Personal Statement The Unlucky Runner - 1442 Words

Unlucky Runner â€Å"John McBernette, please stay after class,† my english teacher ordered a few seconds before the bell. Suspecting I had been caught yet once again pulling a prank on my friend, I cursed the day she was born silently while sulking deeper into my seat. As I stood standing in front of her desk, awaiting her almost daily lecture, I realized that my life was not hot and spicy like I always imagined it to be at my present age. However, that was five years ago. Since that day I have been running, running from the biggest known hitman agency. It all started when I got home that day after school. I walked up the two flights of stairs into my empty apartment. An old, run-down, red bricked, twentieth century building. I crumpled the parent-teacher note I usually got, and tossed it into the trash. With my luck I probably missed, so I made my way back to the crumpled paper on the ground and put it into the trash, once again hitting the edge of the trash can and falling down. â€Å"Damn,† I said casually to myself, â€Å"my luck is really off today.† I was beginning to crave an after school snack, deciding toast would be the best choice, as there wasn’t much that could go wrong while making toast. Unfortunately, the toast caught fire after being in the toaster for a minute too long. I started to laugh, thinking I had jinxed myself into eternal unluckiness. Pouring a cup of water over the small flames was not what I had intended to do, but it had been an instinct. The flames wereShow MoreRelatedProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 PagesProject Manager 338 Managing versus Leading a Project 339 Managing Project Stakeholders 340 Influence as Exchange 344 Task-Related Currencies 345 Position-Related Currencies 346 Inspiration-Related Currencies 346 Relationship-Related Currencies 346 Personal-Related Currencies 347 Well-Defined Requirements and Procedures 423 Extensive Training and Team-Building Activities 424 Well-Established Conflict Management Processes in Place 426 Frequent Review and Status Updates 426 Co-Location When Needed

Quasi-Experimental Group Design To Compare Recidivism...

Methods Research Design The current study will utilize a quasi-experimental group design to compare recidivism rates of opioid offenders in drug courts compared to offenders on probation. Since, random assignment to control and experimental groups are not feasible, the two groups will be matched on various demographic characteristics as well as the current choice of drug. The data will be collected on all participants that have entered the Brooklyn Treatment Court, NY (BTC) in the second judicial district, and a comparison group of offenders on traditional probation. Sample The BTC offers substance abuse treatment for nonviolent felony and misdemeanor drug offenders arrested in Brooklyn as an alternative to incarceration. Therefore, the†¦show more content†¦The primary interest within the independent variable is to determine whether participation in drug courts decreases the probability of recidivism. To evaluate this concern, the current study will analyze whether receiving treatment in a drug court versus the comparison group of probationers will affect various outcomes. Finally, gender, race, age, and education will also be included in the analysis as control variables. Dependent Variable. The effectiveness and the impact of the drug court will be assessed by analyzing the recidivism rates between the treatment group and the comparison group of probationers. Recidivism will be measured by examining both felony and misdemeanor charges and arrests, and drug related arrests will further be examined. Outcome data pertaining to arrests will be collected from the months of June, July, and August of 2016, allowing for an average follow-up time of 517 days. The data to be collected will include official rearrest results upon the completion of the drug treatment program and upon the completion of a probation sentence for the comparison group. Through the arrest results, further examination will be conducted on the severity of the crimes committed and whether they involved drug offenses. Data Collection To assess the effectiveness of drug court programs on opioid offenders compared to offenders sentenced to traditional probation, official arrest results will be gathered from the database of the New York City police department

Business Information Systems Free Essays

string(114) " knowledge and decision making skills of specialists, giving none-specialists enough knowledge to make decisions\." Business Information Systems HA(IT) My questions: 1. Define the concept information system and its constitutive elements; describe the broad categories of computer-based information systems, providing relevant business examples for each category identified; explain how computer-based information systems can support managers at each level of an organisation. 2. We will write a custom essay sample on Business Information Systems or any similar topic only for you Order Now Explain the main elements and steps of the project management process and, considering your essay writing as a project, provide a concrete description including numbers for that project; relate the main project management steps to the main phases of the systems development life cycle model; how are the life cycle phases handled in the V-model and the spiral model? 3. What is the Information Systems and Information Technology Function in an organization; what needs to be managed; how can the IS/IT function be organized; what does outsourcing mean and which role does it play in this context? Characters (with spaces) and 1 figure: 22645 Question 1 Information Systems To understand and define an Information System (IS) thoroughly, it’s important to separate the two words and understand them separately. Information is produced by processing data so that it is meaningful which can be not only understood by the recipient but also used to meet a specific goal or requirement. To understand information, data needs to be understood as well. Data are raw facts like a specific date or measurement. Data needs to be processed and transformed into information; this process is called the transformation process. E. . data regarding sales of a firm is useless unless putting it in the correct context. But if you sort the sales after type of product, you will be able to see what product has been sold the most. By using data to gain relevant information, it’s possible to reduce the uncertainty of different questions and thereby improve the decision making. A system can be fou nd in every part of the world. A system is a set of interrelated components that work together towards a common goal. The solar system might not a have an obvious goal while a firm might have several goals like gaining profit or making the best product possible. To achieve these specific goals the system will need to obtain inputs and transform these into outputs, like described in the transformation process, data is seen as the input and information as the output. But to transform input into output isn’t enough. The output needs to be relevant compared to the objective(s) of the firm. For systems to be more effective the system can contain a feedback and control stage as well. By using the information we have just gathered it’s possible to define IS. IS is defined as the way people and organizations are gathering, storing and processing information. In a business the IS will contribute to making the correct decisions. But IS isn’t solely used for managers and workers’ decision making it can also be used in other ways, like feedback for an organization’s quality. Computer-based information systems Today most IS involve Information Technology (IT) to create management information also called computer-based information systems. This is because of the many disadvantages it gives not having a computer-based information system. An IS can be divided into two categories called Operations Information Systems (OIS) and Management Information System (MIS). OIS contains 3 sub-systems each contributing in the daily running of a business. The 3 sub-systems of the OIS are: The Transaction Processing System (TPS), Office Automation Systems (OAS) and the Process Control Systems. The TPS is managing the many transactions occurring on daily basis on the operational level of an organization like withdrawal of money from an ATM, or orders and payments for goods and services. Even though the TPS is marked by a lot of repetitive tasks and routine, the function of it is essential and mission-critical to an organization. A TPS will e. g. secure that an ATM is running correctly. If a person wants to withdraw money from his account via an ATM, the TPS will make sure that there’s enough money on the customer’s account so that the money can be withdrawn. The transaction will only take place if all tasks in the process can be completed. OAS is a common system within the OIS. OAS refers to the way that basic tasks in an office have been computerized. Before creating, storing and managing information was done physically, but by computerizing the office the time taking to create documents or arrange meetings is done faster, giving more time for the organization to take care of other tasks. The OAS helps making the office more than just an area for typing but an area for exchanging important knowledge about the organization by still reducing costs as well. If a manager wants to set up a meeting instead of giving a paper to each participant, he can choose to send an e-mail to all the participants even though they aren’t at the same location. The process control system deals with large amounts of data created by production processes. The process control system is used to control and support the different manufacturing processes of an organization. The process control system will automatically control the flow of the manufacturing process by a specific limit set by the user, and might e. g. support the production of a standard product like the Model T Ford car. The MIS contains three sub-systems. All three systems are supporting decision-making in a business and are called: Decision Support Systems (DSS), Information Reporting Systems (IRS) and the Executive Information Systems(EIS). DSS uses raw data along with different business models to provide useful information for the manager which he can use for making tactical and strategic decisions, being especially semi-structured or unstructured. The DSS is often created by end-users, because they often have the much needed knowledge about the organization compared to a bespoke or on-the-shelf package developed by a third party. An example is the expert system which contains the knowledge and decision making skills of specialists, giving none-specialists enough knowledge to make decisions. You read "Business Information Systems" in category "Essay examples" In the world of medicine, it’s possible for a nurse to enter the symptoms of a patient. The system will then compare the entered symptoms with all the different symptoms of different diseases already stored in a knowledge base and provide a diagnosis. A problem with the DSS is that the more options the system has the more complex it gets. IRS uses information to produce predefined reports for the day-to-day decision-making. There are two commonly known reports used by the IRS being the periodic and exception reports. The periodic reports is required by decision makers at regular intervals, it can e. . provide a report showing the sales of a product from day-to-day. The exception report is only being produced when needed; it might be produced automatically if a performance measure moves outside a predefined range. EIS is mostly used for the strategic decision making by senior managers to monitor, compare and analyze and thereby support the decision-making process of the senior manager. EIS could e. g. notify the senior manager with specific information about a facility anywhere in the world underperforming, giving him enough information to make a decision about the future of the facility. The different IS just described are each used at different levels of an organization. The top leaders of an organization are all placed in the strategic level, where unstructured decisions are a big part of the management. They mainly use EIS to support their decisions but it’s important to notice that their decisions tend to rely on their own knowledge and experience as well. At the tactical level of an organization the expert and decision support systems are used to support the semi-structured decisions being made at this level. The operational level of an organization makes a lot of structured decisions because of their little authority; therefore the TPS is used by the workers at this level on a day-to-day basis. The higher up we come in the organization the more unstructured the decisions are because of the level of authority rises. But this isn’t always true; it is possible to make unstructured decisions at the operational level as well as structured decisions at the strategic level. E. g. in a hospital the doctors (who work at the operational level) often have the authority to make important and less structured decisions. Question 2 The project management process There are three key elements of the project management process being time, cost and quality. BIS (Business Information Systems) projects are likely to consume a lot of time and money and involve many parts of the specific organization; the project manager therefore has a big responsibility for the failure or success of a project and whether or not the project is following the time, cost and quality requirements given. The use of a well-structured project management process has the ability to highly reduce the chance of a BIS projects failure. The project management process has four steps being: Estimation, schedule/plan, monitoring and control, documentation. The estimation step gives the project manager time to plan how much time and effort the project will take to fulfill the given requirements. The overall project requirements will be compared to the available resources. In the early stages of the project it’s often hard for the project manager to give precise estimations because of the great amount of uncertainty, but the project will often be constrained by a deadline or the type of people and hardware available. Effort time and elapsed time is two important terms used to explain the amount of work different tasks will take. Effort time explains the total amount of work needed to complete a task while the elapsed time indicates how many calendar days the task will take. A project’s estimation will often change a lot from the start and to the end of a project because of the many constraints and changes that can occur. The requirements might change or hardware might break down, but a good estimation is essential to the success or failure of a project. The schedule/planning step is about determining when a project should be executed; the finished schedule is then called the plan. There are two main terms important to notice called the serial and parallel relationship. The serial relationship describes how some activities have to be completed before another activity can start. The parallel relationship explains how some activities can be totally independent, but that four activities might need to run in parallel before an implementation can occur. Monitoring and control is a very important step which ensures that the tasks of a project are meeting the requirements. This is done by monitoring the different tasks; if the project isn’t running as planned and is deviating from the given requirements, controls might need to be made for the project not to fail. To disseminate the information provided during project execution an essential step is documentation. It’s the project manager’s task to make sure that good documentation is provided from the different parts of the project. With poor documentation or without any information at all, the project might not deliver on time and the expenses of maintenance will most likely increase. It’s also important that the documentation provided is acceptable and understandable. My project: To support my project planning a Gantt chart was made to show an overview of the activities. Project startup describes my first day of the project; I chose my questions and estimated the overall process of the project. I wanted to use three days on each question, all though I have to use four days on question 2 because of other homework. My writing will compared to my estimation be finished on the 30-okt and I will thereafter be editing the project. The product has to be finished and delivered on the 2-Nov. If the project isn’t delivered on the 2-Nov the project will fail. The different tasks being question 1, 2 and 3 are in this project all independent but I chose to run them in a parallel relationship with the editing task so that before the editing task can occur, the three questions have to be answered. This gives me an overview of the size of my project and whether or not the project has to be shorter. I have been executing the project as planned so far regarding time (today 22-okt), but looking at the size of my project so far, I’m going need more time than estimated on cutting the project in the editing phase. Relation between the project management steps and the SDLC The main phases of the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) are by order: Initiation, feasibility study, requirement analysis, system design, build, implement, maintain and kill. The estimation step is used in almost all of the SDLC stages, and will be used more frequently in some stages depending on the type of project. In the initiation stage of the project the project manager will use estimation to make an overview of the project, estimating the different resources that are required to carry out the project, but the estimation isn’t detailed yet. A detailed estimation will be produced when the project has been determined feasible and is under or close to production. The leader will estimate whether or not the project is feasible at the feasibility stage by using the information granted through interviews and reports. In the analysis stage the requirements for the new system will be specified. After the requirements have been established it’s possible to make a detailed estimation of especially the work required at the design and build phase. The estimations will often be much more precise if timings from the previous projects are available. The scheduling and planning step runs alongside the estimation step. By knowing how much time and effort is needed for the project, it’s possible to make a more precise schedule of the process of the project. It’s important to always have a schedule of the plan for the project, but the most effective schedule will be made after the detailed estimation has been produced at the analysis phase (it can be produced at other steps depending on the project). Once the schedule has been produced, the monitoring and control step will monitor the performance at all of the SDLC stages and ensure that the project is following the schedule/plan and fulfilling the requirements. It’s essential to monitor all of the SDLC stages since deviating from the plan can result in a project failure. Documentation is important during the whole project but especially essential at the development and maintenance phases. This is because most projects are based on team efforts. Not only does the documentation allow monitoring and controlling, but it allows the different members of a development team to disseminate their design information between each other, making their work more effective. The V- and spiral model The V-model’s V describes the graphical overview of the relationship between the different tests and SDLC phases, but the V is also a synonym for verification and validation. The verification will check if there is any better solution to the design of the product, and that the design we are building is without errors or bugs. The validation is used to test the design of the product and check whether the design is fulfilling the requirements. Validation and verification forms the basis for producing tests. The tests shown in the V-model are used during implementation which is why the model has the V-shape. But it’s important to notice that the life cycle phases on the left side have to occur, before the tests on the right side of the model can occur. A concern about the V-model is that it has no maintenance phase, meaning that it’s possible to believe that the product is finished and bug-free when signed off. The SDLC can also be used via the spiral model. The spiral model is an iterative system. The three stages of analyzing, design and coding often tend to be repeated as a part of the prototyping process, and this is why the spiral model was made. The spiral model consists of four main activities: Planning, risk analysis, engineering and customer relation. The model contains all of the elements of the SDLC but it also contains risk assessment. By being able to make several iterations it’s possible to make a more detailed production and to add in new elements to the production because of the repetition. Question 3 The IS/IT function The goal of using IS/IT is the hope that it will generate more benefit than the costs used on it. The function of IS in an organization, is to make the management process effective and support it. IT is the tools like hardware and software that the organization uses so IS can run and be built. Managing the IS/IT functions When managing IS there are different areas that need to be managed. It’s important to manage the development of the different business systems. When migrating from one system to another it’s important to have a project leader, as well as to manage and make sure that the migration is going as planned. When inventing end-user applications, it’s important to have management to make sure that the software being produced isn’t full of bugs, and isn’t a reinvention. Other important areas that needs to be managed is the database administration, user support and training, shared services and the IS/IT staffing. It’s also important to manage different areas of IT. Some of the areas that need to be managed are which hardware platforms to use in the organization, the manager might choose to only use the client/server environment. Good network architecture is also vital to an organizations sharing of information, and therefore it’s important that this area is managed. Many organizations use a lot of money on IT, and many big organizations have large amounts of IT including development tools. If this area isn’t managed, new tools being bought might not be compatible with the chosen database management systems or the selected hardware platforms. If an organization is using legacy systems, these needs to be managed so that it can still operate with newer systems (this might be an IS area as well). A final important area to manage is the operations management which contains hardware management, capacity planning, security, technical support, telecommunications and network management. Organizing the IS/IT functions To organize the different functions of IS/IT isn’t easy, but an essential part of making IS/IT more effective in a business. It’s possible to ether centralize or decentralize when organizing the IS/IT function in a business. When centralizing, the IS/IT management will be placed in one specific spot in the organization from where all of the functions of IS/IT will be managed. This could for example be the MIS, which will then be reporting to an IT director or another head of the department. Decentralization is the opposite of centralizing and means that the IS/IT functions will be spread out across the organization by having small IS/IT groups stored in different parts of the organization. It’s hard for organizations to be 100 % centralized or decentralized all though many organizations tend to focus on one of them. Outsourcing Outsourcing is a term used when a company chooses to subcontract a service to a third party. This service can be catering, cleaning, public relations and IS. Outsourcing of IS management has become a major term in many companies in the world today because of its many benefits and uses. Some of these are cost reduction, quality improvement, risk reduction and to enable a focus on the core business. In a 2009 IBM survey of 2500 CIO’s worldwide 76% of the respondents anticipate to have a strongly centralized infrastructure in five years. A highly centralized IS/IT function does as mentioned before contribute to cost reduction, and having the function in one place makes it easier for companies to take advantage of developments like outsourcing. By seeing more companies outsourcing and more companies wanting to centralize which both contribute to a lower cost might not be a coincidence, and can be a way of saying that IT is more than just a support capacity for the outsourcing/centralizing organizations. Outsourcing plays a huge role in the management process as well. The problem with outsourcing and its relationship with the management process is the importance of making outsourcing work. Outsourcing might be a huge trend, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to work. Many company’s outsourcing projects tend to fail because of bad management and contracts with the third-party. The failure of many outsourcing projects can have a connection between the management and organizing of the IS/IT functions. If the management and organizing of the IS/IT functions isn’t managed well or if the company isn’t seeing IS/IT as an important part of the company’s strategy, outsourcing has a bigger chance of failing. Litteraturliste * Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley Simon Hickie, 2008 * http://www. omputerworld. com/s/article/347073/Swinging_Toward_Centralization (29-10-2011, klokken 13:10) ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 8 [ 2 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley Simon H ickie, 2008 s. 43 [ 3 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 44 [ 4 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 249 [ 5 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley, Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 687 [ 6 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley, Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 254 [ 7 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley ,Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 262 [ 8 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley, Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 262 [ 9 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 346 [ 10 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 351 [ 11 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 355 [ 12 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 356 [ 13 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 544 [ 14 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 544 [ 15 ]. Business Information Systems, fourth edition, Paul Bocij Andrew Greasley Simon Hickie, 2008 s. 547 [ 16 ]. http://www. computerworld. com/s/article/347073/Swinging_Toward_Centralization (29-10-2011, klokken 13:10) How to cite Business Information Systems, Essay examples

Masaccio Example For Students

Masaccio Biography Outline1 Biography2 Key Ideas in paintings3 Famous paintings made by Masaccio3.1 Madonna3.2 Holy Trinity3.3 Brancacci Chapel3.4 Self-portrait Biography Masaccio is an Italian painter of the Florentine school. He is considered as one of the founders of the Renaissance. He contributed through his art to the transition from Gothic to new art, which glorified the greatness of humanity and his world. Masaccio was born in the provincial Tuscan town of Castel San Giovanni on December 21, 1401. His full name is Tommaso di Jiovanni di Simone Kassai. Nowadays, we know next to nothing about the childhood and youth of the artist. He died at an early age, so just a few biographical facts about him has survived. Masaccio earned his nickname because of his inattention and indifference to everything except art. (Masaccio can be translated from Italian as ‘the one, who does not hit the target’). He was obsessed only with his work. It is believed that the teacher of Masaccio was Florentine Masolino da Panicale. A great influence on the young man had the artworks of Giotto di Bondone and contacts with famous contemporaries: the sculptor Donatello and the architect Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi assisted Masaccio with questions about the prospect of painting. In 1422, Masaccio entered the Florentine Guild of Physicians and Pharmacists (which also included artists). Not being particular ly popular in life, the artist, after his premature death at the age of 26, became a role model for many followers, including Renaissance titans like Raphael and Michelangelo. The cause of his death remained a mystery, like his father’s, who died, being only a year older. Key Ideas in paintings Studying with other major masters of the Renaissance as Donatello and Brunelleschi, Masaccio took the best of the styles of these artists and sculptors, added his own vision of the world and created his own recognizable style. You can feel a clear definition in his drawings. He was realistic, and accurately reproduced the appearance of people, nature, and architecture and is a bright representative of the Splinter Renaissance. For comparison, you need to know that a romantic, distorted ‘Gothic’ style of the image was in fashion at that times. Famous paintings made by Masaccio During his short life, Masaccio created many paintings and frescoes, mostly intended for churches. His masterpieces such as the ‘Triptych of St. Juvenal’, ‘The Madonna and Child with Saint Anne’, the Pisa triptych, ‘Prayer for the Cup’, the frescoes of the Brancacci Chapel and the ‘Sagra’, or the ‘Lighting’ that has not reached our days are widely known. In addition to church painting, there are examples of civil works, masterfully executed by Masaccio — portraits. Madonna ‘Madonna and Child with Saints’ refer to the early period of his work. This masterpiece is from the small church of San Giovanni in Casa di Reggello. Probably, in the years 1422-1424, Masaccio and his fellow countryman, Masolino de Panicale, worked on another altar composition — ‘Madonna with Child and Saint Anne’ (Florence, Uffizi Gallery). Holy Trinity The rupture of the artist with the previous artistic tradition was fully revealed while he was working on the fresco ‘Holy Trinity’ (Florence, the church of Santa Maria Novella), created, apparently, in around 1427. The plot of the composition is completely traditional: it depicts God the Father, crucified Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. However, Masaccio illustrated this topic unusually. Instead of depicting saints on a golden background, which emphasize the timeless aspect, he placed the image of the Trinity in a small chapel. Also, the viewers sight goes up from the bottom. The illusive image of architecture created here is the first example of a successful and coherent use of the recently opened principle of linear perspective with a single point of ascension in drawings. The researchers interpret this fresco in different ways, but its main theme is the victory of faith over death. .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679 , .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679 .postImageUrl , .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679 , .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679:hover , .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679:visited , .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679:active { border:0!important; } .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679 { 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; } .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679:active , .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679 .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; } .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679 .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ud3e38fb8c91dadaaf434d567304b0679:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Hieronymus BoschBrancacci Chapel Frescos of the Brancacci chapel at the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence are the most prominent works of art in Masaccio. He created them together with Masolino. Probably, he was the first one who was supposed to do them in 1423, and he managed to paint the vaults (these paintings were not preserved). In the middle of 1420s, Masolino went to Hungary and resumed work in the chapel only in 1427, already with Masaccio. However, the painting was still incomplete, since, in the following year, first Masolino, and then Masaccio went to Rome. Only around 1484, Filippino Lippi finished decorating the chapel with frescoes. Masaccio is believed to have done these compositions: ‘Exile from Paradise’, ‘Peters baptism of the neophytes’, ‘Apostle Peter, healing the sick with his shadow’, ‘Apostle Peter, distributing community property among the poor’, ‘Resurrection of the son of the Antiochian king’, and fragments of the murals ‘Healing cripples’ and ‘The Resurrection of Theophilus’. The paintings of the Brancacci chapel represent the story of the fall in sin and episodes of the life of St. Peter, mostly miraculous healing and deeds of mercy committed by him. Characters of Masaccio frescoes are endowed with heroic spirit, in contrast to the characteristic of a late Gothic painting of fragile and elegant images. Self-portrait This fragment of the fresco ‘The sermon of Peter from the pulpit’ in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine is considered to be a self-portrait of Masaccio. On this masterpiece, we can see a beardless young man in red clothes. He listens to Saint Peter’s preaching very carefully. He stands third in a row on the right side of the painting. All the great artist of the fifteenth century acted in a similar manner. Only in the 16th century, they decided that they deserve individual portraits.

Crocs Essay Example

Crocs Essay Crocs began marketing its shoes at a November 2002 boat show. Crocs were originally intended to be sold to boaters, because of their slip proof, non-marking sole and the fact that they are waterproof and odor resistant. However, this market soon expanded to include gardeners, healthcare workers, waiters, and other professionals who had to be on their feet all day. This market began to encompass markets Crocs had never considered. Over the course of a year what had started out as simply an idea on a sailing trip evolved into one of the greatest footwear phenomena of the decade. Products and Target Market Crocs currently targets multiple market segments ranging from boaters to gardeners to simply individuals wanting a comfortable pair of sandals. However, the firms initial target market was boaters. Crocs initial foray into the market was an effort to provide a comfortable pair of nonslip boating shoes to a niche market. This target market soon expanded to others who would pay a premium price for comfort. Nurses, retail store clerks, and others who spent most of the day on their feet quickly recognized the value proposition Crocs offered: while expensive, these individuals were willing to pay a premium to avoid the discomfort of traditional shoes. Today, Crocs targets an even wider swath of the market. Crocs product category advertisements state that Crocs are for women, men, kid, sports, and everyone. To further broaden their market, Crocs advertises that among these segments, customer will find its products to be comfortable on the beach, around the house, in the rain, in cold weather, off the road, for walks in town, and even something that will look good in the office. Crocs has kept its original characteristics of light-weight, non-slip, brightly colored product lines while created additional styles to accommodate the needs of different consumers. Crocs also offers apparel products such as t-sh irts, shorts and even womens leggings. We will write a custom essay sample on Crocs specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Crocs specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Crocs specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

About Architect Michael Graves and Postmodernism

About Architect Michael Graves and Postmodernism Architect Michael Graves postmodernist designs were provocative and innovative. He brought color and playfulness to tall, office buildings, while at the same time designing everyday objects such as teakettles and kitchen trashcans for ordinary consumers. Paralyzed late in life, Graves also become a spokesman for universal design and Wounded Warriors. Background: Born: July 9, 1934 in Indianapolis, Indiana Died: March 12, 2015 in Princeton, New Jersey Education: University of Cincinnati, OhioHarvard UniversityFellow at the American Academy in Rome Important Buildings and Projects: Michael Graves home, New Jersey, now part of Michael Graves College at Kean University1982: Portland Building, Portland, Oregon1983: San Juan Capistrano Library, California1985: Humana Tower, Louisville, Kentucky1987-1990: The Dolphin and Swan Hotels, Orlando, Florida1990: Denver Public Library, Denver, Colorado1991: Team Disney Building, Burbank, California1993: U.S. Post Office, Celebration, Florida1995: Engineering Research Center, Cincinnati, Ohio1997: United States Federal Courthouse, Washington, DC1998-2000; 2013-2014: Washington Monument Illumination, Washington, DC2011: The Wounded Warrior Home Project at Fort Belvoir More Than Architecture: Household Designs Michael Graves has designed furnishings, artifacts, jewelry, and dinnerware for companies such as Disney, Alessi, Steuben, Phillips Electronics, and Black Decker. Graves is most famous for designing more than 100 products, ranging from a toilet brush to a $60,000 outdoor pavilion, for Target stores. Related People: Robert Venturi and Denise Scott BrownPhilip JohnsonPart of the New York Five,   subject of the MoMA exhibition and book Five Architects, along with Peter Eisenman, Charles Gwathmey,  Richard Meier and John HejdukDisney Architects Michael Graves Illness: In 2003, a sudden illness left Michael Graves paralyzed from the waist down. Confined to a wheelchair late in life, Graves combined his sophisticated and often whimsical approach to design with a deeper understanding of the importance of accessibility. Awards: 1979: Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA)1999: National Medal of Arts2001: Gold Medal, American Institute of Architects (AIA) More About Michael Graves: Michael Graves is often credited with moving American architectural thought from abstract modernism to post-modernism. Graves founded his practice in Princeton, New Jersey in 1964 and taught at Princeton University in New Jersey for 40 years. His works range from grand projects such as the Public Services Building in Portland Oregon to designs for furniture, teapots, and other household items. Borrowing heavily from the past, Graves often combined traditional details with whimsical flourishes. He was, perhaps, at his most playful when he designed the Dolphin and Swan Hotels for the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The Dolphin Hotel is a turquoise and coral pyramid. A 63-foot-dolphin sits on top, and water cascades down the side. The Swan Hotel has a gently curved roof-line topped with 7-foot swans. The two hotels are connected by an awning-sheltered walkway over a lagoon. What Others Say About Graves: Michael couldn’t abide students who didn’t take their work seriously. But he was especially generous with those who did, and unlike most other teachers, he could draw every building he taught them. He was a consummate talent, an artist-architect, and a teacher who challenged how we think by how we see. Very few can do that. Very few ever try. Michael did try, and therein is the mark of a hero, a master of the discipline who passed on everything he knew.- Peter Eisenman, 2015 Learn More: Five Architects: Eisenman, Graves, Gwathmey, Hejduk, Meier Sources: Peter Eisenman quote from A Special Tribute to Michael Graves: 1934–2015 by Samuel Medina, Metropolis Magazine, May 2015; Michael Gravess Residence, Rejected by Princeton, Is to Be Sold to Kean University by Joshua Barone, The New York Times, June 27, 2016 at www.nytimes.com/2016/06/28/arts/design/michael-gravess-residence-rejected-by-princeton-set-for-sale-to-kean-university.html [accessed July 8, 2016]

Human Resources in Business Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human Resources in Business - Case Study Example Other rewards might be social gatherings for different departments, free access to sports clubs or events, and gift packages for vacations or weekend getaways. Both controlling costs and promoting fairness are equally important in designing a reward system. I believe the key to a successful organization is to try and balance between the controlling costs and promoting fairness. The above mentioned company for which I worked 5 years and in two different countries, the reward system, the bonuses in particular were adjusted several times. This, though, was not as a result of the modifying organizational strategies, but a change made in order to respond adequately to the extra money that employees were earning. The statistics showed that some employees are earning the same bonus as the amount of their salary and senior managers decided to change the bonus system, so that greater revenues stays with the company. Therefore, on the various new reward systems that were introduced, hard-working employees who reached their target each month received fewer bonuses. I had experience in job evaluation schemes and I think I was lucky to have a great team leader, who encouraged me to develop the skills that I lacked and gave me the confidence to relate to the job position. The positive aspects might be that although you know that you are performing well, you still need another point of view of your achievements. Employees are not able to look their work from aside so job evaluation is a good way to adjust the barometer of the performed job. A negative aspect might be that everyone has been evaluated under the same criteria, which is very general, and sometimes subjective. Therefore, people, who have different attitude, abilities, predispositions are evaluated under the same common denominator, which destroys the individuality and divides employees into already set

Asses project risks Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Asses project risks - Assignment Example This would thus increase the cost of repairing the damages and increasing the labor cost. Furthermore, this risk is high since it is beyond the control of the project management. The second event that poses risk to the irrigation project is the delay in the delivery of the materials that will be necessary in constructing the water routes (Larson & Gray, 2011). The delay in such delivery risk bringing the project to a halt hence leading to non-achievement of the projects objective. This risk can be minimized by ensuring that reliable suppliers are contracted to deliver the materials and communications made in time. The third event that poses the risk to the project is the destruction of the plants when being planted or pruned. In such cases, the cost of purchasing additional plants or that of paying for the additional labor cost will negatively affect the project implementation. It also has the risk of delaying the completion of the project. Furthermore, destruction of the plants may lead to poor delivery of substitute plants, which are not of the same quality. The fourth event that poses risk to the irrigation project is labor disputes. In such a project, the number of persons employed is many and range from those with specialization and casual laborers (Linkov & Ramadan, 2004). Any delay in the payment of their remuneration or low rewards could make them down their tools and delay the timely completion of the project. Moreover, in the event that the equipments used in the building of the irrigation scheme is destroyed, the project could take longer periods. The cost of repairing the equipments will also increase the cost of the project hence resulting into total failure. Breakdown in the equipments could also arise when the actual digging is taking place and substandardised equipments have the potential of derailing the quality of the future construction or buildings. Spraying of the plants

Applying theory to a practice problem 3 Research Paper

Applying theory to a practice problem 3 - Research Paper Example Luke's Hospital School of Nursing. She earned both Master of Science in Nursing and a PhD from Case Western Reserve University in 1987 and 1997 respectively. Currently Kolcaba is serving as Associate Professor of nursing at Akron College of Nursing. Kolcaba has received many awards, including the Midwest Nursing Research Society award of Advancement of Science Award and the Case Western Reserve University award Cushing Robb Prize. Since retiring from professional teaching, she has been volunteering with the Honor Society of Nursing and the American Nurses Association. She has done various publications including Comfort Theory and Practice: A Vision for Holistic Health Care and Research. On the other hand, Dr. Margaret Jean Watson was born in 1940 in West Virginia and grew up in an extended family (Watson, 2010). Watson graduated with her bachelors of Science in Nursing at the University of Colorado. She earned her master’s in psychiatric-mental health nursing, and a doctorateà ¢â‚¬â„¢s in educational psychology and counseling (Johnson & Webber, 2010). She joined the teaching profession and became a distinguished Professor in Nursing and holds a Chair in Caring Science at the University of Colorado Health Science Center (Johnson & Webber, 2010). ... Dr. Watson is a fellow in the American Academy of nursing. She has national and international honors (Watson, 1997). When Watson created the caring theory, she had in mind the purpose to capture the medical standard of the patient and the environment in which they lived (Watson, 2008). This paper seeks to describe a nursing theory established by the above described nursing theorists and the influences contributed by the theorists, the concepts and the propositions of the theory, and then apply the theory to a practice problem through demonstrating the links to the elements of the theory and the problem. According to Kolcaba (1993), comfort theory addresses the satisfaction of human needs that arise from stressful health care situations. The paper seeks to apply this theory in the field of patient negligence. This involves the lack of coordination and communication in care, and also the management and control of symptoms, before the disease is aggravated. This problem is experienced i n both the public and private sector hence Kolcaba (1993) sort to address this issue and return sanity in the administration of patient care. According to L.J. Morrison and R.S Morrison (2006), palliative care are important in the care of elderly people as they require close monitoring. The problem is quite a matter of interest, quoting from statistics most patients die due to negligence by nurses. If the issue is addressed appropriately this will prevent the end of avoidable deaths. Kolcaba (1993) acknowledges that various scientific steps such as the muscle relaxation procedure and the therapeutic touch have been made to ensure that patients are well taken care of. In addition to the acknowledgement of the work of Katharine Kolcaba, The University of

Analysing Elizabeth Browning And Lord Tennyson English Literature Essay

Analysing Elizabeth Browning And Lord Tennyson English Literature Essay Two of the most successful poets of the 19th century, particularly between 1830 and 1900, were Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Alfred Lord Tennyson. The poems being studied throughout this essay are Aurora Leigh and The Cry of the Children by Elizabeth Browning, and The Lady of Shallot, In Memoriam and The Lotus-Eaters by Alfred Tennyson. All of these poems show how poets of the Victorian era dealt with the concept of morality in their own modern worlds. In detail, this essay will focus on Elizabeth Brownings feminist nature in her poems. Browning also writes about the contemporary issues during her lifetime, like the conflicts women faced as regards their home and work lives. This is shown on Aurora Leigh in great detail. She also writes about the struggle of young children and this is evident in the poem The Cry of the Children. This essay will also discuss Alfred Lord Tennyson and the different themes that he used throughout his writings, such as loss, romance and loneliness. His p oetry is based a lot on emotions. It is sometimes suggested that he based his poetry on his own life and his emotional state at different times in his life. Both of these poets give opportunities to the reader to see deeper into the life of society back in the 19th century. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most famous poets in England in the Victorian era for several reasons. Her feminine status aided her poems in getting noticed and in getting read. In most of her poems she shows an interest or at least a glimpse into the world around at the time. Her poem Aurora Leigh (1857) is written in the form of a novel poem. At the time that she wrote this it wasnt know for women to write novel or epic poems, if they were to write it would only be short verses, or in some cases like Browning they would also write sonnets. The poem has a contemporary setting and it shows issues of the modern society, especially in relation to the conflict between gender and genre in poetry. In Victorian society, there was a lot more emphasis put on the purity of women and also there was the sense that women would be looked down upon if they didnt uphold these ideals. Elizabeth Browning wrote in a way, against society, so to a point she was a typical Victorian poet. She was, in a sense, feeding into modernism, moving away from your typical society ways. We can see this too in her poem Aurora Leigh when she says Their sole work is to represent the age, their age, not Charlemagnes, this live, throbbing age (ll. 202-203). In an article by Joyce Zanona on Elizabeth Browning there is a lot of discussion around the feminist nature of Aurora Leigh. She goes through how Aurora talks of the treatment of women, and hoe women to Aurora were being treated as offal. In The Norton Anthology of English literature it tells us of how there were many contemporary artists at this time, such as Emily Dickinson or John Ruskin that admired her work for her moral and emotional ardour and her energetic engagement with the issues of her day. Her poetry is noted to have a general sense of morality running through, in both her early works and her later works after her marriage to Robert Browning, in poems like The Cry of the Children and in her sonnets. In The Cry of the Children Elizabeth Browning gives an insight into gender roles in society in the 1800s, the industrial revolution and also into the system of morality that some say failed during the Victorian period. In the poem, Browning describes the life of little children in the 1800s, during the time of the Industrial Revolution. In the lower classes they were made to work from a very young age, whether it was in the workhouses or on farms or anywhere. A lot of Victorian writers wrote for the cause that was the life of these little kids, and the social life mainly of the poorer classes and the social struggles. In The Cry of the Children Browning say They are weeping bitterly! They are weeping in the playtime of others, in the country of the free (ll. 10-12). A lot of poets felt like it was the lives of the kids that needed to be protected during the hard times of the revolution and the 19th century in general. Her poem, even from the first line, suggests the sorrow of the chi ldren in the 19th century and they sad times that they were faced with. She paints the picture of a nice picturesque place to live with The young lambs are bleating in the meadows, the young birds are chirping in the nest (ll.5-6). She also wonders if the young children wonder why they cry so much. The images of the lifeless trees and dying hope also suggests that at the time that Browning wrote the poem there was a lot of troubles and hardships in society. The damaged images may represent the damaged society that was around then, in that they had a lot of rules and ideals which Browning and other poets felt needed to be forgotten. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was mostly known for his short poems, a lot of which had themes of a mythological nature, like Ulysses. Separate to these however was In Memoriam, which was written in memory of his fellow poet and best friend Arthur Hallam, written in 1850 and being one of the biggest successes he produced throughout his career. In his poetry Tennyson can be seen to have reflected on a common concern that was also evident among other poets of that era, the conflict that was occurring between the expansion of knowledge in the scientific world and the religious faith. In his poem In Memoriam he doesnt really put emphasis on one way of thinking or a particular religion, however in his poem Ulysses Tennyson writes about how it is better to live in the present than dwell on the past, how you need to look forward to the future and move forward with knowledge and experience. In the poem he says that the mind acts to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield (l. 70), so he is leaning towards the side of science, that if you have wisdom you can move forward and be happy, faith isnt a necessity. In In Memoriam Tennyson struggles a little because of his faith, how it started to disappear after the death of his friend. As the poem goes on, the tone changes to a brighter, more pleasant feeling because it seems he has come to the conclusion that his faith cannot be destroyed, especially not by knowledge or science. The Lady of Shallot was originally written in 1832 but it was later revised by Tennyson and finally it was published a decade later, in 1842. The Lady of Shallot can be viewed as being similar to the story of the Maid of Astolat, however Tennyson always said that it was actually based on a personal experience, on an old Italian Romantic encounter. In Flavia Alayas book it says Interpretations of The Lady of Shallot represent it as one of Tennysons many unresolved expressions of his peculiar dilemma: artistic dedication vs. Social responsibility, failing to make an essential distinction between disposition and activity whereby his meaning becomes less paradoxical. He struggled with trying to decide whether or not writing about things that mattered to him, like politics history and general humanitarian issues would take away from his poetry what he worked so hard to put into it, magic. The Lotus-Eaters is a poem which describes a couple of mariners who after eating lotus are isolated from the world. In The Lotus-Eaters there is the theme of whether or not a poet should create work to celebrate the world, or whether they should just enjoy the world simply by living in it. The poem suggests that by giving in to the power that the flower conveys, the mariners are misleading themselves. In the poem Tennyson says meadow, set with slender galingale; a land where all things always seemed the same! (ll.23-24). It is almost as if by eating the lotuss that the mariners were leaving reality and they instead were entering a world where thing seemed to be different than they actually were. The poem The Lotus Eaters considers the differences between living in a community and living on ones own in isolation. Unlike in The Lotus Eaters, in his poem The Lady of Shallot, the woman is isolated but in a different way than the mariners. The difference in their isolation being that she doesnt really have a choice in the situation, she cannot leave whereas the mariners could leave the island. She has no choice in her isolated state. The Lady is lured away and there is also a curse involved. One could make the argument that Tennyson was writing about his own life, the struggle from being isolated and torn between it and the public eye because of his poetry. In both Elizabeth Barrett Brownings and Alfred Lord Tennysons writings, the issue of womens sexuality and their place in the Victorian era is evident. The societal status of women in the Victorian era showed problems in the national power of England with appalling social conditions. Difficulties grew more and more for women because there was this idea where there was the ideal woman. This was at the time when there was gender inequality in both politics and society. Women were seen to have a domestic purpose and to maybe do work in the workhouses if they were poor, but in the poem Aurora Leigh, Elizabeth Browning writes about Auroras success in both her professional and home lives, and this too poses the question of what the role was for women in the Victorian era was. Browning seems to of put some of her own experiences as a woman writer in this era into Aurora Leigh, almost as if she is completely writing about herself under a disguised name, her problems as a woman. This essay has shown how in their own different ways, both of these poets dealt with the issue of morality and society in their own way and in their own lives. It also showed the different ways that poets and writers in the Victorian era tried to deal with social issues, like Elizabeth Browning and child labour and feminist activity or Alfred Lord Tennyson and the emotions people had to deal with along with problems et cetera. It showed clearly how there was an awful lot of problems facing writers in the 19th century and it showed the different emotional states which they all went through and how they portrayed these in their poetry. It showed their way of dealing with the moral function of poetry in the modern world.

Essay on Prejudice and Pride in Pride and Prejudice -- Pride and Preju

Prejudice and Pride in Pride and Prejudice      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In any literary work the title and introduction make at least some allusion to the important events of the novel. With Pride and Prejudice, Austen takes this convention to the extreme, designing all of the first and some of the second half of the novel after the title and the first sentence. The concepts of pride, prejudice, and "universally acknowledged truth" (51), as well as the interpretation of those concepts, are the central focus of the novel. They dictate the actions of almost all the major characters (not just Darcy and Elizabeth), and foreshadow all of the major events in the novel, especially in the first few chapters, involving the first ball at Netherfield. While Darcy comes to represent pride, and Elizabeth prejudice, all of the characters in Pride and Prejudice are impacted by both pride and prejudice, and their scorn towards the two central characters in the novel becomes only hypocritical.    While everyone (at first) scorns Darcy's excessive pride, that very same pride in self and family effects the actions of many of the characters. Pride in her daughters makes Mrs. Bennet confident that they will soon be married off. "It is very likely," she tells her husband, "that [Bingley] may fall in love with one of them" (52). Pride makes the early Darcy cold and disrespectful, and Miss Bingley haughty, jealous, and spiteful. "[The Bingley sisters] were in fact very fine ladies...but proud and conceited. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds...and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others" (63). Pride drives Mr. Col... ...Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. Butler, Marilyn. Jane Austen and the War of Ideas. Oxford. Claredon Press, 1975 Harding, D. W. "Regulated Hatred: An Aspect in the Work of Jane Austen." Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 291-295. "Jane Austen, " Discovering Authors' Modules, http://galenet.gale.com/a/acp/netacgi/nphrs?d=DAMA&s1=bio&s2=Austen,+Jane&1=50&pg1=DT&pg2=NM&p=17    Johnson, Claudia L. "Pride and Prejudice and the Pursuit of Happiness." Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 367-376. Mudrick, Marvin."Irony as Discovery in Pride and Prejudice." Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 295-303. Sherry, Norman. Jane Austen. London. Montegue House, 1966   

Musical Subculture

Punk rock is primarily a British musical genre that reached its creative and popular peak during 1977 and 1978. The precursors of punk rock were those American and British groups of the late 1960s and early 1970s who played rock music with an aggressive feel, with loud distorted guitars and nihilistic lyrics. While most punk rock groups drew influence from some earlier bands, they were specific about rejecting the majority of music produced in the early 1970s. In particular, punk rock musicians did not like what they termed the hippie music of progressive rock. Central to any discussion of punk is the band The Sex Pistols (Sabin 78). Not the first punk rock group but certainly the most influential was The Sex Pistols. The group was formed in late 1975. Shortly after this the band started touring on the pub rock and college gig circuits. Early songs such as ‘Submission’ and ‘Anarchy In The UK’ lyrically mocked what the band perceived to be the traditional and boring nature of British society. They were against a backdrop of rambunctious guitars and drums. It was not long before The Sex Pistols attracted a fanatical following of punks equally disillusioned with British society and culture (Sabin 123). The media furore that made early Sex Pistol’s gigs was nothing in comparison to the outrage that emerged after their actions in December 1976. Following the cancellation of an appearance by the group Queen, The Sex Pistols were invited to appear on the early evening London television show Today. After drinking heavily before the show, the band verbally insulted interviewer Bill Grundy, and caused a tabloid storm with their explicit language. This set the stage for the release of their ‘God Save The Queen’ single, a week before the Queen’s Jubilee weekend in June 1977. Again tabloid newspapers and the public in general were shocked by the band’s direct attacks upon an institution central to British society, the monarchy. In particular the record cover, created by the band’s ‘Art Director’ Jamie Reid, created a sensation with its image of the Queen with a safety pin through her nose (Sabin 123-125). ‘God Save The Queen’ was The Sex Pistol’s high point. Later in 1977 the band released their one and only official album, Never Mind The Bollocks. Like all the band’s releases it came in a trademark Jamie Reid cover that mimicked the style of a ransom note, and contained direct attacks on central facets of British culture. The Sex Pistols found that they were unable to obtain gigs in Britain because promoters and venues showed an unwillingness to allow them to perform. Band tensions reached a head following the band’s tour of the USA, and they split in early 1978. The band’s lead singer Johnny Rotten reverted to his real name John Lydon, formed Public Image Limited, and left the punk rock genre. The band struggled on in his absence, but the drug-related death of bass player Sid Vicious led to their inevitable demise (Strinati 89). However, some commentators claim that the ‘spirit of punk’ is not to be found in those groups who sound like their 1970s counterparts, but in the house, techno and jungle acts who make music for reasons other than commercial gain. For many of the first generation of punk rock groups, making music was about ‘making do’ with the available technology, and they were therefore opposed to the kind of learned musicianship of previous rock genres. It is understandable that house, jungle and techno acts, with their cheap sampling equipment and their own production technology, consider themselves to be the direct descendants of the first punk rock bands. The Sex Pistols were attracting media attention, a whole wave of other punk rock bands were forming, notably The Damned and The Clash in London and The Buzzcocks in Manchester. Although none received the same mixture of notoriety and fame as The Sex Pistols, many considered them to be musically more interesting. In the wake of the successes of The Sex Pistols, many young people began to form their own bands in 1977 and 1978. In particular these bands developed a ‘DIY’ attitude to making music. The Sex Pistols developed different styles of punk, but maintained a central ethos of opposition to mainstream British society. Either implicitly or explicitly, this political ethos was central to punk rock (Sabin 103). The degree to which The Sex Pistols has influenced subsequent rock styles is hotly debated. Throughout the 1980s, new bands formed and drew inspiration from the events of 1976 and 1977. In particular, indie bands’ faith in the seven-inch single and suspicion of the LP has been interpreted as directly related to punk’s ‘DIY’ approach. Musically, The Sex Pistols has been particularly influential upon American bands, with Nirvana, Hole and Mudhoney all having had chart successes in Britain. These ‘post-punk’ bands developed a similar sound to the stripped-down aggression of the first generation of The Sex Pistols. Some British rock groups, such as The Wildhearts, Therapy and the Manic Street Preachers also have their musical roots in punk rock (Curtis 60). In fact, the absence of a symbol of class solidarity made The Sex Pistols more important than it had ever been before. Moreover, punks realized that they no longer had to be passive spectators, for rock ‘n' roll had always meant self assertion of one kind or another. In this sense, the key punk song is the Sex Pistols' â€Å"No Feelings,† especially the line, which Johnny Rotten screams over their version of the wall of sound, â€Å"I'm in love with myself.† What we have here is an assertion, not of a political program, but of the discovery of what Daniel Yankelovich called personal entitlement. The Sex Pistols made a terrific impact because through them their audience discovered that they didn't have to go through their lives saying â€Å"sir.† It was as though they had discovered the working-class equivalent of black pride, and had realized that they didn't play the equivalent of Uncle Tom to their betters—or to their peers, either. After seeing them for the first time, Coon noted: What impressed me most†¦was their total disinterest in pleasing anybody except themselves. Instead, they engaged the audience, trying to provoke a reaction which forced people to express what they felt about the music. Quite apart from being very funny, their arrogance was a sure indication that they knew what they were doing and why (Coon 70). For many people, spiked hair and dog collars had become a joke, the domain of soda pop ads and television dramas. But did punk disappear with the utter sell-out of its foremost corporate spokesband, the Sex Pistols? Did punk rock vanish when pink mohawks could be found only on pubescent heads at the shopping mall? If the spectacular collapse of punk rock was also the collapse of spectacular subcultures? What crawled from the wreckage? In what ways can young people express their unease with the modern structure of feeling? A new kind of punk has been answering these questions. Today, to a certain extent, punk rock means post-punk – a nameless, covert subculture reformed after punk rock. To recap: early punk rock was, in part, simulated ‘anarchy;’ the performance of an unruly mob. So long as it could convince or alarm straight people, it achieved the enactment. For its play to work, punk rock needed a perplexed and frightened ‘mainstream’ off which to bounce. But when the mainstream proved that it needed punk rock, punk's equation was reversed: its negativity became positively commercial. As mainstream style diversified, and as deviant styles were normalized, punk rock had less to act against. Punk rock had gambled all its chips on public outcry, and when it could no longer captivate an audience, it was wiped clean. Post-punk, or contemporary punk, has foregone these performances of anarchy and is now almost synonymous with the practice of anarchism. Long after the ‘death’ of classical punk rock, post-punk and/or punk subcultures coalesce around praxis. The Sex Pistols called attention to themselves with their clothing as well as with their music. The torn clothing, which they wore, like the tattered shirts, the chains wrapped around their bodies, the safety pins in their cheeks, said something of great importance. The Sex Pistols created a fresh moral panic fuelled by British tabloids, Members of Parliament, and plenty of everyday folk. Initially, at least, they threatened ‘everything England stands for’: patriotism, class hierarchy, ‘common decency’ and ‘good taste’ (Curtis 98). When the Sex Pistols topped the charts in Britain, and climbed high in America, Canada, and elsewhere, punk savoured a moment in the sun: every public castigation only convinced more people that punk was real. Fortunately, The Sex Pistols meant more than excitement in a few clubs and big sales in safety pins. The Sex Pistols also produced one of the great bands of the seventies—The Clash. If rock ‘n' roll is a universe, The Clash and the Sex Pistols are different planets. Works Cited Coon, Caroline. The New Wave Punk Explosion, New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1978. Curtis, Jim. Rock Eras: Interpretations of Music and Society, 1954-1984. Bowling Green State University Popular Press: Bowling Green, OH, 1987. Sabin, Roger. Punk Rock, So What? The Cultural Legacy of Punk. Routledge: London, 1999. Strinati, Dominic. Come on Down? Popular Media Culture in Post-War Britain. Stephen Wagg. Routledge: New York, 1992.               

Best Summary and Analysis The Great Gatsby, Chapter 7

Best Summary and Analysis The Great Gatsby, Chapter 7 SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Chapter 7 marks the climax of The Great Gatsby. Twice as long as every other chapter, it first ratchets up the tension of the Gatsby-Daisy-Tom triangle to a breaking point in a claustrophobic scene at the Plaza Hotel, and then ends with the grizzly gut punch of Myrtle’s death. Read our full summary ofThe Great Gatsby Chapter 7to see how all dreams die, only to be replaced with a grim and cynical reality. Image: Helmut Ellgaard/Wikipedia Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. The Great Gatsby: Chapter 7Summary Suddenly one Saturday, Gatsby doesn't throw a party. When Nick comes over to see why, Gatsby has a new butler who rudely sends Nick away. It turns out that Gatsby has replaced all of his servants with ones sent over by Wolfshiem. Gatsby explains that this is because Daisy comes over every afternoon to continue their affair - he needs them to be discreet. Gatsby invites Nick to Daisy's house for lunch. The plan is for Daisy and Gatsby to tell Tom about their relationship, and for Daisy to leave Tom. The next day it is extremely hot. Nick and Gatsby show up to have lunch with Daisy, Jordan, and Tom.Tom is on the phone, seemingly arguing with someone about the car. Daisy assumes that he is only pretending, and that he is actually talking to Myrtle. While Tom is out of the room, Daisy kisses Gatsby on the mouth. The nanny brings Tom and Daisy's daughter into the room and Gatsby is shocked to realize that the child actually exists and is real. Tom and Gatsby go outside, and Gatsby points out that it's his house is directly across the bay from theirs. Everyone is restless and nervous. From the way Daisy looks at and talks to Gatsby, Tom suddenly figures out that she and Gatsby are having an affair. Daisy asks to go into Manhattan and Tom agrees, insisting that they go immediately. He gets a bottle of whiskey to bring with them.There is a short, but crucial,argument about who will take which car. In the end, Tom takes Nick and Jordan in Gatsby's car while Gatsby takes Daisy in Tom's car. On the drive, Tom explains to Nick and Jordan that he's been investigating Gatsby, which Jordan laughs off.They stop for gas at Wilson's gas station. Tom shows off Gatsby's car, pretending it's his own. Wilson complains about being sick and again asks for Tom’s car because he needs money fast (the assumption is that he will resell it at a profit). Wilson explains the he's figured out that Myrtle is cheating on him, so he's taking her the way from New York to a different state. Glad that Wilson hasn't figured out who Myrtle is having the affair with, Tom says that he will sell Wilson his car as he promised. As they drive off, Nick sees Myrtle in an upstairs window staring at Tom and Jordan, whom she assumes to be his wife. (It’s critical to realize that Myrtle now also associates Tom with this yellow car.) It's still crazy hot when they get to Manhattan. Jordan suggests going to the movies, but they end up getting a suite at the Plaza Hotel.The hotel room is stifling, and they can hear the sounds of a wedding going on downstairs. The conversation is tense. Tom starts picking at Gatsby, but Daisy defends him.Tom accuses Gatsby of not actually being an Oxford man. Gatsby explains that he only went to Oxford for a short time because of a special program for officers after the war. This plausible-sounding explanation fills Nick with confidence about Gatsby. Suddenly Gatsby decides to tell Tom his version of the truth - that Daisy never loved Tom but has always only loved Gatsby.Tom calls Gatsby crazy and says that of course Daisy loves him - and that he loves her too even if he does cheat on her all the time. Gatsby demands that Daisy tell Tom that she has never loved him. Daisy can’t bring herself to do this, and instead said that she has loved them both. This crushes Gatsby. Tom starts revealing what he knows about Gatsby from his investigation. It turns out that Gatsby's money comes from illegal sales of alcohol in drugstores, just as Tom had predicted when he first met him. Tom has a friend who tried to go into business with Gatsby and Wolfshiem. Through him, Tom knows that bootlegging is only part of the criminal activity that Gatsby is involved in. These revelations cause Daisy to shut down, and no matter how much Gatsby tries to defend himself, she is disillusioned. She asks Tom to take her home. Tom's last power play is to tell Gatsby to take Daisy home instead, knowing that leaving them alone together now does not pose any threat to him or his marriage. Gatsby and Daisy drive home in Gatsby’s car. Tom, Nick, and Jordan drive home together in Tom's car. The narration now switches to Nick repeating evidence given at an inquest (a legal proceeding to gather facts surrounding a death) by Michaelis, who runs a coffee shop next to Wilson's garage. That evening Wilson had explained to Michaelisthat he had locked up Myrtle in order to keep an eye on her until they moved away in a couple of days. Michaelis was shocked to hear this, because usually Wilson was a meek man. When Michaelis left, he heard Myrtle and Wilson fighting. Then Myrtle ran out into the street toward a car coming from New York. The car hit her and drove off, and by the time Michaelis reached her on the ground, she was dead. The narration switches back to Nick's point of view, as Tom, Nick, and Jordan are driving back from Manhattan. They pull up to the accident site. At first, Tom jokes about Wilson getting some business at last, but when he sees the situation is serious, he stops the car and runs over to Myrtle's body. Tom asks a policeman for details of the accident. When he realizes that witnesses can identify the yellow car that hit Myrtle, he worries that Wilson, who saw him in that car earlier that afternoon, will finger him to the police. Tom grabs Wilson and tells him that the yellow car that hit Myrtle is not Tom's, and that he was only driving it before giving it back to its owner. As they drive away from the scene, Tom sobs in the car. Back at his house, Tom invites Nick and Jordan inside. Nick is sickened by the whole thing and turns to go. Jordan also asks Nick to come inside. When he refuses again, she goes in. As Nick is walking away, he sees Gatsby lurking in the bushes. Nick suddenly sees him as a criminal. As they discuss what happened, Nick realizes that it was actually Daisy who was driving the car, meaning that it was Daisy who killed Myrtle. Gatsby makes it sound like she had to choose between getting into a head-on collision with another car coming the other way on the road or hitting Myrtle, and at the last secondchose to hit Myrtle. Gatsby seems to have no feelings at all about the dead woman, and instead only worries about what Daisyand how she will react. Gatsby says that he will take the blame for driving the car. Gatsby says that he is lurking in the dark to make sure that Daisy is safe from Tom, who he worries might treat her badly when he finds out what happened. Nick goes back to the house to investigate, and sees Tom and Daisy having an intimate conspiratorial moment together in the kitchen. It's clear that once again Gatsby has fundamentally misunderstood Tom and Daisy's relationship. Nick leaves Gatsby alone. It’s amazing how immediately suspect and creepy Gatsby becomes once Nick turns on him. Has our narrator been spinning Gatsby’s behavior from the get-go? Key Chapter 7 Quotes Then she remembered the heat and sat down guiltily on the couch just as a freshly laundered nurse leading a little girl came into the room. "Bles-sed pre-cious," she crooned, holding out her arms. "Come to your own mother that loves you." The child, relinquished by the nurse, rushed across the room and rooted shyly into her mother's dress. "The Bles-sed pre-cious! Did mother get powder on your old yellowy hair? Stand up now, and say How-de-do." Gatsby and I in turn leaned down and took the small reluctant hand. Afterward he kept looking at the child with surprise. I don't think he had ever really believed in its existence before. (7.48-52) This is our first and only chance to see Daisy performing motherhood. And "performing" is the right word, since everything about Daisy's actions here rings a little false and her cutesy sing song a little bit like an act. The presence of the nurse makes it clear that, like many upper-class women of the time, Daisy does not actually do any child rearing. At the same time, this is the exact moment when Gatsby is delusional dreams start breaking down. The shock and surprise that he experiences when he realizes that Daisy really does have a daughter with Tom show how little he has thought about the fact the Daisy has had a life of her own outside of him for the last five years. The existence of the child is proof of Daisy's separate life, and Gatsby simply cannot handle then she is not exactly as he has pictured her to be. Finally, here we can see how Pammyis being bred for her life as a future â€Å"beautiful little fool†, as Daisy put it. As Daisy’s makeup rubs onto Pammy's hair, Daisy prompts her reluctant daughter to be friendly to two strange men. "What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon," cried Daisy, "and the day after that, and the next thirty years?" "Don't be morbid," Jordan said. "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."(7.74-75) Comparing and contrasting Daisy and Jordan) is one of the most common assignments that you will get when studying this novel. This very famous quotation is a great place to start. Daisy's attempt at a joke reveals her fundamental boredom and restlessness. Despite the fact that she has social standing, wealth, and whatever material possessions she could want, she is not happy in her endlessly monotonous and repetitive life. This existential ennui goes a long way to helping explain why she seizes on Gatsby as an escape from routine. On the other hand, Jordan is a pragmatic and realistic person, who grabs opportunities and who sees possibilities and even repetitive cyclical moments of change. For example here, although fall and winterare most often linked to sleep and death, whereas it is spring that is usually seen as the season of rebirth, for Jordan any change brings with it the chance for reinvention and new beginnings. "She's got an indiscreet voice," I remarked. "It's full of- - " I hesitated. "Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly. That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money- that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. . . . High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. . . . (7.103-106) Here we are getting to the root of what it is really that attracts Gatsby so much to Daisy. Nick notes that the way Daisy speaks to Gatsby is enough to reveal their relationship to Tom. Once again we see the powerful attraction of Daisy's voice. For Nick, this voice is full of â€Å"indiscretion,† an interesting word that at the same time brings to mind the revelation of secrets and the disclosure of illicit sexual activity. Nick has used this word in this connotation before - when describing Myrtle in Chapter 2he uses the word â€Å"discreet† several times to explain the precautions she takes to hide her affair with Tom. But for Gatsby, Daisy's voice does not hold this sexy allure, as much as it does the promise of wealth, which has been his overriding ambition and goal for most of his life. To him, her voice marks her as a prize to be collected. This impression is further underscored by the fairy tale imagery that follows the connection of Daisy's voice to money. Much like princesses who is the end of fairy tales are given as a reward to plucky heroes, so too Daisy is Gatsby's winnings, an indication that he has succeeded. "You think I'm pretty dumb, don't you?" he suggested. "Perhaps I am, but I have a- almost a second sight, sometimes, that tells me what to do. Maybe you don't believe that, but science- - " (7.123) Nick never sees Tom as anything other than a villain; however, it is interesting that only Tom immediately sees Gatsby for the fraud that he turns out to be. Almost from the get-go, Tom calls it that Gatsby's money comes from bootlegging or some other criminal activity. It is almost as though Tom's life of lies gives him special insight into detecting the lies of others. The relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse me and I had a bad moment there before I realized that so far his suspicions hadn't alighted on Tom. He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world and the shock had made him physically sick. I stared at him and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before- and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well. Wilson was so sick that he looked guilty, unforgivably guilty- as if he had just got some poor girl with child. (7.160) You will also often be asked to compare Tom and Wilson, two characters who share some plot details in common.This passage, which explicitly contrasts these two men's reactions to finding out their wives are having affairs, is a great place to start. Tom’s response to Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship isto immediately do everything to display his power. He forces a trip to Manhattan, demands that Gatsby explain himself, systematically dismantles the careful image and mythology that Gatsby has created, and finally makes Gatsby drive Daisy home to demonstrate how little he has to fear from them being alone together. Wilson also tries to display power. But he is so unused to wielding it that his best effort is to lock Myrtle up and then to listen to her emasculating insults and provocations. Moreover, rather than relaxing under this power trip, Wilson becomes physically ill, feeling guilty both abouthis part in driving his wife away and aboutmanhandling her into submission. Finally, it is interesting that Nick renders these reactions as health-related. Whose response does Nick view as â€Å"sick† and whose as â€Å"well†? It is tempting to connect Wilson’s bodily response to the word â€Å"sick,† but the ambiguity is purposeful. Is it sicker in this situation to take a power-hungry delight in eviscerating a rival, Tom-style, or to be overcome on a psychosomatic level, like Wilson? "Self control!" repeated Tom incredulously. "I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that's the idea you can count me out. . . . Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next they'll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white." Flushed with his impassioned gibberish he saw himself standing alone on the last barrier of civilization. "We're all white here," murmured Jordan. "I know I'm not very popular. I don't give big parties. I suppose you've got to make your house into a pigsty in order to have any friends- in the modern world." Angry as I was, as we all were, I was tempted to laugh whenever he opened his mouth. The transition from libertine to prig was so complete. (7.229-233) Nick is happy whenever he gets to demonstrate how undereducated and dumb Tom actually is. Here, Tom’s anger at Daisy and Gatsby is somehow transformed into a self-pitying and faux righteous rant about miscegenation, loose morals, and the decay of stalwart institutions. We see the connection between Jordan and Nick when both of them puncture Tom’s pompous balloon: Jordan points out that race isn’t really at issue at the moment, and Nick laughs at the hypocrisy of a womanizer like Tom suddenly lamenting his wife’s lack of prim propriety. "She never loved you, do you hear?" he cried. "She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!" (7.241) Gatsby throws caution to the wind and reveals the story that he has been telling himself about Daisy all this time. In his mind, Daisy has been pining for him as much as he has been longing for her, and he has been able to explain her marriage to himself simply by eliding any notion that she might have her own hopes, dreams, ambitions, and motivations. Gatsby has been propelled for the last five years by the idea that he has access to what is in Daisy's heart. However, we can see that a dream built on this kind of shifting sand is at best wishful thinking and at worst willful self-delusion. "Daisy, that's all over now," he said earnestly. "It doesn't matter any more. Just tell him the truth- that you never loved him- and it's all wiped out forever." ... She hesitated. Her eyes fell on Jordan and me with a sort of appeal, as though she realized at last what she was doing- and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all. But it was done now. It was too late†¦. "Oh, you want too much!" she cried to Gatsby. "I love you now- isn't that enough? I can't help what's past." She began to sob helplessly. "I did love him once- but I loved you too." Gatsby's eyes opened and closed. "You loved me too?" he repeated. (7.254-266) Gatsby wants nothing less than that Daisy erase the last five years of her life. He is unwilling to accept the idea that Daisy has had feelings for someone other than him, that she has had a history that does not involve him, and that she has not spent every single second of every day wondering when he would come back into her life. His absolutism is a form of emotional blackmail. For all Daisy's evident weaknesses, it is a testament to her psychological strength that she is simply unwilling to recreate herself, her memories, and her emotions in Gatsby's image. She could easily at this point say thatshe has never loved Tom, but this would not be true, and she does not want to give up her independence of mind. Unlike Gatsby, who against all evidence to the contrary believes that you can repeat the past, Daisy wants to know that there is a future. She wants Gatsby to be the solution to her worries about each successive future day, rather than an imprecation about the choices she has made to get to this point. At the same time, it's key to note Nick’s realization that Daisy â€Å"had never intended on doing anything at all.† Daisy has never planned to leave Tom. We've known this ever since the first time we saw them at the end of Chapter 1, when herealized that they were cemented together in their dysfunction. It passed, and he began to talk excitedly to Daisy, denying everything, defending his name against accusations that had not been made. But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room. (7.292) The appearance of Daisy's daughter and Daisy’s declaration that at some point in her life she loved Tom have both helped to crush Gatsby's obsession with his dream. In just the same way, Tom's explanations about who Gatsby really is and what is behind his facade have broken Daisy's infatuation. Take note of the language here – as Daisy is withdrawing from Gatsby, we come back to the image of Gatsby with his arms outstretched, trying to grab something that is just out of reach. In this case it's not just Daisy herself, but also his dream of being with her inside his perfect memory. "Beat me!" he heard her cry. "Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!" (7.314) Myrtle fights by provoking and taunting. Here, she is pointing out Wilson’s weak and timid nature by egging him on to treat her the way that Tom did when he punched her earlier in the novel. However, before we draw whatever conclusions we can about Myrtle from this exclamation, it’s worthwhile to think about the context of this remark. First, we are getting this speech third-hand. This is Nick telling us what Michaelis described overhearing, so Myrtle’s words have gone through a double male filter. Second, Myrtle’s words stand in isolation. We have no idea what Wilson has been saying to her to provoke this attack. What we do know is that however â€Å"powerless† Wilson might be, he still has power enough to imprison his wife in their house and to unilaterally uproot and move her several states away against her will. Neither Nick nor Michaelis remarks on whether either of these exercises of unilateral power over Myrtle is appropriate or fair - it is simply expected that this is what a husband can do to a wife. So what do we make of the fact that Myrtle was trying to verbally emasculate her husband? Maybe yelling at him is her only recourse in a life where she has no actual ability to control her life or bodily integrity. The "death car" as the newspapers called it, didn't stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment and then disappeared around the next bend. Michaelis wasn't even sure of its color- he told the first policeman that it was light green. The other car, the one going toward New York, came to rest a hundred yards beyond, and its driver hurried back to where Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick, dark blood with the dust. Michaelis and this man reached her first but when they had torn open her shirtwaist still damp with perspiration, they saw that her left breast was swinging loose like a flap and there was no need to listen for the heart beneath. The mouth was wide open and ripped at the corners as though she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous vitality she had stored so long. (7.316-317) The stark contrast here between the oddly ghostly nature of the car that hits Myrtle and the visceral, gruesome, explicit imagery of what happens to her body after it is hit is very striking. The car almost doesn’t seem real – it comes out of the darkness like an avenging spirit and disappears, Michaelis cannot tell what color it is. Meanwhile, Myrtle’s corpse is described in detail and is palpably physical and present. This treatment of Myrtle’s body might be one place to go when you are asked to compare Daisy and Myrtle in class. Daisy’s body is never even described, beyond a gentle indication that she prefers white dresses that are flouncy and loose. On the other hand, every time that we see Myrtle in the novel, her bodyis physically assaulted or appropriated. Tom initially picks her up by pressing his body inappropriately into hers on the train station platform. Before her party, Tomhas sex with her while Nick (a man who is a stranger to Myrtle) waits in the next room, and then Tom ends the night by punching her in the face. Finally, she is restrained by her husband inside her house and then run over. Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table with a plate of cold fried chicken between them and two bottles of ale. He was talking intently across the table at her and in his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own. Once in a while she looked up at him and nodded in agreement. They weren't happy, and neither of them had touched the chicken or the ale- and yet they weren't unhappy either. There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture and anybody would have said that they were conspiring together. (7.409-410) And so, the promise that Daisy and Tom are a dysfunctional couple that somehow makes it work (Nick saw this at the end of Chapter 1)is fulfilled. For careful readers of the novel, this conclusion should have been clear from the get-go. Daisy complains about Tom, and Tom serially cheats on Daisy, but at the end of the day, they are unwilling to forgo the privileges their life entitles them to. This moment of truth has stripped Daisy and Tom down to the basics. They are in the least showy room of their mansion, sitting with simple and unpretentious food, and they have been stripped of their veneer. Their honesty makes what they are doing - conspiring to get away with murder, basically - completely transparent. And it is the fact that they can tolerate this level of honesty in each other besides each being kind of a terrible person that keeps them together. Compare their readiness to forgive each other anything - even murder! - with Gatsby’s insistence that it’s his way or no way. The image of Tom and Daisy holding hands, while discussing how to flee after Daisy kills Myrtle, is the crux of their relationship. They are willing to forgive each other everything. Are they secretly the most romantic couple in the book? The Great GatsbyChapter 7 Analysis It's no surprise that this very long, emotional, and shocking chapter is laced through with the themes ofThe Great Gatsby. Let's take a look. Overarching Themes Morality and Ethics. In this chapter, suspicion of crime is everywhere: Gatsby’s new butler has a â€Å"villainous† (7.2) face a woman worries that Nick is out to steal her purse on the train Gatsby lurks around outside the Buchanans’ mansion like â€Å"he was going to rob the house in a moment† (7.384) Daisy and Tom sit and conspire together at the kitchen table This air of the illegal heightens the actual crimes that take place or are revealed in the chapter: Gatsby is a bootlegger (or worse) Daisy kills Myrtle Gatsby hides the car with its evidence of the accident Daisy and Tom decide to get away with murder This descent into the dark side of the Wild East (contrasted with Nick's version of the calm and strictly above-board Middle West) reveals the novel’s perspective on the excesses of the time period. It is interesting that the vast majority of the crime or near crime that is described is theft – the taking of someone else’s property. The same desires that spur the ambitious to come to Manhattan to try to make something of themselves also incite those who are willing to do the kind of corner-cutting that results in criminality. Only Daisy, who is already so established that theft is unnecessary to her, takes crime to the next level. Love, Desire, Relationships. Just as crime is everywhere, so too is illicit sexuality. However, the heat and tension seem to reverse the behavioral tendencies of the characters we have come to know over the course of six chapters. The usually reserved Nick wonders about his train conductor and â€Å"whose flushed lips he kissed, whose head made damp the pajama pocket over his heart† (7.23). He also makes a dirty joke about the Buchanans’ butler having to yell over the phone that he simply cannot send Tom’s body to Myrtle in this heat. The usuallypassive Daisy kisses Gatsby on the mouth in front of Nick and Jordan in a display of rebellion. Later she calls Tom out on his euphemistic description of the times he cheated on her right after their honeymoon as a â€Å"spree† (7.252), a word that just means â€Å"fun good time.† On the other hand, the womanizing Tom primly and hypocritically rants about the downfall of morality and the possibility that people of different races will be allowed to intermarry. Similarly, the normally weak and ineffectual Wilson overpowers his wife enough to lock her up when he finds out about the affair she’s been having. He also feels as bad about the situation as if he had gotten a woman pregnant by accident. Everyone’s desire for someone who is not their spouse is underscored by the way that an ongoing wedding is continuously described as deeply unappealing throughout the chapter. Eventually, the wedding music pops up in the middle of the climactic argument like this: â€Å"From the ballroom beneath, muffled and suffocating chords were drifting up on hot waves of air† (7.261). Married life is suffocating, and these characters spend significant energies trying to break free. Motifs: Weather. The overwhelming heat of the day plays a vital role in creating an atmosphere of stifled, sweaty, uncomfortable breathlessness. Each scene’s overwhelming tension and awkwardness arefurther heightened by the physical discomfort that everyone is experiencing (it’s also key to remember that being hot and slightly dehydrated elevates the level of intoxication that a person feels, these characters pour back whiskey after whiskey). The hot mugginess ratchets up anger and resentment, and also seems to elevate the recklessness with which people are willing to expose and pursue their sexual desires. So crucial is this atmospheric element, that every movie adaptation of this novel makes sure that the actors are covered in sweat during these scenes, making it almost as uncomfortable to watch them as it is to imagine making it through that day. Here’s a quick clip that shows you what I mean. Mutability of Identity. It is fitting that just as lots of wool is removed from lots of eyes, as Gatsby is source of wealth is revealed, and as Daisy is shown not to be the fairytale figment of Gatsby’s imagination, the idea of faà §ades, false impressions, and mistaken identity is front and center. First, on this blisteringly hot day, Daisy is entranced by Gatsby’s projecting an image of looking â€Å"so cool† and resembling â€Å"the advertisement of the man† (7.81-83). Gatsby’s glossy appearance is perfect but also clearly shallow and fake, like an ad. Later, Myrtle seethes with jealousy when she sees Tom driving next to Jordan, and assumes that Jordan is Daisy. This case of mistaken identity contributes to her death, as she assumes that Tom would be driving the same car back from the city that he took there. Third, Daisy and Jordan remember a man named Biloxi who talked his way into Daisy and Tom’s wedding, and then talked his way into staying at Jordan’s house for three weeks as he recuperated from a fainting spell. Their memories make clear that his entire story about himself was a sham – a sham that worked, until it didn’t, like the faà §ades of the main characters in the story. Fourth, Wilson briefly assumes that Michaelis is Myrtle’s lover. His failure to understand who it is that is a really having an affair with his wife leads to the novel’s second murder. The Treatment of Women. Also key this chapter are women characters. First, there is the pairing of Daisy and Jordan, whose outlooks on life are confirmed to be diametrically opposed. Daisy is rich, overindulged, and endlessly bored with her monotonously luxurious life. She grabs on to the romance with Gatsby is a possible escape, but is soonconfronted with the reality of the perfect, idealized being that he would like her to be. Daisy realizes that she prefers the safe boredom and casual betrayal of Tom to the unrealistic expectations – and thus inevitable disappointment – of being with Gatsby. Her fundamental cowardice is a better fit for Tom, as we find out after the car accident when she kills Myrtle. It’s Tom who offers her complicity, understanding, and a return to stability. On the other hand, Jordan is a pragmatist who sees opportunity and possibility everywhere. This makes her attractive to Nick, who likes that she is self-contained, calm, cynical, and unlikely to be overly emotional. However, this approach to life means that Jordan is basically amoral, as revealed in this chapter by her almost complete lack of reaction to Myrtle’s death, and her assumption that life at the Buchanan house will go on as normal. For Nick, who clings to his sense of himself as a deeply decent human being, this is a dealbreaker. Next, we have the comparison between Daisy and Myrtle, two women whose marriages dissatisfy them enough that they seek out other lovers. There are many ways to compare them, but in this chapter in particular what seems important is whether each woman is able to maintain coherence and integrity. What Gatsby wants from Daisy is a complete erasure of her mind, history, and emotions, so that she will match his weirdly flat and idealized notion of her. By demanding that she renounce ever having had feelings for Tom, Gatsby wants to deny her fundamental sense of self-knowledge. Daisy refuses to compromise herself in this way and so is able to maintain psychological integrity. On the other hand, Myrtle, whose physicality has always been her most defining feature, ends up losing even the most basic integrity – bodily integrity – as her body is not only ripped open when she is hit by a car, but this mutilation is witnessed by many people and then also graphically described. Finally, we can look at all three women in terms of whether and how they are controlled by the men in their lives, and whether and how they escape that control. Jordan’s cool aloofness prevents her from being trapped in the same way that Myrtle and Daisy are. Despite even her admission later that breaking up with Nick hurt her feelings, we certainly get the sense that Jordan could take him or leave him. She retains a lot of power in their relationship. For example, when Nick suddenly freaks out about turning 30, she shows him how to be â€Å"too wise ever to carry well-forgotten dreams from age to age† (7.308) and by putting her hand over his with â€Å"reassuring pressure† (7.308). Neither of the other two women is ever on top even in this very mild way. For example, Tom, who is used to putting his hands on people as a way of showing his power over them (in this chapter he does it to the policeman, and then to Wilson), puts his hand over Daisy’s at the end of the chapter to indicate that she is back within his circle of control. But at least Daisy’s escape attempt led her to Gatsby’s presumably gentlemanly treatment. The same can’t be said for Myrtle, who goes from bad to worse, as she escapes her marriage to have an affair with Tom, who feels free to beat her, and then is forced to return to her husband, who feels free to imprison and forcibly remove her from her home. Death and Failure. Death comes in many forms, both metaphorical and horribly real. Of course, the primary death in this chapter is that of Myrtle, gruesomely killed by Daisy. But this is also the chapter where dreams come to die. Gatsby’s fantasy of Daisy undergoes a slow demise when he meets her daughter, and when he learns that she is simply unwilling to renounce her entire history with Tom for Gatsby’s sake. Similarly, any romantic ideas Daisy may have had about Gatsby vanish when she learns that he is a criminal. New York’s Plaza Hotel, famous for being the place where Eloise lives in those kids books, and for being the setting for this novel’s scene of confrontation. Crucial Character Beats Gatsby stops throwing parties at his house and instead carries on an affair with Daisy. Nick, Gatsby,Daisy, Jordan, and Tom have lunch together and decide to go to Manhattan for the day to escape the heat. Both Tom and Wilson realize that their wives are having affairs; however, only Tom knows who Daisy's affair is with. Wilson decides to take Myrtle to live somewhere else. Nick, Gatsby, Daisy, Jordan, and Tom end up in a suite at the Plaza Hotel where everything comes tumbling into the open. Gatsby and Daisy admit that they've been having an affair, Gatsby demands that Daisy tell Tom that she has never loved him. Daisy cannot do this, and Gatsby's dreams are dashed. Gatsby and Daisy drive home together. On the way, with Daisy driving the car, they hit and kill Myrtle, who is trying to escape being imprisoned in her house by Wilson. Gatsby decides to take the blame for the accident, but doesn’t quite realize that it is all over between him and Daisy. Daisy and Tom have an intimate moment together as they figure out what they are going to do next. What’s Next? Compare the novel’s four trips into Manhattan: Nick at Myrtle’s party in Chapter 2, Nick’s description of what it’s like to be a single guy around town at the end of Chapter 3, Nick at lunch with Gatsby in Chapter 4, and insanity at the Plaza in this chapter. Does Manhattan affect the way the characters behave? Does it make them more or less likely to act out to be there? Do they feel comfortable there? Explore this chapter’s many significant motifs: Tom’s insistence on everyone drinking, the ridiculously hot weather, Jordan’s calm excitement about the fall season, dangerous cars, and the strangely invasive music from the hotel wedding. Move on to the summary of Chapter 8, or revisit the summary of Chapter 6. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: