The Great Gatsby: “It is Nick who makes Jay Gatsby into The Great Gatsby”

The ambiguous â€Å"greatness† of Jay Gatsby is imparted to the reader through the thoughts and observations of Nick Carraway, a character who is personally involved in the intricate events and relationships featured in the plot. He is therefore an excellent choice of narrator as this participatory role places him beside the ‘great' namesake of the book, which is essentially how he appears to portray the idealistic, materialistic and yet naive character of Jay Gatsby. In using Nick as such a device, Fitzgerald presents an insight into Gatsby which is gradually developed from ambiguity to admiration as he refines Nick's perception throughout the ‘riotous excursion'- as Nick metaphorically describes the action of the novel – and establishes his often negative outlook on the selfishness, greed and moral corruption of American society. Nick is conveniently able to acquire this personal knowledge of Gatsby through his approachability, causing other characters to confide in him through his inclination â€Å"to reserve judgement†. However, his negative judgement of society (from which Gatsby is ‘exempt') ironically contradicts his initial claim to impartiality, and Nick continues to judge people thereafter. This reveals his viewpoint to be increasingly subjective and lends his character the virtues of being realistic, thus possessing human failings which evoke a more complete persona, and not merely a mouthpiece for Fitzgerald's thoughts. However, covertly, he also communicates the author's condemnation of 20's society as his own, since Fitzgerald has incorporated such judgements into his personality, creating the illusion of an impartial narrator while pursuing his satirical condemnation of the Jazz Age and his apparent admiration of the idealism implicit in the American Dream (represented by Gatsby's impossible optimism). Indeed, Fitzgerald's use of this â€Å"intelligent but sympathetic observer† at the centre of events â€Å"makes for some of the most priceless values in fiction† (William Troy, 1945). The values of â€Å"economy and intensity† are achieved by his central role in events, while â€Å"suspense† is achieved through Nick's personal flaw of not fully perceiving Gatsby's character, causing revelations about Gatsby's past and present to be frequent and striking. We think particularly of how Gatsby â€Å"came alive† to Nick in Chapter 4 through Jordan's reminiscing, and of how, in Chapter 9, revelations are still made after his death (such as the schedule brought to Nick's attention by Gatsby's father) which consolidate Nick's respect for his extensive ambition. Nick's perception of Gatsby is limited in certain aspects as the latter is an ambiguous character, though this incomplete knowledge does not deter Nick's positive view, which develops from not knowing Gatsby at all to admiring him for his strangely noble, if delusory, dream. Gatsby's ambiguity simply fuels fascination in Nick, who uses the adulatory adjective â€Å"gorgeous† to describe him, and proceeds in his narrative to seek the reason for this attraction in the mystery of Gatsby. The apparent bias presented in Nick's narration may also be due to many connections felt with Gatsby as a result of similarities between both their characters and Fitzgerald himself: many of Gatsby's characteristics are often Fitzgerald's own, incorporated into his character alongside Nick's. Just as the author had fought in the war, so have his characters, a fact which had taken Daisy away from Gatsby and excitement away from Nick's life as he â€Å"came back restless†. They both seek to reclaim these things, Nick by coming East and Gatsby by reacquiring Daisy's love. Nick empathizes with Gatsby's longing, and here perhaps Fitzgerald incorporates his own experience of losing the affections of his first love, Ginevra King, this failure in achieving his own dream revealing bias in the author himself. This may be the reason for the author positing that Gatsby is â€Å"great† while also impressing his negative opinion on the causes of both his and Gatsby's failure – in this case society, and the class differences which precluded Fitzgerald's relationship with the wealthier King. In the wider context of social satire, this contrast between dreams and failure is analogous to the rich and poor within American society, and is portrayed through the rather obvious symbolism of the â€Å"Valley of Ashes† whose uncomfortable proximity to the higher class Eggs foregrounds the vast disparity between rich and poor in the Roaring Twenties. Initially Nick only perceives the visible side of Gatsby – his material possessions and his parties where guests â€Å"came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars† in Chapter 3. He describes the parties as dreamlike, perhaps reflecting Gatsby's outlook on life, and tempting, as wealth was in 1920s America. Fitzgerald's simile of the guests being insect-like expresses Nick's observation of the superficial materialism and immorality of American society (emphasized in the former quotation by the sibilance of â€Å"whisperings†), as they are only tempted by Gatsby's wealth, drawn like moths to his light, while making Gatsby seem somehow compelling and superior to them as they revolve around him In direct contrast to such shallowness, Fitzgerald reveals Nick's admiration for Gatsby's â€Å"romantic readiness†, and his â€Å"infinite hope† in his idealistic love of Daisy, to further build the â€Å"great† element of Gatsby's personality as it is discovered. This aspect of Gatsby, when introduced, also makes him â€Å"more real† (EK 1925) and empathetic, than American society of the time, as his dream is revealed to be for love, not material status. These poetic descriptions, though also used ‘in order to persuade us that Gatsby is a man of poetic sensibility†, do not imply that â€Å"Fitzgerald takes the dangerous, no-hands course of simply saying so† as Kenneth Tynan (1974) states. In fact, Nick's positive opinions of Gatsby are developed very subtly and implied throughout events in the plot. These gradually build the impression of Gatsby's imaginative and beautiful sensibility, such as Nick's discovery of his idealism regarding Daisy's love. At times, such usages of poetic narrative depictions contrast sharply with the dull, bare portrayal of the poorer sections of society. To this end, light is used by Nick in positive descriptions throughout the novel, his own and Fitzgerald's fascination with modern developments of his time projected through Nick's observant and admiring documentation of places lit by electric lighting, such as Gatsby's house which was ‘blazing with light,' and the important symbol of Gatsby's â€Å"hope† for Daisy's love – the symbolic green light at the end of Daisy's dock, ultimately described, with pity, as an â€Å"illusion. Light is thus used in a symbol of both Nick's admiration felt at Gatsby's â€Å"hope†, and his sympathy as it is for an immaterial romantic goal (love), which disregards Gatsby's material prominence. Nick also favourably compares Gatsby to a seismograph; an ‘intricate' device driven by unknown/seen forces which mirrors Nick's own impression o f him. This analogy is not merely an â€Å"apt†¦ symbol for the human sensibility in a mechanized age† (Edwin S. Fussell 1952), showing Nick's focus on material developments; it is also clearly used to accentuate his opinions on how admirable Gatsby's â€Å"heightened sensibility† is. Nick's use of such comparisons also suggests the ambiguity in his rendering of Gatsby. Nick only makes us aware of Gatsby's personality in strategically placed narrative elements. These staged revelations, though revealing aspects of Gatsby that hint at criminality (like his activities in Chicago and various other rumours) simultaneously emphasize his admirable qualities such as his prizing of Daisy's love. Indeed, Nick's narration increasingly overlooks Gatsby's flaws, both his and Fitzgerald's views increasingly colouring the tale and casting Gatsby's dream in a positive light. By creating this empathy with Gatsby, Fitzgerald effectively communicates the intense disappointment felt at the intrusion of reality on idealism in the final chapters of the novel, and sympathy for the failure of Gatsby's dream is invoked. Clearly, though Maxwell E Perkins (1924) feels that Gatsby's ambiguity is â€Å"mistaken† as it makes his character more nebulous, Fitzgerald actually uses this as a main method of drawing the reader into a prominent theme of illusion, the ultimate illusion being love itself. The mysteriousness of Gatsby is also used to enable Nick's â€Å"growth in moral perception† (Troy 1945) which Troy describes as a â€Å"necessity† in such a narrator; Nick gradually perceives Gatsby's â€Å"moral† side- his â€Å"innate purity†, and society's lack of this in comparison, subsequently favouring Gatsby and giving some credibility to EK's evaluation of Gatsby being â€Å"more real† than the other characters due to the paradoxically pure nature of his dream. In this respect, Chapter 4 is used to further Nick's, and the reader's, positive perception of Gatsby. It features Jordan recounting a â€Å"romantic† memory of Daisy's former relationship with Gatsby, Fitzgerald effectively digressing from Nick's narration in order to impart a very deliberate and important revelation from Gatsby's past. It is this relationship which Gatsby seeks to reclaim by means of his wealth, and is the basis of the â€Å"romantic readiness† admired in him by Nick. Nick subsequently colours his narrative with the new awareness and says that Gatsby â€Å"came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor†. With this metaphor of a birth, Fitzgerald makes a clear effort to separate Gatsby's huge vitality from the â€Å"purposeless splendour† of materialism, and, by extension, of American society, which he condemns through Nick's judgement of it. In Chapter 6 Fitzgerald again manipulates narrative structure in Nick's tale of Gatsby's origins, as at this stage in the plot's chronology Nick is not privy to this information- it was imparted by Gatsby himself â€Å"very much later† in the novel, and is presented achronologically to renew readers' faith in Gatsby before it is severely challenged in chapter 8, â€Å"with the idea of exploding those first wild rumors about his antecedence†. Fitzgerald reveals a specific part of Gatsby's background through Nick's narration, selected to instill sympathy for Gatsby in the reader by describing his younger self's (Gatz's) upward struggle from poverty, and the author's admiration for the idealistic dreams that had spurred him to create a â€Å"universe of ineffable gaudiness† that he elaborated nightly until â€Å"wedding [these] visions to [Daisy's] breath†. This metaphor reveals the uniting of Gatsby's original ambitions with a dream of love, and is also used to invoke sympathy for the extent to which his dreams are ultimately and perhaps tragically revealed to have gone â€Å"beyond her, beyond everything†. This revelation of Gatsby's â€Å"childlike notion of beauty and grace† (Maxwell Geismar 1947) is illustrated by this analeptic episode, strongly suggesting Gatsby's ultimate innocence and â€Å"pure† dreams beneath his materialistic exterior Fitzgerald presents the social context of the novel through the transformation of the American Dream in the '20s: the new generation of Americans were â€Å"dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success†, as Fitzgerald himself had stated at the time. Society's material methods of gaining this success are portrayed negatively through Nick's condemnation of the Dream, as Nick has established himself as valuing morals and hard work highly; his family had become â€Å"prominent† through ownership of a â€Å"wholesale hardware business†, while Fitzgerald's own childhood took place in a farming, working environment. Similarly, the values admired in Gatz's willingness and determination to work for and succeed in gaining his dreams are symbolically those lost values of society that had appealed to Fitzgerald, and would appeal to Nick's sensibilities, which is why Nick still portrays Gatsby as being â€Å"great† in contrast to Jazz Age society which seeks goals through material means rather than hard work. This is paradoxically true in spite of Gatsby's own materialism, because the latter is portrayed as unimportant to Gatsby beside his love for Daisy. Through Nick's narrative, then, Gatsby is presented as embodying the old work ethic of a meritocracy but also its transformation to materialism, and ultimately the unattainable goals of the American Dream, this factor essentially providing the grounds for seeing Gatsby as a tragic hero. His idealistic dreams as Gatz are implied to be â€Å"incommunicable for ever,† as they are, in fact, â€Å"wed to Daisy's breath† which is just as perishable as his money. In Chapter 7, Tom's revelations about Gatsby's criminal bootlegging cause the brittle faiade of Jay Gatsby to be â€Å"broken up like glass† against Tom's â€Å"hard malice†, this simile depicting Nick's dislike of the malicious Tom and of the superficiality of the American Dream, but also, crucially, the way Gatsby's dreams have been demolished due to his â€Å"reliance upon material power as the single method of satisfying his searching and inarticulate spirit† (Maxwell Geismar 1947). Gatsby is thus left â€Å"watching over nothing†, this nihilistic phrase ending the chapter and corroborating the sympathy felt by Nick at the hopelessness of Gatsby's â€Å"dead dream†, making Nick â€Å"not want to leave him†. With his death in Chapter 8, this sympathy might indeed render Gatsby not merely â€Å"great†, but genuinely tragic. Thus as readers, we feel ultimately that Nick's (or Fitzgerald's) message is that the â€Å"colossal vitality of [Gatsby's] illusion† is curtailed by the faults of society and that Gatsby himself, by contrast, is â€Å"greater† than his social milieu. Gatsby's is â€Å"the tragedy of a romanticist in a materialist society† (Kuehl, 1959), his immaterial dreams inevitably perishing in the face of society, the hopelessness that it's glamorous exterior encloses, communicated throughout the novel both by the satire of the parties, the obvious symbolic qualities of the Valley of Ashes, the similarly tragic George Wilson, and the doomed Myrtle. Clearly, though John McCormick (1971) regards Daisy as â€Å"the agent of Gatsby's downfall, just as she had been the agent of his rise,† the apparent cause of Gatsby's failure â€Å"went beyond her,† being the â€Å"vital illusion† created by society which had surpassed Daisy; she had only been the springboard for his ideals. The author's message is ultimately a poignant one of hope being obscured by failure, communicating both Fitzgerald's admiration of such dreams, and contempt of the reality which smothers them. In this sense, Nick's voice in the novel is undeniably Fitzgerald's. Having said this, Nick is rendered sufficiently autonomous to be a convincing narrator in his own right, as Gatsby finally also receives sympathy due to tangible affinities formed with him, such as that of disillusionment, which Nick empathizes with as he has been a victim of his own illusion regarding the true nature of Daisy and Jordan, and Gatsby's character itself. A â€Å"growth in moral perception† (when applied to Nick) is â€Å"the tale of the novel† (Troy, 1945) as it is this which ensures Nick's positive portrayal of Gatsby: Nick comes to discover his true history and admired ambition as Gatz, as well as the ultimate tragedy of his still believing, in the face of such adversity as his â€Å"dead dream. This moving naivety clearly proves, however, that in Gatsby's case any growth in moral perception does not apply; even though Daisy has clearly returned to Tom's alluring wealth in Chapter 8, Gatsby innocently, and dumbly, states, â€Å"I suppose Daisy'll call, too,† not perceiving the immorality of the age he lives in. As Kuehl (1959) says, â€Å"it is illusion, and not it's materialization† which is the centre of Gatsby's character – he is a dreamer despite his material status, and his â€Å"heightened† goals will never be materialized, making them pale in comparison to the concrete aspirations o f society and contradicting E. K's evaluation – Gatsby is not precisely â€Å"more real† than society, but he is â€Å"greater† in many ways, as both Nick and Fitzgerald successfully portray him at the close of the novel: the noble dreams that inspire Nick's admiration within Gatsby are only unattainable due to denounced external factors, and therefore ultimately do not subtract from Gatsby's tragically â€Å"great† portrayal.

With specific focus on Anthem for Doomed Youth evaluate the methods the poet uses to bring across his convictions, feelings and ideas

â€Å"Who longs to charge and shoot, Do you my laddie.† This jingoistic wartime poem by Jessie Pope ignites Owen's anger at these false impressions of war. This is evident in such poems as Dulce et Decorum est, originally penned towards Pope, hence the initial title, To a Certain Poetess. Owen's â€Å"senses were charred† at the sight of the â€Å"suffering of the troops†, such accusations about the nature of warfare fuelling the malice of his work. Owen never openly retaliates, instead opting to include his resentment towards writers like Pope in his poems. Owen frequently conveys his convictions of lost youth in Anthem For Doomed Youth by referring to â€Å"the hands of boys†, evidently refusing to acknowledge the maturity of the men. Owen's numerous references to religious symbols heightens the effects of his poems. In Anthem, we hear the â€Å"demented choirs of wailing shells.† Angelic choirs are ironically reversed as Owen negates Christian ritual as being unfitting for those who die amid screaming shells. In Mental Cases, we also bear witness to Biblical images, asking if we are: â€Å"Sleeping, and walk hell But who these hellish?† Owen often compares war to Hell, comparing soldiers to creatures undergoing eternal torment, â€Å"Wherefore rock they, purgatorial shadows†. This adds to the created impression of those driven mad by war, as he asks if the â€Å"multitudinous murders† these men have committed has doomed them to Hell. Owen insists these soldiers are not to blame, for ‘we' dealt them this â€Å"tormented† fate. Anthem is a similar reversal, where Owen utilizes heavenly elements, â€Å"orisons†. Yet, these spiritual references are used negatively: the only true regret is the â€Å"holy glimmers of goodbyes† in the dying soldiers' eyes. The gloriousness of Heaven and God is ignored, extending the distressing impact of the poem on the reader, as similar devilish imagery is used in other poems, such as the gas victim's â€Å"devil sick of sun† face in Dulce. This imagery is so contorted it is unearthly, and seemingly impossible – just as the devil bec oming tired of sinning is impossible. Owen's verbal images are parallel to artwork of the time, in particular Otto Dix's Assault Under Gas, shown below. In this art piece, Dix mirrors the tortured, hellish scenes of Dulce, with the cries of â€Å"Gas!† almost audible. The visual imagery suggests the mental effects of the attacks on the soldiers, highlighted by the colour grey – as if life had been drained from them. Owen would have been aware of this, as he was treated at Craiglockhart Hospital for shellshock, amongst men whose â€Å"slumbers were morbid and terrifying.† In Futility, the image of the Sun is frequently used. It is often associated with life and its joys, however, Owen is very sarcastic in his reversal of the sun, first writing: â€Å"If anything might rouse him now The kind old sun will know.† Owen then goes on to criticise the Sun, labelling it as useless. He asks why we are created and given warm life, when war destroys everything of value: â€Å"O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth's sleep at all?† Owen also adopts animal imagery to his poems to further the displayed messages. In Anthem, Owen's opening line contains the powerful simile comparing soldiers as those, â€Å"who die as cattle?† referring to the high numbers of dead soldiers, especially young soldiers, being cut down in their prime, just as cattle would. Owen suggests they were grown for a specific reason (to fight), and killed once they had met their purpose (being slaughtered on the battlefield). In Owen's first draft of Anthem, written, with guidance from Siegfried Sassoon, in Craiglockhart, he stressed the â€Å"cattle† reference as an emotional jeer at the overly ambitious generals who used the men as cannon fodder. The parallel to animals is used to great effect. In Dulce et Decorum est, Owen details the men who â€Å"had lost their boots, limped on, blood-shod.† â€Å"Boots† and â€Å"shod† remind us of the horses used in the war, who had iron-shod shoes – portraying men as if they were beasts of burden, slumbering forward with heavy loads on their back – the worry and terror of what would face them weighing the men down. We see the effects of such an affliction in Mental Cases, where the â€Å"jaws that slob their relish† disparage â€Å"us who dealt them war and madness† by â€Å"pawing†. Such quotes accentuate the dehumanisation of these men that once â€Å"sang their way†, signalling the end of their transition into â€Å"rocking† wrecks. Owen recreates the horrors of war through his gruesome graphic imagery, particularly in Dulce's â€Å"green sea†, where the â€Å"flound'ring† of the victim â€Å"smothers† his dreams. The realisation of such a sight is alarming to the reader. Even in Owen's time, such a description would shock the reader into picturing the â€Å"sick of sin hanging face†. Owen's passion displays the real effects of such a grim and â€Å"monstrous† war, trying desperately to erase the false screen created by such jingoistic writers as Pope. One of Owen's tendencies is to incorporate intense sounds to support the potent imagery: â€Å"We were caught in a tornado of shells† This extract, from one of Owen's letters, provides insight into his writing of Anthem: â€Å"The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells† Owen uses his â€Å"submerged memories of warfare† to great effect, frequently applying onomatopoeia to his poems – the â€Å"stuttering rifle's rapid rattle† in Anthem, and the â€Å"batter of guns† in Mental Cases. The powerful resonance of the weapons intensifies the empathy the reader has for the â€Å"sacrificed men†, as the hellish scene recreates the â€Å"rattling† in our own ears, as if we, the reader, were there. In Futility, a direct contrast is apparent, as the â€Å"whispering of fields at home† signifies the sharp difference between the frontline action, and the calmness of Blighty. This is a stark reminder from Owen that, whilst everything's fine and calm in Britain, there are â€Å"full-nerved† men dying in France. The continuation of Anthem's onomatopoeic clatters is mirrored most notably by Mental Cases' â€Å"batter of guns and shatter of flying muscles†. The rhyming extends Owen's vivid ideas by suggesting that, as well as fighting and seeing the misery of comrades falling, the sounds of the â€Å"multitudinous murders they once witnessed† replay constantly in their minds, reminding them of the torment they met. In Dulce, we can ‘hear' the â€Å"guttering choking† and â€Å"gargling† of the â€Å"hanging face†, as well as visualize the grotesque scene, subjecting the reader to view the true nature of war further. As well as applying haunting adjectives to his work, Owen utilizes pace to maintain his high level of passion. This is most evident in Dulce, where each verse is different in speed. The opening verse is drawn out -very slow – with long, elongated vowels and verbs completing the stanza, â€Å"lame†, â€Å"lost† and â€Å"coughing†. This mirrors the fatigue of the soldiers, who would be deprived of sleep and be very slow in their speech. As the poem progresses into the gas attack, a pacy, urgent tone is adopted, with the cries of â€Å"Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!† As Owen describes the gas victim's painful end, the solemnly spoken words are slower, reverting back to the lingering sounds of the first verse, â€Å"writhing† . In Anthem, the â€Å"passing bells† of the funeral suggests a slow, sombre tone, as is the case with funerals. However, with the â€Å"bugles calling† and the â€Å"wailing†, the mournful mood is lost, just like the youth of Britain. Owen often ends his poems with an accusatory conviction, a controversial one that projects his innermost feelings, chosen to express the untold truths about war, and how the patriotic campaigns to conscript men are disgraceful. In Anthem, Owen ends with: â€Å"Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds† This is a direct contrast to the whole poem, where Owen suggests the â€Å"monstrous anger of the guns† accompanies them in death. Instead of his habitual ending of a â€Å"Lie†, Owen's ending is surprisingly peaceful, displaying a compassion for the dead previously unseen in his other poems. Mental Cases, Futility and Dulce, however, all oppose the somewhat ‘upbeat' ending. Dulce ends with â€Å"The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.† Owen flat out accuses the old saying, and the certain poetess, that to die for your country is not sweet and meet. Owen even goes as far as ironically rhyming â€Å"glory† and â€Å"mori†, as to satirically jeer at Jesse Pope, completely contradicting her. Owen asks if â€Å"my friend, you would not tell†¦the old Lie†, passionately addressing the reader, but also the frank direction at Pope not to print her jingoes, ironically donning her â€Å"friend†. This mirrors the ending to Mental Cases, where a sharp change of address sees the blame of the â€Å"extrication† shift to â€Å"us who dealt them war and madness†. Owen deliberately develops the poem to the startling climax, enveloping the blame around society as a whole, and not just certain poetesses. Dulce and Mental Cases match in descriptions, where the futile attempts to â€Å"pick† and â€Å"snatch† combine to provide the reader with an overwhelming sense of grief, at having sent these men off to war. Owen's ideas mean that we, the modern reader, feel this guilt at having sent innocent youths to their untimely deaths, when we had done nothing. However, contextually, the reader would have read this, and known that they had done wrong, becoming guilt-ridden at their mistake. This is similar to Futility, where Owen accuses the â€Å"fatuous sunbeams† of wasting human life, agreeing with the Doomed Youth title, but opposing its final lines. Futility describes how men are killing others, ending life, when we should not be ordering the termination of it – undoing God's work, when it is not our right to. Owen's feelings towards death, and the ending of life, are the fundamental issues in his poems. In Dulce, Owen is constantly comparing young with old, â€Å"bent double, like old beggars† and â€Å"knock-kneed, coughing like hags†. Dulce also details how the men â€Å"marched†¦drunk with fatigue†, explaining the exhausted state of the men. These three quotes are shocking, as these men are young, energetic men, but they're being reduced to quivering wrecks – suggesting men age quicker in the trenches, due to the horrors they see, and what they have to experience. This is a direct juxtaposition, where the young are dying before the old (A role reversal), but are seen as being ‘old' themselves. Owen's visual ideas on death are nothing short of morbid, describing: â€Å"at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs† In Dulce and Mental Cases, Owen adopts a macabre approach to extend the demons of these men. In Dulce, the â€Å"white eyes† of the â€Å"hanging face† suggest death is upon the man, and that he is looking at the men to choose his next victim. This idea is carried into Mental Cases, where there are men â€Å"whose minds the Dead have ravished†. Owen suggests, through a conviction of anxiety, that death is omnipresent, and that the worst fear is to become a â€Å"purgatorial shadow†. Owen writes to display one main conviction: that the false pretences of war are just that – false. By writing about such shocking and disturbing issues, Owen breaks the fabricated lies and makes his feelings known by adding ambiguous sentences to his poems, â€Å"marching asleep† – fatigue of war, or asleep to the glorious propaganda that recruited them? Owen's poems are full of truths, however controversial they seem, and he projects his convictions and feelings any way he can, regardless of consequences.

Capitalism vs Democracy

The political system and the economic system of the United States have been intertwined since the very founding of our country. Although there are many different views on how well the systems work or how they function, this has been a common thought shared by all different sides. Some have an optimistic view of capitalism, while others feel as though capitalism favors too few people. Two major points of view, the conservative and the â€Å"reform† liberal, describe how capitalism works, and the role for the government in managing the marketplace, in two similar, yet very different ways. First, we look at the thoughts of Milton Friedman, of the conservative point of view. According to Friedman, capitalism is a free market system that is driven from the bottom up, starting with individuals who make voluntary choices to purchase goods and services and hold jobs. Having a free marketplace gives every individual the power to create their own economic destiny, from what food they eat, to what car they drive, to what career they choose. Friedman also describes capitalism as â€Å"self-correcting†, that if left alone, the market place will inevitably fix any problems it creates. According to Friedman, capitalism follows a cycle, consisting of ups and downs in the economy that will eventually work themselves out over time. It begins with a future expectation of profit, and people with money to invest. As more people begin to invest their money, the demand for labor and materials increases, leading to economic expansion and more people spending money. As demand continues to increase, supply begins to decrease, causing inflation and increasing product prices. At this stage, future expectations of profit are bad. As prices rise, people can’t afford to buy things, so they start to pull their money out of the market and investments. With fewer investments comes less demand, causing people to lose their jobs, prices to drop, and consumers to buy fewer goods. This ultimately leads to a recession, where demand for products is very low and often the unemployment rate is high. Then the cycle starts over again, cost conditions are recreated and people begin to invest money again, and the cycle continues. Another benefit of capitalism is that it allows for healthy economic competition, which not only gives individuals a larger variety of products, but also enables the marketplace to regulate its own prices. This also causes power to be widespread, and keeps people satisfied by being able to purchase what they like. For example, a consumer voluntarily goes to a grocery store. As they walk down the beverage aisle, they see a large selection of drinks to choose from, this is because of competition. Since there are various products to choose from, every consumer can decide to buy what type of beverage they like, making the consumers happy. Friedman also argues that capitalism is rational and efficient. The marketplace constantly finds a way to do more with less, and with every economic decision made, the costs and benefits are weighed first. In a capitalist economy, no one is going to do business unless they gain more than they lose. For example, if a person wants to start a business baking cakes, they would first determine how much money they need to invest to be able to make the cake, and compare it to how much they could sell each cake for. If it costs more to make the cake than they would be able to sell it for, then of course the person isn’t going to do it. The whole point of investing and even purchasing with capitalism is to make a profit, or somehow gain from the exchange. Nobody enters into a business contract knowing they are going to lose money. This is why Friedman claims that one’s standard of living should be based on what they can afford. Even basic necessities of life, such as food and shelter, are not rights of an individual, but a result of the economic decisions they make. Someone who works hard and has a better job can afford a nice house over an apartment, or to eat lobster instead of chicken. With capitalism, everyone has the right to pursue the things they want or need, but they do not have the right to just have them. This ensures that everyone has the freedom of choice in the marketplace, and the liberty to make a successful life for themselves, for Friedman believes conducting the economy in a voluntary manner is better for the social fabric of society. Milton Friedman believes there is a role for the government in economic affairs, but that role is very limited. The government’s purpose is to protect the rights and liberties of its citizens, and to be free politically, we must be free economically. He claims that the only time the government should step in is when â€Å"market failure† occurs, or when the market can’t or we don’t want it to do something. The federal government should only involve itself in economic affairs to enforce the rules set by and agreed upon by the people, mediate differences among citizens on the meaning of the rules, and allow a way for the rules to be modified if necessary. For example, printing currency should be a federal government function, to allow a fair and uniform payment method throughout the country. The government should also be in charge of regulating monopolies, where the freedom to make choices is compromised by the fact that there is no competition. Another instance would be in situations where there is a â€Å"neighborhood effect†, or when a third party is affected by a decision that they were not a part of, such as pollution. If a farmer were to dump waste into a stream and pollute it, that would violate the rights of other people who use the stream to have clean water. It would also be the function of the government to regulate â€Å"public goods†, or something where it is difficult or impossible to determine the particular user or the amount used. For example, a lighthouse is a public good, because it is almost impossible to identify who uses the light to guide them or how often they use it. Friedman ultimately believes that the government should stay out of economic affairs as much as possible, for every time the government acts the freedom of the people shrinks, and all government interventions have more costs then they do benefits. When the government regulates the way a business operates, for example, requiring steel plants to put filters on their smoke stacks, it increases the cost of doing business, which increases prices and decreases sales, production, jobs and wages. Capitalism, according to Friedman, has a way of efficiently working things out on its own, and needs very little government intervention. Many programs we have today, such as social security, Medicare, and welfare to name a few, Friedman would do away with, as they are the responsibility of the individual, not the government. The marketplace is even more proportional to public demand than the political system is, and will constantly cycle through different phases and work itself out without the need of government regulation. Milton Friedman looks at capitalism as a free and voluntary system that should be driven by the consumer not the federal government. Another approach to the way capitalism works is that of the â€Å"reform† liberal, which has a few similarities to the conservative point of view, such as the belief that capitalism and democracy are interlocked, that aving capital or money to invest drives the market, that the government must intervene when the market â€Å"fails†, and on the general definition of property. The liberals also believe in the business cycle, with only one major difference. According to Kane and the liberals, the business cycle is not continuous and self-correcting, but gets stuck at the tail end of a recession. With so many people out of work, they begin to s uffer and make drastic decisions. People don’t have time to just wait for the market to fix itself, it could take years and if they did, too much damage would have already been done. The liberals believe that people have the right to basic needs, such as food and shelter, in which the marketplace will not provide. This is where the government must intervene, to ensure that all people have the resources they need to survive, and to correct the marketplace and pull the economy out of the recession. According to the liberals, the market is a prison, and it is not driven from the bottom up, but rather from the top down. They believe when it comes to purchasing power, there is no comparison. Corporations have a much greater influence and power in the economy than the individual, which leads to a privileged position of business. The decisions we make to purchase things are not voluntary or mutually beneficial, because the corporations and business owners set the prices, and for things like housing, we as consumers don’t have the option to just not buy it. We are forced to pay for the things we need, and the prices are set by the business owners, in which the product may not even be worth. Another problem they see with capitalism is that there is a â€Å"permanent shortfall in aggregate demand†, or that there are too many people with too little money to spend. With not enough money, the average individual doesn’t have the ability to make purchase, which leads to under consumption, and ultimately to a decline in the economy. With all of the power being held by the few in major corporations, this constantly widens the gap between the rich and the poor. In theory, capitalism gives all people equality in the marketplace, but in actuality, the liberals argue that this is not the case. Since the rich and elite own the majority of things to own, their interests are honored first, making the interests of the common people unequal to that of the business leaders, and sometimes not served at all. Also, we face resource constraint, so all the people who have money continue to get more money than others. This separation will just continue to grow until the government intervenes, creating more problems and making it harder for the economy as a whole to pull out of hard times. The liberals also argue that the way capitalism is designed, people only invest or produce things to make a profit, furthering their own interests, instead of doing it because people need it. If you can’t pay for your food, you go hungry, no one is going to simply give it to you because you are starving. With this, capitalism is a trap for those who can’t afford to survive, and the liberals believe that it is one’s right to have their basic needs met. Their overall view of capitalism is a negative one, feeling that capitalism alone cannot provide adequately for the majority of the citizens of America. The liberals feel that the government should and needs to have a strong role in the economy in order for capitalism to serve the people. Programs such as Medicare, welfare, and government regulations are necessary to give people equality in our economic system. The government needs to be responsible for regulating monopolies, to ensure that prices can remain fair and citizens have options in the products they buy. Also, minimum wages, working conditions and hours worked should be regulated to give people the opportunity to make a decent living, and not be taken advantage of by corporations and employers. The rights and definition of property need to be established politically to be fair across the board. To the liberals, the more government involvement there is in the economy, the more freedom the individual has to make good money and have a decent standard of living. Political power and economic power are not two separate entities, and leaving more power in the marketplace imprisons democracy. More economic power and more capital translate directly into more political power. Major corporations and companies have much influence over what interests are met in the government, for example, anything that jeopardizes business confidence in society has immediate and harsh consequences politically, but something that violates and individual’s wealth may not be addressed at all. Money talks in America, and this contributes more to a corporations own needs, giving less and less attention to what is best for the average citizens. Liberals like Lindblom, state that the market will not provide on its own, and things like food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, and transportation need to be taken care of by the government, rather than being left up to the marketplace. The government needs to be responsible for more than just market failure, currency, and public goods. It needs to protect the citizens of our country from the detrimental effects of capitalism, provide regulations, a way to keep the market prosperous, and keep us from getting stuck in a recession. Democracy needs to be more powerful than the economic system, and make sure that everyone’s rights, as a corporation or an individual, are protected and that all of their interests are served with equal importance. Both the â€Å"reform† liberal and conservative points of view agree on some of the basic components of capitalism, but their opinion of the government’s role and how well capitalism works on its own couldn’t be more different. Today, we favor the liberal view in actuality, with many government programs and regulations in place. However, it remains a controversial issue in politics today, as there is much debate on whether or not we should return to the original form of federalism and eliminate much of the current government intervention. Regardless, one thing all parties can agree on is that the economic and political systems of the United States are and forever will be interlocked with one another.

Elements of Poetry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Elements of Poetry - Essay Example However, a closer reading demonstrates several similarities in the poems. Both the narrators are young boys who describe a small incident in their childhood. These little vignettes mirror the entire father-son relationship of the two pairs. Although the point of view, image and diction used in â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† and â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† depict contrasts in character, scene and mood, both poems are similar in highlighting the deep love which characterizes the father-son relationship. The point of view in the poems shows the contrasting characters of the fathers. Both â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† and â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† are narrated from the point of view of the little boys. The poems are seen through the lens of memory, when the narrators look back on childhood scenes from the perspective of adults. Although the poems are superficially plain to understand, there is a hidden complexity in the voice of the speakers. Roethke’s little boy portrays his father as a large man, living life to the full and exuding a joie-de-vivre which is captivating to a child. His father dances, romps with gay abandon and keeps time with the rhythm of the waltz by beating time on his son’s head. ... The reticence of the father results in the child â€Å"speaking indifferently to him† (Hayden, 9). However, the adult narrator is deeply aware of â€Å"the great hurt of the recollection† (Gallagher, 245) of his cruel indifference and the entire poem is suffused with the voice of regret. The image of the poems depicts completely different scenes. â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† is set in the kitchen and there is an impression of intimate warmth. The room is filled with family: the father, the mother and the child. The image is that of a home in which there is close interaction among the members. The picture of kitchen shelves stacked with pots and pans suggests the comfort of food. The image of the father carrying the little boy to bed conveys the impression that the child is accustomed to being put to sleep by the father – an expression of parental concern and time spent together. In contrast, the image of â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† is one of uncomp romising cold. The house appears to be empty; there is no sign of the mother. Even when the father â€Å"made banked fires blaze,† (Hayden, ---4/5), the cold persists as â€Å"The warmth of the fire does not penetrate the atmosphere† (Gallgher, 245). The all-pervasive cold is not only physical but also extends to the cold indifference of the little boy to his father. The diction used in â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† and â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† effectively portrays the mood of the poems. In â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz,† â€Å"the rollicking rhythms of the poem; the playfulness of a rime like dizzy and easy; the joyful suggestions of the words waltz, waltzing, and romped† (Fong, 78), all indicate a little boy’s joy in this play with his

Justice Studies Perspectives Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Justice Studies Perspectives - Assignment Example Somewhat the laws which are created by its own are seemingly more aiming towards moral values of the society. In addition, lawmakers are more likely to cater rules that are about to make them profitable. This may also lead to the subject of power that can be gained in case other people are made to follow the orders which will keep them away from ruling or having their say count for their respective rights. Thus, it can be well asserted that law is not moral as it stands to be. This indicates that people who would be working for the justice system will also be a part of the pretending game where they will present the rules to be completely moral in nature (Simmonds, 2007). In order to practice the morality of the laws that are practiced in any part of the world, it is state that officials may use terms and expressions which are going to pose the role of law as eminent. In real terms, the situation goes beyond it i.e. the safeguard of morality is not undertaken by effective practice of lawmaking but the conduct of people which is also termed as ethical context of societal associations (Posner, 2009). Also, many ethical researchers have maintained that in the wake of finding a paradigm that solely provides justice to people by saturating the aspects of morality remains absent. There is an evident need of the lawmakers who would not suggest the rights of the powerful to be safeguarded over the needy ones or the power implication of the richer over the poor which will make sure that the lower class continues to face immoral treatment in the society (Haakonssen, 1996). Thus, it can be well stated that justice system is something which is man-made and has to be questioned for its immoral practices. The ethical grounds are therefore considered to be different from law. A set of rules which is being followed in one part of the world remains a shallow justice system for those who require moral and just

Service Learning English Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Service Learning English - Essay Example Without ethics, society’s ill-tendency will not be tempered by restraint. Such, there is a need to teach ethics among students while their minds are still formative and is still in the preparation stage of life. When students become adults and professionals, it will become extremely difficult if not impossible to teach ethics. Teaching ethics among students will not only make them better in practicing their prospective careers in the future but will also prevent similar scandals which have badly damaged our economy. To ensure that ethics will be taught properly, it has to be incorporated in our curriculum. This value has to be reflected and practiced in the school level because this is the institution where our values as individuals and citizens are being formed. The best method to teach it is through service learning. â€Å"Service-learning is an instructional method that integrates theoretical learning with real life experimentation and community service† (Farazmand e t al., 2010). Teaching ethics is better learned when it becomes experiential. Unlike any theoretical concepts taught in a classroom setting, ethics is based in real world where its efficacy is measured not in understanding but more of practicing it. The most important element of service learning is that it is based on a â€Å"real world† where it will later be used (Judge, 2006). Service learning is not just a teaching methodology. It also meant practicing the sense of belongingness by actually serving the community that he or she is or part of. Only through it can a student can feel that he or she belongs to something bigger than him or herself. Only through this he or she will realize that by giving a part of himself or herself, he or she can make a difference. This idea of service learning is not about servile subservience. Doing service learning is not subjecting oneself to anybody’s whim or caprice but rather a voluntary initiative to make a difference; to be a pa rt of something bigger than oneself. It is a learning process that by practice, a student will realize that giving a part of himself or herself to the community produces a personal satisfaction that cannot be taught in a classroom. Service-learning is an instructional method that integrates theoretical learning with real life experimentation and community service (Farazmand et al., 2010). It has to be felt to be learned. Lectures and books can only do so much. â€Å"Texts, equations or graphs on the chalkboard and assigning students readings from a standard textbooks† (Mungaray et al., 2007) is not effective. This method only underlines a reality of a teaching method that promotes an environment where the students passively listen to the teacher without any direct involvement in the process or any feedback from or exchange with the professor or other students. This passiveness is reflected in the lack of experience to look for and use data, analyze real world situations with the support of the theories and instruments learned in class and discuss issues beyond the textbook (Mungaray et al., 2007). To really learn it, the lesson has to be experienced. .After all, knowledge can only be perfected by experience and there is no better way of learning ethics than by experiencing it. Service learning does not have to be forced to the students. When it is imposed to the students, it will be seen more as a chore that they can no

International relations major Personal Statement - 1

International relations major - Personal Statement Example n of a conservative nation of the Middle East, I consider myself at an appropriate position to study international relations as my major subject as it will not only help me in understanding the value of good relations between neighboring countries but also will improve and enhance my knowledge of different cultures worldwide. Saudi Arabia ranks among the fastest developing countries of the present world, which experience high rates of migration to different parts of the world. In addition, the country’s relationship with other nations is at its peak due to various factors such as the war on terror, oil trade, politics, and sports. The perceived link between Islam and terrorism and the economic and social status of women living in Saudi Arabian republic are two main reasons for me to study International Relations as this program focuses on the study of different cultures and societies, the thoughts of political and general public belonging to different countries, the influence of public perception, and governments’ national and international policies. I firmly accept that an influential and so far-reaching subject warrants a critical understanding and analysis at higher levels. Earning a degree from one of the top ranked universities of the world would give me a competitive edge in my professional career. I have decided to apply in name of university because this educational institute has an experienced faculty not only in the department of International Relations studies but also in all other fields of study. Studying under the guidance of expert teachers will allow me to gain invaluable information about my intended major and grow intellectually in an appropriate manner. I am capable of working under severe conditions because of the experience gained from working for different organizations. As far as my short-term and long-term goals are concerned, I have planned them according to my personal and professional interests. For example, my short-term goal is

Building conservation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Building conservation - Essay Example Have a look at the scheme 1. It represents so called heritage cycle and shows the connection between the admiration by the historic sights and their preservation and maintenance for future generations. Further we will dwell more on the particular part of building conservation – on restoration. It should be born in mind that even those object of architecture, which hasn’t acquired the public acknowledgement jet, should also be maintained with the greatest care and with the least interference. Restoration can be taken as the process of returning a heritage object to a known earlier state, without the introduction of new material. This process can be more clearly defined when combined with reconstruction. Reconstruction generally means altering a heritage object by the introduction of new, or old, materials into the fabric, to produce a work which respects the original. The two processes are often interlinked and should be approached with the utmost care. Inappropriate methods of restoration as well as insufficient information can do much harm to the ancient masterpiece. For example, very often the restoration work is undertaken on an old building, with the best of intentions and enthusiasm, which, through lack of information, or by the employment of inappropriate or incorrect methods, causes a great deal of unintentional damage, both aesthetic and technical. As we can see, the history of the conservation movement in Great Britain dates back to the second half of the 19th century. Nowadays the state has elaborated its unique conservation policy and supports reconstruction and restoration of places of historical interest. The process of conservation is worked out according to its main principles: retention and restoration of historical significance, conservation process based on research, minimum physical intervention, and maintenance of visual setting. The sequence and rules of restoration process

Evaluate a range of current leadership theories and models to reflect Essay

Evaluate a range of current leadership theories and models to reflect current thinking and explain the impact of those syles to different sub-divisions , organi - Essay Example Taking into account several features there have appeared 5 major models of leadership at least in the Western society. Later we will see leadership in the Eastern society, but now let’s look at a classification of leadership according to the following main characteristics as summarised by David Boje (2003): Charismatic inspiration - attractiveness to others and the ability to leverage this esteem to motivate others; Preoccupation with a rà ´le - a dedication that consumes much of leaders life - service to a cause; A clear sense of purpose (or mission) - clear goals - focus – commitment; Results-orientation - directing every action towards a mission - prioritizing activities to spend time where results most accrue; Optimism - very few pessimists become leaders; Rejection of determinism - belief in ones ability to "make a difference"; Ability to encourage and nurture those that report to them - delegate in such a way as people will grow; Rà ´le models - leaders may adopt a persona that encapsulates their mission and lead by example; Self-knowledge (in non-bureaucratic structures); Self-awareness - the ability to "lead" (as it were) ones own self prior to leading other selves similarly. One common attribute that signals any leadership is vision. This element is universally looked for in any kind of leadership. Vision is a fundamental force that moves the followers towards a goal. This vision is supposed to have the following characteristics in order to be effective according to the Wikipedia (2005): Paul D. Gardiner (2005) makes a simple distinction between Scientific and Administrative Managements: â€Å"Scientific management focuses on the one best way to do a job. Administrative management emphasizes the flow of information in the organisation.† The pioneers in the Scientific Management movement are Frederick W. Taylor (1856- 1915), husband and wife team Frank Gilbreth (1868-1924) and Lillian Gilbreth

Financial Reporting case study Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial Reporting case study - Coursework Example accounting practices in different countries, the International Finance and Reporting Standards has established guiding principles to facilitate the convergence of the international accounting practices and to improve the quality of the information presented to different users. In the attempt to achieve the convergence in accounting practices, the IFRS has established the following principles: information relevance, information reliability (faithful presentation, neutrality, complete and free from material error and prudence), comparability (consistency and disclosure of accounting policies), understandability and materiality. In addition, the IFRS has also provided a standard definition and guides in recognition of various elements of the financial statements such as revenue recognition, definition of different assets and liabilities (ZüLch & Hendler 2011, pp. 12-18). In response to the needs and requirements of various bodies such as the FASB and the IFRS, and different stakeholders in the government and their agencies, customers, the investors, the employees, lenders, suppliers and other trade creditors and the public, it is necessary to create financial statements. The needs of the mentioned stakeholders are as follows: the investors, who provide capital to a company are concerned about the levels of risk and return on their investments. They need financial information to help them decide whether they should buy or sell shares of a particular company. They also need the information that enables them to assess the ability of the business to pay the cash dividend. The second category of people is employees. Employees need to know whether their employer is financially stable. They use this data to evaluate the employer’s ability to implement a fair remuneration package, provide retirement benefits and be able to offer employment chances (S audagaran, 2009, pp. 150-155). Lenders use financial information to access the ability of a company promptly to pay both

The Role of the Financial Manager Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Role of the Financial Manager - Essay Example Therefore it is imperative that the CEO knows how to manage investment and protect the interest of shareholders. He must be able to strategically plan ahead and decide on policies and activities that would increase operating income and stockholder’s equity. Evidently, the best candidate to the CEO post should be the CFO. Maximizing wealth is not something that is new to a CEO who has been managing the finances of the organization. The primary role of the CFO in the firm is to plan strategies and pursue activities that will improve the total value of the firm. In most successful organization, CFOs basically work side by side with the CEO in strategic planning and decision making. He has developed excellent communication skills as he present the current financial condition of the firm to different stakeholders, has been closely oriented with the company’s product and operations, has been consistently working in line with the company’s vision, and has been able to d evelop managerial skills. However this does not absolutely imply that all CFO’s make successful CEO’s. The total personality of the CFO, his business acumen, the quantity and quality of his past experiences, and his continuing passion for the organization combined, make for a better CEO. D.

Internet Jurisdiction Essay Example for Free

Internet Jurisdiction Essay In his article, Wolf (1999) explained how jurisdiction may be acquired through over persons who operate and use internet websites. By applying the rules enumerated in Wolf’s article to a popular bit torrent search engine based in Sweden called â€Å"thepiratebay. org†, we see that no jurisdiction may be acquired over the users or the operators of the website because 1) there is a minimal level of interactivity among the users; 2) the users and operators of the website do not engage in commercial activities; and 3) the website does not provide contact details that would allow future business transactions to take place. Personal jurisdiction is an issue because it allows the court to prosecute any criminal activity that occurs because of the use of the website. It also allows the court to impose civil liabilities on any user operator who might have caused damage to a resident of place where the court exercises jurisdiction. In ordinary procedure, personal jurisdiction is acquired by either the arrest of the culprit in criminal cases or the service of summons on the defendant in civil cases. In special cases where culprits are not residents of the forum state, the court would have to use this long-arm jurisdiction in order to punish those responsible for the illegal activity. The interactive-passive use test states that courts have to look into the nature of the transactions made by the users of the website. If the website allows users to have a â€Å"two-way online communication which fosters an ongoing business relationship†, the court may acquire personal jurisdiction over the operators of the website. However, is the website merely provides information without any other interaction, the court may not exercise jurisdiction. The key question to be asked would be: is the website operator doing business in the forum state? If yes, then the court has jurisdiction over the operator. Based on his analysis of Cybersell, Inc. v. Cybersell, Inc. , 130 F. 3d 414 (9th Cir. 1997), Wolf mentions that mere advertising is not enough to give the court jurisdiction over the operators of the website. It has to be shown that the operators â€Å"actually sold their products in the forum state†. Once again, we see that actual business must be performed before the court can claim jurisdiction over the website operator. This is because it is only the act of engaging in actual business where the website operator is deemed to purposely avail of or submit himself to the jurisdiction of the forum state.

Launch Of Green Tea In UAE: Marketing Plan

Launch Of Green Tea In UAE: Marketing Plan A marketing plan provides a sound framework for developing the marketing strategy for a product. It has a list of action items like sales objective, budget requirement, resource requirement etc. It is a very important part of the overall business plan. In the first submission, we had already talked at length about the cultural and economic analysis of the market and features of the product. This submission will carry forward from where we left in the last assignment. We will take a closer look at the intricacies of running a business like understanding the target market, designing a suitable promotion strategy, having an overview of distribution and production process etc. The last part explained in detail the benefits of the green tea. It also explains how it protects the body against the most important carcinogens or tumors that can attack the body which is: indirect chemical carcinogens, physical carcinogens and direct chemical carcinogens. We also analyze how to market the product and how will it work in the UAE. Such as: Culture analysis in the UAE, economic analysis in the UAE and competitive market analysis in the UAE. Traditional approach to look at any product based marketing involves understanding of: Financial data- Factors like what will be the estimated product cost, distribution cost, expenses etc. Product data- It involves understanding of product pricing and other formalities like packaging etc. Sales and distribution data It involves what should be the sale targets and associated costs and revenues. Advertising and sales promotion data which caters to promotion strategy for the product. Thus preparing a good marketing plan can be a very complex process. But in a nutshell the aim of any marketing plan is very simple, which is to understand the factors and situation which have an impact on successful running of the business. We have looked at the complete marketing plan from the perspective of our product-Green Tea hp. This will be a new product in UAE market. As a result the challenge with this product is to start afresh with all marketing strategies. This project deals with various aspects of a marketing plan. To begin with it addresses the marketing objectives. Marketing objectives encompass setting realistic sales and profit expectations. This involves analysis of the total market for the product and the share for our product. Besides it also involves understanding the target consumer. Next section talks about marketing strategies. Marketing strategies outlines programs which will help us reach the expected sales and profit targets outlined in marketing objectives. This involves how much and when to spend on advertising and other promotional activities. Next we have discussed the implementation intricacies for our business. Tasks such as distribution from USA to UAE and price determination for the product are dealt with in this phase. These tasks are closely related to the financial statements and budgets. For any new business, it is very critical that a close check should be kept on the budget allocated and required. It is always good to have a planned budget before embarking on any new venture. Last but not the least we have also looked at the resources required to sustainably run our new business. Understanding the mode of generating financial resources, personnel resource and production capacity have been dealt in great detail. Marketing Plan Marketing Objectives Target Markets A target market is a specific group of people which a business thinks as their potential customers. They have similar characteristics like age, demographics, income etc. They also have similar buying patterns and can be classified as a separate category. The business tries to target this category when developing marketing strategies for its products or services and all of its marketing messages and campaigns are dedicated towards the target market. To develop a powerful marketing plan, we should answer following questions regarding the target market: How well do we understand the needs of our target market? Can we relate to what our target consumers need and what we have to offer? Are there any ways by which we can offer highly customized products for different groups? What product should be made generic and what should be offered to a broad set of consumers? A well defined target market can build the success of any company. While making products available to a huge market looks attractive, we would like to target specific customers to make ourselves known in the market. This is because green tea is new product in UAE and is not well known. In our previous submission, we had highlighted that we would specifically target the age group of 15-50.This was based on the consumption pattern of this group. Demographics As we know UAE has a large foreign expatriate population. The total population of the UAE is estimated at 2.3 million people. Only about 20 percent which represent 460,000 people of these are UAE locals. The rest are foreign workers. We would target all the people for our product. The Age breakup of UAE is as follows    0à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢19 years: 27.4% (female 40,328,895, male 42,667,761 😉 20à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢64 years: 60.1% (female 90,813,578, male 89,881,041 😉 65 years and over: 12.6% (female 21,991,195, male 15,858,477) The above breakup highlights the huge proportion of working age group population in UAE. Lifestyle Lifestyle is one important key factor used in determining which segments are used to target customers. Some important information in this section is there which includes how the Emirates market lives, their hobbies, their interests and their extracurricular activities. Emirates are living in extremely hot climate and they use tea as part of greeting to their guests most of the time. Frequency Its important to try and find out how frequently target segment will use the offered product or service. Specifically, businesses should always determine if theyre looking for on time sale and be in premium segment or to target more customers more often through new and innovative marketing techniques. Emirates have decent per capita income and they usually prefer the large packs and try using new products that come in the market. One of the major factors which contributes to their type of behavior is the diversity in their population. Exposure to various cultures makes them easily accept and experiment new products more often. Desires / Needs Business should be surely discovering the general need of the country they are planning to enter with new product. They should be aware of the basic desire and need of the emirates before launching Green Tea Hp here. Another point is that UAE development taking care of health sector is participating in the general issue by health and is making awareness campaigns about the importance of using the green tea and replaces the unhealthy food habits by using the healthy products. This will lead to decrease in the obesity and the diseases in the country. Therefore we can say that there is desire and need of Emirates which is developing towards this product of Green Tea hp. Expected Sales and Profit Expectation Sales and Profit objectives define the projected amount of goods to be sold. Thus it is very important for the success of any business that realistic objectives should be set. Once the sales objectives are set, everything else like marketing budget, channels to be used, number of sales personnel to hire etc. is based on these objectives or expected sales figures. For our product i.e. green tea we would look to cater to different tastes of the expatriate population. According to our research, we found that total UAE tea sales volumes showed a growth of 9% in 2009, or at 4,472 tons. (www.hktdc.com). Thus the change in tea sales from 2008 to 2009 is 369 tons. The below table summarizes the sales figures for the next year. Expected Sales Table    Growth in Sales in 2009 4472 Percentage Growth in 2009 9% Sale in 2009 49,688 Sales in 2008 49688/1.09=45585 Change in Sale from 2008 to 2009 4103 Projected Sales in 2012(assuming same growth rate) 49688+(4103*3)=61997 This market is primarily controlled by Lipton (www.usa2uae.com, 2009). Most of the new players like Green Tea Hp would aim at getting a minor market share to begin with. Based on the estimates from other new players like entering into this segment, like wagh bakri from India, we would look to target at least 1 percent (www.usa2uae.com, 2009) According to people in tea industry, UAE is looking for new and fresh taste in the tea segment. Already available products do not cater to the expectations of the people. Since the migrant population comes from different backgrounds, they have different tastes. Thus our green tea with many flavors would be able to fulfill this need to some extent. Thus we can hope to hit at least 1 percent of the market share. Thus 1 percent of projected sales in 2012 is 620 tons (approx). To calculate the profit margin we would take industry standards for gross profit margin and cash profit margin. We would take conservative estimates by assuming values lower a leading player in this industry. For our purpose we have taken Tata Tea data (www.moneycontrol.com) and calculated accordingly for green tea. Market Share Average Price of tea in last year Total revenue 620 Ton 3451.5 dollars/ton 620*3451.5=2139942 dollars We have assumed the market price of tea at 3541.52 dollars per ton Company Gross Profit Margin Cash Profit Margin Profit Dollars Tata Tea Beverage 10 Percent 9 Percent NA Green Tea Hp (UAE) 8.7 percent 8.7 percent 2139942*.087 = 186174 Promotion Mix Advertising Objective Objective of advertisement will be to attract health conscious customers towards the green. Since the green tea belongs to premium segment therefore more stress will be given to attract urban area consumers who are willing to try something new. Actually if we try to segment people of UAE, we can segregate people into two categories. One who prefers to try new products available in the market and they are usually called experimenters. Other category try to retain their own family retained brand which will bar them from experimenting any new product. Our work, as a green tea promoter, should attract these early experimenters and make a mark among them. Because the late buyer or safe buyers usually change their buying decision only when are too much exposed to any new product and when they really get to know that product is fine and can be used and have superior benefit as compared to their already using product. Hence, we are going to keep our target consumers to the premium family product thing. It will include kids, teenagers, fathers and Mothers. But the main target will be the teenagers who really care about their health. Teenagers generally have the tendency to experiment with totally new product. They try to use whatever there is in fashion. They want to be different from old generation and there they try every new thing which makes them different from their previous generation. That is why it is suggestible to make them a target customer and make our ad strategy as per their symbol of change. Therefore to target teenager and people in their twenties is be our prime strategy target. We need to position our product as youth icon thing. We have to make its image to look as fashionable and belonging to premium class. To make this we will be using some Hollywood star as an endorser which is youth icon in the eyes of Emirates. Media Mix We are going to use the media mix in a way to reach every single people in Emirates in order to make them of this new product in the market. Since ours is the first company launching this product in UAE therefore it will be our tough task to educate and inform consumers about the health benefits and differentiation from the entire existing product available in the United Arab Emirate market. Therefore we need to use following promotion media mix: Advertisement in magazines, newspapers and television. TV program. Kiosks. Billboards. Banners. The way we going to use this are to make this promotion in various phases. In first phase in which product need to be made aware in the UAE market is to use the media which is most widely used in the United Arab Emirates. Therefore we are going to take the initial advertisement through the use of the maximum reach basis. Since we all know that television is the best mode to reach to maximum population in minimum time. This will accompanied with the Message Message which green tea should be cashing is to convey a royal brand Image and keep a youth icon associated with product. Idea is to convey the health benefit and Premium product category among youth. Message should be something like conveying New and Young: Tried me!!. Cost Advertisement Newspaper Advertisement    20000 TV Advertisement    30000 Kiosk Advertisement    10000 Magazine Advertisement    10000 Billboard    10000 Banners    10000 Promotions 10000          Advertising Expense    $ 100,000.00 Sales Promotion Objective Objective of sales promotion will be to attract more and more customer in very first year. This should be done with the help of affordable small packaging of size as small as 100g. This should be the smallest package that should be available to the customer because smaller than this package will affect the brand image which is the last thing company want to do. Premiums Gift with purchase is the very common promotion techniques used by marketers for promoting the product. It is used in a way to associate our product with something of real use to the segment we are targeting. Since here we are targeting the youths therefore we can say that if we need to give some goodies free with our green tea product we need to offer something which is of real use to the teenagers and adults. A small teddy bear or a fancy branded pen with the 1 kg pack will attract consumer towards our product. Coupon Other way to attract the shopper towards our product is to let them buy the product with some free movie coupon. This thing which is really famous among the teenagers is to offer them free movie tickets on lucky draw to some consumer. Something like free movie coupons to every 5th shoppers can create a magic. This is cheap from the point of publicity and can work a lot in gaining momentum for the product. Cost Cost allotted to all this promotional strategy will be very less compared to advertisement expense we are incurring on the product. The main reason for this is because our main aim is to achieve more of awareness and less of selling. We want to do marketing rather than selling. We are going to produce what is needed there not we will sell whatever we have produced. Total Cost allotted to promotion will be $10000 annually. Personal Selling At this stage personal selling will be avoided by Green Tea HP. This is totally new product in the market. Surely personal will help in sale but we are avoiding this to check our brand image deterioration. We are planning to use this in B2B strategies but not in the business to customers strategy. Other Promotional Method All promotional strategy which we are planning is already described in above. As of now Green Tea hp product will not be experimented with some strange promotional technique. It can work but we dont want to take risk for this totally new product in United Arab Emirates market. Distribution: From Origin to Destination Port Selection United States is bounded by sea on both sides. In the west, it has Pacific Ocean whereas on the east side, it has Atlantic Ocean. UAE on the other hand lies northwest of the Arabian Sea. Origin Since the manufacturing of Green Tea happens in Utah, we are interested in looking for major trading ports near Utah. Utah lies towards the western side of US. Thus two major ports nearby are Port of San Francisco, California It lies on the western edge of the San Francisco Bay with a total trade capacity of 2,654,714 short tons. This is a major port with high amount of export trade. Port of Coos Bay .Oregon It is located on the Pacific coast, with major cities nearby. E.g. It Washington to the north and California to the south. This port too has high trading volume and is a good option since it had many logistics operator in nearby states. Destination UAE has seaports throughout the region. The major ports are Port Jebel Ali, Port Khor Fakkan , Port Rashid, Port Saeed ,Port Khalid and Port Zayed. Packaging Packaging is required to protect the products from damage during transit and also during storage. Packaging also plays a crucial role in information transmission and sales. Marking and Labeling Regulations On any package, many types of labels are used. These may include trademarks, product certifications and food authority approvals etc. To make full use of packaging, we intend to publicize the health benefits of green tea through labeling. Approvals from health authorities and results of study on green tea can be highlighted through package. Containerization During shipping of containers, one needs to take care of identification and bar codes and RFID numbers for easy tracking and shipment of goods. Another important aspect to consider is the container standards. There are many container system standards worldwide. It is essential that the same standards are used by both the trading partners for easy identification of goods. Costs Packaging represents a significant portion of the total cost on a product. For example, in tea industry, it is estimated that the cost of packaging can be as high as 30% of the total cost. This is primarily due to special type of packaging required to keep the tea fresh and increase the shelf life. Another cost consideration in packaging is that it is extremely expensive to create a new packaging design including graphics and structure. Thus the choice of packaging should be a very thought out process. For our product, GreenTea HP, we would make investments in generating a stable packaging system. We would restrict our packaging costs to 10 percent over the long term. This includes the countrys industrial, agricultural, and animal products. The competent ministries and departments approve the bill and issue a certificate of origin for all national products meant for exportation. A copy of these documents should be submitted upon processing an export application. The customs authorities employ the temporary deposit system in order to simplify and facilitate the procedures for the importers. A deposit is an amount of money that the customs collects pending payment of the customs duties or presentation of the original documents. Price Determination Transportation Cost Transportation Cost will be there but that will be borne by wholesaler only. The wholesaler needs to have enough margins as commission in order to bear this cost and still not make any losses. After the wholesaler the further transportation cost will borne by retailer. Because of all this, both the retailer and the wholesaler are getting hefty commission. Handling Expenses Handling Expenses will be borne by company itself as most of these handling charges are there as freight cost are from factory to onboard travelling. Custom Duties Custom duty is paid by company only as it is importing the raw tea leafs from elsewhere. The amount of custom duty generally depends upon the amount of import that is done. Company is paying $50000 as custom fees for the product for very first year on annual basis. Whole and Retail Mark Up and Discounts Final Price Product Cost    $ 2,020,000.00 Selling price (Profit Margin 8.7%)    $ 2,195,740.00 Selling Quantity we are targeting (Ton)    620 Company Price       Selling price per ton    $ 3,541.52 Selling price per Kg    $ 3.54 Selling price per 250g Pack    $ 0.89 Selling Price per 100g pack    $ 0.035 Wholesale Price (@13% WS Commission)       Selling price per Kg    $ 4.00 Selling price per 250g Pack    $ 1.00 Selling Price per 100g pack    $ 0.04 Retail Price (@12.5% Retail Commission)       Selling price per Kg    $ 4.50 Selling price per 250g Pack    $ 1.13 Selling Price per 100g pack    $ 0.05 Pro-formal financial Statement and Budget Marketing Budget Advertisement/Promotion Expense Advertisement Newspaper Advertisement 20000 TV Advertisement 30000 Kiosk Advertisement 10000 Magazine Advertisement 10000 Billboard 10000 Banners 10000 Promotion 10000 Advertising Expense $ 100,000.00 Distribution Expense Distribution Cost Store Payroll 20000 Store Management 10000 Rent 10000 Utilities 10000 Depreciation 10000 Repair 20000 Maintenance 13000 Total Distribution Expense 93,000.00 Product Cost Processing Raw Green tea cost Raw product (1000 ton) 1,000,000.00 Processing Variable Cost 230,000.00 Processing Fixed Cost 270,000.00 Final Green Tea product (620 ton) $ 1,500,000.00 Product Cost Percentage of Selling Cost Green Tea Product Cost(620 ton) $ 1,500,000.00 74.3% Custom expense $ 50,000.00 2.5% Packaging Cost $ 200,000.00 9.9% Selling Expense $ 73,000.00 3.6% Advertising Expense $ 100,000.00 5.0% Distribution Expense $ 93,000.00 4.6% Misc Expense $ 4,000.00 0.2% $ 2,020,000.00 Selling price (Profit Margin 8.7%) $ 2,195,740.00 Final Price Product Cost $ 2,020,000.00 Selling price(Profit Margin 8.7%) $ 2,195,740.00 Selling Quantity we are targeting (Ton) 620 Selling price per ton $ 3,541.52 Selling price per Kg $ 3.54 Selling price per 250g Pack $ 0.89 Selling Price per 100g pack $ 0.04 Other Cost Misc Expense $ 4,000.00 Pro forma annual profit and loss statement (Profit year) Profit And Loss Statement Income Revenue    $ 2,195,740.00 Expense          Cost of Goods Sold    1,000,000.00    Processing Variable Expense    230,000.00    Processing Fixed expense    270,000.00    Custom expense    $ 50,000.00    Packaging Cost    $ 200,000.00    Selling Expense    $ 73,000.00    Advertising Expense    $ 100,000.00    Distribution Expense    $ 93,000.00    Misc Expense    $ 4,000.00    Total Expense    2,020,000.00          EBIT       $ 175,740.00 Interest       $ 25,000.00 EBT       $ 150,740.00 Tax @ 20%       $ 30,148.00 Net Income       $ 120,592.00 Resource Requirements Finances In a product life cycle, different financial needs arise at different points in time .The funding stages of a business are as follows: Seed capital It is the amount you need initially to set up and plan your business activities. Start-up capital It is the amount of money required to maintain operational activities like buying raw material, processing etc in the first year. It is also called working capital Mezzanine (expansion) capital It is required to expand the current facilities. e.g. to upscale the production to full installed capacity or to buy a new larger business. For our product, Green Tea, finances will be required to start business operations, logistics and distribution, to pay for customs, for setting up packaging facilities and so on. We need a sum of around 500,000 dollars as calculated in above sections, of which 230,000 is variable cost and 270,000 are fixed cost. Capital funding can be of two types Debt Capital and Equity Capital. Debt capital means taking a loan which can be paid back over a period of time. This gives an easy way to maintain control over the company as well as get funds. The most common type of debt funding for a new business like ours is secured loans. To start any business, the first and foremost option that comes to mind is to avail business loans. A business can also avail secured loans from banks by keeping some property as collateral with the bank. Amount of secured business loans depends on value of the security kept with the lender. Generally a secured loan can fetch an amount of 50,000 to 100,000 dollars. It can be paid back in a period of 5-30 years depending on the terms and conditions. Equity capital is another way of funding in which people or firms become a part of the company. In this way they earn a portion of your profits in ways of dividends or can make huge money when the company goes public. Thus to determine the type of funding, we need to ask, that whether we are comfortable paying monthly installments or we would like to give up ownership rights in our company. Along with this, we need to ask following questions: Does my business qualify for debt financing? Am I willing to lose the secured collateral if the business fails? Am I willing to share the confidential financial information of my company? Some of other choices for funding a business include: Personal savings. Borrowing from family and friends. Making a partner and using his personal funds. Approaching a commercial finance company. Getting venture-capital fund. Thus to raise the funds of 1500,000 dollars, we can make following arrangements. Funds Breakup    Seed Capital 500,000 Dollars Secured Loans at 5 Percent 500,000 Dollars Equity Capital for 10% stake in Company 500,000 Dollars Personnel Every organization should be clear about its human resource needs. Thus planning can help in getting the right number of people at the right place. This kind of planning is largely dependent on the organizations overall goals. Forecasting of personnel depends on the following factors: Mission of the organization. Projected Turnover. Quality of employee skills. Technological advances in production and packaging. Personnel can be acquired from any of the following two sources Internal External Internal recruitment refers to promotion of employees from within the organization to fill the gaps. This involves listing of an employees education and skill set and based on that making recommendation for promotion. A company also considers performance levels of employees over past years. External Supply of qualified candidates refers to getting the required personnel from outside the organization. This involves having a good knowledge about the supply conditions in different occupations and awareness about the general business environment. The information about such conditions and availability of personnel can be found in: Monthly updates of national bank. Publications of various associations. Publications of various employment agencies. Since ours is a new product, we would primarily be focusing on external sources to fill our personnel needs. Also we would like to estimate the number of personnel required on the basis of ratio analysis. It involves forecasting the employee numbers based on the ratio of some factor like sales volume to the number of people required per unit of sales. Our product has sales of 620 ton. Production Capacity It refers to the volume of products which can be manufactured in a plant or factory with a given amount of resources. Production capacity depends on the efficiency of machines and workforce. It is essential that highly efficient processes should be put in place for the same. Another important concept to consider while deciding on the production capacity is capacity utilization. It gives a relationship between the actual production that happens in a plant with the total installed capacity and potential production. For Green Tea HP, we would be targeting an actual production capacity of around 650 ton in the first year. But we plan to have installed capacity around 1500 ton. We would scale up the production in a phased manner. Good production planning will help make better decisions in terms of sales, profit, expenses etc. To calculate production capacity, we should consider various factors like number of facilities, number of employees and equipment etc. Also number of employee required (discussed in previous section on personnel planning) plays a crucial part in the same. We need to determine the number of hours per week for employees. For our product, we assume an industry standard of 40 hours per week. The time spent in breaks, lunch time etc would be deducted from this time to calculate actual time spent on the production. Once we have actual time spent on production and the number of employees employed, we can calculate the actual production. Actual Production = Actual hours spent in production * Number of Employees Sources Tea Processing Article Retrieved May 15, 2011, from Tea Manufacturing firm inputs Website: http://www.enjoyingtea.com/teaprocessing1.html Technology Trends in Tea Manufacturing Article Retrieved May 15, 2011, from Tea Manufacturing firm inputs Website: http://www.teauction.com/home/techtrend.asp

Depictions of the Reformation in Art

Depictions of the Reformation in Art The corruption and immorality of the Church spurred the Christian Reform movement in Europe, eventually leading to the hundred years of civil war between Protestants and Catholics or the Protestant Reformation. The Counter- Reformation began with the Pope Paul IIIs calling of the Council of Trent in response to Protestant uprising; this movement was initiated by the Churchs attempt to re-establish its power as the only true Church of Christ while pacifying the current disorder as well. The creation of these two rivaling movements jeopardized the Roman Catholic Churchs absolute authority in Europe, dividing it into the regions of the Protestant North and Catholic South. Influenced by these two opposing movements, the North and South branched out into different directions in terms of its culture and artistic style of painting. They developed unique style of painting, depicting differing themes, styles, and contents based on their dissimilar beliefs. What influence did the reform moveme nts have on the paintings from the south of the Alps, the north of the Alps, and the Netherlands and were the artists from these regions inspired by each other despite the divergence in their styles? The paintings by the artists from the South of the Alps would most likely been influenced by the Counter- Reformation, while the works produced from the other two regions would reflect the influence of the Protestant Reformation due to their geographical locations. Therefore, the content and purpose of the works from these regions should differ but some similarities may exist in the artists painting techniques because it was common for artists to travel to Rome during this time. It is interesting to analyze how the style in 16th and 17th Century Europe was shaped by the religious disparity and the development of new ideas which were reflected in the paintings. Since it is inaccurate to generalize the whole European continent into only two sections, I decided to narrow down my topic by focusing on the South of the Alps, the North of the Alps, and the Netherlands. I chose to study these regions because the South of the Alps was the center of Counter- Reformation strongly embraced by the Roman Catholic Church, while the North of the Alps was the birth place of the Protestantism. And the Netherlands was the hot bed for dispute between Calvinism and Catholicism. I referred the Protestant Reformers as one group, choosing not to deal with the Protestant sectarianism, a division within the Reformers due to the difference in their interpretation of the sacred texts, as part of my research. The final spark of the Protestant Reformation was The Ninety-Five Theses written by Martin Luther in 1517. His work disclosed Churchs dishonesty, rousing doubts in peoples minds about the Catholicism and also the Churchs authority. His criticism of the sale of indulgences and the Roman Catholic clergys abuses quickly earned popularity among people, regardless of their social standings and wealth, ultimately giving birth to Protestantism. Martin Luther condemned the sale of indulgences as a violation of the original meaning of confession and penance. Indulgence is the forgiveness of the temporal punishment for sins that have already been confessed. Reformers like Zwingli and Calvin had also commented on the corruptions within Church, but Luther was the one who introduced the radical idea of purifying the Christianity by physically breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church. The Luthers idea spread rapidly throughout the Europe, threatening the Roman Catholic Churchs established auth ority especially in the North. In addition to being known as the center of the Counter-Reformation, the South of the Alps was known as the center of stylistic development as well. It was the place of passion and innovation with the overflow of new artistic styles eventually giving birth to the Italian Renaissance. The artists from all of the Europe visited Rome and were inspired by the unique Italian styles. Aside from the innovative styles of Italian Renaissance, its content was often strictly religious. The Roman Catholic Church attempted to re-establish the catholic faith among people by regulating the artworks produced. The southern painters were forced to bring back the medieval tradition of producing strictly religious art, branching off into the different direction from the Northern painters. Scipione Pulzone was famous in Rome as the prototype of the Southern painters during this time period for his strictly religious paintings. The Lamentation, one of his most famous paintings, serves as the prime example of the art commissioned by the Church. Painted in 1592 for the chapel of the Passion of Christ in the Jesuit church of Gesà ¹ in Rome, this painting is clearly influenced by the Counter- Reformation in that it demonstrates the new artistic style advocated by the holy council. The Crucifixion of the Christ is the focus of this art piece, drawing viewers attention directly to the idealistic image of Christ in the center. Like other southern painters during this time period, the artist propagated faith by portraying the lives of saints and Christ in a realistic yet intensely dramatic manner. The careful details, facial expressions, along with the shadows cast on people enhance the lifelike characteristics. The depiction of the folds on peoples gowns is also note-worthy. The artist adds details such as tears of Virgin, the crown of thorns held by John, and the pallor of the Christs body to portray people in a more expressionistic manner. Moreover, the spotlight on the Christ in the center contributes an illusionistic and dramatic element to the painting which counter-balances the paintings realistic image. The light cast on the Christ, in comparison to the dark background, creates almost a theatrical impression. These characteristics represent the style of art in the south of the Alps during this period, also called the Italian Renaissance. Catholic Italy and Lutheran Germany shared in a lively commerceand the art of the sixteenth century in the north manifests the benefit of the exchange. Although the religious clash tormented the sixteenth century Europe, the exchange of artistic ideas continued to thrive. In the North, the intellectual shakeup of age-old faiths and opinions prepared the way for a new and nonreligious outlook on the world-the Enlightenment-when the rise of a scientific view of nature would challenge forever the dogmatisms of the past, also called the Northern Renaissance. However, the art of northern Europe during this period is also characterized by a sudden awareness of the advances made by the Italian Renaissance and by a desire to assimilate this new style. In other words, while the content of the artworks produced in the North differ from those of the region south of the Alps, the style was similar. Many northern artists traveled to Rome to study the new art in firsthand and others were exposed to the Italian style of painting through the direct contact with the Italian artists who came to the north. The influence of the Italian art varied according to the artist, the time, and the place; the northern artists generally kept their local traditions while adopting on ly single motifs or the general form of a composition. The Northern painters in general moving away from depicting biblical scenes and turned to painting ordinary people in a commonplace setting can be inferred to have been influenced by the Protestant- Reformation. Especially in the north of the Alps, the artists quickly incorporated Italian style into their artworks while avoiding portrayal of religious themes. The famous work, The Battle of Issus, by Albrecht Altdorfer in 1529 is a great example of a northern painting that diverges from the works produced in the regions south of the Alps. Albrecht Altdorfer represents the Donaustil (Danube Style), which depicts the landscape and stresses mood and passion. Although Altdorfers style is unique and personal, it still reflects the influence of Protestant- Reformation in that it eliminates depiction of religious themes. Moreover, his style clearly diverges from the style of painting prevalent in the regions of the south of the Alps. The painter gives a birds eye view of an Alpine landscape as the setting and depicts the battle scene in which the Alexander the Great overthrows the Persian King Darius. Instead of illustrating the strictly religious theme, the artist chooses to focus more on depicting the historical event. The crowd of people in comparison to the vast nature in the background suggests the moralizing theme of the insignificance of h uman life. He uses the vast nature in the background to symbolize the power of cosmos and the illuminating sky to represent the immense space. The slight trace of Italian Renaissance is shown by the meticulous details the painter uses for the image of Alexander the Great and the dramatic and illusionistic portrayal of the setting. Also the idealistic impression of the artwork as a whole resembles that of the Italian Renaissance paintings. Another praise-worthy example of Northern painting is The Judgment of Paris by Lucas Cranach the Elder, who is the representative of German Protestant painting. This work is a great example of how his works shifted from religious to humanistic subject matter when he became a follower of Luther. His humanistic subject matters include mythology, history, and also portraits. The Judgment of Paris illustrates the scene from mythology in which the three goddesses boast off their beauties in front of Paris. The humanistic subject matter along with the background landscape reflects the typical characteristics of Northern paintings. The cupid in the painting serves as a symbol for love and affection while the German armor that Paris is wearing in the painting represents his social status as a knight and his honor. The artist does not dress the goddesses after the antique manner. Cranachs composition featuring the nude was inspired in an attempt to learn from the style of Italian Renaissance. The Four Apostles by Albrecht Durer in 1526 is a remarkable northern painting that is stylistically influenced by Italian Renaissance. This art piece is unique in that the painter expresses his own religious and political testament, sympathizing the protestant cause and [warning] against the dangerous times, when religious, truth, justice, and the virtues all will be threatened. Unlike other Northern paintings, this piece does contain religious meanings, but it distinguishes itself from Italian paintings by eliminating any glorification of the Church. This piece was hung in the city hall, the four apostles symbolically representing the guardians of the city; they are cautioning people against the sermons of false prophets who will misinterpret the word of God. The four apostles are symbolic representative of various ideas such as the four temperaments, of the human soul, and also the four ages of man. In this painting, Durers experience of traveling to Italy allows him to harmonize t he two opposing styles of northern naturalism and southern monumentality. The realistic visualization of the four apostles reflects the northern naturalism while the monumentality of the figures along with the vivid use of color and sharp lighting mirror the Italian Renaissance. Durer, along with Cranach and Altdorfer, serves as an example of northern artist who illustrated contents related to Protestant-Reformation while incorporating styles of Italian Renaissance into his paintings. The Netherlands was the exceptional region in North in which Calvinism and Catholicism co-existed. In the late 16th Century, the Northern Netherlands was able to break away from Spains influence, while the Southern Netherlands remained under the rule of Spain. Therefore, the Northern Netherlands eventually embraced Calvinism while the Southern Netherlands remained as supporters of Catholicism. It is important to realize that Dutch and Flemings were not predestined to become Calvinists and Catholics; it was solely caused by the geographical and military circumstances. No curtain existed between the North and the South that forbid the exchange of ideas. In fact, Constantin Huygens, a diplomat and an art critic, referred to great painters of Amsterdam, Utrecht, and The Hague collectively as the painters of Netherlands. Therefore, it cannot be concluded that the Northern Netherlands was only influenced by Calvinist ideas, which also applies to the Southern Netherlands. In the early 17th Century Catholicism was suppressed and catholic churches were demolished due to the iconoclast movement, but the protestantizing of the Northern Netherlands was still a slow process. Most artists chose to remain as Catholics, although exact number is hard to determine. However, the attempt to repair damage caused by the iconoclast movement was not as extensive and as systematic in the North as in the South. The Northern Renaissance in the Netherlands took on a completely different form from the Italian Renaissance because the Church no longer was the major patron in the North. Instead, the wealthy merchant middle class were the primary patrons of the art and thus, the Dutch masters painted small pictures for their small houses, not for the Cathedral altars. Since large church commissions were no longer available, artists changed their styles in accordance to the taste of their new customers. The artists from the Netherlands specialized in intense realism, depicting lifelike features with an unflattering honesty, unlike the Italian Renaissance painters who specialized in idealism and simplicity. Therefore, the basis of art for the Northern Renaissance was observation while for the Italian Renaissance, it was theory. The Northern Renaissance in the Netherlands indirectly reflects the influence of Protestantism in that religious themes no longer prevailed in art, although more direct causes were the changing structure of the Netherlands economy and culture. The artworks produced in the 17th Century Netherlands were more conservative compared to those of Germany, concentrating on the nature and the past times of the prosperous Dutch merchants. The direct portraits, realistic still-lifes, landscapes, marine-scapes, and genre paintings showing scenes of everyday life were popular subjects of the Dutch artists. A Scene on the Ice by Hendrick Avercamp in 1625 is an accurate representation of a typical Dutch style, illustrating the commonplace scene of people enjoying winter sports in the quiet village of Kampen northeast of Amsterdam. His style clearly reflects the Northern Renaissances realism and its use of details, faithfully depicting the winter. He enhances his realistic rendering by using a frosty day to convey a sense of depth; the pearly gray tonality here becomes ever paler and the forms less distinct as they move into the distance. His work is unique in that it successfully portrays all classes of Dutch society through by using meticulous details, from the poor fisherman surveying the skater to the well-dressed ladies riding in an elegant sleigh driven by a groom. This is the typical genre painting of Northern Renaissance departing itself from the religious influence of Roman Catholic Church of Italy. A seascape, along with landscape, also became very popular in Holland due to the rise of merchant class; view of Dordrecht from the Dordtse Kil by Jan Van Goyen painted in 1644 serves is an impressive seascape painting. The artist uses monochromatic phase, which is a technique in which a single color dominates the painting, to unify each view of nature; the golden brown aura dictates the scene, from the hazy clouds to the city skyline. He reached the summit of Northern realism by lowering the horizon to focus more on the atmospheric conditions overhead and by creating an illusion of standing on the opposite shore of the port. Unlike the Northern Netherlands, the Southern Netherlands was more influenced by the Counter Reformation than the Protestant Reformation. The Reborn Catholicism in Spain had an undeniable impact on the Southern Netherlands provinces. Moreover, France sent numerous religious orders and congregations to Spanish Netherlands in order to secure the Catholics authorit y. The disparity in the contents of the paintings resulted from the disagreement in Protestants and Catholics perspectives of the human relationship with god. Unlike the Protestants who claimed that humans are capable of having a direct communication with god, the Catholics argued that intermediaries, such as saints and the Virgin Mary, are essential for humans to connect with god. Therefore, Catholics created artworks of saints, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus and gave reverence to them, as a way of getting closer to god. Although the Catholics asserted that they are not worshipping the intermediaries, the Protestants criticized this practice and led the iconoclastic movements. Iconoclasm is a deliberate destruction of religious icons and symbols within ones own culture for religious changes. The Protestants and Catholics conflict was caused by the difference in their perspectives of the sacred and secular;while the Catholics maintained the clear separation of the two, the reformers recogni zed the connection between the two. Consequently, the Roman Catholic Church clergy advocated strictly religious and sacred artworks whereas the reformers preferred artworks depicting the lives of ordinary people. The Northern Protestant painters believed that an ordinary life could glorify God just as much as a life `in the ministry ; since god created humans in His image, the reformation artists claimed that they are glorifying god by portraying the natural beauty of his creation, in other words, the people. These differing ideas are well conveyed through the artworks produced from the regions south of the Alps, north of the Alps, and the Netherlands mentioned above. My thesis is partially proven to be correct in that Italian art was definitely influenced by the Counter- Reformation and that German art was influenced by the Protestant- Reformation. But contradicting to my statement, the Netherlands was influenced by both religious movements. According to the Art History Professor S arah Blick from Canyon University, the Counter- Reformation had a more direct influence on art produced after 1520s then the Protestant Reformation. Therefore, she suggested me focus on the lack of religious content in the artworks in order to study the influence of Protestant Reformation during her interview. Although artworks from each of these regions have distinct characteristics that set them apart, Italian style of painting frequently perceived in these artworks indicate that artists were inspired by each other. Because I had to narrow down my topic, many new questions emerged from my research. I am curious to know whether the various Protestantism had different influences on art. For this research, I referred to Protestants as one group but I want to extend my research so that I can investigate on the influence of the Protestant Sectarianism on art. Bibliography MacCulloch, Diarmaid. The Reformation A History. New York: Viking Adult, 2004. Print. The Annotated Mona Lisa. Missouri: John Boswell Management, Inc., 1992. Print. Helen, Gardner,. Gardners art through the ages. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College, 1996. Print. Iconography of the Counter Reformation in the Netherlands heaven on earth John B Knippings Art of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. HyperHistory.net. Web. 07 Oct. 2009. . Scipione Pulzone (Il Gaetano): The Lamentation (1984.74) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: metmuseum.org. Web. 07 Oct. 2009. . Janson, H. W. History of art for young people. New York: H.N. Abrams, 2002. Print. Matters of Taste: Genre and Still Life Painting in the Dutch Golden Age. Welcome to Albany Institute of History and Art. Web. 07 Oct. 2009. .