The Black Cat: Deranged Narrator :: essays research papers

The Black Cat: Deranged Narrator Throughout the opening paragraph of "The Black Cat," the reader is introduced to a narrator who, because of his grotesque actions, has become mentally deranged and very untrustworthy, " . . . my very senses reject their own evidence." The narration of this story is in the first person, which would lead you to believe the narrator could be trusted to relate to you the true events of the story, but this is false. The narrator in this story is unreliable due to his horrid state of mind and body. The narrator cannot be relied upon to show the reader the true events of the story, these events have to be interpreted and the reader must come to his own conclusion as to what really happened. The reader is shown in the opening paragraph that he should not trust the narrator to deliver the true events of the story. The narrator admits throughout the story that his bad habits, namely alcoholism, lead to his irrational state of mind. His alcoholism was the root of his downfall. While intoxicated, the narrator mutilated his favourite pet, Pluto, causing the cat to become terrified of his master. The alienation of his cat gave the narrator even more cause to become mentally unstable. The hanging of his cat shows how the narrator has become obsessed with doing evil things for the sake of their evilness. This evilness is linked to his alcoholism. The narrator was most-likely in a drunken state when he hung his cat, which only infuriated his temper. This separation of friends had a huge effect on the narrator's deadly temper. His temper is such that anything that slightly annoyed him caused him to go into fits of rage. The fits of rage which occupy the narrator for much of the story are all linked to his pet cats. He points out that he was an animal lover in his younger days and the feeling was carried through into his maturity. His love for animals ended here. His alcoholism had driven him to avoid his animals or, when he encountered them, to physically harm them for the reason that they were there. The narrator's pet cat's were the exceptions. He held his temper back from his cats because of his love for them. This feeling disappears after time and the cats become the subject of his worst fits of rage. After each violent act upon his cats, the narrator did feel remorse at his actions. This feeling also disappears over time and, as it disappeared, his rage grew. The Black Cat: Deranged Narrator :: essays research papers The Black Cat: Deranged Narrator Throughout the opening paragraph of "The Black Cat," the reader is introduced to a narrator who, because of his grotesque actions, has become mentally deranged and very untrustworthy, " . . . my very senses reject their own evidence." The narration of this story is in the first person, which would lead you to believe the narrator could be trusted to relate to you the true events of the story, but this is false. The narrator in this story is unreliable due to his horrid state of mind and body. The narrator cannot be relied upon to show the reader the true events of the story, these events have to be interpreted and the reader must come to his own conclusion as to what really happened. The reader is shown in the opening paragraph that he should not trust the narrator to deliver the true events of the story. The narrator admits throughout the story that his bad habits, namely alcoholism, lead to his irrational state of mind. His alcoholism was the root of his downfall. While intoxicated, the narrator mutilated his favourite pet, Pluto, causing the cat to become terrified of his master. The alienation of his cat gave the narrator even more cause to become mentally unstable. The hanging of his cat shows how the narrator has become obsessed with doing evil things for the sake of their evilness. This evilness is linked to his alcoholism. The narrator was most-likely in a drunken state when he hung his cat, which only infuriated his temper. This separation of friends had a huge effect on the narrator's deadly temper. His temper is such that anything that slightly annoyed him caused him to go into fits of rage. The fits of rage which occupy the narrator for much of the story are all linked to his pet cats. He points out that he was an animal lover in his younger days and the feeling was carried through into his maturity. His love for animals ended here. His alcoholism had driven him to avoid his animals or, when he encountered them, to physically harm them for the reason that they were there. The narrator's pet cat's were the exceptions. He held his temper back from his cats because of his love for them. This feeling disappears after time and the cats become the subject of his worst fits of rage. After each violent act upon his cats, the narrator did feel remorse at his actions. This feeling also disappears over time and, as it disappeared, his rage grew.

Jollibee Case Study Essay

1. Introduction Anil K. Gupta and Vijay Govindarajan argue in their article, â€Å"Knowledge flows and the structure of control within multinational corporations†, that mainly all previous research on strategic control within multinational companies (MNCs) has paid attention to why these choose to go abroad. They instead argue that for successful offshore business, one must understand how communication flows within the different sub-units of the organization. As Jollibee Foods Corporation considers whether they should establish a fourth store in Hong Kong, it faces several challenges. One of the main challenges regards knowledge transfer between its Filipino facilities and the newly established ones abroad. It is therefore relevant to look at the following research question: What consequences does the current â€Å"strategic control over its subsidiaries† have on the knowledge transfer between the Jollibee headquarters on the Philippines and the offshore Jollibee Food plants in Hong Kong? In answering the research question, we will start by explaining the framework of Gupta & Govindarajan’s (1991) on different kinds of subsidiaries, with attention paid to knowledge transfer and their related control instruments. Further we will examine what kind of challenges Jollibee Foods Corporation is facing with its expansion to Hong Kong. Finally, the above analysis will provide us with information about the existing opportunities on the Chinese market and will enable us to suggest a reconstruction of the offshore business in Hong Kong to make it more successful. Jollibee meets several tasks in their offshoring project, but due to space limitation there will in this paper only be focus on two selected challenges, the challenges of adjusting to Chinese taste and their management structure. 2. Jollibee Foods Construction and its strategic control over its subsidiary in Hong-Kong Gupta and Govindarajan (1991) proposed that there exists a certain association between different types of subsidiary units and the strategic corporate control of that subsidiary. They defined four ideal types as; Implementor, Global innovator, Integrated Player and Local Innovator, based on the amount of knowledge that flows and the direction of this knowledge, between the subsidiary and the rest of the MNC. Upon Tingzon ´s arrival the main strategy of the offshore business has been â€Å"flag planting†. Flag planting aims at establishing a presence in each market before competitors, and so, emphasizing at implementing customer expectation, influencing taste and building brand (case p. 11). The initial plan in Hong Kong has been to become one of the major players in the market fast. The previous international strategy meant that the subsidiaries in Hong Kong functioned as implementors. An implementor is characterized by a high degree of knowledge inflow from the headquarters but with a low degree of knowledge outflow; hence mainly applying the strategy used in the parent company without any local adaption (Gupta and Govindarajan 1991). Functioning as an implementor has meant that the established Hong Kong stores have not been engaged in any knowledge creation, but simply followed instructions from the Filipino headquarters. Furthermore one can argue that Jollibee’s approach to Hong Kong has been to primarily implement the already existing practices from the Philippines. For example, the menu offered in Hong Kong is almost the same as the Filipino one, knowledge of what to sell has simply been brought in from headquarter (case page. 12) Further evidence arguing for that the Hong Kong subsidiary has been operating like an implementor can be seen in the management transfer of the CEO’s brother-in-law, from the parent company to the Hong Kong subsidiary (case page 12). In addition, the store-level managers were all Filipino while little crew were Chinese and staffing problems consequently grew. To solve the problem the Manila based Franchise Service Manager worked continuously with Hong Kong for more than six months, without success. In 1997 a dispute over discipline between the four Chinese Managers, and the five Filipino Managers, resulted in the Chinese Managers leaving Jollibee with only Filipino crew left (page 12). This points towards the subsidiaries in Hong Kong adapting the characteristic of an implementor, e.g. pure inflow of knowledge from the parent company and little outflow of knowledge from the Hong Kong subsidiary. Furthermore is the overall â€Å"flag planting† strategy of Jollibee very i ndicative of the skewed power balance between Jollibee and its subsidiaries. 3. Organizational Challenges Jollibee experienced the internal challenges of organizational culture clash between its implemented Filipino workers and the Chinese staff. Furthermore the implementation of the international menu was not as successful as expected (case p. 13). The strategy of focusing on Filipino expatriates in new markets, might has helped Jollibee’s entry to the Hong-Kong market, since they already had a distinguished costumer group of Filipinos. But as Tingzon asks in the case â€Å"might we risk boxing ourselves into a Filipino niche that prevents us from growing enough to support operations in each country?† (case p. 11). We found that the expatriate-led strategy have prevented further expansion of the company on the Hong Kong market. This is due to the local knowledge that resides in Chinese workers and managers are not exploited when only employing Filipino managers. As stated above, in the early entry into the Hong Kong market, Jollibee did also employ Chinese managers but due to their sole implementation of inflows from headquarters, clashes arose between the Chinese and the Filipino managers. Furthermore one major challenge to successfully establish a fourth store and gain more market share is to adapt the prevailing menu to the Chinese taste. The main challenge for Jollibee now is how to realize, and best use, the knowledge that resides in Chinese workers. 4. Altering the Strategy for the Hong Kong Subsidiary From the above section we can conclude that there exists several challenges of how the subsidiary in Hong Kong has previously been structured, for example has one of the sub-franchisees tried to suggest changes to the menu. To be able to attract more local costumers he proposed low fat chicken and Chinese tea, as he sensed a demand for these products among the Chinese people (case p. 12). He has tried to implement these changes for several of months but has not yet received a go-ahead from the headquarters. This indicates that Jollibee mainly sees its subsidiaries as implementors, without any outflow of local knowledge to the other subsidiaries. But for Jollibee to succeed in opening a fourth store and increase its market share on the Hong Kong market, reconstruction and adaption to the local market is crucial. The top management saw a high profit potential in Hong Kong, and therefore urged Tingzon to open the fourth store. But as the profit potential is high, the competition in Hong Kong for similar food companies, such as McDonalds, is also very intense. Jollibee Food Construction does not have the competitive advantage of a first mover and is not alone on the market. For example has their main competitor, McDonald’s, both stronger brand recognition in the Hong Kong market and they are stronger financially. Hence Jollibee has to take on a different subsidiary strategy than the â€Å"implementor†, in order to success (Hymer p. 61). With this in mind the strategy of the Hong Kong sub-division can become a successful sub-division if it adapts the characteristics of a local innovator instead of trying to be an implementor, with both low inflow and outflow of knowledge. One main challenge for Jollibee is to attract more local employees and as Gupta and Govindarajan’s proposition 3 states; under norms and administrative rationality will the composition of the top-management for the specific subsidiary consist of mainly locals if the division acts as a local innovator (Gupta and Govindarajan 1991). As an implementor has the possibility for autonomous initiative been low while it as a local innovator exists space to adapt to the local environment, e.g. for Jollibee to take on a more Chinese menu. 5. Conclusion In conclusion, as Jollibee decide whether or not to establish one more store in Hong Kong, they have to look over their strategic control over its subsidiaries. As examined above, the company has mainly viewed their subsidiaries as implementors. We found this international strategy insufficient, and that it hindered them to fully exploit the market potential in Hong Kong. The prevailing challenges for Jollibee now is how to realize and best use the knowledge that resides in Chinese workers. Due to limitations of the paper, it is only a fraction of possible explanations that have been highlighted and these revolve primarily around the importance of increasing the local engagement in the Hong Kong subsidiary, and increase the local innovation towards more local taste. Hence we argue for Jollibee’s subsidiaries in Hong Kong to adapt towards a local innovator role. 6. Bibliography Case: Bartlett, C. A. (2001). Jollibee Foods Corporation (A): International Expansion. Harvard Business School Gupta, A.K.,Govindarajan, V. (1991). Knowledge flows and the structure of control within multinational corporations. Academy of Management, Review 16(4) 768-792 Gupta, A.K., Govindarajan, V. (2000). Knowledge flows within multinational corporations. Strategic Management Journal 21, pp. 473-496. letto-Gilles, G. (2005). â€Å"Hymer ´s seminal work†, in Part III Modern Theories in Transnational Corporations and International Production. Academic Books, Copenhagen Business School. Published by Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. Schlegelmilch, B., Ambos, B., Chini, T. (2003/4). Are you ready to learn from your offshore affiliates? European Business Forum, 16

The Tain: Cuculain Hero?

Amber Borkowski Reading Literature Myths Cuchulainn: A Hero or a Killer? A mythic hero is a story figure that embarks on a journey in order to complete tasks that make them into legends of tales. Cuchulainn is a mythic hero in the Tain, a story of a war between the North and South of the land in Ireland. A hero is a term that can be a homonym with many other meanings. A person can consider a police officer, their mother, or many other examples as a hero. Even with the broad spectrum of the word, every example does surround the feeling of being protected by the person. I consider Cuchulainn to be a war-hero.Cuchulainn is a well-trained warrior that is able to perform stunts of throwing a javelin, stone, just fighting with his fists, and many more while leaving every opponent dead or too terrified to fight him. But does being able to defeat every opponent make a character a hero or just a person to be feared? Cuchulainn was raised and trained by the best of all the instructors to becom e a great warrior that would be remembered, and that is just what he did. When Cuchulainn was just a boy he left his mother and went off to join the boy troop where he would train and be protected by the troop.The war in the tale began at the point where Medb and Aillil, the queen and king of Connacht, had an argument over who had the most possessions. The two were equal until the point came where Aillil owned one great bull more than Medb. Medb was so enraged that she waged war to retrieve the equally great bull from Ulster. At this time, the Ulster army was in their pangs, unable to have the strength to fight. Cuchulainn protected the land from Medb and Aillil’s army, killing thousands of their soldiers.With Medb and Aillil’s army becoming weaker, Cuchulainn agreed to fight one great warrior a day. Every day the opponent would be defeated and this continued until the pangs lifted from Cuchulainn’s Ulsterman army. Eventually, Medb and Aillil were defeated and t here was peace in the land among the people. During the tale of the Tain, there was a section about Cuchulainn going into a warp spasm and killing men, children, and women the same. â€Å"The first warp-spasm seized Cuchulainn, and made him into a monstrous thing, hideous and shapeless, unheard of.His shanks and his joints, every knuckle and angle and organ from head to foot, shook like a tree in the flood or reed in the stream. †(Kinsella, p. 150) At this point Cuchulainn is transformed into an un-human monster with essentially no emotion or thought other than destruction. â€Å"In this great Carnage on Murtheimne Plain Cuchulainn slew one hundred and thirty kings, as well as an uncountable horde of dogs and horses, women and boys and children and rabble of all kinds. †(Kinsella, p. 156) To me this behavior seems more like a murderer’s actions than a â€Å"heroes†.Almost like a villain in a superhero movie that needs to be stopped because of their unthin kable actions. Cuchulainn was definitely a hero for being able to protect Ulster while they were not able to fight. He was a hero to his people, but was extremely feared by the opponents. Cuchulainn would also be considered a hero because he does not necessarily want to kill all of the people he did. He was just obeying the orders that he was given and obeying his king. There came points in the story where Medb and Aillil had sent people close to Cuchulainn for him to battle.At these points in the story it is understood that Cuchulainn is not a senseless killer with any type of emotions, even though in those days the value of life was not very high. To fight these men or not was a terrible decision to have to make because Cuchulainn was aware of the amazing stunts he could perform against an opponent, leaving them dead. If a person is able to defeat every opponent that is placed in battle with them, does that make them a hero or just a person that is feared by all? To answer this qu estion it really comes down to what side of the situation the person giving the opinion is on.A relatable situation in history would be of Adolf Hitler. He was a dictator that was admired by the people who followed him. The loyalty of the people allowed him to kill thousands, but if he had the strengths of Cuchulainn, he could have done it alone. Similarly, he was feared by one group and considered a hero to the other side. There is not really an answer as to Cuchulainn being a hero or just a crazy mass murderer. The answer would have to lie in which side of the war you were on. Works Cited Kinsella, Thomas. (1969). The Tain. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Tolerance essays

Tolerance essays Tolrance is the symapthy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with ones oown beliefs. Intolerance has been going on, all throughout time. Beliefs, religions, races, and even physical appearance all have intolerance twards them. Different races and skin colors have intolerace against them. Some people dont like others, just because they look different, or have a different skin color. They sometimes hate them, even though they dont know the person. They usually get this from their parents, or people who they grew up around. They are called perjudice. Adlof Hitler could not tolerate Jews. He thoughjt they were the worst thing ever. He wanted to kill them all. Everyone that didnt obey him, or follow what he stood for, he didnt like. He would probably kill them too. He didnt care about what other people though about him. He just wanted to elimiate the Jews. ...

The Difference Between Vice and Vise

The Difference Between Vice and Vise American English makes a distinction between vice (moral depravity) and vise (a tool). However, that distinction is not made in British English, where vice is used for both senses. Definitions The noun vice means an immoral or undesirable practice. In titles (such as vice president), vice means one who acts in the place of another. The expression vice versa means conversely or the other way around. In American English, the noun vise refers to a gripping or clamping tool. As a verb, vise means to force, hold, or squeeze as if with a vise. In both cases the British spelling is vice. Examples In those days the worst vice in England was pride, I guess- the worst vice of all because folks thought it was a virtue.(Carol Ryrie Brink, Caddie Woodlawn, 1936)The vice president acted as an intermediary to resolve disputes involving two or more agencies.Animals breathe in what animals breathe out, and vice versa.(Kurt Vonnegut, Cats Cradle, 1963)American usageHe went to the end of the tool bench and cranked open the vise, then slipped a small piece of sheet metal in and clamped the vise tight.(Trent Reedy, Stealing Air, 2012)American usageSometimes Rupert defined things in a new way- love grips you like a vise, then caresses you like a silk scarf, then bangs you on the head like an anvil.(Sabina Murray, A Carnivores Inquiry, 2004)British usageAfter softening a horn by boiling it in water, he flattens it in a vice before taking his razor-sharp penknife to carve a pheasant, fox, leaping salmon, or ram’s head as decoration.(Tony Greenbank, Master of the Crookmaker’s Cra ft. The Guardian [UK].,  May 4, 2015) British usageI had caught her in my arms, and the sting and torment of my remorse had closed them around her like a vice.(Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White, 1859) Usage Notes In American English, a vice is an immoral habit or practice, and a vise is a tool with closable jaws for clamping things. But in British English, the tool is spelled like the sin: vice.(Bryan A. Garner, Garners Modern English Usage, 4th  ed. Oxford University Press, 2016)Warren County deputies were called to investigate a shooting in Lake Luzerne, New York, on the evening of May 12, 2007. When they arrived, they found the victim, Damion Mosher, had sustained a wound in his abdomen from a 22-caliber bullet. Even though the deputies werent from the vice squad, they quickly discovered that the perpetrator was . . . a vise. Mosher had been discharging the bullets by clamping them in a steel vise, putting a screwdriver on the primer, and striking the screwdriver with a hammer so he could sell the brass shell casings for scrap (which goes for $1.70 a pound). Mosher was on his nearly hundredth bullet when he lost the final round.(Leland Gregory, Cruel and Unusual Idiots: Chronicles of Mea nness and Stupidity. Andrews McMeel, 2008) Practice (a) The problem with a lot of people is that what they think is a virtue is actually a _____ in disguise.(Kevin Dutton, The Wisdom of Psychopaths, 2012)(b) Migraines, the bane of my life, surged up; my head felt as if it were clamped in a powerful _____.(Maud Fontenoy, Challenging the Pacific: The First Woman to Row the Kon-Tiki Route, 2005)(c) What used to happen in fashion was that the pendulum would swing: if thered been short hair for a while, then it would go long, and _____  versa.(Sam McKnight, Kate Moss Hair Stylist: British People Wear Their Hair as a Tribal Badge. The Guardian [UK],  September 15, 2016) Answers (a) The problem with a lot of people is that what they think is a virtue is actually a vice in disguise.(Kevin Dutton, The Wisdom of Psychopaths, 2012)(b) Migraines, the bane of my life, surged up; my head felt as if it were clamped in a powerful (vise [US] or vice [UK]).(Maud Fontenoy, Challenging the Pacific: The First Woman to Row the Kon-Tiki Route, 2005)(c) What used to happen in fashion was that the pendulum would swing: if thered been short hair for a while, then it would go long,  and vice versa.(Sam McKnight, Kate Moss Hair Stylist: British People Wear Their Hair as a Tribal Badge.  The Guardian  [UK],  September 15, 2016)

Reflective report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Reflective report - Essay Example For the purpose of research, I have selected six banks, three from traditional banking sectors based in the United Kingdom (UK) and three from Islamic banking sector (Hennink, Hutter and Bailey, 2010; Wolters, 2013). I have selected performance of the banks from two different periods, that is, the pre-financial crisis era between 2005 and 2007 and post-financial crisis era between 2008 and 2012. The reason behind selection of these two periods is that it justifies the earlier studies by a number of authors that has been mentioned in the literature review. To analyze and compare the performance of the banks I have calculated financial ratios so that financial performance of the banks can be compared. The main purpose of conducting ratio analysis was to analyse the capital adequacy and profitability of the banks in context of different countries. Financial ratios were considered appropriate because these are standard measures and can be compared easily. Furthermore, to examine the position of Islamic banks with respect to that of the UK, hypothesis was tested using T-test. In the hypothesis testing, performance of Islamic banks was better that that of conventional banks was considered as the null hypothesis (Alexander, 2001). Sampling is an important part of any realistic research and there is a number of sampling methods that can be implemented in a research. However in my paper, I have implemented purposive sampling so that within a convenient sample size, appropriate research can be conducted. Purposive sampling is important from the context of this research because under this approach, the samples are selected based on certain specific characteristics that represent the population. Since the analysis was conducted based on financial data of banks, I did not conduct any primary research. Instead, the numerical figures were collected from annual reports of banks and information regarding the literature review was gathered from

Critical Issues In Police Civil Liability Essay

Critical Issues In Police Civil Liability - Essay Example There are many instances in which the police fail to prevent harm. The movie starts by a man planting a bomb timed to explode at a certain time in a car. There after a man accompanied by a woman (Joi Lansing) enters the car and starts driving ending to American- Mexico border. On there away, drug enforcement officers from the government of Mexico passed the car on foot and they do not take any action. Joi realizes that there is a problem with the car but the drug enforcement officers did not take any action or search the car to notice the bomb. Immediately after crossing the border, the car exploded and killed the occupants. The explosion of a Mexican bomb in America drew attention of Harry Shannon who was the Police Chief, Mike who was interested in investigating the issue and latter Ray Collins (the district attorney) arrived at the scene. A one legged police officer known as Orson Welles also arrived at the scene together with the district attorney. The officers carried out investigation while suspecting Sanchez who happened to be the husband to the daughter of the victim (Joanna). Quinlan and Menzies carried on with the investigation in order to identify the cause of the tragedy. At the end of the movie, Quinlan admitted that he was not genuine but used to plant evidence on people. He admitted the Menzies that the most of the people were innocent but he planted evidence to have them convicted. Quinlan attempts to kill Menzies using the Vargas gun because they had recorded him testifying on the evils which he did instead of doing police work. He manages to shoot Menzies but Menzies shoots him dead be fore shooting Vargas. At the end of the movie it is noted that Quinlan was preventing investigation by protecting the suspects. Latter Quinlan says that Sanchez had accepted the crime. It is noted that Sanchez was the one who planted the bomb to the car but Quinlan being an investigator was protecting him by