Reflection Of Ovids Metamorphoss - 1330 Words

Ovids Metamorphoses is regarded as a masterpiece among the great classical Latin poems. Unlike Virgils Aeneid, which preceded it by twenty-one years, it is elusive and ironic, mythic rather than historical, and, as its name suggests, continually shifting its shape. Rather than chronicling and celebrating the monumentality of Rome and the grandeur of its emperor, Ovid here examines and reflects upon the passions and inner strengths and weaknesses of individuals. The Metamorphoses is a collection of tales rather than one complex story or set of adventures. Many scholars argue that it is unified by the recurring themes which weave in and out of the individual tales, by the presence of the poet narrator who speaks throughout the poem in a†¦show more content†¦Ovid himself characterized his faults as â€Å"a poem,† (probably Ars Amatoria) and â€Å"an indiscretion.† The â€Å"indiscretion† has not been identified, but scholars believe it was related to his fr iendship with Augustuss daughter and granddaughter, both named Julia, who openly defied the emperors policy of austere sexual morality. In the Tristia, a collection of poems he wrote in exile, Ovid reports that his despair was so great that he threw the manuscript of the Metamorphoses into the fire upon learning of his punishment. It was not the only copy of the poem, however, as the Metamorphoses was well known throughout the Middle Ages. In fact, the fourteenth century has been called the â€Å"age of Ovid† because of the widespread inclusion of his work in school curricula, and because of the familiarity with his works shown in the poetry of John Gower, Dante, and Chaucer. Ernst Robert Curtius has argued in European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages that the Metamorphoses permeated Medieval culture and literature. Often, as in the French Ovid Moralisà ©, the tales were allegorized and sanitized with appended moral tags, making erotically exciting myths appear to be cau tionary tales along the lines of Aesops fables. William Caxton, the printer, first translated parts of the Metamorphoses into English in 1480. In 1567, Arthur Golding issued the first complete English version. The poem was immensely popular and went through six printings during Shakespeares lifetime. The

Privacy And Security Facebook And Snap Chat - 1692 Words

Privacy and Security in Facebook and Snap chat The uprising of Web 2.0 has contributed to a significant rise in the number of technologies designed to enable the dissemination of user-generated content. SnapChat, Facebook, any number of blogging tools—can be referred to under a number of different labels, but the generally accepted term is â€Å"social media†. While in 2016 they are anything but new, social media continues to gain prominence to the point where they are a somewhat ubiquitous presence in contemporary society. As platforms designed to ingest high volumes of personal information, there are considerable privacy and security concerns associated with these services. Social media platforms are very broad but here, my discussion will focus mainly on Facebook and Snap chat. Everyday †¢ Over 100,000 tweets are sent †¢ 690,000 pieces of content posted on Facebook †¢ 2 million searches are made on Google †¢ Up to 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube †¢ 47,000 application software downloaded from the App Store †¢ 4,000 photos are shared on Instagram †¢ Over 580 websites are launched †¢ Around $272,000 is spent by people online (thesocialskinny.com). Continuous exposure of personal details on the Facebook and Snapchat is a means by which identity thieves, scam artists, terrorists, and stalkers utilize the information that people make available themselves (Kadri-Liis Piirsalu.2012). The surveillance and critical theory studies have better tools to conceptualize theseShow MoreRelatedThe Impact Of New Social Media Technology On Young People1491 Words   |  6 Pagespositive and negative impact of new media technologies on young people. It will explores on how new media technologies such as computer games, video games, face book, television, twitter, mobile phones, you tube, internet, television, whatsApp, Viber, Snap chat, and other modern technology are playing major role on everyday life in modern society. Introduction The word social media can be defined in many ways, social media are the platforms that enable the interactive website by engaging users to participateRead MoreThe Effects Of Social Media On Health Care1373 Words   |  6 Pagesuse of social media and other electronic communication is expanding exponentially as the number of social media outlets, platforms and applications available continue to increase. Individuals use blogs, social networking sites, video sites, online chat rooms and forums to communicate both personally and professionally with others (NCSBN, 2011). 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The surveillance technology systems are devicesRead MoreSurveillance And The Right Of Privacy1796 Words   |  8 Pagesdevices that identify monitors and track the movements and data. Surveillance has raised a lot of concerns about privacy issues in the advancing technology. The electronic devices used include the smart TV, computers, mobile device bugging, and electronic databases. Surveillance has presented numerous challenges to the right of privacy. Every individual is entitled to the right of privacy and measures should be taken to address these issues in the new technology. An advanced technology can be veryRead MoreSocial Medias Impact On American Society1598 Words   |  7 Pagesin the utilization of social media. For instance, an emerging population of physicians are using social media apps such as Snap Chat, Facebook, and YouTube to educate, display surgical, and medical procedures while being performed. 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However, it is not categorized under Social Networking in the Apple App Store, but Photo Video. It focuses on individual communication as opposed to public posting. Since mass social networking holds appeal to many users, Snapchat

Oedipus Rex Essay Summary Example For Students

Oedipus Rex Essay Summary Oedipus Rex represents one of the greatest tragedies ever written. A classical style tragedy contains six main elements within a plot. These sequences are the exposition, the rising action, the climax, the falling action and finally, the catastrophe. Oedipus Rex begins with the exposition. The exposition usually takes place in the beginning of the story and it sets up the rest of the plot. This is usually where the audience is introduced the dramatic conflict within the story. In Oedipus Rex, it is found out that the city of Thebes is besieged by a plagued that could lead to the devastation of the city. Kreon returns from Delphi and learns from the oracle that because the murderer of the former king, Laius, has never been punished, the city will suffer from a terrible plague. The killer must be captured and then either killed or banished in order to lift the plague by the gods. This is where the reader is first encounters the dramatic conflict within the story. The dramatic conflict is the murder of the former king, Laius. Oedipus, the present king, pledges to find the murderer. Oedipus declares to his people, You shall see how I stand by you, as I should, Avenging this country and the god as well (33.137) Whoever killed Laius mi ght who knows? Lay violent hands even on me -and soon. I act for the murdered king in my own interest. (33.141) The rising action begins when the blind man, Teiresias, who is a prophet arrives. He is praised by Oedipus for his vast knowledge and then is requested the name of the murderer in order to rid the country of the plague. Tieresias professes to know nothing, which angers the king. Oedipus warns the blind man about remaining silent and even speculates whether Tieresias had a hand in the murder. This angers the old man and he states that it is indeed Oedipus who is the murderer. I say that you are the murderer whom you seek. (39.149) Thus is the beginning of the rising action. We will write a custom essay on Oedipus Rex Summary specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Other elements in the rising action include when a messenger arrives and informs Oedipus that his father, Polybus has died. Initially this relieves Oedipus because this news dispels what the prophet has said. This overjoys the kings wife, Iokaste. Yet this news of your fathers death is wonderful. (56.73) This however is short lived as Oedipus recalls the prophecy regarding his mother. A messenger overhears this and tells Oedipus the story of how Polybus and Merope are not his real parents. In the meantime, Iokaste has started to put all the pieces together and begs Oedipus to stop searching for the murderer. It appears that she now realizes that the prophecy has come to fruition and she tries to save Oedipus from coming to the same realization. Iokaste begs, For Gods love, let us have no more questioning! Is your life nothing to you? My own is enough pain to bear. (58.140)The shepherd arrives but is unwilling to share the story with the king. Oedipus forces him to cooperate and the s hepherd finally decides to tell the story. He tells how he disobeyed orders by not killing the young boy out of pity. He then reveals that the infant son was the son of Laius and Iokaste. I pitied the baby, my king, And I thought that this man would take him far away To his own country. He saved him but for what a fate! For if you are what this man says you are, No man living is more wretched than Oedipus. (61.63) At last Oedipus knows the terrible truth regarding the murderer and realizes that the prophecies have indeed been fulfilled. Oedipus lashes out in anguish, Ah God! It was true! All the prophecies! Now, O Light, may I look upon you for the last time! I, Oedipus, Oedipus, damned in his birth, in his marriage damned, Damned in the blood he shed with his own hand! (62.68) This news concludes the rising action, as the climax is about the surface. .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f , .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f .postImageUrl , .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f , .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f:hover , .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f:visited , .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f:active { border:0!important; } .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f:active , .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u2a91ae75e3ce649b652ea5941841329f:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Utilitarianism Essay ThesisIokaste wanders hysterically through the building fretting over what will transpire. She then locks herself in her bedroom while the servants look on helplessly. Moments later Oedipus rushes to see what is the matter with Iokaste. He breaks down the door and then finds that Iokaste has hung herself. The climax begins when he loosens the rope and lowers her down. Oedipus then rips from her gown her golden brooches and plunges them down straight into his own eyeballs crying, No more, No more shall you look on the misery about me, The horrors of my own doing!From this hour, go in darkness. (65.45) He then stuck at his eyes again and again with the s harp golden brooches. This then concludes the climax of the story. From there the falling action and catastrophe begin. This is where Kreon the new king enters. He acts as a compassionate king and promises to give Iokaste a suitable funeral. Oedipus asks the king to banish him, but Oedipus refuses until he receives guidance from the oracle. Kreon then sends for Oedipuss two young children Antigone and Ismene. The girls come in weeping and then take their fathers side. He then tells them that he hopes that they will have happier lives than he had. Kreon then tells the children, Live where you can, be as happy as you can Happier, please God, than God has made your father. (71.279) Kreon allows Oedipus to say goodbye to his children before he is exiled, walking with the aid of a stick, himself acting out the riddle of the sphinx. Oedipus Rex, regarded by many, the greatest of all Greek tragedies displays great skill in its balancing of action, characters, and philosophical content into a smooth and flawless tragedy. The story flowed brilliantly from the beginning of the exposition where we first learn about the Laius death all the way up to the final scene where Oedipus is taken away.

Public Speaking in a Democracy

Table of Contents Introduction Discussion Conclusion Works Cited Introduction Democracy is considered to be one of the forms of political government, where the role of people is crucial indeed. The majority becomes the ruling power that supports individual freedom and equality before the law. Public speaking is regarded as one of the most effective ways to attract voters’ attention and make them believe that democratic actions are worth attention and recognition. This is why if public speaking is poor or boring for the audience, the ideas of democracy may still be unheard. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Public Speaking in a Democracy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It will be very difficult to improve the situation and take into consideration the demands and requirements of ordinary people. Public speaking actually matters for a democracy, because it is a good and sometimes the only chance to save d emocracy that is eroding now, to improve communicative skills, and to underline the problems that prevent people from happiness and well-being and need to be solved within a short period of time. Discussion Public speaking as the way to save democracy from eroding. A team of sophisticated journalists and writers admit that â€Å"democracy is eroding and that there is no need for rhetoric. Yet, if some effort is not made to help young people understand democracy and the role of public speaking in this form of government, all will truly be lost† (Evans et al., 325). Democracy is that golden middle in governmental forms that cannot be controlled too much but still serve as an example of working and organized group. This is why in order to create a proper government, it is necessary to consider the needs and interests of people and take the necessary steps to meet these demands. However, if these needs are not spoken aloud, they can be hardly recognized, let alone that they can be hardly met. Public speaking may become a powerful mean to inform people, to persuade the government to define the problems and work on them, to think about the possible improving ways, or at least to entertain people and give them a hope that everything will be better. Democracy needs to train public speaking skills. There are certain rules that need to be followed to present effective public speaking and be able to achieve positive results of these speeches. The role of public speaking is crucial indeed, this is why it is better for a democracy to train their skills as frequent as possible. First, it is obligatory to plan your speech before speaking: a speaker should clearly define a topic, purpose, and audience. Second, if there is a chance, it is better to train a speech for several times: to talk slowly, provide examples, divide the text into several meaningful parts, and leave some time for questions. Advertising Looking for essay on communication strategies? Let's se e if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Third, public speaking will be effective for a democracy in case examples, reliable facts, and evidences are given. The audience should have a chance to comprehend why a point is important and what makes its urgent. If a democracy wants to be heard, it should plan each step and each word carefully. Public speaking may improve general state of affairs from a democratic perspective. A democracy would like to support and improve a variety of tenets, and one of them is a free educational system (Evans et al., 328). People have to get a chance and study free. If citizens are not educative, they do not have enough opportunities to make decisions, introduce their thoughts, and ask for support. Public speaking should help them prove that education needs to be free. With the help of educative and informative speeches, the supporters of democracy are able to introduce their thoughts, their demands, and the ways of ho w to achieve all these demands. Letters and protests lost their effectiveness nowadays, this is why public speaking is one of the final attempts to achieve justice and comprehension. â€Å"Free elections are necessary in democracy† (Evans et al., 326), and people are deprived of the opportunity to vote and introduce own ideas for free. This is why it is high time to remember about public speaking and use it to its full extent. Conclusion In general, public speaking is integral for a democracy. For the government, it is very difficult to listen to every citizen and take into account the demands of each person. This is why it become more effective and more helpful to unite ideas, organize them in a logical way, and speak clearly and confident. If it is necessary to give one clear answer why public speaking matters for a democracy, it should sound like this: a democracy is a kind of voice of citizens, and public speaking is a means to make this voice audible to the ruling top. If this means is broken, citizens are not heard, and their demands are not taken into consideration. Ordinary people lose their chance to improve their lives, and general state of affairs worsens considerably. This is why people should save their positions, should care about their interests, and should make their speaking being noticeable. Public speaking is obligatory for a democracy, because its absence may lead to total collapse of successful society.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Public Speaking in a Democracy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Works Cited Evans, A.L, Evans, V., Lami Kanra, A. M., and Jones, O.S.L. â€Å"Public Speaking in a Democracy.† Journal of Institutional Psychology 31.4 (Dec. 2004): 325-329. This essay on Public Speaking in a Democracy was written and submitted by user London I. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Word Choice in English Composition and Literature

Word Choice in English Composition and Literature The words a writer chooses are the building materials from which he or she constructs any given piece of writing- from a poem to a speech to a thesis on thermonuclear dynamics. Strong, carefully chosen words (also known as diction) ensure that the finished work is cohesive and imparts the meaning or information the author intended. Weak word choice creates confusion and dooms a writers work either to fall short of expectations or fail to make its point entirely. Factors That Influence Good Word Choice When selecting words to achieve the maximum desired effect, a writer must take a number of factors into consideration: Meaning: Words can be chosen for either their denotative meaning, which is the definition youd find in a dictionary or the connotative meaning, which is the emotions, circumstances, or descriptive variations the word evokes.Specificity: Words that are concrete rather than abstract are more powerful in certain types of writing, specifically academic works and works of nonfiction. However, abstract words can be powerful tools when creating poetry, fiction, or persuasive rhetoric.Audience: Whether the writer seeks to engage, amuse, entertain, inform, or even incite anger, the audience is the person or persons for whom a piece of work is intended.Level of Diction: The level of diction an author chooses directly relates to the intended audience. Diction is classified into four levels of language: Formal which denotes serious  discourseInformal which denotes relaxed but polite conversationColloquial which denotes language in everyday usageSlang which denotes new, often highly informal words and phrases that evolve as a result sociolinguistic constructs such as age, class, wealth status, ethnicity, nationality, and regional dialects. Tone: Tone is an authors attitude toward a topic. When employed effectively, tone- be it contempt, awe, agreement, or outrage- is a powerful tool that writers use to achieve a desired goal or purpose.Style: Word choice is an essential  element in the style of any writer. While his or her audience may play a role in the stylistic choices a writer makes, style is the unique voice that sets one writer apart from another. The Appropriate Words for a Given Audience To be effective, a writer must choose words based on a number of factors that relate directly to the audience for whom a piece of work is intended. For example, the language chosen for a dissertation on advanced algebra would not only contain jargon specific to that field of study; the writer would also have the expectation that the intended reader possessed an advanced level of understanding in the given subject matter that at a minimum equaled, or potentially outpaced his or her own. On the other hand, an author writing a childrens book would choose age-appropriate words that kids could understand and relate to. Likewise, while a contemporary playwright is likely to use slang and colloquialism to connect with the audience, an art historian would likely use more formal language to describe a piece of work about which he or she is writing, especially if the intended audience is a peer or academic group. Choosing words that are too difficult, too technical, or too easy for your receiver can be a communication barrier. If words are too difficult or too technical, the receiver may not understand them; if words are too simple, the reader could become bored or be insulted. In either case, ​the message falls short of meeting its goals . . . Word choice is  also a consideration when communicating with receivers for whom English is not the primary language [who] may not be familiar with colloquial English. (From Business Communication, 8th Edition, by A.C. Krizan, Patricia Merrier, Joyce P. Logan, and Karen Williams. South-Western Cengage, 2011) Word Selection for Composition Word choice is an essential element for any student learning to write effectively. Appropriate word choice allows students to display their knowledge, not just about English, but with regard to any given field of study from science and mathematics to civics and history. Fast Facts: Six Principles of Word Choice for Composition Choose understandable words.Use specific, precise words.Choose strong words.Emphasize positive words.Avoid overused words.Avoid obsolete words.(Adapted from Business Communication, 8th Edition, by A.C. Krizan, Patricia Merrier, Joyce P. Logan, and Karen Williams. South-Western Cengage, 2011) The challenge for teachers of composition is to help students understand the reasoning behind the specific word choices theyve made and then letting the students know whether or not those choices work. Simply telling a student something doesnt make sense or is awkwardly phrased wont help that student become a better writer. If a students word choice is weak, inaccurate, or clichà ©d, a good teacher will not only explain how they went wrong but ask the student to rethink his or her choices based on the given feedback. Word Choice for Literature Arguably, choosing effective words when writing literature is more complicated than choosing words for composition writing. First, a writer must consider the constraints for the chosen discipline in which they are writing. Since literary pursuits as such as poetry and fiction can be broken down into an almost endless variety of niches, genres, and subgenres, this alone can be daunting. In addition, writers must also be able to distinguish themselves from other writers by selecting a vocabulary that creates and sustains a style that is authentic to their own voice. When writing for a literary audience, individual taste is yet another huge determining factor with regard to which writer a reader considers a good and who they may find intolerable. Thats because good is subjective. For example, William Faulker and Ernest Hemmingway were both considered giants of 20th-century American literature, and yet their styles of writing could not be more different. Someone who adores Faulkners languorous stream-of-consciousness style may disdain Hemmingways spare, staccato, unembellished prose, and vice versa.

Oscillation and Periodic Motion in Physics

Oscillation and Periodic Motion in Physics Oscillation refers to the repeated back and forth movement of something between two positions or states. An oscillation can be a periodic motion that repeats itself in a regular cycle, such as a sine wave- a wave with perpetual motion as in the side-to-side swing of a pendulum, or the up-and-down motion of a spring with a weight. An oscillating movement occurs around an equilibrium point or mean value. It is also known as periodic motion. A single oscillation is a complete movement, whether up and down or side to side, over a period of time. Oscillators An oscillator is a device that exhibits motion around an equilibrium point. In a pendulum clock, there is a change from potential energy to kinetic energy with each swing. At the top of the swing, potential energy is at maximum, and that energy is converted to kinetic energy as it falls and is driven back up the other side. Now again at the top, kinetic energy has dropped to zero, and potential energy is high again, powering the return swing. The frequency of the swing is translated via gears to mark time. A pendulum will lose energy over time to friction if the clock isnt corrected by a spring. Modern timepieces use the vibrations of quartz and electronic oscillators, rather than the movement of pendulums. Oscillating Motion An oscillating motion in a mechanical system is swinging side to side. It can be translated into a rotary motion (turning around in a circle) by a peg-and-slot. Rotary motion can be changed to oscillating motion by the same method. Oscillating Systems An oscillating system is an object that moves back and forth, repeatedly returning to its initial state after a period of time. At the equilibrium point, no net forces are acting on the object. This is the point in the pendulum swing when its in a vertical position. A constant force or a restoring force acts on the object to produce the oscillating motion. Variables of Oscillation Amplitude is the maximum displacement from the equilibrium point. If a pendulum swings one centimeter from the equilibrium point before beginning its return journey, the amplitude of oscillation is one centimeter.Period is the time it takes for a complete round trip by the object, returning to its initial position. If a pendulum starts on the right and takes one second to travel all the way to the left and another second to return to the right, its period is two seconds. ​Period is usually measured in seconds.Frequency is the number of cycles per unit of time. Frequency equals one divided by the period. Frequency is measured in Hertz, or cycles per second. Simple Harmonic Motion The motion of a simple harmonic oscillating system- when the restoring force is directly proportional to that of the displacement and acts in the direction opposite to that of displacement- can be described using sine and cosine functions. An example is a weight attached to a spring. When the weight is at rest, its in equilibrium. If the weight is drawn down, theres a net restoring force on the mass (potential energy). When its released, it gains momentum (kinetic energy) and keeps moving beyond the equilibrium point, gaining potential energy (restoring force) that will drive it in oscillating down again. Sources and Further Reading Fitzpatrick, Richard. Oscillations and Waves: An Introduction, 2nd ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2019.  Mittal, P.K. Oscillations, Waves and Acoustics. New Delhi, India: I.K. International Publishing House, 2010.

Assignment #1 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assignment #1 - Coursework Example The citizens enjoy several rights and freedoms but in the enjoyment of such, the people have a responsibility of ensuring that they do not hurt others. Courts therefore determine the aggrieved party and punishing the guilty party appropriately. In order to do this effectively, courts must maintain high ethical standards. The American government ensures that by developing an independent judiciary. By eliminating interference from the other two arms of the government, the judiciary enjoys the autonomy to make rulings depending on their interpretation of the law and the available evidence. Judges and prosecutors among other parties in the judiciary On the other hand must uphold high ethical standards, operate with the view of providing justice and uphold the constitutionalism in the governance of the country. The courts should provide amicable solutions to conflicts that arise in different spheres including commercial sectors among many others within the country (Halbrook, 1998). Cine should not answer the interrogations, answering the interrogations is tantamount to the party providing incriminating evidence against him or her. The Miranda rights for example is a statement that law enforcer read to suspects warning them not to talk since whatever they say is used in incriminating them in a court of law. This implies that the constitution recognizes the fact that one should not incriminate himself or herself. The prosecutor must carry out independent investigations and determine his or her own original evidence. Compelling Cine Forty Theater Group to answer the interrogations is forcing the party incriminate itself, it thus becomes appropriate for the company to reserve its thoughts on the case and use such during the court proceeding in defending itself thereby proving the other party liable. Legal proceedings have effective legislations governing the operations and actions of each party conjoined in a court case. Contempt of court is a

A response to Generation Like Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A response to Generation Like - Essay Example They could require brands to pay them for promotion, but they agree to work in exchange of goods and services. It turns out that teenagers underestimate their role in commercial culture today. Most of them tend to watch TV less and spend more and more time online using social media as a tool to express their identity. Brands cannot use conventional channels to reach and retain new audiences any more. They address Youtubers, fans, Twitter or Instagram celebrities to promote their products and they agree to do this for free. SMM advertising is very valuable because it is natural and it addresses loyal audience of viewers who identify with products liked by people they adore or follow. At the same time, kids learn fast and apply marketing strategies in their smaller channels in order to engage their fans and interact with them effectively. Overall, this documentary proves that social media marketing is not a game anymore and people engaged in it need to understand their value in

Check Your Understanding Essay Example for Free

Check Your Understanding Essay 2. A principal-agent relationships involves the owners (principals) delegating decision-making authority to managers (agents). A conflict occurs when the agents pursue acceptable levels of shareholder wealth and profit rather than a maximization of profit. They are pursuing their own self-interests. One way that the agents act in their own self-interests would be by focusing on long-term job security. This could cause the agents to limit the amount of risk taken by the firm. The firm may have an opportunity that is considered a riskier venture that could produce high profits if successful. If the venture proves to be unsuccessful, then the agent is at risk of dismissal. Therefore, the agent may avoid taking advantage of that opportunity. This may also impact decisions concerning diversification and the nature of the cash flow. The actions of the agents are impacted by their compensation package, threat of dismissal, and the threat of a takeover by new owners. In order to mitigate agency problems, agents can receive either cash compensation or long-term incentives. The issue with immediate cash compensation is that it can further promote an agent to act in his or her own self-interest. For example, agents may choose a path of diversification that will result in immediate earnings. This could inflate the quarterly earnings that are directly tied to the agents’ executive bonuses that quarter, but hurt the profitability of the company and the value of the stock in the long-run. In addition, the cash compensation could work to take away from resources that could be used in the advancement of other areas of the company in order to promote growth in the company. Long-term incentives would be a better way to reward agents in order to align their interests with the interests of the principals. These incentives include restricted or deferred stock, as well as long-term performance based payments. If an agent owned stock in the company, then maximizing shareholder wealth would be the same as maximizing his own wealth. The agent would want the company to succeed so that he or she could benefit from its success. In addition, long-term performance based rewards could motivate the agent to make decisions that will pay off in the future instead of trying to produce instant results. The decisions made would promote the growth of the company rather than the growth of short-term bonuses (McGuigan, Moyer, Harris, 2011, pp.10-11). 3. Executive bonuses are often directly linked to corporate profitability. If there is a decline in profitability in the overall marketplace, then the performance percentage used to trigger executive bonuses would be affected. Therefore, if corporate profitability declined by 20 percent, then the percentage used to trigger executive bonuses should also decline by 20 percent. However, this may not be the best option if profitability is declining because it would allow the manager a greater ability to receive a bonus even in tough economic times. This could take away from resources that the company needs in order to try to remain profitable or competitive during these times. Therefore, the owners should keep the performance trigger the same or decrease it by half of the percentage that the corporate profitability declined. This may help the managers to try to find inventive ways to still reach that percentage so that they can still receive a bonus. This could be seen as a motivator. On the other hand, this would also mean that that managers’ total performance based compensation could decrease or be eliminated altogether. This could create issues with hiring and retaining the best managers. Many companies attract and retain exceptional executives based on the benefits package that includes bonuses and other perks. A company that is unwilling to adjust the performance trigger associated with executive bonuses may have difficulty attracting managers with the desired qualifications and experience. In addition, the managers hired may choose to only stay long enough to gain work experience and improve their resume before leaving to join a company with a more desirable bonus structure. A company has to find a way to achieve a balance between rewarding managers to the point that it is detrimental to the company and finding a way to maximize the wealth of the shareholders. 6. The goal of shareholder wealth maximization model is to maximize the return to shareholders, and it is measured by the value of the firm’s common stock. It is also concerned with minimizing the risk to the shareholders’ bonuses. The model looks at the present value of all expected future cash flows (McGuigan, Moyer, Harris, 2011, p.8). a) New foreign competitors: This has the potential to decrease the value of the firm and could impact the future cash flows of a company. The introduction of competition in the marketplace can affect the profitability of a company. The level of the decrease in value would depend on the involvement of the firm in global markets and the level of competition. b) Strict pollution control: This has the potential to decrease the value of the firm if the firm cannot adapt to the changes in requirements. If the firm allows the stricter requirements to hamper production, then the value of the firm would decrease. However, if the firm has planned for this threat by having flexibility when making business plans or creating new technology to take advantage of the Go Green movement, then there is an opportunity to increase the value of the firm. c) Unionization: This would decrease the value of the firm. Unionization would create an increase in risk that involves the ability to achieve operational efficiency. There would be a threat of union strikes that could delay or stop the production of products. This would create uncertainty and could affect future cash flows. d) Increase in inflation rate: In the shareholder wealth maximization model, an increase in inflation rates would be a factor that is out of the manager’s control and influences the price of a stock. Inflation would increase the cost of goods and services, while decreasing the purchasing power of money. An increase in inflation would decrease the value of a firm. If a company has the inability to purchase the same amount of goods with its money, then there is an increase in money spent in order to get the same amount of goods. Increased spending affects cash flows and would decrease the value of the firm. e) Reduced production costs through technology: This would increase the value of the firm. The reduction in the production costs would increase the overall profit. In addition, it has the potential to create more resources within the firm. The extra money from reduced costs could be used to improve other areas of the business in order to grow the business. This has the potential to increase future cash flows, which adds value to the company.

Callisto the Satellite of Jupiter Essay -- Astronomy

It’s easy to see why not much attention is paid to Callisto. For four hundred years, Callisto appeared only as the fourth dot away when gazing at Jupiter through a telescope. It also didn’t help Callisto gain attention by orbiting Jupiter. Jupiter may be one of the most intriguing objects that astronomers have yet to study. Jupiter is the king of the planets. With its complex bands and zones, Great Red Spot, and sheer size, Jupiter has captured our imaginations and has pushed us to learn and explore all we can about it. Now, with our Pioneer, Voyager, and especially Galileo spacecrafts, we have uncovered mysteries of Callisto that give our minds and imaginations quite a workout. John D. Anderson used Radio Doppler data collected by the Deep Space Network from five encounters of the Galileo spacecraft with Callisto. From this data him and his team found that Callisto has a mean radius of 2410.3 km, with no detectable deviation from sphericity. They assembled this data measuring three principle axes, and all three axes were equal to the mean radius with a realistic error of 1.5 km (Anderson et al., 2001). This places Callisto as the third largest satellite in the Solar System, slightly smaller than Mercury, but 1330 km in radius larger than Pluto. Callisto does have an atmosphere. This is not comparable to the atmosphere of Titan or any other planet with a significant atmosphere. Nonetheless, an off-limb scan of Callisto was conducted by the Galileo near-infrared mapping spectrometer in hopes to detect a carbon dioxide atmosphere. Airglow in the 4.26 ÃŽ ¼m carbon dioxide band was indeed observed up to 100 km above the surface. This indicates the presence of a tenuous carbon dioxide atmosphere with surface pressure o... ...820 - 821. Dutch, Steven. "Crater Forms." Natural and Applied Sciences. 10 05. 1999. University of Wisconsin. 07 12. 2005 . Kivelson, M. G. et al. (1999). Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Science, 104, A3, 4609- 4625 Moore J., and Malin M. (1988). Geophys. Res. Lett., 5, 225. Schenk P. (1993). Journal ofGeophysics Research, 98, 7475. Spudis, Paul. The Geology of Multi-Ring Impact Basins. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Thomas, C. and Ghail, R.C.. "The Internal Structure of Callisto." Lunar and Planetary Science 2002: 1196-1197. Thorarinsson, S. (1957) The JÃ ¶kulhlaup from the Katla area in 1955 compared with other JÃ ¶kulhlaups in Iceland. JÃ ¶kull 7, 21-25 Wagner, R., Wolf, U, and Neukum, G.. "Crater Size Distribution on Callisto." Lunar and Planetary Science 2004: 1964-1965.

Evaluating the effects that the alternative approaches may have on the structure and functions of WHSmith, and how they achieve their objectives Essay

Evaluating the effects that the alternative approaches may have on the structure and functions of WHSmith, and how they achieve their objectives When looking at effects that will arise due to alternative approaches WHSmith could change to help the company meet its objectives, I must look how these changes will affect the structure, how the functions will be affected and how it will help them to meet their objectives. When looking at the first alternative approach suggested to WHSmith the first problem that would arise would be that new members of staff would be needed. These could either be recruited by the training. Obviously, this training will need to be very intense as they will have to be able solve any problems that may occur in every situation so that customers will be kept happy and will feel that the store are trying their best to please them in the Internet cafe. Also the communications supervisor or current employees would need to be re-trained so that they will be able to either help run the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, or to become a technician – so that if there are any problems in which computers encounter any problems or fail to work then either these new or current employees should be able to fix the problem. The managers may need external training as WHSmith, Milton Keynes will probably not have the correct resources to train up these managers efficiently, meaning they may need off-the-job training either at a branch that may have the correct training staff, or at a college where they can learn this management role. This will mean there will be an added cost to the business, as staff are being trained away from the store, but this should pay off as it will be affective and will allow the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ to be very well run. Also this will mean external communications will improve, as the store will need to have better links with the off-the-job training centre – which may be a college so that both can communicate and ensure that the training given is correct to the line of work. This alternative approach of better meeting the objectives will mean that the organisational structure of WHSmith will change. This is because new levels will be created within the structure, which could either be adding new people to the â€Å"sales staff† part, which would not really make a big impact on the structure as it will still look the same, just there will be a few more people added to the bottom, which should be ok as communication is good in store and should not change due to a few extra employees. They could also consult with the manager about any thing that may need to be changed in this â€Å"Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Ã¢â‚¬  to help profits to be increased, and increase the amount of customers using the computer. However with a new manager or managers that may be needed within the store to help the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ to be run effectively, it will have bigger effect on the organisation structure. This is because they will need to be added to the sales and service supervisor management levels as they will be providing service to customers and also sales, as any food that may be on sale will count as sales towards the business, as it will increase the companies profit. This will mean the structure will become bigger, and will have a wider level where the sales and service supervisors, which will benefit sales staff as they will have more shop floor supervisors to consult if they cannot deal with customers for one reason or another. This will also benefit customers, as sales staff will spend less time looking for supervisors if they are needed – due to their being more there. However with this widening of the structure taking place it will mean more wages will need to be paid out and the managers will have to supervise more line managers, which could prove difficult if there are lots of different problems, which may then mean more senior managers may need to be brought in to help keep the store running effectively and smoothly – again increasing staff wages payments per month. But this may benefit the store in the long run as customers will be happier and this should bring in more income. This alternative approach will also affect the external communications. This is because if new computers are being bought in they will be very powerful, and will probably all have up-to-date equipment on. This would mean that the office could network up to the main computer, which would mean it would be much newer then the one that is currently in place at the moment. This could mean that if other stores are up-to-date with the same technology as WHSmith, Milton Keynes they could do video-conferencing with each other, and possibly with head office as well. Thus, the manager would not need to be called away from the branch for a meeting that is in, e.g. Aylesbury, as happens quite frequently. This would save a lot of time for him, which would also mean travelling costs and the time wasted driving there would be saved, as a result of this video-conferencing. Therefore, Ian wouldn’t have to leave his office for these meetings to take place – which would be a massive advantage. This would happen as a result of the computers being bought for the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, which would not be any extra cost to the store, as it would already be in place. Therefore the external communications would improve with other branches and head office as they could link up very quickly with each, and also see each other, which could not happen with any other form of communication. Also the external communications would improve because with this new computer in the managers office CD’s could be produced which would have all pictures, details, prices and information of all products in store. These could then be sent to all regular customers who will have the technology to view this CD, meaning they could view products and order them at home, meaning they wouldn’t have to go into the store. This would be very advantageous to disabled people. The internal communications will also be affected, as more levels of employees and managers on the shop floor will mean that more internal phones will be needed – to enable good communication to still be present in store. This will not cost that much and will be very advantageous as customers will be kept happy, due to the inexpensive internal phones. Also new daily-briefings may be needed so that separate briefings can be held for sales employees who work in the main part of the store selling products, and one held for those who are going to be working in the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. This is so that sales staff do not have to listen to the briefing to the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ staff, as they will not need to know this information, as they don’t work there. This will take longer for the manager to carry out, but will be effective as the manager will not have to waste time only talking to a few members of staff in a big group, who do not understand what they are talking about, which will mean they are sitting in the staff room getting paid to listen to irrelevant information. The separate briefings will mean either sales staff or Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ employees can be working and using the time more effectively whilst the other group are being talked to, which will save company time and money. The objectives that will be met from producing this Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is that most of them are to do with â€Å"customer satisfaction† – which would not be a problem with this new change that could take place in store. Another objective could then be created from this new â€Å"Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Ã¢â‚¬  within WHSmith, which could be something like, â€Å"Try to help customers satisfy their every need in store† which could then aim to be achieved along with the other eight objectives, of which five are currently being met. Specific objectives that will be met due to this Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ being produced are that WHSmith will be â€Å"delivering the best in service†, as they will have bought in lots of new staff and management to help ensure high standards of service are still being met. This will mean that customers will be kept happy, as there will be lots of staff at hand for their every need. Also the objective of â€Å"providing value for money† will be met because the prices for the goods in store will be low and satisfying for customers – to ensure they will be happy in store and spend lots of money there. Another objective that will be met from the new Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is that they are â€Å"continually raising standards of service in all areas of the business.† This objective also interlinks with â€Å"leading the industry in the innovative use of technology.† This is because the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ will have brought in very hi-tech equipment, which will be available for customers in store. This kind of technology is not likely to be available in other rival stores which will suggest to customers, why bother going to these stores when WHSmith is providing new technology and low prices? This is what WHSmith wants customers to think so that these objectives are being met due to the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. The store is raising standards of service due to the new staff that are going to be employed in store – so that service will be quickened up. Also the service will be improved due to their being more varieties of things to do in store, which will make customers have more choice whether they shop or go on the Internet which shows they are being considered throughout the changes in store, meaning service levels are being improved too. This shows that the opening of the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ would be good for meeting objectives, as a new objective can be produced and aimed to be met, as well as at least three current objectives being met even more then they are already, which would be a great achievement for the store as a whole. The effects that the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ will have on the functions of the business is that a new department may need to be created in store to enable the computer side of the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ to be run smoothly. This department may be run by only a few people but will need to be in permanent contact with the shop floor to enable any problems that have arisen to be put right quickly. These problems could range from the computers freezing to any other list of problems that can occur from computers. This department will need to have highly skilled employees, who have had off-the-job training, so that any problems can be dealt with. This department could be called the ICT department as it is dealing with communications between employees and staff, and also technology from the hi-tech computers. This department will need to be in close contact with the finance department. This is because vast amounts of money should be taken from either the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ side of the creation, or from customers who are paying to use the computers. This will mean change will need to be kept at the tills as customers who spend small amounts of cash with a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20 will not expect 50p’s in change! Also money will need to be counted by the cash office either once or twice a day from the tills and receipts checked to ensure enough business is being bought in, and if it is not then why not. Another department that may need to be created within the store is a health and hygiene department. This is because the food that will either be created or bought in to the store will need to be of a high standard so that customers are kept happy and satisfied. It also needs to meet health levels so that customers do not get food poisoning from any food consumed in store. This department will also need to be in close contact with the head office of WHSmith to ensure that standards are being met and that they are happy with what is being done in store. This department will also need to be in close contact with the trading department. This is so that they can buy in extra goods that can then be dispatched to the Milton Keynes branch so that they can be sold. This will also mean that the external communications will need to be good so that the trading department will buy in the correct good to be sold. When looking at the idea of having a clocking-in system, this alternative approach to better help the store in all aspects, will obviously have a positive effect on WHSmith. One problem of bringing in this clocking-in system will be that the system will need to be installed in store. This will not be too expensive to do, but lots of cards (built in with chips) will be needed so that all employees can have them when they go into work. This will mean a meeting will need to be held so that staff can receive their cards and they will also need to be informed about what to do upon entering work with their cards. The first positive aspect this system will mean that staff will not have â€Å"tick† their name off a list by the managers office when they start and finish work – stating the amount of hours they have worked. This is because the system will take down the name of the employee, the time they clocked in, the time they clocked out and the dates they have worked. This can then, if it is hi-tech enough, be linked up to a computer so that the hours worked of all employees can be sent to head office where pay slips are produced so the hours sheets will not need to be checked by the member of staff employed in that area will not have to check hours have been entered correctly be employees (and that someone hasn’t put they have worked 8 hours when they have only worked 4!) This will mean that this member of staff will have more time in the other areas of worked they are employed in. However as this member of staff only works Sundays at this store, and works at other stores during the week checking the time sheets there, as they don’t have clocking in systems, she may not be needed at the Milton Keynes branch. This will be an advantage to the store as it will save outgoings, (wages), on employing her. Also another positive aspect this will have on the store is that it will mean it will save lots of different time sheets being printed off, as 5 sheets are needed each week for employees to tick their names and hours off, which can add up over time. Also if there was a fire it wouldn’t be too bad because before the paper would have been burnt, but now the clocking in system will be strong and will probably not be destroyed by a fire. This would have meant all staff members; hours would have been lost, which may have meant they didn’t get paid for hours worked due to this fire. This will not happen now due to the clocking-in system. The organisational structure of the store will only be slightly affected by this clocking-in system. This is because one of the sales and service supervisors who used to check all the hours worked and that all the time sheets were correct on each Sunday will no longer be required. This is because the clocking-in system will automatically calculate the hours as it is linked up to a computer – meaning there will be no chance of human error. This will make the structure of the store slightly narrower, but due to the organisational structure included in this coursework it cannot be seen as only two sales and service supervisors have been included, as I couldn’t fit on the correct amount to the chart. This will mean slightly less wages will need to be paid out – which again is another advantage of the system. This alternative approach will also affect the external communications. This is because the clocking-in system will mean that not as many communications will need to take place. This is due to the ability of the clocking-in system to calculate the hours worked by employees, and the days that they have worked. This can then be put into a database (like Excel) and this can be sent via E-mail or Electronic Data Interchange to Head Office. This will mean that less communication will be needed between the Milton Keynes branch and Head Office. This is because before the clocking-in system was introduced, one of the sales and service supervisors had to calculate all the hours worked by employees over the week, add these up and send a letter to Head Office confirming these hours worked. This meant that it took time for Head Office to receive the time sheets – and there was also a chance that these hours could get lost in the post. This is why the clocking-in system can help affect thi s external communication with Head Office, because it is up to date and links to computers, meaning e-mails can be sent rather than post. Also the internal communications will be affected because the clocking-in system will help staff in store to know that they are going to be finishing when they are supposed to be. Also staff will know where other staff members are at a specified time as the rota’s will be correct and will not be running 10 minutes late due to the unpunctuality of some staff. This will mean communications in store will be good and will help staff to feel happy, as they will not be working when someone else should be – as they are late. The amount of internal communications can also be reduced due to the clocking-in system. This is because before when staff were late other staff members and the manager had to discuss people being late, and then this meant the manager had to speak to the employee. With the new clocking-in system in space it will mean the communications between the employees who were not late but wanted to tell the manager about those who were not on time will not be needed as the clocking-I system will be able to tell the manager exactly who was late and when. This can mean that, say, at the end of the month the manager can talk to all unpunctual employees as a whole about this problem, and what they are going to do about it in order for them to keep their job. This will mean that the manager will not have to talk to individuals, which would be very time consuming, and a waste of company time so the internal communications will help to be kept to only the most important matters about the store and customers – not about staff being late. The objectives that will be met from introducing this clocking-in system are that staff can be kept â€Å"inspired and motivated.† The way this can be achieved is by using the system to see which employees turn up for work each day. This can mean that staff who turn up for work early on a regular or continuous basis can be rewarded. This could be in the form of giving them a choice of what work they want to do, or give them a higher discount on the goods in store. This will mean that everyone who is employed in the store will want to turn up for work early to enable them to get one of these rewards. These are only examples of rewards and could be changed by the store depending on different aspects, e.g. costs of supplying the rewards etc. This will mean that staff are turning up earlier for work each day, which will mean they will start earlier and will get more done throughout the day. This will mean that staff are being kept motivated as they will want to gain the rewards on offer by turning up earlier, and they will also be kept motivated as they can do things in store which will be picked up by the manager – which may also help them to gain a reward of some description. Another objective that can be met from the clocking-in system is that the store will be â€Å"delivering the best in service.† The way this will be met is because everything in the store will be running to the correct time – which will help to keep staff happy. This will mean they will be in a good mood when they come to communicate or serve customers. Therefore, the members of staff will provide a high level or even the â€Å"very best† in service to customers as they have no excuse not to. This will mean customers will be kept happy with the high service being provided, due to the clocking-in system keeping things running smoothly and to time in store. A final objective, which can be helped to be met due to the new system in store, is â€Å"raising standards of service within the business.† This ties in with the previous objective. The way this can be met is because with staff in store continually being punctual for work then this is the first step of raising service levels in store. This is because with staff all present in store customers will be able to be served easily – meaning service is high. The way the clocking-in system will help raise standards of service will work in the same way, as punctuality is a key to helping service remain high. Also staff will be kept happy – as mentioned in the previous objective, which will mean staff presence and pleasantness will help raise standards of service across the store. The effects that the clocking-in system will have on the functions of the business are that not much will really change due to this clocking-in system. This is because at the moment the only things that are present are times sheets, which are on the wall by the manager’s office. The store is too small to have a new department created and would be a waste of time and money creating it as it is not needed. This is because all the work takes place at Head Office as they create all the payslips relating to hours worked. The Milton Keynes store does not do this. If anything were to change in the area of the functions in the MK store it would be that the managers office may need to be increased in size. This is because the manager may need to employ someone (or keep the sales and service supervisor) to deal with the time sheets that have been sent to the computer in there using the clocking-in system. This is so that they can be sent to Head Office. Obviously, this change will not be very big so the effects the clocking-in system will have on the store is minimal, meaning no extra money will need to be spent to enable the system to be more effective, which is a good thing. When looking at whether the installation of more tills in WHSmith, Milton Keynes, it is obvious this will have a positive effect on the store. This was explained in A1 but will basically help to keep queuing times shortened which will please customers. This will not cost too much to do, but should be done after Christmas when the new tills are installed. This will ultimately help to increase the profits of the store. The effect that the tills will have on the organisational structure is that it will mean the Milton Keynes structure will need to become bigger. This is because if more tills are to become open it will mean new staff will need to be recruited and trained so that they can operate on either the â€Å"old† tills, or they could work on the â€Å"new† tills. This will mean that they will also need to be trained in other aspects of work around the store, as they would only need to go on the tills when it becomes busy. This will mean that the structure of the branch will become wider at the bottom – which is where all the sales floor staff are. Therefore, it will mean the sales and service supervisors will have more employees to look after and support when they need help or are unsure what to do. This may mean that a new supervisor may be needed to help cope with the demand from the sales staff as the run up to Christmas can be very busy and demanding – which cou ld become very stressful on them. Because there are more staff it will mean that the internal communication will be affected in a negative way. The way this will happen is because there will be more sales staff than there has ever been working on the shop floor. As there will be an increased amount working it will mean that the senior people in the stores (manager, assistant manager, operations supervisor etc) will have more people to deal with. This can make it difficult to deal with individual members of staff or to talk to them, as they will not have enough time to talk to individuals. This may make some employees feel neglected and that they are not being recognised due to the fact that they have a lack of communication with these senior workers in store. This will not be because they do not want to talk with employees, it will be because they will not be able to as they are very busy people and have a lot of work to do. This may mean that more staff meetings may need to be held more frequently to help bring managers and employees together so that they can communicate with each other – as this may be the only way to help everyone keep in contact. However, this cannot happen during work time as customers will need to be served and they cannot just leave the store unattended! This/These meeting/s may therefore have to take place after work one day when the store is closed. But will any employees want to stay behind work to have meetings? Very few may want to do this, meaning there will be a breakdown in communication in store, which will not have a very good impact on the working environment. This may mean employees may have to be paid money to stay for the meetings as overtime, which will cost the company money, which should not need to happen. This is why more tills will have a negative effect on the internal communication in store. The external communications will also be affected. The way this will happen is because there will be a better communication between customers and employees. This will be due to the increase in the amount of tills in store because new employees will be needed in order for the tills to be run successfully. This will therefore mean there will be additional members of staff to help accommodate customers’ needs, in any way that they need them to be sorted. This will mean that there will be more communication between employees and customers as there will be more of them, and it will also mean there will be stronger links between the two. This will therefore mean that communications between the two will be affected in a positive way as customers will be able to find help easier in store when they need it, which will also help them to remain pleased and will make them want to carry on shopping in Smith’s for these reasons. The objectives that will be met from installing new tills are that it will show that the store is â€Å"continually raising standards of service in the business.† This is because the increased amount of tills in store will mean that it is proving to the customers that they are trying to help to increase service levels and reduce queuing times. This is a good thing because if they are showing they can improve one thing in store (amount of tills), it will show that numerous other things can be improved as well and will not take masses amounts of time to do, as the tills have not. The increased amount of tills will also show that more employees have been taken on and have been trained to high standards, meaning no matter which till the customer purchases their goods from they will still be served at a high level, which is a good thing and helps to prove that the objective is being met. Another objective, which is being met from introducing new tills, is that employees will be â⠂¬Å"kept motivated. † The reason for this is that with new tills it will mean that new employees will be needed. This will mean that the new employees will only need to go on the tills when it becomes busy. However, speaking from experience, working on the tills in store can become very tedious after periods of time. This is because of the same actions made possibly hundreds of times in a short period of time on busy days. This can make staff feel de-motivated as they become bored doing the same thing over and over. But due to these tills only being needed to be opened when it is busy, they will only need to be open for certain periods of time meaning the employees who work on these tills will be doing different work when the tills are shut. This can mean that when they are working around the shop floor they may enjoy it more and feel more motivated. But when they get bored of working around the shop they may be needed on the tills again. This will make them feel more motivated when they go back on the tills – and if this process continues to carry on (working on tills and then on the shop floor) they may feel less bored and will enjoy their work more, which will in turn mean customers will be treated better, which means the introduction of more tills will help this objective to be met better. The effects that the increased amount of tills will have on the functions of the business are that it will mean that the cash office that is in store may need to either be increased in size or it may need to have more employees (of authority) working in there. The reason for this is because busy days (weekends) will mean the new tills will most probably be open for a majority of the day, if not all. This will mean there will be a bigger demand from employees to be kept up-to-date on their tills. The most important things that are needed on the tills are that change needs to be kept topped up in the tills, gift vouchers run out regularly and need replacing often – especially at Christmas as they are given as presents a lot, phone vouchers also sell fast as well as stamps. Activation codes for magazine subscriptions are also kept in the till in few amounts and because there is an offer of 3 for 2 it encourages customers to buy 3, which means 3 activation codes are needed. This will mean there will be a bigger demand from the tills as there will be more that need to be kept toped up. The reason why vast amounts of cash, gift vouchers, stamps and phone vouchers are not kept in the tills is because if there was a robbery to occur in store it is very easy for the till to be removed from its case. This is made easier as notes, which are put in the counter cache by employees, are on the other side of the till when it is open. This makes the till an easy target for robbers to take – which is why WHSmith, Milton Keynes does not run the risk of keeping masses of notes, coins or anything else in the till. This is why someone else may need to be employed in the cash office – so that it can be run efficiently and so that tills can be refreshed when necessary, without any difficulty. The other function of the store, which may be affected by more tills, is the small function of the recruiting of new staff – run by the training and communications supervisor. This is because she will need to employ some new staff so that the new tills can be run when they need to be, and are, opened in store. This will just be like any other recruiting done by Louise but will need to be done simply for the new tills. This will therefore only be a small effect and will not last very long – but it will still affect the business, as increased wages will need to be paid out. This will mean that the time sheets will need to be updated by the sales and service supervisor in charge of them, unless they install the new clocking-in system. This will mean the new employees’ hours worked will need to be calculated and dealt with – which is the other small effect these new tills will have on a function of the store. In saying this I feel that I have evaluated the effects that these new, or alternate approaches, will have on various aspects explained above in the store.

The Hour of the Star

â€Å"A sense of loss† and â€Å"The right to protest† A Lacanian reading of the film The Hour of the Star1 When Clarice Lispector wrote this ‘story with a beginning, a middle and a grand finale followed by silence and falling rain. ’ (HE, pp. 13) she hoped that it could ‘become my [her] own coagulation one day’ (HE, pp. 12). In fact, ‘her hour’ was near for she would soon die of cancer. The book emerged as an experimental novel gradually dialoguing with and producing illusions of itself, like images in mirrors, paradoxically portraying the invisible.Both her book and Susana Amaral's cinematic adaptation seem extremely conscious of Lacan’s concept of subjectivity and adherent to his psychoanalytic theory that reinterprets Freud in structuralist terms, adapting the linguistic model to the data of psychoanalysis. What lies beneath the choice to attempt a Lacanian reading of The Hour of the Star is not the film's patent opennes s to Lacan's ideas on desire, lack and the language of the unconscious.Despite the theoretical suggestiveness of much of the analysis that is to follow, the aim of this essay is to analyse The Hour of the Star using the methodology developed by Lacan whilst criticising its very mechanisms, stressing the importance of issues such as ethnicity, marginality, and poverty, social, cultural and political alienation, left behind by his account of the development of the human subject. A fairly mainstream cinematic version replaces the avant-garde, subversive structure of the book.In the film things fall into place more handily in the name of coherence, and social issues (the chronic plight of a certain type of North-Eastern Brazilians who undertakes a journey to the great cities of the South in search of a better life) replace the major metaphysical meditations found in the book. In The Hour of the Star everything is subjected to a multiplicity of reductions, exaggerated to the minimum, a c aricature in reverse that works in favour of a growing invisibility of things.Physical invisibility, abortion and repressed sexuality are highlighted in the film, depicting the drama of Macabea, a humble orphan girl from the backwoods of Alagoas, North Eastern Brazil, who was brought up by a forbidding aunt before making her way to the slums of Rio de Janeiro. In this city, she shares the same bed sitter with three girls and works as a typist. Centred on her (in)existence, the film explores Macabea’s marginality by placing her among the marginalities of the characters that populate the world of Rio de Janeiro.There is a strong focus on the relationships between the characters: Seu Raimundo and Seu Pereira (her bosses), Gloria (her colleague from work), Olimpico de Jesus Moreira Chaves (her ‘boyfriend’), and Madame Carlota (the fortune 1 Throughout the essay, A Hora da Estrela, (HE) will refer to Clarice Lispector’s novel (Portuguese version), while the tit le: The Hour of the Star (HS) will refer to the film, a Brazilian cinematic adaptation of Clarice Lispector’s book (The Hour of the Star, Dir.Susana Amaral, Raiz Producoes Cinematograficas, 1985). The dialogues in this work were translated and transcribed from the film, while the book excerpts were taken from the English translation of the novel: The Hour of the Star, trans. Giovanni Pontiero (Manchester: Carcanet, 1992). 1 teller). Macabea has poverty, inexperience, ingenuity, ill-health and anonymity written all over her. All she can afford to eat and drink are hotdogs and Coca-cola.Her only (unachievable) dream is to become a film star. Without any goals in life, her sole interest is listening to Radio Relogio (Radio Clock) that broadcasts the seconds, minutes and hours of the day along with random information about life. Olimpico, who she meets in the park one day, starts going out with her but ends up in Gloria’a arms, after the latter’s visit to the fortun e teller. When Macabea decides to visit the fortune teller herself, her life seems about to change completely.The promise of abundance is followed by utter disappointment when Macabea, wearing her new Cinderella-blue dress, is run over by a car and dies alone, fantasising that she is running into the arms of the promised rich lover Hans, her long curly hair in the wind. Any Lacanian approach to this Cinderella-in-reverse story would proceed with reference to the unconscious, interpreting the text as a metaphor of the unconscious and the subject as a linguistic construct. Lacan is unequivocally clear when he states that: (†¦) the unconscious is structured in the most radical way like a language, hat a material operates in it according to certain laws, which are the same laws as those discovered in the study of actual languages (†¦)2 To the French psychoanalyst, the unconscious is constituted by a signifying chain, whereby the negative relations between the signifiers3 are n ever anchored in meaning: one signifier leads to another but never to the things it supposedly represents. Macabea launches the play of signifiers in the film: the assemblages of signifiers clustered around her convey the elusiveness of the signified and the centrality of the unconscious.Her problem with the meaning of words stands for Lacan’s model which gives primacy to the signifier and not the signified. The audience feels somehow â€Å"oppressed† by the many unanswered questions and the violence of the oblique illusions of truth inside definitions. What follows is a dialogue between Macabea and Olimpico during one of their walks together: Macabea On Radio Clock they were talking about alligators†¦ and something about ‘camouflage’†¦ What does ‘camouflage’ mean? Olimpico That’s not a nice word for a virgin to be using.The brothels are full of women who asked far too many questions. Macabea Olimpico Where is the brothel? Ità ¢â‚¬â„¢s an evil place where only men go. 2 Jacques Lacan, Ecrits: A Selection, pp. 234 2 ‘Just because people ask you for something doesn’t mean that’s what they really want you to give them’4, Lacan would argue, commenting on this dialogue. What Macabea desires from Olimpico is not exactly a word’s signification but something else implied in that same dialogue. She desires the meaning, yet lacks the meaning and that same lack structures her desire.Macabea asks others for definitions, but others are as ignorant as she is. The film’s plays on ambiguity, misunderstandings and misjudgments add to Lacan’s play of signifiers: Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Well†¦ Well what? I just said well. But well what? Let’s change the subject. You don’t understand. Understand what? Oh my God, Macabea. Let’ s talk about something else. What do you want to talk about? Why don’t you talk about you?Me? What’s the problem? People talk about themselves. Yes, but I am not like other people. I don’t think I am many people. If you are not people, then what are you? It’s just that I’m not used to it. What? Not used to what? I can’t explain. Am I really myself? Look, I’m off. You’ve no wits. How do I get wits? Insofar as the Lacanian analyst doesn’t take himself/herself as the representative of knowledge but sees the analysand’s unconscious as the ultimate authority, all these questions about the meaning of words are also metaphors of the unconscious.Macabea is under the illusion that meaning can be fixed and the illusion of stability destabilizes her. According to Lacan’s view of interpretation, meaning is imaginary and irrelevant: It is the chain of the signifier that the meaning insists without any of its elements ma king up the signification. 5 In one of the last scenes, Macabea is driven to the fortune teller by her colleague friend, Gloria, in an effort to fix her life. Madame Carlota divines everything about Macabea’s past, acknowledges 3 Lacan followed the ideas laid out by the linguist Saussure, who viewed the ign as the combination of a signifier (sound image) and a signified (concept). Lacan focuses on relations between signifiers alone. 4 J. Lacan, Ecrits: A Selection, Seminar XIII 3 the signs of the future but fails to interpret them. Macabea’s fate is consummated despite the fortune teller’s misinterpretations because, Lacanians might argue, understanding is irrelevant to the process. But, in this case, understanding becomes very relevant indeed for the Lacanian critics who argue that death represents the destiny of those who get hold of the Phallus.By misunderstanding the signs, Madame Carlota tells Macabea her supposedly brilliant future. As if ‘listening to a fanfare of trumpets coming from heaven’ (HE, pp. 76), Macabea learns that she is going to be very rich, meet a wealthy handsome foreigner named Hans, with whom she will marry, and become a renown famous star. Macabea believes every single word she is told, hence truly acknowledging that all her fantasies will come true that very day. Macabea’s desire to have the Phallus is now a reality. Once desire is extinguished, there are no more reasons to keep on living.This scene shows how Lacan’s view on interpretation as an easy reductionist task leading to imaginary understanding can rebound on him. The scene previously referred to is rooted in another depicting the beginning of the relationship between Macabea and Olimpico, which shows the essentialist views latent in Dr. Lacan’s theory of sexuation. Lacan’s concept of ‘object (a)’ is considered to be his most significant contribution to psychoanalysis. 6 ‘Object (a)’ is th at which is desired but always out of reach, a lost object signifying an imaginary moment in time.According to his theory, people delve into relationships because they are driven by the desire to overcome Lack (consequence of castration). Because Lack is experienced in different ways by men and women, both sexes have different ways of overcoming their Lack: they either place themselves in relation to the Phallus (feminine structures) or the ‘object (a)’ (masculine structures). Lacan argues that in the sexual relationship7 the sexes are defined separately because they are organized differently with respect to language/to the symbolic:8 masculine structure limits men to Phallic ‘jouissance’ while feminine structure limits omen to ‘object (a)’ ‘jouissance’ and also allows them to experience another kind of ‘jouissance’, which Lacan calls the Other ‘jouissance’9. By jouissance Lacan implies what ‘is forb idden to him who J. Lacan, Ecrits: A Selection, Instance de la letter dans l’inconscient ou la raison depuis Freud’ In the preface to Ecrits, Lacan mentions ‘object (a)’: ‘We call upon this object as being at once the cause of desire in which the subject is eclipsed and as something supporting the subject between truth and knowledge. 7 It must be kept in mind that Lacan’s work on sexual difference crosses over the borderlines of biological distinction. He defines femininity and masculinity on the basis of psychoanalytic terms. 8 Lacan explains the alternative versions of castration: 6 5 (†¦) suggerer un derangement non pas contingent, mais essentie de la sexualite humaine (†¦) sur l’irreductibilite a toute analyse finie (endliche), des sequelles qui resultant du complexe de castration dans l’inconscient masculine, du penisneid dans l’inconscient de la femme. In ‘La signification du phallus’, Ecrits, pp. 85 9 When Lacan discusses the notion of another kind of â€Å"jouissance† (Other ‘jouissance’), he explains that women (human beings structured by the feminine) are the only ones that have access to it, while men are limited to Phallic ‘jouissance’. According to Bruce Fink, this concept roughly implies that the phallic function has its limits and that the signifier isn’t everything. ’ B. Fink, The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance, pp. 107) 4 speaks (†¦)’10, that is, that completion of being which is forever inaccessible to the split subject.To paraphrase Fink, insofar as a woman forms a relationship with a man, she is likely to be reduced to an object – ‘object (a)’, reduced to no more than a collection of male fantasy objects, an image that contains and yet disguises ‘object (a)’. He will isolate one of her features and desire that single feature (her hair, her legs, her voice, etc. ), instead of the woman as a whole. In a different way, the woman may require a man to embody the Phallus for her, but her partner will never truly be the man as much as the Phallus.Therefore, ‘il n’y a pas de rapport sexuel’ (Lacan’s famous remark) because the dissymmetry of partners is utter and complete. By lack of symmetry Lacan means what she/he sees herself/himself in relation to [either the Phallus or ‘object (a)’]. Going back to the film, the masculine and feminine realms seem to be clearly limited in terms of a traditional heterosexual system (the odd-one-out being the character of the fortune teller in whom we perceive traces of homosexuality). When Olimpico first meets Macabea in the park, she is holding a red flower in her hands.Olimpico draws nearer, asks her name and invites her for a walk. At a certain point he mentions her red flower, gently asks for her permission to pull out its leaves, and finally returns it to Macabea. Under Lacan’s eyes, insofar as she holds the flower, Macabea sees herself in terms of the Phallus, the flower being its metaphor, what she desires to hold in her hands. Olimpico is, in her eyes, the biologically defined man incarnating the Phallus (her true partner being the Phallus and not the man).As Lacan’s theory sets out to show, Olimpico belongs to those characterized by masculine structure. He will search within this woman’s features, a particular one and reduce her to ‘object (a)’ in his fantasy, trying to overcome the primordial Lack. However, it seems terribly hard to invest a precious object that arouses his desire in this particular woman: ugly, dirty and looking rather ill, there is nothing in her left to be reduced to a male fantasy object. Hence the customized flower: Olimpico invests what arouses his desire11 in the flower and not the girl.If we pursue Lacan’s theory a step further in terms of masculine/signifier and feminine/’signifiance’12, we will conclude that his work on sexuation rests on the belief that subjectification takes place at different levels in different sexuated beings: while the signifier refuses the task of signification, the ‘signifiant’ plays the material, non-signifying face of the signifier, the part that has effects without signifying: ‘jouissance’ effects. 13 This is displayed as the J. Lacan, Ecrits: A Selection, pp. 319 A similar flower will appear again in the film: Macabea has put it in a glass n her desk at work. Gloria, her colleague from the office, is getting ready for a first date with a man she never met before. She decides to wear the red flower in her bodice so that he can recognise her. Her appropriation of the flower symbolises her future appropriation of Olimpico’s fantasy (she will steal Macabea’s boyfriend, following the fortune teller’s advice) and her reduction to a male fantasy object. At t he same time, the man she is about to go out with is reduced to his sexy voice. 12 Lacan’s concept of ‘letre de la signifiance’, found in Seminar XX, is explained by B.Fink in these terms: ‘I have proposed to translate it as  «signifierness », that is, the fact of being a signifier (†¦) the signifying nature of signifiers. When Lacan uses this term, it is to emphasise the nonsensical nature of the signifier, the very existence of signifiers apart from and separated from any possible meaning or signification they might have. ’ B. Fink, The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance, pp. 118-9 13 B. Fink, The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance, pp. 119 11 10 5 heoretical reason implying that the signifier of desire can be identified with only one sex at a time, meaning that Woman can never be defined as long as Man is defined. As Fink puts it, (†¦) the masculine path might then be qualified as that of desire (becomin g one’s own cause of desire) while the feminine path would be that of love. 14 Watching this scene in isolation, one has the impression that love is for Macabea as desire is for Olimpico. This is not entirely the case, for in this scene and in the film in general, a woman (Macabea) is defined as long as a man (Olimpico) is defined.In a relationship where the partners are not identical (different feminine/masculine structures) both of them are ruled by desire. On the one hand, Olimpico desires all the attributes that Macabea sadly lacks, so he turns to Gloria, Macabea’s ideal imago (a version of what the latter wants to be, a version of herself that she can love). On the other hand, Macabea is not ruled by love. What she experiences with Olimpico is nothing compared to what she feels when Madame Carlota tells her about Hans: she feels inebriated, experiencing for the first time what other people referred to as passion.She falls passionately in love with Hans because the fortune teller had told her that he would care for her. Both Macabea and Olimpico are ruled by the desire to be loved and not by love. And if in this heterosexual relationship (which for Lacan is the norm) the dissymmetry is not entirely complete, what can we say of the homosexuality referred to by the fortune teller, who finds Macabea much too delicate to cope with the brutality of men and tells her, from experience, that love between two women is more affectionate?In fact, Lacan never theorized homosexuality very seriously, although his failure to account for it may be explained by the fact that the Symbolic is structured in favour of heterosexuality. In his theory of the Symbolic, the baby undergoes the mirror stage between 6 and 18 months old. By this time, the baby sees its own image in the mirror and enters the symbolic stage (realm of the imaginary: imaginary identification with the image in the mirror). As Lacan sets out to explain,This event can take place (†¦) from t he age of six months, and its repetition has often made me reflect upon the startling spectacle of the infant in front of the mirror. Unable as yet to walk (†¦) he nevertheless overcomes the obstructions of his support and (†¦) brings back an instantaneous aspect of the image. For me, this activity retains the meaning I have given it up to the age of eighteen months. 15 Mirrors play an important role in Macabea’s life. Looking at her own reflection, she tries to find out who she is.After having used Gloria’s trick (making up an excuse to skip work), Macabea decides 14 15 Bruce Fink, The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance, pp. 115 Jacques Lacan, Ecrits, A Selection, Chapter I: ‘The mirror stage as formative of the function of the eye as revealed in psychoanalytic experience. ’, pp. 1, 2 6 to spend her day off in her room, listening to Radio Clock, dancing and looking at herself in the mirror. The camera shows her reflection and what we see is a split image in the mirror: she stands between what she is, what she wants to be and what others want her to be. 6 When she tells the mirror: â€Å"I’m a typist, a virgin and I like Coca-cola† she complements her identity split with her mirage identity: Macabea is staging her identity by identifying with other people’s perceptions of herself. She is not eighteen months old but an eighteen-year-old in the middle of Lacan’s mirror stage, looking for models (which are the models in shop windows: the parental Other is absent), learning new words (at work as a typist, at home listening to the radio), looking at herself in mirrors. It is as if the Symbolic were staging ‘reality’ too late in the character’s life.During a walk at the Zoo, Olimpico accuses Macabea of being a liar: Macabea It is true. May God strike me dead if I’m not telling the truth. May my mother and my father drop dead right now. Olimpico Macabea You said your parents were dead. I forgot†¦ As Lacan would put it, we are watching how the Symbolic can bar the real, overwriting and transforming it completely, the reason for this being that the Symbolic is but a pale disguised reflection of the Real; the reason for this not being a basic assumption about the condition of being a child without living parents, that is, about the alienation caused by orphanage.This does not mean that Lacan did not reflect on the concept of alienation (check Fink, footnote 28, chapter 7, seminar XVI). In his opinion, that is what places the subject within the Symbolic. In alienation, the speaking being is forced to give up something as she/he comes into language. Lacan sees it as an attempt to make sense by trying to act coherently with the image one has about oneself. These attempts alienate the person because meaning is always ambiguous, polyvalent, betraying something one wanted to remain hidden or something one wanted to express. Lacan does not cond emn or avoid alienation in his analysis.At a certain point, in Seminar XVI, he establishes a comparison between ‘surplus value’ (Marxist concept: the ‘jouissance’ of property or money that is the fruit of the employees’ labour, the excess product) and ‘surplus  «jouissance »Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (what we seek in every relationship/activity but never achieve). While capitalism creates a loss aiming at ‘surplus value’ (the loss of the worker), our advent as speaking beings also creates a loss (the loss of ‘jouissance’ through castration). In Lacan’s economy of ‘jouissance’, both losses are at the centre of the development of civilisation, culture and market forces.At a certain moment in the film, we 16 In this respect, Lacan explains that ‘the only homogeneus function of consciousness is the imaginary capture of the ego by its mirror reflection and the function of misrecognition which remains attached to it. ’ In Ecrits, A Selection (1966) 7 watch Macabea handing over a certain ‘jouissance’ to the Other: she is told by her boss she has to work late. The consequence is that Gloria will meet Olimpico in the park, instead of Macabea. Following Lacan’s theoretical discourse, the scene depicts Macabea being forced to give up ‘something’ as she comes into language (as she finishes typing the documents).That ‘something’ is her love object. The scene can be read as a reference to the primordial loss – castration – by meditating on the importance of the sacrifice of ‘jouissance’ as it creates a lack17 and consequently gears life (the Symbolic/the plot) onwards: Gloria steals her colleague’s boyfriend and eventually gets a husband, following the fortune teller’s instructions; Macabea loses her boyfriend and ends up at the hands of the fortune teller who guides her towards her death.This analysis foc uses on the ‘surplus  «jouissance »Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and not on the Marxist concept of ‘surplus value’, therefore neglecting important class struggle/capitalist issues. Adopting a Lacanian frame in the analysis of alienation in The Hour of the Star involves losing what a Marxist concept of alienation might otherwise bring into light: the alienating effect society operates on Macabea as an exploited underpaid employee who finds herself working (sometimes after hours) for the employer’s enjoyment.The film, on the contrary, is quite clear in its portrait of an alienated subject working for less than the minimum wage in a decadent, poor-lit warehouse. A dialogue between Seu Raimundo and Seu Pereira suggests the capitalists’ attitude towards the proletarian Macabea: Raimundo Pereira Raimundo (†¦) Pereira: Raimundo Besides, she is really ugly. Like a shrivelled pomegranate. Where did you get her? Ok, she’s a bit clumsy. But a brilliant typist would want more money. It’s the new typist, Macabea. Maca what? -beia. Maca-bea. No one else was willing to do the job for less than the minimum wage.Adding to the notion of the film as a metaphor of the unconscious are: mirrors and their fragmented reflections, Radio Clock and its fragmented, dispersed bits of information and the gaze of the camera as the audience accedes to Macabea’s world through furtive gazings behind windows, doors, in the street. This gaze could be interpreted as belonging to Macabea’s wicked aunt who has died but still haunts her conscience. Macabea’s paradoxical fantasy, her dream to become a film star, is also hooked up to the circuit of the unconscious as the end term of her desire.Lacan explains that the unconscious, ruled as a language, is overpopulated with other people’s desires that flow into us via discourse. 18 So, our very fantasies can be foreign to us, they can be alienating. Macabea’s fantasy to become a film star could â€Å"Without lack, the subject can never come into being, and the whole efflorescence of the dialectic of desire is squashed. † In Bruce Fink, The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance, pp. 103 17 8 be read as a way of answering other people’s desire: that she takes care of herself, eats better, dresses better, and works better.Interpreting Macabea’s dream as a response to her own desire (she wants to be loved; film stars are loved; therefore, she wants to be a film star) implies walking away from Lacanian theory. The subject is here very much implicated in the process. Others don’t seem to have had a hand in it. Olimpico laughs and humiliates her when she tells him about her dream and doesn’t encourage her to pursue it: Olimpico What makes you think that you’ve got the face or the body to become a film star? (†¦) Take a good look at yourself in the mirror.Lacan’s approach to the unconscious considerably r educes the sources from which one can carve out knowledge in relation to this film. Macabea’s ethnicity calls forth the analyst’s knowledge of Brazil’s North-Eastern structural roots of poverty (drought plagued agriculture, slums, human rights abuse in terms of health and education, the plight of street children, women’s issues in terms of class, race and land tenure). An informed reading of The Hour of the Star raises the question of marginality within the frameworks of location, gender, race, individual/social conscience, language and testimony.In the context of this film, the concept of marginality has to be addressed in the plural. There are different definitions of margin at stake, as well as different layers of marginal behaviours, each of them empowering the social/individual transgressions suggested by Macabea’s lack of attitude towards existence. The characters in this story are aware of their condition as outsiders. They are seen through their relation to Macabea: her apathy and emptiness are exquisitely painful in that they remind others of the collective pain felt in a dehumanised world.In the pyramid of the excluded, Macabea is victimised as a female and as a North easterner in search of her inner self. Her voluntary attempt, although grotesque and inarticulate, to question and witness her blunt existence stands as the last stance of her marginality. It is the hour of the tragic question: ‘Who am I? ’, echoing the major preoccupation of every mortal. Unlike the other characters, she fails in every sphere of her life but not in asking this question.She is aware of her inner otherness, although unable to verbalise or make sense of it. She witnesses it, tries to speak it, but never tells it, because what needs to be told is pure silence narrated from within. The title of the present study resonates with the limits of a psychoanalytic reading of The Hour of the Star. â€Å"A sense of Loss† and â⠂¬Å"The right to protest† are two of the fourteen titles19 advanced by 18 Lacan suggests that ‘it is in the reduplication of the subject of speech that the unconscious finds the means to articulate itself. ’, J.Lacan, Ecrits: A Selection, ‘A la memoire d’Ernest Jones: sur la theorie du symbolisme’ 19 List of titles found at the beginning of HE: The Blame is Mine or The Hour of the Star or Let Her Fend for Herself or The Right to Protest or . As for the Future or Singing the Blues or She Doesn’t Know How to Protest or A Sense of Loss 9 Clarice Lispector in her book A Hora da Estrela. They were chosen by me for two reasons. The first implies that analysing the film by giving the book behind it the cold shoulder would weaken the analysis. Another is the belief that choosing only one title would dramatically reduce the scope of this work of art.Macabea cannot escape looking at mirrors and gazing at a sense of loss that dazzles her in her opa que leading-nowhere-abstractions. But she is herself a mirror reflecting the social inequities of the Brazilian society in she lived. Taking a step further, we could add yet another title: â€Å"I can do nothing†, number eleven in Lispector’s title list. This one would eclipse the Other’s discourse, unconscious and unintentional, and give way to the informed discourse of a conscious audience viewing writing as a representative mirror of reality.Having said all this, one can only afford ‘A discreet exit by the back door’20 once a final, irrevocable question is posed. Is it still possible, having pointed out the missing dimensions of analysis and the resistances to a Lacanian approach of The Hour of the Star, to make sense of Lacan’s theoretical framework? On the one hand, answering with a ‘no’ would seem fatally solipsistic in what the existing quantities of written work on psychoanalysis are concerned, as Lacan’s work lies at the epicentre of contemporary discourses about otherness, subjectivity, sexual difference, to name just a few topics.Answering with a ‘yes’, on the other hand, would plainly simplify subject matters that are, as this work intends to show, very complex. Perhaps the question, in the fashion of all interesting questions, offers no answer insofar as a balanced account of the possibilities, limitations, meanings and implications of Lacan’s theory is not thoroughly considered. or Whistling in the Dark Wind or I Can Do Nothing or A Record of Preceding Events or A Tearful Tale or A Discreet Exit by the Back Door. 20 Final title in Clarice Lispector’s list of titles. 10 Primary Bibliography Lacan, J. Ecrits (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1966) _______, Ecrits: A Selection, trans. Alan Sheridan (London: Routledge, 1977) _______, The Seminar of Jacques Lacan. Book II. The Ego in Freud’s Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis, trans. Sylvana Tomaselli (N ew York/London: Norton & Co. , 1991) _______, The Ethics of Psychoanalysis: The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book VII, trans. Denis Porter (London/New York: Norton & Co. , 1992) Lispector, C. , A Hora da Estrela, (Rio de Janeiro: Jose Olympio, 1977) __________, The Hour of the Star, trans. Giovanni Pontiero (Manchester: Carcanet, 1992) Freud, S. New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, ed. /trans. J. Strachey (London: Penguin Books, 1991 The Hour of the Star, Dir. Susana Amaral, Raiz Producoes Cinematograficas, 1985 Secondary bibliography Barry, P. , Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002) Benvenuto B. & Kennedy, R. , The Works of Jacques Lacan: An Introduction (London: Free Association Books, 1986) Cixous, H. , ‘The Hour of The Star: How Does One Desire Wealth or Poverty? ’, Reading With Clarice Lispector, ed. and trans.Verena Andermatt Conley (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1990), 1 43-163 Daidone, L. C. & Clifford, J. , â€Å"Clarisse Lispector: Anticipating the Postmodern†, Multicultural Literatures through Feminist/Poststructuralist Lenses, ed. Barbara Frey Waxman (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1993), 190-201 Fink, B. , The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouisssance (Princeton N. J. : Princeton University Press, 1995) Fitz, E. , ‘Point of View in Clarice Lispector’s A Hora Da Estrela’, Luso-Brazilian Review, 19. 2 (1982), 195-208 Lapsley, R. Westlake, M. , Film Theory: An Introduction (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988) _________, ‘From Cassablanca to Pretty Woman: The politics of Romance’, Screen, 33. 1 (1992), 27-49 Lemaire, A. , Jacques Lacan, trans. D. Macey (London, Henley & Boston: Routledge, 1977) Klobucka, A. , ‘Helene Cixous and the Hour of Clarice Lispector, SubStance, 73 (1994), 41-62 Mitchell, J. & Rose, J. (eds), Feminine Sexuality: Jacques Lacan and the Ecole freu dienne (Houndsmill: Macmillan, 1992) Mitchell, J. , Psychoanalysis and Feminism (London: Penguin, 1990) Mulvey, L. ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’, The Sexual Subject: A Screen Reader in Sexuality (London & New York: Routledge, 1998), 22-34 Nelmes, J. (ed. ), An Introduction to Film Studies, 2nd edn (London: Routledge, 1990) Patai, D. , ‘Aspiring to the Absolute’, Women’s Review of Books, 4 (1987), 30-31 Smith, J. & Kerrigan, W. (eds. ), Interpreting Lacan (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1983) Storey, J. , Cultural Teory and Popular Culture: An Introduction, 3rd edn (Dorchester: Dorset Press, 2001) Whatling, C. , Screen Dreams: Fantasising Lesbians in Film (Manchester & New York: Manchester University Press, 1997) 11