The use of facebook

Bernard Williams Dr. cutull Method and Theory In Psychology October 8, 2013 Romantic Jealousy and Facebook usage The use ot Facebook, a popular social network, can have a significant influence in the development of romantic jealousy.Facebook jealousy can occur when someone feels threatened after vlewlng their partner Interacting online with a superior potential mate, which could possibly lead to a daily surveillance of their partner's activity on Facebook, A person with enxlous-dttachment could be described ds having low self- esteem and a tear ot abandonment, resulting in the continuous need tor reassurance bout the status of their romantic relationship and possible signs of Infidelity. Individuals who have an anxious-style of attachment and frequently view their partners Facebook activity are more prone to experience feelings of romantic jealousy.Prior research has shown that anxious attachment is positively related, and avoidant attachment negatively related, to Facebook jealousy and surveillance (Marshall, Bejanyan, DICastro, ; Lee, 2012, Those with an anxious-style of attachment do not feel that they deserve a loving relationship and are scared of being alone. The researchers designed an online survey to test the prevalence of Facebook Jealousy. The study included 255 participants, 201 women and 54 men. Two tests were conducted that measured attachment style, self-esteem. perceived relationship quality, Jealousy, and their usage ot Facebook.The participant's answers were formatted in the form of a Likert Scale. The study discovered that attachment anxiety and avoidance were strongly correlated to Facebook Jealousy and surveillance because individuals with attachment anxiety had a lack of trust in their partner (Marshall et al. , 2012, p, 17), Overall. those who were less satisfied with their elationship and had a lack ot trust tor their partners were most likely to display Facebook jealousy. Another study aimed to figure out whether an Increased usage of F acebook had an effect on romantic jealousy.The researcher hypothesized that the amount of time spent on Facebook would significantly add to the amount of Facebook Jealousy, In addition to other variables that were described in the jealousy literature (Muise, Christofides, & Desmairais, 2009). To evaluate their thesis. Muise. Christofldes. and Desmarals created a questionnaire with 27 Items measured on a 7- polnt Likert scale. The topics included jealousy, perceived amount of trust within their relationship, self- esteem, uncertainty, and level of commitment (Mulse et al. , 2009).The subjects included 308 undergraduate students (231 temale, 77 male) between the ages ot 17 and 24. It was concluded that regular Facebook usage had a strong Influence on romantic Jealousy. The researchers explained that these findings could be the result of a partner having access to new information about their partner's social circle; therefore the partner continues to look at their significant other's F acebook page to ocial circle were often innocent, but frequent viewing of their activity cause the other partner to become more suspicious of their intentions.The next study focused on determining whether Facebook Jealousy had a negative effect on relationship satisfaction and if trait Jealousy is positively related to social network sites (SNS) Jealousy. Continuous surveillance of behaviors is and indicator of a possessive relationship, which is a typical effect of an individual with an anxious style of attachment. The researchers built an online survey consisting of questions esigned to measure monitoring behavior, Facebook Jealousy, and self-esteem.A few items of the Facebook Jealousy scale measured actions such as the number of times they check their partner's Facebook page or whether they â€Å"add† their partner's friends to watch their online activity (Utz & Beuekeboom, 2011). The participants were students enrolled in a course at a large Dutch University. The study fo und that individuals with lower self-esteem experienced higher rate of Facebook Jealousy than individuals with higher self-esteem, although there was not a significant difference in relationship satisfaction. According to I-J? et al. 201 1), individuals who were prone to trait Jealousy, monitoring behavior, had a low self-esteem, and a need for popularity, were more likely to display Facebook Jealousy. A lack of self-esteem could possibly cause a person to believe that every potential attractive mate is a threat to their relationship and happiness. Because of their own insecurities, they may feel the need to compete with those they view as competition for their mate. The following study was conducted to test the outcome of Facebook intrusion on romantic relationships.Facebook intrusion can be described as an obsessive ttachment to Facebook that causes a lack of functioning in daily lives and in romantic relationships (Elphinston & Noller, 2011). The researchers aimed to further exis ting research by evaluating whether Facebook intrusion is linked to romantic jealousy and dissatisfaction in relationships. The participants consisted of 342 (110 men and 232 women) freshman, undergraduate psychology majors at an Australian university. They were recruited based on the university's first-year student pool.The students received partial course credit for participating in the study. Approximately 90 to 95 percent of the articipants were Facebook users, between the ages of 18 and 25. 86. 9 percent of participants were currently dating, with the average length of 16. 44 months. The study was in the format of a quantitative self-report, consisting of several questionnaires. All of the participants took a 7-point Facebook Intrusion scale with answers ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree, which measured amount of Facebook usage, level of romantic Jealousy, and relationship satisfaction.To measure the level of romantic Jealousy, a five-item Short-form Multidimensi onal Jealousy Scale was administered. A five-item questionnaire was also given to measure the level of romantic satisfaction in the participant's current relationship (Elphinston & Noller, 2011). It was found that the more an individual spent time on Facebook, they more likely they were to feel threatened by a potential mate of their partner. Also, Facebook intrusion was positively correlated with romantic Jealousy, relationship dissatisfaction, and cognitive Jealousy.A strength of the study was that multiple questionnaires were given to the participants. Findings would not be as informative if large, which welcomes many perspectives. No evidence of validity or reliability was reported. Some of the limitations included a restricted participant pool because it only included first-year psychology students at an Australian University. For future studies, participants that do not attend a college or university and individuals of a more broad age range should be included.A longitudinal s tudy of the effects of Facebook intrusion would be beneficial for acquiring new information about the long term effects of Facebook on romantic relationships. The final research study aimed to explore romantic Jealousy from the attachment theory perspective. Cognitive ealousy can be described as feelings of discomfort when a partner feels a third party is a threat to their romantic relationship. According to the attachment theory, an individual's relationship with their parent or caregiver shapes the individual's mental needs in their adult life (Knobloch, Solomon, & Cruz, 2001, p. 6).The researchers hypothesized that attachment styles that were developed during childhood, play a key role in influencing romantic Jealousy. An empirical, cross-sectional design was formulated to test their assumptions. The sample included students enrolled in a communication class at a large Mid-western University. The students received extra course credit for participating in the study. Overall, 132 s tudents (43 men and 89 women), between the ages of 18 and 30, finished all portions of the experiment. The participant's relationship lengths ranged from 1 to 65 months, with the average relationship length being of 12 months. 31 out of the 132 relationships were heterosexual (Knoblauch et al. , 2001). Several self-report questionnaires were given to the participants, and were completed in groups ranging from 5 to 25 people. The first questionnaire measured attachment styles, perceived Jealousy, and the level of ntimacy in their current romantic relationships. Next, the researchers distributed Pfeiffer and Wong's (1989) Multidimensional Jealousy Scale to measure cognitive jealousy. The answers were formatted in a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from never (1) to all the time (7).The Knobloch and Solomon's (1999) relational uncertainty scale was given to measure the level of uncertainty in the relationship, with answers formatted on a 6-point scale. Lastly, the participants completed t he Rubin's (1970) Love Scale to measure the level of intimacy in their relationship, in addition to affiliate need, illingness to help, and exclusiveness toward their partner (Knobloch et al. , 2001). The study found that women and men did not significantly differ in their level of romantic Jealousy. It was also found that attachment anxiety was positively correlated with the relational uncertainty measures.Findings also indicated that a negative correlation between cognitive Jealousy and intimacy was present (Knobloch et al. , 2001, p. 10). Because the results found a significant positive association between cognitive Jealousy, emotional Jealousy, and anxiety over relationships, their ypothesis was proven to be correct (Knobloch et al. , 2001, p. 12). During childhood, an anxious style of attachment is formed when a child's caregiver is often inconsistent or overly protective, resulting in the child becoming more prone to insecurity and fearfulness.Consequently, adults with an anxi ous-style of attachment are frequently worried about the status of their relationship. These individuals usually crave the attention of their partner, which could leady to clingy and controlling behavior. They often become Jealous or overact at the possibility of a coincides with Guerrero and Andersen's 1998 study. Reliability was reported because the researcher's bivariate results produced the same results as the first experiment. The strengths of the study included a very detailed explanation as to why an anxious- style of attachment is associated with romantic Jealousy.Another strength of the study was that it expanded upon previous studies on the notion that relationship uncertainty and intimacy are strongly linked to emotional and cognitive Jealousy. Some of the drawbacks of the study included the cross-sectional design. A longitudinal study would be more efficient in confirming their conclusions. Another limitation was the lack of male participants in the study. If the amount of men and women participants were more equal, the results would be more universal.The final limitation is that the study focused on the experience of Jealousy but not on the underlying factors that cause Jealousy. A better understanding about Jealousy could be achieved if information was given from the individuals about their upbringing. This study looks to expand the literature by evaluating how attachment styles that were developed during an individual's childhood can influence romantic Jealousy on Facebook. Little research has been conducted to determine how these attachment styles are developed and their effect on Jealousy.

Comparing ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ with ‘Hop Frog’ Essay

‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and ‘Hop Frog’ were both written at a time of social turbulence and revolution. Poe wrote Hop Frog twelve years prior to the American civil war, so it is fitting that many of the ideas in the story carry a strong anti-slavery message. Similarly, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ was written in 1892 just before the climax of equal-rights for women. Gillman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is one of the early feminist texts in which her writing criticises the position that women were oppressed into and the ignorance of society as a whole. Both Gillman and Poe attack fiercely these ideas that were both upheld and willingly accepted by the majority of society. These two settings immediately portray the two central characters, a woman and a slave, as two of an unheard minority, who were subjected to an unjust, patriarchal world. One of the main similarities between ‘Hop Frog’ and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is the atmosphere of each of the stories. Both are horror stories are very dark, and have a horror genre, however ‘Hop Frog’ is also similar to a fairy tale in that it is quite unbelievable, and where Hop Frog’s surroundings are fantasy, the narrator’s surroundings are quite real. Despite their differences, both of the story’s surroundings and atmosphere are symbolic of the way the central character is feeling or being treated. For example, gluttony and corruption of the king and his ministers surround Hop Frog and Poe’s darkly vivid descriptions of these reflect the mood of Hop-Frog. The ‘oily’ ministers and a ‘corpulent’ king sound simply grotesque and fill the reader with a sort of stomach churning unease and tension at the treatment of Hop Frog. The corruptness and gluttony is hugely significant as it shows us the danger and easiness of becoming influenced and eventually corrupted by greed and alcohol. The narrator of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ has instead a room. It is describes as having ‘barred’ widows and a ‘nailed down’ bed, which give the impression of a prison rather than a place to become well again in. In fact the room actually does become a prison for the narrator, becoming more and more horrible as the story progresses. By the repetitive use of the word, ‘joke’ in the first paragraph Poe emphasises the discomfort of Hop Frog as well as achieving a hugely tense atmosphere. This makes the reader, who realises that this seemingly jovial and harmless behaviour of the king and his courtiers is in fact, a lot more damaging and sinister, feel the tension and discomfort that Hop Frog endures. Like Hop Frog, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ also has a tense atmosphere achieved by the speeded up pace of the story and the very short sentences, which flit from one idea to another. These short sentences show the alertness of the narrator’s mind as well as her increasing madness as she is left with no stimulation other than her own thoughts. As the story progresses the narrator’s madness grows and consequently her surroundings become more and more an extension of her own nightmarish imagination, eventually becoming as fantastical as Hop Frog’s. Throughout the story, the wallpaper in the room is a metaphor for the narrator’s illness and as her insanity grows, the wallpaper becomes more and more hideous. At the beginning of the story, it is described as ‘horrible wallpaper’. Her initial rejection of the wallpaper, shown when the narrator says; ‘I don’t like our room’ and asks John ‘Let us go downstairs’, is indicative of her want to get better and her rejection of insanity. The wallpaper is described as having a ‘sickly sulphur tint’, representing her illness, and appears to grow, ‘fungus’ and ‘toadstools’ suggests that her illness is growing, whilst ‘Budding’ and ‘sprouting’ suggest the continuity of this growth. Despite the fact that the images of the wallpaper worsen as time goes on, the narrator quickly becomes obsessed by it, spending hours studying it. The narrator describes how ‘It dwells on my mind so’. Eventually, the narrator becomes so mad, that it is as if she is schizophrenic. She begins to see herself in the wallpaper as a ‘woman’, ‘stooping down’ and ‘creeping behind the pattern’. As time progresses, the ‘ faint woman’ becomes clearer and stronger as the narrator becomes weaker. This shows her sane self, losing the battle to her insane self. Despite the awful surroundings, outside of her ‘barred’ windows lies the garden. In contrast to the wallpaper, the garden represents the narrator’s hope of freedom. The garden is described as ‘delicious’ and where everything in the wallpaper is bad and infectious, everything in the garden is good and healing. However the narrator is locked away with her illness and is unable to reach the garden, which holds the key to her freedom, ‘How I wish he [John] would let me go’ she tel ls us. This creates dramatic irony, as everyone knows what the narrator needs, including the narrator herself, except the narrator’s own husband John. Just as the wallpaper and the narrator’s madness increase as the story progresses, the behavior of the king towards Hop Frog worsens. This is shown by Poe’s descriptions of the king, starting as ‘our king’, turning into a ‘tyrant’ and becoming finally a ‘monster’. By describing the king in this way, the reader is not only made to feel sympathy for Hop Frog by portraying him as a powerless victim of this cruel abuse, but also make us forgive his final act of revenge, which is in fact utterly terrible. The King and his ministers are abusive and exploitative towards Hop Frog and Trippetta. Poe illustrates this particularly by the reference to alcohol, The king takes advantage of Hop Frog’s intolerance to wine ‘it excited the poor cripple almost to madness’ and sadistically ‘ he took pleasure in forcing the cripple to drink’. Poe describes how Hop Frog was forced ‘to be merry’ as it was the ‘poor dwarfs birthday’ and he is made to obey the ‘command to drink to absent friends’, which ‘forced tears to his eyes’. This is incredibly ironic, as Hop Frog is not with his friend because he is a slave in the court of the king. In ‘the yellow wallpaper’, the narrator’s ‘monster’ is her own husband, John, ‘a physician’. He ignorantly suffocates his wife, leaving her with no option but to escape into her own madness. He threatens her with ‘Weir Mitchell’ who was renowned for treating women with this ‘temporary nervousness’. The narrator describes how he is ‘like john and my brother, only more so’, showing her wish not to be sent to him. John also keeps the narrator away from human contact, starving her of any stimulation or interaction. Despite his obvious love for her he treats her like a possession, this is shown when he fails to regard her as a human being by addressing her as ‘she’ as if she isn’t even there. This also symbolises the fact that he has slowly removed her identity. John regards his wife with little more intelligence than a child, shown by his constantly patronising tone. He calls her ‘little goose’ and ‘little girl’ as well as remarking ‘bless her’ as if she is little older than five. John also shows himself to be really rather selfish when he implores her ‘get well for me’. Despite everything, we have to believe that John really does love his wife and wants to help her. But it is through John that Gillman makes a very poignant observation of the way in which society treats women, pointing out the real danger of ignorance. The Narrator in ‘The Yellow wallpaper’ is portrayed as an extremely bright creative woman, despite the way John regards her. She expresses her thoughts and releases some of the energy that she is so full of through writing. However John forbids that she should write, the narrator tells us ‘I am absolutely forbidden to ‘work†. The narrator herself tells us herself that ‘excitement and change would do me good’. Instead of excitement and change the narrator is confined to her bed and made to sleep most of the day ‘I lie down ever so much now’, ‘John thinks it’s good for me’. However, it is not good for her and the narrator describes how ‘I don’t sleep much at night’, showing the disturbance of her mind. This results in the narrator having an enormous amount of pent up energy which, when combined with her inability to express herself creates enormous tension in the story. As the narrator searches frantically for an outlet for her imagination she inevitably becomes mad seeking the much-needed stimulation within the wallpaper. The narrator’s inability to express herself can be compared with Hop Frog’s loss of control to the king when he is ‘forced’ to drink. Hop Frog is described as being driven to ‘madness’ by the wine, and ‘madness’ Poe reminds us ‘is no comfortable feeling’. In both stories the position of women is severely criticized. In ‘Hop Frog’, Trippetta’s position as both a slave and a woman is exploited. Her ‘grace’ and ‘exquisite beauty’ is described as being ‘universally admired’. Poe describes how she was ‘admired’ and ‘petted’ suggesting the shocking abuse she is subject to. Poe describes how the king ‘threw the entire contents of the goblet in her face’, suggesting the complete humiliation that she suffered. In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, we are introduced to Jennie who is the sister of John. She is described as a ‘perfect’ and ‘enthusiastic housekeeper’. Typically of a nineteenth century Lady, Jennie is subservient accepting her position willingly and gratefully. Gillman describes how she ‘hopes for no better profession’. Jennie represents the women of society who have grown to accept and are either to weak or to scared to rebel against a life that is no better than that of a slave’s. The narrator’s position as a woman is very similar to Hop Frogs. She is treated as a possession by her husband John and is seen to have no real opinions or views. She describes how the ‘heads’ that she sees are ‘strangle[d]’ by the wallpaper, ‘turns them up side down’ and ‘turns their eyes white’. This is very much inactive of the way both she and the other women of society feel suffocated and oppressed by their position. Both stories are written in first person narrative, which makes them a lot more personal. ‘Hop Frog’ is told by an anonymous Narrator, an onlooker, whilst ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is written like a diary with the narrator, a woman suffering from post-natal depression being the central character. Semi-Autobiographical, the story is loosely based on Perkins own experiences. The narrator in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ remains nameless meaning that the narrator could be any woman in society. It is also a metaphor for the identity that has been lost through her illness and the ignorance of her husband, John. Both the characters are the victims of ignorance. ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ shows the ignorance of society about post-natal depression and the fact that no one is prepared to accept what the narrator is suffering from. Her ‘case is not serious’ we are told. The result of this ignorance is that the narrator’s condition is not cured but instead made worse. She is taken for a rest cure and deprived of interaction with people and stimulation. Her creativity is crushed when she is forbidden to write. This inability to express herself, had dire consequences; instead of recovering she instead she begins to descend further and further into her own madness. The wallpaper in her room, which gradually becomes more and more disturbing as her madness increases, shows this. This can be compared to Hop Frog who because of his difference in appearance is treated appallingly. The central characters of each story are portrayed as prisoners the narrator in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is portrayed as a prisoner, trapped by her social position; as a woman, by her mental illness and by her own husband. Through her story, Gillman attacks an extremely patriarchal society. She criticises the lack of respect for women and shows her anger towards the inability of women to escape from the position they are oppressed to. The room in which the narrator is put in, in order to rest and recover from her illness is very much symbolic of her imprisonment. It is described as having ‘barred’ windows and the bedstead as ‘iron’, ‘heavy’ and ‘nailed to the ground’ representing her being tied down. The fact that the room was ‘a nursery first’, is very ironic; Firstly because she has no contact with her own baby and secondly because she has literally been reduced to the position of a child. Similarly, Hop Frog and his fiend Trippetta are salves, whom Poe tells us, were ‘forcibly carried off’ from their ‘barbarous region’ and ‘sent’, ‘as presents to the king’. This is reminiscent of the situation of many black slaves who were taken from Africa to the west at this time, in order to further the endeavours of rich, greedy men at as low a cost a possible. The reality of what faced them ahead was a harsh, cruel life of constant work with no freedom or rights as a human being. However, it is surely wrong that one person should have freedom whilst another is an enslaved possession because they are different. This injustice is shown in the story by the King’s inability to accept Hop Frog as a person, in appearance he is different and so is treated as an object, a possession. Poe describes him as a ‘monkey’ and a ‘squirrel’ and suggest that Hop Frog is begging for food ‘crumbs from the roya l table’. The result this is that Hop Frog is shown to be like a begging animal which serves to ease the King’s conscience at mocking Hop Frog, if he is not a person then he does not have feelings. Both Hop Frog and Trippetta are dwarfed and Hop Frog is a ‘cripple’ and Walks with an ‘ interjectional gait’, which comes across as quite funny when it is further described as ‘somewhere between a leap and a wriggle’. Despite this Hop Frog’s ‘value was trebled in the eyes of the king’ and the king, ‘who live only for joking’ exploits Hop Frog’s physical disabilities. It is therefor ironic that Hop Frog becomes the court ‘fool’ which is a metaphor for the fact that he is laughed at by the King. The idea of Hop Frog being mocked for the way he walks is shocking and through this Poe shows the unease of society at the treatment of the slaves. The King’s immoral behaviour mirrors that of the slave traders in America and Europe. Hop Frog’s physical disability can be compared to the narrator’s madness. The endings of each story are hugely significant and it is perhaps through the ending that we see the characters in their true light. Throughout ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ the narrator has drifted in and out of her sane mind, she tells us once ‘I always lock the door before I creep’. Up until this point the narrator has not accepted that it is herself who is creeping, instead putting it down to the ‘woman’. But by the end, she is telling us how she is creeping round and round and round the room. Both a ‘rope’ and an ‘axe’ are mentioned, and John ‘faints’ when he sees the destruction of the room and of his wife. It is quite possible that either of them are dead, however Gillman leaves the ending ambiguous. As well as amplifying the uncertainty of the woman, this could also be down to the fact that Gillman, despite her feminist views, was still a woman in the nineteenth century. She did she want to demonize her character by making her murder her husband no could she afford to openly state that the husband was literally overpowered by his wife. Gillman would not want to upset her feminist audience either, who would be outraged if the narrator killed herself due to the fact that she is such a powerful symbol of a woman wanting to rebel against her oppression. For her to commit suicide would dishearten a lot of these women as it would look as if suicide was the only way out. It seems as if this ending was right for the character who despite becoming insane, is finally happy and tells us with utter satisfaction ‘I got out’. Whatever the reason for this ending, there is no doubt that despite the fact that this ending is truly horrific it also comes with a degree of relief. For with the narrator’s madness comes freedom, and more importantly, the woman finds her identity. Ironically this is not her former self, who is finally named as Jane, but another person; her insanity. Whilst ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ remains ambiguous, the ending of ‘Hop frog’ is completely literal. Because eof the fact that Poe is a man, he can afford to take more liberties that perhaps Gillman was unable to take. He can openly humiliate and torture the king and the court, who represent the corrupt monarchy; an important part of society, and appear to get away with this. Hop Frog is portrayed as demonic and evil. He achieves his freedom by brutally killing the King and his ministers. Under the guise of the stupid ‘fool’ he tricks the king and his ministers into thinking that they are dressing up and covers them in tar and flax. The fact that Poe uses tar and Flax is of great significance as it is symbolic of humiliation and punishment throughout history. Hop Frog then chained them together to become the ‘eight chained orangutans’. Hop frog shows himself to be very intelligent when, ‘at the dwarfs suggestion, the keys had been deposited with him’, in contrast with the stupidity of the King. Poe describes how the they are humiliated when the chains cause them to ‘fall’ and ‘stumble’, The King and his Ministers have gone form mocking Hop Frog to being mocked themselves Hop Frog then suspends them from the ceiling at the ball and burns them alive. The fact that throughout the story Hop Frog never had the presence that the evil King had means that we would not immediately suspect Hop frog. When the ‘grating’ noise was first introduced, the reader did not think that it could be Hop Frog. However at the end when Hop Frog is perched on the rope with the burning king and ministers below him the ‘grating noise’ came form the ‘fang like teeth of the dwarf’, ‘who ground and gnashed them as he foamed at the mouth’. This is an insane a picture as that of the narrator. Hop frog rising up against the king is a complete reversal of roles, the oppressed has become the oppressor. However how is it possible that Poe can get away with this ending without his central character looking like the vengeful murder that he has become? It is perhaps because all-thorough the story, the treatment of Hop Frog as well as his situation has been described as Horrendous, horrific and brutal, evoking incredi ble sympathy in the reader. As if this isn’t reason enough, Poe threw in the added ploy of alcohol, which appears to demonize Hop Frog. Therefor when Hop Frog commits this terrible act, he is immediately forgiven whilst we all revel in the torture that the king and his ministers now incur. In the eyes of the reader justice has been done. Perhaps through his ending, Poe is forecasting what is to come, when the black slaves will rise up against their own white oppressors. It is therefor interesting that n order to truly punish and humiliate them, Hop Frog turns them first black. Like Gillman, Poe does not want to demonize the female character, leaving the question of Trippetta’s involvement up to the reader to answer.

Barcode Scanners and Smart Cards

Barcode Scanners and Smart Cards Introduction In an age of technological revolution, the use of information systems in computers has become essentially paramount and the overwhelming vast majority of major supermarkets worldwide has become dependant on it, the consumer demands speed and convenience and the supplier has a strong emphasis on accuracy and providing those needs that inevitably cannot be displaced, only to become better at the least, which has been happening through time. The consumer as well as the supplier needs a method where a product can be instantly recognised, and deliver an on the spot price as well accumulate more than one product not to mention information that both parties can benefit from, and not to mention be rewarded for their loyalty in recognition of their custom. The use of technology in the business sector in the supermarket chain cannot be declared such a name without such a system; however this report is not to testify its perfection, but more to exemplify its reliability, importanc e and future advancements. Why Barcode Scanners? All products to be sold in a supermarket has a barcode embedded on it NO exception, this resembles vertical black lines and a row of numbers, a barcode scanner is a computer peripheral for reading the barcode printed on those surfaces, it is connected to a computer that indentifies what is being scanned and displays on screen the information stored about that particular image and number which is required in a store. The most common scanner used but not necessarily the best is laser scanners, that uses a beam to capture the image and process it. It is believed the essential reason for using a barcode scanner is accurate accumulation of multiple items scanned. Barcode scanner are not limited to the cashiers section for the sake of buying goods and simply checking out, there are anti-theft devices on many supermarkets on the store exit, so if one were not to pay for an item, the anti-theft barcode reader would pick up an items barcode as unregistered on the database or simply put paid for. With today’s advancements there are also self checkout spots were the consumer can simply scan the items themselves, so it’s quite obvious the wonders of barcode isn’t quite going anywhere. Why Smart Cards? Smart cards in supermarkets usually are used as a loyalty scheme. A loyalty scheme is when the consumer gets points for purchases and gets rewarded with coupons or discounts for future purchases. In some cases you may have to reach a certain limit before you are entitled to use your reward. A smart card is like a credit card in shape and its size, smart cards have an embedded microprocessor, and it is under a gold pad on the front of the card, although magnetic strips are still used and popular. It can store the consumer’s details and products purchased if it were to be ready available. Having a smart card is optional but it is beneficiary as you can gain points, which will be stored on the computer system. It also worth noting, not only it inputs data into the smart chip as well as on the central computer, it can also be edited, or certain numeric information deducted in others words points in exchange for rewards

Hong Kong Hotel Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Hong Kong Hotel Industry - Essay Example If we are to compare this with China, Most of the hotels there are operating on an approach that is friendly to the environment. Most of the hotels there prefer to operate on traditional basis in which they are somewhat using primitive gadgets and the likes which lessens the use of energy while delivering the same output they want to see. This paper aims to find out if environment friendly practices can affect the economic performance in Hotel industries in Hong Kong. This paper also want to establish that if in Mainland China and some places in Asia, the practice of environment-friendly Hotel industries is possible, then it is not impossible that Hong Kong can adopt that certain method. Also this will also tackle on why Hong Kong needs to adopt environment friendly practices to uplift the revenues of the aforementioned industries and why is it important to adopt these schemes. This paper will focus on the importance of adopting the environment-friendly practices of the company to ensure the economic performance of the Hotel industries in Hong Kong. ... The use of these literatures will help us solve puzzle on How Hong Kong Hotel Industries can adapt to environment friendly schemes and at the same time, helps them in achieving competitiveness. For example, this paper will derive articles on flight Magazines of different Airline companies such as the Mabuhay of Philippine Airlines. In one of its issue, an environment friendly practice was featured when people from the province of Pampanga in the Philippines managed to use the ashes and sulfuric dusts of Mt Pinatubo as a source of thermal massage in which the said practice is now known to the world. In most of the Hotels in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, the waste management are executed well thus earned them the distinction as the cleanest spot in South East Asia and these practices earned them so much. Different business and nature magazines gave this citation to them. In this case, the study is not limited to Hong Kong but is focused on the aforementioned area in order to use di fferent schemes that help save the environment. These environmental practices in the aforementioned areas really helped them in achieving their distinction as provider of Hospitality services that is beneficial to both the industry and in nature. These environmental practices will serve as basis as to whether it is applicable to Hotel Industries in Hong Kong and how the said industry in Hong Kong will gain competitive advantage if such industries would embrace the practice. Medical journals, business journals and the likes would be a big help in achieving the goal of this paper. These references will also determine the potential of Hong Kong through comparison with other places. Interview method and survey s will also be conducted in Hong Kong if the

Implementing Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Implementing Strategies - Essay Example Implementation mainly involves the activation oaf the strategy and how it will be operating and monitoring of the strategy Organization or the corporate culture is values in terms of the beliefs, experiences and attitudes within an organisation. This involves the steps which are usually taken to achieve the goals in a firm, it more so includes the general guidelines and the steps taken by the members within an organization in reference to all the activities in the organization. It's the senior management which usually determine the corporate culture which further reflects the corporate goals and objectives which are transmitted to the workforce. The identity of o corporate is the image of the firm which is reflected by the relationship of the firm within its self and the external environment which may include the customers, the government and the competitors. Depending with the type of the organization culture existing in a firm, it may affect the implementation and formulation of strategies at different levels this is because in broad-spectrum corporate culture consists of control systems, paradigm, organizational structures, routines and rituals. This is the first stage of strategy formulation, generally the idea is of the strategy is examined from the point of view of whether to go in for the detailed investment of the strategy or not. The organizational structure and identity can affect this process if it holds strategy is likely to affect its identity in the society or not if it's highly recognised. If the strategy is going to have a positive well being to the whole society, it's likely to be adopted. If the power structure in the firm is an democratic one, the strategy will be scrutinized by all the workers involved in the decision making and though is likely to take long period, a good decision is like to be arrived unlike when there is an autocrat form of leadership where by the decisions are made by specific people who can make erroneous decision about the feasibility analysis hence end up making a misguiding decision. Techno-economic analysis In this stage of strategy formulation, the estimation of the strategy demand potential and choice of optimal technology is made. The strategy may be a project to increase the production of goods and services, it's imperative to know the market for such goods and services produced. This gives the strategy a unique individuality and sets stage for detailed designed development. This stage of strategy formulation is evaluated at an economic point of view whether is going to have some long term positive residue to a firm. Depending with the goals of the firm and the myths of the corporate, a strategy may be opposed since its conflicting to the

Korean and Japanese Americans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Korean and Japanese Americans - Essay Example History, Generations, Immigration and Length of U.S. Residency Koreans are one of the largest, fastest growing Asian groups in the United States (Jackson, 2006; library.ca.gov, N.D.a). During 1903-1905 came the first wave of Korean immigrants to the United States. Around 7,000 Korean came to Hawaii as farm laborers in sugar plantation. Within a few years 1,000 of them returned to Korea. About 2,000 of the early immigrants left Hawaii and came to the continental United States. In less than one century the number has grown to an estimated one million (Lee, 1995). Many more began to immigrate after the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965. As of 2000, ethnic Koreans living in the United States are largely concentrated in California, New York, Texas, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. Los Angeles, with its Korea town district, is home to the largest concentration of Koreans outside of Asia (Wikipedia, 2007a). The Census 2000 recorded an additional 151,555 Americans of part-Korean ancestry. There are 56,825 adopted children of Korean nativity and place of birth. (2000 US Census) 99,061 Koreans were adopted into the U.S. during 1953-2001. (Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2002) According to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2,157,498 ethnic Koreans live in the United States in 2003. However a large number of these are students or temporary workers and hence do not have permanent residence status. A number of US states have declared January 13 as Korean-American Day due to their impact and contributions to the American society (Wikipedia, 2007a). ... The population of Korean Americans is high when compared to the Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest (at roughly 1,148,000, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity). Japanese Americans are a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans. The largest Japanese American communities are in California with roughly 395,000, Hawaii with roughly 297,000, Washington with 56,000, and New York with 45,000 according to the 2000 Census. In addition there are large numbers in Texas, Illinois, Oregon, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Florida. Each year, about 7,000 new Japanese immigrants enter United States ports, comprising about 4% of immigration from Asia; however, net immigration is closer to zero as some older Japanese Americans emigrate back to their homeland. Hence, there is a constant outflow and inflow of this population (Wikipedia, 2007b). On of the uniqueness of Japanese Americans community is that they have special names for each of its generations in the United States. The first generation born in Japan or Okinawa, is called Issei. The second generation is Nisei, third is called Sansei, fourth is Yonsei and fifth is Gosei. The term Nikkei was coined by Japanese American sociologists and encompasses the entire population across generations. Issei and many Nisei speak Japanese or Okinawan in addition to English as a second language (Wikipedia, 2007b). This shows the community is open towards learning and adapting to their new environment. Religion and Spiritually For Koreans, religion traditionally has been important. In fact their religiosity has become all the more evident

Max Scheler Theory of Values Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Max Scheler Theory of Values - Research Paper Example This is the second highest ranked value that encourages truth among people. Here, the truth is the positive value, which is crucial among all people while falsehood is a disvalue. Individuals will be at liberty to choose either, but it is better to choose to be truthful than the opposite. This value encourages people to treat others with respect and nobility. By so doing, there will be more good than evil in the society. Being vulgar on the other end is a negative value that leads to negativity in the society. These values directly relate to the feeling of human being. Many individuals choose to offer pleasure to others, which is a positive value as compared to causing pain on others. Individuals are encouraged to avoid causing pain on others. These values provide comfort to human beings and enable them to live in harmony. This is the lowest ranked value of Scheler. Individuals are at liberty to choose what they want, though it encourages choosing what is agreeable to others rather than the disagreeable. According to Scheler (1987), people can be said to be good if they decide to choose the positive values over the negative values, regardless of the situation at hand. There can be no measure to rank individuals as good or bad when they alternate good and bad behaviour, therefore individuals should always choose to do

Foundations of Criminal Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Foundations of Criminal Law - Assignment Example Jail for Sainsbury's IT boss who stole 17 million Nectar Points’. This case talks about James Stevenson who was an IT manager liable of stealing 17 million Necta points was found guilty and jailed for 20 years. According to the United Kingdom Federal Law addressing the concept of theft, it was very right to take that legal action because Mr. Stevenson served the IT Company with self-centeredness, where he never minded about the firm or the involved parties. The UK Federal Law clearly states that nobody should serve personal interest or engage in some form of corruption when working in a public office, company or private sectors. In this case, justice was acquired to the firm and the involved parties because Stevenson deserved the sentence. The court found him guilty of having stolen the IT Company’s money by serving his own interest. The legal issue here is that Stevenson had stolen millions of Necta Points that belonged to the Company and the fact that he was jailed se rved him right. The father of two, of Muswell Hill, north London, confessed employing some of the money to buy ?8, 120 – worth of products from the store. However, after calculations were carried out with all the evidences analysed keenly, Mr. Stevenson was found guilty and that was a fare judgment particularly when examined from the sentence point of view. The UK Fraud Law was keenly observed and justice done to the firm. The identification of this case by this article is accurate, clear and complete in the sense that it explains all concepts openly and clearly in a way that one can understand well. Policeman stole ?70,000 in banks fraud to fund affair with fellow officer... but walks free from court’ (Daily Mail On-Line 22 February 2012) This case involves a police officer who financed an extramarital affair using fraudulently raking in ?70, 000 in bank loans. After the judged heard his cases keenly, he branded him as emotionally fragile and the man just walked free from the court. PC Jamie Hillman who is 37 swindled more than 6 different high street banks, engrossing Northern Rock and Barclays, through application for loans and credit cards (McQueeeney, 2012). According to me, this judgment was wrong in the sense that what Hillman was doing is totally stealing from banks. This is because the legal issue outlined is theft because taking a person’s property or item without his or her knowledge is stealing. It does not matter who he served or how he used the money but the bottom line is that he was stealing. According to the United Kingdom Fraud law, any form of stealing from a business individual or organization demands that the individual involved be jailed because that is against the law. The fact that Hillman used false claims at the application of these loans including an open lie that he was a sergeant in the Metropolitan Police and even that he was a soldier serving in Afghanistan, makes him guilty and he deserved to be jailed (McQu eeeney, 2012). Despite the fact that he might have used the money to finance ‘double life’, he used a certain portion of it to serve his own interest what makes it clear stealing intentions. Therefore, this judgment was not right because the banks from which he stole never received justice they deserved. The legal issue, which is theft, was not attended to. Moreover, the judge sent him to prison for 12 months; if indeed he was

Homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 30

Homework - Essay Example The incident that included not seeing birds when they were there all along stems from the inability to completely focus that could have helped in watching the organisms in the tree. The being analyzed work is discussing a reality that humans tend to see what they cardinally expect to see and therefore, they do that anyway. In a mental hospital a man was seeing eight fingers instead for four because he is willing to do that. However, the perception of the humans do not change the reality but does so with one’s life as individuals are significantly noticed to base their decisions in life on their judgments which are dependent on their perception. In this way, humans create their own reality and very few of them are able to know what actually lies out there. The actual knowledge can be gathered with the help of following logic and realistic thinking and have you ever used them in order to find out the reality of the

Visions for ethical, caring nursing care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Visions for ethical, caring nursing care - Essay Example ces( Nursing Administration Quarterly Jan-Mar; 3-(1): 48-55) discusses the relationship that exists between economics, caring and administrative practices, and what is missing in this currently. The author asserts that a professional ethos is required so that health institutions are well managed. Therefore, health practice should be ethics based. The aforementioned articles illustrate similar concepts that are well illustrated by various ethical theories; utilitarianism, deontology and virtue theory. The utilitarianism theory requires that we are able to know consequences of our actions before performing these actions. Therefore, when performing tasks, it is important to go for those that are ethically correct. This theory when injected into health practice will ensure that only those actions that are ethically correct are done by nurses and other health care practitioners (Melden 2008, p12). The Deontological theory asserts that people are required to perform their duties and obligations when faced with ethical dilemmas. This theory when applied in nursing practice ensures that health care experts will always perform their obligations for the benefit of customers. The virtue theory is different from the other theories in that there is no emphasis on ethical rules, but instead the emphasis is on teaching people virtues like kindness, generosity and courtesy. Therefore, this theory ensures that health care mangers teach their employees virtues that would improve nursing practice (Melden 2008,

Evolution of Capitalism Essay Example for Free

Evolution of Capitalism Essay Capitalism is an economic process in which the means of production are privately owned; supply, demand and price are generally formed by market forces not by an economic planning; and profit it is distributed to holder of means of production who invest in businesses. Capitalism also refers to the process of capital accumulation. Evolution of Capitalism Economists mostly focused on the degree that government does not have control over markets (laissez faire), and on private property rights, while most of political economists focused on private property, wage labor, class and power relations. It is clear that there is a general statement that capitalism encourages economic growth. The present collapse of the global economy puts a serious question such as: Is current economic arrangement fundamentally sound, needing only slight correctives, or has it reached its restrictions, requiring fundamental rethinking? American economic thinking for the last 35 year has been a hijacking of the evolutionary growth of capitalism that could offer sustainable economics. The word â€Å"economics† comes from two Greek words, oikos or â€Å"house† and nomos, â€Å"one who manages,† so etymologically economics has a wide meaning, incredibly like â€Å"concerned for the household. † The reason of our economy is to be concerned for our ordinary household, what are the principles that should direct our modernism? Sufficient care for the national household must give at a minimum: †¢ A job for everybody who can support a family †¢ Good quality education for each of our children †¢ Sufficient universal health care †¢ Essential safety for old age or in the occasion of unemployment or illness, and †¢ Environmental sustainability. Monopoly Capitalism A large part of capitalism is determined by monopoly. The term monopoly has always been a feature of capitalism and capitalist competition presumes monopoly. This capitalist competition has further led to the centralization and concentration. For Marx: Capital is here directly endowed with the form of social capital (a capital of directly associated individuals), as distinguished from private capital, and its enterprises assume the form of social enterprises as distinguished from individual enterprises. It is the abolition of capital as private property within the boundaries of capitalist production itself. - ( as cited by Mattick, 2010) The monopoly capitalism made a pathway for a Socialist society. Lenin argued The socialist society as a huge factory steered by the state. â€Å"There are surplus of manufactured goods, of labor, and of farm produce: â€Å"always too much, but never too little†. (Baran Sweezy, 1966). One of the discussed solutions was to cutting the production whereas other was in favor of stimulating demand, The price cut for the surplus can result to vanishing of the over production where consumers and manufacturers would benefit. However this would have consequences on the overall viability of the industry (Baran Sweezy, 1966). Banking Capitalism In any world financial system market, banks hold a very important position in money manufacture and speculation. Banks are the only most significant mediator for indirect money across the world. The securities (such as stocks and bonds) market is also another important ubiquitous presence for direct finance. However, usually growths and gains in importance ‘Pari Passu’ with financial growth; in common, the higher the per capita income, banks securities play higher source of the business investment and it also make clear that securities engage greater economic risks than bank loans. If we take a case of America than its economic has became more dependent on securities than on bank for business development. Due to large form of pension, mutual funds American estimated to be shareholders in way or the other. As being a developed country American financial industry development is world most famous and undisputed leader in innovation in certain areas of the securitization and derivative and due to this American market securities rapidly grow and in this respect American capitalism called as securities-market capitalism. If we look on other case like Japans financial industry which is actually remodeled on the American system right after world war II, Japans financial industry dominated American banks that Japanese-style capitalism characterized as bank-loan capitalism, particularly in light of the relatively in corporate bond market. Bank loan have been dangerous in Japans economic growth in the postwar era and paradoxically because of this banking whole Japanese economy was affected. Any continuous deployment of economy needs increased finance. There is two possible solution exist. a) To borrow from overseas by running current- account (CA) and CA is domestic saving CA deficit-based finance. This however makes hot global money. b) To create credit through countrys banking system and with the help of central banks, central bank-based finance [Ozawa 1998]. Central bank-based finance entails the risk of rise if prolonged praise is used for nonproductive reason such as expenditure and speculative investments. It needs direction and judicious management of the banking industry by both the government and the central bank concerned. There are two methods of financing capital configuration for economic growth: (1) Selling equities (stocks) and (2) Borrowing by issuing debt instruments (bonds and other securities). These two alternatives guide for growth of the securities market development. In the early postwar era, initially stock market played very important role as a source of funds for corporate in Japan, but soon after some time Japan overwhelmed by bank loans. This was clearly reflected that Japans high-growth era(1950-1974) for all industries and its declined from 26. 9% in 1950 to 16. 1% in 1970 and manufacturing declined from 31. 4% -19. 95% over the same period [Caves and Uekusa 1976: 479]. Central bank based finance, the bank of Japan (BOJ) pumped funds into Japans city banks, which extended industrial loans to their self groups of corporation and this group known as the bank-let kinyu keiretsu. There are six kinyu keiretsu that competed vigorously in arranging a set of chemical industries and this kinyu keiretsu is also know as the main bank system [Aoki and Patrick 1994]. In addition, Japans postal investments agenda played a very important part in financial intermediation. At the time of high-growth period of 1950-1973, nearly one-third of total private investments were captured by the administration in the form of postal investments financial records. In fact, Japans postal savings system called the worlds largest bank [Brown 1986, 128]. It has more than 20,000 post offices throughout Japan, in that mostly are in rural agricultural regions. It means that â€Å"there are more postal savings windows than in all the branches of Japans city hanks combined [Brown 1986, 128]. Under heavy regulations, Japans banking institutions are also compartmentalized into particular actions and markets (e. g. , division of the lending business from underwriting of, separation of short- and long-term finance; securities and the trust business; and trading in separation of markets by size of customers and banking system of city and local bank). Money Manager Capitalism At the beginning of 2009, the world faces the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. Possibility of depression were talked everywhere. there was a huge loss of jobs in the end of year 2008. Minsky always insisted that there are two essential propositions of his â€Å"financial instability hypothesis† (See Papadimitriou and Wray 1998 for a summary of Minsky’s approach. ). The first is that there are two financing â€Å"regimes†Ã¢â‚¬â€one that is consistent with stability and the other in which the economy is subject to instability. The second proposition is that â€Å"stability is destabilizing,† so that endogenous processes will tend to move a stable system toward fragility. There is small hesitation that the world faces the nastiest economic disaster since the 1930s, with a little economists and policymakers beginning to speak concerning the option of a depression. Keynesian economics references are ordinary, with only committed liberal marketers quarrelling against administration involvement. Still the wizards on Wall Street are begging for re-regulation of fiscal markets. The Obama government has projected present year federal budget deficits at $1. 75 trillion (12% of GDP) and $1. 17 trillion for 2010—although some private forecasters project $1. 9 trillion for 2009, representing 13. 5% GDP and it is clear that it will not fall till next year. If anything, prospects facing the rest of the world are worse. The Federal Government has become the worldwide lender of final resort, providing up to $600 billion in loans of dollar reserves to foreign central banks. The run to relative security in US treasuries has endangered exchange rates, increased risk and spreads around the world. Political and Social unrest is scattering around the periphery nations. Randall Wray considers that the US has at its sufficient policy space to decide its crisis. Mark Thoma has called for international coordinationa good thought, but one that Randall Wray panic has little political hold. Euro-land will not enlarge its economy out of fear that markets will run governments debts. All sorts of explanations preferred for the reason of the crisis: lax regulation and omission, growth of inequality that uplift households to borrow to support spending, greed and illogical enthusiasm, and extreme global liquidity—spurred by easy money policy in the US and by US current account deficits said to overflow the world with lots of dollars. Hyman Minskys work has enjoyed extraordinary interest, with many calling this a Minsky Moment. R. Wray calls it the Minsky half-century in recognition and its seeds of crisis were planted 50 years ago. A paper from the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College confirms that money manager capitalism is the basic cause of current global financial crisis. â€Å"The current stage of capitalism is dominated by highly leveraged funds seeking maximum returns in an environment that systematically under-prices risk. We must return to a more sensible model, with enhanced oversight of financial institutions and with a financial structure that promotes stability rather than speculation ( Randall Wray,2009). † Conclusion As it known economists always focused on the degree and does not like government control over markets (laissez faire), which mean no interference of government in market policy and as well as on private property rights, while on the side most of political economists focused on private property, wage labor , class and power relations. It’s clear that there is a general statement that capitalism encourages economic growth. The recent collapse of the global economy puts before us a serious question such as: Is current economic understanding fundamentally sound, needing only slight correctives, or has it reached its restrictions, requiring fundamental rethinking? American economic thinking for the last 35 year has been a hijacking of the evolutionary growth of capitalism that could offer sustainable economics. If we see large part of capitalism is determined by monopoly. The term monopoly has always been a feature of capitalism and capitalist competition presumes monopoly. This capitalist competition has further led to the centralization and concentration. Even Alexander Gerschenkron [1962] observed that rising countries are tended to became reliant on institutional arrangements rather than a market, especially in finance and industrialization. Japan growth depends on central bank-based finance in which bank play important role in capital formation with keiretsu groups. References:- Baran Sweezy, Monopoly Capital. available at http://skeptically. org/socialism/id13. html, accessed at May 25,2010. Boaz, David. 2005. â€Å"Defining an Ownership Society. † www. cato. org/special/ownership_society/boaz. html, accessed at May 25,2010. Borger, Julian. 2005. â€Å"Hurricane aid used ‘to test out right-wing social policies’†, The Guardian UK, 22 September. , accessed at May 25,2010. Bernanke, Ben S. , â€Å"The Great Moderation†, speech given at the meetings of the Eastern Economics Association, Washington, DC, February 20, 2004; www. federalreserve. gov/Boarddocs/Speeches/2004/20040220/default. htm, accessed at May 25,2010. Black, William. 2005. The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One, Austin Tx: University of Texas at Austin, accessed at May 25,2010. Cassidy, John. â€Å"The Minsky moment†, The New Yorker, Feb 4, 2008, www. newyorker. com, accessed at May 25,2010. McCulley, Paul, Saving Capitalist Banking from Itself,available at www. investorsinsight. com/ /saving-capitalist-banking, accessed at May 25,2010. Mattick, Paul,Chapter 4: On the Concept of State-Monopoly Capitalism,Available at http://libcom. org/library/economics-politics-and-the-age-of-inflation-mattick-four, accessed at May 25,2010. Ozawa, Seiji, The rise and fall of bank-loan capitalism: institutionally driven growth and crisis in Japan Journal of Economic Issues, (June 1999),available at http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_qa5437/is_2_33/ai_n28733724/? tag=content;col1, accessed at May 25,2010. Wray L. R. ,The Death of Money Manager Capitalism? ,(April 15, 2009). Available at tpmcafe. talkingpointsmemo. com/ /the_death_of_money_manager_capitalism, accessed at May 25,2010. Wray L. R. ,Money Manager Capitalism and the Global Financial Crisis (September 2009),available at http://www. levyinstitute. org/pubs/wp_578. pdf, accessed at May 25,2010.

Littlebrook Power Station Essay Example for Free

Littlebrook Power Station Essay Littlebrook is an oil-fired power station, which uses oil to produce electricity. The oil is transported by the sea. It is powered by heavy fuel oil this means it has to bring tonnes of oil from other countries. Littlebrook is located on the banks of the river Thames in Dartford. In the 1990s the CEGB was privatised from that came out npower RWE Innogy from that two companies came out international power. RWE then took over which made RWE npower. There has to be lots of work done in the power station like: Finance the finance department is probably the most important in the power station. Marketing Team this would include a team which goes to the market to buy and sell the electricity on the market. The company has to also buy electricity from other companies at a cheaper rate so they dont lose profit. The marketing team also have to buy supplies from other countries i.e. at the moment most of the oil in the world is in the Middle East and in Latin America. The company dont have to pay that much for transportation because there are next to the River Thames. In the power station there are about 120 people working this includes the workers the receptionists, catering, security and also the actual worker who are in the power station. In a power station all kinds of people work there. One of the main ones is people like: Security are there to protect the worker and also the visitors from other people who trespass the property they also look at the CCTV to check for people who are not meant to be there. Receptionist they greet the people who come to see the power station visitors or the workers they all. Caters they provide food and drink for everybody who visits or works there. Touring staff are the people who help the visitors to go around the power station safely. Including these there are people like scientist and engineers who work here. These people are set into departments like: * Operations the operation departments is divided into two one is no specific skills and also Engineers 1. Engineers to work as an engineer in a power station you will have to have GCSE, A levels and also a good degree to work in the power station 2. No specific skills This job requires you to have GCSEs and A levels, also you do not need a specific skills i.e. engineer this came means you can do more than one job. * Maintenance the maintenance departments is divided into two as well, which consist of Fitter and Apprentices. 1. Fitter For you to work as a fitter you need to have a NVQ qualification to get this you need to do practices and then when you pass your exam you can get this qualification and work at the power station. Apprentices For you to be an apprentice at the power station you need to have good GCSE results and met the requirement they ask for. * Engineering is also divided into two different paths this consist of a degree and a good degree. 1. Degree in engineering you can get a degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Computing Control this might be getting a bachelor of engineering degree or other degrees. 2. Good Degree to get this job you will need to have a master degree in engineering this involves a more skilled and a person which has more knowledge about engineering. * Chemistry Environment to do this job you simply need to get a standard degree in engineering to do this work. * Administration and Finance/Procurement Commercial to be able to do this work you need to have a wide range of knowledge and skills to do it. To do this job you need to have good GCSE results and also a good degree. * Managers to work as the manger of the power station you need to have a good degree. When the oil has been transported form other countries to the power station it is then transferred this to the 4 tanks near the bank, where the oil is filtered then because the oil is heavy and thick it has to be pushed at a high pressure to move it the oil preparation to the boiler. Then in the boiler chamber it has 3 boilers in there and each boiler can burn up to 4,500 tonnes of oil each day. Then when oil is heated then it will create heat and then this heat would be able to heat the water and then change it to steam, this would be able to turn the turbines to make this efficient the steam will be going through the turbines twice. After the turbine is moving the generator starts to move the rotor then takes affect and then creates an electric current. Then after the steam has finished it moves in to the condenser which turns the steam into water where there are pipes with cold water from the river Thames to condense the steam. After all of this electric current is made at a volta ge of 23,500. To make this more efficient the voltage has been increased when it is sent into the National Grid system. ICT in the power station is used a lot, when I first visited Littlebrook Power Station I thought there would be more than a thousand workers then when I heard they were only 120 I was shocked. So ICT in the power plant is very important. First of all ICT is used for communication from the main room to the lower rooms. The machines in the big hall have to also be computerised because the things you have to do are lots that humans can do.

Monomania Psychology Analysis: Ideal Ego and Ego Ideal

Monomania Psychology Analysis: Ideal Ego and Ego Ideal Abstract: This paper Moby Dick: Obsession, Evil and the Passion of Ignorance, argues that monomania is a passion of ignorance. It contends that this passion of ignorance is situated precisely between the ideal ego and the ego ideal. The ideal ego is the fantasy an individual has of themselves, a narcissistic illusion of completeness. It is a representation based on an image of the self fixed at the infantile period. The ego ideal is the goal of a process, a movement towards an idealized self based on internalised significant early role models, people admired and preferred in favour of the self. In monomania, the ideal ego seeks to eradicate the other, the ego ideal. This is an act of envy, an attempt to kill and steal the others good because it represents what one should be or could have been. Such an act is never conscious. It is a passion of ignorance. The saga of Captain Ahab and his obsessive desire to obliterate the Great White Whale is illustrative of this dynamic. The yearning for absolutes is a hall-mark of monomania. Monomania is a passion of ignorance and is to be found in the boundary between love and hate. It is inherently evil because it excludes and destroys reality. In monomania, ignorance functions as a parochial and universalised concept of reality, marked by a certainty and rectitude which enables the harming of others with humanitarian conviction and moral purpose. The passion of ignorance is situated precisely between the subject and the fantasy of himself. The ideal ego wishes to eradicate the other, the ego ideal, What is at the heart all psychopathological behaviour is an incapacity to communicate with aspects of the self that have, as part of the self protective mechanism of the psyche, been obscured because they are too painful to be addressed. At the time of obfuscation, the only perceived path for survival has been the isolation and dissociation of something intrinsic. Analytical psychology recognizes that there are dark recesses people carry deep within in which lurk forbidden secrets which are treated as unapproachable. These dark places and forbidden secrets are not passive, they pulsate with the presence of malignant, carnivorous forces that reek of fear and anarchy. It is no accident that the developmental arm of analytical psychology is preoccupied to the determining effects of family history, for it is in the family setting that people experience the strongest and most primitive feelings, where relationships take on their most stark and forceful forms. A persons experience within the context of family has its genesis at a time before coping mechanisms are developed, before and independent sense of security and stability has had time to consolidate. Analytical psychology understands that the individual is deeply affected by the net of past experiences. They impact on the way in which present experiences are assimilated or repressed. They determine what may be allowed to come to consciousness and what must be assigned to the unconscious. The unconscious is occasioned by a number of factors, by repression, instinctual inheritance, social conditioning and repressed trauma. It can be personal or collective. In all its aspects, the unconscious represents that part of an individuals psychic existence that is, by multiple strategies, consigned to function without conscious control. Thus analytical psychology attempts inexorably to draw one deeper and deeper into a journey of confrontation with ones self. It calls on the individual to overcome his defences, to transcend the bounds of secure systems he has established to keep full and immediate experience at bay. In the tale of Moby Dick, Ahab misuses his power, disregards the safety of his crew and the profitability of the voyage, even forfeits his own life in order to avenge himself on the whale who robbed him of his leg. He does this, all to avoid a confrontation with himself and his own vulnerabilities. The Story: The tale of Moby Dick begins with the enigmatic words of the narrator, Having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntary pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet, and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping onto the street and methodically knocking peoples hats off – then, I account it high time to get to see as soon as I can. (Melville 1992 p. 1) With these words Ishmael the story teller announces his intention to go to sea. He makes the journey to New Bedford, Massachusetts where he takes accommodation at a whalers inn, but as the inn is very full he finds himself sharing a bed with a stranger, Queequeg, a harpooner from the South Pacific. Queequeg is a cannibal from a South Sea Island. His strange physical form appears bizarre to Ishmael. He is covered in strange tattoos and apart from his alien appearance has strange habits and customs. Ishmael is terrified by the encounter but as time passes he is able to move beyond the outward exterior of Queequeg to understand that they are both men, and this strange creature from the South Seas, far from being a terrifying beast is human, and one with a particularly kind heart and generous spirit. The two men join forces and set out to seek work together as whalers. They secure work on the Pequod, a whaling vessel decked out with the bones and teeth of its victims, Peleg and Bildad, t he Pequods Quaker owners, tell them of their Captain, Ahab, who on his last voyage found that sperm whales are not defenceless victims, but creatures with teeth; Ahab has had his leg ripped from him by an enormous white whale. The hunted became the hunter and had struck back. The Pequod leaves the safety of the harbour in Nantucket on a bitterly cold Christmas Day, its crew a diverse mixture of nationalities and cultures. Days later, as the ship makes into warmer waters, Ahab finally appears on deck, balancing unsteadily on his prostheses carved from the jaw bone of a sperm whale. Ahabs intention: to pursue and kill Moby Dick, the great white whale who took his leg. To Ahab, this whale is the embodiment of evil. He must be killed and killed by Ahab. To this end he nails a gold doubloon to the mast and announces to all that the man who first sights Moby Dick will have the coin. Aboard one of these ships is a crazed prophet called Gabriel who predicts doom to all who pursue Moby Dick and the superstitious crew of the Pequod share their sea-stories of how those who hunted the whale met with ill fortune. It is not long before misfortune is seen and known by the crew. While butchering their catch, the harpooner Tashtego falls into the mouth of a dead whale which tears free of the Pequod and sinks. Queequeg dives after the drowning man, slashes into the slowly sinking head with his knife and frees the seaman. During another whale hunt, the black cabin boy Pip, jumps from a whaleboat and is left stranded at sea. He is rescued but the trauma renders him mentally disturbed. He is left mindless and uncanny, a prophetic jester onboard the ship. Still the hunt continues. One day, the Pequod encounters the whaler, the Samuel Enderby. Captain Boomer the skipper has lost an arm in a chance meeting with Moby Dick. As the two captains discuss the whale the contrast becomes evident. Boomer is happy simply to have survived his encounter, and he cannot understand Ahabs lust for vengeance. Queequeg becomes ill and asks the carpenter on board the Pequod to make him a coffin in preparation of his death but he does recover, and the coffin becomes the Pequods replacement life buoy. In expectation of finding Moby Dick, Ahab orders a harpoon to be forged and baptizes this harpoon with the blood of the Pequod harpooners, and his own. Although the Pequod is still hunting whales, it is the hunt for Moby Dick that always hangs over the life of the ship. Then, one day, Fedallah makes a prophesy regarding the death of Ahab. Ahab will see two hearses, the second made from American wood and he will be killed by hemp rope. To Ahab, this means he will not die at sea, for at sea there are no hangings and no hearses. A tropical storm encompasses the Pequod, illuminating it with electrical fire. To Ahab this is a sign of imminent confrontation and success. To Starbuck, the ships first mate, it is a bad omen and he contemplates murdering Ahab to end the obsession. The tempest ends, but then one of the sailors plummets from the ships masthead and drowns—a grave forewarning of what lies ahead. As Ahabs obsessive desire to find and destroy Moby Dick intensifies, the mad Pip becomes his constant companion. It is near the equator that Ahab expects to find Moby Dick, and it is here that the Pequod meets two whalers, the Rachel and the Delight; both have had recent fatal encounters with the Great Whale. The Captain of the Rachel pleads with Ahab to help him find his son, lost in the battle with Moby Dick, but Ahab has only one goal, to find and kill the whale. Days pass, and then, finally, Ahab sights Moby Dick. The harpoon boats are launched. Moby Dick rams Ahabs harpoon boat, destroying it but Ahab is saved by his crew. The next day, Moby Dick is sighted once more. The whale is harpooned but again, Moby dick strikes back and once again rams Ahabs boat. Fedallah is trapped in the harpoon line, is dragged overboard to his death. Starbuck saves his Captain by manoeuvring the Pequod between Ahab and the enraged beast. On the third day, the boats are launched once again and are sent after Moby Dick. The whale turns and attacks the boats, and they see that Fedallahs corpse is still lashed to the whale by the harpoon line. In the ensuing battle, Moby Dick rams the Pequod and she begins to sinks. Ahab, caught in a harpoon line, is hurled out of his whale boat to his death. The remaining whaleboats and crew are caught in the vortex of the sinking Pequod and dragged to their deaths. Ishmael, thrown from his boat at the beginning of the hunt, is the only man to survive. He floats, alone on Queequegs coffin, the only remaining flotsam from the wreckage, an isolated figure in a watery world. On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and picked me up at last. It was the devious-cruising Rachel that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan. (Melville 1992 p. 583) An Uncanny Tale In telling the story of Moby Dick, Melvilles narrator, Ishmael, engages in a process of repetition that brings the dead back to life. His narrator offers what appears to be a sober account of his real experience but in the recounting it is immediately evident that this experience is anything but commonplace. Melvilles combination of reality and the fantastic, the credible and the incredible, compel the reader to accept the narrative on its own terms. The tale confronts the reader with narratorial anxiety in both the telling of the tale and in the horror of its content. Melvilles narrative method exemplifies the de-familiarisation of the familiar, the domestication of terror that characterises the uncanny. Freud characterises the uncanny as that which arouses dread and horror; (Freud 1919 p. 339) it is that class of things which lead us back to what is known of the old and familiar. (Freud 1919 p.340) It is precarious, this combination of the familiar and the unfamiliar, where the opposites of the homely, customary and congenial also denote the secret that is concealed and kept from sight. (Freud 1919 p. 347) We believe we are at home in the immediate circle of beings. That which is, is familiar, reliable, ordinary. Nevertheless, the clearing is pervaded by a constant concealment in the double form of refusal and dissembling. At the bottom, the ordinary is not ordinary; it is extra-ordinary, uncanny. (Heidegger 1971 p. 53) Freud argues that one of the most anxiety-producing devices of the uncanny is the double. Freud considers the uncanniness of the double to be the effect of the egos projection of the object ‘outwardly as something foreign to itself. What is inside is experienced as coming from outside, (Freud 1919 p.358) split off and isolated through a process of repression and dissociation. The subject may identify with another to the extent that he is not sure which identity he is or he may substitute the extraneous self for his own. In the tale of Moby Dick it is this lack of difference which dominates Ahabs relationship to the whale. While Ahab may try to establish himself as a saviour, he too, deep down, is dangerous and destructive. It is this sameness that is problematic. When it becomes too obvious that the other is contained in the self, the other becomes an object for irrational hostility. In this dynamic, both the object (the whale) and the subject (Ahab) become doubles of each othe r in the psyche of the person who is enmeshed in the projection. The notion of the double always inspires the subject with dread and can be summed up as a dividing and interchanging of the ego. There is an inevitable cyclic repetition of the initial trauma. It is an inescapable loop until the doubling is concluded. Aboard ship, Ahab imposes an irresistible dictatorship in order to pursue his obsession. Moby Dick had injured him and that fact contravened Ahabs entire view of how the world should be ordered. The self-righteous, imposing Captain of the Pequod smoulders with the fires of hell. His all consuming pride and rage against the white whale blaze in the great speech before his crew where he proclaims, That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or the white whale principal, I will wreak my hate upon him Talk to me not of blasphemy, man, Id strike the sun if it insulted me. (Melville 1992 p. 167) Ahab cannot see Moby Dick for what the great while whale is, because the reality of the animal is subsumed under the passion of Ahabs projection. But because this ‘relationship is skewed, the rest of Ahabs world suffers. Ahab has no connection to any other person or thing beyond the white whale. It is inevitable that the whale proves to be his nemesis; it is the whale that inflicts retribution and vengeance, not Ahab. The Orphan With the first sentence of Moby Dick we are confronted with the complex figure of Ishmael. The narrative begins with the words Call me Ishmael. The name has come to symbolize orphans and social outcasts but it has another aspect to it. The word literally means ‘God hears. Ishmael, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, was the first son of Abraham, born to a slave woman, Hagar because Abraham believed his wife Sarah to be infertile. But when God granted Sarah a son of her own, Ishmael and his mother were turned out of Abrahams household. Isaac inherited the birthright from Abraham. Ishmael was left to die under a bush in the wilderness by his distraught and starving mother. But in her distress she cried out and God heard her cry and the cry of the child. 15When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16 And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him. 19Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. 20God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. (Genesis 21: 15 – 20 The Bible NRSV 1988) From a Judeo-Christian perspective Ishmael was an outcast, the result of his fathers failure to believe and obey YHWHs promise to give him a son through his wife Sarah. As a consequence, Ishmael was the one repressed and rejected. But Ishmael was heard and taken care of by God. Throughout his life, Melville was preoccupied with the imagery of orphans and in particular with the character Ishmael. In Mardi he writes, But as sailors are mostly foundlings and castaways, and carry all their kith and kin in their arms and legs, there hardly ever appears any heir-at-law to claim their estate. (Melville 2004 p. 139) In Redburn, Melville writes, at last I have found myself a sort of Ishmael on the ship, without a single friend or companion. (Melville 1957 p. 60) In Pierre Melville writes, so that once more he might not feel himself driven out, an Ishmael into the desert, with no maternal Hagar to accompany him and comfort him. (Melville 1962 p. 125) Edward Edinger argues that Melville had an Ishmael complex which had two sources; personal life experience and identification with an archetypal image. (Edinger 1995 p. 23) The personal cause would be the insanity and death of his father and the ensuing hardships this caused. Melville was twelve and a half when his father died, close to the age of the biblical Ishmael who was thirteen. In addition, he was rejected by his mother, who favoured her first son. According to Arvin Newton, Melville, as an elderly man, once remarked to his niece that his mother had hated him. (Arvin 1950 p.30) The pain of his rejection is poignantly evident in the tale of Mob y Dick Most of the action is seen through the eyes of Ishmael. He will thus represent the authors ego (Edinger 1995 p. 24) Ishmael, the lone survivor of this misadventure is the story teller. At the outset of the story, Ishmael presents as one who is in pain and internal distress. He is impoverished, hostile, depressed and potentially suicidal. He heads for the sea, to Nantucket to find work on a whaler. In the past he has found sea voyages as a way of containing his internal conflict and pain. But before he can find a ship, his poverty forces him to find accommodation in a squalid inn, sharing a bed with a harpooner. When the harpooner enters the room in which Ishmael is sleeping he awakes in horror at the apparition before him, a man who appears to have just returned from the ministrations of a surgeon, his face covered with sticking plaster. But that is not the reality. The harpooner is a cannibal from the pacific, tattooed in his native islander tradition. He carries a tomahawk, a seal skin purse with the hair still attached and a shrunken head. The overall impression is alien, bizarre and terrifying to Ishmael. He watches from beneath the counterpane as the stranger uses the tomahawk as a pipe, then quietly turns into the bed with Ishmael. He is unaware of Ishmaels presence and reacts with instinctive aggression. In the fracas that follows Ishmael calls out in terror to the landlord for help. ‘Landlord! Watch! Coffin! Angels! Save me! (Melville 1992 p. 25) Peter Coffin, the landlord, soothes the moment. He introduces the men to each other and Ishmael is suddenly aware that this frightening apparition is a person, with a name. Queequeg is no longer a nameless savage, a cannibal with a shrunken head and a death dealing tomahawk. The tomahawk is also a peace pipe, and he shares the smoke from this unique instrument with Ishmael. The tomahawk-pipe has now become a symbol for both life and death, a symbol of reconciliation and peace. In this initial encounter with Queequeg a transformation is begun in Ishmael. In symbolic terms, he has embraced, in the symbolic form of Queequ eg, both death and life as indivisible partners, and when he wakes the following morning he begins to see the world from a different perspective. Ishmael understands the mixture of life and death that Queequegs tomahawk-come-pipe represents, and realizes, at least in that moment, that such experience can lead to renewal. The Obsession, Ahab demonstrates the dangers of an all consuming focus; the object of his obsession is the solitary great white whale, nicknamed Moby-Dick by the whalers. On his previous voyage, Ahab had his leg ripped off by Moby-Dick, and at the Ishmaels story begins, he has sworn to take his vengeance by hunting down and killing the great whale. It never occurs to Ahab that he lost his leg while trying to take the whales life and while in the process of killing countless other whales for monetary gain. Ahabs obsession has more to do with what Moby Dick represents than with the great whale himself. He saw Moby Dick as the prey and could not cope with the idea that he was not omnipotent in this relationship, that he was outdone by another creature. As Ahab reasons in a fiery speech to the crew of the Pequod, all visible objects are like pasteboard masks that hide some unknown but still reasoning thing. Ahab hates that inscrutable thing that hides behind the mask of appearance. The only way to figh t against it, he proclaims is to strike through the mask! Moby Dick, as a mysterious force of nature, represents the most outrageous, malevolent aspect of natures mask. To kill it, in the mind of Ahab, is to reach for and seize the unknowable truth that is hidden from all people. He cannot conceive of the concept that there is a simpler reality; he is not the master of all other species. He sees his failure to be able to take life at will as a reversal of his role as the predator and therefore can only conceive of himself now as the one preyed upon. This he cannot accept and so is driven to destroy that which in his mind denies his appropriated reality. Ahabs insane obsession and hunt for Moby Dick describes the consequences of viewing the world as a mask that hides unknowable truth. It is Ahabs frustration with the limits of human knowledge and power that lead him to reject both science and logic and instead embrace violence and the dark magic of Fedallah his demonic advisor. Like Christopher Marlowes Doctor Faustus, he has made a pact with the devil. Thinking he is immortal, Ahab attacks Moby Dick, striking at the mask of appearance that supposedly hides ultimate truth. His devotion to the idea that truth exists behind or beyond the physical world forces him to destroy himself in the attempt to reach it. Ahab can only relinquish his illusion by dying, or killing the object upon which his illusion has rested. Ahabs ideal ego, that is the fantasy he has of himself as one who is in control and omnipotent, is in the process of destroying his ego ideal, that is, his potential as man, captain and hunter. He believes he must eradicate the evil of the whale, but in reality, because he is caught in this doubling with the whale, he is intent on murdering himself. His passion of ignorance has overwhelmed his reason, blinded him to his own creative potential. All that is left is the passion and it knows no reason People thus reduced inflict the traumatic pain of their void on others. The evil they engender is not just about destruction but emerges from the chaotic principle of pure drive which has loss at its centre and therefore must occasion more loss. The important point is not that the symbolism of what Ahab lost, but the symbolism of the loss itself. Revenge is only sought when there has been a great loss, a loss that is seen to embody an injustice, and an injustice imposed by an enemy over whom victory should have been assured. Ahab lost his leg to a beast, an inferior creature. His quest for revenge could just as easily have been instituted by the loss of an arm, a child, or a father. The loss implies inferiority to a foe that is deemed to be unworthy of such a victory. Revenge becomes obsession because only with revenge can the world become again that which supports the adopted perception of order. For Ahab, revenge can only be perceived as the re-imposition of superiority and ascenda ncy. It is the adoption of this delusional sense of what order is, that gives rise to the monomania that attends a thirst for revenge. Ahabs loss of limb is immediate and it is personal but despite losing a leg he can still walk, he can still captain, he can still go on a whaleboat and harpoon. It is the greater loss which is the mechanism standing behind the driving revenge and his monomaniacal pursuit of it. As if to be human is forever to be prey to turning your corner of the human race, hence perhaps all of it, into some new species of the genus of humanity, for the better or for the worse. (Cavell 1998 p.154) For this reason Ahab must inflate the object of his revenge and recreate it as something larger in context. To accomplish this, Ahab must imbue Moby Dick massive power, power beyond comprehension. By placing the capacity of evil upon the whale, Ahab can fool himself into thinking that Moby Dick is a greater being than he really is and therefore his own loss appears greater than it really is. For Ahab, the delusion attendant to the psychosis of revenge suppresses the reality that he is merely a man bent on attempting to restore his lost sense of superiority. This reality is replaced with a grandiose vision of one who is a redeemer for humanity. But it is not humanity Ahab is attempting to redeem; it is his own inflated ego whose ascendancy has been usurped. By imputing to Moby-Dick a demonic power he does not really possess Ahab, blinds himself to any reality of what Moby Dick actually is, to any real strength and intelligence that the whale possesses. This blindness springs not from mere ignorance, but from a consciously willed ignorance, from the desire not to know, from the ambition not to understand. In order to sustain his delusional conception of himself, he must appoint concomitant distortion to the world which surrounds him, and particularly to the object of his obsession. Ahab desperately wants Moby Dick to be inscrutable. He wants him to be a thing that is incapable of being understood, because that enables him to categorize his nemesis as sheer evil. Therefore he is compelled to refuse any effort at understanding and it is this iron-willed ambition to remain ignorant, to label this thing as ultimate evil that generates the ironic twist whereby Ahab himself becomes the ultimate danger, the evil which he imagines he is seeking to eradicate. It is Ahab who causes the complete destruction of all that surrounds him. Evil and the Passion of Ignorance Ahab desires to attach to Moby Dick all the evil that exists in the world. Moby Dick is a creation of his infantile envious omnipotent sadistic phantasies. Ahab himself identifies the ultimately personal source of what he sees as a universal evil when he says, It was Moby-Dick that dismasted me; Moby-Dick that brought me to this dead stump I stand on now it was that accursed white whale that razeed me; made a poor pegging lubber of me for ever and a day! (Melville 1992 p.166). Moby Dick took away Ahabs ability to literally stand on his own two feet. The loss of his leg can also be seen as a symbolic emasculation and that symbolism is made all the more apparent by the fact that Ahabs quest is for a sperm whale. Moby-Dick contains sperm; Ahab does not. In his quest for revenge, all of Ahabs creative potential is voided because he cannot accept that there is a reality that is greater and stronger than himself. It is in the attempt to deny the reality and existence of that which surpasses him that he divorces himself from his own creative life potential. Captain Ahab is both the psychotic parent in command of the infant and the infant overwhelmed with his own omnipotent phantasy. In the tale of Moby Dick, Herman Melville created a character whose motives of vengeance typify the behaviour of a psychotic person. Captain Ahab, in his delusion, could not allow Moby Dick to share the same space in his paranoid and infantile world. Ahab experienced the loss of his leg as a lethal wound that was potentially reparable only by a copy-cat act of vengeance taken upon the alleged guilty Moby Dick. That intangible malignity which has been there from the beginning Ahab did not fall down and worship it, but deliriously transferring its idea to the abhorred white whale, he pitted himself, all mutilated, against it He piled upon the whales hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot hearts shell upon. (Melville 1991 p. 187) We Cannibals must help these poor Christians. The relationship between Ishmael and Queequeg is the antithesis of the relationship between Ahab and Moby Dick. Ishmael and Queequeg develop a relationship that is based on the recognition of their dissimilarity and separateness. Ahab and Moby Dick are joined together by Ahabs projection and obsession. With Queequeg and Ishmael, the difference is something to be explored. The relationship between Queequeg and Ishmael has a germ of creativity; that between Ahab and Moby Dick is founded on destruction and butchery. The initial encounter between Queequeg and Ishmael provokes both terror and aggression. The landlord intervenes, calming the situation and bringing them both to an awareness of the necessity of living alongside of each other. This generates a realisation in both Ishmael and Queequeg that they are both men despite the visual and cultural dissimilarities. As time passes and conversation is enjoined, they begin to comprehend both their differences and their commonly shared objectives. According to the customs of Queequegs home, Ishmael and Queequeg are married after a social smoke out of the tomahawk pipe. Queequeg gives Ishmael half of his belongings, and the two men continue to share a bed. The tattooed body of Queequeg is much like the patchwork quilt that covers them both as they sleep. These tattoos are a written narrative of the universe but no one, save the prophet who inscribed them can decipher their meaning, not even Queequeg. And this tattooing had been the work of a departed prophet and seer of his island, who, by those hieroglyphic marks, had written out on his body a complete theory of the heavens and the earth, and a mystical treatise on the art of attaining truth; so that Queequeg in his own proper person was a riddle to unfold; a wondrous work in one volume; but whose mysteries not even himself could read, though his own live heart beat against them; and these mysteries were therefore destined in the end to moulder away with the living parchment whereon they were inscribed, and so be unsolved to the last.(Melville 1992 p. 491) For Ishmael, Queequeg represents the dangerous and the forbidden for which Ishmael secretly yearns. Queequeg also symbolizes the explorative and adventurous aspect of Ishmaels personality. Once Ishmael recognizes this, his fears lessen and he embraces the savage into his life. Ishmaels initial hostility to Queequeg is a projection of the suppression of a part of his own personality. Exotic and unique, Queequeg represents the unknown. Ishmael is able to recognise this, to admit it, and to realise that his fear is due to ignorance. With this awareness comes the further realisation that he, Ishmael, must travel to the sea in order to gain life experience by exploring and embracing the unknown. The friendship between the two men, although troubled by prejudice and slow to develop into a full understanding of one anothers character, is solidified with their ‘marriage contract. They effectively become one person, illustrating the full integration of Queequegs otherness into Ishmaels personality. At the end of the book, Ishmael survives because of Queequegs coffin. In accordance with their marriage contract, Queequeg offers Ishmael protection from the sea-hawks, sharks and sea in the form of his coffin. In turn, Ishmael carries on Queequegs spirit, carved into the wood of the coffin. Queequeg represents that part of Ishmael which