Case Study based on key reading.Strategic Management Essay

Case Study based on key reading.Strategic Management - Essay Example Application of the model in CRH Plc will enable the company identify the external forces that affects the external activities of the company. This enables the formulation of improvement strategies that enhances performance in the changing marketing environment. The model generalises the strategies required in gaining competitive advantage in the industry for easy application (Onsman, 2004). However, application of the model may be misleading because it assumes a classic perfect market although it is clear that the construction and building industry is faced with numerous challenges. The SWOT analysis is crucial because it summarises the both the internal and external environment of a company i.e. strengths and weaknesses coupled with the opportunities and threats. The knowledge of both the internal and external environment will enable the company adopt measures appropriate for addressing both the internal and external challenges. However, analysis of the strategic management status o f the company by use of the SWOT framework requires considerable time and energy when being applied in large corporations. The PESTEL framework assists in the identification of the macroeconomic factors that affects the whole industry, certain markets or the company. This is because many factors in the macroeconomic environment have significant impact on the overall managerial behaviour. According to the Global Industry Analysts (2011), the tool is crucial in understanding the factors that can influence the industry growth and decline. PESTEL analysis can also guide the company on the direction that they should take in avoiding failure or losses. However, undertaking the PESTEL is tedious and may be ineffective to large organisations. The framework is also limiting because it only focuses on the external environment of the company. Critical Analysis Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Rivalry among the Existing Firms The company has numerous competitors in the industry, especially the well established multinational companies such as Lafarge S.A. and Holcim Ltd. In 1990, the market was dominated by large companies that capitalised on the strength in their local markets to expand internationally. According to Davenport (2002), the competing companies increased their supply rate when the market for construction industry was booming locally; leading to increased competition for the local markets. This made CRH to venture into acquisition of smaller companies in both local and international hemispheres such as 26% shares of a North-eastern Chinese plant and a 50% stake of an Indian company in order to increase dominance both local and international markets (Batchelor, 2001). Bargaining Power of Customers The construction industry is extremely fragmented with the production rate varying depending on the location as well as other factors such as values and cultures. The application of the building regulations regarding the location of the

Reaction Order and Rate Law Essay Example for Free

Reaction Order and Rate Law Essay Data, Calculations, and Questions A. Calculate the initial and final concentrations as needed to complete Tables 1 and 2. Data Table 1: Varying the Concentration of 1.0 M HCl | | | | |Concentrations | | |# Drops |# Drops |# Drops |Initial | |# Drops |# Drops |# Drops |Initial |Initial |Final |Final |Reaction Time (sec) |Reaction | |Well # |HCl |Water |Na2S2O3 |HCl |Na2S2O3 |HCl |Na2S2O3 |Trial 1 |Trial 2 |Avg |Rate (sec-1) | |1 |8 |0 |12 |1 M |0.3 M |0.4 |0.18 |18.4 |16.3 |17.35 |0.0576 | |2 |8 |6 |6 |1 M |0.15 |0.4 |0.0045 |37.1 |37.9 |37.5 |0.0267 | |3 |8 |8 |4 |1 M |0.1 |0.4 |0.02 |107.2 |106.6 |106.9 |0.0093 | | B. Calculate the average reaction time for each reaction by adding the times for the two trials and dividing by 2. C. Calculate the reaction rate by taking the inverse of the average reaction time, i.e., 1 divided by the average reaction time. 1. Use table 1 to determine the reaction order for HCl. 2. Use table 2 to determine the reaction order for Na2S2O3. Remember, you want to see what happens to the reaction rate when you double the concentration of one reactant while the second reactant remains unchanged. In Part 1, we varied the concentration of HCl while we kept the concentration of Na2S2O3 the same. In Part 2 we varied the concentration of Na2S2O3 while keeping the concentration of HCl the same. These are  experimental data and results will be different from some of the nice, even numbers you saw on textbook problems. For example, in this experiment you may double the concentration of a reactant but the reaction rate may increase anywhere from 1.7 times to 2.4 times. This still means an approximate doubling of the reaction rate. On the other hand, if you double a reactant concentration and the reaction rate increases by 0.7 to 1.3 times that probably means that the reaction rate multiplier is one (1). D. Write the rate law for the reaction. E. Using the rate law, the rate, and the appropriate concentration(s) from one (or more) of your experiments calculate k. F. What are the potential errors in this experiment? Laura Titus Done in the table Time average=time trial 1+time trial 2/2 HCl reaction is 1.36 Na2S2O3 reaction is 0.84 Rate law = k[HCl]^1.36[Na2S2O3]^0.84 Rate law=k[0.024]^1.36[0.0576]^0.84 Rate law= k[.03264][.048384] K=1/.00158 K= 632.9? Me not fully sure if my numbers are correct or not. Rounding correctly, documenting at right time.

Profile of Henri Fayol, a Founding Father of Management

Profile of Henri Fayol, a Founding Father of Management Background and Carrier Henri Fayol was a French industrialist and manager, working in the mine industry and looking for applicable solution to business management. He went to school in Lyon (the second largest city of France) and enrolled at the engineering school of Saint-Etienne (Ecole Nationale des Mines). He received an education as a mine engineer and graduated in 1860 from this school at the age of 19. He was first employed as an engineer at Boigues, Rambourg and Co. In 1874, this company became Commentry-Fourchambault SA or Comambault). It is important to notice he spend all his professional life in the same company experiencing its expansion and knowing well its structure and production methods. Fayol was first remarked as an engineer when he wrote a paper proposing a solution to fire hazard, fire fitting and spontaneous combustion in mine, destructing men and installations. In 1866, he was appointed director of a single mine of Commentry at the age of 25. The company was going through expansion an d added several other mines to the company in other part of France such as Monvicq coal mine and Berry Iron Ore Mine. He became the directors of those mines as well at the age of 31. In the same time, those expansions did not translated in increase of dividend. Quite the contrary, Fayol had to face the fact that Comambault was in dire financial straits. In the late 1880s, the company had failed to pay dividends for at least 4 years. In 1888, at the age of 47 he became the CEO of the Comambault conglomerate. The objective of his mission as a CEO was to make the company viable again which he did. He worked closely with his managers to turn the company around, closing inefficient units, investing in research and technology and expanding the geographical base of the company. In 1908, in a discourse he gave he reminded this episode of industrial history: In 1888, the company Commentry-Fourchambault was on the verge of disappearing in abandoning its plants and in resuming the exhaustion of the mine stocks, when a change of head office came. Since then, the company prospered again. The companys history shows that its fall and rising are uniquely an effect of the administrative process employed. This is with the same mines and the same plants, with the same financial resources, in the same commercial situation, the same board of directors, and the same personal that the company raises again to this moment. Therefore, some administrative methods leave the company to its ruin; other methods give it its prosperity back. Work, experience, knowledge and good will of several thousands of people had been sterilized by some dysfunctional administrative process. And other administrative processes emphasize all its strength. Fayol was head of a very large business with over 10,000 employees, which at the time, was comparable to todays international companies. He remained CEO until his retirement at the end of WWI, in 1918. Before his retirement in 1916, Fayol published his main book Administration Industrielle et Generale in the professional publication called Bulletin de la Socià ©tà © de lindustrie minà ©rale. In 1917, he sets up the Centre for Administrative Studies (CAS) in Paris. His reflections were published as a book only in 1925, the year of his death. This centre was important in diffusing his ideas. It organised seminars and colloquium with industrialists, public sector officials of the French state, engineers, the military, and various academics. The CAS was a platform from which collaboration and further works could be done. From 1921 to 1925, he collaborated to several studies on behalf of the Frenchs public sector. Notably, he produced a study of the Post and Telecom Department as well as the French Tobacco and Match monopoly. Why a founding Father of Management? One remarkable feature about Henri Fayols influence in management is the fact that he is little known compared to Taylor (1856-1915) who lived roughly at the same time. The epoch of the great development of the XIX century industry does not explain why one hits more fame than the other. In 1912, Charles de la Poix de Frà ©minville met Taylor and stated to spread the principles of Taylorian organisation of work. Taylors work dealt with the workshop of manufacturing and Fayols with the mining industry and its general management. One must say that one aspects of the relative slow diffusion of Fayols ideas, is due to timing. In 1916 and 1918, France was dealing with the WWI and its aftermath. Although many of Fayols principles he developed in studies during 1921-25 could have been used for bettering the management of the French state agencies and enterprises were not followed. The reason have to be found in the institutional change of France at the time, whereby France was separating th e church from the state in education, the growth of the public sector, labour union and large businesses correlated with the rise of professional managers and the interest in technology development. My view is that, for ideological reason, when the French state was trying to reinforce itself (by establishing national system of education, nationalisation of companies (train system, post telecom, etc.) but also vis-à  -vis the threat of Germany), Fayols pragmatic criticism and suggestion to change the states forms of management were not always welcome. The reinforcement of the state own industry and the regulation of market by state agencies went well until 1986. That is in the large part, the reason why the French themselves did not consider Henri Fayols work the convenient resource to deal with the management of the Frenchs state agencies and industries. The US business school considered Henri Fayols works worth teaching their undergraduates. It only since the last 10 years (around the end of the 1990) Frenchs scholars have been studying back their own managerial roots. Despite the history of how Fayols ideas come about, one may ask us what is important in them to be consider foundational to management thought. In fact, there is, as any classical management thinker, a basic originality in Fayols proposition on the need of management regarding the dealing of the industry. Fayols Originality To a large extend, all management thinkers and practitioners view the management function as the means to organise technical function of the business toward an optimal economic efficiency. In this respect, Henri Fayol, Frederick Taylor or Alfred Sloan do not differ in their aim. One can find Fayols formulation of the role of management in the industry in a talk he gave in 1900 at the Congrà ©s International des Mines et de la Metallurgie. Fayol makes the following remarks: The technical and commercial services are rather well defined, which is not the case of the administrative services. The way it is built and the attribution it fulfils are not well known, its operations are not immediately clear. It does not visibly built, forge, sell or buy but nevertheless, everybody knows that if it does not work well, the company goes downhill. [Something on] recruitment: It is necessary to link theory and practice in engineers education. But it is about the proportion of each we may differ. Some think one needs to overcharge the programs as well as the lectures given in the engineering schools, other think that we have already reached the limit of theoretical teaching and that one waist our elites youth one or two years that would be better employed in active life. He also make clear in his Book, General and Industrial Management, the difference of skills and attention one needs to deal with engineering work and management work. Fayol drew attention to the need for schools and universities to educate people about administration as a topic of its own right (in conjunction to engineering, and not engineering alone). The point of his reflection on the education needs of the engineers was trying to deal with the qualities required to make a good manager rather than relying on the formal rules of engineering, its aura amongst the bourgeoisie to provide good job to their kids. For that matter, the list of qualities needed to get effective manager is rather dissimilar to what is required to be an engineer alone: Physical qualities: health, vigor, address (manner of behaving) Mental qualities: ability to understand, judge and adapt Moral qualities: energy, firmness, willingness to accept responsibility, initiative, tact, loyalty and dignity General education Special knowledge: pertaining to the functional context of work, function, technical and so on. Experience: knowledge of work, recollection of lessons from experience. Fayol take the need of education very seriously. He indicates three main sources of issues that can potentially trouble the good education of managers: (a) the problem of industrial concentration, (b) the role of higher technical education and its abuse of mathematics and (c) intellectual curiosity. The problem of industrial concentration Managing great business has always presented great difficulties. To get a grasp of it, suffice to glimpse over the various charges a CEO has to take into account. Those difficulties are inherent to the nature of things and have existed at all time. But what did not exist all the time was the recent industrial development and industrial concentration which increased considerably the proportion of big deals and show the lack of good CEO. The role of higher education and the abuse of mathematics We abuse mathematics in the belief that more one knows it, more one is able to govern businesses. Also, [we are in the belief that] their study, more than anything else, develops and makes the judgement correct. Those are mistakes which cause serious issues to our country and which seems to me useful to fight. () A long personal experience taught me that the use of higher mathematics is worthless in business management, and that engineers, pitworkers or steelworkers almost never use it. I firmly believe that elementary mathematics contribute to form your judgement, as all other branches of general culture. I nevertheless do not believe that an intense higher mathematical culture, imposed without necessity to future engineers has the same effect. The excessive culture of any kind of science is unhealthy to both the physic and the intellect. The studies of mathematics do not make exception. Studied at length with intensity, it leaves intact only the well balanced brains. One sees transcending mathematicians without common sense and we see numerous men of common sense who are not mathematicians. Intellectual curiosity You are not prepared to take the direction of a company, even small. School did not give you the administration, commercial and accountancy notions you need to be a CEO. Even if school would have provided them, you will still lack practice and experience that can only be acquired by the contact of men and things. () one asks you to bring with you your diploma, reflection, logic and a spirit of observation and dedication to the accomplishment of your task. Work to complete your professional knowledge, but do not neglect general instruction. Directors inspiring high esteem and admiration never stopped, you will see, to learn through constant effort. () You belong to the intellectual elite, so you should not be uninterested in news, you should be aware of the general ideas agitating modern society in all domains. One sees that Fayol saw that the engineering education (such as he received with its predominance of mathematics) did not answer the challenge one is facing when dealing with organisation and human matters. He saw in management the field of practice and reflection that was needed in the domain where engineering, although provide efficient techniques for dealing with materials, was unable to address the human aspects. It does not mean that management was a sort of humanism but the normal counter-part of the rationalisation of an organisation (private or public) having in mind that one needs to take a special attention to the question of human organisation if one wants an industry to function. Fayols Administrative Theory As a result of his experience and of a continuous reflection on the way to make corporation work best, in situation of change, he reckons one needs to establish an administrative theory which takes into account: The need of projections. It demands to establish a system of yearly projections for the long term objectives and monthly projections for special activities in the company fitting the global planning. The role of projection for the personal is to be able to assess what has been achieved as people go on working. To fight bureaucracy by facilitating the face to face relations, avoiding the multiplicity of hierarchies which increase the irresponsibility of the directors. Also one needs to stability in hierarchy and the possibility to reward or penalize the use of power. Pragmatism has to be applied in the division of labour by controlling decisions to be always balanced with the situation. The need to use control managers to be able to take decisions rapidly before it turns to be catastrophic. In the general literature in management, Fayol is often seen as the top-down manager that worked out the tools of governance to the distribution of task. In fact, his main focus was not to formalise the tools of decision making in a simple chart to follow. Fayols point was that an organisation could not be managed with a simplest view concerning both the function of the organisation and its human components. And for that matter, it is first necessary to consider the organisation, not simply from the tasks analysis view following technology application the industry, but as an integration of several key functions. In other words, Fayol invites us to grasp at once the complexity of the management of business organisation by taking into account the following functions: Techniques (production, transformation), commerce (business and sales), finance (capital management and research), security (protection of goods and persons), accounting (balance sheet, inventory, factory price, statistics, etc) and administration (foresight, organisation, command, coordination and control). Donald Reid (in his paper on Fayol called Fayol: From Experience to Theory) make clear that Fayol, as a practitioner, did accumulate a number of industrial and managerial experience before putting his ideas on paper. He kept copious notes of his observations, having a particular interest in organisational failure and the nature of responsibility and authority among key decision makers. In 1861, Fayol write in his notebook an example of management failure. In one mine, he saw that all work had to be stopped because of an injury to a working horse. The mine manager was absent and the stable manager had no authority to obtain the replacement of the injured horse. In the case of the horse replacement, it was the inability of the company structure to deal with this technical problem that causes inefficiency. Fayol did identify that authority was required to overrun narrow conception of decision making that did not keep the final objective in mind. Fayol was able to overrun the absence of the stable manager in order to get things done. In this case, one sees that authority is neither authoritative nor working without the flexibility demanded by the condition of the situation (the production of coal in this case). In his work, General and Industrial Management, he reviewed all aspects of management involved in the running of a business. Concerning the authority, he came with a list of principles: Unity of command Hierarchical chain of command Separation of powers (authority, subordination, responsibility and control) Centralisation Order. But he did not concentrate only on authority since his interest was about the functioning of the industrial business in its entirety. Since most of the problems he encountered were not technical in the sense of related to engineering skill; but mostly managerial, he came to the conclusion that one needed a certain element of creativity in the managerial practices in order to accommodate industrial realities. For example, he gave the possibility of experienced workers to become supervisors of work groups. In developing working teams with the authority to act and make decisions in the mines, it improved both motivation and effectiveness. The objective was to make them responsible for quality and the timing of work. He observed that all employees are involved in the administration of the business to a greater or lesser degree. In his book General and Industrial Management, he draws a comprehensive perspective of all his experience. One may call this a general theory. But it is clear that in Fayols words, it is an attempt to generalise the sum of experiences he has observed in managing Comambault in order to deliver a compendium of his ideas that could transcend industry and organisational types. One sees that in keeping the area of management large (from the decision making, the work relationship as well as the selection of human resources) Fayol identified the following principles of management (see text 1 of the reading list): Division of work specialisation of labour Authority the right to direct the work of others but requiring commensurate responsibility for actions and performance Discipline obedience and respect for the organisation and fellow workers Unity of command one superior rather than many in contrast to F W Taylor Unity of direction one agreed plan of action leading to focus and coordination of effort Subordination of individual interest to the general interest Remuneration to incentivise and make employees more valuable Centralisation to achieve the right proportion of centralised and decentralised decision making to optimize personnel Scalar chain the chain of authority from top to bottom, allowing also for lateral communication and decision making (the gang plank) Order people and resources in their appropriate place Equity equitable employee relations based on respect and kindliness Stability of tenure of personnel to assist in resources planning Initiative encouraging energy and zeal throughout the organisation Esprit de Corps building a sense of belonging and team work

Superconductivity Essay -- essays research papers

Superconductivity INTRODUCTION We've all heard about superconductivity. But, do we all know what it is? How it works and what are its uses? To start talking about superconductivity, we must try to understand the how "normal" conductivity works. This will make it much easier to understand how the "super" part functions. In the following paragraphs, I will explain how superconductivity works, some of the current problems and some examples of its uses. CONDUCTIVITY Conductivity is the ability of a substance to carry electricity. Some substances like copper, aluminium, silver and gold do it very well. They are called conductors. Others conduct electricity partially and they are called semi-conductors. The concept of electric transmission is very simple to understand. The wire that conducts the electric current is made of atoms which have equal numbers of protons and electrons making the atoms electrically neutral. If this balance is disturbed by gain or loss of electrons, the atoms will become electrically charged and are called ions. Electrons occupy energy states. Each level requires a certain amount of energy. For an electron to move to a higher level, it will require the right amount of energy. Electrons can move between different levels and between different materials but to do that, they require the right amount of energy and an "empty" slot in the band they enter. The metallic conductors have a lot of these slots and this is where the free electrons will head when voltage (energy) is applied. A simpler way to look at this is to think of atoms aligned in a straight line (wire). if we add an electron to the first atom of the line, that atom would have an excess of electrons so it releases an other electron which will go to the second atom and the process repeats again and again until an electron pops out from the end of the wire. We can then say that conduction of an electrical current is simply electrons moving from one empty slot to another in the atoms' outer shells. The problem with these conductors is the fact that they do not let all the current get through. Whenever an electric current flows, it encounters some resistance, which changes the electrical energy into heat. This is what causes the wires to heat. The conductors become themselves like a resistance but an unwanted one. This explains why only 95% of the power... ...vious afterwards. It's as if the train was "surfing" on waves of voltage. THE MAGSHIP Another interesting application is what is referred to as the magship. This ship has no engine, no propellers and no rudder. It has a unique power source which is electromagnetism. The generator on the boat creates a current which travels from one electrode to another which go underwater on each side of the ship. This makes the water electrically charged. This only works in salt water because pure water would not conduct the current. The magnets which are located on the bottom of the ship would produce a magnetic field which will push the water away making the ship move forward. There are a lot of problems related with that. The magnetic field could attract metallic objects and even other ships causing many accidents. CONCLUSION As time goes by, transition temperature, critical field (maximum magnetic field intensity that a superconductor can support before failing), current capacity and all other problems are improving slowly. But, at least they show that we are moving in the right direction. A lot of people are getting interested in that field since it promises a lot for the future.

French Lieutenant’s Woman Essay and Techniques Postmodernism

Examine how FLW represents a postmodern way of thinking. Postmodernism encompasses a reinterpretation of classical ideas, forms and practices and reflects and rejects the ideologies of previous movements in the arts. The postmodern movement has made way for new ways of thinking and a new theoretical base when criticising art, literature, sexuality and history. John Fowles’ 1969 historical bricolage, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, utilises the ideas of postmodern theorists such as Foucault, Barthes and Sartre amongst others to form a postmodern double-coded discourse which examines values inherent in the Victorian era from a twentieth century context. The novel’s use of intertextuality, metafiction and its irreverent attitude can be seen as a postmodern parody of Victorian fiction and the historical novel. For the purpose of examining the values and ideologies of the Victorian era in comparison to the postmodern paradigm, Victorian conventions are shown juxtaposed with postmodern techniques such as the authorial intrusion and alternative endings. Sarah Woodruff is different from other characters in The French Lieutenant’s Woman because she is epistemologically unique and because the narrator does not have access to her inner thoughts: in chapter 13 the author directly addresses the reader and states that he gives his characters the free will to determine their outcome in his novel. In a typical Victorian context, the protagonist’s inner conflict and motives would be exposed to the reader. Fowles denies his right as the author to impose definition of characters and in this way recognises â€Å"the age of Alain-Robbe Grillet and Roland Barthes† in bringing about the â€Å"death of the author† and the birth of the â€Å"reader†. The reader must interpret the text in ways (s)he views it and is forced to actively engage in the text. Fowles also introduces the author as a god-like figure (who turns back time) to craft multiple endings. He (the author) allows Sarah to act in an existentialist way to determine her outcome in the novel. It allows her to exercise her individuality, making her stand as a lone feminist figure amongst the tides of Victorian conventionality. The novel rewrites Victorian sexuality and in this way is an example of the way the sexual revolution of the 1960s is described in the historical novel of its time. Foucault described the Victorian period as the â€Å"golden age of repression† and he revises the notion that the Victorian era was silent on sexual matters in his works. Both Foucault and The French Lieutenant’s Woman claim that the forms of power and resistance are historically conditioned. For example, Sarah’s body is still institutionalised at the end of the novel since she appears only as a minor character in Rosetti’s house. The fact that Sarah is an anachronistic creation points to the idea that the novel is not about the Victorian era but a critique of relative values in their context. The metafictional structure of the novel successfully elucidates that Sarah seems to be subordinated in the patriarchal power of the contemporary narrator- it also endeavours to show that even the most emancipated groups during the Victorian period could not carry the liberation of women completely. This is a reflexion of what Fowles deems backward in the context of his society, and is apparent in Sarah’s repressed sexuality; and the blatant disparity regarding notions of female sexuality: Ernestina is always confined within the strict boundaries of patriarchal, societal convention- this is shown by the way she represses her sexual desire for Charles, being content with the most â€Å"chaste of kisses†. In this way the novel represents the truth as a form of pleasure in a Foucauldian sense. The institutionalisation of prostitutes, a somewhat clandestine pastime for Victorian gentlemen, is a situation that reflects the obvious hypocrisy of Victorian society when compared to Sarah’s situation. She (Sarah) is labelled a â€Å"fallen women† (hence her nickname â€Å"Tragedy†) and is ostracised because of her free-will and â€Å"feminine misconduct†. Charles finds her forwardness rather intimidating as it goes against his beliefs that the stratification of society is a vital element of social stability. This enforces Charles’ Darwinian beliefs about the social hierarchy (in reference to Social Darwinism). Darwinian evolution finds its expression by creating a new way of thinking. Fowles’ novel represents the great crisis of Darwinian Victorian England and traces its impact on society. Charles questions his religion in the Church, admitting he is agnostic, and the narrator himself labels Charles as having agnostic qualities. At the end of the novel Charles has become a â€Å"modern man† and Sarah the â€Å"hopeful monster† who feels alienated in Victorian culture without being able to conceptualise Charles’ intuitive understanding of her otherness and modernity. Darwinian evolution and nineteenth century psychology are portrayed in The French Lieutenant’s Woman as providing a corrective culture dominated by narrow minded Evangelicalism. Examples can be observed in Mrs Poulteney’s fickle attempts at being charitable, her dismissive attitude towards her duty to the church which is merely a habitual pastime for her, and her decision to dismiss Sarah. Then novel’s intertextuality is made up of its bricolage of history and fiction. Victorian epigraphs (and the irony used in them) serve to reconstruct the cultural milieu of the age using representations of facets of its literary world through the poetry of Hardy, Tennyson, Arnold and Clough. It provides a context within which the characters try to construct their subjectivities where they can emancipate themselves from the novel’s dominant ideology (this is an example of how Freud’s ideas about literature’s subjectivity are utilised). Also, the footnotes reinforce the author’s presence and allude to the fact that the author is omnipresent (in the novel). The alternative endings represent two types of Victorian endings and the last, a more postmodern, existentialist one. Fowles’ plays with different endings to epitomise the early postmodernist problem of artistic form and representation and this technique agrees with Umberto Eco’s idea that literature has openness and can be interpreted in many ways. The postmodern style is successful in creating a tension between these endings within a single text. The last alternative ending in chapter 61 can be construed as the existentialist one. The existentialist theme dramatises the struggles of individuals to define themselves and to make moral decisions about the conduct of their lives in worlds which deny them of freedom. Both Charles and Sarah are searching for themselves, trying to find their own existences by rebelling against the norms of tradition: Charles by embracing Darwinism nd declaring himself agnostic (in line with the Nietzschean existentialist ideology); and Sarah by redefining herself (such as labelling herself â€Å"Mrs†) and avoiding the hypocrisy of Victorians towards sexuality and human relations. Like Charles and Sarah, the reader is free of manipulation (by the author) and we can manoeuvre our position in the narrative to create our own â€Å"meaning†. The use of the existentialist theme in The French Lieutenant’s Woman makes the reader aware of Sartrean-style thinking which was not in existence in Victorian times but was conceptualised in Fowles’ era. It is successful in allowing the reader to criticise and contrast the differing ideologies present at the respective times and, by highlighting the shift in values, Fowles effectively expounds a new way of thinking. Fowles successfully blends the Victorian novel with postmodern ideologies and twentieth century sensibility by applying paradigms which lead to the reader being allowed to question previously held values, in particular relative values which change according to context, such as sexuality and religion. Through his pastiche of traditional Victorian romance, and historical narrative Fowles deconstructs his novel and makes the reader aware of contextual codes and conventions through ironic, metafictional comments: â€Å"Perhaps it is only a game†¦. Perhaps you suppose the novelist has only to pull the right strings and his puppets will behave in a lifelike manner† -The French Lieutenant’s Woman Chapter 13 *

Chimpanzees In The Wild essays

Chimpanzees In The Wild essays Ever since she was a little girl in England, animals in Africa fascinated Jane Goodall. When she was eight years old, Jane read Tarzan and Doctor Doolittle. This furthered her love of animals even more and brought on the dream of one day studying in Africa. When her dream finally came true, Jane expected the expedition to last only three years thirty years later she is still in Gambi, Africa with no intention of leaving. July 14th, 1960 marks the first day Jane Goodall embarked on her journey. It had been a long, hard process to just get permission to go, as local authorities shunned upon the idea that a white woman would be living amongst wild animals all alone. Jane began the first day she got there; this was going to be her life, her passion. Once everything was set up in camp, Jane went into the jungle for the first time. Over the next couple of weeks she tried to gain the chimpanzees trust, but they fled at the mere sight of her. This made Jane impatient, but she knew from the start that it would be a long, hard process; this set back just made her determination even stronger; she never considered quitting an option. To gain their trust, Jane sat atop a peak and watched the chimpanzees everyday where they could see her. This allowed for Jane to view the chimpanzees in their natural environment and also allowed for the chimpanzees to become comfortable with Janes presence. Jane observed that chimpanzees resembled humans in ways never seen before. Chimpanzees talk to each other, create and use tools, and also eat meat they have a savage side to them, just like us. They are romantic with one another and walk in groups while in search of food. Chimpanzees are noisy and excitable, but become calm and gentle within minutes. They eat fruit, flowers, blossoms, and seeds for approximately seven hours a day. The mother is the primary caretaker of the baby the fa ...