Understanding Good Customer Service Essay Example for Free

Seeing Good Customer Service Essay This is the point at which they request something and they expect a specific degree of administration Customer fulfillment This is when clients feel like you’ve given them a decent help Main attributes of average clients Typical clients buy products/administrations, make questions and request counsel. Surpassing client desire Providing great incentive for cash, offering guidance and data rapidly, giving extra assistance and backing and great limits. Missing the mark concerning client care Being not able to meet customers’ desires, unfit to convey administrations/merchandise and being inconsiderate. Various obligations in client support Supervisor-preparing, everyday duties, oversight and a wellspring of counsel Line chief more management, greater duty, and reviewing. Client support jobs Receptionist, shop collaborator, conveyance driver and records chief. Various types of data Informative, informational, order, cautioning and security. Normal wellsprings of data Brochures, handouts, web, press reports and from your clients. Customer’s administration experience is influenced by the conduct they get from client assistance specialists Showing concern-Sympathy Listening-Nodding, saying yes Positive non-verbal communication Keeping eye to eye connection Indentifying the purpose behind disappointment Faulty products, no conveyance. Saying 'sorry' Saying sorry, clarify the reasons Remaining quiet and in control-Not losing temper Typical client assistance issues Complaints, issues, conveyances and not fit for reason Reporting client support issues To your director, to your chief and to the provider. Collaboration: To client Consistent assistance and successful spread for nonappearances To association Consistency and viable spread for nonattendances To self improvement, support and an effect on inspiration Organizational practices and methodology Keeping exact records, noting telephones, staff appearance and dress, discounts arrangement and grievance dealing with. Significance Ensuring predictable and solid help, consumer loyalty, productive activity and corporate personality. Reffering to somebody in power when? Outside own ability, outside own power, looking for exhortation and incapable to manage client. Reffering to somebody in power how? Up close and personal, recorded as a hard copy, via phone and by means of content or email. Security of client and their property-Compliance with wellbeing and wellbeing laws, guaranteeing sterile work practice and having a security alert. Security of client Data assurance laws and credit and charge subtleties. Wellbeing and security Compliance with wellbeing and security guidelines, control of substances unsafe to wellbeing guidelines 1994 and fire security guidelines. Treating clients similarly equivalent chances, racial and sexual orientation segregation and consistence with guidelines act. Significance of classification to client ensuring name, address, charge and Visa and subtleties of reasons for existing are secure. Significance and secrecy to staff-production sure names, address’s are secure. Additionally ensuring it is agreeable with the information insurance act-get to restricted to approved work force and PCs need a secret phrase to be gotten to. Enactment Working time mandate 1999, working with PCs, equity act 2010 and the inability separation act. Impact of outer guidelines authoritative strategies and the exchange body sets of accepted rules.

Obsolete Things

Obsolete Things There are many things that once brought joy to our lives but no longer serve a purpose in todays world. Walkmans. Laserdiscs. Fax machines. Pleated khakis. Mail-order catalogs. Palm Pilots. The Furby. But most of us clung to these artifacts well into their obsolescence, often out of a pious sense of nostalgia. The hallmarks of the past have a strange way of leaving claw marks on the present. We hold deathgrips on our VHS collections, our unused flip phones, our oversized Bugle Boy jeansâ€"not repairing or recycling these items, but storing them with the rest of our untouched hoard. As our collections grow, our basements, closets, and attics become purgatories of stuff, our lives overflowing with unemployed miscellanea. Your life is likely still filled with things that’ve fallen into disuse, and this lack of use is the final sign that you should let go. You see, as our needs, desires, and technologies change, so does the world around us. The objects that add value today may not add value tomorrow, which means we must be willing to let go of everything, even the tools that serve a purpose today. For if we let go, we can find temporary new homes for our neglected belongings and allow them to serve a purpose in someone else’s life, if only for a while, instead of collecting dust in our homegrown mausoleums. On a long enough timeline, everything becomes obsolete. A hundred years from now the world will be filled with new humans, and theyllve abandoned their USB cables, iPhones, and flatscreen televisions, letting go of the past to make room for the future. This means we must be responsible about the new bits and pieces we bring into our lives today, and we must be equally sensible when those things become obsolete. A willingness to let go is lifes most mature virtue. This essay was published in our side project, Minimalism Life.

Internalized language stereotypes within The Help - Literature Essay Samples

Kathryn Stockett’s The Help, published in 2009, received critical acclaim upon its release and it remained number one on the New York Times bestseller list for a year. By the time the 2011 film adaptation of the book went to theaters, The Help had sold 3 million copies, featured in the New York Times bestseller list for over two years, and had been published in 35 countries and translated into three languages (S. Jones, 8). The popularity of Stockett’s novel was widespread, yet many historians and scholars have raised questions about the stereotypes that the novel perpetrates and the accuracies of the dialect of the characters. Stockett writes African American character’s dialogue in a broken, marked form of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) while representing all white characters, even those of the working-class, with very few vernacular markings despite the fact that most, if not all, characters would have had Southern vernacular markings. The novel pl ays into the racial stereotypes that Stockett claims she was trying to eliminate, but the feel-good â€Å"we’re all the same† themes and the fact that the white, upper-middle class woman protagonist succeeds in the end suggests that the popular acclaim may have come from an audience playing into white fantasy, not one seeking to reveal truths and heal racial wounds. I argue that the major success of Stockett’s The Help and its consequent film, despite its misuse of AAVE and its perpetuation of African American stereotypes, suggests that its audience might subscribe to those same stereotypes. The Help gained immediate priority on the lists of book clubs since 2009, and the release of its movie in 2011 sent it to the top of the charts yet again, heading The New York Times bestseller list six times during its 103-week tenure. The success of the novel, both before and after the release of its movie, is not insignificant: it was ranked number three on its list of best-selling hardcover books in 2009 by Publisher’s Weekly; it was the first single Amazon Kindle title to sell one million eBook copies; it won the 2010 Indies’ Choice Award given by the American Bookseller’s Association; and it won the 2010 Book of the Year for Fiction given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Association (Wilson, 2012). The film enjoyed a large promotional push that included links to southern recipe and cooking guides, women’s fashion and style guides, and further cross-branding efforts. The Help film was highly successful, probably due to its vast marketing as well as the book’s popularity. The film grossed approximately $170 million domestically and $210 million worldwide (Wilson, 2012). However, the 2011 release of the movie was not met with only a public appeal: many viewers raised concerns about the exaggerated African American vernacular, the overt domestic worker stereotypes, and the perpetuation of the white savior trope. These concerns are all apparent in both the novel and the movie, which suggests that the large audiences that gave them their popularity are willing to look past— or maybe not even see at all— the problematic depictions of race and the Civil Rights Movement in the early 1960s. The conversation surrounding Kathryn Stockett and her novel began immediately after its release— it was controversial because some readers found it to be disparaging towards African Americans and a complete misrepresentation of the Civil Rights Movement. Ida E. Jones, the National Director of the Association of Black Women Historians, succinctly described many of her own problems with race in The Help in an essay entitled â€Å"An Open Statement to the Fans of The Help.† â€Å"Despite efforts to market the book and the film as a progressive story of triumph over racial injustice,† she writes, â€Å"The Help distorts, ignores, and trivializes the experiences of black domestic workers. We are specifically concerned about the representations of black life and the lack of attention given to sexual harassment and civil rights activism,† (I. Jones, 2014). The film, she argues, portrays the Civil Rights Movement through rose-tinted glasses, and in doing so it ign ores the constant adversaries like sexual assault and less than adequate pay that the women had to deal with. It invalidates an entire violent, hard-fought movement by suggesting that it was people like the preppy, upper-middle class white Southern woman protagonist, Skeeter, who really spearheaded the Civil Rights Movement. Furthermore, Jones argues, it completely mutes the violence by suggesting that racism was not an institutional cultural psyche, but a handful of problematic individuals. â€Å"Portraying the most dangerous racists in 1960s Mississippi as a group of attractive, well dressed, society women, while ignoring the reign of terror perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizens Council, limits racial injustice to individual acts of meanness,† (I. Jones, 2014). Jones further argues that Stockett has used the Civil Rights Movement as a plot development strategy without giving it the respect that she believes it deserves: â€Å"In the end, The Help is not a story about the millions of hardworking and dignified black women who labored in white homes to support their families and communities. Rather, it is the coming-of-age story of a white protagonist, who uses myths about the lives of black women to make sense of her own,† (I. Jones, 2014). Jones is far from the only scholar to raise concerns about the handling of race in The Help, and yet the book is still considered a keystone piece of literature in many wine-and-cheese book clubs. The popularity of The Help, both film and movie, suggests that large numbers of Americans are comfortable either ignoring the stereotypes represented, or simply do not recognize the fallacy of the story and the language used by its characters. Constance Ruzich and Julie Blake argue in their essay entitled â€Å"Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: Dialect, Race, and Identity in Stockett’s novel The Help,† that the African American community, by contrast, is able to see the misuse of dialect as it is shown in the film and on paper. â€Å"For many in the black community and/or for those with experience and understanding of African American Vernacular English (AAVE), Stockett’s representation of the maids’ language does not ring true and thus is perceived as insulting, demeaning, and racist,† (2015). Ruzich and Blake continue to suggest that the actual markings within the dialogue of the African American domestic workers are not necessarily the pr oblem, but the process of â€Å"enregisterment† that readers and viewers undergo in consuming the novel as entertainment. Barbara Johnstone, who works in the Pittsburgh area studying AAVE and coined the term, describes it as â€Å"if hearing a particular word or structure used, or a word pronounced a particular way, is experienced in connection with a particular style of dress or grooming, a particular set of social alignments, or a particular social activity, that pronunciation may evoke and/or create a social identity,† (Johnstone, 2011). Asif Agha, who can be put into conversation with both Ruzich and Blake and Johnstone because of his work with enregisterment, defines it as â€Å"the process by which a collection of linguistic forms or features becomes linked to a social identity and its accompanying ideological and cultural values,† (2003). Using this definition of enregisterment, Ruzich and Blake argue that the social identity Stockett attempts to portray to readers through the marked dialect of the African American domestic workers is that of being black, poor, and uneducated. In his essay â€Å"If Black English Isnt a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?† James Baldwin, argues that specific dialects become institutionalized because they had belonged to the people of privilege at the time of the language’s conception. With this in mind, the idea of â€Å"correct† and â€Å"incorrect† speech patterns becomes hazy. He writes that the arguments surrounding African American dialects are â€Å"rooted in American history and [have] absolutely nothing to do with the question the argument seems to be posing. The argument has nothing to do with language itself but with the role of language. Language, incontestably, reveals the speaker,† (Baldwin, 2001). By describing characters through their marked vernaculars, Stockett is suggesting that particular speech patterns correlate with different races, specifically that African American English is more marked with â€Å"inaccuracies,† although the institutionalized creation of  "correct† English was in itself classist. Stockett’s markings are clear in the dialect of the African American characters while many of the white characters, even those of the working class, maintain a nearly pristine speech pattern. In this way, both the novel and the movie are suggesting that specific vernaculars are aligned with class and race intrinsically and that the marked vernacular of the domestic workers should be recognized as a dialect used by the working class while the more â€Å"correct† version of Southern American English used by the white characters should be viewed as one with the upper-middle class (Ruzich Blake, 2015). Ruzich and Blake argue that The Help adds to a preexisting cultural enregisterment that links AAVE to the poor, uneducated, and lower class. The process of enregisterment in The Help becomes even more problematic when one considers the markings (or lack of markings) in the dialogue of the white characters. Ruzich and Blake support critiques of the novel on this basis, because upon close study of the lines of dialogue, they found that â€Å"the speech of Stockett’s white characters, no matter their social class or rural/urban differences, is significantly less marked for dialect than that used to give voice to the black characters in The Help. In the language of her [Stockett’s] white characters, dialect markers occur approximately once in one-hundred words, as compared to the language of her black characters, in which dialect markers occur approximately once every ten words,† (Ruzich Blake, 2015). This is offered in juxtaposition with the fact that historically, both African American and white characters would be speaking an accented form of Southern American English (SAE). The implication of this skewed form of dialect within the novel and the book suggests that, as a middle-class woman in the South, Stockett formed her own prejudices that translated into her writing (Ruzich Blake 2015). This problem is exacerbated due to the novel’s popularity within white audiences because it suggests that Stockett’s internalized stereotypes are part of a larger, more widely accepted discourse. â€Å"The linguistic stigmatization of the black characters in Stockett’s novel, then, needs to be viewed as something much larger than a reflection of a single author’s individual prejudices, but rather, as a popular culture indication of the racial and class anxieties that are deeply woven into the sociocultural fabric of American society, a society that embraces and popularizes such linguistic choices,† (Ruzich Blake, 2015). This problem is highlighted by Stockett’s handling of the dialect of the white working-class, which is repr esented by Celia Foote, a woman from Sugar Ditch who marries into wealth and is taught basic housekeeping and cooking skills by one of the African American domestic workers, Minnie. She is specifically interesting to linguists and historians looking at the accuracy of the novel because, despite the fact that being a lower class woman is intrinsically part of her character, she does not have nearly the amount of vernacular markings that the domestic workers do. Despite the fact that historically, Celia Foote’s language would have been just as marked as that of the domestic workers, Kathryn Stockett actually spoke in an interview about how she created Celia Foote’s half-broken hybrid English. â€Å"I had a lot of fun writing Miss Celia. I wanted to create a character who’s so poor that they’re beyond prejudice. But in terms of dialogue? Hers was the hardest to capture. When you really get down into deep, thick redneck accents, you kinda have to take out al l your teeth before you can really pull it off. But I do love those accents,† (Calkin, 2009). Ruzich and Blake wrote that they found this specific quotation particularly disturbing because it shows the true lack of attention that Stockett seemed to pay to the markings of AAVE and accented SAE, which all of the characters would historically be speaking. â€Å"Stockett’s assertion that she depicts Celia with a â€Å"deep, thick redneck accent† is difficult to reconcile with the comparatively infrequent markers of dialect found in Celia’s speech,† they argue, â€Å"In fact, after examining the linguistic features of Celia’s speech, it is unclear in what sense Stockett â€Å"took out all her teeth† in order to represent a character she describes as â€Å"so poor that they’re beyond prejudice.† Instead of highlighting differences between rich and poor, Stockett’s novel underscores the differences between black and whit e,† (Ruzich Blake, 2015). This type of enregisterment becomes problematic when it is being perpetrated by popular culture, but it becomes even more concerning when books and films that play into the misrepresentations of race become the most popular piece of literature about the time period. The problems with the dialect of character in the novel and movie are far from the only example of misrepresentation of African American domestic workers, although it may be arguably the easiest one to point out directly. When one considers the failings of Stockett’s version of broken AAVE in tandem with the misrepresentations found in the characters and plot itself, it becomes clear that the novel and film could be considered not only misrepresentative of a culture, but at times flat-out inaccurate. Allison Graham in â€Å"‘We Ain’t Doin’ Civil Rights’: The Life and Times of a Genre, as Told in The Help,† argues that one of the many ways in which race is misrepresented in the novel is its use of the Civil Rights Movement to generate idle discussion. The movement acts as background noise to the actual plot, which is centered around a privileged white woman, although the book is marketed as a piece of Civil Rights Movement literature. She further argues that the conclusion of the movie, although it achieves its â€Å"feel good† intent, really only suggests a â€Å"happy ending† for Skeeter and some extra money for the domestic workers involved. The only light at the end of the tunnel for the African American domestic workers is that â€Å"the film gives no hint that Abilene and Minny will feel further backlash from ‘doin’ civil rights,’† (Graham, 2014). By focusing the entire story on a â€Å"white saviorà ¢â‚¬  protagonist, the novel and the film are allowing white audiences to relate to the main character while feeling as though they understand the Civil Rights Movement completely. Other scholars, like Tikenya Foster-Singletary, have raised many concerns about the misrepresentations of color within The Help: â€Å"Stockett’s handling of race slips in a number of ways, marring the novel’s ultimate task and weighing it down with the problematic language and details for much of the story,† (Foster-Singletary, 2012). Graham and Foster-Singletary are just two voices in a large pool of critiques who suggest that there are problems with the way Stockett’s The Help handles racial issues and the Civil Rights Movement. Many literary critics, scholars, and casual book bloggers seemed to pick up on the overt problems in the description of race within the novel. In her essay entitled â€Å"The Help: A Critical Review,† April Scissors discusses some of the issues that she found within the text, such as the lack of African American male characters, which perpetrates the stereotype that African American men are not involved in family life at all, and when they are, they are violent (like Minnie’s abusive husband who is only shown in the film as a threatening shadow). She also argues that many scenes in both the film and the novel follow a stereotype by suggesting that African Americans must be religious and forgiving. Especially when these qualities are expected from middle-age African American women, the line between what is a â€Å"black mammy† stereotype and what is an accurate depiction of domestic workers becomes blurred (Scissors, 2013). â€Å"It is important to note that as a black woman, Abilene could not tell the stories of other black women and have the book be received as well as The Help has. If a black author wrote the book, or if the story allowed for Aibileen to be in charge of her own freedom, The Help would be relabeled as â€Å"African American fiction† or a â€Å"Black movie,† marginalized by its topic and not half as successful,† (2013). It is clear that many readers and viewers of The Help, especially Southern African Americans, find it an inaccurate depiction of life in Jackson, Mississippi, and yet its popularity among audiences seems unaffected. What does this suggest, then, about the audiences that are willing to consume entertainment that is widely viewed as inaccurate? Some literary scholars argue that at least part of the success of the novel was due to its tendency to bend more towards the audience’s emotional reaction than the actual historical truth. By revealing the full extent of the violence and struggles within the Civil Rights Movement and the lives of domestic workers in the 1960s, Stockett would have forfeited the ability to bring the novel to a tidy, optimistic close. Instead, she chooses to collapse all of the racial injustices suffered by African American domestic workers into a single, bit-sized and hatable character, Hilly Holbrook. With her defeat at the end of the novel, it is assumed that the defeat of all â€Å"racists† would follow. In this way, audiences are allowed to ignore the issue that the movie claims to push: the racial injustices of domestic workers in the 1960s. Henneberger writes in her critical review of the novel that â€Å"the book’s real appeal, it seems to me is in its invitation to ease in to a warm bath of moral superiority over the racist ninnies in the book, who worry about the diseases they might catch if the women who cook their food and raise their children were also to tinkle in their toilets,† (Henneberger, 2011). The audience, she argues, is given an archetype of a â€Å"racist,† who just appears to be a mean-hearted and largely under informed woman. By placing the racial problems of this period squarely on Hilly Holbrook’s shoulders, the audience can take the weight off of themselves. In this way, I argue that some of The Help’s popularity comes from its misrepresentation of race relations in the 1960s because it allows for the momentary ease of white guilt. By allowing racial injustices as a whole to be condensed to a single antagonist, audiences are trading historical truths for the temporary pleasure of a fictional story. Perhaps, then, the widespread success of both the novel and the film is suggestive of the consumers, although I would be hesitant to claim that a buyer of the book is equivalent to a firm supporter of the book. I would love to suggest that perhaps the book’s market popularity comes from the conversations that are generated about its misrepresentation of race, but I think that would be far-reaching optimism and that, in reality, its popularity comes from its perpetration of white fantasy stereotypes. Ruzich and Blake agree, arguing that â€Å"the commercial success of Stockett’s novel can be explained by its attempts to meet the emotional and political needs of her audience,† (2015). These â€Å"emotional and political needs,† they explain, include the need to alleviate white guilt and the need to personally connect with a lead white character who becomes triumphant in the end. â€Å"It could be argued that the central concern of the book is not about soci al justice for black people, but rather is about white people trying to figure out what roles they will still get to play in a social landscape in which a black man is President of the United States—a black man from the North who doesn’t talk like Uncle Remus,† (Ruzich Blake, 2015). This becomes especially problematic when considering that this is one of the few novels written by a Southern author that depicts Southern life during the Civil Rights Movement (however inaccurately) at all. The Help is an inadequate source of history, but for many current movie-watchers, it is the most information that they’ve received about the Civil Rights Movement at one time since high school. In Ann Hornaday’s review of the novel, she concurs, stating that many of her worries come from the fact that the novel might not be popular despite the historical inaccuracies, but because of the inaccuracies. She leaves the reader to experience the book for themselves, but t o be aware of the problems surrounding race as depicted in the novel. â€Å"Surely both taste and perspective will inform whether viewers will find â€Å"The Help† a revelatory celebration of interracial healing and transcendence, or a patronizing portrait that trivializes those alliances by reducing them to melodrama and facile uplift,† (Hornaday, 2008). Although my paper argues that the misrepresentations of African Americans within The Help probably added to its popularity among white audiences through its perpetration of white fantasy, I do completely recognize and understand the importance of reading texts that propose problems because it reveals the psyche of not only the author, but of the audience. I would argue that The Help was published at a convenient time in American history in that white guilt was heightened by the slow recognition of police brutality and the novel offered a quick-fix remedy. The social climate in which the novel was published, its perpet ration of white fantasy stereotypes, and its tendency to reduce racial injustices into a single antagonist in order to act as if they have been completely resolved probably added to the novel’s popular appeal. The movie’s release made the same themes even more readily available and it opened a discussion that the country was nervous to have about historical racial tensions and it offered a clean, although not complete, answer: â€Å"racism is bad, so don’t be a racist†. The themes displayed in The Help ignore the fact that racial tensions are historically an intrinsic part of American history, that racism is an internalized misunderstanding of another race and not a mean-spirited individual, and that racial tensions still exist today. Instead, it perpetrates themes that suggest that racial injustices are a phenomena of the past and that racism can be defeated with shit pie. In conclusion, this paper was meant to describe, in detail, the misrepresentations of class and race in The Help while asking what its massive popularity suggests about its audience and their willingness to accept such stereotypes. In this paper, I outlined the popularity of the novel and movie, used quotations from critics to gather an understanding of the popular opinion of each, discussed specific instances of Stockett’s misuse of AAVE and misrepresentation of African Americans, and considered what its popularity despite its obvious problems says about its audience. I found that many scholars, including Ruzich and Blake, would argue that â€Å"the linguistic stigmatization of the black characters in Stockett’s novel â€Å"needs to be viewed as something much larger than a reflection of a single author’s individual prejudices, but rather, as a popular culture indication of the racial and class anxieties that are deeply woven into the sociocultural fabric of A merican society, a society that embraces and popularizes such linguistic choices,† (2015). Even Aibileen’s repeated mantra in the film, â€Å"You is kind. You is smart. You is important,† is marked by a form of uneducated dialect that is not in coherence with accented SAE, which the character would be historically speaking. Stockett’s claims that she draws directly from memories of her own African American nanny, in my opinion, offer very little reconciliation because it is an admittance that she consciously chose to write from childhood memory instead of a true form of Southern American English or African American Vernacular English. The fact that the popular audience’s reaction to a piece of art as problematic as The Help was widespread approval suggests that people found comfort in its dramatized versions of the 1960s and muted descriptions of the Civil Rights Movement. The Help tells a story in which a â€Å"white savior† protagonist uses the stories of domestic workers to further her own personal agenda of being a journalist while claiming to be a book about Civil Rights. It attempts to alleviate white guilt by personifying racism as a single, definable character who can be defeated and it paints the â€Å"good† white people as the heroes. These characteristics of The Help probably helped in its vast success because it was received by an audience eager to fix racial wounds quickly and silently. It offered a way to resolve the racial tension, eliminate internalized white guilt, and provide the â€Å"feel-good† sensation required of an enjoyable movie, and it was accepted by an audience too eager throw away historical truths to bask in the warmth of white fantasy. Works CitedAgha, Asif. â€Å"The Social Life of Cultural Value.† Language and Communication 23 (2003): 231, 73. Print. Alim, H. Samy. â€Å"Critical Language Awareness in the United States: Revisiting Issues and Revising Pedagogies in a Resegregated Society.† Educational Researcher, vol. 34, no. 7, 2005, pp. 24–31., www.jstor.org/stable/3699797 Baldwin, James. If Black English Isnt a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?. The Black Scholar, no. 1, 2001, p. 5. Calkin, Jessamy. â€Å"The Maid’s Tale: Kathryn Stockett Examines Slavery and Racism in America’s Deep South.† The Telegraph. 16 July 2009. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. Foster-Singletary, Tikenya. Dirty South: The Help and the Problem of Black Bodies. Southern Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 4, Summer2012, pp. 95-107. Graham, Allison. We Aint Doin Civil Rights: The Life and Times of a Genre, as Told in the Help. Southern Cultures, vol. 20, no. 1, 2014, pp. 51-64. Henneberger, Melinda. Southern Discomfort: A Novel, a Lawsuit an Unhappy Legacy. Commonwealth, vol. 138, no. 6, 25 Mar. 2011, p. 7. Ann, Hornaday. Using Stereotypes to Explain Racism. Washington Post, the, Nov. 2008. Johnstone, Barbara. Dialect Enregisterment in Performance. Journal of Sociolinguistics, vol. 15, no. 5, Nov. 2011, pp. 657-679. Jones, Ida E., et al. An Open Statement to the Fans of the Help. Southern Cultures, vol. 20, no.1, Spring 2014, pp. 32-33. Jones, Suzanne W. The Divided Reception of the Help. Southern Cultures, vol. 20, no. 1, Spring2014, pp. 7-25. Ruzich, Constance and Julie Blake. Aint Nothing Like the Real Thing: Dialect, Race, and Identity in Stocketts Novel the Help. Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 48, no. 3, June 2015, p. 534. Scissors, April. â€Å"The Help: A Critical Review.† Cease and DaSista. 30 June 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2013. Wilson, Kerry B. Selling the White Savior Narrative: The Help, Theatrical Previews and US Movie Audiences. Academia (2012): 22-41. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

Henrik Ibsen s A Doll s House - 885 Words

When pondering the context of the genre tragedy it is common to think of Shakespeare and the stories of love, betrayal, and death which are so commonly portrayed in his work. The play a â€Å"A Doll s House† by Henrik Ibsen is not much different than the classics as it exemplifies the loss and anguish endured while pursuing a principal. The play is a modern tragedy following the painful path of Nora s self discovery, which comes at the cost of questioning societal norms and family roles. Her tragic plight is masked by the comedic, fun loving behavior she exhibits as a mother,wife, and friend, however, the frustration she feels as an individual grasping for personal knowledge, wins the battle of her consciousness and leads to the somber conclusion of the play: Nora leaves her family. To create a tragedy resounding with modern audiences, Ibsen didn t make changes to the structure of a typical play, however he did take a contrary approach regarding the conflict amongst character s the audience views(Hanssen). Ibsen uses a family dynamic familiar to the viewers, so the audience imagines themselves as people in the play(Hanssen). The familiarity in which the audience feels with Nora, is so strong, the ending scene causes bafflement to viewers who feel â€Å"they cannot see how any other aspect of her character exists† when she leaves her family(Brooks). Ibsen s use of a modern family is effective in evoking thoughts about society and what is acceptable because the audience is ableShow MoreRelatedHenrik Ibsen s A Doll House1563 Words   |  7 Pages In the play, A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen, the title itself symbolizes the dependent and degraded role of the wife within traditional marriages. Ibsen portrayed the generous nature root into women by society, as well as the significant action of this nature, and lastly the need for them to find their own voice in a world ruled by men. Ibsen wrote this play in 1879, this is the era where women were obedient to men, tend the children until their husband came home, and stood by the Cult of DomesticityRead MoreA Doll s House By Henrik Ibsen1717 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"A Doll, a Partner, and a Change† Social movement of women liberation toward equal rights and independence has been a big subject in human history. It happens not only in Europe but also all over the world. Though making progress, this movement has been advancing slowly and encountered backslashes from time to time. Maybe there is something deeply hidden which the society has not figured out yet, even women themselves. What do women want, freedom or good life? Most of the time, they are notRead MoreA Doll s House By Henrik Ibsen1291 Words   |  6 Pages A Doll s House by Henrik Ibsen, is a play that has been written to withstand all time. In this play Ibsen highlights the importance of women’s rights. During the time period of the play these rights were neglected. Ibsen depicts the role of the woman was to stay at home, raise the children and attend to her husband during the 19th century. Nora is the woman in A Doll House who plays is portrayed as a victim. Michael Meyers said of Henrik Ibsen s plays: The common denominator in many of IbsenRead MoreA Doll s House By Henrik Ibsen1288 Words   |  6 Pages Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is based in the Victorian society of the 19th century. It assesses the many struggles and hardships that women faced because of marriage â€Å"laws† that were crucial during that time period. The society was male- dominated with no equality. Nora is the protagonist in A Doll’s House and the wife of a man named Torvald. This play is about Nora’s voyage to recognizing her self- determination and independence. She transforms from a traditional, reserved woman to a new, independentRead MoreA Doll s House By Henrik Ibsen1298 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"There is beauty in truth, even if it s painful. Those who lie, twist life so that it looks tasty to the lazy, brilliant to the ignorant, and powerful to the weak. But lies only strengthen our defects. They don t teach anything, help anything, fix anything or cure anything. Nor do they develop one s character, one s mind, one s heart or one s soul.† (Josà © N. Harris). Nora Helmer’s choice to lie and deceive is inappropriate and wrong for women to do to her husband during this time period; itRead MoreA Doll s House By Henrik Ibsen1037 Words   |  5 PagesHenrik Ibsen s A Doll s House is a work of literature genius. This three-act play involves many literary technics that are undermined by the average reader such as the fact that the plot shows the main characters Torvald and his wife Nora live the perfect life. An ironic paradox based around the fact that Nora and Torvald’s relationship is the complete opposite of perfect. Also, bringing upon a conflict as well, appearance versus reality. These little hidden meanings within stories are what areRead MoreA Doll s House : Henrik Ibsen962 Words   |  4 PagesDrama Analysis A Doll’s House (Henrik Ibsen) And Trifles (Susan Glaspell) In comparing both dramas, the overwhelming aspect of convergence between both is the open discussion of gender identity. Both dramas make similar points about what it means to be a woman. Modern society in both dramas is constructed with men holding power over women. This is seen in Trifles in how men like George Henderson and Mr. Hale are myopic. The premise of the drama is how women worry over trifles, and the dismissiveRead MoreA Doll s House By Henrik Ibsen1421 Words   |  6 PagesIn A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen examines conventional roles of men and women in the nineteenth century. In the play, Nora exemplifies the conventional feminine standard during that period. She seems to be powerless and confines herself through high standard expectations, demonstrating what the role of a women would be as a wife and mother. The protagonist of A Doll’s House is a woman named Nora Helmer. Ibsen shows how Nora’s design of perfect life gradually transforms when her sec ret unravels. InRead MoreA Doll s House By Henrik Ibsen876 Words   |  4 PagesA Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen A Doll’s House takes place in the home of Torvald and Nora Helmer. Through conversation with Nora’s good friend Kristine Linde it is revealed that Mr. Helmer was ill around the same time Nora’s father died. Luckily Nora’s father left her enough money that Torvald and Nora could go on a life saving trip to Italy. But the truth comes out when we find out Nora’s father did not leave her a penny. We find out that Nora got a hold of the money through a loan but she signedRead MoreHenrik Ibsen s A Doll House Essay1501 Words   |  7 PagesHenrik Ibsen’s play â€Å"A Doll House† was set in the Victorian era, a time where women were highly respected. Women in this time period did not work, they had nannies to take care of their children and maids to take care of their homes. Many women had no real responsibilities, they spent their time having tea parties and socializing with their friends. Henrik Ibsen dared to show the realism of the Vict orian era while everyone else would only focus on the romantic aspect. In the play, â€Å"A Doll House†

The Battle of San Jacinto in the Texas Revolution

The Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, ​was the defining battle of the Texas Revolution. Mexican General Santa Anna had unwisely divided his force to mop up those Texans still in rebellion after the Battle of the Alamo and the Goliad Massacre. General Sam Houston, sensing Santa Annas mistake, engaged him on the shores of the San Jacinto River. The battle was a rout, as hundreds of Mexican soldiers were killed or captured. Santa Anna himself was captured and forced to sign a treaty, effectively ending the war. Rebellion in Texas Tensions had long been simmering between rebellious Texans and Mexico. Settlers from the USA had been coming to Texas (then a part of Mexico) for years, with the support of the Mexican government, but a number of factors made them unhappy and open war broke out at the Battle of Gonzales on October 2, 1835. Mexican President/General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna marched north with a massive army to put down the rebellion. He defeated the Texans at the legendary Battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. This was followed by the Goliad Massacre, in which some 350 rebellious Texan prisoners were executed. Santa Anna vs. Sam Houston After the Alamo and Goliad, panicked Texans fled east, fearing for their lives. Santa Anna believed that the Texans were beaten even though General Sam Houston still had an army of almost 900 in the field and more recruits came every day. Santa Anna chased the fleeing Texans, alienating many with his policies of driving off Anglo settlers and destroying their homesteads. Meanwhile, Houston kept one step ahead of Santa Anna. His critics called him a coward, but Houston felt he would only get one shot at defeating the much-larger Mexican army and preferred to pick the time and place for battle. Prelude to Battle In April of 1836, Santa Anna learned that Houston was moving east. He divided his army in three: one part went on a failed attempt to capture the provisional government, another remained to protect his supply lines, and the third, which he commanded himself, went after Houston and his army. When Houston learned what Santa Anna had done, he knew the time was right and turned to meet the Mexicans. Santa Anna set up camp on April 19, 1836, in a marshy area bordered by the San Jacinto River, Buffalo Bayou and a lake. Houston set up camp nearby. Sherman’s Charge On the afternoon of April 20, as the two armies continued to skirmish and size each other up, Sidney Sherman demanded that Houston send a cavalry charge to attack the Mexicans: Houston thought this foolish. Sherman rounded up about 60 horsemen and charged anyway. The Mexicans did not flinch and before long, the horsemen were trapped, forcing the rest of the Texan army to briefly attack to allow them to escape. This was typical of Houston’s command. As most of the men were volunteers, they did not have to take orders from anyone if they didn’t want to and often did things on their own. The Battle of San Jacinto On the following day, April 21, Santa Anna received some 500 reinforcements under the command of General Martà ­n Perfecto de Cos. When Houston didn’t attack at first light, Santa Anna assumed he would not attack that day and the Mexicans rested. The troops under Cos were particularly tired. The Texans wanted to fight and several junior officers tried to convince Houston to attack. Houston held a good defensive position and wanted to let Santa Anna attack first, but in the end, he was convinced of the wisdom of an attack. At about 3:30, the Texans began silently marching forward, trying to get as close as possible before opening fire. Total Defeat As soon as the Mexicans realized an attack was coming, Houston ordered the cannons to fire (he had two of them, called the â€Å"twin sisters†) and the cavalry and infantry to charge. The Mexicans were taken completely unawares. Many were asleep and almost none were in defensive position. The angry Texans swarmed into the enemy camp, shouting â€Å"Remember Goliad!† and â€Å"Remember the Alamo!† After about 20 minutes, all organized resistance failed. Panicked Mexicans tried to flee only to find themselves trapped by the river or bayou. Many of Santa Anna’s best officers fell early and loss of leadership made the rout even worse. The Final Toll The Texans, still enraged over the massacres at the Alamo and Goliad, showed little pity for the Mexicans. Many Mexicans tried to surrender, saying â€Å"me no La Bahà ­a (Goliad), me no Alamo,† but it was no use. The worst part of the slaughter was at the edges of the Bayou, where fleeing Mexicans found themselves cornered. The final toll for the Texans: nine dead and 30 wounded, including Sam Houston, who had been shot in the ankle. For the Mexicans: about 630 dead, 200 wounded and 730 captured, including Santa Anna himself, who was captured the next day as he tried to flee in civilian clothes. Legacy of the Battle of San Jacinto After the battle, many of the victorious Texans clamored for the execution of General Santa Anna. Houston wisely refrained. He correctly surmised that Santa Anna was worth much more alive than dead. There were still three large Mexican armies in Texas, under Generals Filisola, Urrea and Gaona: any one of them was large enough to potentially defeat Houston and his men. Houston and his officers spoke with Santa Anna for hours before deciding on a course of action. Santa Anna dictated orders to his generals: they were to leave Texas at once. He also signed documents recognizing the independence of Texas and ending the war. Somewhat amazingly, Santa Annas generals did as they were told and retreated out of Texas with their armies. Santa Anna somehow evaded execution and eventually made his way back to Mexico, where he would later resume the Presidency, go back on his word, and try more than once to re-take Texas. But every effort was doomed to failure. Texas was gone, soon to be followed by California, New Mexico, and much more Mexican territory. History lends events such as the independence of Texas a certain feeling of inevitability  as if it was always the destiny of Texas to become first independent and then a state in the USA. The reality was different. The Texans had just suffered two huge losses at the Alamo and Goliad and were on the run. Had Santa Anna not split his forces, Houstons army may well have been beaten by the Mexicans superior numbers. In addition, Santa Annas generals had the strength to defeat the Texans: had Santa Anna been executed, they likely would have kept fighting. In either case, history would be much different today. As it was, the Mexicans crushing defeat at the Battle of San Jacinto proved decisive for Texas. The Mexican army retreated, effectively ending the only realistic chance they ever had of re-taking Texas. Mexico would futilely try for years to reclaim Texas, only finally relinquishing any claim to it after the Mexican-American War. San Jacinto was Houstons finest hour. The glorious victory silenced his critics and gave him the invincible air of a war hero, which served him in good stead during his subsequent political career. His decisions were consistently proven wise. His reluctance to attack Santa Annas unified force and his refusal to let the captured dictator be executed are two good examples. For the Mexicans, San Jacinto was the start of a long national nightmare that would end with the loss of not only Texas  but also California, New Mexico, and much more. It was a humiliating defeat and for years. Mexican politicians made great plans to get Texas back, but deep down they knew it was gone. Santa Anna was disgraced  but would make yet another comeback in Mexican politics during the Pastry War against France in 1838-1839. Today, there is a monument at the San Jacinto battlefield, not far from the city of Houston. Resources and Further Reading Brands, H.W. Lone Star Nation: the Epic Story of the Battle for Texas Independence. New York: Anchor Books, 2004.

Whats a Good GRE Score Heres How to Tell

So you received the results of your  Graduate Record Exam. To determine if you did well, youll need to learn about how the GRE is scored  and  how all test-takers are ranked. Nearly 560,000 people took the GRE in 2016-2017, according to the  Educational Testing Service, a nonprofit group that developed and administers the test. How well you did on the GRE depends on how many questions you answered correctly and how you stacked up against all of the other test-takers in the U.S. and around the globe. The GRE is a critical part of your graduate school application. It is required by nearly all doctoral programs and many, if not most, master’s programs. With so much riding on one standardized exam, it’s in your interest to prepare as best you can and fully understand your test results when you receive them. GRE Score Range The GRE is divided into three parts: verbal, quantitative, and  analytical writing. The verbal and quantitative subtests yield  scores  ranging from 130 to 170, in one-point increments. These are called your scaled scores. Most graduate schools consider the verbal and quantitative sections to be particularly important in making decisions about applicants. The analytical  writing section  yields a score ranging from zero to six, in half-point increments Kaplans, which provides higher-education training materials and programs, breaks down the top scores as follows: Best Scores: Verbal: 163–170Quantitative: 165–170Writing: 5.0–6.0 Competitive Scores: Verbal: 158–162Quantitative: 159–164Writing: 4.5 Good Scores: Verbal: 150–158Quantitative: 153–158Writing:  4.0 Percentile Rank The  Princeton Review, a company that offers college test-preparation services, notes that in addition to your scaled score, you also need to look at your  percentile rank. Princeton Review says this is more important than your scaled score. Your percentile rank indicates how your GRE scores compare to those of other test takers.   The 50th percentile represents the average, or  mean,  GRE score. The  mean  for the quantitative section is 151.91 (or 152); for verbal, its 150.75 (151); and for analytical writing, its 3.61. Those are, of course, average scores.  Average scores vary depending on the academic field, but applicants should score,  at a  minimum, in the 60th to 65th percentile. The 80th  percentile is a decent score, while a score at the 90th  percentile and above is excellent. The tables below indicate percentiles for each of the GREs subtest: verbal, quantitative, and writing. Each percentile represents the percentage of test-takers who scored above and below the corresponding score. So, if you scored 161 on the GRE verbal test, you would be at the 87th percentile, which is a pretty good figure. This would mean you did better than 87 percent of the people who took the test and worse than 13 percent. If you scored a 150 on your quantitative test, you would be at the 41st percentile, meaning that you did better than 41 percent of those who took the test but worse than 59 percent. Verbal Subtest Score Score Percentile 170 99 169 99 168 98 167 97 166 96 165 95 164 93 163 91 162 89 161 87 160 84 159 81 158 78 157 73 156 70 155 66 154 62 153 58 152 53 151 49 150 44 149 40 148 36 147 32 146 28 145 24 144 21 143 18 142 15 141 12 140 10 139 7 138 6 137 5 136 3 135 2 134 2 133 1 132 1 131 1 Quantitative Subtest Score Score Percentile 170 98 169 97 168 96 167 95 166 93 165 91 164 89 163 87 162 84 161 81 160 78 159 75 158 72 157 69 156 65 155 61 154 57 153 53 152 49 151 45 150 41 149 37 148 33 147 29 146 25 145 22 144 18 143 15 142 13 141 11 140 8 139 6 138 5 137 3 136 2 135 2 134 1 133 1 132 1 131 1 Analytical Writing Score Score Percentile 6.0 99 5.5 97 5.0 93 4.5 78 4.0 54 3.5 35 3.0 14 2.5 6 2.0 2 1.5 1 1 0.5 0 Tips and Advice Aim to learn vocabulary, sharpen your math skills and practice writing arguments. Learn test-taking strategies, take practice exams, and if you can, enroll in a GRE prep course. There are also some specific strategies you can use to  raise your GRE scores: Answer every question: You arent penalized for incorrect answers on the GRE as you are on other tests, such as the SAT, so theres no harm in guessing.Use the scratch paper: You will not be allowed to bring paper with you to the testing center, but you will be provided with scratch paper. Use it to help solve math problems, outline your essay, and write down formulas or vocabulary words youve memorized before the test.Use a process of elimination.  If you can rule out even one wrong answer, youll be in a much better spot for guessing if it comes to that. Additionally, try to pace yourself, spend more time on difficult questions, and dont second-guess yourself too often.  Statistics suggest that your first answer choice is usually correct as long as youve prepared well for the exam and have a solid knowledge base.

Controlling Organized Crime - 1363 Words

Controlling Organized Crime CJA384 Controlling Organized Crime Since the 1990’s, organized crime has become a problem among U.S. citizens. The Mafia was the earliest group to show its strengths of power and manipulation among citizens and business of New York City. From the time of the Mafia’s rise, other criminal organizations have surfaced using their power to corrupt personal within business for the gain of finance and political strength. In today society, one of the main question when it comes to these groups is how can criminal organizations be controlled? This paper will identify the problems presented and the various relationships established by organized crime. It will describe the legal limitations associated with combating†¦show more content†¦Conversely, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has classified organized crime â€Å"as a continuing criminal conspiracy with an organized structure that is successful because of its use of fear, corruption, and violence† (Mallory amp; Mallory, 2012). The characteristics defined above provide a basis for deciding if a specific group of criminals represent organized crime. This type of information is essential because organized crime has be handled in a different way from those of traditional offenders. Researchers can do a more comprehensive understanding could be acquired from the many empirical and speculative theories that contribute in the clarification of organized crime; this writer would it to be known that there is not one theory that can be applicable to the various groups of organized crime or its participants (Mallory amp; Mallory, 2012). When dealing with organized crime, those working in the criminal justice field that there are plentiful problems that organized crime brings to the table. One such issues that can rise up are the provision of illicit markets is one large problem associated with organized crime. This is an issues because communities that are in a susceptible state and as a result this types of villages can undoubtedly become dependent on what organized crime can supply (Beare amp; Naylor, 1994). Within at risk environment manipulation and perversion canShow MoreRelatedControlling Organized Crime1200 Words   |  5 PagesControlling Organize Crime Paper Louis Pierre CJA/384 May 6, 2013 University of phoenix Professor: Glen Winters Controlling Organize Crime Paper Organize crime is a conspiratorial activity involving the coordination of numerous people in the planning and execution of illegal acts or in the pursuit of a legitimate objective by unlawful means, for example, threatening a legitimate business to get stake in it. However, organize crime involves continuous commitment by primary members, althoughRead MoreEssay on Controlling Organized Crime1564 Words   |  7 PagesControlling Organized Crime CJA/393 Criminal Organizations June 1, 2010 Controlling Organized Crime In this paper, I will identify the problems presented and the various relationships established by organized crime. 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Campbell about Los Zetas.Read More Organized Crime Essay1035 Words   |  5 Pages Organized crime is often described similarily by groups like government, the press and popular opinion. This similar definition is described through the knowledge people have gained from pop-culture movies, television shows, magazines, novels and stories from newspaper articles. Often these newspaper articles are written by authors who have little more knowledge on the structure of organized crime then what their favorite Sopranos episode dictates. It is extremely rare in todays society thatRead MoreBook Report on The New Ethnic Mob by William Kleinknecht Essay1470 Words   |  6 Pagescurrent criminals involved in organized crime are no longer just the Italians. He could be Cuban, Chinese, Russian, African-American, Haitian, or Jamaican. These are the new breed of more sophisticated and more brutal organized criminals. In the preface of the book Kleinknecht states not to mistake this work for a case against immigration in the United States. The author does a great job giving background information on how organized crime emerged in the early part of the Read MoreSummary Of All Souls By Michael Patrick Macdonald, And The Departed Essay1907 Words   |  8 Pageson racial discrimination during this time. The organized crime leaders in both All Souls and The Departed seized and opportunity, and utilized them to their advantage. Both Frank Costello, leader of the Irish mob in The Departed, and Whitey Bulger, Leader of the Irish mob in All Souls, exploited the ethnic and racial tensions to distract South Boston from the damage that organized crime is causing. Costello and Bulger are responsible for crimes devastating to South Boston such as murdering countlessRead More THe Mafia Essay1064 Words   |  5 Pagesthe Italian-American Mafia, is a group of criminals organized into quot;families,quot; and operating primarily in North America. Also known as La Cosa Nostra, at one time there were 26 families in the United States - roughly one for each major city. The Mafi a composed of bosses of numerous families, mostly New York, was the overseeing authority for all of the other La Cosa Nostra families. New York City is the place of origin for organized crime in the United States. Currently, there are five families