Ethics and Legal Considerations in Strategic Management (StilSim Essay

Ethics and Legal Considerations in Strategic Management (StilSim Company ) - Essay Example Virtues such as integrity and honesty have always been valued here in the stilsim company, not only that, we also believe in quality customer service, openness, personal excellence, continual self improvement and mutual respect. We respect our committment that we have with our cliental and cutomers and we believe in providing the best service that is out there to all of our associations. We here hold ourselves accountable to not only our customers but also to our share holders, our partners and our employees and we pride ourselves on honouring our commitments with them and providing the best of the results that we can. We try our best to live up to the expectations of our cliental and customers. To understand more about the work here at stilsim and the principles on which we work, we provide our employees and clientals with our brochures and handbook. These handbooks have all the essential information about the stilsim and what this company is about. Generally, ethics considered as the moral standards by which behaviour of the people is judged. Often the ethics re considered as the â€Å"golden rule†, this however is only the general consideration of ethics and this standard can not be used to define the buisiness ethics. In a business you are answerable to diffrent set of people such as customers, shareholders and the clients. Business ethics is is a highly compex field where determining your next move when an ethical dilemma arises among diffrent interests is an extremely tricky job. Right now the stilsim company is dealing with many internal and external issues and once we impliment our new strategy, the ethics should be kept in our minds while making any important decision. Since the stilsim company has been in the business for such a long period of time , we believe that we hold a great deal of responsibilty towards our employees, our stake holders, our shareholders, our customers and even the

UPS Company Strategy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

UPS Company Strategy - Case Study Example It goes without saying that drivers of organizational change vary across organizations and businesses. However, the main drivers of organizational change can be summarized as follows: (1) information availability and distribution; (2) the pace of technological advancement; (3) the growing availability of technologies; (4) increased business competition; (5) rapid shifts in the global labor and product markets; (6) changes in environmental responsibility and requirements; and (7) changing customer expectations and demands (John, Cannon & Pouder 2001). More often than not companies operating in the present day business environment pursue change to align their strategic goals with the emerging information capabilities and, consequentially, use them to meet the rising consumer demands. As the number of companies in the logistics industry increases, the ability to satisfy customer satisfaction in the most cost-effective manner becomes the main source of companies’ competitive advantage. Nevertheless, the number of challenges faced by companies in the global market does not decrease. â€Å"Integrating activities both within and beyond organizational boundaries has become a major challenge at century’s end and will likely continue for the foreseeable future† (John, Cannon & Pouder 2001, p.145). ... The diversification of companies in the logistic market had the potential to distract UPS consumers with more attractive rates, prices, and services. Second, before the 1990s discipline and efficiency had always been the company’s top strategic priorities. According to Garvin and Levesque (2001), along with discipline and efficiency, continuous improvement had been the company’s principal legacy. The company had historically operated in the atmosphere of constructive dissatisfaction, which further instilled the values of continuous improvement and service excellence on company employees (Garvin & Levesque 2001). The historical commitment to efficiency and discipline and continued attention towards operations left many customers dissatisfied. Apart from the fact that UPS failed to envision changes in customer preferences and demands, discipline and efficiency left little room for monitoring changes in the external business environment. Finally, UPS had never had a formal strategic planning process, which made the implementation of strategic innovations difficult and problematic. As the entire world was changing, UPS definitely needed a fresh breath, and the new CEO had to restructure the company’s basic operations. Since the beginning of the new millennium UPS was constantly trying to define how exactly it could develop and sustain a competitive advantage. The creation of the new strategic planning process became part of the strategic innovations within UPS. Looking further into 2017, UPS anticipates that understanding the factors and forces affecting its market position will become its main strategic goal for years ahead (Garvin & Levesque

International Human Recourse Management Essay Example for Free

International Human Recourse Management Essay Undertake research to examine current trends and emerging issues within the field of International Human Resource Management (IHRM). What are some contrasting and recent frameworks, models and perspectives applied within the field of IHRM? The meaning of International Human Resource Management (IHRM) becomes more and more important in the last few years. The first time the term IHRM was used was in 1990, around the same time period ‘globalisation’ began. Initially the main function of IHRM was the organisation and management of expatriates (Festing, et al. , 2013, p. 161). In 2012 the foreign affiliates of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) of the United Nations had reached 69 million workers (Dowling, et al., 2013, p. viii). Due to this fact it becomes clear the tremendous challenge IHRM faces in our time. Furthermore the world is getting more uniform and standardised because of the globalisation. With the impact of technical, commercial and cultural development, companies must rise to new challenges and a different way of thinking (Durham Kellner, 2006, p. 659). If we put all the different aspects together we can define IHRM as examining the HRM issues, problems, strategies, policies and practices which firms pursue in relation to the internationalisation of their business (Brewster, et al., 2011, p. 10). On the basis of current research, this essay will investigate trends and emerging issues in the field of IHRM. In the first wide field of global assignments and careers there have been changes in recent years due to the development of technology and worldwide integration. As organisations are increasingly affected by the forces of globalisation and the competition between the different companies, the prerequisites for employees are increasing as well. Due to these facts, the work life balance (WLB) has been subject to increasing investigation and has led to a significant emerging issue for all people especially international business travellers (Festing, et al., 2013). As a consequence,  WLB is receiving attention in the IHRM field. WLB consists of two different concepts: achievement and enjoyment. You cannot get the full value from life if you are only concentrated on one concept (WorkLifeBalance, 2014). One’s daily focus on achievement and enjoyment is based in all four life quadrants: work, family, friends and self WLB. WLB is already a significant topic for HRM, however it is ev en more important for frequent travellers. Due to this fact, in the field of IHRM, work life balance has been  investigated by Iris Kollinger-Santer and Iris C. Fischlmayr (2013). They focused on the difference between female and male international travellers and their WLB, finding that the different stressors related to travelling have a variable intensity according to gender. For instance, the lack of time for social contact or leisure activities is a stronger stress factor for women than for men. The family situation in particular is an important influence on each gender, with women missing their family more than men. Coping strategies also vary according to gender (Kollinger-Santer Fischlmayr). Beauregard and Henry (2009) bring different concepts to the issue of WLB. These authors try to make a link between work life balance practices and organisational performance. Therefore they discuss the differing importance of factors according to national context, job level, and managerial support and come to the conclusion that WLB practices are often combined with high organisational performance (Beauregards Henry). Another emerging challenge beside WLB is the different types of global assignments. In recent years, working abroad as an expatriate to get international experience and to develop global skills was considered an important skill. Organisations openly promoted this process. They wanted to give their employees work experience and transcend national boundaries. However, employees are often unwilling to work abroad or those who are  willing to work abroad are leaving their international assignments early or quitting their organisations once they repatriate because of the positive effects, such as promotions and salary advancement. Another aspect that favours this situation is to compensate for the out-of-sight, out-ofmind problem that occurs when employees are physically away from their home country’s organisation (Shaffer, et al.). Due to this fact a new emerging issue is taking place within IHRM. Organisations are looking for global work alternatives for their employees to gain global work experience without losing the employee afterwards. Besides the well-known kinds of work experience, such as corporate expatriation or self-initiated expatriation, some new ways to achieve global work experience are now offered to employees. Shaffer et al. (2012) sums up the existing ways to achieve international work experience and subdivided them along the three dimensions; physical mobility, cognitive flexibility, and nonwork disruptions. Based on this knowledge, the authors interpret the major findings from their review and develop a taxonomy of these experiences as a theoretical framework for analysing past studies. They point out that all of the global work  experiences were associated with different personal and nonwork demands especially, stress and family issues. However, Shaffer et al. claim that the specific stress factor varied by the different types of global work experience. Finally, they conclude that the real challenge is not the different types of global work, but is the combination of physically moving to a foreign country with the family and learning to adapt to a new culture that creates unique family demands associated with expatriate assignments (Shaffer, et al.). In addition to the new methods to get global work experience, Vaiman and Haslberger (2013) focus on the importance of  self-initiated expatriations and take a closer look at foreign executives in local organisations (FELOs). A FELO is a rare international crosscultural management phenomenon. To find the differences between an expatriate assignment and a FELO, one must take a deeper look at the subsidiaries of multinational organisations (FELO Research, 2014). Vaiman and Haslberger derive four different types of FELOs and various types of localised FELOs as well as typologies and organisation forms. Finally they examine global careers outside of traditional, company-backed expatriate assignments, and highlight the fact that there is a rising number of foreign executives appointed in recent years (Vaiman Haslberger). Global talent management (GTM) is a rapidly growing field within IHRM. GTM includes the connection between the importance of talent management and success in global business. In general the aim of talent management is the identification of well qualified employees in a global context and placing those people in key positions where they have the potential to impact the competitive advantage of the organisation (Scullion Collings, 2011, pp. 3-4). GTM is still an emerging field with debates regarding many aspects of its relevance IHRM (Festing, et al., 2013). For instance, Schuler et al. (2012) focus on various challenges in the area of GTM like dealing with talent shortages, talent surpluses, locating and relocating talent, and compensation levels of talent. They present strategic opportunities and their implications for organisations in regards to these challenges, concluding that organisational need must be linked to the direction of organisational strategy and talent strategy in particular (Schuler, et al.). Clearly there is a wide area of unspecified topics in the field of GTM. In countries such as Germany, China or India, research on this subject is particularly limited, thus there has been much debate over the continuing significance of talent management in the recent years. There are two different views of the importance and the impact of talent  management (Festing, et al., 2013) According to Walk et al. (2013), talent is the most consistent and frequent factor in business success within a global context. For this reason, organisations compete across borders to get the most talented employees. The authors discovered that from the standpoint of an organisation, cross-cultural students are the most valuable, thus they tend to recruit their future employees from this group. Walk et al. also assess work expectations across diverse cultural backgrounds and concluded that differences in expectation are less between Chinese, Indian, and German students than one might suspect (Cf. Walk, et al.).  Ewerlin’s (2013) research on GTM focusses on the influence of talent management program’s attractiveness on an employer. Due to the fact that talented individuals are rare, organisations need to take care that they can position themselves as attractive employers in order to secure the best employees. Talented employees are able to pick and choose between several attractive job offers, therefore they are looking for an additional factors such as good talent management programs. Ewerlin could not confirm that there is a direct relationship between employer attractiveness and their GTM program, however she indicates that these programs should be designed for culturally differences and that personality also plays an important role in shaping the needs of individual employees (Ewerlin). If you compare the current trends and emerging issues of IHRM to the development of other departments within an organisation, especially due to the influence of other areas, there is constant change in IHRM. Additionally to the constant changes IHRM have made, there are a lot of increasing factors to the global market. Several aspects are crucial in the two huge fields of global assignments and careers and global work experience. In the first field there are different facts like work life balance and global work experience. The second area includes the current topics such as GTM programs and the connection to the attractiveness to an employer. Finally there are a lot of new areas of investigation that need to be explored and due to the fact of technical progress and the increasing globalisation it is important  to deal with new challenges in order to stay competitive in the international market. Reference List: Beauregards, T. A. Henry, L. C., 2009. Making the link betwen work-life balance practices and organizational performance. Human resource management review, September, pp. 9-22. Brewster, C., Sparrow, P., Vernon, G. Houldsworth, E., 2011. International Human Resource Management, London: CIPD House. BusinessDictionary.com, 2014. BusinessDictionary.com. [Online] Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/expatriate.html Dowling, P. J., Festing, M. Engle, A. D., 2013. International human resource management, 6th Edition. Hampshire: Cengage Learning. Durham, M. G. Kellner, D. M., 2006. media and cultural studies. Carlton: Blackwell. Ewerlin, D., 2013. The influence of global talent management on employer attractiveness: An experimental study. German Journal of Research in Human Resource Management, pp. 279304. FELO Research, 2014. feloreseach. [Online] Available at: http://feloresearch.info/ Festing, M. et al., 2013. Current issues in International HRM: Alternative forms of assignments, careers and talent management in a global context. German Journal of Research in Human Resource Management, pp. 161-166. Kollinger-Santer, I. Fischlmayr, I. C., 2013. Work life balance up in the air Does gender make a difference between female and male internation business travelers. German Journal of Research in Human Resource Management, 09, pp. 195-223. Schuler, R. S., Jackson, S. E. Tarique, I., 2012. Global talent management and global talent challenges: strategic opportunities for IHRM, New York: Journal of World Business. Scullion, H. Collings, D. G., 2011. Global Talent Management. New York: Routledge. Shaffer, M. A., Kraimer, M. L., Chen, Y.-P. Bolino, M. C., 2012. Choices, Challenges, and Career Consequences of Global Work Experiences: A Review and Future Agenda. Journal of Management, pp. 1281-1327. Vaiman, V. Haslberger, A., 2013. Talent Manamgent of Self-Initaited Expatriates, Hampshire: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN. Walk, M., Schinnenburg, H. Handy, F., 2013. What do talens want? Work expectations in India, China, and Germany. German Journal of Research in Human Resource Management, pp. 251-278. WorkLifeBalance, 2014. WorkLifeBalance. [Online] Available at: http://www.worklifebalance.com/

Effect of Social Media on the Umbrella Movement

Effect of Social Media on the Umbrella Movement Wong Wing Man Would the Umbrella Movement have occurred if social media platforms did not exist? Introduction In response to the NPCSC decision regarding the Chief Executive electoral reform of HKSAR on 31 August 2014, two student-led groups the Scholarism and Hong Kong Federation of Students began boycotting class and protesting outside the government headquarters in Admiralty since late September. Benny Tai announced to join the students with the Occupy Central Movement, which had been suggested since 2012. This mass civil disobedience movement was named the Umbrella movement after the use of umbrellas by protestors to defend police’s attempts of protest sites clearance using tear gas. Before the last clearance was completed by the police on 15 December, protest activities had been spread across districts to Causeway Bay and Mongkok. Its scale was claimed to be the largest ever in the history of Hong Kong. With observation of substantial use of social media platforms such as social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, Cyber-utopians believe that social media platforms, which perform functions such as text messaging, photo sharing and social networking, are revolutionary tools that give rise to the Umbrella Movement. On the other hand, cyber-realists believe that social media platforms are only tools that facilitate mobilization of protestors, while social changes entail long term social and political reforms (Morozov, 2011). This essay aims to argue from the perspective of cyber-realists that the Umbrella Movement was a result of long term effort from political leaders. Social media was only a catalyst but not a fundamental cause of the movement. The essay will justify that social media coverage was not a prerequisite for the movement by addressing the real cause of the movement, and defining the function of social media as simply a complementary but not revolutionary tool. Causality between the Umbrella Movement and social media usage Pre-existing social conditions for emergence of the Umbrella Movement The notion that democratic movements have occurred all around the globe before social media existed in the recent decade can be explained by the Modernization Theory and concept of relative deprivation. The former suggests that people would strive to overthrow and replace inadequate political institutions, while the latter explains the growth of social grievance when the gap between public expectations and actual attainment widens (Lopes, 2014). In the context of the Umbrella Movement, it is the long term demand from local communities for a genuine universal suffrage of the Chief Executive, as well as the shared grievance regarding the recent NPCSC decision on the formation of the nomination committee that triggered the occupying movements (Chan, 2014). Despite high correlation between frequency of social media usage and protest activities, Morozov (2011) believes that Arab Spring was fundamentally attributed to cyber-activism in the Middle East which had been evolving before mass demonstrations occurred in Tunisia and Egypt. He emphasizes that formation of online protest groups are not random events organized by random people. In fact, discussions on occupying central and civil disobedience movement had been continuing since 2012 among scholars and politicians led by Benny Tai. Student groups such as Scholarism were also experienced leaders which had been actively participated in demonstrations to strive against the government on issues such as civic education. Although social media played an important role in mobilizing young population to protest, the Umbrella Movement would remain leaderless without prior actions from political activists (Howard et al., 2011). Social media platforms were only tools for political leaders to organ ize protests. Politics-media-politics (PMP) principle The PMP principle suggests a three-phase process in which surge of social media usage during the Umbrella Movement was likely to be the result of increase in protest activities instead of a preceding factor (Wolfsfeld et al., 2013), while this change in media environment would eventually bring new dynamics to the political situation. Chronologically, protests in Admiralty broke out in the first phase was followed by increasing social media usage in the second phase, as the public turned to various channels for timely information at protest sites. For instance, onsite news was updated day and night on Facebook pages such as SocREC and VJMedia after police’s first tear gas shot on 28 September. Downloads of Firechat, an application that allows instant messaging without Internet, increased by 460,000 times one week after the first protest activity occurred outside the government headquarter, with fear of Internet blockade in nearby areas (Peterson, 2014). Moving towards the third phase, social media platforms gradually developed into a vital tool for disseminating information and organizing protest activities. It enhanced the scale and strengthened the impact of the Umbrella Movement. For example, 1.3 million messages posted in Twitter from 26 to 30 September made the Umbrella Movement the most heated issue among Tweets around the world (Lee, 2014), allowing protestors to bargain with the authority with support from international community. In the final stage, failure in sustaining the Umbrella Movement was fundamentally attributed to mass civil disobedience and occupying movements that provoke criticisms from the public due to long-period road blockage and incompliance with the injunction order (Chan, 2014). These follow the PMP principle that social media was neither an initiator nor terminator of the movement. In other words, the Umbrella Movement would have occurred even without social media platforms, though might be at a smaller scale with limited influence. Role of social media as a complementary tool The Mobilization Theory suggests that social media was essential for the Umbrella Movement in actualizing shared grievance into collective actions. Despite its prominent role, it is worth noting that social media was only a catalyst for the Umbrella Movement to grow and expand its influence. Without this complementary tool, the movement would still emerge with the pre-existing social conditions as described in the last section, though its scale and impact in striving for a genuine universal suffrage would be greatly reduced. 3.1 To organize fragmented forces and form coalition Social media allowed pro-protestor groups to go beyond limitations of traditional media and unite fragmented forces (Howard et al., 2011). Networking functions in social media platforms such as ‘like’ and sharing functions in Facebook and ‘hashtag’ function in Twitter or Instagram allowed people who share common goals and values to build solidarity. It was particularly important to the Umbrella Movement because targeted participants of ‘class boycott’ were the younger population who are the most frequent social media users. A larger-scale movement was thus created by involving segmented pro-protest forces to join the mass protest activities led by the two student groups. 3.2 To provide new opportunities for creating social capital Social media provided new opportunities for pro-protestor groups to mobilize citizens by creating social capital, and for commoners to produce political content as if they were social elites (Howard et al., 2011). Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter became important channels for citizen journalists to broadcast stories that were not covered in mainstream media, for instance, injuries at protest sites caused by tear gas or police’s violence. Violent response towards peaceful protestors generated sympathy from initially unengaged citizens (Dobson, 2001), mobilizing more angry people to go on streets and spread protest activities beyond the initial stronghold in Admiralty to new areas in Causeway Bay and Mongkok. 3.3 To arouse international awareness Social media platforms such as Twitter allowed information about the Umbrella Movement to be disseminated rapidly across border through Internet. Major newspapers around the globe reported the protests in Hong Kong, whilst student leader Joshua Wong was selected as one of the most influential teens of 2014 by a world renowned magazine TIME (Campbell, 2015). Recognition from international community empowered protestors and exerted greater pressure on the government to defer clearance plans and agree on a meeting with student leaders on 21 October. Conclusion In spite of the high correlation between frequency of social media usage and protest activities during the Umbrella Movement, one should be cautious when deriving their causal relationship. Rejecting the notion regarding social media platforms being a prerequisite for the Umbrella Movement, cyber-realists point out their reverse causality using the politics-media-politics principle. The principle emphasizes on the chronological order that it is protest activities in Admiralty that first emerged, causing increase in access to social media platforms for more timely and unreported information about the movement, and eventually creating new political dynamics with the changing media environment. Focusing on the first phase of the principle, protest activities emerged because of the pre-existing social demand for a genuine universal suffrage in local communities and common grievance regarding the NPCSC decision, as well as the prior discussion in organizing mass demonstrations and civil disobedience movements among political activists such as Scholarism and Benny Tai. Acting as a tool for mobilizing people and drawing international awareness, social media was only a catalyst to foster growth and expand influence of the movement. In other words, the Umbrella Movement would have occurred even social media platforms did not exist. (Word Count: 1470) Reference Campbell, Charlie. (2015). Hong Kong Student Leader Joshua Wong Questioned Over Pro-Democracy Protests. Retrieved from TIME website http://time.com/3671211/hong- kong-occupy-central-umbrella-revolution-joshua-wong-students-charged/ Chan, Johannes. (2014). Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement. The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs. 103:6, 571-580, DOI: 10.1080/00358533.2014.985465 Dobson, Charles. (2001). Social Movements: A Summary of What Works. The Citizens Handbook: A Guide to Building Community in Vancouver. Retrieved from http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook Howard, P.N., Duffy, A., Freelon, D., Hussain, M., Mari, W. Mazaid, M. (2011). Opening Closed Regimes: What Was the Role of Social Media During the Arab Spring?. Project on Information Technology Political Islam. Retrieved from http://pitpi.org/index.php/2011/09/11/opening-closed-regimes-what-was-the-role-of-social-media-during-the-arab-spring/ Lee, Danny. (2014). The role of social media in Occupy protests, on the ground and around the world. Retrieved from SCMP website http://www.scmp.com/news/hong- kong/article/1628305/role-social-media-occupy-protests-ground-and-around-world Lopes, A. R. (2014). The Impact of Social Media on Social Movements: The New Opportunity and Mobilizing Structure. Journal of Political Science Research. Creighton University. Retrieved from https://www.creighton.edu/fileadmin/user/CCAS/ departments/PoliticalScience/Journal_of_Political_Research__JPR_/2014_JSP_papers/Lopes_JPR.pdf Morozov. Evgeny. (2011). Facebook and Twitter are just places revolutionaries go. Retrieved from The Guardian website http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011 /mar/07/facebook-twitter-revolutionaries-cyber-utopians Peterson, Andrea. (2014). Protesters in Hong Kong must weigh the promise and risks of mesh networking. Retrieved from The Washington Post website http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/10/06/protesters-in-hong-kong-must-weigh-the-promise-and-risks-of-mesh-networking/ Wolfsfeld, G., Segev, E. Sheafer, T. (2013). Social Media and the Arab Spring: Politics Comes First. The International Journal of Press/Politics. 18(2) 115–137. Doi: 10.1177/1940161212471716

The Sea Wolf Essay -- essays research papers

The crew of the seal hunting ship the Ghost stood in disbelief as they gazed upon their recently departed first mate. Then a most unusual thing occurred. The captain began yelling at the dead man like a raging storm. Oaths rolled from his lips in a continuous stream. And they were not nice and thoughtful words or mere expressions of indecency. Each word was a blasphemy, and there were many words. It is this lack of remorse for others that defines Wolf Larsen, the antagonist in The Seal Wolf by Jack London.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the beginning of the book you are introduced to the contrast of characters at hand. The feeble gentleman Humphrey Van Weydon, who is cruelly forced upon the voyage, and the devilish and somewhat divine captain Wolf Larsen. This combination of good and evil sets the stage for an amazing battle of wit and perseverance. But to understand the great battle between these two men, you have to understand the almost invincible nature of Captain Wolf Larsen. Wolf is a five foot ten inch, tan skinned brute. His height is not at all the most striking characteristic of the captain. His amazing muscular build and strength rival that of an enlarged gorilla. In fact, the author repeatedly compares Wolf’s immense strength with that of a wild animal. The name London gives him is perfect to describe his nature. It is this godlike ability to kill anyone with his bare hands that keeps the crew in fear of him. There is a scene in the book where the crew atte...

Father Roles Heaney Essay -- essays papers

Father Roles Heaney Father Roles There are many factors that will shape a young boy’s life, but possibly none more important than the role of that boy’s father. Seamus Heaney and Theodore Roethke both have shown the importance of the father role in their poems â€Å"Digging† and â€Å"My Papas Waltz.† Although the roles of the fathers in these poems were different, the respect and admiration shown by their sons is one in the same. Weather it is Heaney’s father digging under his window, or Roehtke’s father dancing him around as a little boy, the love shown in these two poems, shows a direct relation on the lives they shared with their fathers. Heaney’s poem, â€Å"Digging† showed that while the boy still loved his father, he did not wish to carry on the tradition of potato digging that had been in his family for generations. For example, Heaney wrote that he had â€Å"no spade to follow men like them†(Spence par 1). This quote states that Heaney, although loving his father, did not think he could carry on the tradition. Heaney remembers the way he would bring his grandfather a glass of milk, and would drink the entire bottle, and then would watch his grandfather fall to work once again. This brings about the fact that while still caring a great deal for his father and grandfather, he still would prefer the path of a writer (Glover 542). Ultimately, Heaney chose not to â€Å"follow men like them†, and chose instead on becoming a writer. This is backed up later in the poem when Heaney writes â€Å"Between my finger and my thumb/The squat pen rests/I’ll dig with it.† Heaney had alwa ys watched his father from the upstairs window while he dug, and Heaney would watch and write, and this fanned the fire for Heaney’s desire to become a writer (Pellegrio pa... ...and Theodore Roehtke both had fathers who were hard working, involved men, but both having taken the time to show their sons the attention and love that they deserved. The impact that the fathers played in these poets lives will always be remembered in the poems â€Å"Digging† and â€Å"My Papas Waltz.† Between the lines of these two poems, you can see the importance that Seamus Heaney, and Theodore Roehtke’s fathers played in their sons lives, by showing them love, and compassion, no matter what hey had chosen to do. Weather it was simply bringing his dad a glass of milk, or dancing around the kitchen without ever wanting to let go, the role of father is one of the biggest roles a man can ever accept. â€Å"Digging† and My Papas Waltz† are two great examples of how much difference a father makes if he shows warmth, love, compassion, and possibly most important, understanding.

Scarlet Letter Analysis

Kelsey Federspill Scarlet Letter Literary Analysis R5 12. 2. 12 Over Coming Guilt Remorse is a feeling experienced after committing an act that produces a sense of guilt. A life lesson can be learned in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, about the theme of guilt. Everyone experiences guilt when they commit a sin or human frailty but the way one handles the feelings of guilt is different.Guilt is expressed in three main ways: ignoring or hiding the sin and letting the guilt build up on the inside, blaming others for the sin and wanting revenge for the way the person feels, and embracing the sin committed and not releasing the guilt. The different ways guilt is experienced determines the way it is punished: by others or no one at all. But punishment for the sin doesn't always affect the amount of guilt felt by one. Hawthorne uses symbolism and irony to demonstrate that guilt should not take over one’s life, rather it should be a lesson learned of embracement , forgiveness, and acceptance.In The Scarlet Letter, the character Hester Prynne is well known for the scarlet letter that she was forced to wear. Prynne embraced the punishment of the scarlet letter and used the punishment in a unique way, â€Å"On the breast of her gown in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A† (37). The letter ‘A’ represented the sin of adultery that Prynne had committed.The community choose this form of punishment for Prynne to make her feel guilty for the act of adultery she committed and used it as an example to the rest of the community. As Prynne egresses from prison Hawthorne describes the scene, â€Å"the scene was not without a mixture of awe, such as must always invest the spectacle of guilt and shame in a fellow-creature† (39). Prynne chooses to embrace the scarlet letter rather than let the feeling of guilt take over her life because she desired to set a good example for her daughter, Pearl.She was able to embrace her sin and the scarlet letter because she was working to set an example for her daughter. It was ironic how the community tried to force guilt on to Prynne, but in return she embraced the punishment in full stride and even used it to purify herself, â€Å"Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and her should be the scene of her punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost; more saint-like, because the result of martyrdom† (55).When the town people saw Prynne as she exited the prison, people said, â€Å"thus she will be a living sermon against sin† (44). The town people would always be reminded of her sin. Prynne did not let the guilt of her sin produce a major impact on her life. Rather she accepted her transgression and learned the importance of not letting her past mistake s and guilt negatively affect her future. Rosebushes are full of beauty but pain can be inflicted on someone who tries to hold it due to the rosebush’s sharp thorns.When Hawthorne depicts the town he describes the rosebush on the side of the prison, â€Å"but, on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rosebush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of nature could pity and be kind to him† (33). The rosebush symbolizes forgiveness from guilt throughout The Scarlet Letter.Pearl, Prynne’s daughter, was visiting the governor’s hall with her mother one day to deliver a pair of embroider gloves Prynne had made. While at the governor’s house, Pearl saw a rosebush and reacted in an unusual way, â€Å"Pearl, seeing the ros ebushes, began to cry for a red rose, and would not be pacified,† (73). Pearl responded with this meltdown because she wanted forgiveness for her mother and for her father, Reverend Dimmesdale, to be accepted by the community. Pearl felt guilty but blamed it on others. She was seeking revenge on the townspeople for the way they made her mother feel.The irony of the rosebush is how it hurt Prynne, Pearl, and Dimmesdale, like the thorns on a rosebush when touched. In the end the family moved out of their community attempting to not let the mistakes of the past take over their present lives. Ultimately, they choose a fresh start. Pearl was a product of Prynne’s sin of adultery. Pearl’s birth was very humiliating for Prynne; nevertheless Pearl still meant the world to Prynne. Pearl’s name even has significance, â€Å"but she names the infant ‘Pearl,’ as being of great price,– purchased with all she had,– her mother’s only tre asure† (61).The biblical allusion to the pearl is referred to in Matthew 13 about a parable of a man who gave up everything for a pearl of great price. Prynne gave up everything she had for her daughter. She even dresses Pearl in the best clothes, while she dresses very poorly. To Prynne, Pearl was a symbol of strength and overcoming obstacles. Prynne said, â€Å"I can teach my little Pearl what I have learned from this [the scarlet letter],† (76). Prynne is a great example and life lesson to Pearl of how to accept the mistakes made in the past and not let the shame define oneself. Prynne uses Pearl to show how tough a young child can be.On the other hand, the town viewed Pearl as the devil child: evil. The town discussed Pearl as, â€Å"an imp of evil, emblem and product of sin,† (64) and, â€Å"poor little Pearl was a demon offspring,† (68). Pearl herself is truly a symbol of ignorance and hope. Hawthorne described an occurrence of Pearl talking to Mr. W ilson, a pastor, â€Å"after putting her finger in her mouth, with many ungracious refusals to answer good Mr. Wilson’s question, the child finally announced that she had not been made at all, but had been plucked by her mother off the rosebush of wild roses, that grew by the prison,† (76).Pearl believed she was created for good and had an optimistic attitude on life. She did not let guilt become an emotion known in her. Pearl did not let the past effect her future. In conclusion, life lessons were learned about embracement, forgiveness, and acceptance from guilt with the use of symbolism and irony from Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter. The different ways guilt can be handled was demonstrated in The Scarlet Letter, but not letting guilt take over one’s life was key. Moving on and learning from a sin or human frailty is significant and something everyone can learn from.