Movie report Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Report - Movie Review Example Thereby to deserve the white paternalism of Matt Drayton, he should better be perfect in all other ways. He should not come out as being someone who justifies the white fear of a Black loser out to exploit an innocent white woman. The other surprising thing is that almost all the Black characters in the movie are tacitly obsequious towards the white characters, seeming totally unaffected by the black rage imbuing the times in which this movie was made and released. The only Black rage one comes across in the movie is the Black rage aimed at a Black, as that of Dr. Prentices against his father. Moreover, in the climax it is Matt Drayton, the evident liberal representative of the white race in the movie, who is shown as giving the final verdict. Obviously he is asserting a white definition of assimilation, in which the colored subject should be willing to dilute one’s personal notions of racial identity. The ludicrous thing is that the movie ends with a very liberal redefinition of the American family, both white and Black family members having a good time at the dinner table. Perhaps, nobody cares to notice that this new version of the ideal American family is being served dinner by a Black maid, a stock, hackneyed and stereotypical white idea of Black

Expository Essay Essay Example for Free

Expository Essay Essay #3 focusing on the importance of the past and how ‘The Kite Runner’ shows no matter how deeply it might be buried, it finds a way to re-surfacing Have you ever tried to run away from your past? And did it work for you? Well in the book we learn that a lot of characters try to run away from their past, for instance Baba hiding the fact that Hassan is also his son or when Amir witnessed Hassan being raped. They all tried to run away from their past but it all caught up with them in the end, like Amir said â€Å"My past was like that always turning up†. There is no way to hide from your past, whether you try to run away from it or bury it as deep as you can because the past always claws it way out. An example could be Amir trying to forget that he was a bystander to Hassan’s rape. He tried to forget everything, delete everything that happened about that night. ‘But even though life goes on memories remain forever’. He lied about Hassan stealing his watch and money thought chasing Ali and Hassan away might help him forget or ease his pain . When he received that phone call from Rahim Khan saying there is a way to be good again, he knew that it was time for him to face his fear. Going back to Kabul frightened him, he was about to face his deepest fear, everything in Kabul changed it was not the same. He wanted to make his father proud and be the brave man his father expected and longed for, just like Hassan. Sometimes it’s not always our guilt that forbids us to forget but the judgement of people in our community. When she ran away with her older boyfriend and moved in with him, she was seen as a disgraceful girl with no respect in the Afghan community. Soraya status is later restored when she gets married to Amir who’s a much respected man in the afghan community. Sometimes keeping a secret could be the cause of our death. In Baba case we learn that the cause o his death could be keeping the secret that Hassan was his son. When his diagnosed with cancer he refuses the treatment, possibly because he has accepted that was his punishment for his ‘sin’. On the end Baba dies as a tortured soul. Furthermore we learn that we the past cannot be forgotten or ignored but we can make peace with it. The kite runner illustrates that we learn from our mistakes which helps to be better people and more accepting of others. Like Amir said,’for the first time since the winter of 1975 I felt at peace†¦ Healed at last ‘.

A Review of the Federally Subsidized Greenbelt Construction Project :: City Planning Public Administration

A Review of the Federally Subsidized Greenbelt Construction Project In 1935, the Resettlement Administration undertook the Greenbelt construction project which was to serve three major purposes: 1. Provide useful employment for thousands of jobless workers who were hit hard by the Great Depression 2. Demonstrate a new type of community planning, combining city conveniences with many advantages of rural life 3. Demonstrate better utilization of land in suburban areas (Walker 16). In this project, I would like to discuss some of the aspects of the construction, including the labor and materials used, as well as some economic and safety concerns. Keep in mind that these factors continually intertwine in the construction business and many times it is hard to discretely separate the roles played by each factor in individual design decisions. Safety was, indeed, a major concern of the designers. After all, this project was to provide housing for citizens who had already suffered through the Great Depression, and Roosevelt agreed to this project because it would provide a "Utopia" for the stricken citizens. Certainly, safety should be pretty high on the list of "Utopia" ingredients. Designers felt that a special effort would have to be made to ensure safety because they had some disturbing statistics on their minds. In 1922, 100 lives were lost when the Knickerbocker Theater building collapsed in Washington. This tragedy was caused by a weak structure and surely could have been prevented by stricter building codes. Additionally, fire caused a major threat. According to the Bureau of Census, 7,874 lives were lost in 1935 due to inhalation and burns, the majority of which occurred in homes (Thompson 95). Many of the homes in America at that time were old and dilapidated like the one in the picture. As you can imagine, a home like this would be a definite fire hazard. In order to address these safety issues, the Greenbelt homes were built to rigid building code standards. Fire resistive materials were used as much as possible. These materials included brick veneer, asbestos shingles, and cinder block. Note that in 1935, asbestos was not known to be hazardous to one's health. In fact, only positive qualities for this material are mentioned in the Kidder-Parker Architects' and Builders' Handbook. Under "Asbestos Siding and Roofing Shingles", it states: "because of incombustibility, low coefficient of expansion, and low heat-conductivity, asbestos products will withstand high temperatures without disintegration or loss of strength" (Parker 923).

Young Marriage

When I was a child, I used to play Barbie dolls with my sister. We spent hours playing and goofing around without having to think about life's difficulties and how things can be complicated by the time we were adults. At the early age of 17, I got married and it is a fact that â€Å"early marriage is not characterized only by happiness† (Lamanna & Riedmann, 2005, p. 225). I somehow overcame the obstacles and hardships in my life and I consider this as a significant accomplishment. The story of my life started when I left my parent's house when I was only 17. I lived with my boyfriend without the permission of my parents. Naturally, they disapproved of it and arranged for us to get married. It was a difficult decision to make, as I was only a high school sophomore at that time. In the beginning, everything was going as planned and I thought that being married was easy but this changed only after a couple of days. After time, we lost our jobs and had no money enough to pay our bills or even eat. We were not able to ask for support from our parents because when we first got married, they indicated that they would not give financial support. When my husband found a job, he spent his time going to bars after work and came home in the morning drunk. This became something that we argued about. I then decided to drop out of school because of the many problems at home. After six months, I got pregnant but I had a miscarriage during the third month. I believed that this happened probably because of all the problems I was encountering with my husband. By that time we moved in to a new home and our lives were starting to get better, I got pregnant again. My daughter was born premature and weighed only one pound. She had to stay in the hospital for three weeks before we were able to take her home. Overtime, she developed and grew into a very healthy and beautiful child. I decided to finish high school at home last year. At this time, I am interested in pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice. My husband and I have been married for eight years now and everything is going well, as he is also working for one of the largest construction companies in Chicago. We are planning to buy a new house this year. I am also pleased to report that our parents became very proud of us and the things that we have achieved. In summary, early marriage is not an easy thing especially when parents decide to let you be on your own. Couples have to work hard in order to make the marriage last. After all the obstacles that my husband and I went through, I believe that they are all worth it especially when our daughter says that we are the best parents in the whole world.

India Student

With his better economic situation, the Indian Families are using to pay for this international opportunity of education. The propose of this survey it is to check where's now the most popular destiny for the Indians Students. A few years ago used to be Australia, But now The Indians are choosing other Destinies. India Aspects Republic of India is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-lorgnette's by area, the second-most populous country with over 1. Billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the out-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sir Lankan and the Maldives; in addition, Indian's Madman and Nicolai Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilization mos tly in present day Pakistan and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four religions-?Hinduism, Buddhism, Jansenism, and Schism-?originated here, whereas Judaism, Zoroastrian, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture.Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 1 8th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-1 9th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi. The Indian economy is the world's tenth- largest by nominal GAP and third-largest by purchasing power parity . Following market-based economic reforms in 1 991 India became one of the fastest-growing major economies; it is considered a newly industria lized country.However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, inadequate public healthcare, and terrorism. A nuclear weapons state and a regional power, it has the third- largest standing army in the world and ranks ninth in military expenditure among nations. India is a federal constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary systematizing of 29 states and 7 union territories. India is a pluralistic, multilingual, and a multi-ethnic society. It is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.Economic facts related with the grow number of Students Be it the US, 1-K, Australia or New Zealand, the number of Indian students going to study overseas has risen tremendously. According to Ministry of Overseas Affairs, demand for overseas higher education is increasing with over 2. 64 lack Indian students, who have gone abroad for studies, spending approximately about RSI 27,000 core (55. 5 billion) every year. With the Indi an economy growing at 7 percent annually, jobs are being created in India and he middle class is growing.Inevitably, this is leading to an increased level of prosperity, thereby increasing the affordability of an expensive overseas education, and dramatically increasing the career aspirations of a growing number of Indians. This coupled with a weakened US dollar, Australian dollar and UK sterling pound is driving a growth in the overseas education market. According to Ministry of Overseas Affairs, out of 264,324 students gone abroad, maximum of 104,522 are in the US followed by over 97,035 in Australia, 25,905 in the UK and over 6,040 in New Zealand. International Student EnrolmentsUnited Kingdom, Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand; This countries have the half of the world international education's consumption. With the follow analysis we are going to see the current trends into three of those countries revising important data from the last reported five years, defini ng which nation is the main overseas education's consumer and finally show the particular case of Australia and its trends. The graphic is about the quantity of rolled students that came to Australia, Canada And New Zealand from 2008 to 2012 per year.Table 1 Graphic 1 The data shows that Australia still has the major number of students impairing with the Key competitors. The Mean number of overseas students enrolled in this 3 countries shows that Australia Still have the major quantity of students. Table 2 MEAN: Australia 573,6 Canada 21 New Zealand 95,9 2. – Main Nationalities Enrolled and the insane Students destiny Being into the details we can see where the students came from. And its is going to be more easy to understand the grow or the degree of the number of Indian students.Table 3 2008 2009 2010 201 1 2012 Country % OF Total China 23. 4 24. 5 27. 1 28. 6 29 did 62 3. 1 India 10. 5 Korea 6. 5 5. 7 5. 4 Thailand 4. 1 4. 2 Vietnam 4. 4. 4 Malaysia 3. 9 Nepal 4 India 5. 5 hind 6. 1 :hind China 30. 4 15. 4 13. 2 113 India 9. 9 10. 9 USA 6. 6 5. 6 8 9. 1 7. 2 France 4. 8 4. 9 Arabia 4. 5 5. 3 5 4. 6 23. 1 22 23. 7 26. 3 19 16. 6 12. 6 12. 2 Japan 11. 8 10. 1 11. 7 12. 5 10. 7 Europe 9. 7 9. 5 9. 8 SEAN 10. 3 8. 5 9 9. 6 9. 4 Graphic 2 Graphic 3 Graphic 4 As we can see, Australia has been lost the umber of Indian Students.Canada Shows that the country has the biggest growing the percentage of Indian Students, and New Zealand has been growing in a slow ways as also. â€Å"According to Fuller, the percentage of Indian students enrolling in New Zealand institutes has increased nearly 300 % in the last six years. In 1 998, only 150 Indian students enrolled. This figure rose to 2159 in 2002, and 7,263 new enrolments in 2008 and 9521 in 2009 . Nearest Galatia, CEO of oceanic Consultants, opines that Kiwi land offers the best and affordable education under the safest environment and an easy permanent residency.This is driving the growth of higher education in New Zealand from overseas students. The soaring numbers suggest that the economic downturn has not affected everyone. Says Nearest Galatia, â€Å"Both Australia and New Zealand offer safe learning environment with excellent study opportunities and support services for international students. Academic institutions in both the countries are world class and recognized globally. New Zealand enjoys a 20 per cent cost advantage over Australia which can make a huge difference in these tough times. Why the Indian Students are deciding for other countries? Despite the last facts that occurred in Australia, some Indian Students are choosing for other destinies. In the article from BBC News we can see that in Australia has been occurring a lot of racism acts against South Asian people. And the principal complain its because the students affirm that the Australia government do not punish racism acts how it suppose to do. â€Å"Indian students are going through a rough time at the moment.I witnessed the Harris Park episode [the scene of one attack]. The student was ready to give a statement, but the police didn't record it as he had failed to get the registration number of the attackers' car. Police are patrolling Harris Park and helicopters are also being used. Many people comment that it is waste of taxpayers' money. But they do not understand that these students pay hefty fees and taxes, more so than the whinnying locals. Victorian police says that the Indians attract attackers by flaunting their pods and laptops.But every second person has pods and laptops, so why do these attacks happen only to Indian people? Education is the third largest export of Australia. If the government cannot ensure the safety of the students who pay the fees, then they should give up the education trade† Paul Parkas, a manager in the telecoms industry, decided to return to India after feeling he was bullied by his Australian colleagues. † Before going to Australia lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, Holland and all major cities of India, but got the worst work place experience from Australia.My employer and management were very supportive but my colleagues hated me and bullied me. They created an unbearable environment just because got the highest I don't think it's a race problem. If it was, people from Africa and the Middle East would be affected too. The root cause of all this is the sudden rise Of the number Of Indian people in all levels Of society. Middle-aged Australians are worried about losing their jobs to young and educated immigrants from India. The government should be tough on people who spread hatred and violence in the society.Australians have to understand that their country is a home to many nationalities and their economy is doing well with the support of immigrants. Conclusion Australia is the best choose for a lot of students because of many facts: The whether, the language, the possibility to work legally the beautiful views and the life style. Casually is a important fact that brings a lot of money to the country and also brig people that work in some kinds of jobs that they do not have people interested and people enough to work on it. But Despite for Of this recently facts, Indians now are choosing other destinies.No one person will spend money in a place that maybe they can be offended just because of the color of the skin or the religion choose. The government should start to punish severally, that people that do not know how to lead in society . Shout to start to control who is working and what kind of conditions. Then Australia could be again the better destiny for people that want to study in other country, want to improve the language or want to leave new presences.

How To Write A Pitch Email That Will Get Your Guest Post Accepted

How To Write A Pitch Email That Will Get Your Guest Post Accepted Content marketers know guest blogging is important. It helps us build topical authority, reach new audiences, and increase brand exposure. However, even expert writers sometimes struggle to write strong outreach emails. This results in  guest post pitches getting rejected. Even worse, writers sometimes  fail to recognize their own missteps. This leads to frustration for over-pitched editors  and prospective writers  alike. Pitching guest posts doesn’t have to be a painful experience. It just takes practice and patience to get it right. Once you know how to pitch effectively, you can dramatically increase your success rates. The key is to take the time and care to do things right.  In this post, we’ll help you do just that while covering the following points: Generating  strong guest post ideas blog editors will want to publish. Understanding how  to  properly write and format pitch emails. Knowing which steps to take  once your pitch is accepted. By the time youve finished reading, youll know how to write a pitch email an editor will actually want to read. Download Your Guest Blogger Email  Pitching Kit We’ve put together three free downloadable resources to make writing successful pitches easier. This kit includes: An Email Pitch Template to ensure every email you send is properly structured. A Guest Blogging Target Spreadsheet to track your pitches and store blog contact information. A Guest Blogging Checklist to ensure you don’t miss a step when pitching posts to editors. Each of these pieces will help you apply the tips in this post. Pretty sweet, right? These three free resources will help you find greater guest blogging success:Start By Selecting Prospective Outlets  For Your Guest Posts Determining where you'd like to be published is the  first step. Figure this out before you do anything  else. Five Ways To Find Relevant Guest Blogging Outlets There are probably some big-name blogs you’d like to see your name on. However, if you’re not already a big-name brand, it may be tough to get their attention. This is where you need to get strategic. 1. Start with industry-leading blogs you already know.  It’s likely you’re already reading these blogs and interacting with their writers on social media. It might take time to get the attention of these outlets. However, it's good to keep them in mind, setting your long-term goals high. 2. Search Google and social media.  Use  industry-related keywords for Google and social media searches (start with Facebook and Twitter). This may help surface more blogs you can target. 3. Consider using BuzzSumo to research other blogs.  BuzzSumo is a helpful tool for finding top-performing content. Try a few searches for topics you’d like to write about. Then, see which outlets appear to get shared the most. These may be good targets to pitch. Use @BuzzSumo to research your guest blogging targets:4. Think about your partners and the products you use for professional purposes.  Are there any companies you work with? Do you (or your company) use any products or services to do your job? If so, check to see if those brands have active blogs. This can be a great way to leverage existing relationships to find guest blogging outlets. 5. Find overlap between your expertise and publications outside your industry.  Spend a little bit of time thinking of blogs and publications outside your niche that might be interested in what you write about. For example, general business publications can be a great fit for nearly any company (if you’re interested in sharing business tips). Recommended Reading:  25 Lessons From Guest Blogging For The Top Blogs In The World Next, Create A Guest Blogging Target Spreadsheet You’ll need a way to store editorial contact information and URLs for each prospective guest blogging target. That’s why we’ve included a Guest Blogging Target Template in this post. It includes the following fields: Blog / Publication Title Name Of Editor Contact Email Address / Contact Page URL Link To Editorial Guidelines Page (if available) Date Contacted Pitch Accepted / Declined Notes Here's what it looks like (it isn't fancy, but it works): Research Each Prospective Outlet Now it’s time to research each prospective target you’d like to pitch. The goal is to understand the following points: What does this blog cover? What types of content do they publish (informative, how-to, feature articles, etc.) How frequently do they publish new blog posts? How does their writing voice sound? Are they serious and professional? Fun and lighthearted? Something else completely? How long  are their posts, typically? Pro Tip: Many blogs have editorial guidelines they expect guest posts to follow. If they provide this information, it should help answer the above questions. These are often found in footer links or "Write For Us" sections. Prioritize Guest Blog Targets Based On Authority Now you have a long list of guest blog post targets. How do you prioritize which ones to target first? This can be challenging, especially if you haven’t had any guest posts previously published. One way to start is by looking at each blog’s Domain Authority. This is a metric generated by Moz (a popular SEO software platform). It measures the authority of blogs and websites based on how many backlinks they have (along with other considerations). This video from Barry Feldman helps explain why this is important: Install the Moz toolbar for Chrome. Here's what it looks like: Next, look for this DA score (the blue bar labelled DA). It measures a site's authoritativeness  on a 100-point scale. You can also use this tool to gauge your own Domain Authority. If you’ve never published a guest post, it may be best to start with blogs near or below your own level. Keep in mind that blogs with low DA scores may still be good guest blogging targets.  They may have low scores simply because they’re new (DA tends to build over time). Take a look at their site, and if they appear legitimate, give them fair consideration. If a blog or site looks like junk, however, don’t hesitate to cross them off your list. Next, list your targets in the order you’ll pitch to them. Start with blogs that offer the best mix of the following factors: Realistic Domain Authority score. This means blogs with a score comparable to your own. Strong topical alignment with what you’d like to write about. Once you have a few posts under your belt, you can start pitching more high authority outlets. Sometimes, slow and steady wins the race. How to Generate Strong Post Ideas We’ve done a lot of work, and we haven’t even started coming up with ideas. There’s a reason for that. You need to know your targets and understand their needs before you can start aligning ideas with their interests. Our 30-minute blog brainstorming process  is a great way to get lots of ideas fast (it’s technically not our own original concept, but one we’ve put our own spin on). Read this if you haven't yet. However, when it comes to pitching guest post ideas, there are some additional points to consider: Make sure your guest pitch addresses the interests of your target publication. Self-serving ideas get  trashed. Choose topics you can write about like a true authority. It’s okay if they’ll require some research on your part. Most blog posts should  require research anyway, even if you're an expert on your topic. Check to see if your targeted publication has already covered your topic. If they have, try to think of a unique angle. Approaching the  topic from a different perspective may still help add value. How To Develop An Interesting Angle Once you have an idea, you’ll need an angle. This means finding a specific, unique perspective on  your chosen topic. Let’s say you’re pitching a blog post about dog training techniques. This is a topic that has been covered countless times. Another run-of-the-mill post isn't going to cut it. In order to get your pitch accepted, you determine you’ll need an angle to make this topic feel fresh. Here are three simple techniques for refining your angle. 1. Find an aspect of your topic no one has covered yet. Do some research. Read as many existing articles on your topic you can find. Try to find a gap or perspective that hasn’t been covered yet. 2. Connect your topic to something that (at first) seems unrelated. This works best if you draw a connection between two topics that share similar audiences. For example, someone interested in dog training may also be interested in cleaning products (to sweep up dog hair and other messes). In this case, something like 8 Cleaning Products That Make Dog Training Easier may be something to consider. This is an unpolished hypothetical example, of course. However, you get the idea. 3. Tackle something timely. Identify trending topics. Then, find a perspective that’s missing. If every other post is talking about a given topic the same way, then differentiate your pitch. Pitches that are timely, relevant, and unique  are likely to appeal to an editor. Not sure if a topic is timely? Try entering related keywords into Google Trends. This  shows how popular your topic is based on actual data from Google. Are your guest post pitches getting rejected? You might just need a better angle: Recommended Reading: 150+ Blog Ideas That Will Absolutely Kill Writer's Block How to Construct a Pitch Email This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. We’re now ready to write a pitch email. Get ready to craft your masterpiece. A strong pitch email should include each of these items: Catchy subject line Unique angle Introductory hook High-level body summary Your proposed format (List, Feature, etc.) References to research In addition, your pitch email should clearly convey why your post will be interesting to readers. It should include, in detailed terms, exactly what value an editor’s audience will get from your piece. Are you formatting your guest blogging outreach emails  correctly? Find out here:Step 1: Write A Strong Subject Line Editors are busy. Give them a reason to read your email. Start with a good subject line. Don’t just write â€Å"Pitch† or â€Å"Guest Blog Submission† in the subject line field without context. Include a hypothetical headline or something to hook an editor’s interest. Strong Example: Pitch: 8 Ways To Train A New Puppy Weak Example: Guest Post For Your Consideration Step 2: Include An Introductory Hook Your opening paragraph should hook an  editor's interest right away. Here are a few different ways to do this: Establish a problem your post will solve. Pose a question your post will answer. Describe a scenario your post will discuss. Here are some theoretical examples: Example 1: Establish A Problem Puppies are lots of fun. However, training one can be a challenge. From wetting the floor to tearing up furniture, your new furry friend may leave you tearing your hair out. Example 2: Pose A Question Rawhide bones are a popular dog treat. However, how were they first invented? The history of rawhide dog bones is one filled with mystery and intrigue. Example 3: Describe A Scenario You’ve just gotten home from work. When you walk in the kitchen, you discover your new puppy has knocked over your garbage can. This is just one of many common complaints amongst new pup parents. These are just a few ideas to get you thinking. How do you get a blog editor to read your pitch? Start with a strong intro hook:Step 3: Incorporate At Least One Detailed Body Paragraph This is where you dig into the meat of your post. Include key details and references to outside research (if applicable). However, keep it clear and simple. Don’t make an editor struggle to understand what your pitch is about. Here is an example (incorporating one of the intro examples above): Puppies are lots of fun. However, training one can be a challenge. From wetting the floor to tearing up furniture, your new furry friend may leave you tearing your hair out. Fortunately, even the worst puppies can be perfect angels with the right training. In fact, top animal trainers at the University of Dog Studies suggest following these five steps  (note: underline intended to indicate link to outside research): Positive reinforcement Crate training Loose-leash walking Proper socialization Plenty of nap time This post will explain how to apply each of these tips. This will help exasperated readers train their dogs better and faster with less stress. You’ll notice this paragraph accomplishes a few key goals: It tells the editor specifically what this post will be about. It clearly conveys benefits to the reader. It supports its claims by referencing external research. Step 4: Tie It Together With A Short Conclusion The conclusion offers one more opportunity to reiterate the value of your pitch. Keep it short and sweet. Example: Please let me know if your readers would be interested in learning about these scientifically-proven puppy training tips. That’s all it takes. Step 5: Include An Appropriate Salutation And Email Signature This is simple enough. Typically, "Best Regards" (or its shorter cousin, "Best"), is appropriate. Be sure to include each of the following too: Name Job title Organization Phone number (optional) Portfolio or blog author page link (optional) Social media links (optional) Step 6: Ensure Your Email Is Properly Formatted There is nothing worse than embarrassing yourself with simple formatting mistakes. Follow these tips to make a good impression: Use a single font all the way through your email. Clearly break out paragraphs. Don’t send an editor a wall of text. Use short, clear paragraphs to make your point. Include a personalized greeting. A simple Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. [INSERT EDITOR’S LAST NAME] works. Make sure your email signature is clearly formatted. Here's what your final pitch might look like: How To Deliver  Your Outreach Email You’re now ready to send your pitch. Sending an email may  seem simple enough. However, there are  some best practices to follow to increase your odds for success. Find The Right Contact Information For The Right Editor Browse your target blog's Contact Us page. This will help ensure you have the right email address for your pitch. Some blogs may also have a form to complete. Make sure you figure out which is the case. In some situations, a blog may have multiple editors. Each editor might have their own focus area. Do some research to see which editor covers topics most closely related to your pitch. Some blogs may even have a catch-all submission form. In this case, simply copy and paste your message where appropriate. Know When To Send Your Pitch Email The best time to send a pitch email is typically on a weekday morning. This shows you’re up and working hard early in the morning. It’s also the time editors are most likely checking their email. Avoid pitching late at night or on weekends. This is likely to annoy an editor. Don't  send an email late at night, thinking they’ll see it first thing in the morning. Nobody wants their phone to buzz because of a new email when they're trying to sleep. When Should You Follow Up After Pitching? If you don’t get a prompt response, wait at least a week to follow up. Editors get a lot of email, and it may take them time to see yours. One follow-up email is usually enough to get their attention in case they missed your first message. Anything more than that is annoying. They’re likely either too busy to accept your pitch, or they’re simply not interested. Either way, you’re better off moving on (and maybe trying your pitch somewhere else). How to Write Your Post To Match An Editor’s Style Standards Once an editor accepts your pitch, it’s time to write your post. Different blogs have different style standards and expectations. Failing to meet an editor’s expectations can result in posts being rejected or requiring heavy editing. Get it right the first time. Follow these tips: Tip 1: Ask The Editor For Their Style Guide They will probably provide this to you before you need to ask. However, if they don’t, then do ask. Be sure to check their website for contributor guidelines. Tip 2: Remember, You’re Writing For Someone Else What’s acceptable on your blog might  not be  on another. If in doubt, ask. Tip 3: Avoid Excessively Linking Back To Yourself Most blogs frown on this. It’s self-serving and may even have negative SEO implications. Instead, find other relevant blog posts to link to on your host’s blog. The editor and their readers will appreciate it. Follow these best practices before pitching your next guest blog post:What To Do After Your Post Publishes Your work isn't done once your  blog post is published. Go the extra mile with these simple steps: Post-Publish Step 1: Promote The Post On Your Own Social Channels Your host blog will likely promote your post on social media. Don’t make them do all the work though. Share it through your own channels too. Consider including it in your email newsletter as well. Post-Publish Step 2: Respond To Comments On The Host Blog Engage with readers. Respond to every comment you receive. This is a best practice for blogging in general. It’s also a good way to show appreciation for the opportunity to write on someone else’s blog. Post-Publish Step 3: Thank Your Editor A short  "thank you" email can go a long way. A short email or social media message will do. Recommended Reading: This Is The Ultimate Blog Writing Process To Create Killer Posts What To Do If Your Email Pitch Gets Rejected Rejection is part of pitching to editors. Not every guest post you pitch will be accepted (unless you’re superhuman). Use rejections as a learning experience so you can do better next time. Tip 1: Accept Constructive Feedback If an editor offers feedback, take it to heart. Listen to what they didn’t like about your pitch, and remember it for next time. It doesn’t necessarily mean your idea sucks. It just means it wasn’t the right fit for that particular blog. Tip 2: Ask Yourself What You Could Have Done Better Take a step back and honestly analyze your pitching process. Was your pitch missing key details? Was your topic misaligned with your prospective audience? Did you just straight up get the editor’s name wrong? There are an endless number of things that can go wrong when pitching. Make note of your mistakes so you won’t make them again. Tip 3: Keep Pitching Guest Posts Pitching guest posts is an art form. It takes practice to get it right. Don't let  failure today stop you from succeeding tomorrow. Don't let failure today stop you from succeeding tomorrow. Now Write  Better Guest Blog Post Pitch Emails Pitching successful guest posts isn’t easy. However, you now have the knowledge and tools to succeed. Best of luck!

American Graffiti essays

American Graffiti essays Can you recall the very last night that you spent with your high school buddies before packing your bags up and leaving for college? The film American Graffiti can help you revisit this night by recreating both the terrible and great times you once experienced. The film is based around a closely knit group of teenagers who will all be leaving each other the next day while adventuring off in their separate directions. This gang of teenagers, despite their differences, all go out together and share their last memorable evening together before splitting up. Many events take place during the course of this last evening together. Throughout the night, friendships are strengthened, conflicting struggles arise, and romances are created and disrupted. Curt Henderson who is a very intelligent man, faces several troubling conflicts. First, Curt must decide if he will accept a large scholarship he has won and attend an eastern coast college. The scholarship would financially help him out, but he begins to have doubts about succeeding there, and would rather attend a local college. However, if he attends a local college, his best friend Steve who had been planning on attending the eastern coast college together, will become terribly upset. Another struggle arises when Curt sees a long-blonde hair women driving a white thunder bird lip motion the words I Love You to him. Curts heart throbs out for this gorgeous babe, and he is determined to chase her around all night and track her down. Unfortunately he receives a rude awakening when this woman tells him that she cant meet him. Curt learns that beauty isnt everything and realizes that his girlfriend Laurie is great match for him. The Pharaohs initiate Curts final conflict. The gang wishes for Curt to join their group and forces him to pull a couple of pranks. However, after successfully completing the pranks, he doe...

4 Ways to Make a Short Resume Longer

4 Ways to Make a Short Resume Longer Resume too short? The first question to ask yourself is probably the ever controversial â€Å"one page or two†? The debate rages on, but all you need to decide is how long your resume should be. If you’re fairly advanced in your career and have more pertinent experience than you can fit onto one page, then two (or more) pages is encouraged. If you’re starting out, however, the general rule of one-page should probably still apply. Either way, if you feel your resume is a little on the thin side, and not quite at the length you think is most appropriate, here are four tips to beefing it out.1. Add your achievementsYour achievements can be just as relevant as where you went to school. Try to find a way to put them in context. Include a few statements to show how your particular strengths and achievements prove that you have what it takes for a particular job. You can also list any major accomplishments in previous jobs (or really any instances in which your performa nce was remarkable- and relevant).2. Add to your work historyYour work history is one of the first and most important things a potential hirer will look at on your resume. If you don’t have numerous relevant job titles to list, you can include work experience you gained in internships or training programs over the course of your education. You could even include volunteer experience here. The most important thing is to make sure each thing you do list adds to the picture of you as a viable candidate for a particular job. Flesh out the descriptions of what you did and learned in each previous position to paint a broader picture of your qualifications.3. Say more about your skillsWhen in doubt, add extra skills. If you have two or three listed, make it four, or even five. Just make sure to choose these well. Read job descriptions carefully and choose the skills that will best set you up for impressing the hiring manager and landing yourself an interview.4. Include your hobbiesT his is sometimes controversial, but a good bet if you’re running short on content. If you have any particularly fascinating hobbies or interests- particularly ones which drawn on, broaden, or expand your relevant skills and strengths and experience- then these can be included on your resume. It gives recruiters insight into your personality and can be a great way of showing (subtly) how you’d fit within a company culture.Choose wisely. But don’t be shy of adding some of these extra details to augment your chances of getting the job.

Educating Young Adults about Sex Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Educating Young Adults about Sex - Essay Example The learning stresses on both the vices and virtues of sex. It gives a background alongside which one develops into responsible and health grown-up capable of utilizing the inborn sex nature to the fullest capability, without getting obsessed by it. It allows one to recognize and become comfortable with individual’s sexuality. The rise in a number of young adults infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus according to the World Health Organization is attributed to the lack of sexual understanding by the young adults. This understanding can only be fully achieved through the introduction of sex education in the society. Successful sex Education plans for the young adults have common elements necessary for a healthy living in the modern world. Wieland and Jeune (pg78) the current world was formed by traditional people. Such people considered sexuality and sex as an offensive topic of discussion for people who are not married. On contrary Kirdy and Moira (pg 90) asserts that there is great need to have sex education offered to the young adults. Young adults do engage in sexual practices and therefore sexual education should not be meant for the married only. Initially, there was little importance attach to sex education for the young adults. Klein and Measor (pg 47) assert that it was until early 20th century that the world and the society started giving attention to the females. They started receiving more appreciations from their male counterparts. As a result, they started receiving same education in a school with the male students. The traditional role they played in the society was further uncalculated by introducing some added curriculum for the female students.According to Fielder (pg 44), the average marriage age has been delayed due to the carrier –oriented advance in life.  

Domino's Pizza Media Crisis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Domino's Pizza Media Crisis - Research Paper Example The women holding the camera spoke the following vulgar words while filming the video: â€Å"We all have our secret ingredient....and in about five minutes they will be sent out on delivery where somebody will be eating these. Yes, eating em. And little did they know that cheese was in his nose and that there was some lethal gas that ended up on their salami. Now, that’s how we roll at Domino’s.† (Actual words of Kristie Hammonds). (Jacques 2009). What made matters worse was that both employees, the female holding the camera and the man performing various disgusting acts of contamination with the food, were in Domino’s uniform. The video was shot during working hours and the female employee repeatedly claimed that the contaminated food would soon reach innocent, unsuspecting customers. There were a total of five videos uploaded on YouTube by Kristie Hammond and they went viral within the span of a few minutes. One of the video was of 2.26 minutes duration and was named Domino’s Pizzas Special Ingredients, and showed Michael Setzer passing gas on salami and sticking pieces of cheese up his nose before inserting them into a sandwich. Meanwhile, Kristie joked consistently and claimed that food contamination occurs daily at Domino’s. The other videos were titled Sneeze Sticks, Poopie Dishes and Domino’s Pizza Burger. One of the videos also showed the name of the customer to which Kristie narrates, that the contaminated food would be delivered to. Later, the employees stated that the videos were a prank and none of the food they delivered was actually tempered with. However, the damage was done and the video was much talked about and many online conversations on Facebook and Twitter made it the foci of their attention and this was the primary reason why the issue became a social media crisis. By April 15, the first page offered on Google search for ‘Dominos’ contained at least five out of twelve reference s of the food tampering video on YouTube. (Jacques 2009). Objectives: For the first 24 hours, Domino’s executives did nothing in the hope that the issue would resolve by itself. However, when this did not happen, the executives were forced into action. The first objective in reversing the damage done to their Company was the identification and the subsequent dismissing of the two employees, Kristie Hammonds and Michael Setzer. The second objective was to contact the local authorities and issue a warrant for their arrest. The third objective was the removal of the food tampering video from YouTube and to contact the consumerist and goodasyou.org, two popular blog sites. The fourth objective was to call the local health department for the inspection of N.C. Domino’s store, where the video was filmed. The fifth objective was the issuance of a formal press release and the creation of an account on Twitter to issue responses to online conversations and to dedicate time in r eassuring customers about the fact that this was an isolated incidence and strict safety and cleanliness measures were followed at all Domino’s stores. The sixth objective was to launch an apology video on YouTube featuring the President of Domino’s. (Jaffe 2010). Programming: On 13 April, Domino’s headquarters was alerted for the first time about the disturbing videos posted on YouTube. The first person at Domino’s to learn about the videos on was the company’

Should governments use positive discrimination policies to increase Essay

Should governments use positive discrimination policies to increase the representation of women and ethnic minorities - Essay Example There have been arguments that a similar thing, defined as positive discrimination or affirmative action, should also happen for ethnic minorities and should be expanded for women (Anderson, 2014: p22). The prejudice against women and ethnic minorities in representation is undisputed and positive discrimination represents the best way to redress the disparity in the short term. Today, there exists a vicious circle in which ethnic minorities and women prefer not to stand for elections, due to prejudicial attitudes against them (Pincus, 2013: p27). Positive discrimination is the best way to offer them encouragement to run for office and, if one or two generations are given the opportunity to run through positive discrimination, this would push forward the agenda and need not be a permanent measure. There are those who argue that the coming generations need role models, rather than individuals running for election to make up the numbers, especially claiming that ethnic minorities and women are capable of election without help from male colleagues (Cohen et al, 2007: p38). However, given the prevalent institutional racism and sexism in the UK, for example, it would be very difficult for women these groups to make it past the selection committee. Implementing positive discrimination for elective posts would also enable ethnic minorities and women to speak on issues that only they can, such as workplace inequalities and the family (Mosley & Capaldi, 2011: p40). These topics are still seen as being of less importance to the more preferred foreign and economic policies. By using positive discrimination, more ethnic minorities and women will be elected, encouraging social policy debate. Opponents of this strategy contend that even where female politicians are elected to public office, such as Angela Merkel and Margaret Thatcher, they still deal with topics that are traditionally male (Daye, 2011: p42). The same can be said of

Economics for Transport Manager Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Economics for Transport Manager - Essay Example Besides the use of the sector in production purposes, it has great importance amongst the consumer class of the society. Transportation cost holds a significant amount in consumer’s budget. Moreover transportation costs determine the price of products with increase in the former, contributing to simultaneous increase in the later. Thus the main aim of this paper is to discuss the different aspects of transport economics along with identifying the importance of the sector in every economic transaction. Pricing in the transport sector of the economy depends on different and continuously changing factors. The factors that have been identified are the type of the transport, the different types of industry and the countries and towns in which the transport sector is functioning. Moreover the pricing mechanism of the private transport industry differs from that of public transport. Thus there arises the need of discussing the two different price mechanisms of average cost pricing an d marginal cost pricing for the transport industry. (Jansson & Martinsson, 2003, p6) Difference between average cost pricing of a monopolist and marginal cost pricing Average cost pricing is referred as the procedure of charging price by a monopoly. If P is the price of the monopolist and AC is the average cost then the approach of average cost pricing of monopolist is accomplished where P = AC. In case of average cost pricing the firm enjoys zero profit. In transportation, setting price equal to average costs means the provider will offer the service when the value of providing the service is at least equal to the average cost of the same. (Haworth, n.d) P A AC P=AC MC D O MR Q (Haworth n.d) In this diagram... It is clear, that transport is a significant sector of the economy. The paper therefore discusses the economics of the transport sector applicable to business perspectives. Firstly, the paper focuses on mechanisms of setting standard price as are used in this sector. Identifying the price mechanisms and the importance of a proper market structure to the management are the subsequent topics of discussion. Competition has been identified as essential for efficient functioning of a market. Truly being applicable for the transport sector of the economy, the next topic of discussion of the paper is the importance of competitive laws and the effect of improperly designed competitive laws on economic functioning with its applicability to the transport sector. Transportation holds a significant position in the consumer basket and increase in its cost affects the consumer price index. Moreover transportation acts as a tool in maintaining stability of the economy through proper distribution of goods and services. Improper functioning of the sector may lead to the increase in price of products through the increase in transportation costs. Thus the importance of transportation in the economy as well as in the life of common people is the main focus of this paper. To conclude it can be said that transportation is a sector that has huge importance in every aspects of economy. The costs of transport which is in turn dependant on fuel have a cascading impact on all other products and services.

Find out in great detail about the quotes Research Paper

Find out in great detail about the quotes - Research Paper Example Capa was urging photographers to get near and feel the energy of their subjects, which is likely to deliver a more intimate and emotional image with considerable impact to the viewer. In the same token as cultural objects, photographers derive meaning from their context with the most essential aspect in photography being to interact naturally with the subject (Marien 281). The composition of photography can be dictated by the photographer’s position relative to the subject. Indeed, up close snap shots isolates and puts emphasis on the subject, but the photographer should live room for cropping without distortion of the subjects and the surroundings. James Nachtwey James Nachtwey has covered stories from a war zone in places such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, and South Africa. The images of destruction and slaughter inspired James to become a war photographer. The quote expresses the significance of pictures in bearing testimony for the photographer and all humanity, and the events captured by the camera lens provide irrefutable evidence, especially during war times (Marien 289). Pictures provided a living proof of events and a permanent proof that cannot be forgotten. Pictures capture both good and bad times can be employed as an advocacy tool, especially highlighting things that cannot be forgotten, and which must not be repeated. ... Pictures offer inferential anchoring and representation to enable the audience the experiences depicted, besides acting as a testimony (Warner 86). Robert Frank Frank’s photography gained prominence at a time when the sphere of American existentialism and Beat generation hauteur was at its peak, at a time when there was an emphasis on cool, self-absorbed rebelliousness within the face of narrow social conformity. As such, Frank can be considered as part of a wide artistic resistance movement seeking to use photography as a vehicle that expresses their creative self (Marien 340). The quote emphasizes the role of individuals to exploit photography as a potent tool that photographers can exploit to exhibit their creative self, but the photographer is not truly alone but in the company of his or her subjects. Photography provides a process of self-discovery and introspection; moreover, photography provides individuals with a stage on which they can share intimate visual experience s with others. Indeed, photography is an intensely personal journey, whereby in creating an image and disclosing the images to others, individuals are also disclosing a part of what is inside them. The images and descriptions aids individuals to gain insight into their own potential for generating own potential for creative and highly personal image making. Duane Michals Michals argue that the best part of individuals is not what they see, but what they feel. Individuals are not their eyeballs but their mind; hence, people have the capacity to define their medium, instead of waiting for the medium to define them. The most powerful aspect of photographs lies in making people see things in new ways. Photographers should pave  the way  by

Marketing 301 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing 301 - Essay Example Each business organization wants to set a price which does not just cover all the costs incurred by the company but will also generate a sizable mark-up for the company. The profitability objective will be taken into account by having a sensitivity analysis which looks at the changes in profit when prices and volume varies. It should be noted that volume sales is often inversely related to price, that is, the lower the price the higher the volume and vice versa. In order to meet the volume objective, I will make sure that the price set will encourage the purchase of the desired volume. Next, in order to meet the competition objective, I will conduct a survey of the pricing of the different brands in the market to make sure that the price charged is at par with the local industry. Lastly, the pricing should support the prestige objective. Recognizing that the young women's apparel store should have a trendy and chic image, prices should not be kept too low in order to create this imag e. Low prices are often equated with lower quality and mediocrity. 2. Based on the direct mail marketing materials that I have found, a lot of firms are utilizing psychological pricing in order to entice customers in buying their products. Blouses are often priced around $5.99 or $8.95 in order to have the effect of being cheaper than it really is. This pricing strategy seems to be very consistent with competing firms like Wal-Mart and even Target.

Find out in great detail about the quotes Research Paper

Find out in great detail about the quotes - Research Paper Example Capa was urging photographers to get near and feel the energy of their subjects, which is likely to deliver a more intimate and emotional image with considerable impact to the viewer. In the same token as cultural objects, photographers derive meaning from their context with the most essential aspect in photography being to interact naturally with the subject (Marien 281). The composition of photography can be dictated by the photographer’s position relative to the subject. Indeed, up close snap shots isolates and puts emphasis on the subject, but the photographer should live room for cropping without distortion of the subjects and the surroundings. James Nachtwey James Nachtwey has covered stories from a war zone in places such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, and South Africa. The images of destruction and slaughter inspired James to become a war photographer. The quote expresses the significance of pictures in bearing testimony for the photographer and all humanity, and the events captured by the camera lens provide irrefutable evidence, especially during war times (Marien 289). Pictures provided a living proof of events and a permanent proof that cannot be forgotten. Pictures capture both good and bad times can be employed as an advocacy tool, especially highlighting things that cannot be forgotten, and which must not be repeated. ... Pictures offer inferential anchoring and representation to enable the audience the experiences depicted, besides acting as a testimony (Warner 86). Robert Frank Frank’s photography gained prominence at a time when the sphere of American existentialism and Beat generation hauteur was at its peak, at a time when there was an emphasis on cool, self-absorbed rebelliousness within the face of narrow social conformity. As such, Frank can be considered as part of a wide artistic resistance movement seeking to use photography as a vehicle that expresses their creative self (Marien 340). The quote emphasizes the role of individuals to exploit photography as a potent tool that photographers can exploit to exhibit their creative self, but the photographer is not truly alone but in the company of his or her subjects. Photography provides a process of self-discovery and introspection; moreover, photography provides individuals with a stage on which they can share intimate visual experience s with others. Indeed, photography is an intensely personal journey, whereby in creating an image and disclosing the images to others, individuals are also disclosing a part of what is inside them. The images and descriptions aids individuals to gain insight into their own potential for generating own potential for creative and highly personal image making. Duane Michals Michals argue that the best part of individuals is not what they see, but what they feel. Individuals are not their eyeballs but their mind; hence, people have the capacity to define their medium, instead of waiting for the medium to define them. The most powerful aspect of photographs lies in making people see things in new ways. Photographers should pave  the way  by

Strategic Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words

Strategic Marketing - Essay Example Figure 1: Effectiveness of analysis tools (Source: Ferrell, Hartline, 2008, p. 119) Of the four elements of the SWOT analysis Strength is the most effective element which is needed to be evaluated by the company. Identifying the strength of the firm gives better understanding of the market scenario in accordance to the company’s position. With more strong position in the market the company will be able to minimize its weaknesses in the market. Also SWOT analysis facilitates the company to find new opportunities in the field which shows stronger position for the company. As for example if a company has strong financial condition it’s a good opportunity for the firm to invest into expansion strategy as the strategic plan. When a company has good understanding of its strength and weaknesses the company will also be able to cater with the threats which might arise in the business process. But conducting a SWOT analysis is not an easy task for the organization. Several issue s might arise in the process. ... Planning and estimation of the business activities can help the company to understand the prospect of the new business and act and implement accordingly for building strong base into the market. Cash Flow Forecasting is one of the most important plans for the company to document its planning process. Calculating the Break Even point in the business can give a good start for the company as it is the point where the expenses equal the sales revenue generated by the company. At first the company needs to calculate the fixed cost of the different operations and then the variable costs of the goods like labor, materials etc. Then estimation of the output production unit will then help to calculate the breakeven point of the firm by dividing Fixed Cost with the difference of Unit price and Unit Cost of the product. The projected balance sheet of the company will give a snapshot of the assets and the liabilities of the company along with the equities involved in the business. The company ne eds to forecast its sales and income statement to understand its profitability position in the business process. Here is an example of a breakeven point where the portion above the line represents profit where as below the line represents loss for the company. Figure 2: Break Even Point graph (Source: British Columbia, n.d., p. 16) QUESTION 3 Identify Two (2) Malaysian companies that you believe have high brand quality. Why do you suggest so? Give reasons to support your answer. How does having high brand equity help them compete against competing companies? In service industry the most crucial factor for conducting business in a competitive environment is maintaining customer relationship through quality service and maintaining high brand value in the mind of the

What Does the Fence Represent in Frences Essay Example for Free

What Does the Fence Represent in Frences Essay In reality, people have certain things that they carry around or have in their homes that will give them what they need to be in a comforting state of mind. In the play Fences by August Wilson, this item happens to literally be a partially built fence around a dirt yard with a raggedy looking house in the center of it. Each family member sees the fence a little differently and provides a certain symbolic perspective on what it has to do with their family. Cory, who is Troy and Rose’s son, sees this fence as just another chore that his mom and dad are constantly making him go out of his way to help build and complete this fence. He doesn’t necessarily have much meaning behind how he sees it, but just gets annoyed when his parents ask him to help build it. In connection to this, Troy states to Cory, â€Å"Your first chore is to help me with this fence on Saturday. Everything else comes after that† (Wilson 31). Instead of going to football practice, Troy is making Cory help him build this fence. Troy wants Cory to work hard and have a good future, and by not letting him play football, he’ll have a better sense on knowledge in the real world. On the other hand, Cory’s mom Rose has a different perspective on it. She states, â€Å"Jesus, be a fence around me every day. Jesus, I want you to protect me as I travel on my way† (Wilson 21). Rose sees the fence as a holy protective shield amongst herself, her house, and her family. She will feel safe when she sees the fence being built and protecting her from this. Finally, Troy takes much pride in this fence, which is why he always is working on it or having Cory help him with it. Since the fence takes ultimately ten years to finally be completed, it symbolizes the partially built factor. The fence represents a wall that hold it’s the family and keeps unwanted things out. However since it is only partially built, problems are still probable to come in and invade their family.

Causes of Poverty in Canada | Essay

Causes of Poverty in Canada | Essay Poverty in a section of Canadian society remains a major concern, with the nation scoring one of the highest poverty rates among the highly industrialized and wealthiest nations (CBC, 2013). The government of Canada, in a bid to help reduce the poverty level, has been making efforts to set up wide range of social welfare programs, including universal public education systems, universal medical systems, minimum wage among others (Conference Board of Canada, 2013).It has, however, been argued that poverty depends on individuals and that the poor are only so because they wish. These steps imply that the government structural adjustment of socio-political structures may not save the prevailing situations. Against the background of the controversial source of poverty, this paper explores some of the causes of poverty in Canada, with a special attention of whether the poor can be so out of their wish. The paper argues that even though some personal attributes may account for the poor, pove rty is also a product of structural malfunctions, and however much individuals reform poverty will persist if corresponding structural adjustments are not made. Explaining the Poverty in Canada Poverty in a developed state like Canada can be explained from various theoretical standpoints. Some scholars view poverty as a product of personal failure so that the poor remain so because of their personal limitations and traits (Lusted, 2010). This school of thought stem from the notion of meritocracy, which assert that the rewards in the society are given based on merit. From this perspective, the rich are so because they poses unique personal attributes that the poor do not have, and the superior traits or characteristics that attract of societal reward with good earnings and wealth (Lusted, 2010). Going by meritocracy, the poor Canadians are those who have personal traits that limit them from utilizing the money making opportunities available. Such trait could include laziness, poor attitude or low educational attainment. Following this perspective the poor have simply failed to pull out of poverty, not because of any structural or societal failure, but essentially of the poor s personal failure. This notion is reflected in the resistance to socio-economic programs that Canadian government has sought to put in places such as progressive income tax system, minimum wage laws and child credits. The opponents of such programs argue that by letting the poor benefit the support, at the expense of those economically endowed, the government is rewarding personal failure. The notion of meritocracy and the view that poverty is an evitable personal failure should be treated with caution. Indeed, the Canadian society and the rest of the world are becoming highly competitive. Individuals need to have high educational attainment and adequate training to secure well-paying jobs. Those who venture into entrepreneurship equally have to be diligent and innovative to survive business competition and avoid being edged out of the competition. However, it proceeds from an assumption that personal efforts and capability are all needed for wealth creation. This is a wrong and misleading assumption. Entrepreneurs, for instance, need not only enterprising skills but also capital and at times land to start up and run their businesses. Accessing capital remains challenging too many Canadians, more so for those who have no security and good social network to help raise the same (Raphael, 2011). Similarly, those seeking to be employed could have high academic qualificatio ns but the employment opportunities that match their qualifications would be very scarce (Raphael, 2011). This leads to unemployment and underemployment, which increases the poverty level. There is also evidence that structural adjustments in Canada have slowed down and reduce the nation’s poverty rate. For instance, according to Conference Board of Canada (2013) reduced tax burden on the low income earning Canadians has helped limit poverty rate by up to 11 percent. Without this social relief, the Board estimates that Canadian poverty rate would now be standing at 23 percent rather than the 12 percent as it stood in 2013.This evidence disapproves the concept that poverty is associated with personal limitations because the adjustments were on structures rather than peoples traits. An alternative view is that poverty in Canada is mainly attributed to key economic and social structural failings. According to structural theorists, poverty in a society is a product of failures at the structural levels of the society (Rank, Yoon Hirschl, 2003). Structures in society refer to social, economic and political institutions, policies and programs. Ideally, these structures should be designed in accordance with the demands and circumstances of the society. That way, there will be structural fit between the structures and limitations they are designed to remedy or goals they are designed to achieve. When the systems fail to meet the goals, needs and demands they are meant to address, or when the structures turn out to be insufficient a structural failure occurs with adverse societal consequences (Rank et al., 2003). In the context of Canada, key social and economic structures include labor market, government policies, social safety nets and resource allocation among others. One of the failures that could explain Canadian poverty is the failure in the labor market to provide adequate job that would raise adequate pay and keep Canadian families out of the poverty (Raphael, 2011). Though Canada has relatively low unemployment level, the job market is relatively saturated so that a substantial population are absorbed in low paying part time jobs with fewer benefits (Rank et al., 2013). If the labor market would offer full time, well-paying jobs with benefits. Then the poverty level would drop. The minimum wage is equally fixed at a low rate that would hardly sustain families outside the poverty level. Few social safety net and devotion of fewer resources to helping the poor are yet further explanations of Canadian poverty. Evidence by Conference Board of Canada (2013) gives strong evidence that had Canadian government not set a progressive tax system with more relief to the poor, the poverty level would be far much higher than it is today. Without socially-driven tax relief, the Board estimates that Canadian poverty rate would now be standing at 23 percent rather than the 12 percent as it stood in 2013. Similarly, various social programs such as mandatory employment insurance programs and transfer programs from the poor to the old have lessen the poverty level evidence in reduction of income inequality by 27 percent away from what it would currently be. Conclusion To conclude, while personal failures could explain isolated cases of poverty in Canada, Canadian poverty is mainly due to structural failures. Personal traits are just but one of the several determinants of wealth creation. However hard working, enterprising and well-educated Canadians may be, they can hardly get outside the poverty cycle without adequate and proper social and economic structures. Some of the social and economic structural adjustments are already helping reduce poverty rates significantly, confirming the view that structural failures would escalate poverty rate. References CBC. (2013,February 1). Canada dwindling behind on poverty, variation, says report Canada ranked 7th in 17 developed countries. CBC. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/02/01/business-canada-society-report-card.html. Conference Board of Canada. (2013). Children Poverty. Ottawa, ON: Conference of Canada. Lusted, M. A. (2010).Poverty. Edina, Minn.: ABDO Pub Rank, M.R., Yoon, H., Hirschl, T.A. (2003). American Poverty a Structural Failing. Evidence and Arguments. Journal of Social and Socialology Welfare30(4): 3–29. Raphael, D. (2011).Poverty in Canada: Implications of Health Quality of Life, 2nd edition. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.

Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club Essay -- Essays Papers

Joy Luck Club The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, is a powerful portrayal of four Chinese women and the lives of their children in America. The book discusses the conflicting cultures between the United States and China, and how men treat women throughout their lives. People living in the United States usually take for granted their roles as a male or female. The culture of each country shapes the treatment one receives based on the sex of the individual. There are obvious differences within the different cultures. These differences show themselves in the work force, the distinct tasks performed in the home, and the privileges one receives in society. In the work force, the women of America hold many positions of importance. They are usually treated as equals with men and there are few jobs from which they are excluded. In China, women are expected to stay at home and are not permitted to be in a work force that is held exclusively for men. The women of America receive fair wages and have earned the right to work with men. In China, women are assigned the role of housewives and must stay at home to clean the house and raise the children. Women in America receive educations that will prepare them for the high paying jobs of a professional. The women in China are known for taking orders from their husbands. Another feature that is found to be different in China from America is the different roles women take in the home. The author explains that a Chinese woman is expecte...

Mansfield’s Short Stories Essay

This article discusses how emotions are depicted in two Katherine Mansfield’s short stories, †Bliss† and †Taking the Veil†. Emotions are mapped through linguistic markers such as adjectives and adverbs that imply a character’s emotional response to story events. The study focuses on narratorial discourse and distinguishes between verbalized speech and thought (free indirect discourse) and non-verbalised thought-processes (psycho-narration). The analysis is carried out by studying the deictic centre or the perspective in the short stories. The study shows that passages of psycho-narration and free indirect discourse are rich in emotional language, including such features as interjections, repetition and orthographic markers. 1. Introduction Emotions often play a significant role in depicting a literary character’s mind. This study discusses how characters’ emotions are depicted in two Katherine Mansfield’s short stories, †Bliss† and †Taking the Veil†.1 The focus is on those sections in Mansfield’s stories that depict characters’ psyches and feelings. The analysis maps the features that imply the presence of consciousness or perspective in Katherine Mansfield’s texts. The analysis is carried out by studying linguistic features such as adjectives, adverbs and orthography to find out whose consciousness and emotions are depicted in the text. Consciousness report is an umbrella term for several techniques that share some common features in depicting characters’ consciousness. This study focuses on the interplay between psycho-narration, the narrator’s rendering of characters’ psyches or their non-verbalised thought processes, and free ind irect discourse, the narrator’s indirect quotation of the words that the characters say or think, their verbalised speech or thought. Both free indirect discourse and psycho-narration depict character speech within the framework of third person narrative, and in Mansfield’s stories characters’ feelings are often filtered through the narrator’s discourse . 2 There are also feelings that the characters may be unaware of but that the narrator reports to the reader. For this reason, the focus of the study is on the narrator’s description of characters’ emotions, as psycho-narration and free indirect discourse are narrator’s discourse by nature. The differences between psycho-narration and free indirect discourse are illustrated in another example from Mansfield, a story called †The Doll’s House† (see subsection 2.3). In analysing characters’ emotions perspective plays an important role. Perspective tells the reader whose point of view is adopted in the text. Perspective is realised through visuo-spatial or temporal indicators that are also called deictic features (see subsection 2.1). The first aim of the analysis is to pinpoint the deictic features that imply the presence of consciousness or emotional involvement in †Bliss† and †Taking the Veil†. The second aim is to study consciousness report that is often marked by reporting devices such as evaluative adjectives and adverbs, or other perspective-building elements such as backshifting of tenses and orthographic markers. The analysis is based on linguistic evidence in sections of psycho-narration or free indirect discourse with reference to characters’ emotions and emotional changes. When a fictional character’s feelings change, the readers may also change their views of that character (Miall and Kuiken 2001: 291). Thus, changing emotions affect the reader’s interpretation of the story. The next section takes a closer look at the linguistic features that indicate characters’ emotions depicted in psycho-narration and free indirect discourse. 2. Linguistic Features in the Representation of Character Emotions This section discusses linguistic features that imply psycho-narration and free indirect discourse. In the first subsection, the connection between the deictic centre and emotions is explained. The second subsection takes a look at specific reporting devices and features that indicate a deictic centre. In the third part, psycho-narration and free indirect discourse are d iscussed with examples from Mansfield’s †Doll’s House†. 2.1 Deixis and Deictic Centre Emotions are an essential part of depicting a literary character’s consciousness. In analysing emotions or characters’ consciousness deixis is a useful tool. Deixis means †features of language which fasten utterances temporally or spatially: ‘here’, ‘now’† (Hawthorn 1994: 37). Consciousness presentation becomes apparent through many indicators, most clearly through orthographic markers such as quotation marks or words in italics. Orthographic markers are especially used in direct discourse where quotation marks show the beginning and ending of a dialogue. Parentheticals or brackets indicating the speaker and his or her act of speaking or thinking within a sentence, for example, †she said† or †he thought† are also used in direct discourse to indicate the speaking or thinking person. As these markers seldom occur in consciousness report, however, there are other markers like expressive elements that help to ide ntify the consciousness and emotions in an extract. Thus, linguistic analysis helps to find out which features refer to which character. Studying linguistic features is a key element in analyzing the deictic centre of the short stories in this paper. In the English language, deixis consists of features that indicate a subjective deictic centre (Fludernik 1993: 6). The features include personal pronouns, for example I, you,it; spatial and temporal adverbs such as left, in front of, ten years ago; verbal categories indicating distance like come and go; relational designations implying emotional involvement, for instance the enemy or darling; and terms of endearment, such as sweetheart and mummy, which also suggest that the speaker’s feelings are involved. Another way to trace a perspective is to study lexical, pragmatic, syntactic and morphological features indicating consciousness report. Deixis and subjective elements play a crucial role in analysing the material of this paper. The two other types of deixis are discourse/text deixis and social deixis (cf. Levinson 1983). Discourse deixis or text deixis refers to parts of unfolding discourse in which the utterance is located, for instance that in the following example: †Puff puff puff: That is what it sounded like.† Social deixis encodes the social status and aspects of socia l relationships between speakers and addressees: †My husband and I are both teachers, and so is my father† (Levinson 1983: 62-63). Deixis is usually organised in an egocentric way. The deictic context is speaker-based and centred upon the speaker’s †here-and-now† (Lyons 1981: 230). People are more apt to refer to their own viewpoint in discussions and prefer proximal personal expressions, such as the pronoun I, or place indexicals, such as here, to distal expressions like he or there. We can also talk about a deictic centre, meaning the perspective of the discourse participant from which utterances are delivered (Levinson 1983: 63-64, Yule 1996: 9). There are five unmarked anchorage points that constitute the deictic centre (Levinson 1983: 64). They consist of the speaker who is the central person – in literature usually the protagonist, the narrator or some other character – and of the central place which refers to the speaker’s location at utterance time. The third anchorage point of the deictic centre is the central time, the time when the speaker produces the utterance. Fourth, the discourse centre is the speaker’s current point during the production of his or her utterance. Thus, the discourse centre changes from one person to another when the producer of the utterance changes. And last, the social centre is the speaker’s social status and rank to which the addressee or referent’s status is relative (Yule 1996: 10). Another common deictic phenomenon in language is the transference of human body orientation (Fludernik 1993: 49). This method is used extensively in literature to create the illusion of naturalness. When an author uses this technique in a literary text, he or she describes an event, a phenomenon or space from a certain physical viewpoint that demands the reader’s body orientation, as in the sentence †There was a chair to the left† (Fludernik 1993: 49). To sum up, literary texts create a world of their own, including their own deictic structure. In good narratives, the reader has the impression of experiencing the fictional world directly, because he or she adopts the deictic centre as his or her own (cf. Banfield 1982, Zubin and Hewitt 1995: 131). 2.2 Reporting Devices This section introduces other linguistic features that are used in creating deictic centres in narratives. The devices consist of backshifting of tenses and other perspective-building elements, such as adjectives and adverbs, orthographic markers and textual coherence. The first device, backshifting of tenses, is connected with the †was-now† paradox, an especially interesting feature in literature. The †was† encodes the narrator in the process of narrating, introducing the fictional world mode to the reader. The †now† encodes the protagonist for whom the story world events are part of the current experience (cf. Adamson 1994). Mansfield sometimes uses the present tense in her stories, which attracts the reader’s attention and raises the question of why the †was-now† principle is violated. The change in tenses suggests a change in perspectives, including a change in the feeling experience of the story’s characters. The impl ications of these linguistic devices for the characters’ emotional world are discussed in section 3. In the analysis of the deictic centre and literary figures’ emotions, adjectives and adverbs sometimes have a significant meaning. I apply Biber, Conrad and Leech’s (2002) classification of adjectives and adverbs in this study. Descriptive adjectives or descriptors often imply consciousness report when they co-occur with other deictic elements such as place and time deixis. Evaluative/emotive (dreadful) and miscellaneous descriptors covering many kinds of characteristics (sudden) suggest consciousness report in narratives and need to be studied to trace the source of emotions in a literary text. Descriptive adjectives give personal flavour to the text, but the reader has to decide whether descriptors refer to the narrator’s or some character’s emotions. Sometimes it may be very difficult to distinguish different sources of emotion from each other, as examples from Mansfield’s stories show (see section 3) . In the analysis of Mansfield’s texts, degree adverbs and stance adverbs receive special attention. Degree adverbs like amplifiers/intensifiers (generously) and diminishers/downtoners (somewhat) as well as stance adverbs, such as attitude (unfortunately), epistemic (probably) and style stance adverbs (simply) are discussed in the analysis of the material, as are place, time and process adverbials. Of place adverbials, those of distance (a long way), direction (from within) and position (up there) often imply whose perspective is adopted in the story. Additionally, such time adverbials as point in time (tomorrow night), duration (for fifteen years), frequency (sometimes) and time relationship (after this) indicate the source of consciousness. The process of action described in stories provides the reader with valuable information on the events and characters. Manner adverbials (carelessly) are often used especially by modern authors to describe characters’ behaviour. Degree adverbials (e.g. very much, completely) are often used to amplify characters’ emotions and to describe their emotional response to story events. Adjectives and adverbs are elements in constructing perspective in a narrative. They help the reader to respond to the feeling experiences of a character that are embodied in the stylistic and linguistic devices of a text (Miall and Kuiken 2001: 292). The following subchapter discusses the connection between linguistic features and feeling experiences in psycho-narration and free indirect discourse. 2.3 Psycho-narration and Free Indirect Discourse In this section the features of psycho-narration and free indirect discourse are discussed with examples from Mansfield’s story †The Doll’s House†. Special attention is paid to linguistic devices that support the interpretation of psycho-narration or free indirect discourse in a textual passage. Psycho-narration is the narrator’s presentation of a character’s psyche. Its main focus is on a character’s thoughts and feelings and it is defined in terms of deictic qualities (Fludernik 1993: 304).3 Psycho-narration reports those feelings or states of consciousness that the character may be unaware of. Psycho-narration †has almost unlimited temporal flexibility† (Cohn 1978: 32), so it can occur both in the present and the past tense. The analysis of Mansfield’s works shows the temporal varieties of psycho-narration. Free indirect discourse consists of expressions or utterances that could be produced by the characters as such or with minor alterations, like the use of the preterite instead of the present tense.4 In free indirect discourse the narrator quotes the speech or thought of the protagonist or other characters. Direct discourse and free indirect discourse have common features such as deictics, word order in questions and lexical elements including vocatives, interjections, or dialectal features (cf. Fludernik 1993: 261). In order to retain proximity, proximal deictics likehere, now and today occur in free indirect discourse. The question word order remains direct in free indirect discourse. This narrative technique also favours expressive lexical elements from characters’ idiolects to give the narration personal flavour. McHale (1978: 269) aptly remarks that formal signs are not the only means to trace free indirect discourse, since semantic signs such as the †content† of utterances, and a character’s †thoughts† or †intended meanings† also contribute to the reader’s interpretation of free indirect discourse. The terms psycho-narration and free indirect discourse overlap to some extent. The former borrows elements from the speech of ch aracters, but a character could hardly use the (narrator’s) syntax as such. To demonstrate the difference between the various consciousness report techniques, I have chosen an extract from Katherine Mansfield’s story †The Doll’s House†. It is a story about middle-class life and the Burnell children, and how they invite classmates of the same social class to see their new doll’s house. Lower-class children are not invited, until one of the daughters, Kezia, defies her parents and asks the Kelvey girls, the daughters of a washerwoman, to see the house. The following extract depicts Kezia’s aunt’s reaction when she sees the unwelcome children in the garden. (1)†Wicked, disobedient little girl!† said Aunt Beryl bitterly to Kezia, and she slammed the doll’s house to. The afternoon had been awful. A letter had come from Willie Brent, a terrifying, threateningletter, saying if she did not meet him that evening in Pulman’s Bush, he’d come to the front door and ask the reason why! But now that she had frightened those little rats of Kelveys and given Kezia a good scolding, her heart felt lighter. That ghastly pressure was gone. She went back to the house humming. (†The Doll’s House†, 265; emphasis added) Example (1) is a description of Aunt Beryl’s consciousness presentation after she has scolded her niece and her friends in the courtyard. After the quotation in direct discourse, Aunt Beryl’s perspective (in bold type) is introduced in the first sentences as a flashback, the past perfect verb form had come implying a movement towards Aunt Beryl, come being a verb suggesting proximal activity. Even though Beryl’s name is not mentioned in the whole paragraph, she is the subject of the sentence starting the quotation and the most recent character mentioned earlier in the text. Aunt Beryl and the third person reference to her (she) in the quotation can be seen as an example of referential linking which is an important factor in maintaining textual cohesion in the depiction of characters’ emotions (cf. Ehrlich 1990). Descriptive adjectives likeawful, terrifying and threatening, and noun phrases like those little rats of Kelveys depict Beryl’s feelings, the distal demonstrative pronoun those and the descriptive noun phrase little rats of Kelveys underlining the contempt of upper classes towards lo wer-class people and the social distance between Beryl and the Kelveys. The distal demonstrative determiner that and the proximal temporal adverb now illustrate how proximal and distal linguistic features are mixed in psycho-narration, suggesting a transition from Aunt Beryl’s earlier emotional turmoil caused by her lover’s letter to her present state of mind (†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦her heart felt lighter. That ghastly pressure was gone†). There is also Willie Brent’s perspective occurring in the extract (in italics). It has elements of free indirect discourse including past tense verb forms, third person pronouns, orthographic markers and a colloquial tone. The past perfect verb form changes into the past tense did not meet, which is followed by he’d come. An exclamation mark finishes the free indirect discourse passage which is reflected through Beryl’s consciousness in the memory of the letter. The final sentence is the narrator’s neutral report of the narrative events. 3. Emotional Features in Mansfield’s Stories Psycho-narration and free indirect discourse are ways of presenting characters’ emotions to readers. In this section, Katherine Mansfield’s stories †Bliss† and †Taking the Veil† are analysed in order to find linguistic features that suggest a character’s emotional involvement. Mansfield uses psycho-narration and free indirect discourse in †Bliss† and †Taking the Veil†. In the analysis of the texts, underlined words point out subjective features and fragments of characters’ idiom. Some quotations from Mansfield’s short stories are integrated into the analysis for a more convenient discussion of the context. †Bliss† is a story of a wealthy young couple, Bertha and Harry, and their social life. In †Bliss†, psycho-narrative description is reserved for Bertha’s feelings of bliss, her relationship with Harry-the-husband, and her feelings towards their friends. The paragraphs th at include psycho-narration often start with impersonal narratorial description. The shift from the narrator’s perspective to that of the character takes place within paragraph boundaries, as the following examples show. The first paragraph of †Bliss† introduces society’s expectations of 30-year-old women’s behaviour. The narrator implies that Bertha’s thoughts and feelings are quite exceptional for her age: (2) Although Bertha Young was thirty she still had moments like this when she wanted to run instead of walk, to take dancing steps on and off the pavement, to bowl a hoop, to throw something up in the air and catch it again, or to stand still and laugh at – nothing – at nothing, simply. (†Bliss†, 91; emphasis added) The narrator adopts an omniscient perspective: she knows exactly how Bertha is feeling and what she feels like doing. The reader’s attention is directed towards the protagonist’s perspective through the use of the demonstrative this, symbolising the here-and-now narrative present, Bertha’s present state of mind. The italicised words imply Bertha’s wishes. The narrator’s speech presents societ y’s expectations at the beginning of example (2) (although,still) and Bertha’s own thoughts at the end of it (nothing – at nothing, simply). The phenomenon of Ansteckung is apparent in the fragments of Bertha’s idiom. Ansteckungmeans the narrator’s empathetic or ironic borrowing of characters’ idioms or expressions (cf. Fludernik (1993) for examples of Ansteckung or †contamination†). Fragments of Bertha’s consciousness are not complete thoughts or words uttered by her. When it comes to Bertha’s psyche, the narrator seems to be aware of it, depicting elements of Bertha’s thoughts at the end of example (2) (see the words in bold). It is obvious in the last sentence of example (2); dashes evoke Bertha’s consciousness. She is incapable of finding suitable words for the peculiar feeling; the impression is increased by the repeated words at nothing. The effect of immediacy is created by hints of Bertha’s psyche within narratorial discourse, suggesting that after the first part of the sentence the writer resorts to free indirect discourse at the end of the passa ge. There are two longer paragraphs of psycho-narration in †Bliss†. They discuss Bertha’s situation in life and her relationship with Harry. The first paragraph reads as follows: (3) Really – really – she had everything. She was young. Harry and she were as much in love as ever, and they got on together splendidly and were really good pals. She had anadorable baby. They didn’t have to worry about money. They had this absolutely satisfactory house and garden. And friends – modern, thrilling friends, writers andpainters and poets or people keen on social questions – just the kind of friends they wanted. And then there were books, and there was music, and she had found a wonderful little dressmaker, and they were going abroad in the summer, and their new cook made the most superb omelettes †¦ (†Bliss†, 96; emphasis added) Example (3) starts in free indirect discourse and shows many syntactic markers that imply consciousn ess report, such as the epistemic stance adverb really, the proximal deictic thisindicating Bertha’s spatial perspective, and the frequent use of and acting as a clause-initial co-ordinating conjunction and creating the illusion of Bertha’s happy thoughts. Other features include pragmatic indicators, such as dashes, and lexical features, for example idioms (really good pals), phrases or descriptive adjectives (absolutely satisfactory, adorable, modern, thrilling, wonderful little etc.) borrowed from Bertha. As Fludernik (1993: 117) suggests, referential positions are often shifted into the third person in heterodiegetic narratives, excluding second person narratives. This extract is a good example of such a referential shift in personal pronouns, as it contains only the third person she instead of the first person I. Example (3) describes a happy woman counting her blessings. Another paragraph reflects the problems Bertha encounters in her marriage: (4) Oh, she had loved him – she’d been in love with him, of course, in every other way, butjust not in that way. And equally, of course, she’d understood that he was different. They’d discussed it so often. It had worried her dreadfully at first to find that she was so cold, but after a time it had not seemed to matter. They were so frank with each other – such good pals. That was the best of being modern. (†Bliss†, 104; emphasis added) The extract leads readers into Bertha’s consciousnes s with the clause-initial interjection ohsuggesting free indirect discourse. Repetitive elements, such as of course and the intensifierso, emphasise the impression of Bertha rationalising her marriage to Harry. The sentence-initial and helps her to articulate her understanding of Harry and his different feelings on the topic, as she is negotiating the good and bad things about her marriage in her mind. There are also some lexical indications of consciousness report, such as just, the intensifier such, anddreadfully, a colloquialism only to be attached to Bertha’s consciousness. These emotive features create an impression of Bertha’s inner conflict and the suppression of her feelings, which is evident throughout the story.5 †Taking the Veil† is a story about Edna and her lover Jimmy, and Edna’s dreams of becoming a nun. In †Taking the Veil†, psycho-narration is reserved for Edna’s internal debate and her memories of the crisis of her life. A typical example is a theatre scene, where Edna goes through the happenings of the previous night: (5) The play had begun fairly cheerfully. That was at the chocolate almond stage. Then the hero had gone blind. Terrible moment! †¦Then there had been that ghastly scene with the hero alone on stage in a deserted room†¦He had tried – ah, how painfully, how pitifully! –to grope his way to the window†¦and the band faded away into the distance. (†Taking the Veil†, 284; emphasis added) Example (5) shows how Mansfield uses distal deictics like that (in that ghastly scene) to imply Edna’s perspective by creating a personal tone. Additionally, she uses the evaluative adjectives terrible and ghastly to refer to Edna’s emotional response. The repetitive pattern in the exclamations above (in bold type) is separated from the rest of the psycho-narration by dashes and emphasised by other orthographic signals, such as exclamation marks. An introductory exclamation ah adds to the colloquial tone, as does the repetition of the wh-element how. Mansfield often uses clause-initial wh-elements in exclamations to introduce free indirect discourse in the telling (Kuivalainen 2005). These features contain elements representative of speech rather than thought. The impression in this extract is that of narratorial discourse flavoured by free indirect discourse (in bold type). Psycho-narration continues when the narrator describes Edna’s internal debate: (6) If she did not marry Jimmy, of course she would marry nobody. The man she was in love with, the famous actor – Edna had far too much common-sense not to realise thatwould never be. It was very odd. She didn’t even want it to be. Her love was too intense for that. It had to be endured, silently; it had to torment her. It was, she supposed, simply that kind of love. (†Taking the Veil†, 285; italics original, emphasis added) The extract above shows how Edna debates her love for Jimmy, her fiancà ©, and for the actor she has fallen in love with. The words in bold include an attitude stance adverb of course, a comment on a possible marriage with the famous actor, and a distal pronoun that. All these elements imply a reference to Edna’s perspective which, however, intermingles with that of the narrator after the dash on the second line. Edna’s emotional perspective, the vacillating feelings she suddenly faces in the story, re-occurs with the comment on the nature of her love (†It was very odd†) and remains unchanged till the end of the extract, with another comment at the end of the paragraph introduced by the style stance adverb simply. The extract above shows the subtlety of the change from one perspective to another: at the beginning we only have a personal pro noun reference to the speaker, but later the protagonist’s proper name is used to help the reader realise the change, to introduce the perspective of the narrator penetrating that of Edna. The effect is that of immediate access to the character’s thoughts and feelings. In the paragraph preceding example (6) the closest proper noun is †Sister Agnes†. However, the reader does not connect the personal pronoun she in example (6) with Sister Agnes but with Edna, who is mentioned earlier in the text, because semantic connectors such as marriage and †Jimmy† imply her. The narrator’s statement-like comment after the dash supports this interpretation. However, this sentence is affected by Edna’s idiom, the use of that(in italics) emphasising the impossibility of the suggestion of love for an actress. Edna’s eighteen-year-old girl’s voice is also heard at the end of the paragraph with the simply that kind of love quotation of Edna’s thoughts. As example (6) suggests, psycho-narration at the beginning of the paragraph depicts Edna’s feelings from her perspective, but later the narrator’s perspective becomes predominant in the example, providing the reader with an external perspective to Edna’s love life. A drastic change in psycho-narration happens when the tenses change from the past to the present. This change implies a shift from the past or present events to the future. (7) She takes the name of Sister Angela. Snip, snip! All her lovely hair is cut off†¦And in a blue gown with a white head-band Sister Angela goes from the convent to the chapel, from the chapel to the convent †¦she greets the little children who run to her. A saint! She hears it whispered as she paces the chill, wax-smelling corridors. A saint! (†Taking the Veil†, 286; emphasis added) The extract above shows how Edna dreams about the life of a nun and imagines her future as Sister Angela. The short onomatopoeic snip and the repetition of a saint, both ending with an exclamation mark, refer to Edna’s imagination. Her emotional involvement shows in the sacrifices she makes (†All her lovely hair is cut off†) and in the description of the new environment she enters (†chill, wax-smelling corridors†). The present tense adds to the effect. It is used throughout the passage to relate Edna’s convent dreams, as another quotation below shows: (8) Now it is evening. Two old people leaning on each other come slowly to the grave†¦Now there comes another. He is all in black; he comes slowly. But when he is there and lifts his black hat, Edna sees to her horror his hair is snow-white. Jimmy! Too late, too late! The tears are running down his face; he is crying now. Too late, too late!(ibid.: 287; italics original, emphasis added) In example (8), the same elements of exclamatory repetition too late! and the present tense are used to depict Edna’s reveries about the future. Additionally, immediacy is emphasised with the temporal proximal deictic now, a favourite of Mansfield’s in this story, and the present continuous are running and is crying. The use of present continuous verb forms and the proximal deictic now mark Edna’s mental crisis, which culminates at the end of example (8) and ends the sections in the present tense. The non-use of the †was-now† pattern reflects a change in perspective from the narrator to Edna in example (8), as the sections that do not imply Edna’s consciousness in †Taking the Veil† are written in the past tense (see example (5)). When the paragraph after example (8) begins, Edna has changed her mind about becoming a nun and realised she actually loves Jimmy. 4. Discussion †Bliss† and †Taking the Veil† consist of a mixture of speech and thought report. It is noticeable in these works that, as a narrative technique, free indirect discourse is clearly separated from psycho-narration. The shift from psycho-narration into free indirect discourse and then back to psycho-narration can be found in †Bliss† and †Taking the Veil†, as the linguistic analysis of characters’ emotions showed in section three. The reverie-like atmosphere of †Taking the Veil† is strikingly different from the passionate, hectic mood in †Bliss†, where the narrator first describes the setting for the psychological phenomena, Bertha’s mixed feelings about her marriage, and then resorts to consciousness presentation. In †Taking the Veil† the narrator’s function is to offer the reader an insight into Edna’s mind mostly through psycho-narration, thus, psycho-narrative passages begi n with narratorial description which introduces Edna’s mental world to the reader. Psycho-narration serves to depict the protagonist’s internal debate: example (5) depicts the crucial moment of the past in the past tense and example (7) future dreams in the present tense. On the other hand, free indirect discourse in example (5) helps in creating sensual perceptions that present a contrast to Edna’s inner thoughts. Passages in free indirect discourse often start with a clause-initial coordinator (and), interjection (oh) or a wh-element (how) and can be spotted from the rest of the narration through orthography, like dashes surrounding the free indirect discourse passage, exclamation or question marks. Mansfield frequently uses italics and ellipses in reporting characters’ consciousness and feelings, which gives the impression of free indirect discourse. Extensive use of stance adverbs is striking in the two stories. A common feature in Mansfield’s psycho-narration is the adoption of epistemic stance adverbs such as really in example (3).6In †Bliss† and †Taking the Veil†, the interplay between the two dominant voices, that of the narrator and the protagonist, becomes evident through the rich use of stance ad verbs. The narrator’s perspective is mostly introduced through epistemic adverbs indicating certainty or doubt (e.g. perhaps), whereas the protagonist’s perspective mostly consists of those of actuality and reality (e.g. in fact, really). The effect is a narrator with no intention to intrude upon the story events, and a protagonist with a distinctly marked emotional world including feelings of bliss, future dreams, and moments of despair and love. Mansfield’s narrator steers the reader towards the protagonist’s climax with subtle remarks and hardly visible hints. Psycho-narration demonstrates different functions in the texts of this study. Mansfield uses evaluative and emotive descriptors in psycho-narrative sections; she borrows characters’ idiomatic expressions and marks internal discourse with orthography (dashes, exclamation marks), intensifiers and repetition to imply a shift from one perspective or feeling experience to another, for example, from the narrator to the protagonist. Mansfield describes the inner conflict or the dream world of the characters through psycho-narration, which is usually triggered by an emotional climax, in Bertha’s case the revelation of her husband’s adultery and in Edna’s case understanding who she really loves. In Mansfield’s fiction, the climax almost has a hallucinatory effect, as Edna’s convent dreams and the graveyard scene in exampl e (8) show. The use of the present tense seems to have a role in Mansfield’s text. Mansfield uses it mostly in psycho-narrative sections. All in all, there are certain features that are used frequently in Mansfield’s stories, such as dashes, repetition of adverbs or other clausal elements like intensifiers, interjections or co-ordinators. Temporal and spatial deictics have a significant role in the two stories, as the reader has very few other means to orient him- or herself while reading a literary text. Deictics help the reader to pinpoint the perspective in the passage and understand whose experiences are depicted in the story. The study of the deictic features in Mansfield’s fictional prose shows that the author uses various markers to create a deictic centre. These markers create a picture of characters’ emotional world. Free indirect discourse and psycho-narration are motivated, for example, by an internal debate or a crisis, as Edna’s ponderings showed in example (8). As was suggested in the analysis, linguistic features such as reporting devices and deictic features can be used to pinpoint the source of emotions in a literary text. Verbs, adjectives, adverbs and other consciousness markers work for the same effect, to describe the emotional world of characters. Psycho-narration and free indirect discourse provide Mansfield with a tool to point out the significant moments in the protagonists’ lives and separate them from the rest of the narration. Mansfield is the master of her characters and their emotions, making them breathe and feel as if they really existed.