts, the prejudices of others - but no matter_" As the book begins, Edna is a married woman who seems vaguely satisfied with her life. However, she cannot find true happiness. Her "awakening" begins when a persistent young man named Robert begins courting her. Edna begins to respond to him with a passion she hasn't felt before. She begins to realize that she can play roles other than wife and mother. Throughout the book Edna takes many steps to increase her independence. She sends her children away, she refuses to stay at home on Tuesdays (as was the social convention of the time), she frequents races and parties. Unfortunately, her independence proves to be her downfall. Edna stays married because divorce was unheard of in those days. She wants to marry Robert, but he will not because it will disgrace her to leave her husband. No matter how much Edna exceeds social boundaries, she is held down by the will of others, despite what she wants. In today's world divorce, sadly, is almost commonplace, but in her time she would have been an outcast of her society. By the end of The Awakening, Edna feels like a possession - of her husband, of her children, and of her society. The only solution she sees is to end her life, which she does by swimming out into the sea until her strength gives out. This is a very symbolic death. I feel the theme of The Awakening is deeper than the obvious themes of independence and women's rights. The Awakening presents suicide as a valid solution to problems that do not offer many choices.

The Context and Contents of Priscianus of Lydias Solutionum ad Chosroem :: Philosophy Philosophical Essays

The Context and Contents of Priscianus of Lydia's Solutionum ad Chosroem ABSTRACT: Priscianus of Lydia’s Solutionum ad Chosroem is a series of answers to questions asked at a philosophical debate held at the Sasanian court c. 530 CE. Priscianus of Lydia was one of seven non-Christian philosophers from the Byzantine Empire who journeyed to the Sasanian Empire to take part in the debate. Long overlooked in the history of philosophy, Priscianus of Lydia’s text represents a branch of Neoplatonism that survived for centuries uninfluenced by the official Christianization of the Roman Empire. Priscianus of Lydia was one of the last remaining representatives of non-Christian Neoplatonism in Late Antiquity. Solutionum ad Chosroem provides a record of the world of Neoplatonism shortly before it disappeared under a tide of officially Christian philosophy and theology. I discusses the context of Priscianus’ work and its relation to activities in the Byzantine Empire, such as Emperor Justinian’s suppression of paganism and the closing of th e Academy in Athens in 529 CE. I also discuss the specific contents of the Solutionum ad Chosroem, including questions on first principles, generation, natural history, and the relationship between the soul and the body. The Neoplatonic philosopher Priscianus of Lydia would have had an unremarkable career had he not been mentioned by the early Byzantine historian Agathias as one of seven Hellenic (non-Christian) philosophers who journeyed to the Sasanian court at Seleucia-Ctesiphon early in the reign of the Byzantine emperor Justinian (527-565).(1) These philosophers felt compelled to leave the Byzantine Empire because "they did not share the view of God prevailing among the Romans and thought that the Persian state was far better."(2) Although the Hellenic philosophers decided to return to Byzantine territory after a relatively brief sojourn at the Sasanian court, the philosophers did participate in at least one debate on philosophical questions attended by the shah himself and some higher ranking members of the Zoroastrian clergy. Priscianus of Lydia's contribution to this debate, Solutionum ad Chosroem, has survived in an edition edited by Ingram Bywater in 1886 and now difficult of access.(3) Bef ore considering the specific contents of Priscianus' surviving work, an examination of the historical context in which the work was written is necessary. The Context of Priscianus of Lydia's Solutionum ad Chosroem Agathias states that Priscianus and the other Hellenic philosophers travelled to the Sasanian Empire partly for religious reasons. Being pagans in an increasingly officially Christian empire had rendered their teaching positions more and more vulnerable.

Generation and Culture in Doce cuentos peregrinos Essay -- Garcia Marq

  Ã‚  Ã‚   An enormous sea serpent nailed by the neck to the door frame is also nailed at the beginning of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "El verano felà ­z de la Seà ±ora Forbes" from his novel "Doce cuentos peregrinos." This short story is an eloquent representation of the unconscious state of mind of dominance in which the result of previous concepts of life and costumes achieved are just vague figures trying to make up a non-abstract drawing that represent power. Generations and cultures are being confronted, characteristic of a dense ambient in which two different manners of applying the rules of society provoke an ironic reaction of rebellion that apply to a macrocosm. The title means "Miss Forbes's summer of happiness." The time of the year, the island surrounded by the dark blue sea, together with Miss Forbes's summer, narrate the environment in which the story is developed. The house is very small, and this helps to increase the tension that prevails from the start of the stor y to the end. There is a lot of repression. Many of the things are overwhelmed with rightness to agree with the normal kind of person that is used to live in an open society free of all kinds of discrepancies and orthodox methods of life. "Negra y fosforecente" (189) is the first impression that the story gives to the reader. This anticipates the darkness and at the same time vivid aspect that the story is going to have by describing the sea serpent on the door. The intense terror of seeing the "animal crucificado" (189) turns to a bigger matter that is entitled as the beginning of the long journey of hell that society is living in. The younger kid thinks that the moray "Tenà ­a ojos de gente" (191). He was still frightened; he saw the antecedents and consequenc... ...en once the rebellion took place. A courageous society takes all responsibility from its back whenever a major level goes down. As Garcia Marquez suggests, this determines a stabilized level of power where distinctions are to be created again to be taken to a macrocosm, and prove that rules, even in the highest level of hierarchy may be mistaken or not proper to the generation or culture that the society is living in.    Works Cited and Consulted Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. Doce cuentos peregrinos. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1992. Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. Strange Pilgrims: Twelve stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Trans. Edith Grossman. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993. Molinario, Nina L. Foucault, feminism and power: Reading Esther Tusquets. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press; London; Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 1991. Generation and Culture in Doce cuentos peregrinos Essay -- Garcia Marq   Ã‚  Ã‚   An enormous sea serpent nailed by the neck to the door frame is also nailed at the beginning of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "El verano felà ­z de la Seà ±ora Forbes" from his novel "Doce cuentos peregrinos." This short story is an eloquent representation of the unconscious state of mind of dominance in which the result of previous concepts of life and costumes achieved are just vague figures trying to make up a non-abstract drawing that represent power. Generations and cultures are being confronted, characteristic of a dense ambient in which two different manners of applying the rules of society provoke an ironic reaction of rebellion that apply to a macrocosm. The title means "Miss Forbes's summer of happiness." The time of the year, the island surrounded by the dark blue sea, together with Miss Forbes's summer, narrate the environment in which the story is developed. The house is very small, and this helps to increase the tension that prevails from the start of the stor y to the end. There is a lot of repression. Many of the things are overwhelmed with rightness to agree with the normal kind of person that is used to live in an open society free of all kinds of discrepancies and orthodox methods of life. "Negra y fosforecente" (189) is the first impression that the story gives to the reader. This anticipates the darkness and at the same time vivid aspect that the story is going to have by describing the sea serpent on the door. The intense terror of seeing the "animal crucificado" (189) turns to a bigger matter that is entitled as the beginning of the long journey of hell that society is living in. The younger kid thinks that the moray "Tenà ­a ojos de gente" (191). He was still frightened; he saw the antecedents and consequenc... ...en once the rebellion took place. A courageous society takes all responsibility from its back whenever a major level goes down. As Garcia Marquez suggests, this determines a stabilized level of power where distinctions are to be created again to be taken to a macrocosm, and prove that rules, even in the highest level of hierarchy may be mistaken or not proper to the generation or culture that the society is living in.    Works Cited and Consulted Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. Doce cuentos peregrinos. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1992. Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. Strange Pilgrims: Twelve stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Trans. Edith Grossman. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993. Molinario, Nina L. Foucault, feminism and power: Reading Esther Tusquets. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press; London; Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 1991.

‘The Great Gatsby’ is an interesting novella about the intertwining lives of those who are striving for the artificial American Dream

‘The Great Gatsby' is an interesting novella about the intertwining lives of those who are striving for the artificial American Dream. It is a story of contrasts: the rich and poor, the loved and unloved and the different aspects of society that are shown in this passage through dramatic symbolism and highly structured parallels. The parallels between the first and third chapters show rich and privileged lifestyles, first the life of Tom and Daisy then Gatsby's party. This passage is conveniently placed between the two to show the â€Å"real world† of the likes of Wilson and other â€Å"sickly†, â€Å"ash-grey men†. It helps us to understand Myrtle as a character. Her hopes and dreams to get away from this life that is a constant struggle. This also describes the way both Gasby and the author Fitzgerald lived as children, and therefore their reasons to follow their dreams and aspire to something better. These parallels are a typical example of how novella's are tightly structured. We are led to believe that Nick is the narrator of this passage, however Nick has never been to the area before so when it is described cinematically and we are told of how passengers on trains wait â€Å"for as long as half an hour† we realize Nick could not have previously known this and therefore it is told to us directly by Fitzgerald. This poses a problem because the reader knows and trusts Nick but not Fitzgerald so he manipulates the reader into thinking it is Nick so that we believe him. The drawbridge in the final paragraph symbolises how it is not easily to get out of the Valley of Ashes, reflecting how it is not easy to get out of a hard life and achieve the American Dream. Myrtle tries hard in the novella to do this, and for a while Gatsby does, which is one reason why we see him as a hero. Images of how the American Dream has died are shown in the â€Å"Valley of Ashes†. Ash is symbolic of death, as in â€Å"ashes to ashes, dust to dust†, a traditional phrase at funerals. In the Valley of Ashes everything is bare, dull, lifeless and dead. It is based on the Corona Dump in Queens, which Fitzgerald famously resented on sight. He also nicknamed the Corona Dump the â€Å"Valley of Ashes†. ‘Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck also mentions â€Å"ash pile† in the beginning of the novel about the struggle to reach an American Dream. Death is represented by ash later on in the novella when Gatsby is described as â€Å"ashen† after his death. He was born in ash and died as ash. His life started as a struggle in a poor area and although he died wealthy, he still died in ash. The dust which â€Å"drifts endlessly† could symbolise shards of the American Dream which are helplessly out of reach of the people who live here, but drift in the air to taunt them about what they could become. The empty valley of ashes reflects the empty lives of the people who live in it. â€Å"Occasionally† grey cars enter the â€Å"desolate† area, so they made occasional breaks in the emptiness. This is parallel to the empty lives of the inhabitants. Occasionally there is a break and they have visions of hope, such as Myrtle's aspiration to be rich in a life with Tom. This also reflects Gatsby's funeral which was empty apart from Nick and Gatsby's father. Fitzgerald thought of himself as a failure as his writings were not particularly successful during his lifetime, so he may have had himself in mind when describing these lives wih failed hopes and empty dreams. This passage also gives the impression that morality in the modern world has died. As its place in the novel, the passage is between Nick meeting Tom's wife and Tom's mistress, his situation proves Tom's lack of morals. The passage is the no-mans land between the two women. Nick, the only character proved to have morals in the novella, is introduced to the â€Å"eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg† on an advertising board. The â€Å"blue and gigantic† eyes look down over the Valley of Ashes and this could be interpreted as God watching over his world. This idea is later strengthened when Wilson looks up at him and refers to him directly as God. Eckleburg, however, wears â€Å"enormous yellow spectacles† and also his vision is clouded with dust, and as we see God as our ‘all-seeing' moral guide, this could symbolise a lack of moral guidance in the jazz age of the 1920's. There is no-one to show people the way. Doctor T. J. Eckleburg is another good example of sym bolism in the passage. Sight is the link between the three paragraphs of this passage. It moves from sight being obscured by ash and dust, to clarity of sight which is implied by how suddenly the narration switches from grey and dull areas to the bright colours blue and yellow on the ‘all-seeing' symbol of T. J. Eckleburg, to train passegers observing what's going on. These are the three ways that Fitzgerald wants us to see the characters, from all angles. An example is how we learn about Gatsby and his life becomes clearer to us by the end of the novella. Life and death are symbolised by T. J. Eckleburg and ash in this passage and they are described intertwined so as to make it impossible to work out where one ends and another begins. However, mostly this passage is mostly about death: the death of morality, the American Dream and the death of hope. Without these three things, the lives of the people in the area were totally meaningless. Tony Tanners' quote about how the narrator respnds reflects the readers response to this realisation. â€Å"Nick cannot tolerate the thought of confronting a reality that is merely poor and bare, dust-covered and wrecked. There must be more than that.†

Peter Kolchin, American Slavery

For the past quarter century Edmund S. Morgan has been one of the most prolific and respected authors of early American history. This is an excellent, in depth survey of Virginia?s colonial experience, with an emphasis on how the seemingly contradictory institutions of slavery and equalitarian republicanism developed simultaneously. Indeed, Morgan argues that Virginians? definition of freedom, and their very ability to establish a republican political system, rested upon the creation of African slavery. Morgan shows that institutionalized slavery did not necessarily have to become part of British colonization; the earliest Englishmen to dream of a colonial empire hoped for the establishment of a utopian community in which natives could benefit from enlightened English governance that recognized the inherent rights of all men. Early English explorers even helped to organize revolts against the Spanish by their slaves in Latin America, and while they were motivated by their own interests in doing so, they clearly were willing to treat their slave co-conspirators as equals. However, the utopian phase of colonization died with the failed settlement at Roanoke in the 1580s. The founders of Jamestown quickly learned racism towards the Indians, whom Morgan speculates they goaded into warfare out of frustration at their own inability to support themselves. The settlement eventually became prosperous as the colonists learned to produce tobacco for market, but it was hardly the ideal society envisioned by the founders. Labor shortages were endemic, as to make a profit planters needed to control a large number of indentured servants. Unfortunately (for the planters), laborers needed only to serve for a limited period before setting up business for themselves, and thus creating competition for the planters. To check this competition, planters made it difficult for freedmen to buy lands of their own (land was plentiful, but acreage with access to shipping had been almost totally monopolized by the large planters), which resulted in freedmen foregoing planting, and becoming lazy, shiftless, and at times rebellious. Moreover, planters treated their indentured servants so poorly that as news of their condition drifted back to England, fewer of the mother country?s poor were willing to indenture themselves, especially as the burdens of overpopulation were being reduced at home.