East Goes West :: essays research papers

One of the first works of fiction written by an Asian immigrant to the United States, Kang's novel describes his early adulthood with a poignant humor that touches not only on his most positive experiences in a new country--such as being befriended by other Korean Americans--but also on some of his worst: the time when college classmates convinced him to run a race in long underwear. Kang, however, never forces us to feel sorry for him; simply by relating his experiences to us in a uniquely crafted language that reflects both his extensive literary training and his own quirky sense of style, Kang manages to win our sympathy for an obviously gifted young man who faces discrimination and hardship during his first years away from home His struggle was long and hard, but he made the reader see the full picture. The joys, the downfalls, and even the times where he thought he could just give up. By making us relate to him, the reader could understand what they so previously where obliviou s to. I responded very favorably to his view of Korean culture but found his criticism of American culture distasteful.I did not fully receive the effect of Kang's humor until reaching the final sentence of the story. Before the final scene, Kang's wit serves the purpose of elevating the Asian Han in the eyes of his audience, but ultimately, it has a more serious, lingering effect. Ironically, it reveals the life of this character to be tragic, hopeless, and not at all amusing. The final line, delivered by Han's mistress, dismisses him from his post, for she requested "a house servant, not a comedian" (2001). Kang thus suggests here that regardless of the amount of effort Han puts into his work and no matter how honest his intentions, he will never be taken seriously nor given a chance to assimilate and improve upon his mistakes. Although he was expected "to work from morning to night" and "had never had to work so hard in his life with no time to himself," his intentions were never regarded as anything but lazy and laughter provoking. Upon learning that he is to be fired, he offers one final, wholehearted attempt to please an unsatisfiable woman: "But hoping still to make good, I dragged the vacuum cleaner in to do the living room, my usual morning task. The girl as usual giggled when she saw me. East Goes West :: essays research papers One of the first works of fiction written by an Asian immigrant to the United States, Kang's novel describes his early adulthood with a poignant humor that touches not only on his most positive experiences in a new country--such as being befriended by other Korean Americans--but also on some of his worst: the time when college classmates convinced him to run a race in long underwear. Kang, however, never forces us to feel sorry for him; simply by relating his experiences to us in a uniquely crafted language that reflects both his extensive literary training and his own quirky sense of style, Kang manages to win our sympathy for an obviously gifted young man who faces discrimination and hardship during his first years away from home His struggle was long and hard, but he made the reader see the full picture. The joys, the downfalls, and even the times where he thought he could just give up. By making us relate to him, the reader could understand what they so previously where obliviou s to. I responded very favorably to his view of Korean culture but found his criticism of American culture distasteful.I did not fully receive the effect of Kang's humor until reaching the final sentence of the story. Before the final scene, Kang's wit serves the purpose of elevating the Asian Han in the eyes of his audience, but ultimately, it has a more serious, lingering effect. Ironically, it reveals the life of this character to be tragic, hopeless, and not at all amusing. The final line, delivered by Han's mistress, dismisses him from his post, for she requested "a house servant, not a comedian" (2001). Kang thus suggests here that regardless of the amount of effort Han puts into his work and no matter how honest his intentions, he will never be taken seriously nor given a chance to assimilate and improve upon his mistakes. Although he was expected "to work from morning to night" and "had never had to work so hard in his life with no time to himself," his intentions were never regarded as anything but lazy and laughter provoking. Upon learning that he is to be fired, he offers one final, wholehearted attempt to please an unsatisfiable woman: "But hoping still to make good, I dragged the vacuum cleaner in to do the living room, my usual morning task. The girl as usual giggled when she saw me.

The Last Samurai Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The idea of honor is different to many people. The dictionary defines honor as, That which rightfully attracts esteem, respect, or consideration; self-respect; dignity; courage; fidelity; especially, excellence of character; high moral worth; virtue; nobleness; specifically, in men, integrity; uprightness; trustworthiness; in women, purity; chastity. [1913 Webster]. However in the film The Last Samurai, the idea of honor seems to differ between the different people in each culture.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Americans equate honor with how many battles have been won. Not necessarily how the battles are won. We are introduced to the idea of American culture changing the Japanese way by first being shown the Japanese buying advanced weaponry from the Americans. Nathan Algren, played by Tom Cruise was revered with utmost respect for his victories in the civil war and against the Indians. However through out those battles many innocent people were killed. These facts however did not stop the American government from awarding him many medals of Honor, and thus leading to his recruitment by the Japanese emperor to train his armies. No medals however could stop the nightmares that Algren would have every night as he replayed the dishonorable things he had done in past battles.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Japanese people were attempting to begin adapting to a western style of life. The government tried to take the samurai way of life out...

The processing of information begins

The processing of information begins when energy as the idea of irritant reaches one or more of five senses of the human being. This contact takes place while physical approach to the irritant, which stirs to activity one or several senses. This idea demands from side, which executes communication, to choose those means of information transfer, personal or mass, which are able to embrace the target market. So, when a person contacts with quite strong stimulus, his sensory perceptions become more active, and coded information transfers to his brains via nerve fibers.This effect is called sensation, which is influenced by the following three threshold determinations: 1. The lower (or absolute) threshold: it means the minimum quantity of stimulating energy or intensity, which is necessary to form the sensation. 2. The Extreme threshold: the point, in which additional increasing of stimulus intensity doesn’t affect the sensation. 3. Differential threshold: the minimum change of ir ritant intensity, which can be noticed by human being (Dictionary of Marketing and Advertising, p. 74).Some researchers of buyer behavior think that intensity of the irritant should be at least at minimum (absolute) threshold in order to make some influence on a buyer. The other think that irritants which are below the absolute threshold can influence the buyer as well – so-called conception of subconscious persuasion. We know that our sensory detection abilities go into a decline when we are getting older, so it is interesting to find out a way marketers appeal to the elderly people.The other thing we need to take into consideration is that during the life we are getting used to different sensation, so we have to increase the level of absolute threshold to attract attention. So, what is attention, particularly? It can be determined as direction of cognitive resources to process the irritant. One of the main difficulties for commercial company is to make a consumer to focus a ttention on some definite information, which has to be reported. Due to some sources, average consumer looks through three hundred advertisements per day.Average TW viewer looks through more then one hundred TV ads. It is pity, but a lot of such materials cannot attract attention, which is necessary to make some influence. The same situation you can see in trading as well. There are from 18 till 20 thousand different types of consumer goods in assortment of typical supermarket. The main problem there is marking out of one item from plenty of analogs at the market shelf and attracting of consumer’s attention as well.The factors which influence distribution of consumer’s limited resources can be divided into two main groups: personal (individual) and factors which have concern to stimulus. Besides, some emotional conditions of personality are used in publicity, such as feeling of self-confidence, reliability, self-satisfaction, creative abilities of human being, objects of love, strength, family traditions, immortality, etc. The second group of factors is called determinants, which relay to stimulus, it means these are characteristics of stimulus.The can be controlled, it means somebody can manipulate by them in order to increase or decrease the attention. So, it means that they are used quite often by companies in their struggle for buyer attention (Consumer Behavior, pp. 103-105). Let’s examine some factors used in order to attract the buyer’s attention by the example of elderly people, taking into consideration their peculiarities we spoke about a page before. Size: To tell the truth, the stronger irritant is, the higher is a probability that it will attract attention.In case you enlarge the size of printed advertisement, you’ll increase chances to attract buyer’s attention. Probability that the object will be seen in the shop, depends on size or quantity of trade space for this definite item. This is mostly important for impulse shopping, where sale depends partially from the fact how many place is given for the item. As elderly people often have poor eyesight, it is important to take into account size of type – it should better be bigger, then letters, typed on the items which are aimed for younger people.Some pharmaceutical companies make medicines which mostly are used by elderly people and write information for these medicines by big letters, in order to see description clearly. Color is also one of important factors. Color advertisements can increase sale for 41% more, than their black and white analogs. Moreover, some colors can attract attention more, then the other. We can examine some meanings of colors here. Red color – color of determination, can arouse strong desire to make some deed, for example to buy some item.Orange color can add activity, but at the same time will give the feeling if internal balance and spiritual harmony. Yellow color inclines to communication. I t is the color of open mind and communication, at the same time it is able to provide the thing with intellect, so this is the reason that a lot of Hi-tech companies make their advertising in yellow color. Green is good in publicity of medicines, health centers. Pink increases the feelings, so it can be used in perfumery, goods for women and children, family centers etc.Blue is a color of peace and harmony, dark-blue – helps to concentrate at the very necessary. In 1959 Ris made a test (color Lusher test) in medical clinics of Leipzig University and tested 1000 people of different age, from children till elderly. He found that young people, especially in the age before 25, prefer red color. The elder people are, the more they like dark colors (Journal of Advertising, p. 15). Still, it is very difficult to influence attention of elderly people also because they due to their life experience can resist the publicity and advertising more then young people or children.LG Company m ade a mobile phone, which is specialized for elderly people. Marketers understand that it is quite difficult for elderly people to see small letters, press small buttons as well as learn new technologies. Still, the majority of elderly people prefer a basic number of functions – it means the idea â€Å"A telephone should be used to make calls only†, so LG made this telephone with elementary functions only. Big buttons and low price – are two factors by opinion of LG, which should satisfy demands of elderly. This model (LG NS1000) allows only making calls and receiving/sending SMS.Japan manufacturers of automobiles intend to start a new line of special automobiles for elderly people. As local Mass Media informs, such new and clever auto will help the driver to brake and to turn the wheel. They plan assembly-line production of such cars from the beginning of 2006. Auto will have numerous sensors and cameras, which can read all movements of hands, legs and eyes of driver and will determine mistakes in driving. At present time specialists analyze influence of age changes for physical reaction of driver and his ability to estimate situation on the road.In accordance with results a special computer program will be created to help elderly drivers. A prototype of new car is already developed, which will have speed till 60 km/h. The creators of new auto consider that this novelty will be of great success because of increasing quantity of elderly drivers in Japanese society. The cost of such a novelty will be approx. 9-13 thousand dollars. Now, let’s make the excursion to Austria, where one of the trading concerns makes an interesting experiment: this concern opened two supermarkets especially for elderly people.This experiment is interesting before all because representatives of the elder generation traditionally aren’t attractive group for retail trade: seems that they don’t have much money, and their demands are quite modestà ¢â‚¬ ¦ Still, almost in all European countries fast ageing of society takes place, and quantity of elderly people is increasing more and more†¦ So this supermarket in Vienna is a kind of test place, where technologies of servicing of quite specific client sphere, which is constantly increasing and becomes more important, take place.At the first sight, this is a very ordinary supermarket: long rows of shelves, relaxing music from dynamics†¦ But if you be attentive, you can notice some differences. For example, figures at the price-list: they are bigger, then usual. Some of shelves have magnifying glasses, in order the client will be able to see inscription at the goods, which are usually typed by small font. Besides, you can ask the cashier to give you glasses for reading.Just near the exit you can see a comfortable bench to have a rest, near it – the device to measure blood pressure. The cart for shopping has special hanger in order to put there a walking stick. The gangway between shelves is bigger then in usual supermarkets, and floor in the shop is made of special material, so legs don’t slide. Moreover, the shelves are made in such a special manner that elder person doesn’t have to bend down or stretch for goods he needs. All those novelties were highly appreciated by the clients.

Nutritional Assessment

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is the ratio of weight to height and is used to classify people as being â€Å"underweight,† â€Å"normal,† or â€Å"obese† (BMI Classification, 2007). Using the international classifications, a BMI of 32.2 would be considered as Obese Gr. 1. The case being answered is why is a person who eats normally at 4-5 fairly healthy meals every day, satisfies the recommended allowances classified as obese? Many factors must be considered when answering this case. Most important among these is whether the measurement of the BMI is done under normal conditions, that is, if the body type, health status, body composition and metabolic function of the patient are considered. Truly, there are some instances when the BMI classification is not applicable. It must be noted that the Body Mass Index is a standard for determining the risk of normal people. It cannot be used for people who have high muscle mass. Muscle is considered as heavier compared to fat and a more muscular person would naturally be higher in body weight compared to his or her â€Å"more normal† counterpart. Two persons, for example may have a 32.2 BMI but may have different body compositions: one may appear â€Å"fat† because of greater body fat composition and the other may appear really lean and healthy because his or her body composition is mainly of muscles. A bodybuilder may always be classified as â€Å"overweight† or â€Å"obese† if BMI standards are used; when Arnold Schwarzenegger won a certain competition, his BMI was 31 (Whitney, Cataldo and Rolfes, 2002). As it is, the definition of the BMI must be kept in mind—it only considers the person’s weight and height and not the person’s body composition. In other words, in assessing the health risks of a person using a BMI, the body composition or body type of a person should be considered first because the results may erroneously represent the real status of the individual. The results of the Body Mass Index can also be influenced by the water composition in the body. If the person is retaining water, for example, he or she should not be classified using the BMI standards because the weight is affected by the unnecessary water that is retained inside the body. If water is retained and the person is measured, the BMI would naturally result to a higher value which would not represent the person’s true health status. Edema or water retention can sometimes happen to people with kidney failure, and to women who are pregnant. The BMI classification should also not be used to pregnant women because in measuring the BMI, the weight of the unborn child is not considered which could also erroneously increase the true value of the index. The result would then, not become representative of the true health status of the individual. If however, the patient is not â€Å"muscular†, the relatively high BMI of the person, despite his or her normal intake can be attributable to the person’s rate of metabolism. There is a possibility of the person having low metabolism as a result of previous abnormalities in dietary practices and intake or possibly a thyroid disorder. Hypothyroidism can decrease the rate of metabolism of a person by as much as 30%. At such rate, the person, no matter how healthy his or her eating habits are, is at risk to gaining more weight, having higher BMI and thus, being at risk to the diseases associated with higher BMI. These factors must be considered first in assessing whether there is something significant in the BMI of the patient under study.   The 32.2 BMI of the person may not be signifying a risk in health but a mere indication of erroneous use of the classification without considering the body composition, water retention, or pregnancy. But if these factors are considered, the person must really be at risk for high fat deposition as a result of low rate of metabolism. The person should then consider doing more physical activity or consulting a doctor on how to normalize the thyroid function. Works Cited BMI Classification. (2007). World Health Organization. Retrieved 26 Feb 2007 from http://www.who.int/bmi/index.jsp?introPage=intro_3.html, Whitney, Cataldo and Rolfes. (2002). Understanding Normal and Clinical Nutrition. 6th ed. Stamford, CT: Wadsworth Thomson Learning.

David's the Death of Socrates and Baxandall The period eye Essay

David's the Death of Socrates and Baxandall The period eye - Essay Example The essay "David's the Death of Socrates and Baxandall The period eye" discovers David's painting called The Death of Socrates and the article of Baxandall called The period eye. In the middle of a group there is a man emotionally telling something to them. His right arm is raised in an argumentative gesture. His left arm is leisurely reaching for a golden cup, held by a young man in red. What is happening in the picture? Is this man telling them about the death of Socrates, which makes them mourn so much? Or is it Socrates himself? Then why is he still alive? People acquainted with Socrates’ story understand that the scene takes place in a prison and that Socrates, sentenced to death, is to drink a cup of hemlock. The philosopher is sitting on the couch in the middle of the canvass surrounded by his friends and disciplines, all of them crying and grieving. Loyal to his ideas of the immortality of human soul, Socrates has decisively and calmly chosen death. He continues teachi ng his disciplines till his last breath. At the moment he is pronouncing his final words, reaching for a cup without looking at it, as if death is a casual and trivial event in his life. This interpretation can be done only by people, who have heard of Socrates story. However, there are still many questions to be answered. Why did the painter choose this plot for his work? What was his message? Why did he depict the scene in exactly this way? There is only one thing we may say for sure: the picture must have expressed.

1894 Cripple Creek strike ( Colorado History the centennial state ) Essay

1894 Cripple Creek strike ( Colorado History the centennial state ) - Essay Example However, due to uproar from the miners, the employers decided to maintain the eight hour working time but reduced the wage rates to $2.50 down from $3.00 that they had been getting according to Russell and Cohn (11). Nevertheless, on 1 February 1894, the owners of the mine changed their mines and began implementing the ten-hour working schedule, which prompted those Union members to protest for the reinstatement of the previous eight-hour working schedule. Nevertheless, after realizing that the employers were not ready to heed to their demand, a war ensued. The war was characterized by use of lethal weapons such as dynamites and firefights. The war lasted for five months with the Western Federation of Miners emerging victorious (Russell and Cohn 13). This war has been very important so far as Colorado’s history is concerned. For instance, aftermath of the saw WFM emerged as a very powerful political entity in Colorado region (Jameson 15). This is after managing to draw many citizens and the miners to the group, which had been considered a militia by the government. It is reported that the WFM became so powerful and influenced the political destiny of Colorado as many politicians, as well as labor officials from the whole country, became associated with the group. As a result, Jameson notes that WFM emerged as a political force to reckon within the entire Rocky Mountain West (18). Political pundits argue that the strike has ever since altered the political direction of Colorado (Suggs and George 23). For instance, the aftermath of the strike saw citizens of Colorado fault the Waite for siding with the WFM thereby promoting political instability and violence in the region. The reaction later led the defeat of the waite during the November 1894 polls thereby resulting in victory of Republican candidate, Albert McLntire (Jameson 4). It is said that the

Comparison Of Hinduism & Buddhism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparison Of Hinduism & Buddhism - Essay Example Hinduism and Buddhism share a relationship somewhat comparable with the connection between Christianity and Judaism. The Buddha’s parents and family were Hindu but Buddhists argue that Buddhism is not a derivative of Hinduism nor associated with it. Buddhism has, however, gained wide acceptance in India because it is a less traditional and dogmatic religion. Though these two distinct religions have millions of followers worldwide, their history, beliefs and practices are still largely unknown to western societies. This discussion will provide a brief overview of the ancient religions Hinduism and Buddhism and examine the similarities and differences between the two. Though the precepts of Hinduism and Buddhism are fundamentally unrelated each influences the other in various ways. The Buddhist concept of empathy toward all living things was exacted from Hindu teachings and Buddhists greatly influenced the development and growth of art in India. Buddhism also introduced meditation techniques to Indian Hindus who have since become better known for using meditation to attain higher levels of consciousness (Jayaram, 2007). The ‘religion of India,’ literally translated as ‘Hinduism,’ though tied by definition and by its predominance in the country of India is practiced in many regions of the world. Hinduism originated at least 3500 years ago from prophets who divulged their secrets to followers. It has no single founder.