The Impact Of Technology On The Development Of...

Drawing on examples from Chapters 2, 6 and 7 of Investigating Psychology, discuss the claim that technology has played a decisive role in the development of psychological research. Firstly, this essay will discuss the work by Stanley Milgram (1963) and his obedience studies which used technology to see how far people would obey an authority figure. I will follow this with the ethics argument that surrounded it, noting the issues raised by Diana Baumrind (1964). An updated version of Milgram’s (1963) experiment, carried out by Mel Slater and colleagues (2006) which used technology to replicate it. Moving on, friendship will be examined with the work of Brian Biegelow and John La Gaipa (1975), and other work by William Corsaro (2006).†¦show more content†¦The level of distress was noted, and even though some of the ‘teachers’ protested, the experimenter urged them to proceed, or they were told ‘you have no choice; you must carry on’ Banyard (2012, p.73). The experiment was a controlled in the sense that each ‘teacher’ heard the same cries of distress from the next room, they all met the same ‘learner’ and so on. This point of the experiment is important because although they were encouraged to continue, surprisingly few exercised their right to stop, most just did as they were told, which was the basis of the defence for many of those at the Nuremburg trials, which preceded the study; â€Å"I was just following orders† Banyard (2012). The results seemed to support the hypothesis that people obey those in a position of authority, and Milgram (1963) carried out many variations of this original study. The ethics of the study were however called into question (Banyard, 2012). One protestors among many was Diana Baumrind (Banyard, 2012). Baumrind (1964) argued whether the ‘welfare of the participants’ was considered Banyard (2012, p.79). Baumrind (1964) further criticised the experiment for the damage it could do the public’s perception of psychology (Banyard, 2012). In Milgram’s (1963) defence, he was not ignorant of the potential harm caused to participants, (Banyard, 2012). In fact, he was

Foreign Aid Intervention And Poor Effective Governance...

On January 12, 2010, a devastating earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shook Haiti and its residents. An estimate of more than 250,000 deaths was recorded, along with 300,000 injuries, and 1,200,000 people left displaced with no access to proper food, water or shelter. This essay presents a critique of foreign aid intervention and poor effective governance within the country of Haiti. The essay will begin with a history of Haiti’s political, economic and social aspects that contribute to today’s slow efforts of recovery. The paper will then describe and analyze the disaster under the four pillars of emergency management including: Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. The analysis under the four pillars will help understand the rationale for the absence of normal day to day procedures in Haiti today. Additionally, the paper will give recommendations on how to improve the situation in Haiti and risk reductions for future possible disasters. Despite the slow developme nts in Haiti, the lack of safety officials has failed to recognize the impounding situation in Haiti. This has resulted in a severe dependency on foreign aid. History The power struggle between the citizens of Haiti and the Haitian Government has been an ongoing process for centuries. Months after the earthquake, Haitians were still seen searching for employment opportunities, whereas the nation clearly had an intensive amount of work to be done in order to recover from the disaster. A year before theShow MoreRelatedGlobalization And Foreign Aid Syndrome2505 Words   |  11 Pages INTRODUCTION: For the past four decades the development challenge has been rich world of one million people facing poor world of five billion people. 80% of the five billion people live in developing countries. There are a few countries at the bottom billion that are falling behind and often falling apart. Paul collier through this book takes a dynamic approach of the problems faced by the bottom billion, the reason why they are falling behind and what can be done about this. The arguments collierRead MoreA National Security Strategy for the Philippines7627 Words   |  31 Pagesdevelopments in other countries and regions that were previously viewed as totally unrelated to the Philippines have started to be seen as significant and of increasing relevance. The concept of global competitiveness has lately become of import to policymakers. In the latest Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), it defines competitiveness as the †set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country.† It adds, â€Å"TheRead MoreA National Security Strategy for the Philippines7617 Words   |  31 Pagesdevelopments in other countries and regions that were previously viewed as totally unrelated to the Philippines have started to be seen as significant and of increasing relevance. The concept of global competitiveness has lately become of import to policymakers. In the latest Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), it defines competitiveness as the †set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country.† It adds, â€Å"TheRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility And Business Ethics8391 Words   |  34 Pagessensitive an organisation is towards its responsibilities towards the community and people or partners associated with it. For example, opening a charitable trust, providing good quality products and services to the community. India became the first country to mandate corporate social responsibility by law after including the requirements related to it in Companies Act, 2013. As per Section 135 of Companies Act, it is now mandatory for companies (subject to a criteria discussed further) to spend 2% ofRead MoreGsk Annual Report 2010135604 Words   |  543 PagesContents Business review P08–P57 Governance and remuneration P58–P101 Financial statements P102–P191 Shareholder information P192–P212 Business review 2010 Performance overview Research and development Pipeline summary Products, competition and intellectual property Regulation Manufacturing and supply World market GSK sales performance Segment reviews Responsible business Financial review 2010 Financial position and resources Financial review 2009 Risk factors Governance and remuneration Our Board OurRead MorePrimary Sector of Economy17717 Words   |  71 Pagesprimary sector is usually most important in less developed countries, and typically less important in industrial countries. The manufacturing industries that aggregate, pack, package, purify or process the raw materials close to the primary producers are normally considered part of this sector, especially if the raw material is unsuitable for sale or difficult to transport long distances.[1] Primary industry is a larger sector in developing countries; for instance, animal husbandry is more common in AfricaRead MoreThe Origin, Development and Significance of Human Rights10255 Words   |  42 Pagesof liberal individualism and the related economic and social doctrine of laissez-faire, the first generation conceives of human rights more in negative terms (freedoms from) than positive ones (rights to); it favours the abstention over the intervention of government in the quest for human dignity. Belonging to this first generation, thus, are rights such as those set forth in Articles 2-21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including freedom from gender, racial, and equivalent formsRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesunprecedented number of people that soared well into the hundreds of millions by century’s end. But for a clear majority of these migrants, movement was coerced by flight from war and oppression or was enticed by labor recruiters who preyed on the desperately poor. The prospects for the great majority were almost invariably lives of drudge labor in urban sweatshops, on tropical plantations, or on the wharves of an expansive, global export economy. Throughout the century, advances in human rights, which wereRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesPrinter/Binder: Courier/Kendallville Cover Printer: Courier/Kendalville Text Font: 10.5/12 ITC New Baskerville Std Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbook appear on the appropriate page within text. Copyright  © 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007, 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtainedRead MoreManaging Information Technology (7th Edition)239873 Words   |  960 PagesVoIP2.biz, Inc.: Deciding on the Next Steps for a VoIP Supplier CASE STUDY I-3 The VoIP Adoption at Butler University CASE STUDY I-4 Supporting Mobile Health Clinics: The Children’s Health Fund of New York City CASE STUDY I-5 Data Governance at InsuraCorp CASE STUDY I-6 H.H. Gregg’s Appliances, Inc.: Deciding on a New Information Technology Platform CASE STUDY I-7 Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (B): Cleaning Up an Information Systems Debacle CASE STUDY II-1 Vendor-Managed

Investment Management Assigment

Question: Describe about investment management? Answer: Introduction The superiority of the Efficient Market Hypothesis was challenged due to the emergence of the Behavioral Finance. From that point forward, the conventional standard methodology has been in a consistent clash against this new and progressively acknowledged standard of the investing behavior. The shortcomings of the hypothesis have turned into the investing weapon of the new exploratory methodology (Kartaova, Remeikiene, Gaspareniene and Venclauskien, 2014). Efficient market process and the investing rationality have contradicted the psychology of investors, market bubbles and biasness of the investors. Efficiency of information and the integration approach of the arbitrage have been found to be conflicting with the inefficient access to the market information as well anomalies in the market in case of long term (Gupta, Preetibedi and mlakra, 2014). This paper will provide an insight regarding the concept of efficient market hypothesis and behavioral finance. Therefore, it is discussed how the behavioral finance has challenged the efficient market hypothesis (Brown, 2010). Efficient Market Hypothesis Efficient market hypothesis is one of the most important investment theories and it is also considered as the spine of the present financial theories. Since early 1960s to the middle of 1990s the efficient market hypothesis was considered to be the principal investing theory and the most popular approach accepted by the financial analysts. According to Malkiel (2003), the efficient markets do not permit the investors to obtain returns which are higher than the average. It can be implied that that the efficient market hypothesis emphasizes on the efficient of the market in terms of the highly efficient level of news, information along with perfect communication (Borges, 2009). The efficient market hypothesis has described efficient market where huge number of investors who are rational and focuses on profit maximization through actively participating in the competition. In the efficient market, the investors focus on anticipating the future of the financial market for estimating the values of securities. Additionally, one of the most important features of the efficient market is all the relevant and information can be easily accessed by all the investors participating in the market. Hence, the individual stock as well as the aggregate stock market is characterized as efficient as the investors can access the entire available information foe integrating it into the present prices of the stocks. The efficient market hypothesis assumes that when any information or news arise, it gets easily spread within the market and instantly gets incorporated in the stock prices. Efficient market hypothesis has significantly focused on the integration, efficiency, market information and reflection. Eugene Fama has acknowledged the model and stated that in an actie market which is consisted of various rational as well as investors, stocks will be price appropriately and all the available market information will be reflected on the price of the stocks. The economists and scholars have distinguished efficiency in the market in three major forms. In case of the strong form, the public as well as the private information significantly contributes in pricing of stocks. Consequently, it does not allow the investors for achieving the competitive advantages. In the semi strong form, the stock prices significantly reflect the public financial information such as financial position of the company, announcement of the companies (Westerlund and Narayan, 2013). On the other, in case of the weak efficiency form, all the historical prices of the securities are integrated into the present price. Hence, these factors cannot be used for anticipating the future situation. In efficient markets, the investors have no scope to outperform and hence, investors cannot achieve higher returns from their investment. As all the information is available, no investor can be differentiated as market specialist or investment expert. Additionally, it has been found that any kind of new news or information in the market do not have the potential for bringing out unusual profit as those information will be easily available to the investors and will be reflected on the prices of stocks. It must be noted that the information which is instantly integrated in the market prices of which is public as well as can be accessed easily (Kartaova, Remeikiene, Gaspareniene and Venclauskien, 2014). The active managers will be unable to achieve higher level of performance though exploitation of the available private information. The market forecasts the future condition in an unbiased way and the information is reflected in a more objective manner in comparison to the insiders. Addi tionally, the return maximization from the uninterrupted trading is stopped as all the relevant information is integrated in the price of the stocks (McCauley, Bassler and Gunaratne, 2008). It is evident that the fundamental analysis of the stocks of a company is conductive for assessing the stock instead of the anticipation of the future price movements. On the other hand, technical analysis cannot be utilized for experiencing the further changes over the time. In case of efficient markets, the graphical representation and other technical studies do not offer significant benefits to the investors as the historical prices are integrated in the present prices. The efficient market hypothesis has found that loge term markets are more efficient (Westerlund and Narayan, 2013). Concept of Behavioral Finance The significance of efficient market hypothesis started losing due to the emergence of behavioral finance in the 1990s. This concept focused on consideration of the human behavior on the investment decision. Basically, this concept provides an insight to the influence of human psychology in financial and investment decision making. Behavioral finance has been attempting to describe how human behavior affects the decision making related to investment as well as its impact on the market (Wojcik, Kreston and McGill, 2012). It is evident that there are some financial effects which will be dependent on the psychological variables and biases of an individual. According to Alexakis and Xanthakis (2008), financial investors are not optimal decision makers and the psychological procedures significantly affects financial decision making. Heuristics is a major basis of the behavioral finance which is perceived as the pattern of human behavior. This concept majorly focuses on the obtaining knowledge or achieving a desirable outcome through employment of a smart guesswork instead of application of particular formula. Heuristics is involved with simple techniques which are based on experience and used for solving problem. It is known as shortcuts or rule of thumbs and responsible for explaining the decision making procedure of the investors (Mehra, 2008). This technique is more applicable when the investing decisions are made with poor information. Alternatively, the investment decision making procedure in case of market volatility and complicated investing atmosphere, where the decision making becomes extensively difficult, can be analyzed with the help of this concept. The cognitive heuristics significantly help in explaining the implications of the rules. Additionally, it provides evidence of the irrational decision making of the investors. Representativeness is one of the common heuristics that states that the investor tends to attempt for fitting into a new as well as unknown event into an existing event. Therefore, they focus on identification of the mutual components in the entirely distinct events. Additionally, it has been argued that that investors judge the probabilities by the degree of one element in comparison to other element. Anchoring is considered to be one of the important cognitive heuristic. It has been found that anchoring is significantly associated with the decision making procedure of an investor which is based on the initial anchor. It means the investors focus on estimating through starting from the initial value which will be adjusted to the yield. These adjustments are often found to be erroneous which leads to irrational decision making. Another common cognitive heuristics is herding which states that the investors seek to join a group and therefore eventually develops a collective behavior in case of decision making. In this situation, people prefer to follow others instead of using their cognitive ability and information. Overconfidence is another factor that states that investors may have a tendency of overestimating their cognitive and decision making skills (Shefrin, 2001). Theories and research studies have exhibited that fallacies significant dominate the investors and it prevents them from making right investment decision. Investors have a tendency to become risk averse for losses instead of profits (Zeelenberg and Pieters, 2004). It has been found that previous gains help in reducing risk and previous loss enhances it. Mental accounting is referred to a set of rational operations utilized by the human being for organizing evaluating and keeping track of the investment activities (Smith, 2008). It engaged the tendency of an individual for generating various mental accounts on the basis of special traits and registers the events which have been encountered. Regret aversion is associated with the desire of an investor for avoiding pain which is generated from the poor investment decision such as postponing the sale of stocks which leads to loss (Muradoglu and Harvey, 2012). Apart from the above stated considerations the investing decision is significantly affected by the cognitive bias, socio economic atmosphere and culture along with the personality. It has been found that these biases lead to different logical fallacies. Behavioral finance has exhibited significant concern for the investment time. Additionally, it has suggested that the stock market bubbles are not short term. Hence the loss bubble will not be easily reimbursed immediately (Goldberg and Nitzsch, 2001). Implication of behavioral finance for investment mangers Investment management may be defined as the financial process of managing the securities and tangible assets of an individual or an organization to meet specific goals (Muneer and Rehman, 2012). Investment decision making is a complex process involving various alternative scenarios. Some of the personal factors like age, education and income effect the investors decisions. To make effective investment decision the investor has to use various technical models like CAPM. Hence, the le of behavioral finance is extensive in case of understanding the investment decisions of an individual. (Alajbeg, Bubas and Sonje, 2012) has suggested that the selection of portfolios and stocks can be increased with the use of behavioral tools. However, at the time of relying on the portfolio managers for the investment decisions, the investors will have to accept the behavioral mistakes of the portfolio managers. In majority of cases, the portfolio mangers are seen to adopt a regret aversion strategy (Ba ker and Nofsinger, 2010). Barnes (2010) opined that the major psychological biases like over confidence, anchoring, cognitive dissonance, mental accounting and regret aversion and gambler fallacy. Due to the effect of these biases, the investors tend to take poor investment decisions. The relation between the biases and the investment decisions can be explained with the help of the following theories namely Heuristic decisions process Under this process of decision-making, the investor uses the common emotional norms and mixes them with the rational thoughts in order to arrive at suitable investment decisions. The following factors are responsible for the Heuristic decisions making process. Representativeness: In cases of making investment decisions high degree of stereotyping occurs. The investors make the decisions depending upon some past investment result. Hence, if the investor has a bad experience with a similar kind of bond investment then in the future the investor will reject any investment of the similar nature or of the similar bonds (Beck and Levine, 2002). Overconfidence: Confidence is the emotional factor within the individual investor that provokes the investor to take right decisions (Shefrin, 2000). Suppose if an investor suffers a high degree of loss in an investment then he gains encouragement in form of confidence to make effective investment decision in future. Anchoring: In this case, the investors decision is guided by irrational price levels as an important process of decision-making and therefore the investors misses investment opportunities and at times makes a wrong entry into the investment market (Marx and Mpofu, 2010). Gamblers fallacy: At times depending on positive past experience the investors tend to take high investment risks. Since the experiences have fetched the investor, good returns hence the tendency to opt for more returns pushes the investor to take risky investment decisions. This situation may either prove to be positive or negative for the investor suggesting that the investor knowingly takes chances of high losses. Prospect theory The prospect theory states that the individuals while making investment decisions chose between probabilistic alternatives that involve risk and the probabilities of outcomes are known. For instance, the investor will conceive the loss of $ 1 more painful compared to the gain of twice $ 1 (He and Shen, 2010). The theory is also termed as the loss aversion theory. The mental condition of the investor forces the investor to take poor investment decisions so that risk can be avoided. The key concepts of this theory are as follows: Framing: This concept states that the method of presentation of facts influences the decisions of the investor. Hence, a negative representation will result in a loss on the part of the investment decision. Loss aversion: Since the human psychology is to avoid risks, hence when the price of a share decreases the investor refuses to sell the same and continues to retain the shares with an expectation of future price growth (Hunton, 2009). Regret aversion: This psychology induces the investor to omit any good investment opportunity so that the individual can avoid any regrets of a loss resulting from the investment. Mental accounting: Mental accounting tendency prompts the individual to categories the sources of income according to their respective expenses. Hence, the investment decision depends on the prioritizing of the income categories. Challenges faced by efficient market hypothesis due to Behavioral Finance According to Mockus and Raudys, (2010) the process of efficient market hypothesis helps the investors to be acquainted with efficient share market information. Since all investors have access to the available share information, hence it is not possible to exploit the investors. However, the rapid movement within the stock market makes it difficult for the individuals to access all information at all time of investments. Since the stock market, information is available though elaborative channels of communication hence it is difficult for the individual to combine and assimilate the same. Moreover, the emotional status of the investor also hampers the assessment of the information. Keryt (2012) opined that majority of the cases the information of stock market is available to a limited group of investors. Thus behavioral finance denotes that the stock markets are informational in efficient. With the help of fundamental analysis and technical analysis, the investors try to analyze the security market. If the information supplied by these analysis techniques are positive then the investor frames a positive image about the company thereby fostering a sense of confidence in respect of the investing decision. However, the technical analysis produces a forecast of the direction of the share prices hence the investors relying on the forecasts may suffer losses in future. Thus, they may form a stereotype decision on the investments and develop a sense of risk aversion in this matter. The use of technical analysis makes the investors develop a sense that the economy will repeat itself. De Bondt (2009) further stated that the EMH highlights that the individuals engaged in a stock market investment decision are individuals with common characteristics namely lack of unique personality, sharing common investing traits, lack of social life and engaging in common discussions. Thus, the hypothesis creates a wrong impression on the investors and they tend to stay away from the stock markets. Rozeff (2011) commented that when the market remains efficient the investors act rationally and take efficient investing decisions. However, the occurrences of investment bubbles like the internet bubble and the real estate market bubble has shown the instances that the market is not always efficient. The addition of .com after internet based organizations. The major reason for the growth of the share prices of the internet companies was the investors speculation that the addition of .com after the internet based companies would make the companies more profitable. Hence, Simmons (2012) suggested that behavioral finance has huge affect on the market efficiencies. The financial anomalies arise majorly due to the effect of behavioral finance on the EMH. Although the investing techniques have been changed over the time however, the EMH strategies remain unmodified for the contemporary and old stock markets (Ross et al. 2004). The information supplied by the hypothesis still takes the investors to be irrational. However, with the changing time the investors have become rational and have tended to change their investment techniques. The use of modern tools like credit default swaps in the global stock markets suggests that the efficient market hypothesis has become invalid in the eyes of the investors. The use of rational behavioral finance has helped the investors to invalidate the irrational hypothesis. Moreover, Beck and Levine (2002) argued that the efficient market hypothesis suggests that the investing is a long-term decision and the stock markets should acquire efficiency in long run. However, the fact is contradicted by modern concepts of stock market that suggests that the stock investment is now a short-term decision. The profit seeking and the risk aversion psychology of the investors suggest that the investors are relying on the short-term gains so that high risk of loss can be avoided. Since the primary concept of behavioral finance is to frame the investment structure based on the behavior patterns of the investors, hence it is more effective in attractive gainful investments compared to the use of market hypothesis. Conclusion The essay shows that the major three components of a stock market are the behavioral finance, efficient market hypothesis and the investing decision. On ascertaining, the relation between the three it can be noted that behavioral finance has a huge impact on both investment decision and market hypothesis. Depending on the emotional biases, the individual designs the investment decisions. The nature of the individual will contribute to the investment decision. Moreover, the change in the behavioral patterns of the investors influences the validity of the efficient market hypothesis. With the changes in the behavioral pattern, the investors have shown that not all market hypotheses are efficient and correct. Hence, it is advisable on the part of the individual to make rational investing decisions based on the present and current information available on the stock prices of the investments. IT is also noted that due to the behavioral weaknesses the majority of the investing decisions fa il. However, the market efficiencies are also considered as imaginary instances and irrational in respect of any investment decision. References Alajbeg, D., Bubas, Z. and Sonje, V. (2012). The efficient market hypothesis: problems with interpretations of empirical tests.fintp, 36(1), pp.53-72. Alexakis, C. and Xanthakis, M. (2008).Behavioral Finance. Greece: Stamoulis Publications. Baker, H. and Nofsinger, J. (2010).Behavioral finance. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Barnes, P. (2010).Stock Market Efficiency, Insider Dealing and Market Abuse. Farnham: Ashgate Pub. Beck, T. and Levine, R. (2002).Industry growth and capital allocation. Cambridge, MA.: National Bureau of Economic Research. Borges, M. (2009). Efficient market hypothesis in European stock markets.The European Journal of Finance, 16(7), pp.711-726. Borges, M. (2009). Efficient market hypothesis in European stock markets.The European Journal of Finance, 16(7), pp.711-726. Brown, S. (2010). The efficient markets hypothesis: The demise of the demon of chance?.Accounting Finance, 51(1), pp.79-95. Bruce, B. (2010).Handbook of behavioral finance. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Burksaitiene, D. and Bernatonyt, D. (2012). TENDENCIES OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT.ecoman, 17(4). De Bondt, W. (2009).Financial accounting and investment management. Cheltenham, Glos, UK: Edward Elgar. Goldberg, J. and Nitzsch, R. (2001).Behavioral finance. New York: John Wiley. Gupta, E., Preetibedi, P. and mlakra, P. (2014). Efficient Market Hypothesis V/S Behavioural Finance.IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 16(4), pp.56-60. He, W. and Shen, J. (2010). Investor Extrapolation and Expected Returns.Journal of Behavioral Finance, 11(3), pp.150-160. Hunton, J. (2009).Advances in accounting behavioral research. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Kartaova, J., Remeikiene, R., Gaspareniene, L. and Venclauskien, D. (2014). Transformations of Efficient Market Hypothesis under the Influence of Behavioral Finance.Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. Keryt, A. (2012). INVESTMENT RISK ANALYSIS: THEORETICAL ASPECTS.ecoman, 17(3). Malkiel, B. (2003). The Efficient Market Hypothesis and Its Critics.Journal of Economic Perspectives, 17(1), pp.59-82. Marx, J. and Mpofu, R. (2010).Investment management. Pretoria: Van Schaik. McCauley, J., Bassler, K. and Gunaratne, G. (2008). Martingales, nonstationary increments, and the efficient market hypothesis.Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 387(15), pp.3916-3920. Mehra, R. (2008).Handbook of the equity risk premium. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Mockus, J. and Raudys, A. (2010). On the Efficient-Market Hypothesis and stock exchange game model.Expert Systems with Applications, 37(8), pp.5673-5681. Muneer, S. and Rehman, U. S. (2012). Materialization of Behavioural Finance and Behavioural PortfolioTheory: A Brief Review.Journal of Economics and Behavioural Studies, 4(8), 431-435 Muradoglu, G. and Harvey, N. (2012). Behavioural finance: the role of psychological factors in financial decisions.Review of Behavioural Finance, 4(2), pp.68-80. Ross, S. A., Westerfield, R. W. and Jefferey, J. (2004). Corporate Finance. 7th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Rozeff, M. (2011). Market Pricing Beyond the Efficient Market Hypothesis.SSRN Journal. Shefrin, H. (2000).Beyond greed and fear. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Shefrin, H. (2001).Behavioral finance. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Pub. Simmons, P. (2012). Using a Differential Evolutionary Algorithm to Test the Efficient Market Hypothesis.Comput Econ, 40(4), pp.377-385. Smith, D. (2008). Moving from an Efficient to a Behavioral Market Hypothesis.Journal of Behavioral Finance, 9(2), pp.51-52. Westerlund, J. and Narayan, P. (2013). Testing the Efficient Market Hypothesis in Conditionally Heteroskedastic Futures Markets.Journal of Futures Markets, 33(11), pp.1024-1045. Wojcik, D., Kreston, N. and McGill, S. (2012). Freshwater, saltwater and deepwater: efficient market hypothesis versus behavioural finance.Journal of Economic Geography, 13(2), pp.257-277. Zeelenberg, M. and Pieters, R. (2004). Consequences of regret aversion in real life: The case of the Dutch postcode lottery.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 93(2), pp.155-168.

Osteoporosis Treatment. Case Study

Being that the patient is 60 years old, she is past menopause. Menopause is a time when women lose their bone density very fast. This leaves them at risk of developing osteoporosis within 5 years of reaching menopause. The best advice after bone density tests is to encourage the patient to take up care for the prevention of extension of her bone loss.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Osteoporosis Treatment. Case Study specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When the bone density of a woman gets low, it is appropriate to start treatment to avoid any further risks that the situation may cause later in life (Moen and Keam, 2011). At the age of 60, treating the woman is a convenient move and that leaves her with little risk exposure for bone fractures. It is important to encourage the onset for treatment instead of waiting for her years to advance. Such a patient needs encouragement and enlightening about the commonality of suffering hip fractures in old age. It is a good time for introducing the woman to the necessity of having adequate calcium in her diet (Banu, Varela and Fernandes, 2012). Since her T-scores show osteoporosis, it is necessary to let her know that it simply means that the tests she went through showed her bone mass. T-scores give indications about the variations of one’s bone mass through averaging it against the bone mass of a healthy person. Testing bone density is relevant just like any other biologic test. The average score determines the level of a healthy person’s bone density. The testing of osteoporosis shows in a T-score point of deviation from normal mean for bone density. That helps in doing a mathematical calculation for the determination of the degree of deviation of bone mass from the mean of normal bone density. The results that a bone mass density test provides is the extent of deviation from the mean and that is referred to as the T-score. When the T-sc ores deviate from the mean, to a point below -2.5, it means that there is a loss of bone mass.  In her case, the woman is already in post menopause and there is a need for treatment or else, there could be risk of developing secondary bone loss conditions as well as risking fractures. Since one of the main risk factors of having, untreated osteoporosis is suffering hip fractures. She will need to use medications with calcium supplements to help her in the reduction of bone mass loss and for strengthening her bones. It is advisable to take them at night to allow for effective absorption and they are effective for those whose intestinal absorption of calcium is efficient.Advertising Looking for essay on aging? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Oestrogens are also effective for woman past menopause like the patient in this case. Their administration requires some care to avoid chances of developing other complications such as bre ast cancer.  Some of the medications used in the treatment of osteoporosis are such as Conjugated equine oestrogen, oestradiol valerate (Progynova) and piperazine oestrone sulphate. The available medications support patients differentlywith the main responsibility being the reduction of fractures (Lalibertà ©, Perreault, Jouini, Shea and Lalonde, 2011).There are injections, which help in the minimization of pain. For example, Strontium ranelate is a compound currently used in the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis in places such as Australia. It helps in the reduction of cases of vertebral fractures. After commencement of therapy, it is important for a patient to ensure that she is consistent with medication for the management of bone loss. This also requires timed density measurement, so that any cases of declines can be effectively intervened upon (Sanford and McCormack, 2011). References Banu, J., Varela, E. Fernandes, G. (2012). Alternative therapies for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. Nutrition Reviews, 70(1), 22-40. doi:10.1111/j.17534887.2011.00451.x Lalibertà ©, M., Perreault, S., Jouini, G., Shea, B. Lalonde, L. (2011). Effectiveness of interventions to improve the detection and treatment of osteoporosis in primary care settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Osteoporosis International: A Journal Established As Result Of Cooperation Between The European Foundation For Osteoporosis And The National Osteoporosis Foundation Of The USA, 22(11), 2743 2768. doi:10.1007/s00198-011-1557-6 Moen, M., D. Keam, S., J. (2011). Denosumab: A Review of its Use in the Treatment of Postmenopausal Osteoporosis. Drugs Aging, 28(1), 63-82. Web. Sanford, M. McCormack, P., L. (2011). Eldecalcitol: A Review of its Use in the Treatment of Osteoporosis†¦ [corrected] [published erratum appears in DRUGS 2012; 71(18):2309]. Drugs, 71(13), 1755-1770. Web.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Osteoporosis Treatment. Case Study specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This essay on Osteoporosis Treatment. Case Study was written and submitted by user Br0therh00d0fEv1lMutants to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

CAVA unit Sample

CAVA unit Paper Graded Assignment Lab Report Answer the questions below. When you have finished, submit this assignment to your teacher by the due date for full credit. (6 points) 1. Using the diagram below, tell me where each of the following occurs: 1. Anode: 2. Cathode: C 3. Beat Score O. Ere: Positive terminal: G 4. Negative terminal:H 5. Where oxidation occurs: F (8 points; 2 for each description) 1 . Describe the results of your procedure with both the coin and the nail. Include the reverse procedure you did with the coin and the key. Answer: Procedure Description of Results Coin Electroplating The coin is coated in copper Coin Reverse Electroplating The copper on the coin is removed Key Electroplating The key is coated with copper Key Reverse Electroplating The copper on the key is removed (6 points) 1 . Write the two half-reactions that occur in this electroplating process. Be sure to include the states of the elements or ions. Half-Reaction Reaction Equation Oxidation Reaction Cue (s) > Cue+2 (as) + e- Reduction Reaction Cue+2 (as) + e- > Cue (s) O. Grading Template: Please do not edit below. Note: You may correct and re-submit this lab for a higher score. Please please please please use the Unit 6 Lab Walworth that I created. If you have any questions about how to do this lab, please ask them in the Unit 6 Lab Question Forum. Score Breakdown: Question 1: +6 (out of 6) Question 2: +8 (out of 8) Question 3: +6 (out of 6) Retake policy and how to get help: You may correct and re-submit this lab for a higher score. Please please please please use the Unit 6 Lab Walworth that I created. If you have any questions about how to do this lab, please ask them in the Unit 6 Lab Question Forum. We will write a custom essay sample on CAVA unit specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on CAVA unit specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on CAVA unit specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

resistance essays

resistance essays Investigating the Rate of Reaction Between Marble Chips Safety- must always wear safety glasses and we should be very careful not to drop any acid. Fair test- we must make sure that we use the same size, amount and roughly the same mass of chips, this is because we want to keep the chips roughly the same all the way through the experiment so that it will be a fair test and the results we be in relation to each other, otherwise the results will be completely different to what we will expect and it will ruin the experiment. We must also take our readings at the same intervals throughout the experiment i.e I will take a reading every fifteen seconds for all of my experiments. I predict that the more concentrated the acid the quicker the reaction will take place, because the more concentrated the acid is then it will make the chips react faster and more hydrogen will be given off in a quicker time. The smaller the stones are, the even quicker the reaction will happen, this is because the acid has a smaller surface area to act upon. Equipment- We will need a boiling tube, calcium carbonate chips, hydrochloric water, a stop watch, a gas syringe and a bung on the top of the boiling tube with a delivery tube connected to the gas syringe. I will also need a stand and a clamp to hold on to the syringe. When doing my exper...

Capital Punishment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Capital Punishment - Essay Example Capital punishment raises many issues concerning morality, where some people support it claiming that it is morally justified while others do not (BBC 2013). This paper will contend to show the reasons why capital punishment should be allowed based on the evidence given in the paper. Capital punishment is a legal process approved by a country, which permits for the termination of a criminal’s life, especially one who has committed murder. Capital punishment has been abolished in many countries including the United Kingdom. The United States of America is the only Western country that has not abolished capital punishment. The main questions raised about capital punishment concern the morality and whether the act deters crime. It is also debated that the act could possibly bring more good than harm, therefore, bringing an intense debate between its supporters and those who oppose (Janet and Oxley 2). Capital punishment is only utilised by the state, therefore, making it use by n on-state organisations like the Al shabaab, illegal. It is exclusively utilised as a penalty for especially heinous crimes such as murder, adultery, fraud, treason, and rape depending on the country. Many people find capital punishment morally unjustifiable but in the event of an atrocity towards their families, they support the process. Many countries have decided to abolish capital punishment due to the extended network of activists and lobby groups, who over the years have seen to it that capital punishment is abolished. The places which have not ceded to the demands of these activists are some Muslim countries like Iran and Iraq and some states of the United States of America. The United Nations does not support capital punishment as it stands for an individual’s right to life. Countries that have not succumbed to International pressure to ban capital punishment insist that the act is non-discriminatively and unarbitrary, therefore, helps keep everyone off some crimes due to its deterring effect (Dezhbakhsh and Shepherd 512). There are many people who consider capital punishment to be morally impermissible. Some debate that it is unconstitutional, barbaric and cruel. They claim to oppose capital punishment because it violates the human right to life, which is a fundamental right. They believe that human life is so important such that even the murderers’ lives should not be destroyed even after conducting heinous atrocities. Other people oppose capital punishment on the grounds that it the justice system is at time marred by mistakes, therefore, accusing some people falsely, which leads to the loss of innocent lives. They claim that the damage that is committed upon such individuals and their families would be irreversible, thus opposing capital punishment (BBC 2013). There are people who are opposed to capital punishment based on the theory that it reflects arbitrariness and discrimination. The antagonists contend that there is evidence parti cularly in America, where those charged with killing white people are four times more likely to be sentenced to capital punishment compared to those people who are charged with killing non-white people. This is evidence of racial discrimination and it is used to oppose the need for capital punishment in a country (Sunstein and Vermeule 2). Vengeance and retribution have been viewed as morally unjustifiable acts that cannot be used to support capital punishment. This is particularly common in religions where they do not justify the taking of

Reading Reflection Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reading Reflection - Assignment Example One of the most important consequences of the globalization process has been the multi-cultural environment of the communities. It has therefore made the role of community development practitioner a highly desirable and essential one. Social workers are also paid employee and their work environment should also come under the purview of ESA so they are not exploited in terms of working environment or minimum wages or even due to any diversity issues. I am also highly distressed that OHSA is indifferent to the working conditions of servants who work in the private residents. People working as servants in the residences of rich are more vulnerable to physical, mental and financial exploitation. It is important that all types of working people who get paid should be protected by the state’s employment laws, irrespective of conditions, whatsoever. Indeed, as a social worker, my first priority would be fighting for the rights of the ‘servants’ who have a right to basic minimum wages and secured employment

How Apple INC supply issues effect the demand of its products such as Essay

How Apple INC supply issues effect the demand of its products such as Iphone, IPAD - Essay Example There are several types of supply theories abased on the nature of products. Generally we use the supply chain system based on following important components as given below. Factory: The factory is the basic component and the point of origination for any supply chain. If a factory has issues in the production, the whole supply chain will suffer due to lack of the goods or the quality of the supplied products depending upon the problem respectively. Distributor: The distributor has a supporting role for a company in a supply chain. He advises the company about the magnitude of the product to be manufactured. If a distributor is having issues then the supply chain will suffer due to the mismanagement in terms of faulty distribution. Stockist: A stockist acts as a filter between the distributor and the whole sellers as well as show rooms. The basic difference between a distributor and a stockist is that the distributor purchases the items as a bulk directly from the company while the st ockist purchases the items at a relatively smaller scale from the distributor depending upon the local requirements of the market. Whole sale: A whole seller acts as another filter between the retailers and bulk dealers. ... Retailers: They are the source of products for the end users by the help of company support & distributor’s good supply chain. They also play an effective role in satisfying the end user by giving product knowledge and guarantee and warranty as well. End users: End users are the main component of a business. Each and every company designs its marketing and production strategies to attract end users in the form of customers. They do it by facilitating the end users in different ways. CONSEQUENCES OF BREAKING OF SUPPLY CHAIN Companies invest heavily on generating customer demand about their product through advertising. Especially in smart phones, notepad, laptop industry customers have variable choices therefore, once the customer demand have been established the manufacturer has to ensure the continuous supply of the product to maintain the customer loyalty. Companies which fails to do so may loose their customer loyalty. Following are some key issues can be raised if supply li ne break at the time of demand: NEED OF A NEW MARKETING CAMPAIGN: Once the demand developed in the market by the advertising campaigns the supplier is supposed to fulfill the customer demand. Otherwise customer may turned to other vendors. In this competitive era each product has several rivals in the market. Therefore, once the customer would have turned aside towards other product line or manufactures then in such situations the company has to re design the old marketing strategies, because the customer mind may not have any effect from old marketing approaches. This new advertisements and marketing may cause a huge expense over the company sales. Therefore, companies are very careful in maintaining the supply line un-broken. FRANCHISE/DISTRIBUTOR, FIELD FORCE WILL LOOSE TRUST ON

Features and Benefits of Skype

Features and Benefits of Skype Introduction of Skype (voice unified communication) Skype is the most popular communication tool service in the world. The skype service comes with application software and softphone which suit the application so normally many people think that skype just only provide software which outcome the well service which they provide. The service also provide free or paid service with different kinds of program which can be use in skype as paid service include more features. The free service only provide connect with other skype users while other premium plans include the ability to call from skype to landlines across the worlds as well as own a skype dial-in number so that landline callers can reach us on your computer. Skype has cutout quite a numbers of barriers to the communication system which it is due to poor connection user for the network traffic, while in the early stage we needed to take particular care of the minutes and seconds we spend speaking on international calls which end up is overprice spending, but now we no longer need to worry about it. If you are using pc to pc chatting, you will not paying a single cent in the skype free account more than just your monthly internet service billing. Skype is using the integration of voice and instant messaging service to talk to each other which delivering clear and high quality calls over the internet. Requirement tools for using skype is simple few things, a computer with decent processing speed and memory which must have keyboard and mouse in your system, a high-end speed internet connection like boardband, sound card that speaker or earpieces is in working condition and last thing skype software which is freely downloadable in the main website. People use skype mainly for the high quality of voice it provide and also because it provide free service for pc to pc talk. We around the world use skype for several things such as long-distance communicate with family,friends and loved ones,for business calls or long-distance conferences and also cheaper calls durin g our traveling and ETC The features and strength/weaknesses of skype Skype has a lot of interesting features which can be use like video call or conferencing, SMS, voicemail, instant messaging, call forwarding, skype to skype interface, business control panel, contacts and many others. For free plan skype only include most feature using like instant messaging and skype to skype calls through skype account but for paid plan it cover most features in free plan and plus include call phone and mobile, sending sms to other phone which can be done using either pc or softphone which usable with skype Strength weakness: Nowadays, skype work in the rightness of networks and recent technology which overcome it strength and weakness. For its good point because it let us manage to have a lot more flexibility and more better voices which overcome the problems cause by poor call quality and other interrupting issue which cause by â€Å"noise† in the telephone line and what the weakness about skype because it stops most accounts in skype users from being able to communicate with other open source networks that dealing with communication software And another main reason is that when you are using low-connection internet or keep receiving poor signal while in the skype conference, the application in the skype has some clever programming managing tool to analysis the problem try to prefix it and get your call smoothly through the calls. The program tool has the most important ability to dynamically change and fix in the codec in use to the call to suit the network conditions strength. Sometime we will also encounter packet loss during the sending of information which cause alot of times waiting for the busy line to be stable to send out the data to one and other using skype The problems skype trying to address They need to improving its identity authentication process. This is one of the part skype trying to further expansion into the business market to enhance username authentication for business customers. Skype also encounter security bug that could expose value and useful data to hacker. Most users could let an hacker making a Skype hyperlink which the users clicked on it, it will sends a file from the victims computer to another Skype user. One of the most problem they address is that hackers tend to control a users pc without the admin promission which cause alots of value data being known. An hacker could exploit the user pc by programming or uploading a special link and AD-popup a user to click on it. The hacker can also be exploited when sending some annoying information from a malformed electronic business card or Vcard. Critically evaluate Skype and future trends Scalable Skype PBX/PABX Gateways FEATURES BENEFITS: Company now can talk or chat over on skype for free and Skype-Out for low-cost call without PC cause they provide Skype-In static numbers for local calls to users and Skype-Web calls for user with free plan service . Using Companys phones to make a simple calls by prefix-handle service and smart PhoneBook . . Directly connect to PBX/PABX program using Plug Play format which only took 10 minute, also by using the program Sky-Grid System to upgrade the total capacity storage can save more money and with the better administration Control to make MIS/Call-Management job more easier They also provide Solving the issues of Bandwidth Information Security by independent xDSL and monitor the status by VNC Web-Administration or Telnet Control. Reference from : http://eshop.spin3d.com.tw/images/Scalable%20Skype%20PBX%20Gateway.pdf Open source freeswitch added into skype: This is the new release device which called â€Å"freeswitch†, is the first open source freeswitch will enable user or orgamnisation to intregrate skype into their Voip and platform services. For the first time, developers will have a free usage which include high-performance voice switching platform that can tie Skype clients into nearly every other major VoIP platform on the market today. Aside which we extending high definition voice across the networks, freeswitch will enable developers to build Skype integration into telephone applications, such as VoIP-enabled IVRs. Skype upgrade not only change the platform to freeswitch but also added in support for one of the most popular telephone engines (open phone layer) which gives freeswitch support for 323 clients and devices which also brings another venue for SIP support. Skype also working towards tighter integration with the platforms, the skype for asterisk is a prototype to allows interoperability between skype and asteri sk. Which offer better voice quality, allow users to place and receive calls without any cumbersome workaround, provide caller ID and retrieving skype credit balance information control panel that user can access Reference from : http://blogs.zdnet.com/Greenfield/?p=353

Strength, Personality, and Style Assessments & Motivation Essay

In my paper regarding strength assessments from the Rath’s Strengths Finder 2.00 (Rath) I learned how it can improve the development of my leadership. About a year ago I took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment (The Myers & Briggs Foundation); I was identified as an ENTJ and ENFJ (split personality). I recently took another assessment detailing with my style (Style Analysis). The strength finder 2.0 assessment defined my top five leadership strengths; the Myers Briggs defined my personality; and this new assessment defining my style behavior. These assessments are very valuable in knowing who I am as a leader. Leadership is about getting others to accomplish goals bigger than themselves. That requires motivation. Now that I understand more about myself and my leadership style, how can I use this knowledge to motivate and persuade others? In the lecture presentation by Dr Homes (Homes) he discussed how the strength-finder is a tool that he uses in his operations to help and identify strengths that both compliment and fill missing gaps. These assessments help identify compatibility. Compatibility includes your co-workers, superiors, subordinates and other in the work place but also in your personal life. He discussed the need to understand the strength of others so that we can relate to them better. And by relating better, we are able to manage, motivate and lead them better. He clearly articulated the value of the strength finder assessment for better leadership. The assessment that I recently took at work was titled Style Analysis (Style Analysis) also referred to as the DISC style analysis, (See attached materials) and was part of a presentation by Phil Begley, Managing Principal of Riverstone Organizational Ad... ... Begley, Phil. "Coaching Diverse Styles." Greenville: Rivestone Organicational Advisors, Inc., 2011 Presentation March 3rd, 2011 at Mount Pleasant Waterworks, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 Collins, Jim. Good To Great. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001. Greg Laurie, General Editor. New Believer's Bible. Ed. Greg Laurie. Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2006. Homes, Dr. Sonny. "Strength Finder 2.0" Leacture March 3, 2011 at Charleston Southern University, SC Northouse, Peter G. Leaderhip Theory and Practice. Ed. Fifth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc, 2010. Rath, Tom. Strengths Finder 2.0. New York: Gallup Press, 2007. "Style Analysis"- Target Traning International, Ltd, 2011. The Myers & Briggs Foundation. 2011. 6 March 2011 . Strength, Personality, and Style Assessments & Motivation Essay In my paper regarding strength assessments from the Rath’s Strengths Finder 2.00 (Rath) I learned how it can improve the development of my leadership. About a year ago I took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment (The Myers & Briggs Foundation); I was identified as an ENTJ and ENFJ (split personality). I recently took another assessment detailing with my style (Style Analysis). The strength finder 2.0 assessment defined my top five leadership strengths; the Myers Briggs defined my personality; and this new assessment defining my style behavior. These assessments are very valuable in knowing who I am as a leader. Leadership is about getting others to accomplish goals bigger than themselves. That requires motivation. Now that I understand more about myself and my leadership style, how can I use this knowledge to motivate and persuade others? In the lecture presentation by Dr Homes (Homes) he discussed how the strength-finder is a tool that he uses in his operations to help and identify strengths that both compliment and fill missing gaps. These assessments help identify compatibility. Compatibility includes your co-workers, superiors, subordinates and other in the work place but also in your personal life. He discussed the need to understand the strength of others so that we can relate to them better. And by relating better, we are able to manage, motivate and lead them better. He clearly articulated the value of the strength finder assessment for better leadership. The assessment that I recently took at work was titled Style Analysis (Style Analysis) also referred to as the DISC style analysis, (See attached materials) and was part of a presentation by Phil Begley, Managing Principal of Riverstone Organizational Ad... ... Begley, Phil. "Coaching Diverse Styles." Greenville: Rivestone Organicational Advisors, Inc., 2011 Presentation March 3rd, 2011 at Mount Pleasant Waterworks, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 Collins, Jim. Good To Great. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001. Greg Laurie, General Editor. New Believer's Bible. Ed. Greg Laurie. Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2006. Homes, Dr. Sonny. "Strength Finder 2.0" Leacture March 3, 2011 at Charleston Southern University, SC Northouse, Peter G. Leaderhip Theory and Practice. Ed. Fifth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc, 2010. Rath, Tom. Strengths Finder 2.0. New York: Gallup Press, 2007. "Style Analysis"- Target Traning International, Ltd, 2011. The Myers & Briggs Foundation. 2011. 6 March 2011 .

A Lost Lady – Essay

Set In Sweet Water, In the western plains, where Captain Forrester could comfortably transport â€Å"friends from Omaha or Denver over from the station in his democrat wagon† (5) to his stately home, a story unfolds that pits two worlds against each other–that of an Ideal past and that of the grim present. The narrator assumes the perspective of a third person omniscient, able to provide Insight Into characters' thoughts and motivations, and centers the novel on Marina Forrester and the men who surround her.Yet what seems to Interest Catcher irately in this work is the conflict between two generations of pioneer men in the West and resulting redefinition of manhood during the lamina period between the late 1 9th and early 20th centuries. Largely, Nile Herbert fascination with Marina Forrester and the men whom she attracts drives the novel, for Nile observes Marina through the years–with an interest that mirrors that of Wintergreen in Henry Sesame's Daisy Miller. Despite their age difference (he is 12 years old when he first meets Mrs..Forrester), Nile becomes enthralled with Marina as an image of Victorian mysticism during his youth. She becomes an â€Å"angel of the house,† happily greeting visitors in a disheveled dressing gown, with her hair partially coiffed, or toting baskets of freshly baked cookies to the neighborhood boys playing near the stream on the Forrester grounds. While Nile is still a boy, the Captain assumes the role of a great protector who chooses not to drain his fields for more productive land, but rather magnanimously allows the creek to run through his pasture, because he can afford to and because he admires the beauty of the place.This landscape becomes hemolytic, for when the Captain becomes ill and eventually dies, many changes take place at the homestead. For Catcher, the noble pioneer embodied by the Captain, who appreciates nature and values its beauty, finds replacement in the selfish modern man of Ivy P eters, who sees nature only In terms of resources waiting to be stripped and profits to be made. When Captain Forester's health weakens, Ivy Peters moves onto Forester's land and starts to assume his role as the dominant male In the household, replacing the grand, strong figure of the older railroad man.Ivy makes the session to drain the Forrester' meadowland, Instead planting wheat that will then be harvested and cut down. Catcher writes: â€Å"All the way from Missouri to the mountains this generation of shrewd, young men, trained to petty economies by hard times, would do exactly what Peters had done when he drained the Forrester marsh† (90). Here, Ivy acts as a symbol of a new generation of ruthless â€Å"shrewd young men† who ravage the landscape and strip the feminizes earth of her resources.Yet Ivy will not only dominate the land; the beautiful woman, like the beautiful land, also Decodes a target AT exploration. Marlin Forrester Decodes Immediately Keenan to a bird when Nile returns after being away for two years from the Forrester and the town in which they live. When Nile first greets Marina, he does so by clasping her in his arms while she lay on a hammock, â€Å"like a bird caught in a net† (92).This image of a bird becomes instrumental in Marina's relationship to Ivy; if Marina is the bird, then is the cruel male who will mutilate her and show her his dominance increasingly. That Catcher would use this image of a bird in reference to Marina, after roving her reader with a dramatic scene of cruelty and abuse when Peters uses a tool from a taxidermy kit to slice the eyes of a female woodpecker he has captured in his hands, while calling her â€Å"Miss Female,† stands as something more than coincidence.When the reader examines Ivy's treatment of Mrs.. Forrester, one sees that she becomes more and more dependent on him and therefore must tolerate his disrespectful behavior. â€Å"Poison Ivy† will become the scourge t hat ravages the â€Å"forest† found in Marina Forrest(ere), subtly spreading and taking over her land. A casting image of Marina emerges from the story she tells about how she and Captain Forrester became married.When Marina describes the scene in which she, crippled with two broken legs, is carried out of the ravine by men who took alternate turns in bearing her weight, an image of Captain Forrester holding the broken body of his wife reveals the Captain's comfort in taking care of a dependent woman. Marina's dependence does not threaten the Captain but draws them together. Marina submits to Captain Forrester and trusts that he will take care of her, for he represents the idealized image of masculinity that countered the Victorian â€Å"angel of the house† as the strong, dominant provider.After her husband's death, which leaves her disoriented like the blinded bird, without the Captain to carry her or give her a strong sense of noble masculinity from which to contrast herself, she must redefine her feminine female subject position against a new kind of male. Just as the new, modern male will exploit land and women, so will Marina learn to use her beauty as a commodity, in order to gain financial security within an increasingly commercialism world of men.

Juvenile Court Essays

Juvenile Court Essays Juvenile Court Essay Juvenile Court Essay Juvenile files are confidential because there are state laws in every state that mandates that juvenile files are confidential. For  a juvenile to have there file  sealed they have to request it from the court. Most get probation with circumstances like community service, counseling or drug treatment. We have to look at juveniles differently than we do adults because of their developmental progress. Every juvenile officer who goes through training becomes knowledgeable about the juvenile  developmental process.Research of court procedures in the state of Nevada for juveniles offenders who have not yet reached 18 years of age typically enter the juvenile justice system rather than the adult criminal justice system. While many of the crimes committed may be the same, juvenile offenders are subject to different laws and procedures than adults who have been charged with crimes. The juvenile is arrested by police and booked just like adults would be, with the difference that then th e child is given to the parents following a court proceeding.A number of activities are considered offenses when committed by juveniles, because of the their age at the time of the activity. These are called status offenses. Examples of status offenses include: 1. Truancy 2. Possession and consumption of alcohol 3. Curfew violations, and 4. Purchase of cigarettes. Nevada strictly enforces minor in possession (MIP) laws and prosecute minors to the fullest extent of the law. In Nevada alcohol, drugs, and tobacco are very accessible to minors due to the exposure to the nightlife.In other states, however, a minor in a MIP case may be able to receive probation by entering a courts of law violations include stealing money or a car, or hitting or threatening someone. Status OffenseBecause of their juvenile status, children are subject to special rules.Children can be charged with status offenses if they do the following without expressed consent from their guardian: 5. Cut class. 6. Stay o ut after curfew hours. 7. Run away from home. 8. Disobey their parents. courts. state. hi. us/self-help/juvenile/juvenile_proceedings. htmlAs far as Hawaii goes, again the state is very lenient when it comes to the law, due to the aspect of keeping families together more than apart. Take notice that Family Court plays a huge ordeal in the process which I do think is ideal, due to the fact the child is under 18.Although I do believe if a juvenile keeps re-offending then there needs to be some recourse of consequences, then a simple slap on the hand no longer extend to them. Sometimes it is that tough love that will wake a young juvenile out of their offending coma. Nevertheless I broaden my research and came upon some more insightful information according to Think Before You Plead:Juvenile Collateral Consequences in the State of HawaiiIn the state of Hawaii, the collateral consequences of a juvenile record are limited by Hawaii’s Revised Statutes, which prohibits public acces s of juvenile records, and limits the distribution of such data.Despite this limitation, there are exceptions to the general rule that often impacts a juvenile’s future. Collateral consequences frequently stem from access to juvenile records, and can influence education, careers, and public service. ;gt;Currently, there is no database or statutory collection that informs juveniles of the collateral consequences that may stem from a juvenile adjudication. Additionally, in the state of Hawaii, many policies regarding the Juvenile Aid Section of the police department and juvenile arrests are not specified in the statute. gt;Because juvenile records are considered confidential in Hawaii,there is no statutory obligation or even policy to notify youth of any opportunity to expunge records. Attorneys may file a motion for expungement,but such motion is rare because juvenile files are not accessible to the public absent a court order. An attorney can make a motion to have the record expunged when a juvenile is not formally charged or adjudicated, but even then, the attorney is not required to do so.Although a juvenile may benefit from having a record expunged, not even the family court judge has an obligation to inform a juvenile of these rights. ;gt;Despite records being confidential, many agencies have statutory authority to access the Juvenile Justice Information System (JJIS), which stores all juvenile arrest and court data. The statute permitting access includes, but is not limited to, county police departments, county prosecutors, family courts, youth correctional facilities, social service agencies, as well as agencies conducting research. ttp://www. beforeyouplea. com/hi As far as my thoughts on the effectiveness of this type of system I am all for it in regards to ensure the juvenile rights are protected and not violated, but at the same time they are held accountable to their actions. I thinks I would like to see more proactive recourse in the communi ty and environment with young offenders than the typical classes or certain limited hours of community service. Well stated post Frank! Interesting information about Californias juvenile justice systems procedures.I was interested in the types of hearing that you have in California. I have never heard of a fitness hearing and a personality hearing. Here in Missouri we have about the same procedures as California besides those hearing that you mentioned. We have an adjudication and disposition hearing when a juvenile petition or motion has been filed. The juvenile officer acts as the prosecutor in many of the areas in Missouri. I determine whether to file on a juvenile or handle the case informally.I do all of the filing and court work. Once in court I make recommendations to the Judge on the disposition of the case. | | | | It does depend on the offense that the juvenile committed on determining whether he or she is detained. The growing importance in juvenile courts is accountabili ty. Juvenile accountability requires that the juvenile court system respond to illegal behavior in such a way that the offender is made aware of and responsible for the damage perpetrated upon the victim. | | | | | | | |

The Theme of A Beautiful Mind essays

The Theme of A Beautiful Mind essays A Beautiful Mind is a fictional movie loosely based on true events of A Biography of John Forbes Nash Jr. by Sylvia Nasar, directed by Ron Howard. Russell Crowe plays John Nash, a mathematical genius, who develops schizophrenia in his early twenties. He overcomes schizophrenia and attains a true sense of accomplishment, and even a sense of greatness. In this movie, the theme of discrimination against mental illnesses becomes lucid. This is developed greatly by the main character and the theme also adds suspense to the film. Mental illness still remains misunderstood in all places, even though it affects so many people. Watching this film, it helps people sympathize with a person who is suffering from mental illness in any form. Showing how the Princeton community accepted Dr. Nash for many years while fighting his struggles reinforced one of the film fs themes that schizophrenics are people who can contribute to society and that we should not be prejudiced. The theme in this movie is transparent, and is mainly developed by the character, John Nash. He develops the ability to live with and ignore his psychosis. Eventually, Nash begins to teach at the Princeton University and is honored by his fellow professors for his lifetime achievement. Nash goes on to be awarded Nobel Prize for Economics for his revolutionary work on game theory. Suspense is also added to the film because you constantly feel tense, since neither the main character nor the audience knows what is real and what is fantasy. This illustrates how real, how concrete, and how completely supportable the delusions of a schizophrenic mind appear to the person afflicted. You are forced to see Nash fs point of view, so you are able to experience and understand what being schizophrenic might be like. In the very end of the film, John Nash gives an acceptance speech of the Noble Prize. This speech summarizes and straightforwardly tells you the movie ...

Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Business Strategy - Essay Example ndeavor of individuals, groups or organizations; for survival and includes policies, plans and frameworks structured to survive and reach the desired goals / destinations. According to Mintzberg & Quinn (1996), strategy could be termed as efficient if it has the ability to accentuate the consequences of managerial decision making by appropriately channelizing its resources, considers probable outcomes, and combat the competitive forces within the industry. According to Vijeon & Dan (2003), â€Å"Strategy is the management of the interface between the activities of the organization and the changing environment in which it operates. This process involves too much uncertainty, novel situations and lack of firm information to be automated†. This school of thought perceives the process of strategy formation as a process of conception. The basic underlying approach in this school of thought perceives strategy formulation as a deliberate process whereby the internal organizational factors are often associated with its external environment. The basic feature of this school of thought lies in its simplicity and the ability to reduce ambiguity. However, overtly simple process is often associated with high degree of risk in distorting reality. The Planning School perceives the process of strategy formulation as a formal process whereby stringent steps are taken to ensure an appropriate analysis of the situation right from the conception stage to the final execution of the proposed strategy. It helps in providing a better understanding of the process of resource allocation and helps the strategists in exercising control over the strategy planning process. Although it might sometimes become too static and activities like group thinking and predicting might become cumbersome and difficult. This school of thought assumes strategic planning as an analytical process and places the business within the context of an industry in order to ascertain the manner in which organizations

Wolverhampton - A car-free city, myth or possibility Essay

Wolverhampton - A car-free city, myth or possibility - Essay Example Nowadays every effort is geared towards conserving the little resources that are available for human beings. Furthermore, efforts are made to make life easy. One of the areas that tries to conserve the environment and at the same time benefit from its own program is sustainable mobility (Ozge, & Karaaslan, 2011, p 28). This roughly means that the project aims at holding to the resources that are available in relation to the movement from one location to another. In the current world, the aspect of globalisation has led to the jeopardisation and astronomical increase in the need to use transport and has turned mobility of people, their concepts and commodities into a very important feature in our current society. At the same time, the transport segment in most of the countries has become one of the largest contributors to the carbon dioxide that the vehicles emit. This transport segment over period of time has built a great percentage on the number of pollutants contributing to the en vironmental degradation and has increased the level of energy consumption (Thomsen, 2011). It is with this in mind that I set this research on the grounds explained above. I will look at Wolverhampton concerning whether there is a possibility of turning the city into an environmental conscious city. As for this aspect of a car-free city, I will be selecting a suitable and sustainable mobility concept that can work in the city and also explain the concept itself and how it will be implemented. This will be analyzed with the relevant literal materials (Shane & Graedel, 2000, p77). The first area I will tackle in this essay will be the sustainable mobility as a concept and thereafter I will chose the most appropriate concept for sustainable mobility in the Wolverhampton area. Sustainable Mobility The word â€Å"mobile† means that one is capable of making movement in a space, virtually like in the flow of information in a particular network, be it socially (in this case, climbing the ‘social ladder’ to be in a different level or status), or even being physically making the movements (Neuman, 2011, p 41). In a statistical perspective, it means that mobility is the movement between two places, from one place to another and this does not clearly emphasize which means were used. Therefore, in my case, I will assume that mobility involves different means of transport and the mode of transport used for the movement to be made. According to Staley and Ybarra (2008), sustainable mobility is â€Å"mobility which does not endanger public health or ecosystems and meets needs for access consistent with: a) Use of renewable sources below their rates of regeneration; b) Use of non-renewable resources at below the rates of development of renewable substitutes†. The concept of mobility in some quarters has a different definition. According to Kasanen (1994) and Berge et al (1992), mobility is the potential for movement. For instance, a product might hav e a high mobility which means it might have a potential for movements by having qualities and characteristics that will make it easy to make a move and through the existence of means of transport to carry the movement out. At the same time, the mobility in people will greatly vary depending on each person’s factors like the age of the person, gender, health of the person and the occupation among many other factors. At the same time, the different periods of time at individual disposal and varied accessibility to the correct means of transport play a major part too. This is further supported by Hoyer (1999) who also describes mobility as â€Å"†¦an expression for both the potential for movement and the volume of the actual movement taking place. It

Political Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Political Science - Essay Example 103-105). To reduce extreme poverty and hunger, it was agreed that, the proportion of people living on less than one U.S. dollar a day should be reduced dramatically by half. Also, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger should also be reduced to half by the year 2015 (Richmond, S 2007). This was mainly to be achieved through rural investments and other development channels aimed at the rural areas. People living with less than a dollar per day are the majority in the developing world, thus, they should be thought of in the first place. In achieving the free universal education, it was agreed that, all boys and girls must complete a full course of primary schooling in all the signatory countries and if need be force should be used to make them attend schools (Agnes, V 2005 P. 104). No body should fail to get the free education. In agreement was increased enrollment accompanied by efforts to ensure that all children remain in school to receive a high quality education. All present agreed to this as knowledge is power. To promote gender equality, it was agreed that gender disparity should be reduced in both primary and secondary education probably by half in the year 2005 and the remaining chunk by 2015. This was to be made possible by the emphasis of the second goal; free universal education. Also, the consideration of women to higher positions in work places was to be put into limelight as women can contribute to the wellbeing of a nation as well as promoting the sense of belonging and nationhood. The reduction of child mortality was put into light. It was said that, the mortality rates for children under five should be reduced by two thirds (Oloo 2004). This was to be achieved through the promotion of better health practices during pregnancy and after birth. This menace is more pronounced in African countries due to the poor state of the health facilities as well as negligence and

Dangling Wires and Meatworks Poetry Essay Example for Free

Dangling Wires and Meatworks Poetry Essay Through the medium of poetry, composers are able to powerfully convey ideas and express personal opinions of the world around them. Robert Gray, an Australian poet who is known for his effective use of visual imagery, clearly evokes ideas and express personal concerns of ‘Global warming’ ‘sacrafice’ His incorporation of explicit language techniques, such as diction further accentuates his perspective towards the world around us. Flames, Dangling wires and Meatworks are a great examples of how Gray uses language devices to powerfully voice his opinions. Gray is a poet with many opinions and ideas to express, he effectively puts these ideas through poetry. One of Grays many influential poems Flames, dangling wires is a great example of how he conveys his ideas and opinions in his poetry. Flames, dangling wires is a poem about a filthy dump tip that is always burning in front of a city. Gray describes the dump as a cause of our actions. In this poem Gray has effectively uses sensory imagery. â€Å"The smell is huge, blasting the mouth dry† A technique used in this text is sensory imagery which triggers our taste buds. The word blasting is the most noticeable word in this text, blasting is an uncommon word to describe a smell, it is unexpected. Gray is trying to say that there are no words to describe the smell, Gray’s intentions on using the word blasting is to disgust us and so that we understand more clearly on the situation. Throughout the poem gray is describing in detail how sickening the dump tip is, as we reach the end of them poem Gray discuses about the consequences from our actions. â€Å"This is how it shall be after the men have gone. † He is saying that the mess we make is not going away and that it is stuck with us forever. Gray is known for a lot of poems, his poems talk about danger, global warming, and in this case doing what it takes to provide for loved ones, Meatworks. Meatworks is a poem about a hardworking man and his wife moving to a place but they are tight on money but in order too keep his place he is forced to work in an abattoir, but doesnt seem to enjoy it. In this poem Gray repeatedly and effectively describes the environment he’s in by using techniques such sensory imagery â€Å"Where concrete gutters crawled off heavily, and the hot, fertilizer thick, sticky stench of blood sent flies mad† . This ext has many techniques in it, the most effective technique used in this text is sensory imagery, Gray has effectively applied this technique in the line â€Å"The hot, fertilizer thick, sticky stench of blood sent flies mad† this sensory imagery immediately disgust us, planting a disturbing image in our heads. Flies are known to be around rotten food so when Gray added â€Å"sent flies mad† we have an idea of the imagery and can sort of imagine the smell. The text makes the audience understand that the abattoir is not a pleasant place to work at, and really demonstrates the sacrifice the man is giving to provide for his family. Gray is making us understand the sacrifice some people make everyday to provide for their loved ones. To conclude with, it is without doubt that Robert Gray clearly evokes his opinions and ideas on the world around him through his poetry. Opinions including social decline and global warming issues and that he effectively uses imagery in his poems Flames, dangling wire and Meatworks. It is also evident that gray brings issues concerning society and that what we do will eventually catch on to us.

The Causes and Effects of Divorce Essay -- cause/effect essay

From past to present people all over the world have determined to live together, or â€Å"get married†. Marriage can be a beautiful thing, but some couples are unable to maintain their relationship, because they choose divorce as a solution to cope with the problems between husband and wife. Furthermore divorce is definitely on a rise. The effects of divorce can be detrimental to a family, but the causes of divorce can be just as bad. In this essay we will cover one of the main causes of divorce and one of the main effects. One of the main causes that marriages are not lasting is the change in the roles of woman today. Prior to the 1980’s it was the man’s responsibility to earn money and financially provide for his family, whereas the woman only took did house work and looked after the ch...

Notes for Top Girls

Top Girls by Caryl Churchill Copyright Notice  ©1998-2002;  ©2002 by Gale Cengage. Gale is a division of Cengage Learning. Gale and Gale Cengage are trademarks used herein under license. For complete copyright information on these eNotes please visit: http://www. enotes. com/top-girls/copyright eNotes: Table of Contents 1. Top Girls: Introduction 2. Summary  ¦ Act 1 Summary  ¦ Act 2 Summary 3. Caryl Churchill Biography 4. Characters 5. Themes 6. Style 7. Historical Context 8. Critical Overview 9.Essays and Criticism  ¦ The Importance of Angie in Top Girls  ¦ Feminist Drama: The Politics of the Self: Churchill and Keatley  ¦ De-realised Women: Performance and Identity in Top Girls 10. Compare and Contrast 11. Topics for Further Study 12. What Do I Read Next? 13. Bibliography and Further Reading Introduction Since its earliest productions, Caryl Churchill's Top Girls was regarded as a unique, if difficult, play about the challenges working women face in the contemporary b usiness world and society at large.Premiering on August 28, 1982, in the Royal Court Theatre in London before making its New York debut on December 28, 1982, in the Public Theatre, Top Girls won an Obie Award in 1983 and was the runner-up for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. The play is regularly performed around the world and has quickly become part of the canon of women's theater. Top Girls helped solidify Churchill's reputation as an important playwright. Critics praise Top Girls for a number of reasons.Churchill explores the price of success paid for by the central character, Marlene, while using unusual techniques including a nonlinear construction, an overlapping dialogue, and a mix of fantasy and reality. The last occurs at a dinner party celebrating Marlene's promotion, which is attended by five women from different times in history, literature, and art. The dinner party is the Top Girls 1 first scene of the play and, to many critics, the highlight of Top Girls. Churchill br ings up many tough questions over the course of the play, including what success is and if women's progress in the workplace has been a good or bad thing.While many critics compliment the play on its handling of such big ideas in such a singular fashion, some thought Top Girls was disjointed and its message muddled. As John Russell Taylor of Plays & Players wrote, â€Å"Like most of Churchill's work, it is about nothing simple and easily capsulated. † Summary Act 1 Summary Act 1, Scene 1 Top Girls opens in a restaurant where Marlene is hosting a dinner party for five friends. She has recently been promoted at work. The five guests are all women that are either long-dead or are fictional characters from literature or paintings.The first to come are Isabella Bird and Lady Nijo. Nijo and Isabella discuss their lives, including their families. Dull Gret and Pope Joan, who was elected to the papacy in the ninth century, appear. The conversation wanders between subjects, including religion and the love lives of Nijo and Isabella. Isabella goes on about her travel experiences. Joan talks about dressing and living as a male from the age of twelve so that she could further her education. Marlene proposes a toast to her guests. They, in turn, insist on toasting Marlene and her success. Joan relates her disturbing story.While she enjoyed being the pope, she also had a discreet affair with a chamberlain and became pregnant. In denial about her state, she gave birth to her child during a papal procession. Joan was stoned to death, and her child, she believes, was also killed. While Joan relates her story, Nijo talks about her four children being born, and only being able to see one of them after having given birth. Isabella talks about how she never had children. Marlene wonders why they are all so miserable. The final guest arrives. She is Patient Griselda, a character in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.Griselda tells her story. Though she was a peasant gir l, she was asked to be the wife of a local prince, but only if she obeyed him without question. Griselda agreed, though it later meant losing the two children she bore him—they were taken from her as infants. Then Griselda was sent back to her father with nothing but a slip to wear. Her husband called her back to help him prepare for his next wedding to a girl from France. The girl was her daughter—all this was a test of her loyalty. He took Griselda back, and the family was reunited. Marlene is upset by Griselda's tale.Nijo is also perturbed because her children were never returned to her. Gret finally speaks up about her journey through hell, and how she beat the devils. The scene ends with Isabella talking about the last trip she took. Act 1, Scene 2 The scene opens in the Top Girls employment agency in London. Marlene is interviewing Jeanine for possible placement. Marlene tells Jeanine that if she is to be sent on a job with prospects, she must not tell them that she is getting married or might have children. Marlene evaluates Jeanine and suggests jobs based on her perception of Jeanine's future.Act 1, Scene 3 This scene takes place at night in Joyce's backyard in Suffolk. Joyce is Marlene's elder sister. Joyce's sixteen-year-old daughter Angie and her twelve-year-old friend Kit are playing in a shelter they built in the backyard. Joyce calls for Angie, but Angie and Kit ignore her until she goes back into the house. Angie says she wants to kill her mother. Introduction 2 Angie and Kit discuss going to the movies. Kit gets mad at Angie when she talks about dumb stuff. Angie desperately wants to leave home. Kit believes they should move to New Zealand in case of a war.Angie is indifferent because she has a big secret. She tells Kit she is going to London to see her aunt. Angie believes that Marlene is really her mother. Joyce sneaks up on them. Joyce will not let them go to the movies until Angie cleans her room. Angie leaves, and Kit informs Joyce that she wants to be a nuclear physicist. When Angie returns, she is wearing a nice dress that is a little too small for her. Joyce becomes angry because Angie has not cleaned her room. It starts to rain. Joyce and Kit go inside. Angie stays outside. When Kit returns to get her, Angie threatens to kill her mother again. Act 2 SummaryAct 2, Scene 1 It is Monday morning at Top Girls. Win and Nell, who work at the agency, are talking. Win tells Nell about her weekend that she spent at her married boyfriend's house while his wife was out of town. The conversation turns to office gossip. They consider changing jobs as Marlene has been promoted over them, limiting their prospects. Still, Nell and Win are glad Marlene got the job over another coworker, Howard. Marlene enters late. Win and Nell tell her that they are glad she got the promotion rather than Howard. Win interviews Louise, a forty-six-year-old woman who has been in the same job for twenty-one years.Louise has done everyt hing for her company, but has spent twenty years in middle management with no opportunities to go higher. Win believes there will be only limited openings for her. In the main office, Angie walks up to Marlene. Marlene does not recognize her at first. Angie has come to London on her own to see her aunt, and she intends to stay for a while. It is not clear if Joyce knows where Angie is. Angie becomes upset when Marlene does not seem like she wants her to stay. Their conversation is interrupted by the appearance of Mrs. Kidd, Howard's wife. Mrs.Kidd is upset because Howard cannot accept that Marlene got the promotion to managing director over him. In part, he is disturbed because she is a woman. Mrs. Kidd wants Marlene to turn down the promotion so that he can have it. Mrs. Kidd leaves in a huff when Marlene is rude to her. Angie is proud of her aunt's saucy attitude. In another interview, Nell talks to Shona, who claims to be twenty-nine and to have worked in sales on the road. As th e interview progresses, it becomes clear that Shona has been lying. She is only twenty-one and has no real work experience.In the main office, Win sits down and talks to Angie, who was left there by Marlene while she is working. Angie tells Win that she wants to work at Top Girls. Win begins to tell Angie her life story, but Angie falls asleep. Nell comes in and informs her that Howard has had a heart attack. When Marlene returns, Win tells her about Angie wanting to work at Top Girls. Marlene does not think Angie has much of a future there. Act 2, Scene 2 This scene takes place a year earlier in Joyce's kitchen. Marlene is passing out presents for Joyce and Angie. One of the gifts is the nice dress that Angie wore in act 1, scene 2.While Angie goes to her room to try it on, Joyce and Marlene are talking. Joyce had no idea that Marlene was coming. Marlene believed Joyce had invited her there. Angie made the arrangements, lying to both of them. Angie returns to show off the dress. Th ey chide her for her deception. Angie reminds her that the last time she visited was for her ninth birthday. Marlene learns that Joyce's husband left her three years ago. It is getting Act 1 Summary 3 late, and Angie is sent to bed. Marlene will sleep on the couch. After Angie leaves to get ready for bed, Joyce and Marlene continue their discussion about their lives.The sisters' conversation turns into an argument. Marlene believes that Joyce is jealous of her success. Joyce criticizes the decisions Marlene has made, including leaving her home and giving up her child, Angie. Marlene offers to send her money, but Joyce refuses. Marlene is excited about a future under the new prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, while Joyce cannot stand the prime minister. They talk about the horrid life their mother led with their alcoholic father. It becomes clear the sisters have very different views of the world. As Marlene nears sleep on the couch, Angie walks in, having had a bad dream. Frightenin g,† is all she says. Biography Churchill was born on September 3, 1938, in London, England, the daughter and only child of Robert Churchill and his wife. Churchill's father was a political cartoonist; her mother worked as a model, secretary, and actress. Churchill began writing stories and doing shows for her parents as a child. After spending her early childhood in London, the family moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in about 1949, where Churchill spent most of her formative years. Caryl Churchill In 1956, Churchill returned to England to enter Oxford University.While studying literature at Lady Margaret Hall, she began writing plays for student productions. Her first play was written as a favor for a friend. One of Churchill's student plays, Downstairs, won first prize at the National Student Drama Festival. Churchill graduated with her B. A. in 1960, intending to become a serious writer. Act 2 Summary 4 Family matters stymied her plans. In 1961, Churchill married David Har ter, a lawyer, and had three sons over the next decade. Still, she managed to write about thirty radio dramas, usually one act, throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, as well as some television plays in the early 1970s.Many of these early plays were related to her life experiences and were somewhat depressing, but they did garner Churchill some notice for her writing abilities. In the early 1970s, Churchill turned to theater, initially writing for fringe theater groups. Owners, a tragic farce, was her first major play, produced by a fringe group in London in 1972. This production led to her position as a resident playwright at the Royal Court Theatre from 1974 to 1975. Churchill began exploring feminist ideas with her first play for the Royal Court, Objections to Sex and Violence (1974).Churchill continued to explore feminism with Vinegar Tom (1976). She wrote the play both with the help of and for Monstrous Regiment, a feminist touring-theater company. Vinegar Tom and Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (1976) use historical settings to discuss repression. These plays garnered Churchill more attention and critical praise. In 1979, Churchill's Cloud Nine had its first production. This was her first big hit, and had a long run on both sides of the Atlantic. The Obie Award-winning play was set in the Victorian era, with the roles played by their physical opposites. For example, a man played an unhappy and unfulfilled wife.Critics enthusiastically praised Churchill's originality. Churchill followed this success with Top Girls (1982), a play about feminism and the price of success for women. Though some did not regard it as highly as Cloud Nine, the play cemented her reputation and won her another Obie. Churchill wrote plays on a variety of topics throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Fen (1983), which focused on female tenant farmers, won her the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. In 1986, she wrote Serious Money about the London stock exchange. Churchill used music and dialogue that rhymed in the play, which also won the Blackburn Prize and many other awards.She continued to experiment with technique in Mad Forest (1990) and The Skriker (1994), which incorporated music and dance. Though Churchill's output decreased in the late 1990s, she continues to push the limits of traditional dramatic forms using dance and music, and other unexpected constructions. Characters Angie Angie is the sixteen-year-old adopted daughter of Joyce. Angie is the biological daughter of Marlene, but was given up by her birth mother, who was only seventeen at the time and had career ambitions. In act 1 of Top Girls, Angie realizes that Marlene is her mother, though she has not been told directly.Both Marlene and Joyce do not think highly of Angie and believe her future is limited. She has already left high school with no qualifications. She was in remedial classes, and her best friend is Kit, who is four years younger. Angie is frustrated and wants to murder her mother. Instead, sh e runs away to visit her aunt in London and hopes to live with her. Previously, Angie tricked Marlene into visiting her and Joyce. Angie is Marlene's embarrassment, but she is also one of the things that links her to the women at the dinner party. Isabella Bird Isabella is one of Marlene's dinner party guests in act 1, scene 1.She is a Scottish woman who lived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and who traveled extensively later in life. In Top Girls, Isabella is the first to arrive at the party and dominates the conversation in a self-absorbed manner. She talks on and on about her travels; her complex relationship with her sister, Hennie; her clergyman father, and husband; her illnesses; religion; and her lack of children. While Isabella does listen and respond to the others, she mostly tries to figure out her own life and what it meant. She could never be as good as her sister, but her adventures made Biography 5 er happy. Isabella is one of the characters who he lps Marlene define herself. Dull Gret Dull Gret is one of Marlene' s dinner guests in act 1, scene 1, and the third to arrive. Gret is the subject of a painting by Brueghel entitled â€Å"Dulle Griet. † In the painting, she wears an apron and armor and leads a group of women into hell to fight with devils. Gret is generally quiet through most of the dinner, answering questions only when directly asked and making a few comments on the side. Near the end of the scene, Gret makes a speech about her trip to hell and the fight with the devils.Like all the dinner guests, Gret's story reflects something about Marlene's life. Jeanine Marlene interviews Jeanine for placement by Top Girls in act 1. She is engaged and is saving money to get married. Marlene is not supportive of Jeanine's ambitions to work in advertising or in a job that might have some travel, but she categorizes her according to what Marlene believes she will be able to accomplish. Pope Joan Pope Joan is one of Marlene 's dinner party guests in act 1, scene 1, and the fourth to arrive. She is a woman from the ninth century who allegedly served as the pope from 854 to 856.Pope Joan is somewhat aloof, making relevant, intelligent declarations throughout the conversation. When the topic turns to religion, she cannot help but point out heresies—herself included—though she does not attempt to convert the others to her religion. Joan reveals some of her life. She began dressing as a boy at age twelve so she could continue to study; she lived the rest of her life as a man, though she had male lovers. Joan was eventually elected pope. She became pregnant by her chamberlain lover and delivered her baby during a papal procession. For this, Joan was stoned to death.At the end of the scene, Joan recites a passage in Latin. Like all the dinner guests, Joan's life and attitude reflects something about Marlene. Joyce Joyce is Marlene's elder sister and mother to Angie. Unlike her younger sister, Jo yce stayed in the same area and social class she grew up in. Joyce is unambitious and unhappy. She was married to Frank, but she told him to leave three years previously because he was having affairs with other women. She supports herself and Angie by cleaning houses. Because Joyce seemed to be unable to have children, she adopted Angie as an infant when Marlene decided to give her up.But Joyce soon got pregnant and miscarried the child because of the demands of raising Angie. Joyce resents both Angie and Marlene, in part because of her miscarriage. She calls Angie a lump and useless. Marlene is too ambitious and clever for Joyce. Yet Joyce has pride. She will not take Marlene's money, and she does not cater to her crying. Joyce maintains her working class loyalty and stands her ground when Marlene starts to sing the praises of Margaret Thatcher. Despite such differences, Marlene and Joyce are very much alike.They both believe they are right and do what they must to survive in their different worlds. Mrs. Kidd Mrs. Kidd is the wife of Howard, the man who got passed over in favor of Marlene for the managing director position at Top Girls. In act 2, Mrs. Kidd comes to the office and tries to get Marlene to turn down the position. Mrs. Kidd hopes Marlene will understand how much it would hurt Howard's pride and livelihood. Marlene is not impressed by her pleas, and Mrs. Kidd leaves after insulting Marlene for being a hard, working woman. Kit Kit is the twelve-year-old best friend of Angie.Unlike Angie, Kit is clever and plans on being a nuclear Characters 6 physicist. The girls have been friends for years, though Kit gets annoyed by Angie's limitations. In some ways, Kit is a younger version of Marlene. Louise Louise is interviewed by Win for placement by Top Girls in act 2. Louise is a forty-six-year-old woman stuck in middle management who believes she has been overlooked for promotion and underappreciated by her present firm. Win is not particularly supportive of Louise's desires to use her experience elsewhere and does not offer much hope for a better position.Like Marlene, Win categorizes Louise according to what she believes Louise will be able to accomplish. Marlene Marlene is the central character in Top Girls. She is a successful businesswoman who has recently been promoted to managing director of Top Girls, an employment agency. To celebrate, she has a dinner party at a restaurant with five guests, all of whom are women who are either dead or fictional characters from literature and paintings. Marlene's own life shares some parallels with these women. Marlene's adult life has been focused on her career, to the exclusion of nearly everything else.She previously worked in the United States and has done well for herself. Marlene has little to no contact with her family. Her alcoholic father is dead, and her long-suffering mother is in some sort of home. Marlene does not get along with her sister Joyce, who has remained part of the wo rking class and lives in the same neighborhood where they grew up. Marlene let Joyce raise her daughter, Angie. Marlene became pregnant at age seventeen, and because the then-married Joyce did not have a child, she allowed her to adopt the baby. Marlene has as little respect and interest in Angie as Joyce does.Like the women she interviews at Top Girls, Marlene believes Angie's future is limited. Yet Marlene's own life is just as circumscribed, but in different ways. Her success has come at a high price, costing her both her empathy and her relationships. Nell Nell is one of the employees at the Top Girls employment agency. She is happy that Marlene got the promotion over Howard, but she has her own career ambitions and might want to find a job with better prospects. In the meantime, her boyfriend, Derek, has asked her to marry him, but she does not know if she will accept.Her career seems more important to her than the marriage. During the play, Nell conducts an interview with Shon a, whom Nell believes might be good for Top Girls. Nell is disappointed to learn that Shona has lied about everything on her application. Lady Nijo Lady Nijo is one of Marlene's dinner party guests in act 1, scene 1, and the second to arrive. She is a thirteenth-century Japanese courtesan to the Emperor of Japan. She later became a Buddhist monk. Like Isabella, Nijo is somewhat self-absorbed, though not to the same degree.Nijo tells the others about her life, including information about her father, her lovers, her four children (only one of whom she ever saw), symbolic clothing, and her time as a traveling monk. But she also listens respectfully to the stories of others and acknowledges her limitations. Nijo liked her silk clothing and easy life with the Emperor. By the end of the scene, Nijo is in tears. Like all the dinner guests, Nijo's life reflects something about Marlene's. Patient Griselda Patient Griselda is one of Marlene's dinner guests in act 1, scene 1, and the last to a rrive.She is a fictional character, appearing in ‘‘The Clerk's Tale’’ in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, among other stories. As soon as she arrives, Marlene has Griselda tell her story. Griselda was a peasant girl who was asked to marry a local prince, but only if she would obey him without question. She agreed and bore him two children who were taken away from her while they were still infants. She did not question the decision. Her Characters 7 husband sent Griselda back home with nothing more than a slip to wear. She went without question.He sent for her to help him plan his second marriage to a young French girl. Griselda came back. At a pre-wedding feast, he revealed that the girl and her page/brother were their children and all these incidents were tests of her loyalty. Like all the dinner guests, Griselda's story reflects an aspect of Marlene's life. Shona Shona is interviewed by Nell for placement by the Top Girls agency in the second act. Shona tries to pass herself off as a twenty-nine-year-old woman with sales experience, which Nell believes at first.As the interview progresses, it becomes clear that Shona has been making up a story. She is really twenty-one and has no job experience. Shona is certain that she could handle high-profile jobs, but Nell does not believe her. Win Win is one of the employees at the Top Girls employment agency. Like Nell, she is glad that Marlene got the promotion over Howard, but she has her own career ambitions and might move on. She is relatively well educated and has previously lived in several different countries. Win spent the previous weekend with her married boyfriend at his house, while his wife was out of town.During the course of the play, Win interviews Louise for a job; she shares Marlene's callous attitude toward Louise. Themes Choices and Consequences Nearly every character in Top Girls has made or is in the process of making life-changing decisions with important consequ ences. The dinner party in act 1, scene 1 exemplifies this. Each of the historical figures has made a hard choice. For example, Pope Joan chose to live like a boy, and then a man, in public. When she became pregnant by her secret lover, the stoning death of her and her baby were consequences of her chosen life.Joyce chose to adopt Angie, which led to a certain life path. Joyce believes that she miscarried her own child because of the demands of raising Angie. Marlene also made several hard choices. She became a career woman who spent some time working in the States. Marlene is estranged from her family, including her biological daughter, Angie, and does not seem to have many close friends, female or male. Her dinner party in celebration of her promotion consists of women who are dead or do not really exist, not with friends or family. She has no love relationship.Marlene is very much alone because of her life choices. While her daughter Angie has already made two life choices dropping out of school at the age of sixteen with no qualifications, and running away to London to live with her aunt/mother—the consequences of these actions in her life are unclear. Success and Failure Success is an important part of Marlene's life in Top Girls, defining who she is and whose company she enjoys. The dinner party is meant to celebrate her promotion to managing director as well as the successes of her guests. Joan became the pope. Isabella traveled the world.Gret fought the devils in hell. Griselda survived her husband's extraordinary tests of loyalty. Marlene sees these women as successful, though they are not in her real, everyday life. Marlene's personal life is a failure because of her success in business. She has no real friends in the play, and she has not seen her sister or biological daughter in seven years. At the dinner party, she moans at one point, ‘‘Oh God, why are we all so miserable? † Yet, Marlene believes that Joyce is mostl y a failure because she did not grow beyond her neighborhood; instead, she got married and raised a child.Joyce cleans houses for a living, and she is not impressed by Marlene's life. Joyce does not really see her world in the same terms of success or failure. She does what is necessary to survive and to rear Angie. However, both sisters agree that Angie has no chance of being a success in life. Angie has no education, no ambition, and is regarded as dumb. The best she might do is Themes 8 menial work and marry. While this describes Joyce's life, both Joyce and Marlene perceive that Angie might not be able to take care of herself. This would be the ultimate failure in their eyes. They agree that one should support oneself.Class Conflict Marlene and Joyce's differing definitions of success stem in part from a class conflict. Marlene has moved beyond her working-class roots to a middle-class life by education and persistence. She holds a management position in a demanding field, an em ployment agency. She even lived and worked in the United States for several years. Marlene supports the political agenda of Great Britain's female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, even though she is perceived as anti-working class. Joyce remains firmly working class, leading a life only slightly better than her parents.She works as a cleaning lady to support Angie. Unlike Joyce and Marlene's mother, who stayed with her alcoholic husband and had nothing, Joyce told her husband to leave when she could no longer take his controlling nature and numerous affairs. Joyce regards Thatcher as evil, comparing her to Adolf Hitler for her attitudes towards working-class people. Joyce believes that Marlene thinks she is too good for her. Marlene says she does not like working-class people, but she does not really include her sister as one of them. The pair never come to an understanding on class.Sex Roles and Sexism Throughout the text of Top Girls is an implicit discussion of what society exp ects women to be. Each of the guests at the dinner party defines womanhood in a particular era, either by what they are or by what they are not. Isabella, for example, could not live up to the standards of femininity defined by her sister, Hennie. Yet Isabella was a traveler who saw more of the world than most men. Marlene also breaks out of the traditional roles for women, by virtue of her career. While Marlene has benefited economically from her career, her disregard for sex roles has its problems.She is not married, and it does not seem like she is in a long-term relationship. Joyce does not really like her. Mrs. Kidd, the wife of the man who was passed over for the promotion that Marlene got, begs her to not take it. Mrs. Kidd believes that the upset Howard should not have to work for a woman. Further, Mrs. Kidd hopes that Marlene will give up the promotion because Howard has to support his family. Mrs. Kidd calls Marlene â€Å"unnatural† for her uncompromising stand on t he promotion and her attachment to her job. Marlene does not give in, but such sexism does not make her life and choices any easier.Style Setting Top Girls is a feminist drama/fantasy set in contemporary times. The action is confined to two places in England, London and Suffolk. The realistic action takes place in two settings. One is the Top Girls employment agency, where Marlene works. There, potential clients are interviewed, and Angie shows up, hoping to stay with Marlene. The other is Joyce's home and backyard, where Marlene visits and Angie and Kit scheme. The fantasy dinner party that opens Top Girls also takes place in London. (In many productions, the restaurant is called La Prima Donna. Though the dinner is clearly a fantasy because all the guests are dead or fictional, the setting is very real. Fantasy versus Reality In act 1, scene 1, Marlene hosts a dinner party with guests both long dead (Pope Joan, Lady Nijo, and Isabella Bird) and fictional (Dull Gret and Patient Gri selda). While Marlene listens to and guides the conversation—injecting only bits about herself—these five women share their stories. The party is ostensibly to celebrate Marlene's promotion at work, but she intends it to be a celebration of all their successes. Though Style 9 hese women have each achieved something they are proud of, success has come at a large price in their lives. The dinner party itself shows the tensions between fantasy and reality because the guests are not â€Å"real† to the rest of the characters in Top Girls, only to Marlene. Yet the ideas and problems brought up by the fantasy women are very real. These issues echo in the plot and dialogue of the rest of the text, adding another dimension to the tension between fantasy and reality. Time Top Girls is not a linear play, but one in which time is used in an unusual fashion. The last scene of the lay, act 2, scene 2, is the only part that takes place at a specific time in the story, about a year earlier than the other events. This flashback ties up some of the loose ends created by the story. The rest of the scenes, even the action within act 2, scene 1, do not have to take place in the order presented, though all are set in the present. The events are linked thematically, but not by a specific sequence of time. In addition, the idea of time is toyed with at the dinner party in act 1, scene 1. None of the guests can really exist at the same time, yet they share many of the same concerns.Multiple Casting Often when Top Girls is performed—including its premieres in England and the United States— several parts are played by the same actresses. Only the actress who plays Marlene, the central character in the play, has only one role. Thus guests at the dinner party are played by actresses who also play contemporary characters. Such casting decisions create visual links between seemingly disparate women. In the original production, for example, the same actress played Dull Gret and Angie, implying that these characters might have something in common.Similarly, another actress took on the roles of Pope Joan and Louise, drawing another parallel. This casting technique further emphasizes how alike the concerns of the historical characters and contemporary characters really are. Historical Context In the early 1980s, Great Britain was ruled by women. Though Queen Elizabeth II was only a royal figurehead, real political power was held by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. A member of the Conservative Party, Thatcher had been elected on May 3, 1979, and proceeded to put her own stamp on British life over the next decade or so.She was reelected in 1983 and 1987, and held office until late 1990, when she received a vote of no confidence and was replaced by fellow Conservative John Major. Thatcher had been the longest-serving prime minister in Great Britain since the nineteenth century. To improve the British economy, Thatcher dismantled the social ist practices that were put in place in the post-World War II era. She privatized major industries, like coal mining and telecommunications, which had been run by the British government, and she cut down on the power of trade unions.Because Thatcher's revolution benefited the middle- and upper-classes and seemed to hurt the working- and lower-classes, she was very unpopular among the latter groups. Unemployment continued to rise, and by 1982, over three and a quarter million people were unemployed. With cuts in both welfare and other social programs, such people's lives were becoming much harder. Though the economy was strong and interest rates and inflation were down, real living standards had been falling slightly for several years; international trade was also down. In 1982, Thatcher and the Conservative party had some popularity problems among the general population.National morale was not particularly high until the Falklands War broke out. The Falkland Islands were a British p ossession in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Argentina. The group of islands are small and only about 1,800 people were living there. The territory was at the center of a dispute between Argentina and Great Britain for a number of years, and the two countries were in negotiations over them. In the spring of 1982, Argentina became impatient and invaded the Falklands. Great Britain responded and reclaimed the islands before Argentina quickly surrendered.Though there were approximately 243 British casualties, the victory Historical Context 10 improved national morale and the repute of Thatcher and the Conservatives. The popularity of the Labour party went down. Thatcher was but one symbol in the 1980s of powerful women. There was a concrete change in the position of working women. In Great Britain in the early 1980s, women made up forty percent of the labor force, and over sixty percent of women aged twenty to sixty-four were working. Marriage rates fell in the 1980s, after having remained stable for many years.Before that decade nearly every adult woman was married at some point. Those that did marry gave up working after having a child, although sometimes they went back to work after their children went to school or reached adulthood. Most women who worked were employed in poorly paid white-collar, service, and industrial occupations. Approximately seventy-five percent of women did personal services work, clerical work, retail work, or health, education, or welfare work. The number of professional women was still small, but more women were becoming lawyers than ever before.These professional women often had equal pay for equal work, but working-class women did not. Despite the success of Thatcher, many British women were anti-Conservative, though they did not necessarily support Labour either. To these women, Thatcher may have shared their gender, but her political prominence did not necessarily make her their heroine. Critical Overview Most critics agree t hat Top Girls is an intricate play; generally, they find much to praise in its themes, attitudes, and text. The play's depiction of women and feminism is particularly interesting to critics.Writing about the original London production, Bryan Robertson of The Spectator argued, â€Å"her play is brilliantly conceived with considerable wit to illuminate the underlying deep human seriousness of her theme. The play is feminist, all right, but it is an entertaining, sometimes painful and often funny play and not a mere tract. † Expanding on this idea, Benedict Nightingale of the New Statesman wrote, â€Å"What use is female emancipation, Churchill asks, if it transforms the clever women into predators and does nothing for the stupid, weak and helpless?Does freedom, and feminism, consist of aggressively adopting the very values that have for centuries oppressed your sex? † A scene from the 1991 production of Top Girls at London's Royal Court Theatre Writing about the same pro duction, John Russell Taylor of Plays & Players is one of several critics over the years who believed that the rest of Top Girls did not live up to the promise of the dinner party scene. He found the play disjointed, arguing that â€Å"the pieces in the puzzle remain determinedly separate, never quite adding up to more than, well, so many fascinating pieces in a fascinating puzzle. Critical Overview 11 When Top Girls opened in the United States a short time later, a few critics were dismissive of the play and Churchill's potential appeal to American audiences. Calling the play â€Å"confused,† Douglas Watt of the Daily News proclaimed, â€Å"Churchill can write touchingly and with a good ear for everyday speech about middle-class Londoners today. But while concern for ugly ducklings may be universal †¦ Top Girls is a genre piece likely to arouse even less interest here than Alan Ayckbourn's equally tricky, but infinitely more amusing, works about the English middle cla ss. Edith Oliver of the New Yorker was perplexed by certain aspects of the play. She wrote â€Å"Top Girls †¦ is witty and original, with considerable dramatized feeling, yet somehow never got to me, and I was never certain whether she was making one point with the whole play or a lot of points in its separate segments. † Later in her review, Oliver emphasized that â€Å"[d]espite my admiration of Miss Churchill's ingenuity, I was disappointed and at times puzzled—never quite certain, for example, whether the historical characters of the first scene were meant to be the prototypes of modern characters. † A majority of American critics commented on the uniqueness of certain aspects of Top Girls, but they were most concerned with its feminist theme and social meanings. For example, John Beaufort of the Christian Science Monitor called Top Girls â€Å"a theatrical oddity in which the long view of what has been happening to womankind's ‘top girls' combin es with a sharp look at contemporary women achievers and a compassionate glance at the plight of an underclass underachiever who will never know the meaning of room at the top. Apart from one cheap shock effect, Miss Churchill has written a thoughtful and imaginative theater piece. Along similar lines, T. E. Kalem of Time asks in his review, â€Å"Is the future to be divided between a smart, scrambling upper class of no-holds-barred individualists and a permanent underclass of poor souls who are unfit for the survival of the fittest? † An unnamed reviewer in Variety added, â€Å"If it's about male manipulation, Top Girls also pointedly involves the conditioned mentality of the sisterhood itself, with its inherited sense of role in a masculine or at least male-dominated world. The play seems to be saying that women historically have had themselves as well as sexist pigs for enemies. John Simon of New York believes the ideas in Top Girls have universal applicability. â€Å"Th is is not easy theater, but funny, fiercely serious, and greatly worth thinking about. Its aporias [insoluble contradictions] are not only pertinent to women, they also concern the entire, always incomplete, human condition. † Top Girls has continued to be performed regularly over the years. Most critics believe the play has withstood the test of time, despite specific references to British prime minster Margaret Thatcher and attitudes specific to the early 1980s.Of a 1991 revival in London, Paul Taylor in The Independent argued, â€Å"What continues to distinguish Top Girls is its cool, objective manner. The scenes in the job agency are almost too cleverly efficient in the way they expose the heartlessness the women have had to assume along with their crisp power-outfits. Churchill permits you to identify with the tricky plight of these characters but she does not ask you to like them. † Similarly, Alastair Macaulay of the Financial Times believes, â€Å"Both as theat re and as politics, Top Girls is exciting and irritating.The dialectic of its final scene, between the Thatcherite Marlene and her socialist sister Joyce rings true as you listen. The terms in which the sisters argue about Thatcherite politics have not dated. † Essays and Criticism The Importance of Angie in Top Girls Many critics who have commented on Caryl Churchill's Top Girls have focused their praise on the interesting characters and complexities of the scene that opens the play, act 1, scene 1's dinner party. The party is hosted by Top Girls' central character, Marlene, and is attended by five guests, all obscure figures from history, literature, and art.Ostensibly, the party is to celebrate the success of Marlene, who has recently been Essays and Criticism 12 promoted to managing director of Top Girls employment agency. The scene also defines many of the play's themes and dramatic tensions. There are a number of critics who share the opinion of Lianne Stevens of the Los Angeles Times. Reviewing a 1986 production of Top Girls in San Diego, California, Stevens writes, ‘‘outstanding performances †¦ cannot rectify the main defect in Churchill's play: Nothing that comes after is as interesting as having dinner with Pope Joan, Dull Gret, Lady Nijo, Patient Griselda and Isabella Bird. ’ There are, in fact, several aspects of the rest of Top Girls that are as interesting, mostly because of what has been laid out in the dinner party scene. One is the character of Angie, Marlene's sixteen-year-old daughter, whom she allowed her sister Joyce to adopt at birth. Angie plays as pivotal a role in the play as any of the dinner party guests. While there is no doubt that Marlene is at the center of Top Girls, and that her character presents hard and conflicted ideas about women, success, power, and employment in the early 1980s, Angie and the dinner guests help to define Marlene as much as Marlene's own actions and comments do.However, the d inner guests were chosen by Marlene, while Angie was an accident Marlene has chosen to have very little contact with and is dismissive of. Each of the dinner guests is an adult woman, though they are fantastic characters who do not really exist in the modern world inhabited by Marlene and the rest of the characters in the play. Marlene turns to them, not to any of the ‘‘real† people depicted in the play, when she wants to celebrate her promotion. While the guests are successful in their own, though not always obvious, ways, their success has come at a price.Lady Nijo suffered many degradations including not being allowed to raise her own children. Marlene is deeply troubled by the story of Patient Griselda, who was humiliated by her husband as a test of her loyalty to him, mostly because she was of a lower class. To get an education, Pope Joan led a life of deception as a male. Though she later became pope, it was her womanhood—her ability to get pregnant an d give birth to a child at an inopportune moment—that led to the murder which ended her life. Marlene's choice of guests reveals much about her.First, she does not have anyone in her real life to share her promotion with, suggesting an alienation from real women. Second, the loss of her child still weighs on her, either in her conscious, subconscious, or both. Lady Nijo, Pope Joan, and Patient Griselda all suffer the loss of children. Only Joan is rather indifferent to the death of her infant. Marlene inquires about Dull Gret' s children, clearly expressing her interest in the subject. Marlene's question after the one to Gret is rhetorical: â€Å"Oh God, why are we all so miserable? ’ There is a link between unhappiness and the idea of children and loss. Third, Marlene has no real interest in her own daughter, Angie, though they have more in common than Marlene does with her chosen guests. To understand the importance of Angie, Marlene's character must be better under stood. Marlene grew up in an unstable home. Her father worked in the fields, and had a problem with alcohol. Her mother suffered at the hands of her husband, often going hungry and being beaten. Her sister Joyce was older, and did not share either Marlene's need to escape or her intelligence.Despite her background, Marlene managed to create a good life for herself by working hard and apparently acquiring a decent education. She even lived in the United States for several years. The only flaw, the only thing that could have held her back, was when Marlene got pregnant at the age of seventeen. The situation was stressful, and Marlene was in denial for part of the pregnancy. Rather than allow Marlene to give the baby up to strangers, Joyce insisted on adopting Angie, in part because she had no children of her own.This is a long-standing point of contention between the sisters, though Joyce makes it clear that she would not have approved of any choice Marlene made in the situation excep t to have had an abortion early on or raise the child herself and not have tried to have a better life. Angie and related petty jealousies are at the heart of their conflict and thus at the center of Top Girls. Yet, Angie is a reviled character. Everyone around Angie dismisses her and believes she has no future. Joyce, her adopted mother, calls her ‘‘a big lump. ’ She believes Angie will have a hard time getting a job and her best bet in life is to get married, though she cannot imagine who would marry her. Joyce does admit at one point, ‘‘She's clever in her own way. ’’ Labeling her ‘‘thick,’’ Marlene, Angie's birth mother, tells one of The Importance of Angie in Top Girls 13 her coworkers, ‘‘She's not going to make it. ’’ She believes Angie's future career will be as a ‘‘Packer in Tesco,’’ nothing as accomplished as working at the employment agency run by Marl ene. Kit, her only friend and a twelve-year-old, says to Angie at one point, â€Å"Stupid f—ing cow, I hate you. She later tells Angie that she is not sure she even likes her. Kit amends that attitude by telling Joyce â€Å"I love Angie. † The way those around Angie talk about her, it seems like she is useless and incompetent. Joyce especially seems to hammer this idea home directly to Angie. Angie is definitely immature. She talks about being able to move objects with her thoughts, hearing a long-dead kitten in the backyard, and has only one friend, Kit, who is four years younger than her. She has ended her education in remedial classes at the age of sixteen.Yet Angie accomplishes much over the course of Top Girls, more than expected considering how she is talked about. Angie has her own equivalent of the dinner party in act 1, scene 3. She and Kit hide in a shelter that they probably made in Joyce's backyard. Kit, however, is a real person, unlike the unreal guests at Marlene's. Angie and Kit have a real, if tense, friendship. They make tentative plans to go to the movies. Angie expresses her frustrations to Kit, saying she wants to kill her mother. She tells Kit about her secret, that she believes Marlene is her mother.Angie also says that she will go to London to see her aunt. Kit does not really believe her, though, underscoring that Angie is constantly underestimated by those around her. Another success of Angie’s is going to London from Suffolk on the bus, and finding her way to Marlene’s work place in act 2, scene 1. Joyce and Kit do not think Angie could do such a thing on her own. But Angie wants to escape her life with Joyce and become a success. To that end, she goes to her aunt/mother and hopes to stay with her. Angie has the gumption to ask her aunt for help.She will even sleep on the floor of Marlene’s home to have this different, better life, like her aunt/mother. It also creates a situation where Marlene get s her child back, a key point brought up in the dinner party. Angie wants to be with Marlene, to be Marlene, and does what she can to make that happen. Angie wants to be a top girl. Angie’s first success, though the last in the play since it takes place in act 2, scene 2, is getting Marlene to visit her in the first place. The last scene takes place a year before the rest of the Top Girls.Angie lied to Marlene to get her to visit her and Joyce in Suffolk. She has not seen her aunt/mother since her ninth birthday party. Angie knows that Marlene has had good jobs and has lived in America, and she admires her tremendously. Angie appreciates that Marlene has escaped their neighborhood and become successful, just as Marlene admired that about her fantasy dinner guests. Angie may not have the education or the intelligence that Marlene has, but she wants to do something like what Marlene has done. In this scene, Marlene reveals the key to her success. She proclaims, ‘‘Ià ¢â‚¬â„¢m not clever, just pushy. ’ Angie has shown that she can be pushy as well over the course of the play, implying that she might have a better future than anyone imagined. In writing about a 1998 production of Top Girls in Los Angeles, California, Don Shirley of the Los Angeles Times argues, ‘‘Churchill painted a stark picture of Margaret Thatcher's Britain as a place where women could end up in either a cushy but heartless career or a dreary life in domestic servitude. This may sound broadly feminist, but the play finally emerges as a more specific attack on Thatcherite insensitivities towards the girls who ren't on ‘top. ’† Shirley includes Angie as one who is not on top, but does not see that she could be. Angie is a younger—perhaps dumber but no less ambitious—Marlene. Source: Annette Petrusso, in an essay for Drama for Students, Gale Group, 2001. Feminist Drama: The Politics of the Self: Churchill and Keatley Caryl Church ill's Top Girls (1983) and Charlotte Keatley's My Mother Said I Never Should (1987) are plays with an all women cast. Men, though present in the stories, are absent from the stage. They occupy emotional space but not physical space.At the very outset there is a defining of space, a creation of a feminist world. Feminist Drama: The Politics of the Self: Churchill and Keatley 14 Keatley deliberately kept the men offstage to provide a space for the women to interact among themselves, ‘‘to show the way women use language, silence and subtext when alone together’’; Churchill apparently does it for the purposes of sharing, for as Adrienne Rich has pointed out that unless women are prepared to share their ‘‘private and sometimes painful personal experience’’ it may not be possible to create a ‘‘collective description’’ of what is truly a woman's world.In both plays women from different generations and backgrounds meet together to share and to interact but with two major differences. Keatley's characters in the child-scenes are child characters and represent the same lineage whereas Churchill's characters represent several centuries, from the ninth to the present and have altogether different backgrounds.The moment women are placed centre-stage they begin to interact and introspect, to analyze and to criticize; they cease to look at themselves through the male gaze, instead they begin to problematize their conflicts and the involuntary processes of their bodies. By defining space in female terms, women are transformed from objects into subjects and their passive acceptance of gendered roles is turned into an analysis of socially imposed codes of behaviour. Plays by women need not be feminist, just as plays about women are not always so.But plays which concern themselves with women as subjects and explore their emotional realities acquire a feminist perspective. The sixties and the seventies witnessed the rise of women's theatre groups and collectives and a consciousness about women's roles. This was the beginning of a feminist theatre with, as already stated, overtly political aims. Women through exploring and talking about their experiences opened out their role confines, created female traditions and entered areas hitherto forbidden to them.Several all-women plays were also written. Megan Terry's Calm Down, Mother (1965) was a transformation exercise for women and hailed by Helene Keyssar as the first real feminist play, while her later Babes in the Bighouse (1974) was about women prisoners and closed spaces where violence became a natural inhabitant. Eve Merriam' s Out of Our Fathers' House (1975) was a projection of the struggles of exceptional women, while Wendy Wasserstein's Uncommon Women and Others (1977) examined the role conflicts in a lighter vein.Maria Irene Fornes's Fefu and Her Friends (1977) is located in the thirties and is a powerful statement about th e violence implicit in heterosexual relationships; it is as Schuler has pointed out ‘‘impossible to ignore that explicit critique of patriarchy’’ (226) present in the play. Marsha Norman's ‘night, Mother, coming out the same year as Top Girls (1983), is a tense kitchen drama about a mother and a daughter with the daughter at the end committing suicide behind a locked door. Plays with an all-women cast make a specific statement even before they put this female space to different and individual use.They discard supportive roles for women and provide them with the freedom to relate directly to each other rather than through sons and husbands, ‘‘Language, space and the body are loci for the woman playwright to dramatically challenge the images of women determined in dominant discourse’’ (Hart), Memory, history, the past are evoked for different reasons. Time too becomes an important factor, often being projected non-chronological ly. Both Top Girls and My Mother create hypothetical situations which are historically not possible but are rendered so spatially and proceed to become emotional questionings.Both are 3-act plays but while Churchill after an initial juxtaposition of the past and the present moves on, Keatley keeps on coming back to the childhood scene which is a conjunction of 1905, 1941, 1961 and 1979. Top Girls in the first act evokes the past, somewhat like Eve Merriam's Out of Our Fathers' House where six women are presented together in a ‘‘hypothetical conversation. † They act out both for themselves and each other the stories of their lives. It is a journey into selfhood, and at each step they need reassurance from their own elves. They belong to the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, Caryl Churchill, however, builds on a wider canvas and the dramatic purpose of the bringing together of six women from different backgrounds and periods is very different. The first act of Top Girls is in the nature of a prologue where Marlene, a top executive in an employment agency is hosting a dinner for five other women, three of whom are from the Feminist Drama: The Politics of the Self: Churchill and Keatley 15 pages of history, and two from the world of male imagination.Pope Joan, a ninth century Pope who achieved this through cross-gendering, Lady Nijo an emperor's concubine and later a Buddhist nun, and Isabella Bird, a nineteenth century explorer are the three â€Å"real† women. Dull Gret, a woman from Breughel's 16th century painting and Patient Griselda from the pages of Petrarch, Boccaccio and Chaucer are the two others (Note the words ‘‘dull† and ‘‘patient’’). Each one of them—except Griselda—has in some way violated the social code as imposed upon them. Joan learnt Latin, ran away from home disguised as a boy and later became a pope.But yielding to passion, she conceives and is detected during chil dbirth. Male priests have fathered children, but she has never learnt to understand or live with her body, thus alienated from this most fundamental space she might own, she pays for it with death. Lady Nijo on the other hand accepts the code but renders it hollow by creating space for herself. Handed over to the Emperor as his concubine, she takes lovers to fulfill her emotional needs. Out of favour with the Emperor she takes holy orders as directed by her father, but instead of being confined in a convent, she walks the breadth and length of Japan.But she does this at the price of motherhood. Isabella Bird also has to sacrifice marriage and family life in search of adventure. Because she is a woman, she finds it difficult to accept the idea of living for herself alone and therefore occupies herself with good causes. As contrasted with these women from real life, who have individually made space for themselves, questioned patriarchal structures like religion, ownership, love and mo therhood, the two women from the world of imagination are limited in their projections.Griselda's life reads like a fairytale—a peasant woman married into the aristocracy, and children whom she had given up for dead restored to her later. The price of her marriage is unquestioning obedience to her husband's command which is first the taking away of her son and her daughter and later being turned out of her house. Griselda does not question her husband's right over her, nor does she resist his orders. Her case, like Nijo's, is one where motherhood has been reduced to an â€Å"institution’’ under male control (Rich). Dull Gret is also single minded like Griselda. If for Griselda it is surrender, for Gret it is anger.These five women have got together to celebrate Marlene's success and as they share experiences they question patriarchal structures either directly like Joan and Isabelle, or obliquely like Nijo, or silently through victimization like Griselda. Trave l is a major theme for Joan, Nijo and Isabella. They travel in their different dresses, Joan in her papal robes, Nijo in her silkgowns and later her nun's habit, and Isabella in her full blue trousers and great brass spurs. (Dress also specifies space. Masculine dress does not constrain the women's private space, though, in the long run, there is no social recognition of that space. Travel opens out new worlds and spaces. Their coming together in the first act provides â€Å"a dramatic genealogy of Marlene's historical community’’ (Keyssar). The second act is the in-between act with 3 scenes. The first and the third are located in Marlene's office, the second in Joyce, her sister's, backyard. The office scenes have two interviews inbuilt into them, one with Jeanine and the other with Louise, Marlene's two clients; a competitive scene between Nell and Win and Marlene's interactions with Angie and with Mrs. Kidd.The themes of these two scenes are a replay of the themes introduced in Act One—Jeanine who is torn between marriage and a career, Louise who at the end of twenty years finds herself sidetracked by younger men, Nell and Win who wish to go places both literally and figuratively but Marlene has occupied the place at the top and Mrs. Kidd who has come to plead for her husband who has been superseded by Marlene. Mrs. Kidd tells Marlene: â€Å"What's it going to do to him working for a woman? I think if it was a man he'd get over it as something normal. It's me that bears the brunt. †¦ I put him first every inch of the way. †¦ It had crossed my mind if you were unavailable after all for some reason, he would be the natural second choice I think, don't you? ’’ (58-59) In her view Marlene is abnormal in her determination to be at the top and she'll end up lonely and miserable. Feminist Drama: The Politics of the Self: Churchill and Keatley 16 The backdrop of the office room is confined and provides limited space wh ere competition and aggression and violation of territorial rights go hand in hand.The middle scene sandwiched between these two office scenes is in a backyard in a â€Å"shelter made of junk’’ by children. It is a hiding place, away from the taboos and restrictions of the adult world. Kit and Angie talk about running away from home, they talk about travel, about the reality of their menstrual blood which flows from hidden spaces and their love-hate relationship to the adult world. Later Kit seeks shelter from rain within the precincts of her friend's house while Angie herself is left outside with a feeling of rejection. The third act moves backwards in time. It takes place a year earlier than the second act.It is a confrontation scene between Marlene and her sister Joyce. They open out their past, the suppressed, sibling rivalry, Marlene's need to escape from her background, Joyce's support, the birth of Marlene's daughter Angie, and her adoption by Joyce, Joyce's mi scarriage, and her separation from her husband Frank. Women sacrifice their motherhood for a career; but at times they also have to sacrifice their marriage for their motherhood. Joyce is denied space within her marriage while Marlene is aware that men want her to turn into ‘‘the little woman’’ which she is not prepared to do.In all this it is Angie who feels confused and dispossessed. Keatley's play is also a three-act play with the first act having ten scenes and moving between 1905 and 1979. The second act is one uninterrupted scene located in 1982, and the third act is placed in 1987 diving back, towards the end, to 1923. There are five child-scenes spread over the play—Act I sc. 1, sc. 3 and sc. 8, and Act III sc. 3 and sc. 6 which act like a conjunction of events, like a voice from the past, like an abandonment of the chronological process. The movement of the play can be seen from the graph.The conjunction scene is shown as a circle with four different time streams flowing together. Covering four generations, it covers several