Company Analysis for saudi basic industries corporation SABIC Research Paper

Company Analysis for saudi basic industries corporation SABIC - Research Paper Example It offers its products and services all over the world. The regional sites are the Middle East and Africa, Asia, America an Europe. SABIC is the largest and most profitable non-oil producing company in the middlie east. It is ranked in the fifth position largest world petrochemical manufacturer. It is committed to satisfying its customers through achieving individual initiatives. This is enhanced through adherence of strict safety and environmental policies. The high investment in technology and innovation facilitates the ongoing development. The management is committed in running the business and achieveing sustainability through providing services and products that meet stakeholder’s expectations as well as conduct business with respect and care for the environment. Regulations are followed at all times and they apply practical means to conserve resources and reduce waste, avoid pollution in order to minimize risks involved in their operaions. Quality of products and services is maintained at all times. SABIC is in the petrochemical industries and is the five largest in the world. The company has had strict safety and environmental responsibility. It has incorporated sustainability in its day to day business activities. Its reports are integrated clear showing the environmental and social impact of the company in the various regions. This is through reducing waste, preventing pollution, catering for customers needs. The company has 33,000 employees for the last four years in 40 countries. Its culture is to cater for the ever growing needs of the customers. This responsibility has opened up avenues for innovations and technological advances. The T & I facilities are found all over the world with highly talented expects and scientists who are devoted in bring new patents and certifications. The company is always focused in to the future thus technology is heavily invested into. The

Interpreting a Factor Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Interpreting a Factor Analysis - Essay Example This low education affects their ability to either secure any or a well-paying job (Vijayakumar, 2013). Furthermore, the younger generations have lower job skills and work experience compared to the older persons. Due to their limited access to work/ well paying work, young people are more prone to poverty and, consequently, higher financial dependency (Gupta, 2007). These two studies successfully demonstrate that there is a relationship between age and dependency – the higher the age, the lower the level of dependency. Based on these findings, I seek to investigate whether this hypothetical relationship between age and financial dependency is valid for the data at hand. The following hypothesis is investigated: That implies that, for this study, higher levels of dependency are expected to correspond to lower ages. A bivariate correlation analysis was run in the SPSS using the computed value for â€Å"dependency† and age. The test was run at the 5% level of significance. The findings are contained in the following section. The average ages of the 1146 participants is 32.4 years (Std. dev. = 11.25), while the average dependency score is 14.25 (Std. dev. = 4.56). The correlation between the ages of participants and dependency is -0.107 (p The findings of this study fall in line with the findings of both Gupta (2007) and Vijavakumar (2013) which established the existence of significant correlations between the ages and dependency levels of participants. This confirms validity of the â€Å"dependency† scale. Since the relationship between age and dependency is inverse (negative correlation coefficient), and having confirmed the validity of the dependency scale, we conclude that the older generations have relatively lower levels of financial dependency, while the younger individuals have relatively higher levels of financial

Categorisation in Long-Term Memory Essay Example for Free

Categorisation in Long-Term Memory Essay The method used was a field experiment as it took part in a classroom. This method was chosen because the independent variable can be manipulated to find the effect on the dependent variable, which can draw conclusions about cause and effect. Doing this allows reasonable control of extraneous variables and where the experimenter has a significant amount of control. An independent groups design was most appropriate because it prevents order effects and demand characteristics to a certain extent. There will be two groups, a control group who will be shown a random list of words and an experiment group who will receive a categorised list. This enables me to compare the number of words each group can recall and therefore claim the cause and effect. Independent variable Whether participants are presented with an organised list of words or not. Dependant variable Memory as measured by the number of words the participant recall from the list of words. Participants It was an opportunity sample of International school students from 13 to 14 years old. 10 participants were allocated into each condition randomly (condition 1: control group who received a random list of words, condition 2: experiment group with an organised list of categorised words). Each condition had 5 females and 5 males. Anyone that was available was asked if they would take part in the experiment. None of the participants dropped out and only 2 students refused to take part, because they were not free at that moment. This sampling method was chosen because it was quick and convenient. By using independent designs, some extraneous variables were controlled. Order effects were prevented since different participants were allocated in different conditions. Having clear and concise standardised instructions reduced confusion. The procedures were standardised to reduce any experimenter effects. The room was kept in a constant temperature to reduce it from possibly affecting participants memory. Students were ranged from 13-14 years old. Other noise from outside the room may have distorted the results and therefore all windows and doors were closed so that as little noise as possible was allowed into the room. The group of participants who received the organised lists of words recalled more words than the participants with the randomly categorised list. It was distinctive from the graph that people given categorised words recalled more words than people who received a random list. The results support my hypothesis of better recall from students if words were categorised. The relationship between the independent and dependant variable was if the words were categorised, the higher the recall. Discussion Validity Validity is if the measuring apparatus measures what its meant to measure. By looking at the number of words remembered, its an indicator of memory as it is clear that the more words you recall the more words were remembered, this is called face validity and its purpose is to see if the experiment is testing what its supposed to measure. I chose 3 categories of words to use in my experiment and I think that they were the correct categories to use as they were all only 1 syllable and are generally used in everyday life. This is related to construct validity which is whether the method can be used to support the variable that is being measured. (If the experiment was replicated, we would see similar results) I think that I chose the words that best measure organisation and that my test was valid. Ecological validity is if the experiment measures a naturally occurring behaviour. This was a field experiment which has good ecological validity but its not usual for someone to be taken into a room and to participate in a test on a daily life setting. The participants were aware they were taking part in a psychology experiment so the results could have been affected by demand characteristics. Suggestions for improving validity Participants were aware they were talking part in a psychology experiment which could have created demand characteristics and possible experimenter bias. To obtain a higher ecological validity I could have applied my study to school/everyday life. For example, asking participants to recall a list of ingredients that they had used to bake a cake. This could prevent demand characteristics and experimenter bias as participants might not be aware this that it is a psychology experiment and could possibly make my results more valid. Doing this however, would make it harder to control any extraneous variables and the study would be more difficult to replicate and standardise. Reliability Reliability is whether the measuring method can measure consistently. If the experiment was repeated, similar results would appear. I have increased reliability using the same words in both lists. Two different lists of words decreases reliability as some words are easier to remember than others. Therefore using the same words will reduce this effect. In the list of organised words it was obvious that the experiment was testing memory which led to demand characteristics. The experiment were standardised which meant its easy to replicate. However, because participants were already told that they were taking part in a psychology experiment on memory, they knew what the experiment was about and could try harder to perform better on the test (demand characteristics). Improving reliability If I were to choose a different sampling method results would be much more representative, because my sample was an opportunity sample with only people who were free at that moment. I could have chosen a random sample to increase reliability since there are different levels of cognitive abilities in students and not only people who were free. This method could be done by picking 10 males and females randomly (picking out names from hat) from each year group. This means a total of 70 subjects would be used instead of just 20 and doing this would give me more reliable results and a much more representative sample of school students. Also, to reduce demand characteristics the purpose of the experiment shouldnt have been told to the participants until after the experiment, which is called debriefing. Implications of study Bousfield found that we have semantic organisation in our long-term memory. Bower et al found that organising words into a categorised hierarchy would help to improve recall. In this study I found that participants recalled more words when the words on this list were organised. This means that the findings of my experiment support both Bowers and Bousfields findings. This implies that there is in fact a short and long-term memory and that there is some kind of semantic organisation of the information in the long-term memory which can improve peoples re-call. Generalisation of findings Target population is the age and group of people an experimenter plans to generalise their findings on. In my experiment the target population was Island School students between the ages 13-14 years old. This was hard to generalise due to the sampling method. The method was biased because only students who were available and around at that time were asked to participate. This could be improved if a larger sample of students were used and not only people who were free to participate. My experiment only involved 20 people, which was too little to generalise a school of 1500 students. It was hard to generalise beyond the target population, as there are individual differences, psychological differences and cultural differences between much of the population. In addition my sample was too small to generalise beyond target population. Applications of everyday life It was found that an organised list of categorized words would be more efficient to remember than a randomly placed list of words. This can be applied to everyday life, for example when teachers teach children they have to teach in a systematical order so it is easier to recall the majority of information. As for a high school there is a syllabus which is organized by categorising the same type of information together. This is the most efficient way for remembering information and recalling it for exams.

Fate Symbolism Essay Example for Free

Fate Symbolism Essay Some people believe that each step steps on the way of life is predetermined through the beginning to the end, and people are powerless to resist it. The main character who is the narrator of the short novel, â€Å"A Woman Like Me† by Xi Xi, is trying to convey to us the same concept which is called the fate. She has been an orphan since she was very young, and she and her brother were raised by her Aunt Yifen. Her aunt has so much pressure that she pays less attention on their education, so when the narrator grows up, she lets her inherit their familial skill which is making up for dead. All of these elements lead her life into a miserable fate. From the psychological description of herself, I found that in the depth of her heart, she actually doesn’t want to surrender to her fate, but wants to have friendship and love. In my opinion, our life, whatever love or death, are seem arranged by fate, but we can try our best to alter it and change it. As in the story, although the narrator considers that all the things happened in her life is arranged by fate and she is â€Å"totally powerless to resist Fate† (152), I think most of the misfortunes happened in her life are root in her timidity. The reasons that makes her lacks of courage are her self-abased and doesn’t want to violate her family’s custom. In my opinion, our fate is in our own hand. When she faces the point of transition of fate, she doesn’t have enough courage to change her own fate because of her self-abased, but in the depth of her heart, she is really want to change her destiny. In story she describes herself, â€Å"I’m a person who has no concept of self-protection, and my words and deeds will always conspire to make me a laughing stock in the eyes of others† (152). Her character make people around her can’t accept her and laugh at her. It makes her who originally is self-abased because of low education become more self-abased. Her despaired emotion is expressed many times in the story, â€Å"A woman like me is actually unsuitable for any man’s love† (152). The word, â€Å"actually†, was said with her realistic helpless. She has no confidence to fall in love with a man. She thinks her fate is decided that she can do nothing for it. However, when the narrator who originally surrenders to the fate sees the boy suicide for love, she unexpectedly feels shame of him and refuses to make up for him. She thinks that â€Å"his had been act of extreme weakness: †¦ I should have nothing to do with anyone who lacked the courage to resist the forces of fate.† (157) Her view of other’s fate reflect the real idea in her depth heart. When she face the situation of other people, she is very clear that people should have courage to resist the force of fate. As a Chinese proverb said: â€Å"The spectators understand the chess game better than the players.† When she faces that boy, she is feels humiliating with his weakness. We can find her aspire and insist of love. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have the courage to ins ist her own love. Thus, it is her self-abased make her yell of fate can only leave in the depth of her heart and can’t let it into action. Another reason that makes her hesitates on the edge of fighting to change her fate is she asserted Chinese traditional ideology by family. In one hand, she wants to control her life, but on the other hand some traditional ideas are still leave in her mind. At that time in Hong Kong, because of the Colonization of Britain, many people were influenced by the concept of western culture which was that people could control their life and changed their fate by themselves, but the concept of her family was quite different. The narrator’s family is from the main land of China. Her father and her aunt are all cosmeticians that make up for dead which is the skill that handed down from their ancestors, so in the traditional concept, it must have a person in the family to inherit this skill and her Aunt Yifen choose her as the successor. However, the society also influences her so much. She describes the society as a â€Å"greed-consumed, dog-eat-dog world† (154). From how she describes the society, we can find out most people in that society are all struggling to survive in that competitive world. They don’t follow the fate but create and change it by themselves. Under the influence of the surrounding, she once has thought about many other works she can do, such as â€Å"work as saleswoman in a shop, or sell bakery products, or even be a maid in someone’s home† (160), but finally, she still afraid of to compete with others in that cruel society and follow her fate that decided by her family. On the contrary, I don’t believe that fate is not changeable. I think the destiny is in my hand. In the story, the narrator is so weak that she predicts her fate is predetermined and yields to her fate. She and her Aunt Yifen have the same occupation, and she has already seen her aunt’s miserable fate, so she pessimistically thinks that her â€Å"fate and Aunt Yifen’s are one and same.† (159) She is still young and nobody know what will happen in the future, but she give up at first. I believe that opportunities are for the people who are prepared. If she gives up trying and working hard, she won’t grasp the opportunity to change her fate, even the opportunity has coming. As we know that America is country that full of opportunities for people who work hard to change their fate. That is the reason I came to study in America. As an international student whose first language isn’t English is real tough to success in academic. However, like most of other international students, I know that I need to keep studying hard and never stop. Once I hesitate, I will fall behind of others because everyone keeps fighting and struggling in this competitive society. Therefore, I believe that fate is in my own hand. In conclusion, I really feel regressive for her. If she cares less about other’s view of her, she will have courage to save her love; if she put away her traditional idea, she will have courage to find a new job; if she becomes more confidence, she will against her miserable fate and start a new life. To me, I will have the courage. Stand up from where I fall down and keep working hard, I believe my fate will be different.

Ethological Principles In The Study Of Animal Behaviour

Ethological Principles In The Study Of Animal Behaviour Today, the study of animal behaviour is as far reaching as it was for our hominin ancestors who must have had some sense of understanding of animal behaviour while navigating through ancestral African environments. The effects of behavioural research on contemporary civilizations contributes to many aspects of human social and medical research, as well as impacts topics in conservation, habitat/resource sustainability, food production, and population dynamics. Over the last half century, animal behaviour has taken on several different forms. The aim of this of this essay is to explore the scientific study of modern animal behaviour known as ethology: Look at the historic approach to animal behaviour; review the central concepts of ethology, expanding upon Tinbergens (1963) four questions of causation, ontogeny, function, and evolution; illustrate the benefits of using ethological methodology in the study of behavioural phenomenon and discuss the potential impact of ethology on future behavioural research. I examine these questions in the light of comparative research on human and nonhuman primates. Animal Behaviour: A Brief Introduction The study of animal behaviour spans across many disciplines, each field asking specific questions and offering different levels of explanation. Behaviour can be described in terms of underlying hormonal/physiological mechanisms, developmental mechanisms, adaptive function, and in terms of evolutionary pathways of behaviour (McFarland, 1993). Before the advent of ethology, most behavioural disciplines attempted to answers only one or two of these questions at a time. For example, investigating how and when behaviours evolved confront behavioural scientists with a daunting task. Evolutionary biologists are equipped to answer these types of questions by using a phylogenetic approach. Phylogenetic trees allow scientist to investigate correlated evolutionary change and reconstruct ancestral states, making it possible to identify evolutionary relationships between homologous behaviours in closely related species (Nunn and Barton, 2001). This comparative method is useful if you are interested in understanding when a specific behaviour emerged in a species evolutionary history. Often, this line of inquiry leads researchers to generate addition questions: What environmental changes would have selected for this type of behaviour? Is this behaviour adaptive? How would this behaviour increase fitness and persists over time? Comparing similar behaviours between closely related species, occupying a similar niche, and evolutionary histories, provide a solid fr amework to begin generating testable hypotheses to these aforementioned questions. In the early 20th century, psychology comprised its own unique set of methods and experimental techniques that usually consisted of running controlled experiments in a laboratory setting while investigating behaviour (Bateson and Klopfer, 1989). Psychologists were concerned with designing experiments that tested proximate causations of behaviours. For example, a psychologist might investigate the developmental factors that affect the acquisition of learning and imprinting (Martin and Bateson, 2007). Investigating causal relationships to behaviour provide insight into whether behaviour is innate or if it is learned in the context of an individuals environment. On the other hand, behavioural neuroscience aimed to understand causal physiological mechanisms and corresponding neural controls that are modulated by environmental stimuli (Carlson, 2006). This field is concerned with identifying how an animals physiology interacts and is influenced by environment factors, and how this interaction elicits a behavioural response. In the mid 20th century, the behavioural sciences operated independently of one another, as if each disciplines research was a mutually exclusive approach. At that time the competing schools of thought failed to recognize the significant relationships between causation, development, function, evolution, or how each of the corresponding fields actually were complementary to each level of explanation. The scientific study of animal behaviour was in dire need of a complete synthesis that would incorporate proximate and ultimate classes of behaviour into a complementary, integrative framework. The Birth of Ethology The modern study of ethology filled this gap, and sought to piece together the fragmented behavioural scientific approaches. This new field aimed to explain all four classes of behavioural determinants, providing a full account of the phenomenon under study (Bateson and Klopfer, 1982). In the remaining section, I will define ethological principles, highlight the pitfalls of focusing on either proximate or ultimate levels of explanation, and present the case of modern ethology as the more systematic approach to the study of animal behaviour. Understanding the reason why a particular animal behaves in a certain way requires the right type of questions to be asked. In 1963, Niko Tinbergen, one of the founders of ethology, published the paper, On Aims and Methods of Ethology. In this paper he introduced four distinct and broad questions that he used in trying to answer the question, Why does an animal behave like that? (Shettleworth, 1998). In doing so, he laid the foundation for the study modern ethology. Ethology is the study of animal behaviour which attempts to answer four classes of questions: causation, ontogeny, function, and evolution. If a researcher wanted to know why baboons groom one another, it would be important to consider the immediate external stimuli which invoke a specific behaviour response in the animal, or otherwise stated you would want to look at proximate causations of behaviour. Researchers would want to develop questions that reveal causal answers: What external environmental stimuli and internal stimuli cause the animal to respond in a particular way? Answers to these questions often rely on the underlying psychological, physiological, and neurological mechanisms regulating an animals behaviour (Martin and Bateson, 2007). A possible causal explanation to why baboons groom would be that grooming functions as a as a mechanism to reduce stress (Crockford and et al., 2008). Moreover, Tinbergen (1963) was interested in investigating how changes in behaviour machinery are affected during development and coined the term ontology to describe this process. What was it about an individuals development that leads them to behave in a particular manor? Answers to these type of questions require scientists to look at whether a behaviour is learned or refined through development processes such as imprinting or possibly if it is generated by a genetic predisposition. In addition to the importance of providing proximate (causal and ontological) levels of explanation, two classes of questions investigate ultimate factors are equally important to investigate. Ultimate questions are interested in understanding how evolution has selected for and produced specific behavioural phenomena. One such questions looks at the adaptive/survival value a given behaviour would confer on an individual. For example, why do primates participate in intergroup aggression? These type of questions are considered functional investigations. As an example, evolutionary based cost-benefit theories would look at the functional/adaptive significance to intergroup aggression. One possible hypothesis to the question of why individuals exhibit intergroup aggression is that the more aggressive primate groups will achieve increased access to reproductive females and increased access to resources (Manson and Wrangham, 1991). Natural selection imposes differential reproductive succes ses, understanding these functional relationships provide answers to adaptive questions. The last behavioural problem Tinbergen identified was that of evolutionary history. He explains, The fact that behaviour is in many respects species-specific, and yet often similar in related species,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦[leads to] the natural conclusion, namely, that behaviour should be studied comparatively just as structures, with the ultimate aim of elucidating behaviour evolutionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(Tinbergen, 1963: 427). Here Tinbergen advocates a phylogenetic approach to analyzing behaviour. Ethology aims to show how natural selection shaped the evolution of behaviour over time while uncovering possible evolutionary pathways (Tinbergen, 1963 and Barret, et al., 2002). For instance, if researchers were interested understanding why humans breathe the way they do, they would be interested in knowing how we evolved lungs? Farmer (1997) provides an evolutionary account to this question: Human lungs are believed to have evolved from ancestral fish gas bladders. This level of explanation provid es clues into when a behaviour may have first arisen and when it diverged between ancestral species. Ethology attempts to reconcile these four levels of explanation into a comprehensive framework for understanding. One such study illuminates the dangers researchers face when they incorporate only one level of explanation. Power (1975) conducted a study in which he tested whether mountain bluebirds lack altruistic behaviour. He attempted to show this by removing one mate of a pair caring for nestlings to test the claim; if altruism existed, a new mate would instinctually care for the nestlings. The study showed that new mates did not care for the nestlings, therefore the hypotheses, mountain bluebirds are altruistic, was rejected (Power, 1975). This study was criticized because it failed to account for the fact birds do not usually accept young unless hormonally prepared for them (Emlen, 1976). This process usually entails both mating partners being present during the events leading up to hatching and the presence of nestlings (Emlen, 1976). This physiological knowledge into hormonal cues in mountain bluebirds generated an alternative hypothesis; the new mate did not provide care to the nestlings because it lacked the proper hormonal activation. Therefore, it was concluded that the original hypotheses posed by Power was erroneous and failed to properly demonstrate if mountain bluebirds were altruistic. This example illustrates how tenuous behavioural studies can appear when they fail to incorporate ethological principles into their research design. Applied Ethological Principles Furthering Insight into Human Behaviour The more we learn from studying animal behaviour, the more we reveal about ourselves. Because humans are social primates, more ethological attention has focused on the study nonhuman primates as the best model to explain the social behaviour of humans. One such example into the potential benefits of ethological inquiry is articulated by the investigation into the effects of empathy, as one possible emotional mechanism that has evolved to help maintain and reinforce social bonds. Empathy is a complex emotion which has been proposed to exist in humans and nonhuman primates. Many ethologists have focused on chimpanzee and bonobo social systems, our closest extant ancestors, to better understand potential regulating factors involved in social bonding that could have helped promote and sustain the evolution of cooperation altruism. De Waal (2008) suggests humans as well as nonhuman primates both possess capacity to empathize with others, as a regulating mechanism of directed altruism. Directed altruism is defined as helping or comforting behaviour directed at an individual in need of pain, or distress (De Waal, 2008). Mounting evidence supports the view; similar cognitive capacities exist in human and nonhuman primates that could facilitate empathetic impulses and be linked to our similar evolutionary histories. Several studies have shown infants have an innate capacity to be influenced by the welfare of others. Infant nonhuman and human primates are known to respond to the distress of others with distress (Preston and de Waal, 2002). Furthermore, Preston and de Waal consider the hormonal release during suckling in maternal care as a positive promoter that rewards the giver with feel good hormones (ie. Oxtocin) to engage in directed altruism (Panksepp, 1998). This hormonal release could play a proximate role in promoting the perceiver to internalize the emotional state of another individual. Building on the neuroanatomy of empathy research, the central nervous system and the Perception Action Mechanism (PAM) have also been considered as a hard-wired link that controls emotional state matching and motor mimicry in humans and nonhuman primates (Preston and de Waal (2002). Chimpanzee studies reveal an increase in brain temperatures in the right hemisphere when chimpanzees are shown videos of severe aggression compared to neutral or positive videos (Parr and Hopkins, 2000). Negative videos directed a specific physiological reaction in the brain in response to the negative stimuli. These studies identify a potential link between the areas of the brain that are activated when individuals observe and witness emotional states of others (Preston and de Waal 2002). Meaning, the cognitive capacities for the emotional complex of empathy may not be strictly limited to humans, but may also function similarly with closely related nonhuman primates. The suggestion that nonhuman primate may also posses the capacity for empathy has not come without contention. Many scientists believe humans are the only species cognitively advanced enough to possess the innate capacity to internalize the emotions of others (eg., Schino, 2007). If Preston and de Waals claim is true, then empathetic hard-wiring has an ancient evolutionary lineage that evolved long before modern humans. Theoretically, innate empathetic capacities would help maintain and shape cooperation, reconciliation, and altruism between human and nonhuman primates. The origins of such a complex behaviour may have originated due to stronger selection on maintaining increased group size within ancestral primates. Therefore, it should be no surprises if we discover humans due in fact share the capacity to empathize with other social primates. This study promotes a possible link between the evolution of the complex sociality and empathetic emotional capacities in primates. Investigations like this exemplify the potential ethological methodologies pose when looking into proximate and ultimate roots to complex human and animal behaviour. Discussion An ethological approach to animal behaviour derived from early behavioural sciences. Today, modern ethnology places emphasis on different biological aspects to account for the contexts in which animal behaviour occurs using physiological and evolutionary perspectives. Most behavioural phenomena are not satisfactorily explained at the proximate or ultimate levels. Therefore, to understand the behavioural process fully, ethology appropriately focuses on answering Tinbergens four questions to correctly identify the reciprocal relationship between causal and evolutionary explanations of behaviour.

Historical Analysis Of Almayers Folly English Literature Essay

Historical Analysis Of Almayers Folly English Literature Essay The novel Almayers folly is a story of an eastern river that many readers find as an intriguing text. It was Joseph Conrads first novel that opened the door for many more novels to come. Within the novel Almayer, his wife and his daughter all seek out different paths. Almayer wishes to return to Europe, which he perceives as his origin, his wife Mrs. Almayer wishes to return to a pre-colonial Sambir and then his daughter Nina wishes to return to her Malay roots. In the novel we learn about the two dominant cultures of Sambir which are White and Malay but what we dont understand is that by separating the two dominant cultures and returning Sambir to its original state would right an imperialist wrong. There are many controversies against joseph Conrad and his works of writing. It starts off with the question of Is joseph Conrad against or for imperialism? After reading Almayers folly and the other works on reserve I believe it is safe to say that Joseph Conrad was against imperialism. A good author writes what they know, and joseph Conrad used his books and other pieces of work to subliminally talk about his views of imperialism without becoming an outcast is his society. In the introduction of the Historical Guide to Joseph Conrad I read about how authors are shaped by their environment and their historical and cultural surroundings. This point supports how Conrad act as if he is an insider and an imperialist but secretly he feel like an outsider in his society and does not share the same views as everybody else . Almayer`s Folly takes on a special meaning in its characters lives. It is a story about quest and how each character must take on different challenges that make it exciting and interesting. In the novel, Almayer`s Folly, is the quest of the main character Kaspar Almayer but after researching Conrad we see pieces of himself in his main character. The story first takes place on an island called Borneo in the nineteenth century. He is a Dutch colonial who opened up a trading post on the island of Borneo. However, Almayer finds himself wanting to go back to his European routes, he its tired of his unfulfilling island life and rather be back in Amsterdam. Conrad also immigrated from Ukraine to England and was a sailor just how Almayer immigrated from Amsterdam to Borneo and was a sailor. Almayer had two major dilemmas which happened to be from his failed business and his mental suffering due to his failed marriage. In 1878 Conrad attempted suicide; in the story, Almayer was starting to be driven crazy by the long days and the surroundings of the island. He started to feel isolated and depressed and if it was not for his beautiful daughter Nina, Almayer would have taken his life as well. Conrad does not write about suicide because it is not accepted in his social class and since the men who will read his novels are most likely rich and imperialists he must abide by their rules. Almayer wished to have his freedom back just how Conrad wished to have freedom of speech. He absorbs himself in his dream of wealth and power away from this coast where he had dwelt for so many years, forgetting the bitterness of toil and strife in the vision of a great and splendid reward. This quote gives us a look at how Almayer was taken into a dream state wanted to go to a better place. At the beginning of the story, Conrad said Almayer had left his home with a light heart and a lighter pocket, speaking English well and strong in arithmetic; ready to conquer the world, never doubting that he would. This shows how Almayer connects to Conrad in the real world because Conrad did a similar thing but he traveled to England instead of Borneo. Almayer suffered through overwhelming odds in his twenty-five year long struggle. Almayers wife was jealous of how much Nina loved her father. His wife had soon commenced to treat him with a savage contempt expressed by sulky silence, only occasionally varied by a flood of savage invective. Conrad uses the word savage, but he is not referring to a Native American in this text, he is referring the Almayers actions. In the nineteenth century it was not uncommon to call natives savages, because we as humans are scared of what we dont know and dont understand. Conrad, being the anti-imperialist decided to use the word savage without offe nding natives and their culture but while doing so he gives off the impression of still being a part of the social norm. Further in the story we see a character awakening on a very personal level. Nina realizes she is not of pure European blood, she realizes that she will never be accepted as an equal within the Europeans or the whites since she is a half-breed. It is for this reason that Nina chooses to live with the natives. Almayer is an example of someone who is stuck for he stays where he is and he realizes that he is going nowhere which turns out to be his real Folly. Conrad pushes the limits of the social norm when he writes about Nina joining the natives. Being a half-breed in the nineteenth century, you would not be accepted for who you are. Conrad uses this to subtly hint that the way of living is wrong and everyone should be accepted for who they are no matter their breeding background or the colour of their skin. In the summary of Almayer`s Folly we have seen that Conrad has not written in an imperialistic way. It is important to note that Forster, along with Conrad and Lawrence,  is one of the few writers of this time period who treats the members of a backward country with the seriousness and sympathy considered necessary for an anthropological understanding by modern standards. This quote from savage and literature explains why we do not see the imperialistic views in Conrad`s novel Almayer`s Folly. Work Cited Conrad, Joseph. Almayers Folly. Great Britain: Wordsworth Editions, 1996. Print. Peters, John G. A Historical Guide to Joseph Conrad. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010. Print. Street, Brian V. The Savage in Literature: Representations of primitive Society in English Fiction, 1858-1920. London: Routledge K. Paul, 1975. Print.

Mary Crawford: The Satisfying Heroine Essay -- Literary Analysis, Jane

In Mansfield Park, Jane Austen presents her readers with a dilemma: Fanny Price is the heroine of the story, but lacks the qualities Jane Austen usually presents in her protagonists, while Mary Crawford, the antihero, has these qualities. Mary is active, effective, and witty, much like Austen’s heroines Emma Woodhouse and Elizabeth Bennet. Contrasting this is Fanny, who is timid, complacent, and dull. Austen gives Mary passages of quick, sharp, even occasionally shocking, dialogue, while Fanny often does not speak for pages at a time. When she does, her speeches are typically banal and forgettable. In Mansfield Park, Austen largely rests Fanny’s standing as protagonist on the fact that Fanny adheres to the moral standards of Austen’s era. Mary Crawford makes a more satisfying and appealing heroine but due to her modern-era sensibility and uncertain moral fiber, she cannot fulfill this role. Part of what makes Mary Crawford an appealing candidate as a heroine of the story is her ability to take action. Throughout Mansfield Park, Mary is an energetic participant in the activities of Mansfield Park, such as taking part in many conversations, arguing her own point of view, riding horses, entertaining herself and others with her harp, and acting in Lover’s Vows. Fanny pales in comparison in terms of her level of activity. In regard to riding, Fanny is attended to when she rides, either by a groomsman or her cousins (Mansfield Park, 59). When Edmund decides to procure Fanny a horse, he does so in consideration of her health, not her happiness, as he means to â€Å"procure for Fanny the immediate means of exercise, which he could not bear she should be without† (Mansfield Park, 32). Edmund’s concern is that the horse is good for Fanny’... ...n presents her ambiguously between morally reprehensible and simply blunt and ahead of her time. Mary Crawford is not the heroine of Mansfield Park. Heroines in Jane Austen’s novels end up married to a man they love and this is not Mary’s fate. Mary did have the opportunity to become a heroic figure but did not take it. If Mary had changed her ways, put her feelings for Edmund above her desire for wealth, her character development and change of heart would have made her acceptable to the Regency Era audience. However, she is steadfast in her opinions and makes no concessions. Mary’s stubbornness, disregard for standards of the times, and wittiness makes her unfit as a heroine when the book was published. However, in contemporary times these characteristic appeal to audiences, as one is more likely to relate to Mary’s practical, although controversial, opinions.