Pure Luck :: English Literature Essays

Pure Luck During a warm and lucid evening in September my life would change forever. Something like this does not just happen to anyone; fate decides who deserves such a wake up call. That seemed to be the last night I expected a scene so horrifying to happen because the vibe of the whole evening was uplifting. Everything seemed perfect since everyone happened to be in that happy-go-lucky mentality. We did not expect the events that were to follow later that evening. I heard the restlessness in his voice. â€Å"You got a light?† Steve questioned with eagerness. He was not the only one with the anxious tone to his voice. I hooked him up with that so needed light to calm his nerves a little. We were on an excursion to one of the greatest places in the world: New York. Steve, Dennis, and I had planned this journey for several weeks now. Our anticipation grew immensely. The outing was to a club in New Rochelle which would be a new experience for all of us. Riding in the car seemed ominous. â€Å"Na man, you gotta take the exit for the George Washington Bridge,† I nearly screamed at Steve when he almost took the wrong exit, which would have put us in a position we absolutely did not want to be. â€Å"Alright, DICK† he sarcastically replied. After what seemed like an eternity we hit the right exit and it put us down the road from the club. We arrived, jumping furiously out of the car and hauling ass to the line at the front of the club. At the club there were many DJ’s and live acts that I looked forward to catching. Fortunately I got to see most of them. The experience was quite a relief after that car ride. The inside of the club appeared amazingly pleasing to the eye. The surroundings were the most comfortable of leather couches and a balcony over the main floor that was humongous. More than two hundred people occupied the balcony alone: drinking, talking, and staring awestruck at the sights, which included a thirteen foot tall glass case housing two six foot long iguanas and two sixteen-foot long Burmese pythons. After a few hours the party ended and patrons dispersed including my friends and I. Once outside, the masses gathered around handing out flyers that would most likely end up with a new home on the sidewalk.

The Reflection of Victorian Britain in Literature Essay -- The Tell Ta

The Reflection of Victorian Britain in Literature Queen Victoria reigned in Britain between 1937-1901. During this time in British history a large degree of change occurred. The writers of the time often reflected these substantial changes in their literature focusing on the interests of society. I have studied a variety of literature from the Victorian period and have chosen to write about three particular pieces; 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens (a short story), the novel 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley and another short story called 'The Tell Tale Heart' by Edgar Allen Poe. At the point when these stories were written, there were a wide range of issues touching society. However, for the benefit of this essay I am only going to focus on three of these; the role of God, the increasing advances in science and technology, the supernatural and insanity. The point which I am going to focus on first is about the role God played in many people's lives and how this is reflected in the literature of the Victorian period. In 'Frankenstein' Mary Shelley's point of view about the advances occurring in the progress of medicine and technology can be seen. She also explains the dangerous issues connected with man trying to copy the role of God. The central characters in 'Frankenstein' are Dr Frankenstein and his creation, the monster. Dr Frankenstein tells the story. At the beginning of 'Frankenstein', Dr Frankenstein becomes over confident with new advantageous technology. He intends to make the 'perfect human' in order to save lives and becomes somewhat obsessed with this idea. He surgically attaches many different body parts together from deceased people. He believes from his previous research tha... ... raved- I swore!' His sudden change in behaviour is what convinces the reader and the police, the murderer is mad. 'I admit the deed! - tear up the planks! - here, here! - It is the beating of his hideous heart!' The murderer admits he committed the murder. In conclusion it is clear that the literature I have studied, 'The Signalman', 'The Tell Tale Heart' and 'Frankenstein' all directly reflect the interests of Victorian Britain. The curiosities in the role of God, the increasing developments in science and technology, the supernatural and insanity were all reflected in these books, as was the work of Psychoanalysts like Sigmund Freud. There was better transport than ever before and psychiatrists found out how the mind worked and were then capable of looking inside it. The literature had to reflect the interests of the time in order to be successful.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Essay -- To Kill a Mockingbird Essa

Prejudice has caused the pain and suffering of others for many centuries. Some examples of this include the Holocaust and slavery in the United States. In to Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee racism was the cause of much agony to the blacks of a segregated South. Along with blacks, other groups of people are judged unfairly just because of their difference from others. The prejudice and bigotry of society causes the victimization of people with differences. Some who are discriminated against are those who are born differently than the majority. One person that is treated unfairly is Calpurnia, as you can see when Aunt Alexandra tried to get Atticus to fire Calpurnia, because in her eyes, Calpurnia wasn't a good enough female role model (p.136). This is a prejudice action, because Calpurnia is as good as a role model as Aunt Alexandra, if not better. Aunt Alexandra is a bigot and doesn't see the character of Calpurnia, just the color of her skin. Another person who is treated like an inferior is Scout by her teacher, because she knew how to read. "She discovered that I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste. (p.17)." Scout is treated like it is her fault that she knows more than the average child did. She learned earlier than others so she gets punished unjustly. Tom Robinson is also one who is discriminated by a biased community. Tom is found guilty by the jury in his case against the Ewells (p.211). The guilty verdict is a direct result of a racist...

Curriculum Implication

This section firstly examines curriculum as a mediator of dominance and hegemony, exploring ideological issues in the selection and structuring of knowledge and in pedagogic practice. Secondly we focus on the issue of representation of subaltern groups, culture and ideologies. The concept of curriculum is used here to designate the experiences pupils have under the guidance of the school. Most issues in this area are predicated upon the assumption that appropriate school experiences can indeed make a significant difference to learning and lives of SC/ST children. Content of curriculum and internal operations are thus key issues that need to be addressed. Also very important are related areas of pedagogic methods, assessment and evaluation. In India, curriculum and the content of education have been central to the processes of reproduction of caste, class, cultural and patriarchal domination-subordination. In post independence educational policy, modification of content supposedly aimed at indigenization resulted in Brahmanisation as a key defining feature of the curriculum. Brahmanisation has been evident in the emphasis on (1) ‘pure’ language, (2) literature and other â€Å"knowledge† of society, history, polity, religion and culture that is produced by higher castes which reflects Brahmanical world view and experiences and Brahmanical perspectives on Indian society, history and culture, and (3) high caste, cultural and religious symbols, linguistic and social competencies, modes of life and behaviour. Furthermore, the overarching stress has been on eulogizing mental as against manual labour. The heavily gendered nature of school curricular content was evident in that women’s specialised knowledge and skills systems found no place in it or in the general curricular discourse. Rather they were used for devaluation and stereotyping of the female sex in curriculum. Curriculum is thus urban elite male-centric and bereft of the country’s rich cultural diversity. There has been a corresponding devaluation of â€Å"lesser† dialects, cultures, traditions, and folklore of dalits and adivasis as also of peasantry. The second defining feature of the curriculum on the other hand, was its ‘colonial’ character which privileged western modernization. The ideology however was adopted in truncated, superficial ways – the emphasis being on the incorporation of knowledge of Western science and technology, viz. that of the â€Å"hard Western sciences†, the English language and Western styles of life. The pursuance of liberal, democratic socialist values even though enshrined in the Indian constitution was largely notional in the curriculum. Curricular structure and culture of the colonial model has remained unchanged. The defining features of the structure are: full time attendance of age specific groups in teacher supervised classrooms for the study of graded curricula. Full day schools, compulsory attendance, unconducively long time–span of classes and vacations, served as deterrents, being ill suited to educating SC/ST children, especially in the initial years when access was just being opened up and availed. Poor and SC/ST households depended on children for domestic work or other productive work whether or not to supplement household earnings. Today, things have changed substantially and large numbers of parents are prepared to forego children’s labour and send them to school. However school organisation and curricula have not been sensitive as yet to fundamentally different economic situations, life aims and social circumstances of children belonging to poorer strata households or communities in the shaping of the school structure. Culturally, school norms of attendance, discipline, homework, tests and exams, and cognitively ethnocentric demands of concentration on nd memorisation of the content of the text by `rote’, all prove problematic for SC/ST children. Furthermore, the curriculum itself as a tool of cultural dominance and hegemony has an alienating and intimidating impact. Curriculum and the Scheduled Castes: For the Scheduled Castes who have sought education as a mechanism to transform as well as enter â€Å"mainstream† (read dominant) society, the central questions are of representation of their knowledge and culture and the critiquing of dominant knowledge and value systems of their lived reality and of social relationships based on dominance/subordination and exclusion. Dominant forms of inequality and hierarchy are made invisible in the discourse on common nationhood and common and equal citizenship, which the school curriculum propagates. But for the Scheduled Castes the heart of the matter is structural oppression, not cultural difference. Thus understandings of oppressive aspects of our traditional and contemporary structures, the historical construction of groups and communities are made invisible by the curriculum and not subjects of key curricular importance. Krishna Kumar’s studies have focussed attention on how the dominant groups’ ideas about education and the educated get reflected in the curriculum. Following the curriculum, Indian texts uphold symbols of the traditional, male dominated feudal society and its obsolete cultural values and norms. However, that the value content of education is out of tune with the reality of the changing, dynamic India is a matter of choice – a choice consciously or unconsciously made by those selecting textbook material from the available body of literature and by those creating it. Worthwhile knowledge is that which is linked to the values and lifestyles of dominant groups. Ilaiah has vividly described how knowledge and language are rooted in and structured around productive processes of lower castes and around socio-cultural surroundings of their habitat. This knowledge and skill based vocabulary, which is very highly developed, finds no place in the school curriculum. Nor do stories, music and songs, values, skills, knowledge, traditions, cultural and religious practices. Contemporary dalit literature is similarly disregarded. Lives, values and norms of upper caste Hindus which are strange and alienating for the lower castes, continue to be dominantly present. To quote from Ilaiah, â€Å"right from early school Upto College, our Telugu textbooks were packed with these Hindu stories. Kalidasa was as alien to us as the name of Shakespeare. The language of textbooks was not the one that our communities spoke. Even the basic words were different. Textbook Telugu was Brahmin Telugu, whereas we were used to a production-based communicative Telugu. It is not merely a difference of dialect; there is a difference in the very language itself†. The dominance of epistemology and content of the politically powerful intellectual classes makes curricular knowledge ideologically loaded. While Gandhi, Tagore and Krishnamurti – all from the high castes – have received national attention as indigenous educational philosophers, education has not incorporated the anti-caste-patriarchy and anti-hegemonic discourses of Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar or Iyotheedas. Curriculum does not reflect upon the historical significance of caste, gender and tribe, nor of the challenges posed to it by dalit epistemology, knowledge and protest. This should have been done through literature and social science curricula. Phule saw education as a potent weapon in the struggle for revolutionary social transformation. For him, the purpose and content of education were radically different from both Brahmanical and colonial models of education. His ideal was an education that would bring an awareness among lower castes of oppressive social relations and their hegemonic moral and belief systems that pervaded their consciousness†¦. an education that would instill western secular values, encourage critical thought and bring about mental emancipation. It would fulfil practical needs but would be broad based enough to inspire a social and cultural revolution from below. During the course of the long struggle of dalit liberation, Ambedkar developed an ideology that incorporated a critique and reinterpretation of India’s cultural heritage, a rich philosophy drawn from a wide range of social thought and an action programme which lay an equal stress on social and cultural revolution as it did on the economic and political one. Like Phule, he defined the purpose of education in terms of mental awakening and reation of a social and moral conscience. Education was also a means of overcoming inferior status and state of mind, of wresting power from the powerful. Thus, the Ambedkarian agenda for education included: (a) creation of capacities for rational and critical thinking, (b) socialization into a new humanistic culture and ideology, (c) development of capacities and qualities necessary for entry and leadership in modern avenues of work and politics, and (d) inculcation of self-respect and aspirations to respectable lifestyles in which demeaning traditional practices would have no place. Clearly Phule-Ambedkarian ideology went way beyond narrow modernization and technocratic impulses. It gave pre-eminence to ideology and values, Western in origin but critically adapted towards emancipation of India’s downtrodden. Ilaiah, in fact, argues that these values are equally indigenous, constitutive of lived-in realities of dalit bahujans. Dalit and non-Brahman leaders drew on western philosophical traditions to build an ideology and praxis of revolutionary transformation of the Hindu social order. It aimed at establishing a socialist social order underpinned by a new morality, based on values of liberty, equality, fraternity and rationality. School curriculum in India failed to reflect these expressions of new moral order. It does not need any great study to show that the national or state school curricula or teacher education curricula were never guided by these radical visions. The Scheduled Castes and their issues and problems have remained peripheral to the curriculum and their representation if at all has been weak and distorted. Curriculum and the Scheduled Tribes: Like the SC, curriculum does not acknowledge cultural rights of the Scheduled Tribes who are denied their own culture and history. School curriculum fails to take account of tribal cultures as autonomous knowledge systems with their own epistemology, transmission, innovation and power. Kundu gives the example of children being set to write essays on the circus, or being trained to write letters through mock missives to the police asking them to take action on disturbance by loudspeakers during exams. While adivasi children may know a great deal about animals, they are unlikely to have ever seen a circus; where the police are usually feared as oppressors and electricity is erratic, if at all available, enlisting police support in keeping noise decibels down is a most unlikely situation Not only are the knowledge and linguistic and /or cognitive abilities that Scheduled Tribe children possess ignored – e. g. the capacity to compose and sing spontaneously, to think in riddles and metaphors and their intimate knowledge of their environment – but schooling also actively encourages a sense of inferiority about Scheduled Tribe cultures. Like the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes rarely feature in textbooks, and when they do, it is usually in positions servile to upper caste characters; or as ‘strange’ and ‘backward’ exotica. The ‘cultural discontinuity’ between school and home draws attention to the rigidity of school organization and the emphasis on discipline and punishment in contrast with socialization practices and the lives of children, as reasons for non-attendance. Sujatha cites the case of community schools in Andhra where there was closer interaction with parents, weekly holiday was in tune with the local weekly bazaar, and school holidays coincided with tribal festivals. The school was observed to show positive results. The Language Question: Despite several policy documents and a constitutional provision (350A) recognizing that linguistic minorities should be educated in their mother tongue at primary level, there is practically no education in Scheduled Tribe languages. This includes even those like Santhali, Bhili, Gondi or Oraon which are spoken by over a million people. Although states in India were organized on linguistic grounds, political powerlessness of Scheduled Tribes prevented the formation of states based on tribal languages. They are confined to minority status within large states and are compelled to learn the state language in school. Primary teachers are predominantly from non-ST communities. And despite the pedagogic significance of initial instruction in the mother tongue, teachers do not bother to learn the tribal language even after several years of posting. The general picture at primary level is often one of mutual incomprehension between ST students and their non-ST teachers. Several studies have pointed to the significance of the language question at the primary levels. Quite apart from the pedagogic problems this creates – such as destroying the child’s self esteem, and reducing the possibilities of successful learning in later years, the denigration of Scheduled Tribe languages amounts to denigration of Scheduled Tribe worldviews and knowledge. The education system with its insistence on a common language as a means of achieving a common nationhood has been instrumental in the destruction of tribal language, culture and identity. Even outside the school, educated youth often speak to each other in the language of the school, perhaps to mark themselves off from their ‘uneducated peers’. Several languages, especially those spoken by small numbers, are dying out. Loss of a language means the loss of a certain way of knowing the world. Experiences of schooling of tribal children in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have revealed the displacement of Bundelkhandi, Gondi and Warli by Sanskritised Hindi, Telugu and Marathi respectively. Depending on levels of cultural absorption and adaptation however, several Scheduled Tribes may not look to schools to teach in their home language. Indeed, for many Scheduled Tribe parents, the main advantage of schooling is that it gives access to the new languages, new occupations and a new life and enables interaction with the non-tribal world. But wherever Scheduled Tribes have been politically mobilised to celebrate Scheduled Tribe identity, they have been more clear and open in their demand for education in indigenous languages. The Alienating Impact of School Regimen: The school regimen of timing, discipline, hierarchy is especially alien to tribal children socialized in a world where individuality is respected from early on, and where parent-child interactions are relatively egalitarian. Kundu points out those testing procedures too are based on urban middle class values – the competitiveness and system of rewards that examinations represent is often culturally anomalous to Scheduled Tribe children who are brought up in an atmosphere of sharing. Furthermore, learning among ST children is usually intimately connected to the work process – children learn the names and medicinal uses of many plants and trees while accompanying their parents on foraging trips in the forest. When children are away at school, especially when they are sent to residential schools, they lose connection with this world of labour and their capacity to learn from it. Several studies have attested the alienating effects of language, school structure and ethos. Implications of Recent Hindu Cultural Nationalist Influences on Curriculum In the recent past a serious concern has been the ‘Hinduisation’ of the curriculum, its adverse implications for all children but most particularly to religious minorities and SC/ST. A deliberate policy move towards Hinduisation of the school which occurred at the behest of neo-right national government’s policy meant its specific framing within Vedic values and thought. However, even prior to that when there was no overt intent of curriculum or text to be grounded in dominant religious culture, the fact that most educational action teachers are Hindu made curriculum Hinduised. It influenced the manner in which annual days or other school events are celebrated. Breaking a coconut and lighting incense at the base of the flag pole on Republic or Independence Day is common practice. Additionally, distinctive Scheduled Tribe names are changed to standard Hindu names.

Tropical Hut

WORKING CAPITAL Working capital is a measure of liquidity of a business. It equals current assets minus current liabilities. It is a measure of both a company's efficiency and its short-term financial health. The Company’s working capital during 2011 and 2010 are -P61,608,166. 00 and -P48,921,660. 00 indicating that the Company’s current liabilities are more than its current assets. It tells that the company is expected to suffer from liquidity crunch in near future and that the business may not be able to pay off its current liabilities when due. Status: Weakness of the Company) LIQUIDITY RATIOS| | | | | | Notes| Status| 2011| 2010| Current Ratio| 1| Weakness| 0. 83:1| 0. 85:1| Quick Ratio| 1| Weakness| 0. 37:1| 0. 39:1| Liquidity ratios measure a firm’s ability to meet maturing short-term obligations. Current ratio measures the extent to which a firm can meet its short-term obligations. During 2010, the Company’s current ratio is 0. 85:1 which indicates that the Company’s current assets were not enough to pay its short-term obligations. During 2011, the Company’s current ratio decreases to 0. 3:1 which indicates that its ability to pay its short-term obligations became worse (see Note 1 for computation). Quick ratio measures the extent to which a firm can meet its short-term obligations without relying upon the sales of its inventories. During 2010, the Company’s quick (or acid-test) ratio is 0. 39:1 which shows that its current assets less its inventory is not enough to meet its short-term obligations. During 2011, the Company’s quick ratio decreases to 0. 37:1 which shows that its ability to meet its short-term obligations became worse (see Note 1 for computation).Therefore, Tropical Hut Food Market, Inc as of December 31, 2011 and 2010 is not liquid. LEVERAGE RATIOS| | | | | Notes| Status| Ave of 2011;2010| Debt-to-Total-Assets Ratio| 2| Strength| 0. 56| Debt-to-Equity Ratio| 2| Weakness| 1. 29| Long- Term Debt-to-Equity Ratio| 2| Strength| 0. 0007| Times-Interest-Earned Ratio| 2| Weakness| -19. 36| Leverage ratios measure the extent to which a firm has been financed by debt. Debt-to-Total-Assets Ratio is the percentage of total funds that are provided by creditors. The average Debt-to-Total-Assets Ratio during 2011 and 2010 is 56% (or 0. 6:1) which indicates that the Company is capable to meet outside obligations in full out of its own assets (see Note 2 for computation). Debt-to-Equity Ratio is the percentage of total funds provided by the creditors versus by owners. The average Debt-to-Equity Ratio during 2011 and 2010 is 129% (1. 29:1). This means that for every peso of the company owned by the shareholders, the company owed 1. 29 to creditors. This high debt-to-equity ratio indicates that the Company was not able to generate enough cash  to satisfy its  debt  obligations (see Note 2 for computation).Long-Term Debt-to-Equity Ratio is the balance between debt and equity in a firm’s long-term capital structure. It expresses the degree of protection provided by the owners for the long-term creditors. The average Long-Term Debt-to-Equity Ratio during 2011 and 2010 is . 07% (or 0. 0007:1) which indicates that the Company’s degree of leverage is low (see Note 2 for computation). Times-Interest-Earned Ratio is the extent to which earnings can decline without the firm becoming unable to meet its annual interest costs. The Company’s Times-Interest-Earned Ratio is -19. 6 due to consecutive years of net loss which indicates that the Company was not able to meet its annual interest costs. ACTIVITY RATIOS| | | | | Notes| Status| 2011| 2010| Inventory Turnover| 3| Weakness| 8. 08 | 9. 38| Fixed Assets Turnover| 3| Strength| 10. 88| 10. 19| Total Asset Turnover| 3| Weakness| 3. 06| 3. 32| Accounts Receivable Turnover| 3| Strength| 77. 43| 64. 01| Average Collection Period| 3| Strength| 4. 71| 5. 70| Activity ratios measure how effectively a firm is using its resources. Inventory turnover ratio is used to measure the inventory management efficiency of a business.The Inventory ratio for the year 2011 and 2010 are 8. 08 and 9. 38, respectively. The decreased in the Inventory Turnover ratio indicates that the company is inefficient on controlling their inventory levels (see Note 3 for computation). The fixed-asset turnover ratio measures a company's ability to generate net sales from fixed-asset investments. The Ratios are 10. 88 and 10. 19 for the year 2011 and 2010. The increase in the turnover ratio indicates that the company can generate more sales with its fewer assets which tell that the company is good because it is using its assets efficiently (see Note 3 for computation).The total asset turnover ratio measures the ability of a company to use its assets to efficiently generate sales. The ratios are 3. 06 and 3. 32 for the year 2011 and 2010. The decrease in the turnover ratio indicates that the company is not growi ng in its capacity (see Note 3 for computation). Accounts receivable turnover measures the efficiency of a business in collecting its credit sales. The Accounts Receivable Turnover for the year 2011 and 2010 are 77. 43 and 64. 01, respectively.Increase in the accounts receivable turnover indicates improvement in the process of cash collection on credit sales of the company (see Note 3 for computation). Average collection period measures the average number of days that accounts receivable are outstanding. The Average collection period for 2011 and 2010 are 4. 71 and 5. 70, respectively. The decreasing number of collection days indicates that the accounts receivable of the company is liquid and is being converted to cash quickly compared to the previous year. PROFITABILITY RATIOS| | | | Notes| Status| 2011| 2010| Gross Profit Margin (GPM)| 4| Strength| 30. 4%| 28. 44%| Operating Profit Margin (OPM)| 4| Weakness| -2. 90%| -2. 21%| Net Profit Margin (NPM)| 4| Weakness| -2. 48%| -1. 75%| Return on Total Assets (ROA)| 4| Weakness| -7. 59%| -5. 80%| Return on Shareholders' Equity (ROE)| 4| Weakness| -18. 56%| -12. 52%| Earnings Per Share 4 Weakness -19. 68% -15. 28% Profitability Ratio measure management’s overall effectiveness as shown by the returns generated on sales and investment. Gross Profit Margin is the total margin available to cover operating expenses and yield a profit.During 2011 and 2010 the GPM’s are 30. 24% and 28. 44% respectively which indicates that the company has a reasonable profit margin but it cannot cover up all of its expenses resulting to a net loss (see Note 4 for computation). Operating profit margin is the profitability without concern for taxes and interest. The 2011 and 2010 OPM’s are -2. 90% and -2. 21% respectively. Thus, indicating that the company has poor cost control and/or that sales are insufficient to cover up COS and expenses (see Note 4 for computation). Net profit margin is the profitability after tax a nd interest.The 2011 and 2010 NPM’s are -2. 48% and -1. 75% respectively. This shows that the sales of the company is decreasing with a poor management of expenses (see Note 4 for computation). Return on total assets an indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. The 2011 and 2010 ROA’s are  -7. 59% and -5. 80% respectively. Thus management is inefficient in using its assets to generate earnings (see Note 4 for computation). Return on Shareholder’s Equity measures a corporation's profitability by revealing how much profit a company generates with the money shareholders have invested.During 2011 and 2010 the ROE’s are -18. 56% and -12. 52% respectively. Thus, indicating that the company is not generating profit by the investment of the shareholders but instead incurring a loss. Earnings Per Share is the earnings per each outstanding share. The 2011 and 2010 EPS are -19. 68% and -15. 28% respectively. Since EPS in considered as one of the factors that an investor considers, it implies that issuance of shares will not generate more money thus, less attractive (see Note 4 for computation). GROWTH RATIOS | Notes| Status| Ratio| |Growth Ratio on Sales| 5| Weakness| -13. 13%| Growth Ratio on Net Income| 5| Weakness| * -20. 06%| Growth Ratio on EPS| 5| Strength| 22. 26%| Growth Ratio on Dividends Per Share| 5| Weakness| -3. 502%| Growth ratio indicates the amount by which a variable increases over a given period of time as a percentage of its previous value. The growth ratios for Sales, Net income, Earnings Per Share, Dividends per Share are -13. 13%, -20. 06%, 22. 26% and -3. 502% respectively. Growth Rates are one of the factors that investors consider in order to extend their resources to generate future cash flows.It indicates that the company’s sales, earnings have not grown that would make its firm value less attractive. Also, it evaluates that the company was not performing good enough in order to generate sales, earnings and returns, hence, occurring losses as resulted. Based on the computation of Growth Ratio on EPS, though it has been reported through financial statements that the sales and income have weaken, still it indicates that the earnings through issuance of shares increases over time. (see Note 5 for computation).

Human Natures Tragic Flaw Essay

Do you believe there is a beast within man that tempts us to do wrong and commit sin? Or is it just human nature to be sinful? In the bible, book of Genesis, it shows how God created Adam and Eve. These two beings had everything one could possibly imagine, food, water, shelter, and the protection of our heavenly father. Their only rule in The Garden Of Eden was to not eat from the forbidden fruit tree in the center of the garden, but Adam and Eve were flawed and soon fell into temptation from the serpent, and ate the fruit. They went against God’s only command and made the human species sinners. In the novel, The Lord Of The Flies, a plane crashes on an uninhabited island leaving numerous boys stranded. These boys had to learn to survive without adults to make their food and provide shelter for them. At first they all agree to a chief, Ralph, and are willing to work together to build shelters, but as the novel reaches its climax, they turn savage which soon leads to the death of three boys. The author â€Å"William Golding† portrays that it is not human nature within ourselves that makes us act out, but when times are rough, violence and sin leads us away from the path of righteousness. Symbolism is used throughout the novel to show that things put in this world tempt us to act out. The biggest illustration of symbolism in The Lord Of The Flies is in relation to â€Å"the beast†. The Beast was introduced on the very first day on the island. A little boy with a mulberry-colored birthmark on his face educated everybody of a so called Beast, which he had apparently seen on the previous night. At the time, this was overlooked by the older boys as something in his imagination. As the story advances it becomes evident that the older boys begin to believe in this Beast. One evening Simon was spotted when returning from one of his nature walks, and Jack persuaded the others that he was the Beast. Each boy began pouncing on Simon, stabbing and beating him to death. This shows that a small thing, such as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, can cause fear and tempt us to do wrong, and in this case commit murder. Another example that holds much symbolic value throughout the story is the usage of the word â€Å"scar. † When the plane crashes on the lush island, it disrupts the balance and harmony of nature untouched by man’s influence. The twisted wreckage of the plane creates an imperfection in the peacefulness of nature, and leaves the beach a â€Å"scar† of what it used to be, stunning and unharmed by man’s vicious impulse. An object which also attains much symbolic relevance as the story unfolds is the conch shell. Delicate, fragile, and white, the conch is what brings the boys together on the first day at the beach. It is used throughout the story as an object of high importance and tradition, as it calls meetings together and determines who has the right to speak, depending on who is holding it at the time. It can be seen as a representation of law and order amongst the boys, as it unites them and prevents chaos from arising. As the book progresses, however, characters like Jack and his hunters put less and less importance in the sensibility and order in the concept of the conch, and finally disregard it altogether as chaos erupts over the island. This symbolizes the struggle of civilization and savagery, as Jack’s hatred of Piggy and Ralph grows and he and his boys resort to primal urges like hunting and killing. It is shown throughout the novel that although it is man’s natural instinct to cause destruction, it is not human nature to sin. We are tempted into sin by those around us, and even our own mind sets. â€Å"William Golding† beautifully portrays that it is not human nature within ourselves that makes us act out, but when times are rough, violence and sin leads us away from the path of righteousness.

Cultural Differences Between France and Middle-East (Maghreb)

Western European culture (France) Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and in the world. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia. After the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, the absolute monarchy was abolished and France became a constitutional monarchy. Through the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, France established fundamental rights for French citizens and all men without exception. The Declaration affirms â€Å"the natural and imprescriptible rights of man† to â€Å"liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression†. Freedom of speech and press were declared, and arbitrary arrests outlawed. Government The French Republic is a unitary semi-presidential republic with strong democratic traditions. Demographics With an estimated population of 65. 8  million people (as of 1 Jan. 2011), France is the 20th most populous country in the world. In 2004, a total of 140,033 people immigrated to France. Of them, 90,250 were from Africa and 13,710 from Europe. In 2008, France granted citizenship to 137,000 persons, mostly to people from Morocco, Algeria and Turkey. It is illegal for the French state to collect data on ethnicity and race, a law with its origins in the 1789 revolution and reaffirmed in the constitution of 1958.. While official data on the size of the country's ethnic minorities is not available, it has been estimated that between three million and six million people are of North African ancestry while an estimated 2.   million people are of Black African ancestry. It is currently estimated that 40% of the French population is descended at least partially from the different waves of immigration the country has received. Between 1921 and 1935 about 1. 1  million net immigrants came to France. Religion Roman Catholicism has been the predominant religion in France for more than a millennium, though it is not as actively practiced today as it once was. According to a Ja nuary 2007 poll by the Catholic World News – 51% identified s being Catholics, 31% identified as being agnostics or atheists 10% identified as being from other religions or being without opinion, 4% identified as Muslim, 3% identified as Protestant, 1% identified as Buddhist, 1% identified as Jewish. So we could see that France is one of the most multinational and multicultural countries in Europe. The main motivation for the law seems to be Sarkozy’s desire to do something to improve his dismal approval ratings. By appearing tough on Muslims he, perhaps, can counter the growing appeal of the right. His military adventures in Libya also seem calculated to that end. Obviously enough, this reason hardly justifies the law. Middle Eastern culture (Maghreb from Arabic – ‘West’) Actually in our case we will talk mostly about the region of Northwest Africa called Maghreb (also Maghrib). It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Because of Sahara desert contact between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa is limited. That’s why the biggest influence was coming from Middle Eastern cultures. The Arabs reached Maghreb in 7th century and brought their own religion Islam and Arabic language. After the 19th century, areas of the Maghreb were colonized by France, Spain and later Italy. In 1950th and beginning of 1960th all five countries became independent with their own government and low which is similar to French system board. Today more than two and a half million Maghrebi immigrants live in France, especially from Algeria and Morocco. In addition, there are 3 million French of Maghrebi origin (in 1999) (with at least one grand-parent from Algeria, Morocco or Tunisia) Family is extremely important in Asian cultures with much importance being placed on the elderly members of the family. The elderly are much revered in Asian society and it needs to be said that we don't show the same respect to the elderly in Western culture. Approximately 5 -10% of the adult population in North Africa is illiterate. In the majority of Asian countries the social infrastructure is set in a class system and it really is the poor versus the wealthy with little opportunity to rise above poverty line certain Asian countries the name given to you at birth depicts where you are placed as a person in the scheme of things. Money tends to bypass he general populace in regards to support systems, such as improving hospitals, availability of fresh water, and implementing crisis agencies or whatever is required to enable people to seek shelter in times of need. All these things are high on the list of priorities and available in most Western cultures. We also take advantage of the fact that due to the rate of cheap labor in Asian countries it is more economical for Western businesses to manufactu re goods offshore, so their profit margins are increased. Algeria, Egypt, and Tunisia are all republican democracies, meaning they are governed by elected legislative bodies. Both Algeria and Egypt have bicameral legislatures while Tunisia is unicameral. Libya is a unique government in the region for two reasons. First, in theory, it is a socialist democracy in which people govern themselves through local political councils. Second, though these councils do exist and function, in reality the nation is governed by a military dictatorship which hasn’t changed since it took over in 1969 when cornel Muammar Quadhafi took power in a military coup. Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with bicameral parlament.