A Burlesque Biography By Mark Twain English Literature Essay Essays

A Burlesque Biography By Mark Twain English Literature Essay Essays A Burlesque Biography By Mark Twain English Literature Essay Paper A Burlesque Biography By Mark Twain English Literature Essay Paper alternatively of Higgins, is a enigma which none of us has of all time felt much desire to stir. It is a sort of vague, reasonably love affair, and we leave it entirely. All the old households do that manner. Arthour Twain was a adult male of considerable note a canvasser on the main road in William Rufus s clip. At about the age of 30 he went to one of those all right old English topographic points of resort called Newgate, to see about something, and neer returned once more. While there he died all of a sudden. Augustus Twain seems to hold made something of a splash about the twelvemonth 1160. He was as full of merriment as he could be, and used to take his old sabre and sharpen it up, and acquire in a convenient topographic point on a dark dark, and stick it through people as they went by, to see them leap. He was a born humourist. But he got to traveling excessively far with it ; and the first clip he was found depriving one of these parties, the governments removed one terminal of him, and put it up on a nice high topographic point on Temple Bar, where it could contemplate the people and have a good clip. He neer liked any state of affairs so much or stuck to it so long. Then for the following two hundred old ages the household tree shows a sequence of soldiers baronial, ebullient chaps, who ever went into conflict vocalizing, right behind the ground forces, and ever went out a-whooping, right in front of it. This is a scathing reproof to old dead Froissart s hapless humor that our household tree neer had but one limb to it, and that that one stuck out at right angles, and bore fruit winter and summer. Early on in the 15th century we have Beau Twain, called the Scholar. He wrote a beautiful, beautiful manus. And he could copy anybody s manus so closely that it was adequate to do a individual laugh his caput off to see it. He had infinite athletics with his endowment. But by and by he took a contract to interrupt rock for a route, and the raggedness of the work spoiled his manus. Still, he enjoyed life all the clip he was in the rock concern, which, with inconsiderable intervals, was some 42 old ages. In fact, he died in harness. During all those long old ages he gave such satisfaction that he neer was through with one contract a hebdomad till the authorities gave him another. He was a perfect pet. And he was ever a favourite with his fellow-artists, and was a conspicuous member of their benevolent secret society, called the Chain Gang. He ever wore his hair short, had a penchant for stripy apparels, and died lamented by the authorities. He was a sensitive loss to his state. For h e was so regular. Some old ages subsequently we have the celebrated John Morgan Twain. He came over to this state with Columbus in 1492 as a rider. He appears to hold been of a crusty, uncomfortable temperament. He complained of the nutrient all the manner over, and was ever endangering to travel ashore unless there was a alteration. He wanted fresh shad. Barely a twenty-four hours passed over his caput that he did non travel tick overing about the ship with his olfactory organ in the air, sneering about the commanding officer, and stating he did non believe Columbus cognize where he was traveling to or had of all time been there earlier. The memorable call of Land Ho! thrilled every bosom in the ship but his. He gazed for a while through a piece of smoke-cured glass at the pencilled line lying on the distant H2O, and so said: Land be hanged it s a raft! When this questionable rider came on board the ship, be brought nil with him but an old newspaper incorporating a hankie marked B. G. , one cotton sock marked L. W. C. , one woolen one marked D. F. , and a night-shirt pronounced O. M. R. And yet during the ocean trip he worried more about his bole, and gave himself more poses about it, than all the remainder of the riders put together. If the ship was down by the caput, and would non maneuver, he would travel and travel his bole farther aft, and so watch the consequence. If the ship was by the after part, he would propose to Columbus to detail some work forces to switch that luggage. In storms he had to be gagged, because his bawlings about his bole made it impossible for the work forces to hear the orders. The adult male does non look to hold been openly charged with any soberly indecent thing, but it is noted in the ship s log as a funny circumstance that albeit he brought his luggage on board the ship in a ne wspaper, he took it ashore in four short pantss, a queensware crate, and a twosome of bubbly baskets. But when he came back insinuating, in an insolent, tittuping manner, that some of this things were losing, and was traveling to seek the other riders luggage, it was excessively much, and they threw him overboard. They watched long and questioningly for him to come up, but non even a bubble rose on the softly ebbing tide. But while every one was most absorbed in staring over the side, and the involvement was momently increasing, it was observed with alarm that the vas was adrift and the anchor-cable hanging hitch from the bow. Then in the ship s dimmed and ancient log we find this quaint note: In clip it was discouvered yt ye troblesome rider hadde gone downe and got ye ground tackle, and toke ye same and solde it to ye dam sauvages from ye inside, stating yt he hadde founde it, ye sonne of a ghun! Yet this ascendant had good and baronial inherent aptitudes, and it is with pride that we call to mind the fact that he was the first white individual who of all time interested himself in the work of promoting and educating our Indians. He built a convenient gaol and set up a gallows, and to his deceasing twenty-four hours he claimed with satisfaction that he had had a more restraining and promoting influence on the Indians than any other reformist that of all time labored among them. At this point the history becomes less blunt and gabby, and stopping points suddenly by stating that the old voyager went to see his gallows execute on the first white adult male of all time hanged in America, and while at that place received hurts which terminated in his decease. The great-grandson of the Reformer flourished in 16 hundred and something, and was known in our annals as the old Admiral, though in history he had other rubrics. He was long in bid of fleets of Swift vass, good armed and manned, and did great service in travel rapidlying up bottoms. Vessels which he followed and kept his bird of Jove oculus on, ever made good just clip across the ocean. But if a ship still loitered in malice of all he could make, his outrage would turn till he could incorporate himself no longer and so he would take that ship place where he lived and maintain it at that place carefully, anticipating the proprietors to come for it, but they neer did. And he would seek to acquire the idling and sloth out of the crewmans of that ship by obliging them to take invigorating exercising and a bath. He called it walking a board. All the students liked it. At any rate, they neer found any mistake with it after seeking it. When the proprietors were late coming for their ships, the Admiral ever burned them, so that the insurance money should non be lost. At last this all right old pitch was cut down in the comprehensiveness of his old ages and awards. And to her deceasing twenty-four hours, his hapless heart-broken widow believed that if he had been cut down 15 proceedingss sooner he might hold been resuscitated. Charles Henry Twain lived during the latter portion of the 17th century, and was a avid and distinguished missionary. He converted 16 thousand South Sea island-dwellers, and taught them that a dog-tooth necklace and a brace of eyeglassess was non plenty vesture to come to divine service in. His hapless flock loved him really, really in a heartfelt way ; and when his funeral was over, they got up in a organic structure ( and came out of the eating house ) with cryings in their eyes, and stating, one to another, that he was a good stamp missionary, and they wished they had some more of him. Pah-go-to-wah-wah-pukketekeewis ( Mighty-Hunter-with-a-Hog-Eye-Twain ) adorned the center of the 18th century, and aided General Braddock with all his bosom to defy the oppressor Washington. It was this ascendant who fired 17 times at our Washington from behind a tree. So far the beautiful romantic narration in the moral story-books is right ; but when that narrative goes on to state that at the 17th unit of ammunition the awe-stricken barbarian said solemnly that that adult male was being reserved by the Great Spirit for some mighty mission, and he dared non raise his blasphemous rifle against him once more, the narrative earnestly impairs the unity of history. What he did state was: It ai nt no ( hic ) no usage. At adult male s so intoxicated he ca nt stan still long plenty for a adult male to hit him. I ( hic ) I ca nt ford to gull off any more amnition on him. That was why he stopped at the 17th unit of ammunition, and it was a good, field, prosaic ground, excessively, and one that easy commends itself to us by the eloquent, persuasive spirit of chance there is about it. I besides enjoyed the story-book narrative, but I felt a marring scruple that every Indian at Braddock s Defeat who fired at a soldier a twosome of times ( two easy grows to seventeen in a century ) , and missed him, jumped to the decision that the Great Spirit was reserving that soldier for some expansive mission ; and so I somehow feared that the lone ground why Washington s instance is remembered and the others forgotten is, that in his the prognostication came true, and in that of the others it did nt. There are non books plenty on Earth to incorporate the record of the prognostications Indians and other unauthorised parties have made ; but one may transport in his greatcoat pockets the record of all the prognostications that have been fulfilled. I will note here, in passing, that certain ascendants of mine are so exhaustively well-known in history by their assumed names, that I have non felt it to be deserving while to brood upon them, or even advert them in the order of their birth. Among these may be mentioned Richard Brinsley Twain, alias Guy Fawkes ; John Wentworth Twain, alias Sixteen-String Jack ; William Hogarth Twain, alias Jack Sheppard ; Ananias Twain, alias Baron Munchausen ; John George Twain, a.k.a. Captain Kydd ; and so there are George Francis Twain, Tom Pepper, Nebuchadnezzar, and Baalam s Ass they all belong to our household, but to a subdivision of it slightly clearly removed from the honest direct line in fact, a collateral subdivision, whose members chiefly differ from the ancient stock in that, in order to get the ill fame we have ever yearned and hungered for, they have got into a low manner of traveling to imprison alternatively of acquiring hanged. It is non good, when composing an autobiography, to follow your lineage down excessively close to your ain clip it is safest to talk merely mistily of your great-grandfather, and so skip from at that place to yourself, which I now do. I was born without dentitions and there Richard III. had the advantage of me ; but I was born without a kyphosis, likewise, and at that place I had the advantage of him. My parents were neither really hapless nor conspicuously honest. But now a idea occurs to me. My ain history would truly look so tame contrasted with that of my ascendants, that it is merely wisdom to go forth it unwritten until I am hanged. If some other lifes I have read had stopped with the lineage until a similar event occurred, it would hold been a felicitous thing for the reading populace. How does it strike you? A Child s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas ( 1914-1953 ) Word Count: 3016 One Christmas was so much like another, in those old ages around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speech production of the voices I sometimes hear a minute before slumber, that I can neer retrieve whether it snowed for six yearss and six darks when I was 12 or whether it snowed for 12 yearss and twelve darks when I was six. All the Christmases roll down toward the two-tongued sea, like a cold and hasty Moon roll uping down the sky that was our street ; and they stop at the rim of the ice-edged fish-freezing moving ridges, and I plunge my custodies in the snow and convey out whatever I can happen. In goes my manus into that wool-white bell-tongued ball of vacations resting at the rim of the carol-singing sea, and out come Mrs. Prothero and the firemen. It was on the afternoon of the Christmas Eve, and I was in Mrs. Prothero s garden, waiting for cats, with her boy Jim. It was snowing. It was ever snowing at Christmas. December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no caribous. But there were cats. Patient, cold and indurate, our custodies wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats. Sleek and long as panthers and horrible-whiskered, ptyalizing and snaping, they would slink and sidle over the white back-garden walls, and the argus-eyed huntsmans, Jim and I, fur-capped and moccasined trappers from Hudson Bay, off Mumbles Road, would hurtle our deathly sweet sand verbenas at the viridity of their eyes. The wise cats neer appeared. We were so still, Eskimo-footed north-polar sharpshooters in the muffling silence of the ageless snows eternal, of all time since Wednesday that we neer heard Mrs. Prothero s first call from her iglu at the underside of the garden. Or, if we heard it at all, it was, to us, like the faraway challenge of our enemy and quarry, the neighbour s polar cat. But shortly the voice grew louder. Fire! cried Mrs. Prothero, and she beat the dinner-gong. And we ran down the garden, with the sweet sand verbenas in our weaponries, toward the house ; and smoke, so, was pouring out of the dining room, and the tam-tam was buzzing, and Mrs. Prothero was denoting ruin like a town weeper in Pompeii. This was better than all the cats in Wales standing on the wall in a row. We bounded into the house, loaded with sweet sand verbenas, and stopped at the unfastened door of the smoke-filled room. Something was firing wholly right ; possibly it was Mr. Prothero, who ever slept at that place after noon dinner with a newspaper over his face. But he was standing in the center of the room, stating, A all right Yule! and thwacking at the fume with a slipper. Name the fire brigade, cried Mrs. Prothero as she beat the tam-tam. There wo nt be at that place, said Mr. Prothero, it s Christmas. There was no fire to be seen, merely clouds of fume and Mr. Prothero standing in the center of them, beckoning his slipper as though he were carry oning. Do something, he said. And we threw all our sweet sand verbenas into the fume I think we missed Mr. Prothero and ran out of the house to the telephone box. Let s name the constabulary every bit good, Jim said. And the ambulance. And Ernie Jenkins, he likes fires. But we merely called the fire brigade, and shortly the fire engine came and three tall work forces in helmets brought a hosiery into the house and Mr. Prothero got out merely in clip before they turned it on. Cipher could hold had a noisy Christmas Eve. And when the firemen turned off the hosiery and were standing in the moisture, smoky room, Jim s Aunt, Miss. Prothero, came downstairs and peered in at them. Jim and I waited, really softly, to hear what she would state to them. She said the right thing, ever. She looked at the three tall firemen in their shining helmets, standing among the fume and clinkers and fade outing sweet sand verbenas, and she said, Would you like anything to read? Old ages and old ages ago, when I was a male child, when there were wolves in Wales, and birds the colour of red-flannel half-slips whisked past the harp-shaped hills, when we sang and wallowed all dark and twenty-four hours in caves that smelt like Sunday afternoons in moist forepart farmhouse parlours, and we chased, with the lower jaws of deacons, the English and the bears, before the motor auto, before the wheel, before the duchess-faced Equus caballus, when we rode the daft and happy hills bareback, it snowed and it snowed. But here a little male child says: It snowed last twelvemonth, excessively. I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and so we had tea. But that was non the same snow, I say. Our snow was non merely shaken from white wash pails down the sky, it came shawling out of the land and swam and drifted out of the weaponries and custodies and organic structures of the trees ; snow grew nightlong on the roofs of the houses like a pure and gramps moss, circumstantially ivied the walls and settled on the mailman, opening the gate, like a dumb, asleep thunder-storm of white, lacerate Christmas cards. Were there mailmans so, excessively? With scattering eyes and wind-cherried olfactory organs, on spread, frozen pess they crunched up to the doors and mittened on them manly. But all that the kids could hear was a tintinnabulation of bells. You mean that the postman went rat-tat and the doors rang? I mean that the bells the kids could hear were inside them. I merely hear boom sometimes, neer bells. There were church bells, excessively. Inside them? No, no, no, in the bat-black, snowy campaniles, tugged by bishops and storks. And they rang their newss over the bound town, over the frozen froth of the pulverization and ice-cream hills, over the crepitating sea. It seemed that all the churches boomed for joy under my window ; and the weathercocks crew for Christmas, on our fencing. Get back to the mailmans. They were merely ordinary mailmans, found of walking and Canis familiariss and Christmas and the snow. They knocked on the doors with bluish brass knuckss. . . . Ours has got a black knocker. . . . And so they stood on the white Welcome mat in the small, drifted porches and huffed and puffed, doing shades with their breath, and jogged from pes to pick like little male childs desiring to travel out. And so the nowadayss? And so the Presents, after the Christmas box. And the cold mailman, with a rose on his button-nose, tingled down the tea-tray-slithered tally of the chilly glinting hill. He went in his ice-bound boots like a adult male on fishwife s slabs. He wagged his bag like a frozen camel s bulge, giddily turned the corner on one pes, and, by God, he was gone. Get back to the Presents. There were the Useful Presents: steeping silencers of the old manager yearss, and mittens made for elephantine sloths ; zebra scarfs of a substance like satiny gum that could be tug-o-warred down to the arctics ; blinding tammies like hodgepodge tea cosies and bunny-suited bearskins and balaclavas for victims of head-shrinking folks ; from aunts who ever wore wool following to the tegument there were mustached and rasping waistcoats that made you inquire why the aunts had any skin left at all ; and one time I had a small crocheted nose bag from an aunt now, alas, no longer neighing with us. And pictureless books in which little male childs, though warned with citations non to, would skate on Farmer Giles pool and did and drowned ; and books that told me everything about the WASP, except why. Travel on the Useless Presents. Bags of moist and many-colored gelatin babes and a folded flag and a false olfactory organ and a tram-conductor s cap and a machine that punched tickets and peal a bell ; neer a slingshot ; one time, by error that no 1 could explicate, a small tomahawk ; and a synthetic duck that made, when you pressed it, a most unducklike sound, a mewing moo that an ambitious cat might do who wished to be a cow ; and a picture book in which I could do the grass, the trees, the sea and the animate beings any coloring material I pleased, and still the eye-popping azure sheep are croping in the ruddy field under the rainbow-billed and pea-green birds. Hardboileds, brittle, fudge and allsorts, crunches, cracknels, baloneies, glaciers, marchpane, and butterwelsh for the Welsh. And military personnels of bright Sn soldiers who, if they could non contend, could ever run. And Snakes-and-Families and Happy Ladders. And Easy Hobbi-Games for Little Engineers, complete with instructions. Oh, easy for Leonardo ! And a whistling to do the Canis familiariss bark to wake up the old adult male following door to do him crush on the wall with his stick to agitate our image off the wall. And a package of coffin nails: you put one in your oral cavity and you stood at the corner of the street and you waited for hours, in vain, for an old lady to call on the carpet you for smoking a coffin nail, and so with a smirk you ate it. And so it was breakfast under the balloons. Were there Uncles like in our house? There are ever Uncles at Christmas. The same Uncles. And on Christmas forenoon, with dog-disturbing whistling and sugar fairies, I would scour the swatched town for the intelligence of the small universe, and happen ever a dead bird by the Post Office or by the white abandoned swings ; possibly a redbreast, all but one of his fires out. Work force and adult females wading or lift outing back from chapel, with barroom olfactory organs and wind-bussed cheeks, all albinos, powwows their stiff black clashing plumes against the irreligious snow. Mistletoe hung from the gas brackets in all the front parlours ; there was sherry and walnuts and bottled beer and crackers by the dessertspoons ; and cats in their fur-abouts watched the fires ; and the high-heaped fire bicker, all ready for the chestnuts and the mulling fire hooks. Some few big work forces sat in the forepart parlours, without their neckbands, Uncles about surely, seeking their new cigars, keeping them out judiciously at weapon ries length, returning them to their oral cavities, coughing, so keeping them out once more as though waiting for the detonation ; and some few little aunts, non wanted in the kitchen, nor anyplace else for that affair, sat on the really border of their chairs, poised and brickle, afraid to interrupt, like faded cups and disks. Not many those forenoons trod the stacking streets: an old adult male ever, fawn-bowlered, yellow-gloved and, at this clip of twelvemonth, with bickers of snow, would take his constitutional to the white bowling viridity and back, as he would take it wet or fire on Christmas Day or Doomsday ; sometimes two whole immature work forces, with large pipes blazing, no greatcoats and weave blown scarfs, would slog, unspeaking, down to the forlorn sea, to work up an appetency, to blow away the exhausts, who knows, to walk into the moving ridges until nil of them was left but the two roll uping smoke clouds of their inextinguishable sweetbriers. Then I would be slap-dashing place, the gravy odor of the dinners of others, the bird odor, the brandy, the pudding and mince, gyrating up to my anterior nariss, when out of a snow-clogged side lane would come a male child the tongue of myself, with a pink-tipped coffin nail and the violet yesteryear of a black oculus, cocky as a Bullfinch, leering al l to himself. I hated him on sight and sound, and would be about to set my Canis familiaris whistling to my lips and blow him off the face of Christmas when all of a sudden he, with a violet blink of an eye, put his whistling to his lips and blew so stridently, so high, so finely loud, that bolting faces, their cheeks bulged with goose, would press against their tinsled Windowss, the whole length of the white echoing street. For dinner we had Meleagris gallopavo and blazing pudding, and after dinner the Uncles sat in forepart of the fire, loosened all buttons, put their big moist custodies over their ticker ironss, groaned a small and slept. Mothers, aunts and sisters scuttled to and fro, bearing tureens. Auntie Bessie, who had already been frightened, twice, by a clock-work mouse, whimpered at the sideboard and had some elderberry vino. The Canis familiaris was ill. Auntie Dosie had to hold three acetylsalicylic acids, but Auntie Hannah, who liked port, stood in the center of the snowbound back y ard, singing like a big-bosomed thrush. I would blow up balloons to see how large they would blow up to ; and, when they burst, which they all did, the Uncles jumped and rumbled. In the rich and heavy afternoon, the Uncles external respiration like mahimahis and the snow descending, I would sit among festoons and Chinese lanterns and nibble day of the months and seek to do a theoretical account man-o-war, following the Instructions for Little Engineers, and bring forth what might be mistaken for a sea-going tramcar. Or I would travel out, my bright new boots whining, into the white universe, on to the seaward hill, to name on Jim and Dan and Jack and to embroider through the still streets, go forthing immense footmarks on the concealed pavings. I bet people will believe there s been hippos. What would you make if you saw a Hippo coming down our street? I d travel like this, knock! I d throw him over the railings and axial rotation him down the hill and so I d titillate him under the ear and he d wag his tail. What would you make if you saw two Hippo? Iron-flanked and bawling he-hippos clanked and battered through the scudding snow toward us as we passed Mr. Daniel s house. Let s post Mr. Daniel a snow-ball through his missive box. Let s write things in the snow. Let s write, Mr. Daniel looks like a spaniel all over his lawn. Or we walked on the white shore. Can the fishes see it s snowing? The soundless one-clouded celestial spheres drifted on to the sea. Now we were snow-blind travellers lost on the north hills, and huge dewlapped Canis familiariss, with flasks round their cervixs, ambled and shambled up to us, baying Excelsior. We returned home through the hapless streets where merely a few kids fumbled with bare ruddy fingers in the wheel-rutted snow and cat-called after us, their voices melting off, as we trudged acclivitous, into the calls of the dock birds and the hooting of ships out in the gyration bay. And so, at tea the cured Uncles would be reasonably ; and the ice bar loomed in the centre of the tabular array like a marble grave. Auntie Hannah laced her tea with rum, because it was merely one time a twelvemonth. Bringing out the tall narratives now that we told by the fire as the gaslight bubbled like a frogman. Ghosts whooed like bird of Minerva in the long darks when I dared non expression over my shoulder ; animate beings lurked in the pigeonhole under the stepss and the gas metre ticked. And I remember that we went singing carols one time, when there was nt the shave of a Moon to illume the winging streets. At the terminal of a long route was a thrust that led to a big house, and we stumbled up the darkness of the thrust that dark, each one of us afraid, each one keeping a rock in his manus in instance, and all of us excessively brave to state a word. The air current through the trees made noises as of old and unpleasant and possibly webfooted work forces wheezing in caves. We reached the black majority of the house. What shall we give them? Hark the Herald? No, Jack said, Good King Wencelas. I ll number three. One, two three, and we began to sing, our voices high and apparently distant in the snow-felted darkness round the house that was occupied by cipher we knew. We stood close together, near the dark door. Good King Wencelas looked out On the Feast of Stephen. . . And so a little, dry voice, like the voice of person who has non spoken for a long clip, joined our vocalizing: a little, dry, eggshell voice from the other side of the door: a little dry voice through the keyhole. And when we stopped running we were outdoors our house ; the forepart room was lovely ; balloons floated under the hot-water-bottle-gulping gas ; everything was good once more and shone over the town. Possibly it was a shade, Jim said. Possibly it was trolls, Dan said, who was ever reading. Let s travel in and see if there s any jelly left, Jack said. And we did that. Always on Christmas dark at that place was music. An uncle played the violin, a cousin American ginseng Cherry Ripe, and another uncle American ginseng Drake s Drum. It was really warm in the small house. Auntie Hannah, who had got on to the parsnip vino, sang a vocal about Bleeding Hearts and Death, and so another in which she said her bosom was like a Bird s Nest ; and so everybody laughed once more ; and so I went to bed. Looking through my sleeping room window, out into the moonshine and the ageless smoke-colored snow, I could see the visible radiations in the Windowss of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music lifting from them up the long, steady falling dark. I turned the gas down, I got into bed. I said some words to the stopping point and sanctum darkness, and so I slept.

The Slaughter House Five Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers

The Slaughter House Five Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers The Slaughter House Five THE NOVEL - THE PLOT - Billy Pilgrim, like Kurt Vonnegut, was an American soldier in Europe in the last year of World War II. If you come to know a combat veteran well- a veteran of that war, of the Korean War, or of the war in Vietnam- you will almost always find that his war experience was the single most important event in his life. The sights and scars of war remain with the soldier for the rest of his days, and his memories of death and killing help to shape whatever future career he may make. The same is true for Billy Pilgrim. What he saw and did during his six months on the battlefield and as a prisoner of war have dominated his life. Slaughterhouse-Five shows how Billy comes to terms with the feelings of horror, guilt, and despair that are the result of his war experiences. Billy does this by putting the events of his life in perspective. He reorganizes his life so that all of it occurs within the context of his days in Europe during the war. Thus the novel relates Billy's prewar and postwar history (including his death in 1976, which was many years in the future when Vonnegut was writing this book), but the real story of the novel is the story of Billy's wartime days. All the other events in Billy's life are merely incidental to his time as a soldier and a prisoner of war. You see them as events that come to his mind as he lives, or relives, the last months of the war in Europe. Billy reorganizes his life by using the device of time-travel. Unlike everyone else, Billy Pilgrim doesn't live his life one day after another. He has become unstuck in time, and he jumps around among the periods of his life like a flea from dog to dog. When you meet him in Chapter 2, it is December 1944 and Billy and three other American soldiers are lost in a forest far behind enemy lines. Billy closes his eyes for a moment, drifts back to a day in his past with his father at the YMCA, then suddenly opens his eyes in the future: it's 1965 and he is visiting his mother in a nursing home. He blinks, the time changes to 1958, then 1961, and then he finds himself back in the forest in December 1944. Billy doesn't have much time to wonder about what has just happened. He's captured almost immediately by German soldiers and put onto a train bound for eastern Germany. Aboard the train Billy has a great adventure in the future: on his daughter's wedding night in 1967, he is kidnapped by a flying saucer from the imaginary planet Tralfamadore. The aliens take Billy to their home planet and put him in a zoo. Then, as always seems to happen, Billy wakes up back in the war. The train arrives at a prison camp, and there a group of British officers throw a banquet for the American POWs. Before long he is traveling in time again, to a mental hospital in 1948, where he's visited by his fiance, Valencia Merble. As soon as he recovers from his nervous breakdown, Billy will be set up in business as an optometrist by Valencia's father. Billy is introduced to science fiction by his hospital roommate, Eliot Rosewater, whose favorite author is Kilgore Trout. Trout's writing is terrible, but Billy comes to admire his ideas. Billy travels in time again to Tralfamadore, where he is the most popular exhibit in the zoo. His keepers love talking to Billy because his ideas are so strange to them. He thinks, for example, that wars could be prevented if people could see into the future as he can. Next Billy wakes up on the first night of his honeymoon. After making love, Valencia wants to talk about the war. Before Billy can say much about it, he's back there himself. The American POWs are being moved to Dresden, which as an open city (of no military value) has come through the war unscathed, while almost every other German city has been heavily bombed. Billy knows that Dresden will soon be totally destroyed, even though there's nothing worth bombing there- no troops, no weapons factories, nothing but people and beautiful buildings. The Americans are housed in building number five of the Dresden slaughterhouse. Billy continues his time-travels. He survives a plane crash in 1968. A few years before that, he meets Kilgore Trout. And on Tralfamadore he tells his zoo-mate, Montana Wildhack, about the

Finance and Accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Finance and Accounting - Assignment Example The customers are seen as resources with which firms are able to create a solution that takes into consideration the needs of the customers and solve the issues and problems (Jacob & Rettinger, n.d). Service Dominant Logic Executing on the new perspective, the service dominant logic is a hyper active and a competitive market place. Old ways of performing things along with the entrenched habits tends to die slowly creating challenge for firms across the globe. It will not be taken as surprise if the biggest resistance or barriers occur from marketing perspectives which are built around the traditional concept of marketing mix. In many aspect marketing has failed as it had little control over the 4Ps. The concept of traditional marketing mix is not accurate for future use due to rise in competition and global change in the environment and therefore model of interaction has taken over model of separation through S-D logic (Lusch & Vargo, n.d) With S-D logic, customers has the ability to become a part of inbound marketing by way of using the competencies and skills to help produce a product which forms a part of core offerings for the customers. In such situation, the customers tend to take part on the marketing programs. For example IKEA, customers has helped in the production of furniture by assembling the final parts of it. In case of Dell computers, the customers can form a part of dell team which helps the team to discover new and exciting products to satisfy the needs and wants of the customers. In ALDI, customers are the part of retail staff as they select the merchandise and also cater it to the store (Lusch & Vargo, 2009). Situation where I have involved myself in the coproduction of value is in the process of buying a car. Purchasing a car is an example of lack of power of the consumers in the real world. Before associating me with S-D logic, the normal process was to visit a dealer show room where uninformed of model appears, performance of comparative p roduct, level of availability of product, financing, and the market value of the car. And even after the purchase of the car, customers are still unaware of the fact that whether they were able to achieve the real value for money spends on purchasing the car. Thus based on the analysis, I decided to check the net which tends to provide the prospective car buyers with every minute detail which are required by the customers. I have made use of the innovative web service, Edmunds.com which provides the prospective customers with complete specification of each and every model of cars along with additional features that can be fitted into the car. This process have allowed dealers to enter the decision making process but at a later stage which has further allowed me to take the entire decision. Therefore information about dealers cost and other information have made it clear that whether the great deal for me is really that great. Thus finally purchased a car from Edmunds.com and not fro m the showroom dealers which have helped me to contribute in the decision making process (Pitt, et al, 2002). With the emerging process of S-D logic, the brand tends to face major challenges and thus to incorporate with the ongoing challenges, markets should provide them with strategies such as, providing ample information regarding the product and the services in the web through which the customers

Case Study from Employment Law Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

From Employment Law - Case Study Example 312). In the case study, there are very serious violations of the law that are evident. In the first scenario, Paul faces direct sex discrimination, work place harassment and victimization. Under the Equality Act 2010 S11, sex is a protected characteristic for both male and the female. Under section 13(1) of the same act, it is unlawful to treat an individual unfairly on the grounds of sex. Such act amounts to direct sex discrimination. Paul in this case faces direct sex discrimination. This is evident in that Paul’s boss is never interested in training him for the job he was doing. Most banks of the world do train their employees before they start working because banking jobs are very demanding. Paul is further harassed by his boss. She shouts at him and down talks him in front of the customers. Shouting and use of abusive words in workplaces is a form of work place harassment (Swarnalatha, 2013, p. 2). Harassment and victimization in the place of work carries the same weight as d iscrimination. However, in some cases, work place harassment and victimization are not prohibited by the law no matter how abusive they can be. In such cases therefore, the employees are protected by the Trade Unions. Under the Trade Unions and Labor Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, the trade unions are adequately defined and equipped with adequate powers to protect the employees from any form of workplace harassment, victimization and any form of discrimination. Also, under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations Act 2006 S1 (246), the right to continuity in employments is well covered in the Act and therefore Paul has a right to go back to work. On the other hand, Amy is directly discriminated. Under the Equality Act 2010 S11, Religion is yet another protected characteristic. It is against the law to discriminate a

Mgmt 4420 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Mgmt 4420 - Essay Example Employees need continual training so that their output remains strong. The 10 Talent Management practices that I will employ in future work are: recruiting online, source work out, take advantage of social media, makes it easier for new employees to integrate into the workplace when they first arrive, establish clear goals across every department of the organization, correspond performance reviews with company objectives, provide on-the-job training, implement a system to track employees’ output, offer pay based on performance, and identify future leaders. Of the above Talent Management practices, I would focus on two main ones: create uniform goals across the organization and to offer pay that is linked with performance. I believe that these two practices are the most vital in any organization because they get overlooked much of the time. Any organization needs to be on the same page, so company goals must be communicated to every employee. Also, employees perform better when their pay is linked to their work. The extra motivation will increase output and result in profit for the

Role Of The Front Office Manager Tourism Essay

Role Of The Front Office Manager Tourism Essay Given the signification of the role of the front office manager in front office, there are some of the responsibilities that the front office manager has to take notice. Some of the major responsibilities of the front office manager include reviewing the final draft of the night audit, a daily review of the financial accounting procedures at the front desk and other guest service areas during the previous 24-hour period and an analysis of operating results; operating and monitoring the reservation system; developing and operating an effective communication system with front office staff and other department directors; supervising daily registrations and check-out; overseeing and developing employees; established in-house sales programming at the front desk; preparing budgets and cost control systems; forecasting room sales; and maintaining business relationships with regular corporate and communities leaders. The front office manager works with an assistant front office manager, a ni ght auditor, a reservation manager, and a bell captain to tend to the details of running an efficient department. These are just few of the responsibilities of the front office manager. The front office is a pivotal point in communication among in-house sales, delivery of service to the guest, and financial operations. It requires an individual who can manage the many details of guest needs, employee supervision, interdepartmental communication and transmittal of financial information. This exciting position enables the person to develop an overview of the loading property with regard to financial and communication. 2.0 ANSWER QUESTION 1 Guest checkout can indeed be a time of confusion, short tempers, and long lines, a test of the patience of the both guest and cashier. Check-in and check-out is the responsibilities of a front desk that are on duty on the particular day. Usually front desk is the first and last contact with the guests. Front desk clerk represents the hotel to the guest throughout all stage of the guests stay. Front desk clerk job involves customer service, answering the telephone, securing payment for services rendered, and resolving problem. Front desk clerk must possess a working knowledge of the reservation process and room pricing strategies. Front desk clerk also takes same-day reservation and future reservation and often need to able to sell features of the hotel along with the necessary pricing strategy guidelines. 2.1 PROBLEMS SOLVES As a position of front desk clerk, it is responsible for checking guests in and out of their rooms. When a guest arrives with a reservation, front desk clerk pulls the reservation from a computer; confirm the name, address, and length of stay; and ask for a method of payment. If a credit card is to be used, front desk clerk process the payment in the computer and have the guest sign the registration card or folio acknowledging the rates and length of stay. At check-in front desk clerk can also take cash deposits as necessary to cover any phone or other charges that may be incurred. After check-in, front desk clerk will past the guest the room key and give direction to the room, and offer to summon a bellhop to help with the luggage. Front desk clerk then place the information about the guest and room in the appropriate front desk racks and communicate the information to the appropriate hotel personnel. For guests who are walk-ins, or those who dont have reservations, front desk clerk find out each guests name, address, and the expected length of stay. If a room is available, front desk clerk quotes the rate and asks about preferences for a smoking or nonsmoking room, location, and room size. Front desk clerk should also try to sell up by suggesting that the guest spend a little extra money to obtain a larger room, one with a better view, or one with more amenities. The rest of the check-in process is the same as for guests with reservations. At check-out, front desk clerk take the guests room key, look up the account on the computer, and inform the guest how much is owed. Front desk clerk inquires whether or not everything was satisfactory. At the start of each day, front desk clerk print a report of special requests of incoming guest. Requests are recorded in the computer station at the desk and entered into a logbook, and they become part of a guests history in the computer system. The history is used each time the guest returns for a visit in order to personalize the guests experience. Another report lists any groups that will be arriving. Using it, front desk clerk can prepare materials packets, which includes a room key, for each guest to speed up check-in. Between check-ins and check-outs, the front desk clerk handles the mail and messages and the placement items in safe deposits boxes for the guests. Front desk clerk post and file all charges to the proper accounts. In addition, front desk clerk should also work closely with the housekeeping department in keeping room status reports up to date and coordinating requests for maintenance and repair work. Front desk clerk must know all safety and emergency procedures and be aware of accident prevention policies as well. Another important task is solving guest problems. Front desk clerk is the liaison or contract between the guest and the hotel. When guests have problems, they call the front desk clerk or go to the front desk personally. Front desk clerk job is to solve the problems-or quickly find someone who can solve it. Keep your guests happy by keeping everything easy for them. In turn, a satisfied guest is a repeat guest and that make dollars and sense for the hospitality professional. 2.2 PRINCIPLES FOR ACHIEVING GUEST SATISFACTION Guest satisfaction is the fulfillment of a guests wants and needs. In the hospitality industry, market share dominance is exceeding guests expectation on a regular basis. A hotel guest expects a safe, clean, comfortable sleeping room. A restaurant patron anticipates a tasty meal in a clean, pleasant atmosphere with a balance price-value relationship. Meeting these expectations is the hospitality professionals priority. The job is done only when the guest are satisfied. Below are the few principles for satisfying and keeping guests. Recognize your guest. Personalizing interactions by using the guests name is not always possible, but a sincere and warm interaction goes a long way. Make a positive first impression. The initial greeting and warm welcome are essential elements of creating a positive exchange. Guests judge your advertising claims against beliefs they already hold and accept only new information that match those beliefs. Changing a negative first impression is challenging, if not impossible. Fulfill your guests expectations. Guests expect a trouble-free environment. All the guests want is to have their needs met without aggravation. Those organizations that can exceed guest expectation will have leg up the competition. Facilitate customer decision making. The guest may not be familiar with the entire offer that provide by the hotel. Guest decisions can facilitated in subtle ways, such as carrying a flaming dessert that is sure that attract attention high on a tray. Engage the customer in dialogue about the food and beverage offering to enhance their experience and narrow the uncertainly of satisfaction they may have. Avoid violating the customers unspoken time limits. Time spent waiting always seems four times longer than it really is. Anticipate the next sequence in the service delivery and time the service accordingly. Expert your customer to remember bad experience. Also expect your customer to tell you about those bad experiences, embellishing with each retelling. The result can be an unfavorable impression on people who havent yet patronized your establishment. 3.0 CONCLUSION The functional role of front office manager can be understood by preparing a job analysis and job description. This process allows the future professional to see the major responsibilities of the job and the various departmental relationships involved. The many positions found on a front office staff have to common goal of providing hospitality to the guest. Training, empowerment, and flexibility are necessary to make the team work. Forecasting, scheduling, developing a supervisory style, motivating personnel, balancing staff personalities, delegating tasks, training and effectively communicating are only a few of the skills a good supervisor must master. It is a lifelong effort developed through continuing education and trial and error. QUESTION 2 1.0 INTRODUCTION Making reservation is a necessity for travelers and an important marketing tool for lodging establishments. Travelers in various market segments depend on a well-organized reservation system that is easily accessible through toll-free telephone numbers or on the Internet, or at a few moments notice through social networking opportunities such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to ensure a well-planned trip. Lodging establishment want to provide a continuous flow of guest, which will bring profits. A reservation system must ensure efficient means of accessing, processing, and confirming information. Without an efficient reservation system, all aspects of managing a hotel will be negatively affected. For example, while overbooking reservation may guarantee a full house for the hotel, it will also leave the guest who is turned away with a negative experience. This is not only decrease the hope of repeat business but also ensures the dissatisfied customer will tell to others of the negative experience. The reservation is an integral part of progressive front office management and the operation of a well-run system. 2.0 ANSWER QUESTION 2 Profitable business ventures rely on effective marketing principles. Effective marketing principles include reviewing people who are in need of hotel products and services, determining their needs, developing products and services that meet their needs and marketing a profit on the sale of those products and services. A well-organized reservation system allows hotels to ensure a steady flow of guest into their properties. Hotel chains, through their central reservation system, offer their members to ability to fill 30 percent or more of available rooms on nightly basis. Independent hoteliers, in contrast, have the onerous responsibility of creating exciting marketing programs to capture room business. Easy access to a chain hotels data bank of rooms help to fulfill the customers needs, as well as in reaching a targeted daily occupancy rate, average daily rate, yield percentage, and RevPAR. A reservation system is the primary represents means of producing positive cash flow and favorable income statement. 2.0 ANSWER QUESTION 2 2.1 TYPE OF RESERVATION SYSTEM There are two types of reservation systems such as Franchisee systems and Referral member systems. 2.1.1 FRANCHISEE SYSTEMS A franchisee is a hotel owner who has access to a national reservation system and services the benefits of the corporations management expertise, financial backing, national advertising, and group purchasing. A franchise member of a reservation system or a member of a reservation system or a member of a referral system gains significant advantage from interhotel property referrals, a system in which one member-property recommends another member-property to a guest, and national advertising. 2.1.1 REFFERAL MEMBER SYSTEMS A referral member of a reservation referral system, a worldwide organization that processes requests for room reservations at a particular member hotel, is a hotel developer/owner who has access to the national reservation system. Hotels that are members of the reservation system are more than able to justify the associated costs; for example, a chain property may obtain 15 to 30 percent of its daily room rentals from the national reservation system, depending on local economics and market condition. 2.2 SOURCES OF RESERVATION Guest reservations come from a variety of market segments. Some of the more common groups are corporate clients, group travelers, and leisure travelers who want to return to the same hotel. This is only one way of classifying guest reservations. The purpose of analyzing these segments is to understand the needs of each group and to provide reservation systems that meet their needs. Keep in mind that reviewing these needs will assist employee in gaining insight into guests methods of communication. 2.2.1 CORPORATE CLIENTS The corporate client is a hotel guest employed by a business or a guest of that business. Corporate clients provide a hotel with an opportunity to establish a regular flow of business during sales periods that would otherwise be flat. 2.2.2 GROUP TRAVELERS Group travelers are persons traveling as a group either on business or for leisure. Convention guests and seminar attends are examples of groups that travel on business. Participants in organized tours who pursue recreation, education, hobbies, and special interests constitute some of the leisure segment. The key to marketing reservations to this group is providing an efficient access method for planning details of a tour. 2.2.3 LEISURE TRAVELERS Leisure travelers are people who travel alone or with others to visits points of interest or relatives, or for other personal reasons. These travelers, who are often unrestricted by deadlines or schedules, are more flexible in their travel plans than are corporate clients and group travelers. They are more willing to seek someplace to stay along the way; however, some of the people in this group may want to obtain consists of many subgroups, including singles, married couples, young families, senior citizens, and student. Some of the methods the leisure travelers can use secure room reservations are travel agencies, toll-free numbers, reservation/referral systems, the Internet, Twitter and even in Facebook. 2.3 ADVANTAGES FOR RESERVATION The advantages for reservation are to prevent when customer need a place to stay overnight and the hotel are fully booking. This situation might make the customer feel disappointed when they expected the hotel is available for the rooms. The advantages for reservation are when the customer make a early book, the customer might get a discount from the hotel or even like buy 1 room free 1 room, free breakfast or free using the of the hotel. This type of promotion will satisfy the customers need and it make customer feel that the hotel are welcoming them to stay in the hotel. In other word, customer are usually are knowledgeable. Once the hotel services fulfill the customer need, the customer will sure visit the hotel when they make a next visit or they might share their experience in staying the hotel to other friend or relative so that they can also get the same services that the hotel provide. 2.4 IMPROVEMENT FOR THE EARLY RESERVATION BOOKING CUSTOMER The management of the hotel should given a plan for the customer who makes an early booking in the peak season. This holiday plan may help attract the customer who planning a holiday trip with the family member and the trip will help to build strong relationship with each of the family members. The promotion such as free breakfast, free uses the facilities in the hotel, and free tour guide to travel in the particular city. This may help to increase the sales of the hotel and even the customer will be coming back for their next trip. 3.0 CONCLUSION The reservation has addressed the hotel reservation systems. As the popularity of computerized reservation systems increases, chains and referral properties have adopted them to meets the needs of the traveling publics. Reservations ensure that corporate, group and pleasure travelers will have accommodations as their destination and provide the hotel with a steady flow of business. Determining the sources of these reservations assist the front office manager developing procedures to satisfy the needs of the guest. The traveler can use various means to make reservations, such as toll-free telephone numbers, fax numbers, the Internet and social media. The concept of customer relationship management links hospitality and technology. The management of social media applications helps develop the reservation concept.

Equality for Women Essay -- essays research papers

How would you like to earn about an extra million dollars? Is this hard to do? Then answer is no, all you have to do is be born male and graduate college. Throughout history women have strived for equality. The informal slogan of the Decade of Women became â€Å"Women do two-thirds of the world's work, receive 10 percent of the world's income and own 1 percent of the means of production† (Robbins, 354). Throughout the world the disparity of rights for women is immense. The inequalities between girls and boys are evident prior to children beginning elementary school. Girls are made aware that they are unequal to boys as soon as they start. Even different behaviors are acceptable for boys than for girls, for instance. Every time students are seated or lined up by gender, teachers are affirming that girls and boys should be treated differently. Girls are praised for being neat, quiet, and calm, whereas boys are encouraged to think independently, be active and speak up. Girls are socialized in schools to recognize popularity as being important and learn that educational performance and ability are not as important. "Girls in grades six and seven rate being popular and well-liked as more important than being perceived as competent or independent. Boys, on the other hand, are more likely to rank independence and competence as more important" (Bailey, 169). A permissive attitude towards sexual harassment is another way in which schools reinforce the socialization of girls as inferior. When schools ignore sexist, racist, homophobic, and violent interactions between students, they are giving tacit approval to such behaviors. We as a society taunt boys for throwing like a girl, or crying like a girl, which implies that being a girl is worse than being a boy. According to the American Association of University Women Report, "The clear message to both boys and girls is that girls are not worthy of respect and that appropriate behavior for boys includes exerting power over girls -- or over other, weaker boys" (Bailey, 173). "Because classrooms are microcosms of society, mirroring its strengths and ills alike, it follows that the normal socialization patterns of young children that often lead to distorted perceptions of gender roles are reflected in the classro... ...ns taking action to stop discrimination and violence against women. Work Cited Bailey, S. How Schools Shortchange Girls: The AAUW Report. New York, NY: Marlowe & Company. 1992. Henslin. Essentials of Sociology, 5th ed. Pearson Education, Inc. Pearson Longman. 1995-2005. 266–272 Mann, Judy. The difference, Growing up Female in America, New York, New York., Warner Books, Inc. 1994. 1-12. Marshall, C.S. & Reihartz, J. Gender issues in the classroom. Clearinghouse, 1997. 333- 338. Massey, Garth. Readings for Sociology Forth Edition, New York, New York. W.W. Norton & Company, 2003. 231-237. McCormick, P. Are girls taught to fail? Chicago, IL. U.S. Catholic, 60, 1995. 38-42. Robbins, Richard H. Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Allyn & Bacon Publishers, 1999. 354-355 Sullivan, Marianne. â€Å"Women's Poverty Deepens Amid Slow 2003 Recovery.† womensenews.org, 30 August 2004, 29 October 2004, [http://womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1968/context/archive] â€Å"Wage Gap Increases Between Women and Men, US Census Report.† Feminist.org. 2 September 2004. 28 October 2004. [http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=8622]

Latin American Religions Essay

What are some major attributes of Latin American Catholicism? Identify and describe at least two distinctions and include how they are distinct from Catholicism elsewhere. The Central American War had changed the priorities of the Catholic Church in Latin America. In the 1980’s, the clergy’s had decided to go against the Catholic Church mainly the Vatican despite the various threats, and began to help the poor which were struggling for their equality and their rights. The Catholic activism was in support of the change; however, it did influence guerilla movements in certain parts of Latin America such as Nicaragua, Salvador, Guatemala. This had introduced moral and spiritual justification. â€Å"Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, a wing of the church surfaced as a powerful ideological force in the struggle to end authoritarian regimes,† (Meade, T., 2010). In what ways have African religions influenced Latin American Catholicism? â€Å"Latinos are comprised of a great conglomeration of ethnicities, traditions, and customs, which are traditionally, expressed by a common language (Spanish) and religion (Catholocism). For instance, Latin American values and traditions received a great influence from Catholicism and indigenous beliefs. Similarly, African traditions also permeated the Latin American culture, especially in the Caribbean region. This unique syncretism between Catholicism, and indigenous and African traditions allowed the survival of folk traditions, which led to the creation of several healing approaches,† (www.egochicagoschools.com, 2012). Should Latin American Catholicism be considered polytheistic? Why or why not? There are various polytheistic religions that are practiced today. Many of the religions today outside of Catholicism believe in more than one God. However, the Catholics believe in one God and one God only. I do think the Catholicism needs to be consistent meaning the Catholicism that is being practices within Latin American needs to be the same everywhere else. Once others start to deviate from Catholicism then it begins to start a new religion and moves away from the beliefs of the Catholicism. Only the Vatican may assess and make changes within the Catholic Religions. How have churches fostered or hindered social changes in Latin America? After the civil war, Latin Americans had turned to other religions. For over 500 years, many Latin Americans were considered loyal to the Catholic religions. However, it quickly turned to be a stronghold to Protestants. In the Liberation area other religions had developed such as Evangelical and Pentecostal. These religions are very different from the Catholicism. These religions speak in tongue, rely on baptism, accept the Holy Spirit, and emotional rituals. With these new religions developing the social changes in Latin America does provide a much broader outlook on their beliefs. There are various groups or community gatherings within the particular religion. Each religion unites and brings together their faith and social aspects within their own community. How has Protestantism spread in Latin America in the past? Is it different than the factors that are promoting the current growth in Protestantism in this region? How and why? The Protestantism had spread in Latin America in the past due to the fact of various discrepancies within the Catholic Religion. For instance, in 1980’s, the Guatemalan’s had begun to change their beliefs and lean more to the Protestants. This was proven in 2005, when a massive amount of members of the Catholic Church had begun to leave the church as rapid growth. The new leading religion was the Pentecostal church. Many of the new religions were still created by using the Catholic religion as their foundation. Reference: A History of Modern Latin America. 1800 to the Present, Meade, T., 2010 http://ego.thechicagoschool.edu/s/843/index.aspx?sid=843&gid=3&pgid=760

American Home Products Essay Example

American Home Products Essay Example American Home Products Paper American Home Products Paper American Home Products (AHP) is a capital structure case. For the purpose of this analysis it is assumed that AHP currently has no debt. In other words it is an unlevered company. The focus of this case is that with the retirement of AHPs CEO there is an opportunity to change the capital structure of the firm by adding some debt. The issue is should debt be added and, if so, how much debt should be added. Four options will be analyzed: 0%, 30%, 50%, and 70%. Currently, due to the lack of debt, this firm only faces operating risk as opposed to financial risk. AHP has a solid five year compound annual growth rate in both earnings and dividends per share of 12.4% and 13.6% respectively. This compares favorably to a proxy company, Warner-Lambert, where the five year compound annual growth rate in both earnings and dividends per share was 3.0% and 8.0% respectively. Overall, the unlevered AHP has a history of solid returns, good growth and in general low business risk. Since we are dealing with accounting numbers in this case, certain assumptions were made for this analysis. First, since AHP has high quality earnings it is assumed that the cash and accounting numbers will be close over the long term. Second, the level of debt taken on in these scenarios is going to go into perpetuity, getting replaced as it matures. Also the risk level of future tax shields is the same as the risk level of the debt of the firm. Finally it is assumed that the firm can borrow in all three scenarios at 14%. The analysis compares AHP issuing debt and retiring equity in three scenarios: 30%, 50%, and 70%. As depicted in Figure 1, Appendix A, the unlevered value of the firm (VU) is $4665.0 million. The required return, ru, was calculated using the constant dividend growth model where the dividends/share of $1.90 divided by a current stock price of $30/share plus an average dividend increase since 1973 of 12.12% per year yielding an ru = 18.45%. When debt occurs in each scenario the market price of the firm also changes. Figure 1 in Appendix A depicts the new stock price/share for each proposed level of debt. The current price of $30/share would increase to $31.58/share for 30%, $32.21 for 50%, and $33.16/share for 50%. These new values were calculated using the current dividend ratio (unlevered stock price/share divided by the current dividend) of $30/$1.90 = 15.79. This ratio was then multiplied by the dividends per share for each of the scenarios resulting in the above stock prices. To calculate the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for each of the debt scenario we need to know the cost of debt and the cost of equity. The before-tax cost of debt is given in the case as 14%. To calculate the cost of equity, we can again turn to the constant growth model where r = (D1/P0 + g) = $2.13/$30 + 12.12% = 19.22% for the unlevered firm where D1 is the expected dividend in 1982, P0 is the current stock price, and 12.12% is the average % increase in dividends year-over-year. The results for the cost of equity at each debt level are listed in Appendix A, figure 1: 18.86%, 18.73%, and 18.54% for the 30%, 50%, and 70% scenarios respectively. Using the above values for cost of equity and debt, along with debt and equity values given in this case the WACC can now be calculated resulting in 19.22%, 17.40%, 16.36%, and 15.36% for the 0%, 30%, 50%, and 70% scenarios respectively. If the firm is able to earn simply its WACC (NPV = 0), the value of the firm is going to increase by the investment amount. If the firm earns more than its WACC, then the value of the firm should increase by the investment amount plus the amount captured by the shareholders in the positive NPV resulting in a higher market price. Of course, if the NPV is negative the value of the firm goes up less than the value of the investment. The interest expenses given in this case are a return on the debt. As discussed in class, when calculating return on assets (ROA) we can not simply divide net income by assets if a firm is using debt financing because there is a downward bias due to the interest expense. ROA determines profitability of the assets. We need to add the interest expense times (1-tax rate) to the net income before dividing by assets resulting in an ROA of 18.81% for the unlevered scenario and 20.21% for each of our debt scenarios. Comparing firm ROA against WACC for each debt scenario shows we are earning more than WACC in each case, which is good. We are not destroying shareholder value in any of these cases. ROA is the same across the scenarios since the operating risk and performance are all the same. However, ROE is not the same. The levered firm is able to earn favorable financial leverage (a.k.a. trading on the equity). ROE is listed in Figure 1 and in the case of the levered firm ROE ROA because the firm is able to earn more of those funds than the after-tax cost of debt. There is favorable financial leverage in all proposed scenarios. To determine where there is favorable versus unfavorable leverage we can perform an earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) profitability analysis. Figure 2 in Appendix B lists the calculated EBIT indifference levels with each scenario compared against one another and Figure 3 plots the unlevered firm against each proposed debt case. For expected EBIT $130.4 million we have unfavorable leverage for all debt scenarios. Whereas for any value of EBIT ~$175 million we have favorable financial leverage with the 70% scenario. The optimal capital structure is the point where the value of the firm is maximized and WACC is minimized. Adding too much debt will decrease the value of the firm due to agency and expense costs. Finally, we can compare the proposed capital structures by calculating ROA and ROE for the EBIT indifference levels. The table in Appendix C, Figure 4 lists the previously calculated indifference levels along with the new calculations for ROA and ROE at these levels. Since this comparison is limited to comparing a capital structure with debt versus an all-equity structure, ROA=ROE=after-tax cost of debt at the EBIT indifference levels. Figure 5 shows that for EBIT levels ~$130 million, the best choice is 0% debt. For EBIT levels between ~$130 and ~$152 million, the best choice is 30% debt. Between ~$152 and ~$165 million, the best option is 50% debt. And for EBIT above $165 million, the best choice is 70% debt. In summary, AHP should implement a more aggressive capital structure by leveraging the company to 70% debt since EBIT will be substantially above $165 million. I believe the capital markets would favor AHP adopting my proposed capital structure since the resulting ROE increases would show more profitability and the stock price would increase. There would be a higher degree of operating risk but given the firms outstanding past performance, solid growth, and expected future earnings this should not pose a problem.

Rise of Political Parties essays

Rise of Political Parties essays In the more than 225 years of American Independence, political parties have created partisan republicanism and political division in the United States government. The first major political parties, the Federalists and the Republicans, were created during the term of President George Washington, who warned the nation against creating political parties, which would divide the government and the American people. Despite President Washingtons warning, the rise of the two political parties, in the years after his term was inevitable. Even though the two parties were originally created by the political agendas of mainly Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, the differing views of future leaders and citizens would have eventually created different political organizations. The Federalist Party, created by Hamilton, dominated the political scene for the administration of John Adams, also a Federalist. The Republican Party, essentially created by Thomas Jefferson, controlled the executive and legislative branches during the years following Adams administration. Even though these parties were essentially created out of the differing views of Hamilton and Jefferson, a division in politics was unavoidable. Many of the leaders of the day had opposing viewpoints, including the type of government that should be formed. Federalists believed that a stronger, more central national government should control the nation, while Republicans believed that power should lie more with the states rather than a national government. An example of this can be seen in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolves, where Republicans Thomas Jefferson and James Madison told the Kentucky and Virginia state legislatures that the Federalists had violated the Constitution and states rights by creating the Sedition Act and that states should have the right to determine if the federal government had done something wrong. Republicans believed the American economy shoul...

Effective Project Financial Management Tools Case Study

Effective Project Financial Management Tools - Case Study Example However the above mentioned studies will not be discussed in details. This paper will only evaluate the effectiveness of using cost estimations and budget in financial management project of the two companies. Project financial management is a process which brings together planning, budgeting, accounting, financial reporting, internal control, auditing, procurement, disbursement and the physical performance of the project with the aim of managing project resources properly and achieving the project's development objectives (world bank group). Financial management is the main character for the success of a project process. An accurate and relevant financial information provides a basis for better decisions, thus speeding up the progress of the project and the availability of the funds. An effective financial management provides the following: An effective financial management system is vital for projects because of the need to deliver services to target groups quickly over a large geographic area to a wide variety of stakeholders. One of the tools in financial management that is widely used is the Cost estimation and budget. Budgets are the financial work plan for projects, programs and organizations. Budgets that work are based on realistic assumptions, use good cost estimates and come from organizational processes that include board and staff members (J. Rouse, P.Rouse). Project financial management processes are organized into five groups of one or more processes each: Initiating processes-authorizing the project or phase. Planning processes-defining and refining objectives and selecting the best of the alternative courses of action to attain the objectives that the project was undertaken to address. Executing processes-coordinating people and other resources to carry out the plan. Controlling processes-ensuring that project objectives are met by monitoring and measuring progress regularly to identify variances from plan so that corrective action can be taken when necessary. Closing processes-formalizing acceptance of the project or phase and bringing it to an orderly end. Cost Estimations and Budgets In the financial management done by the ISS (International Space Station) for NASA has shown that the cost growth is contributed to many factors that are beyond the control of the project manager. The Project Manager was not able to clearly communicate the justification for his budget requests and the rationale for the cost growth because NASA has lacked a single standardized accounting system and the program has not developed and maintained a baseline lifecycle cost estimate. Past efforts to control costs through budgetary constraints have failed to achieve their stated purpose and have probably exacerbated the cost growth. The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) was not able to determine the reasons for the cost increases because the data is not readily available from the Federal Highway Administration.

Casino Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Casino Management - Essay Example But the public needs to see that we are ahead of the curve on this issue. We can’t sit back and do nothing. So, the bad news is that as floor employees, you are going to have to step up your ID checks. I know that some of you will say, business is business, but we are talking about the reputation of the casino here. The good news is, that if we step up ID checks by only 25%, we’ll catch a lot more minors. Our goal is to check everyone. For every employee who successfully ID checks a minor, we will be issuing a cash bonus. I have some bad news for you. As you may have seen in the local paper, there was an expose on our casino and several other casinos on the same street. Apparently, kids from Pennsylvania as young as 16 have been taking road-trips to these casinos in order to drink and gamble, and in most cases, they were successful. ID checks are not just a formality; as you know, they are vital to a casino maintaining its status and reputation. Big time gamblers are not going to want to frequent an establishment that lets young teenagers have run off the casino floor. This situation could lead to a loss in revenue for the casino, as well as legal problems. I know that as a local business owner and a member of the town council, you are aware of the importance of casinos to our economy. In order that we continue to have the friendship of Fine Auto Parts, I am taking this proactive step to inform you that ID checks are our new top priority. We are not just talking about a significant change; we are enacting it. All floor employees have now been advised that they are to check everyone coming in the doors for ID and that there will be cash bonuses for catching these minors who are trying to sneak into our casino and ruin our  reputation.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚