Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Comedy Essay Example for Free

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Comedy Essay Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a 1953 Musical-Comedy released by 20th Century Fox, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Marilyn Munroe and Jane Russell; the two greatest sex symbols of the era. The cameras point of view is that of the male gaze, where women are regarded as objects of fascination and the men are assumed to have a position of power. Hawks shows how it can be easily hijacked by females smart enough to control, manipulate and ultimately blur the male gaze. As much as this film is shot for the male gaze it is as much for a female audience as it is for males. In the song-and-dance sequence, When Love Goes Wrong, the two female protagonist had just been expelled from the hotel by Gus. Though the situation for Lorelei and Dorothy should be one where they are left helpless and powerless the scene however displays the opposite. In the entire scene both female protagonist are captured front and center with close ups and the lighting on their faces is well defined which gives them a sense of importance and power. At the same time the men gather around them captivated, giving their undivided attention to the females as they sing and dance; giving them a position of control over the men. Their position of power is so prominent that they even get the admiration of young boys who seem to be gypsys. Gypsys are known to be quick, sharp and in control when it comes to stealing but in this scene their heads are turned by the sensual Lorelei and they are totally distracted. Bothe females are well aware of their manipulative powers as Dorothy encourages Lorelei to use her charms, saying, Do it now, do it! What appears to be submissive to the male gaze, in this scene however they put on a chow in exchange to negotiate their presence and have their voices heard in a dominantly male world. When the females are seated they appear to be two damsels in distress, however the movement of standing up represents liberty and the space they command when dancing communicates freedom and power. A melancholy moment turns to a vibrant and fun sing-and-dance where they reject the actions of men to have power over their emotions. Though the scene is shot in the view of the male gaze the line is blurred when Lorelei and Dorothy use their sensual and attractive appearance to control, manipulate and command power in a dominantly male world. By this the scene takes a turn to cater to the female sight giving a sense of empowerment and independence in a situation where they should be the damsels in distress.

The Complex Nature Of Human Resource Planning Commerce Essay

The Complex Nature Of Human Resource Planning Commerce Essay This report is about the complex nature of human resource planning. Human resource planning is the process whereby a business determines the amount of staff support that they will need in order to fulfil business needs and customer demands. It is the base upon which all the other human resource activities rest. It simply involves forecasting what staff is needed and making sure that the steps are taken to meet those needs. Human resource planning can also be described as the on-going process of systematic planning to achieve optimum use of an organisations most valuable asset which would be its human resources. It is the way in which managers ensure that they have the right number and kinds of capable people in the right places at the right times. Through human resource planning, organisations avoid sudden people shortages and surpluses. It is concerned with identifying the organisations demand for human resources and demand for human resource and devising means to ensure that a sufficient supply of labour is available to meet that demand. Human resource planning can be defined as the way by which you determine the manpower requirements and the way of meeting those requirements in order to carry out an integrated plan at the organisation. According to Quinn Mills (1983) human resource planning is a decision making process combining three vital actions: Identifying and acquiring the right number of people with the proper skills Motivating the staff in order to achieve high performance within the organisation Creating interactive links between business objectives and planning activities The most popular way of describing human resource planning is having the Right person at the Right place at the Right time. Aims of human resource planning The main aim of human resource planning is to make sure that the organisation has the right number of staff with the right skills needed in order to meet forecast requirements. According to Reilly there are a couple of different reasons why some businesses choose to take part in some form of human resource planning. Reilly identifies three main reasons as to why businesses engage in human resource planning: Planning for substantive reasons- The reason for this type of planning is to have a practical effect by enhancing the use of resources in the organisation or making them more flexible. It also helps the business to identify potential problems and minimises the chances of making a bad decision. Planning due to the benefits it gives the organisation-The reason for this type of planning is due to business understanding the present human resources in order to confront the future human resources. This type of planning gives the business a better understanding of how many employees they have at present and how many they need to take on or let go to deal with the future. For example-The human resource planning department will analyse how many employees they have at present and they will try and forecast how many employees they will need to take on in the future. If the business is busier around the Christmas period then the human resource planning department will look at taking on more staff in order to deal with increased demands. Planning for organisational reasons- The reason for this type of planning is that it communicates the businesses plans and helps the employees to support them and adhere to them. This type of planning is all about relating the business plans to the human resource planning department and integrating the two more efficiently. For example-If the human resource department has plans to take on 10 new employees in 2013 due to a high workload for existing employees, it lets the existing employees know that the high workload is temporary and encourages the employees to support the business and respect the decisions that are made. The Human Resource Planning Model The human resource planning model is a method that the human resource department in a business can use to ensure that they have enough employees and the right ones to carry out the various functions of the business. This human resource planning model consists of three key parts, including predicting the amount of employees that your company needs, checking if the supply of potential employees meets your demand and finally learning how to balance the supply and demand of employees. The three steps are as follows: Forecasting staffing needs Evaluating Supply Balancing Supply and Demand Forecasting Staffing Needs: There are a couple of different ways to forecast in order to predict how many employees you need to run your business and which roles these employees need to fill. There are four main factors to consider when forecasting staffing needs: The situation of the economy- The way in which the economy is performing is a critical factor when youre looking at human resource planning. You need to be able to distinguish whether or not your company needs to recruit more staff or whether your company is going to downsize. In these economic conditions a lot of companies are looking at their human resource planning and making the crucial decisions. For example: If the economy is in recession and business is quiet, a company is less likely to be planning on taking on new staff. On the other hand, if the economy is booming and business is busy a company will be more likely to be recruiting more staff. On the 1st of November 2012, McDonalds announced that they will be taking on over 700 new employees in the next 2years in Ireland. McDonalds human resource planning department are starting the recruitment process in January 2013. On the 5th of October 2012, Cork Airport announced that they will be cutting over 32 jobs. The human resource department of Cork airport explained that the main reason for the plans to cut jobs was simply due to the decline in the economy. The Internal finance of the business- The internal finance of a business will depend on whether or not youre going to invest in new staff. It all depends on how much money you have as a business. The human resource department of a business is usually given a yearly budget. They then look at the staff levels and plan on whether or not to invest in more staff. They also look at things at critical factors affecting staff levels such as how many employees are retiring in the coming year, is there anybody out on maternity leave etc. Internal finance is a main factor in forecasting staffing needs. For example: If the human resource department plans to take on 15 new employees in 2012, there has to be money in the business for this to be a viable. The demand for your product or service- Obviously the demand for when it comes to forecasting your staffing needs and requirements, the demand for your product or service is crucial. If your product or service is in high demand then you will be looking at taking on more staff. However if the demand for your product or service is in low demand then you as a business may need to look at cutting your employees hours or letting some employees go. The demand for your product or service may be in high demand at certain times of the year and you may need to take on extra staff in order to meet demands. For Example: Smyths Toys always take on extra staff around the Christmas period as this is their busiest time of the year. When the human resource planning department at Smyths Toys forecasts their staffing needs, they look at the demand for service. Therefore when they are in their busiest time of the year, they automatically forecast that they will need additional staff in order to deal with the high demand. The Growth expectations of your business- The growth expectations of your business are another factor to consider when forecasting staff. If your business is growing rapidly then you may need to take on more staff. Forecasting the amount of staff you will need in the future will all depend on how well your business is growing. For example: The human resource planning department of McDonalds will look at their growth expectations for the next 6months, 12months, 18months etc. They will then determine how many employees they will need in order to meet the growth rate of their business. By 2015 they hope to open 12 new stores across Ireland. The human resource planning department have already forecasted that they plan to take on 700 new employees. Therefore the growth expectations of the business are a key component on forecasting the staffing needs. Evaluating Supply: This consists of analysing internally and externally. This step is all about checking the amount of staff you have currently in your organisation and checking the amount of potential staff outside of the business. The human resource planning department evaluate the internal staff in the first step when they are forecasting staffing requirements for the future. In order to evaluate the external staff the human resource planning department will look at the demographics of the staff that is available to them. This can include factors such as education and the unemployment rate of the country. When the human resource planning department are evaluating supply there are a couple of key areas they look at including: The existing number of staff employed(broken down by occupation, skill and potential) Potential losses the business may incur due to staff leaving(employee turnover) Potential vacancies through internal promotion The effect of changing work condition(recession may lead to absenteeism) The amount of supply within the business The amount of supply from outside of the business in the national and local labour markets By the business evaultaing all of these areas it will help them determine whether they have access to the number and types of employees that they need in order to fulfil their staffing forecasts. For example: The human resource planning department at BMW in Germany evaluated the supply of employees internally and they have realised that over 50% of their employees would be over the age of 50 by 2020.The human resource planning department evaluated externally in order to find out how much potential employees would be available to them if they decided to take on new employees. By evaluating externally they realised that there was a shortage of qualified engineers in Germany. When evaluating externally they looked at education as a factor, they found that every year the number of engineering graduates are declining. This proves the importance of evaluating supply externally. The human resource planning department of BMW have put plans in place in order to increase the amount of students doing engineering courses. The human resource planning department have offered 18month internships for qualified engineering graduates. This is a good way on increasing the supply of employees ex ternally. Balancing Supply and Demand: Balancing supply and demand is the third step in the human resource planning process. This step is concerned with how the business is going to balance the demand of employees they need with the supply of employees available. The human resource planning department look at the amount of employees that they need and the look at the amount of employees that are available. By the human resource planning department doing this, it helps them to make sure that they avoid an employee shortage and surplus within the business. If the human resource planning department realise that there is a shortage of employees in the business, they must determine what type of recruiting efforts that they will participate in to attract the employees they need in order to fill the needs within the business. In order for the human resource planning department to balance the supply and demand they have to determine the full-time and part-time needs. The human resource planning department will look at the busines ses supply of full-time workers and the demand for full-time work out in the workforce. They look at the businesses needs for part-time workers and look and see if there are part-time workers available in labour markets. If the human resource planning department realise that the business have a surplus amount of employees they may consider employee layoffs, retirements and situations where some employees may need to be demoted. This step in the human resource planning process is all about determining the amount of employees that they need and how many employees are out their willing to work for them. The crucial part of this step is making sure that they balance. For Example: The human resource planning department of Dunnes Stores main aim in the final step of the human resource planning process is to balance the supply and demand of the employees available to the business. The human resource planning department at Dunnes Stores looks at how many employees they need and how many employees are in the workforce available to do the work with the necessary skills. The human resource planning department of Dunnes Stores must make sure that they dont end up with a shortage of employees or a surplus of employees. They need to get the balance just right in order to complete the human resource planning process correctly. Importance of Human Resource Planning Human resource planning is one of the most important resources in management and needs to be used efficiently. Success, stability and growth of a business depend on its ability in acquiring, utilising and developing the human resources for the benefit of a business. In recent years, Human resource planning has become increasingly important due to the high level of competition that todays businesses face. Without effective human resource planning, a company may face the danger of being unable to meet targets because employees with the necessary skills are unavailable. In my own opinion, I think that human resource planning is extremely important for every type of business. The main reason I think human resource planning is important is because by a business planning their human resources they can analyse their staffing needs for the future and identify any vacancies which may arise, they can save money through limited recruitment and selection and it helps motivate employees. Future staffing needs-The business is able to find out how much staff they will need in the future. It helps the business to identify the number of jobs which will become vacant in the near future. The human resource planning process is conducted for the entire business; therefore staffing requirements for every department can be identified. This allows the human resource department to identify any vacancies. For example: The human resource planning department of Dunnes Stores looks at the entire organisations staffing needs and identifies any vacancies that may arise in the future. Therefore the human resource department can identify if anyone is retiring or going on maternity leave. If there is somebody going on maternity leave in the finance department, the human resource planning department can plan to take on a temporary replacement. On the other hand if there is an employee in the marketing department retiring, then they will look at the marketing department and figure out if they need to take on a permanent replacement. Human resource planning is important as it highlights any vacancies in an organisation and prevents any sudden staffing shortages or surpluses. Cost savings-The recruitment and selection process can be very costly. Many businesses spend a large amount of money on this. Therefore by using the human resource planning process a company will save money as they arent wasting money taking on staff that is not necessary. Recruitment and selection will only be carried out if it is extremely necessary. The human resource planning process helps to identify whether recruitment and selection are necessary or not. For example: By Dunnes Stores planning their human resources effectively and efficiently they will save money. They will know exactly how many staff that they have at present. They will be able to determine if they under staffed or over staffed and whether they need to spend money on the recruitment and selection process. Human resource planning is important to Dunes Stores as saves them money by only highlighting when it is absolutely necessary to recruit new staff. Therefore they arent spending money on taking on new staff if they dont need them. Motivation-Human resource planning makes performance appraisal more meaningful. Employees receive feedback in the performance appraisal and they are informed of their chances of future progression in the company. As a result of this, the employees will be more motivated to work harder and try harder to impress. This shows the importance of human resource planning. For example: By Dunnes Stores engaging in human resource planning they will know exactly what promotions are available. So if the Sales Manager is going on maternity leave, then when the assistant sales manager is having the performance appraisal, she may be told if you improve on certain skill, you may be in line for promotion and may be considered when the sales manager goes on maternity leave. This will motivate the assistant sales manager to improve on certain skills and work harder in order to prove that she would be capable for the sales manager position. Human resource planning shows its importance in the performance appraisal as the business knows exactly when there is promotions available and this is turn motivates employees to work harder and prove that they are worthy of a promotion. According to Farnham human resource planning is extremely important as it encourages employers to establish clear and explicit links between their business plans and the human resource plans in order to integrate them more effectively and efficiently. He feels that by a business engaging in human resource planning it can benefit them as the business will have more control over staffing costs and on the number of staff employed. It ensures that a business is not over-staffed or under-staffed. He also feels that through human resource planning, employers can make more informed decisions about the skills and attitude mix in the business. Farnham states that human resource planning also provides a profile of the current staff in the business in regards to age, sex, gender, disability etc. By having this information readily available to them, a business is in a better position to make informed decisions and make sure that they are an equal opportunity organisation. Advantages of Human Resource Planning Meeting Staffing Requirements One of the advantages of human resource planning is that it improves the utilisation of human resources by helping the human resource planning managers to forecast the staffing needs in terms of both numbers as well as the types of skills that the business requires. By the human resource planning managers identifying the businesses short-term and long-term goals it allows them to predict their human resource requirements. In order for the human resource planning managers predict the staffing requirements successfully, they need to establish what skills, abilities and knowledge is required in order to meet the businesses goals. By human resource planning being carried out in a business, it helps the human resources planning managers to identify any potential replacements that they might need in order to fulfil the staffing requirements. Every year many employees either retire or leave companies that they are employed in. By carrying out human resource planning it helps the human resou rce department find replacements for these employees. These replacements may be either from inside the business or outside of the business. Therefore by carrying out human resource planning in a business it gives the advantage of meeting staffing needs. This is one of the main advantages of carrying out human resource planning in a business. Employee Development One of the main advantages of human resource planning is that it improves employee development. The human resource planning department identify employees within the business that could potentially move into a management position within the company. The human resource planning department can then implement certain actions that will help the potential employees develop their management skills. Human resource planning encourages the business to conduct performance appraisals with their employees. By conducting performance appraisals on their employees, it helps the human resource planning department to see what particular skills an employee is lacking and what type of training opportunities the employee should receive. Therefore human resource planning encourages and improves employee development. Continuous Evaluation By human resource planning managers taking part in the human resource planning process, it helps them to measure and access outcomes that make it possible to monitor the progress of the business and the employees. The human resource planning department make the human resource plan and they will usually include various millstones in order to gauge success. The future may be different than expected so the human resource planning department must be flexible enough for the business to manage the change. By a business taking part in human resource planning, it benefits them as the know exactly what is happening within the company at present, how many employees they have at present, how well they are doing currently and how the employees at performing at present. By the human resource planning department carrying out continuous evaluation they are able to meet new technological changes. Human resource planning helps to be effective in the use of technological progress. In order for the hum an resource planning department to meet the challenge of new technology, they make sure that existing employees are retrained and when they are recruiting new employees, they have the up-to-date technological knowledge. Proactive Human resource planning takes a proactive approach in order to meet the companys needs which are obviously an advantage for the company. By the human resource planning department taking a proactive approach it enables them to anticipate future needs, evaluate the companys current workforce and helps them determine what actions that they should prepare to take for the future. The advantage of having a proactive approach in human resource planning is that the businesses consider all aspects and the potential implications of different actions before acting. Businesses without human resource planning react to the employees needs without allowing themselves enough time to think and consider all actions. Businesses with human resource planning avoid making rushed and rash decisions. Therefore an advantage of human resource planning would be proactive businesses. Environmental Factors Through effective human resource planning, the human resource planning department can help the business to respond to environmental factors such as legislation, changing demographics, globalisation and technology. Through environmental scanning, the human resource planning department can anticipate different changes that will affect the businesses workforce and the businesses plan. An advantage of human resource planning is being able to anticipate the different environmental factors which will affect the business and its employees. The human resource planning department can predict and plan in anticipation for any changes in the environmental factors that may affect their business or their staffing requirements. The human resource planning department can prepare in advance for factors such as an aging population and an older workforce. By the human resource planning department, thinking ahead and taking the environmental factors into account, they help the business to avoid possible skill shortages in the future. By the human resource planning department failing to prepare for the environmental factors it can have a negative impact on the business. Disadvantages of Human Resource Planning Lack of Support During the last 25years, human resource planning has become a strategic partner in most business decisions. Before this it was known as personnel administration, a department responsible for processing payroll, handing out job application forms and enrolling employees in the business. One disadvantage of human resource planning is that without the support of management and the employees; it will not work or be effective. In order for human resource planning to be effective, the managers and the employees must support the human resource plans one hundred per cent. The management dont always see human resource planning as an essential element in the businesses long term and strategic goals. The employees of a business dont always support human resource planning due to the fact that they dont fully understand what their role is in the business. Culture Shift One major disadvantage of human resource planning relates to the current cultural thinking of the employees in a business. Many employees work in the same style they were originally trained in. These types of old-school employees have learned to perform their work efficiently and they take great pride in their ability to perform well in the business. When a business decides to take a new approach by implementing human resource planning into the business, these types of employees feel threatened. The employees current skills may not be able to be transferred to the businesses new way of doing things; therefore some of the employees will need to learn the new system. Larger Initial Investment A business must invest time and money into their human resource planning to become fully functional this is a disadvantage for businesses that dont have excess cash to invest into their human resource department. A business would also have to invest money into training their employees into understanding human resource planning. The employees would need to be thought how to research alternative approaches to planning, how to evaluate which approach fits the business the best and finally to implement that chosen process. The human resource planning manager would need to be able to determine how the new process fits in with their current employees and they would then have to assign new responsibilities to each employee. Once the employees are assigned their new responsibility, they will need additional training in order to help get them use to it. They will each need to learn what their new role in the business is each employee will need. This would be one disadvantage to human resource planning; the initial capital invested. The Strategic Human Resource Planning Process The strategic human resource planning process consists of four steps: Assessing the current human resource capacity Forecasting human resource requirements Gap analysis Developing human resource strategies to support business strategies Assessing the current human resource capacity Based on the businesses strategic plan, the first step in the strategic planning process is to analyse the current human resource capacity of the business. The knowledge, skills and abilities of the current staff in the business need to be identified. A way in which this can be done is by developing a skills inventory for each employee in the business. The skills inventory should go beyond the skills needed for the particular position. The business should list all the skills each employee has demonstrated. The education levels or additional training and development courses that they have participated in should also be included. Forecasting Human Resource Requirements The second step is to forecast human resource needs for the future, based on the strategic goals of the business. Realistic forecasting of human resources involves predicting both demand and supply. In order for the business to forecast the human resource requirements, they need to be able to answer the following questions: How many employees is required in order to achieve the strategic goals of the business? What jobs will need to be filled? What skill sets will people need? When forecasting demands for human resources, the business must also identify the challenges that they will face in meeting their staffing needs based on the external environment. In order for the business to determine external impacts, they should consider the following factors: How does the current economy affect the businesses ability to attract new employees? What changes are occurring in the Irish labour market? Gap Analysis This step is concerned about determining the gap between where the business wants to be in the future and where the business is currently. The gap analysis involves identifying the number of staff and the skills and abilities required in the future in comparison to the current situation the company are in. The business should ask themselves the following questions: What new jobs will the business need? What new skills will the business require? Do the businesses current employees have the right skills? Does the business have enough mangers? Developing Human resource strategies to support business strategies There are five ways in which a business can meet their needs in the future: Restructuring-This involves reducing staff by termination, reorganising work units to be more efficient Training and development-This involves providing staff with training to take on new roles, providing current staff with development opportunities to prepare them for future jobs in the business. Recruitment-This involves recruiting new staff with the skill and abilities that the business will need in the future. Outsourcing-This involves using external individuals or businesses to complete some tasks Collaboration-This involves allowing employees to visit other businesses to gain skills and insight. It involves working together with other businesses to prepare future leaders by sharing in the development of promising employees. Case Study BMWs Human Resource Planning Practices In 2007, Human resource planning managers at the BMW manufacturing plant in Germany came up with the Today for Tomorrow project. Human resource managers realised that with Germanys ageing population, by 2020 roughly half of BMWs 18000 workers in Germany will be over the age of 50. By 2020, more than a fifth of the country will be over 65.Faced with a probable decline in productivity, human resource managers reacted in an unusual and innovative way. For BMW, it is a matter of necessity, like many industries in Western countries; the company faces the challenge of trying to remain globally competitive with an experienced but ageing workforce. The human resource planning manager believed that their older workers have more patience and skills than the younger workers. The human resource planning manager in Germany believes that they are grappling with an ageing workforce. With the country also facing a shortage of qualified engineers, the human resource planning department have decided that its best to keep good workers on the job as long as possible and adapting the manufacturing factories to their needs. The human resource planning departmen

Poker Essay -- essays research papers

Poker: Draw Vs. Hold 'em As the room fills with smoke from cigars and cigarettes, I look across the table at the last guy in the hand. I think to myself, â€Å"Why did he just raise me?† I just raised the pot $25 on two pair. The other guy re-raised the pot another $25. My heart is beating like a freight train racing down the tracks, I’m doing everything in my power to stop from sweating and I’m trying to keep my face stone cold straight as to not give myself away. I’m pretty sure at this point that this guy is trying buy the pot, but it still makes me nervous. I decide to call his raise and when the cards are turned over I realize that I had just made the right call. I won the pot and fought off his bluff. Poker is a card game that has been around for hundreds of years. Although the origin of the game and the name itself are debatable, the game of Poker is played more than any other card game in the world. The scenario I explained took place during a game of Five Card Draw. This is a very popular rendition of Poker. Poker has evolved over the years and hence has numerous types of games that still fall under the Poker category. My favorite games are Five Card Draw and Texas Hold ‘em. Both games are similar because they derive from the original game of Poker, involves betting, and using playing cards. They also differ because of the betting, the number of cards used and the way the cards are dealt. Five Card Draw is o...

Cannibalism Among Dinosaurs :: Anthropology Essays Paleontology Papers

Cannibalism Among Dinosaurs Typically, when an individual browses through various newspapers or watches the evening news they are most likely to see or hear some new and groundbreaking news concerning a scientific breakthrough. As I was looking through various scientific journals I came across an article that caught my eye for numerous reasons, but one in particular. The heading of the article read, â€Å"Cannibal dinosaurs revealed by tooth marks.† These prehistoric creatures that have been viewed by the public for centuries as being wild and ferocious beasts, are presently being seen more then just that. Recent evidence originating in Madagascar is leading researches in the direction that dinosaurs consumption of food did not strictly adhere to the food chain but instead fed amongst their own kind. This recent discovery has left scientists with many questions to be answered. The discovery is quite important because any research up until now has failed to uncover any evidence that would reveal that dinosaurs fed among their own kind. Ray Rogers whom has been leading the ten-year excavation states in the article that there are at least 14 current day animals that still practice cannibalism such as lions, komodo dragons, crocodiles, hyenas, black bears and grasshopper mice, but in contrast, any evidence of cannibalism among dinosaurs is sparse. This article was also particularly interesting to me because this is a recent find and there is little to no literature published concerning the idea that dinosaurs may have been cannibals. This is a new fossil find in which makes any and all research being administered equally as important. The time period of these fossils date back nearly 65 to 75 million years ago to the late –Cretaceous period when dinosaurs neared the end of their existence on earth. The fossils that have been discovered that tend to persuade researchers to believe dinosaurs were cannibals have been located in Northwest Madagascar’s bone beds. Rogers states, â€Å" Fossilized soil samples from the same region are red and oxidized, hinting that the area was arid, with food in short supply. The animals may have traveled to the river to find sustenance and died there.

The Great Gatsby Character Dev :: essays research papers

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a novel the narrator is the vehicle, the one telling the story to the reader. Laying out critical information, describing the setting, creating mood and atmosphere, and generating information upon which we create our opinions on characters and events in the novel. These are classically what we associate the narrator with regard to the novel and its progression. The characters that the author describes are the major focus of the novel. Characters change and develop over the course of the novel, if there were no kind of change in any of the characters the novel would be almost pointless. Stories need to have rounded characters, whether they change for the better of worse, if nothing happened the novel wouldn't be much to read and wouldn't leave the reader satisfied one way or another in the end. What is interesting is when the narrator takes on a different type of role in a novel. He is no longer used merely as a device to incorporate information; instead he play s an important and active part in the development of the plot. Traditionally the narrator is usually outside of the story, but in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway (the narrator) is much more than that. Nick in this novel is an active member of the story, being only second in importance to the main character Jay Gatsby. This novel takes a very different approach in its development of the characters. Having the narrator change more than any of the other characters, this thesis will explain Fitzgerald's unusual development of the characters and their greater significance through the novel. For although we would expect a certain, standard technique in telling a story, Fitzgerald uses a much different method. The first person to discuss is the main character of the story Jay Gatsby. A self made man, who amasses a great amount of wealth, he is a romantic idealist trapped in his own world. Though we would initially expect this character to have the most profound and recognizable change for no other reason than he is the main character, he doesn't. Not only does he not change but he in fact he is incapable of change. He cannot, because his life is dedicated to the fulfillment of a romantic dream. A dream so powerful he becomes blinded with this self-delusion that no matter what happens, what the turn of events, it will come true.

Mexican War and the Austrian Succession War

The two nations that wrestled in the Mexican War were both ill prepared and ill-equipped to fight.  Ã‚   The United States, whose population largely did not expect a war with the Mexicans almost immediately following the independence struggle in Texas, naturally did not arm its soldiers.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Though Congress voted to declare war in an overwhelming majority, it did not readily act to enlarge the army or navy until after the declaration.  Ã‚   Indeed, there were less than 10,000 troops on any of the few expeditions launched by the government in Mexican territory. If the United States was not prepared for a struggle with the Mexicans, the latter was less than suited for the conflict.  Ã‚   At the time, Mexico was languishing under the on-again, off-again rule by the war hero and tyrant Santa Anna.  Ã‚   He had fought against the Texans, lost and was ejected by an angry mob, leaving only a general or another to stand in his place.   When the latter became unpopular, Santa Anna would return and rule Mexico anew.   Prior to the Mexican War, the dictator was again toppled by mutinous soldiers, a General Paredes, and his own capital, Mexico City.  Ã‚   When the Mexican government did declare war against the United States, several factions throughout the country â€Å"declared† themselves against the government.   In the midst of this, Santa Anna was called in again to take the reins. Thus it was that the Mexican War utilized a small number of troops, and its subsequent major engagements involved less than 5,000 troops at any one time.  Ã‚   The objectives of the Americans, at the outbreak of the War had been to force the annexation of California and resolve the border dispute between it and Mexico.  Ã‚   These were the initial goals, and it was only out of sheer paralysis in Mexican politics that the war was dragged on and led to the long American march to Mexico. This was not at all different from any of the wars fought among the major powers of the 17th and 18th century for dynastic succession, particularly the Austrian Succession.  Ã‚   In idea it was the challenge of the succession of Maria Theresa as Empress of Austria.   In practice, it was primarily the Prussian goal of seizing the Austrian province of Silesia.   Dynastic wars like this were limited to regions of conflict, and were soon ended once an army of one power had been decisively defeated, or had reached their objectives.  Ã‚   Oftentimes, allies would agree to a separate peace with their enemies, and the war would only be prosecuted to its totality if the sovereignty of one nation were endangered. At the outbreak of war the Mexicans had 20,000 men on the roles, and 24,000 officers.   Most were not even prepared to go to war, and were hundreds of miles away from the fighting. The subsequent American punitive expeditions in California were reminiscent of the engagements between Prussia and Austria during the Austrian Succession.   Much of the initial fighting in that war occurred in Silesia, and gradually spread, but was mostly limited to the southern German territories. The fighting in California was mostly between armies in the mere hundreds; the decisive battles of Rio San Gabriel, and La Mesa were fought off between Americans in the hundreds and native Californians with less than that number.  Ã‚   In the former, the Californian artillery failed them, and in the latter the Californians had mere cavalry lancers to the American rifles. The fighting, meanwhile, in Northeastern Mexico, and on the road to Mexico itself, was harder fought.  Ã‚   Zachary Taylor fought a hard-fought, stalemate in the city of Monterrey, where the able Mexican commander General Pedro de Ampudia held off 2,638 American troops to his 3,140, for two days with great losses.  Ã‚   Eventually the fighting degenerated to the city streets, and Taylor, rather than have to go through the effort of a protracted battle against the enemy, agreed to an armistice with the Mexicans.  Ã‚   The general soon broke this agreement, and resumed the march to Mexico. The rampant demoralization of Mexico made the American campaign easier, as the Mexican military command was disjointed, and divided.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like Maria Theresa going off herself into the field of battle, Santa Anna, after being forced out of exile by his government, promptly took its reins, levied 16,000 troops by sheer will, and marched off to meet Taylor himself in Buenavista.  Ã‚   When General Taylor finally faced the Mexican army, in the Battle of Buena Vista, 4,000 of Santa Anna’s troops had died of hunger, disease and desertion. They were exhausted when they faced the enemy.  Ã‚   Nevertheless, through the discipline of the ranks, the Mexican forces had at one point outflanked and near to routing the enemy, but for the timely reprieve of American artillery that drove the Mexican chargers off.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Defeated, Santa Anna was forced to march humiliatingly all the way back to Mexico City. These were the only major battles in the war that involved armies of thousands, and they were concentrated on the cities and employed siege warfare.  Ã‚   The battles that were fought before that time were greatly smaller in scale as to the battles fought between the Austrians and the Prussians in Silesia, or the Austrians against the Prussian ally in Bavaria. Like the Austrian Succession War, however, these Mexican-American engagements involved sweeping cavalry attacks.  Ã‚   The necessity of battle would compare Santa Anna with the despairing Queen of Austria, but the tactics he wielded were reminiscent of the Prussian Frederick. California having been occupied by the Americans, and Santa Anna having been defeated, the Americans would have assumed the Mexicans would sue for peace.  Ã‚   Indeed, Mexico fragmented yet again upon news of the defeat.  Ã‚   However, like Maria Theresa before him, who faced the Prussians alone and with no European ally left both during and after the First Silesian War (which was part of the Succession War), Santa Anna and his government refused to make peace, forcing the sending of another American expedition this time to force peace upon the capital. This was the army of General Winfield Scott, opening the campaign by an ambitious amphibious assault on the city of Vera Cruz.  Ã‚   Following the city’s surrender after a violent trade-off of artillery fire, Scott marched off to Cerro Gordo, where Santa Anna with a force of 12,000 men prepared to ambush them.  Ã‚   A forward regiment of the American commander discovered the hidden location, and Scott moved away from the line of ambush and outflanked the enemy, killing 1000 to 3000. The dynastic, limited wars of Europe were prone to disunity in command.  Ã‚   France and Prussia had been united in an alliance against Austria, in the second phase of the war; when Prussian troops had been used to siphon off the Austrian invasion in France, the latter country’s army refused to aid their allies.  Ã‚   So, too, in the course of the American campaign leading to the capture of Mexico City, General Gabriel Valencia, who held numerical superiority over the Americans, was ordered to withdraw just as the Battle in Contreras was already set.   Santa Anna promptly left the general and his army to be sizably crushed by the Americans.  Ã‚   The subsequent battle of Chapultepec where a greatly outnumbered enemy force was abandoned by Santa Anna. Finally, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded almost half of Mexico to the Americans.  Ã‚   Like Austria acceding to the Silesian loss, Mexico resigned to the loss of Texas.  Ã‚   Unlike the Austrian War, however, they also lost the California territory, as well as land that would comprise New Mexico.  Ã‚   It was a limited, set-piece campaign by the Americans, though it was not the first in the latter’s history.   The lack of discipline and unity of command of the armies of 17th and 18th century Europe haunted the Mexican army; Santa Anna acted more of a mercenary than a general. Had he prosecuted the war more competently, he would at least have forced better concessions from the Americans, for at the time of Buena Vista, most of California had already been lost.  Ã‚   The Mexican general could at least have fought battles that would have shaped the terms on the bargaining table.   As it was, brilliant though he might have been, Santa Anna lacked the fiber of integrity that Maria Theresa had. References Ritchie, D. A.   & Altoff A. & Wilson, Dr. R.  Ã‚   (1985).   Heritage of Freedom: History of the United States.   New York: MacMillan Publishing Company. Simpson, L.B.   (1966).   Many Mexicos.   Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Durant, W. (1965).   The Age of Voltaire.   New York: Mahony & Roese. Mexican-American War. (n.d.) Retrieved April 9, 2008 from Wikipedia.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_War.      

Mankiw Chapter 1 Solution

The answers to the Quick Quizzes can also be found near the end of the textbook. 1. The four principles of economic decision making are: (1) people face trade-offs; (2) the cost of something is what you give up to get it; (3) rational people think at the margin; and (4) people respond to incentives. People face trade-offs because to get one thing that they like, they usually have to give up another thing that they like. The cost of something is what you give up to get it, not just in terms of monetary costs but all opportunity costs.Rational people think at the margin by taking an action if and only if the marginal benefit exceeds the marginal cost. People respond to incentives because they choose activities by comparing benefits to costs; therefore, a change in these benefits or costs may cause their behavior to change. The three principles concerning people’s economic interactions are: (1) trade can make everyone better off; (2) markets are usually a good way to organize eco nomic activity; and (3) governments can sometimes improve market outcomes.Trade can make everyone better off because it allows countries to specialize in what they do best and to enjoy a wider variety of goods and services. Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity because the invisible hand leads markets to desirable outcomes. Governments can sometimes improve market outcomes because markets may fail to allocate resources efficiently due to an externality or market power.The three principles that describe how the economy as a whole works are: (1) a country’s standard of living depends on its ability to produce goods and services; (2) prices rise when the government prints too much money; and (3) society faces a shortrun trade-off between inflation and unemployment. A country’s standard of living depends largely on the productivity of its workers, which in turn depends on the education of its workers and the access its workers have to the necessary t ools and technology. Prices rise when the government prints too much money because more money in circulation reduces the value of money, causing inflation.Society faces a short-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment that is only temporary. Policymakers have some short-term ability to exploit this relationship using various policy instruments. 2. 3. Questions for Review 1. Examples of trade-offs include time trade-offs (such as studying one subject over another or studying at all compared to engaging in social activities) and spending tradeoffs (such as whether to use your last 15 dollars to purchase a pizza or to buy a study guide for that tough economics course).The opportunity cost of seeing a movie includes the monetary cost of admission plus the time cost of going to the theater and attending the show. The time cost depends on what else you might do with that time; if it is staying home and watching TV, the time cost may be small, but if it is working an extra three ho urs at your job, the time cost is the money you could have earned. The marginal benefit of a glass of water depends on your circumstances. If you have just 2. 3. Chapter 1/Ten Principles of Economics 2 un a marathon or you have been walking in the desert sun for three hours, the marginal benefit is very high. But if you have been drinking a lot of liquids recently, the marginal benefit is quite low. The point is that even the necessities of life, like water, do not always have large marginal benefits. 4. Policymakers need to think about incentives so they can understand how people will respond to the policies they put in place. The text's example of seat belt laws shows that policy actions can have unintended consequences.If incentives matter a lot, they may lead to a very different type of policy; for example, some economists have suggested putting knives in steering columns so that people will drive much more carefully! While this suggestion is silly, it highlights the importance of incentives. Trade among countries is not a game with some losers and some winners because trade can make everyone better off. By allowing specialization, trade between people and trade between countries can improve everyone's welfare.The â€Å"invisible hand† of the marketplace represents the idea that even though individuals and firms are all acting in their own self-interest, prices and the marketplace guide them to do what is good for society as a whole. The two main causes of market failure are externalities and market power. An externality is the impact of one person’s actions on the well-being of a bystander, such as from pollution or the creation of knowledge. Market power refers to the ability of a single person (or small group of people) to unduly influence market prices, such as in a town with only one well or only one cable television company.In addition, a market economy also leads to an unequal distribution of income. Productivity is important because a country's standard of living depends on its ability to produce goods and services. The greater a country's productivity (the amount of goods and services produced from each hour of a worker's time), the greater its standard of living will be. Inflation is an increase in the overall level of prices in the economy. Inflation is caused by increases in the quantity of a nation's money.Inflation and unemployment are negatively related in the short run. Thus, reducing inflation entails costs to society in the form of higher unemployment in the short run. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Problems and Applications 1. a. A family deciding whether to buy a new car faces a trade-off between the cost of the car and other things they might want to buy. For example, buying the car might mean they must give up going on vacation for the next two years. So the real cost of the car is the family's opportunity cost in terms of what they must give up.For a member of Congress deciding whether to increase spending on national parks, the trade-off is between parks and other spending items or tax cuts. If more money goes into the park system, that may mean less spending on national defense or on the police force. Or, instead of spending more money on the park system, taxes could be reduced. b. Chapter 1/Ten Principles of Economics c. 3 When a company president decides whether to open a new factory, the decision is based on whether the new factory will increase the firm's profits compared to other alternatives.For example, the company could upgrade existing equipment or expand existing factories. The bottom line is: Which method of expanding production will increase profit the most? In deciding how much to prepare for class, a professor faces a trade-off between the value of improving the quality of the lecture compared to other things she could do with her time, such as working on additional research. d. 2. When the benefits of something are psychological, such as going on a vacation, it is not e asy to compare benefits to costs to determine if it is worth doing.But there are two ways to think about the benefits. One is to compare the vacation with what you would do in its place. If you did not go on vacation, would you buy something like a new set of golf clubs? Then you can decide if you would rather have the new clubs or the vacation. A second way is to think about how hard you had to work to earn the money to pay for the vacation. You can then decide if the psychological benefits of the vacation were worth the psychological cost of working.If you are thinking of going skiing instead of working at your part-time job, the cost of skiing includes its monetary and time costs, which includes the opportunity cost of the wages you are giving up by not working. If the choice is between skiing and going to the library to study, then the cost of skiing is its monetary and time costs including the cost of getting lower grades in your courses. If you spend $100 now instead of saving it for a year and earning 5 percent interest, you are giving up the opportunity to spend $105 a year from now.The fact that you have already sunk $5 million is not relevant to your decision anymore, because that money is gone. What matters now is the chance to earn profits at the margin. If you spend another $1 million and can generate sales of $3 million, you'll earn $2 million in marginal profit, so you should do so. You are right to think that the project has lost a total of $3 million ($6 million in costs and only $3 million in revenue) and you should not have started it. That is true, but if you do not spend the additional $1 million, you will not have any sales and your losses will be $5 million.So what matters is not the total profit, but the profit you can earn at the margin. In fact, you wouldd pay up to $3 million to complete development; any more than that, and you will not be increasing profit at the margin. Harry suggests looking at whether productivity would rise or f all. Productivity is certainly important, since the more productive workers are, the lower the cost per gallon of potion. Ron wants to look at average cost. But both Harry and Ron are missing the other side of the equation? revenue. A firm wants to maximize its profits, so it needs to examine both costs and revenues.Thus, Hermione is right? it is best to examine whether the extra revenue would exceed the extra costs. Hermione is the only one who is thinking at the margin. a. The provision of Social Security benefits lowers an individual’s incentive to save for retirement. The benefits provide some level of income to the individual when he or she retires. This means that the individual is not entirely dependent on savings to support consumption through the years in retirement. Since a person gets fewer after-tax Social Security benefits the greater his or her 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. b.Chapter 1/Ten Principles of Economics earnings are, there is an incentive not to work (or not work as much) after age 65. The more you work, the lower your after-tax Social Security benefits will be. Thus, the taxation of Social Security benefits discourages work effort after age 65. 8. a. b. When welfare recipients have their benefits cut off after two years, they have a greater incentive to find jobs than if their benefits were to last forever. 4 The loss of benefits means that someone who cannot find a job will get no income at all, so the distribution of income will become less equal.But the economy will be more efficient, because welfare recipients have a greater incentive to find jobs. Thus, the change in the law is one that increases efficiency but reduces equity. 9. By specializing in each task, you and your roommate can finish the chores more quickly. If you divided each task equally, it would take you more time to cook than it would take your roommate, and it would take him more time to clean than it would take you. By specializing, you reduce the total time spent on chore s. Similarly, countries can specialize and trade, making both better off.For example, suppose it takes Spanish workers less time to make clothes than French workers, and French workers can make wine more efficiently than Spanish workers. Then Spain and France can both benefit if Spanish workers produce all the clothes and French workers produce all the wine, and they exchange wine for clothes. 10. a. To produce the right number of CDs by the right artists and deliver them to the right people requires an enormous amount of information. You need to know about production techniques and costs in the CD industry. You need to know each person's musical tastes and which artists they want to hear.If you make the wrong decisions, you will be producing too many CDs by artists that people do not want to hear, and not enough by others. Your decisions about CDs will carry over to other decisions. You have to make the right number of CD players for people to use. If you make too many CDs and not enough cassette tapes, people with cassette players will be stuck with CDs they cannot play. The probability of making mistakes is very high. You will also be faced with tough choices about the music industry compared to other parts of the economy.If you produce more sports equipment, you will have fewer resources for making CDs. So all decisions about the economy influence your decisions about CD production. b. 11. Countries that have corrupt police and court systems do not enforce individual property rights, including the rights over the goods and services produced by households and firms. Firms will not choose to produce products and individuals will choose not to work if there is no guarantee that they will receive payment for their efforts. Therefore, these countries end up with a lower standard of living. . b. c. d. e. Efficiency: The market failure comes from the market power of the cable TV firm. Equity Efficiency: An externality arises because secondhand smoke harms nonsmok ers. Efficiency: The market failure occurs because of Standard Oil's market power. Equity 12. Chapter 1/Ten Principles of Economics f. 13. a. 5 Efficiency: There is an externality because of accidents caused by drunk drivers. If everyone were guaranteed the best health care possible, much more of our nation's output would be devoted to medical care than is now the case.Would that be efficient? If you believe that doctors have market power and restrict health care to keep their incomes high, you might think efficiency would increase by providing more health care. But more likely, if the government mandated increased spending on health care, the economy would be less efficient because it would give people more health care than they would choose to pay for. From the point of view of equity, if poor people are less likely to have adequate health care, providing more health care would represent an improvement.Each person would have a more even slice of the economic pie, though the pie wo uld consist of more health care and less of other goods. When workers are laid off, equity considerations argue for the unemployment benefits system to provide them with some income until they can find new jobs. After all, no one plans to be laid off, so unemployment benefits are a form of insurance. But there is an efficiency problem? why work if you can get income for doing nothing? The economy is not operating efficiently if people remain unemployed for a long time, and unemployment benefits encourage unemployment.Thus, there is a trade-off between equity and efficiency. The more generous unemployment benefits are, the less income is lost by an unemployed person, but the more that person is encouraged to remain unemployed. So greater equity reduces efficiency. b. 14. Because average income in the United States has roughly doubled every 35 years, we are likely to have a better standard of living than our parents, and a much better standard of living than our grandparents. This is mainly the result of increased productivity, so that an hour of work produces more goods and services than it used to.Thus, incomes have continuously risen over time, as has the standard of living. If Americans save more and it leads to more spending on factories, there will be an increase in production and productivity, because the same number of workers will have more equipment to work with. The benefits from higher productivity will go to both the workers, who will get paid more because they are producing more, and the factory owners, who will get a return on their investments. There is no such thing as a free lunch, however, because when people save more, they are giving up spending. They get higher incomes at the cost of buying fewer goods.To make an intelligent decision about whether to reduce inflation, a policymaker would need to know what causes inflation and unemployment, as well as what determines the trade-off between them. This means that the policymaker needs to unders tand how households and firms will adjust to a decrease in the money supply. How much will spending decline? How much will firms lower output? Any attempt to reduce inflation will likely lead to higher unemployment in the short run. A policymaker thus faces a trade-off between the benefits of lower inflation compared to the cost of higher unemployment. Answers will vary. 15. 16. 17.