Hallucination free essay sample

Hallucination Jack Im Jack. Im 25 years old. At the moment, I dont really see my life going places anytime soon. Currently, I have no house, no money that I can say Vive earned myself and have never had a Job in my life so far. Vive managed to get by living on the sofa in front of the tell, in the lounge of my sisters one bedroom flat. My sister Is Daisy. She Is 21 and I love her more than anything else In this world. Things first started to go wrong for me when I was Just 1 1 . The situations, delusions, scenarios, scenes, voices, I suppose thats when It first really started to begin, Just as I started secondary school.It was when my dad walked out on my mum, my sister and l. It was also when I smoked my first cigarette. By the time I was 14, I was starting to wreck my life. We will write a custom essay sample on Hallucination or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Already I was Involved with the wrong crowds and was Introduced Into a whole new world of drugs, smoking and girls. All this along with a darkness which had not long formed in my head, was clouding up and taking priority over school. I was never intelligent anyway. I left school that year and never went back. Everything still felt dark, I began to misuse alcohol by the time I was 15.Several times my mum took me to the doctor; again she called for one when I had locked myself in my dorm for 2 weeks. Eventually, I was diagnosed with a schizophrenia disorder, which would explain the situations going on in my head that had first started when I was younger but gradually began to progress and become worse with time. Along with the diagnosis came doctors, therapists, counseling sessions 3 times a week, psychiatrists, antispasmodic medication, more hallucinations, higher suicide rates, more cannabis and alcohol intake and everything seemed darker than it ever had been.When I was 16, I had no GEESE qualifications and no college that would offer me any kind of placement. So I Just let myself get worse. I got involved with armed robbery, shoplifting, arrests and overnight cells in police stations, more drug dealers and just a whole lot of trouble. My Grandfather died Just before I turned 17 and it tore me apart as I was the closest to him. I felt worse especially when he left a whole load of money in his will for my mum to try and better my life when I didnt deserve It. When I was 18, I met Channel and she changed my life completely, never did love someone the way I loved her.However much I thought she accepted me for who I was, she never did love me in the same way and used me then treated me like dirt. During my break up with her, I had made an amazing friend online called Halley. She was 16 and she really effected my life In a positive aspect, I was protective over her, I loved and cared about her. I felt as If I could open up to her over every single thing that had happened to me In the past, she had always been there for me, even If It was three In the morning. Unbelievably, Halley was another thing In my life that had to ruin.I never meant to drag her Into the centre of my life, Involve her with drugs and mess her about. Since my late teenage years, Ive been a mess. The schizophrenia along with its jokers, drugs, arrests, trouble and hospitalized several times as all I ever seemed to do was become addicted to a new coping mechanism over and over again. My best friend Daniel took his own life last year. Evidently, Vive ended up chasing my own mother away; she didnt want to have anything else to do with me. Hence why Im living with Daisy. Shes all I have now to care about. It was cold and late one Saturday night. Neither I nor Daisy had any plans for the night and we were sat in front of the television set watching some crummy soap. Daisy, I interrupted the programmer neither of us were paying any attention to and joked towards my sisters direction, a takeaway? Pizza? No! Ill get us Chinese, my treat. What you saying? I had EYE left from my SEA amount I got paid last week and Id get another payment next Friday to buy whatever I needed anyway. Only if we get sweet and sour chicken? she smiled and her face lit up at the thought of another takeaway and a whole load of good food. Ill get you anything you want! I chucked the takeaway leaflet and landlines phone towards her direction, get egg fried rice though. I stood up and walked down the hall into the small kitchen. Oddly, I was randomly feeling a bit shaken and dizzy. Well it wasnt odd or random. I knew exactly the reason why. I hadnt taken any of my prescribed medication what so ever for the past week. Not because I wanted to be stubborn or dishonest to my sister and doctors, but because I honestly believed that I could manage well enough without them for a few days. I could see those pills sitting there on top of the fridge.Two small cardboard boxes and one small, rounded container with my name written across them, all shouting and calling out towards me so loudly. Suddenly, I sprung round and twisted the blue tap above the sink. The freezing water came spurting out, praying droplets violently towards me. Cupping my hands underneath the tap, I let the cold water collect in my palms and splashed a cupful over my face. My eyes immediately flickered open when the freezing liquid hit my face and I was startled. Running the tea towel which was left on the oven door handle over my face, I felt refreshed.I opened up the fridge door and searched for a can of Coke for Daisy and a can of Fosters for myself and set back down the hall Just as the door bell sounded, the Chinese guy letting us know about his presence. Damn, all that food hit the spot. It was 1 1 :pm and we both were stuffed after easting on a tone load of food. Ohm yeah. I anti half tired now though and Im working tomorrow. I think Im off to bed, you finish watching the film, Daisy stood up chucked the tell remote at me, stretched and brushed the front of her pajamas down. The duvet is down the back of the sofa. You goanna be alright tonight? Youve seemed okay recently, though the kitchen door is open. Im in my bedroom if you need me, okay? she lent down and pecked my cheek and slipped away, sleepily. Night sis, I set back on the sofa and watched the screen. White Guys Cant Jump will always be my favorite all time film. Eventually, about half way through the film, I began to doze off. I went to turn the light off at the switch, and then took off my Jeans to lie back on the sofa and fall asleep during the film. . Orange and red.Flashing lights were everywhere, leaving spots in my vision. It was my back. Kicking the duvet draped across my boiling body off of me in a sudden fury, I pushed myself up with my back leaning against the black leather of the sofa. I was shaking violently. I didnt want to move. I couldnt even see properly. Jack, a gentle, soft, womanly whispering came from across from the television set. Jack. Jack. Im here. I scanned the room and could see nothing. The window was wide open; the net curtains were failing around the wooden frames and the blinds were rolled up and rattling.I could see clearly into the dark night ahead, the moon was bright and there was a grey, dull mist swirling in the air. A tall ancient tree stood across from the block of flats on the other side of the road, all gnarled and bent over looking crooked. From under the crooked, bent branches, I could see a figure. I couldnt make out whether it was male or female with my orange haze but there was definitely mouthing there. Watching me, pointing. I trembled to my feet to get a closer look out the window and to stop the loud, constant rattling of the blinds.Just as quickly as I stood was as quickly as I fell with a thump to the wooden flooring. The soft whispering was back, bothering, refusing to leave me alone. Jack, stand up. Jack. Jack. Jack I was shivering like mad. Who Who is that? as soon as I heard myself speak, I knew something wasnt right. My voice was too high pitched and scared. Its your mum. Cant even recognize your mothers own voice when you hear it? Some son you are. The voice snapped at me, angry and upset but it was definitely that of my mothers. No. NO. Youre not here! You said you didnt want to be around me anymore, remember?You do remember. I remember. And Im sorry. Im sorry, crystallographers. my words were rushed and mumbled. Why though? Why are you here now? Why.. .? Where are you? I cannot see you Outside, my son. Im ready to forgive you now for all the bad things you have done. I want to see your face son. Vive brought a friend with me. Please, come now. Show your face. I heard the voice. It was my mothers. And Vive longed to see her face for 5 years now. Im coming. Please just wait there Ill be quick. Slowly, I moved my hands around the floor in search of my Jeans Id flung off earlier. Jack? Daisy sleepily and sluggishly called out my name from her room are you okay? Her voice came louder this time as I heard her slipped feet beginning to pad from the bedroom and down the hall. Without even realizing it, I must have been loud, with all the thudding to the floor and rattling of the blinds. A sudden rush of adrenaline and energy from nowhere pounded through my body, leaving me capable of bringing myself back up to my feet. Jack. Come on, hurry now. Or Ill be gone. The eerie voice belonging to my mother whispered from somewhere in the room. Wait please! I called back out. Frantically, I spun about on my feet in search for my Jeans and yanked them over my ankles, past my knees, until they were sitting on my hips then buttoned the top hurriedly. Quickly, I dashed around to step out the door until I was paused in my steps. Daisy was standing there right behind me, Where are you going? Whats going on Jack, its nearly am. I prayed that she couldnt see my limbs still uncontrollably trembling and shaking despite how hot I still felt, Cigarettes. Vive run out okay? And l. I need more. Now. And I havent got any left.Ill run to the shop down the road quickly and so Just pass me my Chuck Tailors there behind you there. My words were rushed, didnt make sense and they were dishonest but I knew she wouldnt believe me if I told her our mum grabbed them myself, pulling them on faster than I ever have over my socks and lacing up tight, Daisy! Im okay. 15 minutes tops, go back to bed. I turned the lock to the flat door, not before kissing my sisters cheek as a reassurance and flew down four flights of stairs to the ground floor in order to meet my mother once again. DaisyHe must have been crazy to honestly expect me to believe that lie about going to get cigarettes. I promised my brother I would look out for him. So thats exactly what I needed to do. The misty air I was staring at from the flat window now hit my face, hard and cutting. I didnt have a Jacket. I was feeling the chill now. I looked across the street to the direction of the disfigured tree through the opaque fog. Amongst the grey haze, I could Just about make out the figure, which now appeared to be beckoning me towards them with a come closer finger gesture.The one word was racing through my head. Mum. IM COMING! I was shouting all my words out loud even though I had only meant for them to be heard in my own head, WAIT, IM HERE! I started to run, faster and faster towards my goal, the stinging air attacked my body but it motivated me onwards and onwards, Just reach the tree. Three meters away from the tree. Closer and closer. I could see her. She was there. Of course, she was different in looks, a few years older, sunken face, more wrinkles, whiter hair. Mum. Its you? I whispered her name, and then dared three steps closer, can I see you? Why did you come here! she barked at me angrily. Mimi came here to me, you asked me to come! Confused, I didnt know what to do or say. She had asked me here after all? Mimi dont belong to me. Why do you think your father left us? It was YOU. It was your entire fault. You ruined my family. She turned around and was yelling at me, pointing her fingers and pressing them into my chest. I felt a slight stinging. Her dark eyes were as black as coals but had a strange tinge of red to them, he is back now Jack. I have not been happier since you left my life and he returned to mine.I should have left and stayed with HIM instead of being stuck with you for many PAINFUL years of my life. I had belief in some of the words she as spitting at me but even so, they still stabbed and cut me like she was clawing and hacking away at me with a sharp knife. This was not what I expected my own mother to been saying to my face. From the tall shadows of the tree, another figure lurked behind her. AHA! So he is here too! Mum spun around clapping her hands. As she did so, blood splutter and dripped from the fingertips. She smiled, giggled and became giddy.The red tinge took over the full pupil color of her eyes. Slowly, the figure revealed himself by slinking out of the shadow and wrapping his pale, white, filthy hands around my mothers waist. A head of white hair rested on my mothers shoulders and he began to laugh a deep, devilish cackle. I was sickened. It was my father. The same as he welled up. Again, I felt like the 11 year old helpless kid, scared of his father. He detached himself from mums body and sprung himself out towards me. Lunging forwards for my chest, he pressed himself against me.His eyes, demonic and red like my mothers were, glared at my own pale blue ones, his yellow teeth snarled at me and I caught the whiff of beer on his lips. Crimson red gashes and green infected wounds decorated his neck and spiraled upwards to his sunken cheeks. His itchy white beard scratched against my freshly shaven face and prickled my cheeks. He pushed his whole body weight onto mine. Everything happened quickly after that. Forcefully, his old wrinkled hands pushed down on my chest and I was sent flying down to the ground with a thud as my back collided with the earth beneath me. Please, whimpering, I was begging for him to please leave me alone, please not to hurt me. SCUM! Look at you! What are you? Always a weeping baby you were, he was laughing at me, filthy scum is all you are his rasped, crackled voice brought back the horrible childhood memories. I tilted my head back and looked at the gleaming moon shining high up in the after midnight sky. Tears were beginning to roll down my eyes. My father leaned over me, a tall, dangerous figure, aft taller than me, making me feel like the smallest ant. He spat on my face. The spit was bloody and warm. From nowhere came a blow to my ribs.And another and another and another. Hard kicks into my body that were coming from him. Then mum came walking over towards my body on the ground. Laughing and laughing, she began to join in with the kicks and blows. Blood dripped from their bodies which were now coated in red from head to toe. The orange dots returned and appeared in the corners of my vision and began to flash strongly. They were dancing and bouncing, jumping around. I could barely see my parents dripping their blood over me. Hazed. The lights were taking over. I reached blackout once again. . I woke up feeling rough. I cant have been out for long.The night was still dark and the air was still cutting. My head was pounding and my ribs were throbbing. All over, my body was in complete pain and agony. Gradually, I sat up in dizziness. I rubbed my forehead. I was absolutely stunned by the surrounding. Leaves rustled softly in he quietness of a deep sunless forest. Other than that, it was complete silence. For miles on end was a complete labyrinth and entanglement of trees. All of them were towering, threatening and distorted like the one back by the flats. In complete disbelief over what had happened before I was blacked out, I began crying out loud.The tears Just came splashing down my cheeks and onto the top of my lips, tasting salty and unpleasant. Look at me. My father was right. I was nothing but a pansy. Gathering a handful of dry, fallen leaves, I crunched them up tightly in a fistful and watched them crinkle and turn into tiny, bitsy flakes of nothing. I stood up and kicked the leaves furiously around aimlessly and watched them float around in the air. I began walking. I wanted to be home now. Head down, hands in the pockets of my jeans, I began to walk. From nowhere came a loud SNAP! sound, like someone treading on the fallen branches and twigs of the trees.I paused abruptly in my tracks. Slowly and cautiously, I turned back around from where the snapping came from. There in front of my eyes she stood, tall and slim Just like when I first met her. Her bright, radiant blonde hair blew out from behind her, her cherry glowing lips that her mouth. She glowed in the moonlight. I rubbed my eyes. I couldnt believe what I was seeing. The clothes she was wearing where slightly dirty and torn in some places. Her eyes were the same red color as the ones both my parents had placed in their sockets. However hard I looked at those demonic red eyes, she still looked flawless.I parted my own lips. My voice barely a whisper, Channel? Hey, hey baby. You missed me? Channel stepped delicately over the leaves towards my direction, grinning with her white teeth. What are you doing here? I was angry now. First my parents and now Channel. Everyone was out to come joking for me tonight. The way she was walking towards me in her ripped Jeans with her red eyes made me feel threatened and panicky, what do you want now? I loved you all those years ago, and you left me like I was nothing. l Just wanted to say hello to you!I thought youd be happy to see me tonight! Dont be this way now. Her presence was centimeters away from my body and she slowly ran a rose painted fingernail down my left arm, leaving an unpleasant chill running through me. Leave me alone Chant. Not now. Please. I said I wouldnt let this happen again. Youre not to mess with my head Chant. Go please. I was panic struck. I placed my hands over my head, and shook myself slightly. Dont tell me what to do! slyly she spoke and moved her body around me in circles, sending my head into a maze, like the twist of trees I was stood in now.Slowly, I felt her breath nearing the back of my neck. She breathed deeply and slowly like a rabid animal. I froze and let her air tickle my neck. Then she rested her chin on my shoulder and tilted her head slightly to the side so she had a clear side view of my face. I did not look down for I knew I would be terrified of the sight I saw. I took the slightest glance. The pale teeth that not long ago sat perfectly straight in her mouth had now turned into the longest, daggered, blood covered fangs. I yelped out loud like a puppy, petrified of the gleaming teeth and pushed her back away from me with my arm. Again, I dared to turn back around to look at her face. Well Jack. That was a mistake, red and gleaming, the cold eyes stared deeply right into my soul. STAY AWAY CHANT PLEASE! uncontrollably my arms and legs had begun to shake and tremble furiously all over again as I backed up away from Chant and her glistening eyes and fangs. Her body hunched over, her arms ere out ready to leap and grab me all over. Give me a hug Jack, the voice which spoke did not belong to Channel. It didnt belong to the girl I had met 8 years ago. It was infernal.She was ready to pounce all over me and sink her teeth deep into my body. Please. Please. Please, I wanted out now, this was all enough. I could not stand being here in this Jungle of trees, my head pounding, my body shaking, my heart racing. I closed my eyes and whispered the word to myself, please, please, please, please. One sudden movement, one pounce and she were on top of me and I was pushed back down to the ground all over again. She had her legs pinned on top of mine and she pushed her claws on top of chest. The red glassy eyes were on fire. Blazing red.The teeth were sleek and shiny and the once perfectly in place hair flew widely like a mane around her face. Dont make me force you off me Channel, if there was one good thing my father had taught me from when I was young and it was never to hit a girl. Id stuck by that teaching ever since I was 10 years old. Muff would around my throat. Her head lowered to my neck and she licked her fangs hungrily. I was gasping for air. I pushed her, hard and firm in the stomach. She fell to the left side of me. Clawing and dragging her nails into my arm, she tried desperately to hold on to me. Never was I up on my feet so quickly. My first sudden thought was to run and get as far away as I possibly could from the blood-thirsty woman who I once dated back when I was 18. Since when in hell did my ex-girlfriends turn into vampires? This was all so insane. The way she stared at me like she was a dog drooling over a piece of thick steak with those gleaming red eyes. As if she was ready to kill me any second. Running fast, my feet thumped through the grassy ground and crispy leaves. My earth felt like a fist pounding heavily inside my chest; my ears were ringing and my head as if it could explode any moment. Did I dare a look back over my shoulder?Lowering my pace, I looked hastily back over the direction of where I came from. AHHHHHHHHH! a high pitched screaming sound escaped from Chanteuses now blood-stained mouth. Blood trickled down from her chin and dripped onto her chest. There she stood, only 10 meters away from me. Grinning, she clasped her hands tightly together, turning them whiter than they already were once she had noticed me realizing her presence and licked her lips. Now Jack, Im aware someones been missing their mummy and daddy ohm? all cutesy and innocent school girl-acted, she tilted her head to the side cooing and mocking me COME! She shouted aloud raising her arms up to the sky as if to be summoning someone or probably something. From nowhere, wet droplets fell from the grey clouds lingering above me and onto my head and bare arms. The rain grew stronger and heavier very quickly. Loud crashing thunder boomed through the sky and shook the trees dangling overhead. I could hear and feel the sound of my own heartbeat pumping far too quickly in my head. I could feel the rain absolutely gushing downwards and soaking my skin. I could feel the desirable urge to crumple to the ground and curl up into the smallest ball to be left there to die.However, I didnt crumple to the ground. I was not so easily defeated. I Just stood there, staring at the possessed girl standing meters away from me yet again. Tilting my head upwards towards the branches and lifting my arms out to the side of my body, I shouted as loud as I could make my voice go, WHAT DO YOU WANT? the rain instantly began to slow and the thunder immediately stopped, lowering my arms back to my sides. Channel looked back up to me. Mimi, she simply said to my face. There was a flicker of movement from the shadows behind from where Channel was standing. Chant, please, panicked, I looked around, frightened.My voice, small and needy, matched the way I sounded when I would call her in the middle of the night, feeling threatened by my own thoughts all those years ago, praying for all the darkness to Just disappear. Tonight, Im frightened by my own thoughts once again. My mother again. Appearing from behind Channel, I could see that the red eyes still remained. Chant laughed, So mummy does love you after all. Sweet, I paid no attention to the words falling out of her mouth and focused my eyesight on mums face. Dripping with blood still, she was possessed by another sort of demon too. STAY AWAY FROM ME PLEASE, I was scared and frightened all over again, Please go now, I dont want any of you. Not even me? again, my father came creeping out from behind Channel. No longer could I ever been in his existence, I was done with everything he had ever put me through. No longer would I be scared. Recklessly, I walked slowly towards my father. He was the only thing in my eye line. Enough was enough. I tilted my head up, level to his. Especially. Not. You. I spoke slowly and carefully so he could clearly understand that I was done with him completely, spitting and snarling with empathic on every single word.I turned and walked calmly away. Big mistake, son, he spoke Just as calmly. l am no son of yours, and I continued walking onwards. Id run if I were you, Channel cackled, interrupting my walking, run real fast, little boy. A sharp excruciating pain Jolted straight through my chest. I turned and glanced a look behind me. Channel more to the front, my mother and father standing slightly Enid, they lined up in triangle formation. Behind them was a long row of bloody, red dripping frenzied beings. Some vampires like Chant; some coated in blood and wounded like my parents, some zombie looking.All of them with the same glassy red eyes, digging and searching deeply into my soul. The insufferable pain Jolted through me again. I took a double take when I had adjusted my eyes to look at the faces of creatures standing before me. A doctor wearing a bloody suit, a drug dealer smoking a Joint, the girl I had a one night stand with, a psychiatrist holding a clipboard, a teacher with a stern Judging kook, a police officer holding bent handcuffs, the old woman who had a shop I once stole from when I was a teen wore a bloody blouse and afloat skirt, a paramedic wearing his green suit Gain covered crusty with blood. Daniel, my best mate, was there amongst them all, even though I KNEW he was dead. Then my heart sank as I continued to scan the many faces of demons. Her hair was dyed the electric blue, the exact same shade she wore when she was 16, never had I seen it any different color and it was still all fluffy and swooshed over her face. I used to love teasing her by touching it all the time. But she was like the rest of them. Her bright green eyes had been replaced with the threatening red ones. Blood splattered weightily over her chest and white t shirt she wore. Halley.I wanted to run right at her and wrap my arms tightly around her the way I did when tears were streaming down her face when she was sad, the way I did when I hadnt seen her for months. It had been years since I last saw her and the want for a tight hug with her now felt not even wanted, but needed. And now she was here standing right before my eyes. But it wasnt her; I knew it wasnt her deep down. I was stunned. And extremely scared. Run, Jack, Hallways mouth moved ever so Without another thought I took off, my breathing heavy, my arms were pumping to the side of me, my legs striding. As soon as my legs were off, so were theirs. It was a chase. Vampires and demons and all these beings that I knew never really existed were after me. For what? What had I done? BUT YOU CANT RUN FOREVER, Halley screeched. I glanced back and took a look. Her body was covered head to foot in shining black scales, and she had black, satin-like wings growing from her back. She also had beautiful black feathers from the top of her head to the back of her neck. In ere mouth she has long, sharp, dagger like fangs. She also has a long, thin, black tail and sharp claws. Well, I would sure try to run as far away from this nightmare as I possibly could.The early morning was ticking on and on. Anytime soon, the sky would become lighter and Id be able to find my way out easier. All Id done so far is run in a straight line right ahead of me and for that moment, thats all I intended to do. Screeching and inhuman howling noises exploded from behind me through the once silent forest of trees. I didnt know how to think anymore, I didnt understand why this was all happening to e. My head was exploding. I was trying too hard to think. Some part of me was even saying to turn around and accept whatever drugs the dealer had and ruin myself completely.Still, I couldnt tell in the moment whether it was me Just imagining it because Id been in this Jungle of trees for much longer than I would have liked, but I could see a field of green grass ahead of me surrounded by a tall set of black, pointy gates and railings. They didnt really look very inviting but it was the only chance I could see towards some kind of safety. It is whatever was behind those gates or the beasts lowing after me and in my opinion the gates seemed the safest option. Anything was surely safer than possessed demons who had all once played a part in my life one way or another. The early morning sky began to grow lighter and the air cleared slightly of mist. Sweat trickled down my forehead and I could feel the back of my t shirt soaked through. I was so nearly there. Just sprint a little further. My breathing was slow and heavy, my arms pumped harder at my sides and my legs were striding harder and faster than they ever had before. Without any second thought I was through those gates as soon as I was close enough. Then I nearly cried out with fear. My heart nearly sank to the pit of my stomach. Where I was standing, was graveyard. Tombstones placed in the ground for miles further than the eye could see.There was literally no end in sight. Shivers ran through my spine then through the rest of my body, and I halted to an immediate stop surrounded by a cluster of graves. Fear sank straight through my soul. I was going to die now. They were going to kill me. I took a closer look at the tombstone to the left of me. The name read: Daniel Way: 15/5/1997 26/11/2013. Daniel. I knew, I knew he was dead. I could feel them all still behind me, blocking the only way out, sometimes making a slight rustling noise, but other than that, complete silence throughout the graveyard.I was trapped here, Daniel, my voice was barely a and I felt my eyeballs darting around all over the place making me feel dizzy. And soon you will be. Let us take you Jack. His voice was soft, gentle and understanding, and it stung so much to hear it again. I wanted to trust his words right now, his persuasive, convincing tone of voice that I once trusted with all my life. In one swift movement, I turned from his gravestone to face the monsters. All of their faces were ad. Some of them I loved, some of them I hated even, some of them had once betrayed me and some of them had even saved my life.

Writing Topics for an Essay Developed With Analogies

Writing Topics for an Essay Developed With Analogies An analogy is a kind of comparison that explains the unknown in terms of the known, the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar. A good analogy can help your readers understand a complicated subject or view a common experience in a new way. Analogies can be used with other methods of development to explain a process, define a concept, narrate an event, or describe a person or place. Analogy isnt a single form of writing. Rather, its a tool for thinking about a subject, as these brief examples demonstrate: Do you ever feel that getting up in the morning is like pulling yourself out of quicksand? . . .(Jean Betschart, In Control, 2001)Sailing a ship through a storm is . . . a good analogy for the conditions inside an organization during turbulent times, since not only will there be the external turbulence to deal with, but internal turbulence as well . . ..(Peter Lorange, Leading in Turbulent Times, 2010)For some people, reading a good book is like a Calgon bubble bathit takes you away. . . .(Kris Carr, Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor, 2008)Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into wars, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves. . . .(Lewis Thomas, On Societies as Organisms, 1971)To me, patching up a heart thatd had an attack was like changing out bald tires. They were worn and tired, just like an attack made the heart, but you couldnt just switch out one heart for another. . . .(C. E. Murphy, Coyote Dreams, 2007) Falling in love is like waking up with a coldor more fittingly, like waking up with a fever. . . .(William B. Irvine, On Desire, 2006) British author Dorothy Sayers observed that analogous thinking is a key aspect of the writing process. A composition professor explains: Analogy illustrates easily and to almost everyone how an event can become an experience through the adoption of what Miss [Dorothy] Sayers called an as if attitude. That is, by arbitrarily looking at an event in several different ways, as if if it were this sort of thing, a student can actually experience transformation from the inside. . . . The analogy functions both as a focus and a catalyst for conversion of event into experience. It also provides, in some instances not merely the To discover original analogies that can be explored in a paragraph, essay, or speech, apply the as if attitude to any one of the 30 topics listed below. In each case, ask yourself, What is it like? Thirty Topic Suggestions: Analogy Working at a fast-food restaurantMoving to a new neighborhoodStarting a new jobQuitting a jobWatching an exciting movieReading a good bookGoing into debtGetting out of debtLosing a close friendLeaving home for the first timeTaking a difficult examMaking a speechLearning a new skillGaining a new friendResponding to bad newsResponding to good newsAttending a new place of worshipDealing with successDealing with failureBeing in a car accidentFalling in loveGetting marriedFalling out of loveExperiencing griefExperiencing joyOvercoming an addiction to drugsWatching a friend destroy himself (or herself)Getting up in the morningResisting peer pressureDiscovering a major in college

Strength of Materials Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strength of Materials - Essay Example Braun (2006) claims that elastic structure deformation when under a certain load reduces the maximum potential strain energy as per the virtual work principles. The deformed structures strain energy relies mostly on the load applied as well as on the structural design of the whole body. With prescription of the elastic properties of the structural members, the topology and the load exerted on the structure, the strain energy of the structure under particular load becomes a function of the nodal co-ordinates of the undeformed structure. To enhance the rigidity of the structure the nodes can be relocated in a particular way to reduce or minimize the strain energy. Material or configurational forces which maintain the shape of a particular structure are achieved through deriving the strain energy regarding the nodal coordinates. These forces when released make the structure take a shape with less or minimized strain energy thus the structure gets more rigidity. Some nodes require to be fixed because of constructional purposes for the optimization of the process. The support and applied loads locations can not be altered. The analysis of strain gauges gives a significant benefit to functional structures by directly assessing the state of resistance and movement of a particular structure in the mechanical environment where it runs. ... They are also applicable where the assumptions of simple shape of a certain structure defined loading of theoretical analyses are hard to obtain thus the strain gauges can be employed to provide significant information pertaining these. The strain gauges are useful to finding several functional analyses and information regarding performance of individual beams which leads to functional interpretations of structural design (Swartz, 1991). Strain gauges are gadgets used for measuring distance changes between several points in solid bodies when they experience some deformations. Work done in producing deflection of the body produces strain energy that is deflected in the strain gauge. They get information which is used in finding the stresses in those bodies or indicate and measure quantities such as pressure, force, electrical resistance and acceleration. They exhibit a change in resistance that is proportional to the mechanical strain exerted in the bodies. Most common strain gauge includes the insulating flexible backing that gives support to a pattern of a metallic foil. It is attached to the body and deforms as the body deforms leading to electrical resistance due to the alteration which is measured with the use of a Wheatstone bridge that relates the strain to a quantity termed as gauge factor. The gauge factor, Given, Refers To the Undeformed Gauge Resistance =Change in Resistance Due To Strain andStrain Metallic foil gauges have gauge factor a little more than two. Given, BV-bridge excitation voltage. Gauges used in measuring temperature variations detect change in size of the object due to thermal expansion as a strain and indicates in the gauge. This causes the

Assume you are employed in a small restaurant in Bolton and your Essay

Assume you are employed in a small restaurant in Bolton and your manager ask you to prepare a report describing following conce - Essay Example The major factors affecting the restaurant business are the price and quality. The price and quality are in turn determined by several factors such as demand and supply. This paper focuses on how different factors and concepts can affect the operations of a restaurant business located in Bolton. The concepts that will be considered include market demand and supply, concepts of elasticity of demand and supply, determination of equilibrium, business organisation and behavior, and the market structure. Market Demand and Supply Analysis of demand and supply gives insights into how markets operate. Additionally, the demand and supply concepts explain how sellers are able to allocate prices to goods and services. Restaurant businesses deal with provision of goods and services. The restaurant industry is greatly influenced by the supply and demand forces. In a restaurant business, there is a need for balancing of resources, which are often scarce. Understanding supply and demand factors and their application in the restaurant business is crucial since it affects the sales and purchases and, hence, crucial decisions in a business. Supply and demand varies from place to place as well as with time (Parsa, et al., 2005; Taylor and Weerapana, 2011). The supply in a restaurant business is determined by several factors, which include the price of the goods. Tastes and preference of the consumers is another factor affecting the restaurant business. The number of consumers varies and this determines the quantity of foods that restaurants require to make. Additionally, the income level of people living around the restaurant, who comprise the prospective customers, determines the quantities of foods restaurants require to prepare. In Bolton, the number of restaurants is quite high. The commodity price, which is in this case food, is determined by both supply and demand. The commodity prices greatly affect the profitability of restaurants. Commodities such as vegetables and meat are affected by food production. When the prices for commodities are low, restaurants can reduce the prices of their foods without compromising on the profitability of the business. However, when commodity prices are high, it becomes hard to attract customers through price reduction since this would lead to losses (Greco, 2005; Taylor and Weerapana, 2011). The supply and demand affect the price of commodities in restaurant business. If the supply of raw food is less, the demand will be more resulting in increased prices. High prices for raw foods will reflect in the restaurant menu. For the restaurant at Bolton, the manager must assess how the price of the different ingredients required will affect the sales. Additionally, the manager must consider the economic statues of the customers to determine the ingredients to use. If the customers are willing to pay much, the manager should focus on upgrading the ingredients to improve the quality. In Bolton, the economic situation is consid erably good and people are willing to spend much at eating out. Therefore, it would be advisable for the manager to focus on quality. Customers are likely to be interested more in the quality than in the price (McEachern, 2011). There must be ways of attracting customers and retaining them. Since the number of restaurants is considerably high, consumers will be tempted to try out different outlets. Therefore, a

Dunkin Donuts in England Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dunkin Donuts in England - Research Paper Example Finally, this proposal includes a thoroughly researched site selection process and final implementation strategy. The hallmark of Dunkin’s business model is customer loyalty. John Costello, Dunkin’ Donuts’ Chief Global Marketing and Innovation Officer, identified the opportunities for our team; guests of Dunkin Donuts have developed a connection with the brand that is truly unique. (Restaurant Magazine, 2012) The customer relationships we foster help sustain our profitability and success within the domestic and international markets. An increase in customer loyalty of only 5% can lift lifetime profits per customer by as much as 95%. For the sixth year in a row, Dunkin’ Donuts has been ranked #1 for coffee brand loyalty by Key Brands Consulting, (Brand Keys, 2012). This recognition is a testament to the quality of the products and services offered in each establishment across the nation. While Dunkin’ enjoys domestic brand loyalty from Americanâ€⠄¢s within the U.S., the competition is gaining strong competitive advantage in England. For example, Starbucks has opened over 700 stores in the U.K., (Barnett, 2011) which has allowed them to capture brand recognition and customer loyalty in this seemingly untapped market. Dunkin’ Donuts understands how to build, execute, and maintain a better and stronger customer loyalty from offering superior products and value. For this reason, the strategic team believes that expanding Dunkin’ Donuts to the U.K. will prove to be a tremendous success. England is ready to â€Å"Run on Dunkin’.† Strategic Analysis / Operational Plan Before considering global expansion, several factors should be considered including any currency and economic concerns, the current political environment, cultural complexities and potential trade barriers. The strategic analysis will review each of these with respect to expansion into England. The included SWOT analysis (appendix A) will summarize the issues and highlight Dunkin’ Donut’s strengths and weaknesses with respect to the global situation in England. Currency Concerns The United Kingdom is unlikely to give up monetary policy independence and adopt the Euro (Anonymous, 2012). While this decision has not influenced the high level of foreign investment continued in the U.K., it may be a factor when looking at interest rate risk. However, for the type of direct store structure Dunkin’ Donuts maintains, it should not be considered a barrier to global expansion. Inflation continues to be a concern as it has exceeded the 2% target throughout the past three years. Current inflation is reflective of the increases in commodity prices, higher import prices caused by the depreciation of the sterling, and the increase in the standard rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) (Monetary Policy Roundtable, 2011). The valuation of the sterling also influences England’s trade by lowering the price of exports relative to the price of imports. This results in a decline of real purchasing power, which could influence whether residents would have discretionary funds available to support new Dunkin’ Donut’s locations. However, the increase in available jobs that the new locations would bring should have positive

Parent Firms of Joint Ventures

Parent Firms of Joint Ventures Are joint-ventures and their parent firms more closely related in terms of skill-relatedness than in terms of value-chain? Abstract The distance between joint-ventures and their parent firms is a fairly new topic of research in the field of diversification. In the process of determining the actual parent firm of a joint-venture out of all alternative industries, it turned our that both vertical- and skill-relatedness proved to be significant. The results indicate further that skill-relatedness is more predictive in this process than vertical relatedness and that joint-ventures are more likely to have parents that have skill overlap to their primary activity than industries that do not. These results hold for the entire sample and a subsample of manufacturing firms. Another finding is that joint-ventures and their parents tend to be more closely related in skills than their parents active in the joint-venture. Suggesting that joint-venture are a mechanism to reduce cognitive distance and increase the absorptive capacity of the new knowledge being transferred. 1. Introduction Diversification and relatedness between firms has been widely researched and finds their theoretical foundation in Coase (1937); Penrose (1959) and others. Coase (1937) can be regarded as one of the first to address the transaction costs theory, while Penrose (1959) addressed the resource based view of the firm. Both theories form the basis of many empirical research to understand more about diversification behavior of firms. These theories therefore form a basis for further research in diversification and especially in the distance between joint-ventures and their parents for this paper. Output produced by one industry often form the basis of production in other industries. It makes economic sense to integrate these activities into already existing activities to improve efficiency, make the company less dependable on their primary activity and expand the company, in order to achieve growth. Fan and Lang (2000) found this already before in their research about diversification. Firms tend to have secondary segments that are related in terms of in-output. This vertical integration of activities is most likely to occur when facing high market transaction costs. Neffke and Henning (2010) also investigated diversification behavior of firms using in-output relatedness. Their research however introduced a new measure of skill-relatedness, which turned out to be dominant in predicting diversification behavior of firms. Conform the resource based view, regarding human capital as the prime asset of the firm, their research firstly compared observed job switchers against the predicted job switchers between certain industries. Individuals gain, certain specific skills during their working life and can only redeploy this knowledge (â€Å"know-how†) in other industries which posses some degree of knowledge overlap. If this is not the case, switching will only hurt the individual, since he or she will be not valued for all acquired skills during his working life. This measure of skill-relatedness between industries proved to outperform in-output relatedness and supported the resource based view in diversification activities of firms. While diversification behavior and relatedness is widely researched, this is not the case for the relationship between joint-ventures and their parents. A joint-venture is a separate legal entity (Harrigan, 1988) and has at least two parents, who are in joint-control and reliable for their equity share in the joint-venture. This paper will discuss, why a joint-venture might be preferred over alternatives and how this might influence the distance between joint-ventures and their parent firms. This will provide new insights in the relationship between joint-ventures and their parent firms. In order to investigate the relationship between joint-ventures and their parent firms and testing for dominant mode in this relationship, this paper used a sample of 237 German joint-ventures between 2005-2011 and constructed an average vertical relatedness according to Fan and Lang (2000) for German industries between 2005-2007. It than included the skill-relatedness of Neffke and Henning (2010) based on Swedish labor switchers between 2004-2007. These data allowed us to make an overview of all joint-ventures and all industries in which it can have their parents. We then tagged the actual parent firms of the joint-ventures with a one and all other industries with a zero, allowing us to run a logit regression with the actual parent firms as our dependent variables. The findings indicate, that the resource based view is the dominant mode in explaining distance between joint-ventures and their parent firms. This provides more insight in the importance of close relatedness in terms of skills over other forms of relatedness. In the following chapter, we start with a theoretical framework about diversification and argue that the resource based view can be regarded as the most important in diversification moves. We will then discuss the alternative diversification possibilities and the limitations of diversification. This will be followed by a discussion of the most important strategic motives on joint-ventures choice. These strategic motives and the theoretical framework will be summarized at the end of chapter 2 and we will explain how this all will relate on the distance between joint-ventures and their parents. In chapter 3 we will discuss empirical evidence on diversification and joint-ventures and their implications on our research. Then we will follow with a data discussion and our method of research in chapter 4 and 5. The results and out findings will be presented in chapter 6 and the final chapter will discuss our outcomes, provides some more insight in the distance between both parents active in the joint-venture, limitations, policy implications and future research. 2. Theory on diversification: an introduction This paper investigates the distance between joint-ventures and their parents. Before we can have a look at this relation, we start with a theoretical framework about diversification and the implications of this framework for our research. Thereafter, we will explain more about diversification motives and the problems and limitations firms might face when diversifying. We then summarize all this and discuss how this all relate to our expected findings on joint-ventures and the relatedness with their parents. 2.1 Theoretical framework behind diversification strategies A theoretical framework behind diversification strategies will be discussed in the coming chapter. This theoretical framework provides more insights in the diversification motives of firms. After these motives have been discussed, we can discuss their influence on the distance between joint-ventures and their parents at the end of chapter 2. 2.1.1. Transaction cost theory The transaction cost view is a theory of Coase (1937) and Williamson (1975, 1985) and addresses the view that economizing is the core problem of economic organizations. The core of these problems in organizational context lay in the assumptions of incomplete information and self interest seeking firms / people. Incomplete information in contracts implies that it is impossible for individuals and firms to predict each future event, therefore all contracts are incomplete and exposed to uncertainty of future situation not foreseen by firms and individuals. If these future states / conditions change, the incentives for the individuals and firms involved might also change. In other words, there is room for self-interest of individuals. In the transaction cost theory, these assumptions of bounded rationality and self-interest seeking are paired and as a result there is room for fraud or guile of economic agents. Economic agents are driven by self-interest and the transaction costs theory a llows these agents to deceive, disguise and confuse in order to maximize their self interest. Opportunistic behavior and moral hazard are thus included in the theory of transaction costs. These assumptions are the basis for the theory of transaction cost and have some consequences, especially when it comes to contract modes and thus joint-ventures. Due to bounded rationality and opportunistic behavior of economic agents, all contracts are incomplete (Williamson, 2006). This means, economic agents have an incentive to behave to their own optimal ex post outcome if situations change which cannot be contracted. The second assumption is contract as promise (Williamson, 2006). This assumes that economic agents will fulfill contracts as promised. However, this will not be obtained if these agents are given opportunistic opportunities. â€Å"The transaction costs analysis entails an examination of the comparative costs of planning, adapting, and monitoring task completion under alternative governance structures† (Williamson, 2006, p. 58). The transaction will become the basic unit of analysis and minimizing transaction cost will result in the most efficient governance structure. Transactions differ in three ways from each other; (1) frequency at which transactions recur; (2) level of uncertainty to which they are subjected; (3) level of asset specificity involved. Since asset specificity is of crucial importance, we elaborate some more about the characteristics of asset specificity. â€Å"Asset specificity has reference to the degree to which an asset can be redeployed to alternative uses and by alternative users without sacrifice of productive value† (Williamson, 2006, p. 59). This asset specificity becomes of importance in the context of incomplete contracts, while asset specificity can take different forms; (1) physical asset specificity; (2) site specificity; (3) dedicated asset specificity and (4) human asset specificity. The complexity of a transaction is therefore highly dependent on the asset specificity (k) of the asset and investments in that asset. A supplier can for example use a general purpose technology with low asset specificity (k=0) or it might invest in a specialized technology with high asset specificity (k=1). High asset specificity is likely to involve high bilateral dependency between the parties in the transaction. Since the parties involved in the contract become vulnerable of each other, switching is difficult and costly option due to the mutual dependency and the investments done in specific assets. The buyers cannot easily turn to an alternative supplier and the current supplier is highly dependable on the demand of its current buyer. Therefore the higher the asset specificity, the more likely it become that higher contract costs have to be faced. Both parties have more incentives to devise safeguards to protect the investment in the transaction if asset specificity is high. How ever, if there is low asset specificity (k=0) and we thus have a general purpose asset, contract are easily monitored and market transactions will be preferred. Back to the diversification decision, minimizing transaction costs is regarded of crucial importance for the choice in governance mode. This implies that firms choose between a wholly owned subsidiary, a simple market transaction or a hybrid made, as a joint-venture for example. This trade-off between a joint-venture and other governance modes has been widely researched. Hennart (1991) for example found that; Japanese firms start joint-ventures with U.S. counterparts to combine intermediate inputs when they are subjected to high market transactions costs. This paper uses a relatedness in terms of in-output and can therefore measure the distance in terms of the use of intermediate products between industries. The influence on joint-ventures and partner distance will be discussed at the end of chapter 2. At this point of the paper, it is however important to understand that high relatedness in the use of intermediate products is likely to be caused due to high transaction costs. This w ould imply that if diversification has a high level of relatedness in value-chain and are thus closely relatedness in terms of vertical relatedness, this is most likely caused by high transaction costs and supports the transaction costs view of diversification.. 2.1.2. Knowledge and resource based view In the resource based view, knowledge (â€Å"know-how†) is regarded as the most important production factor within the firm. The origin of the resource based view goes back to the work of Penrose (1959), who inspired the discussion of the resource based view of the firm and the importance of resources to achieve firm growth. Penrose stated that: â€Å"the firm is a collection of productive resources (human and non-human) under administrative coordination and authoritative communication that produces goods and services for sale in the market for a profit† (Penrose, 1959, p. xvii).† â€Å"The administrative coordination and authorities communication define the boundaries of the firm† (Penrose, 1959, p. xvii). The firm specific human resources are regarded as the most important of all resources within the firm. Without these human knowledge, there can be no operating firm. As a result, the firm cannot make decisions, long-term planning, run operations and it c an certainly not make any expansions. From this point of view Penrose (1959) indentified two major causes of firm growth. First of all, causes external to the firm and secondly those causes that are internal to the firm. â€Å"External causes for firm growth, as capital constraints, cannot be fully understood without an examination of the nature of the firm itself† (Penrose, 1959, p. 532). We may therefore conclude that firm growth is endogenous to the firm; this is a result of two reasons mentioned by Penrose (1959). In order to execute plans and strategic action, human capital is required. After completion of the project/action, managerial resources will be released with increased knowledge. These resources gained experience and knowledge during the time of the expansion and can be redeployed at alternative use after the time of the expansion. The redeployed individuals with an increased knowledge and skills might improve efficiency and organization of the firm, but might also be able to development new or speci alized services. Depending on the expansion, individuals involved might also gain ‘unique knowledge of their experience; this is particularly true for certain forms of tacit knowledge, which are more difficult to transmit. The theory of firm growth of Penrose (1959) has been regarded as one of the earliest contributions to the resources based view of the firm, stressing the importance of knowledge as the key production factor within a firm. The drive of firms for growth, is a drive for new knowledge that is not accessible to the firm before their diversification. However, the motives and goals of each diversification differ and so do the resources possessed by each firm in a diversification. These differences and similarities in knowledge are of crucial importance in the resource based view, where acquiring new knowledge is the ultimate goal for achieving growth. Acquiring knowledge comes with certain problems; the â€Å"fundamental paradox† of knowledge and the difficulty arising from transferring tacit knowledge are two of those problems. In the fundamental paradox of information it is extreme difficult to determine the value of the knowledge for the buyer of the knowledge, which causes high c ontract costs. Since it is impossible for the buyer of knowledge to estimate ex ante the characteristics of what is being bought. On the other hand, if the seller of the knowledge provides this information, he will be revealing important information and transferring his â€Å"know-how† free of charge (Arrow, 1959). If the targeted knowledge, is a certain â€Å"know-how† which cannot be patented and protected against spillovers to competitive firms and other industries it become far more difficult. Certain types of knowledge cannot be put on paper and granted a patent. Firms experiences in manufacturing, distribution, and country-specific knowledge, knowledge of markets, customers and especially high educated employees cannot be patented but are of crucial importance of a firms success in the resource based view. â€Å"This type of knowledge that cannot embody specifications, designs and drawings, but instead is embedded in the individual is called ‘tacit knowledge†. (Polanyi, 1959; Hennart, 1988, p. 366). These individual characteristics of experience and social nature make transfer, coordination and spread of knowledge between firms, extreme complex and difficult (Lam, 2006). The transfer and spread of this tacit knowledge is one of the difficulties when facing diversificat ion decisions. The transfer and spread of this tacit knowledge can be done in different alliance forms, which will be discussed later in this paper. However, for now, it is important to know that diversification is undertaking to gain new knowledge, which must be for same part related to the knowledge of the firm. This is the case since the new resources must be redeployed at alternative use after a project, which might be a joint-venture for example. As for distance in diversification, higher skill-relatedness and thus diversification activities that are more closely related in skills stresses the importance of the resource based view. 2.1.3. Portfolio management theory A third and final theory behind diversification motives is the portfolio theory of Markowitz (1952). Diversification decisions of firms are important decisions taken by firms management in order to maximize the expected returns of their portfolio of investments. These investors are the shareholders of the firm and have a claim on the residual value of the company assets, when debt has been paid. In order to maximize this expected return of the firm outstanding shares, the law of large numbers will ensure that the actual yield of the portfolio will be almost the same as the expected yield. In any case, holding a diversified portfolio would be preferred over all non-diversified portfolios (Markowitz, 1952). Increasing variance in your portfolio would mean an increase in the number of projects, since each project would be successful / unsuccessful at a certain probability, which is referred to as risk. Holding a large variety, in other words, betting on more than one horse, increases yo ur probability on having a winning project. The portfolio management theory suggests that diversification tends to take place in activities that are unrelated to the primary activity of the firm. If this is the case, diversification activities (such as a joint-venture) would be unrelated to the primary activity of the firm. There would be a large distance between the firm and its diversification activities, while transaction costs and the resource based view are stressing the importance diversification in more closely related activities, although for different motives. 2.2 Different diversification alternatives In all theories discussed, the main driver for diversification is in order to achieve growth. Either, by minimizing transaction costs in the transaction costs economy or by diversification of risk, which increases the probability of a winning innovation. In all these theories is explained how they might influence the distance between diversification activities. Is there however any limit to firm growth in their challenge to innovate and to expand? According to Penrose (1959) there is no limit on the size of a firm, however the growth of the firm has some limits it can reach. In the Hercules Powder Company case study Penrose claimed: â€Å"Growth is governed by a creative and dynamic interaction between a firms productive resources and its market opportunities. Available resources limit expansion; unused resources (including technological and entrepreneurial) stimulate and largely determine the direction of expansion. While product demand may exert a predominant short-term influence, over the long term any distinction between ‘supply and ‘demand determinants of growth becomes arbitrary† (Penrose, 1959, p.1) How does this reflect to diversification strategies? Penrose (1959) distinguished between different areas of diversification. The firm can be divided into different productive activities, that consist of machines, processes, skills and materials, all closely and complementary associated in the production process, which Penrose (1959) calls the production/technology base. The firm now faces the decision to diversify into a new market using the existing technology base. It might prefer entering an existing market using a new technology base, which is referred to as horizontal/complementary expansion. The last scenario would be to enter a new market using a new technology base. As described above, the ability of a firm to expand and grow is limited by its internal resources, from which human resources is regarded as the most important. Diversification increases the creative and dynamic interaction of a firm and its resources. All these forms of diversification have implications on the expected distance between the diversification activities and thus joint-ventures and our research. Entering a new market using a new technology would probably have a larger distance in terms of skills from its primary activity than entering a new market with an existing technology. In this latest case, the technology and specific knowledge can be partially redeployed at alternative use, while this is not the case in the first alternative. The main implication from Penrose (1959) famous work is that firms diversify in order to achieve growth. According to Penrose (1959) the resource based view of the firm is the dominant view in order to achieve this growth by diversification. This would suggest that the distance between diversification activities would be more closely related in terms of skills and less closely in vertical relatedness, used as a measure for the transaction costs theory. If diversification is undertaken in order to diversify risk, conform the portfolio management theory diversification activities would not be related at all. 2.3 Limits on diversification and diversification distance? There are different diversification forms as discussed in the previous chapter. It is important to understand that firm growth is limited by its human capital (Penrose, 1959). A firm should therefore carefully choose its diversification activities. A clear understanding of these limits and where these limits depend on is extremely important to understand the distance between firms diversification activities. Since this implicitly answers the question, to what extent firms diversify and is there a limit on the distance between partners and their diversification activity? Cohen and Levinthal (1990) discuss the ‘absorptive capacity of a firm, which indicates: â€Å"the ability of a firm to recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends, which is critical to its innovative capacity† (Cohen and Levinthal (1990), p. 128). This absorptive capacity puts limits on the commercialization of new knowledge and boundaries on diversification. Cohen and Levinthal (1990) assume that a firms absorptive capacity and the individual absorptive capacities of its employers are largely a function of the firms level of prior related knowledge. Earlier research suggest that absorptive capacity might be a byproduct of a firms RD investments and others suggest that firms can also invest directly in absorptive capacity while investing in specialized educ ation/training. The key to absorptive capacity is that organizations needs prior related knowledge to assimilate and use new knowledge for exploitation. This is very important for the resource based view in our paper, since this implies that diversification activities of firms should be related in terms of skills. Since, the higher the prior knowledge in ones memory, the higher their ability to acquire new knowledge and the ability to recall and use that knowledge. What is often the case in organizations and especially expected in joint-ventures is the transfer of learning skills across bodies of knowledge that are organized and expressed in similar ways. Mowery et al. (1996) indicated that joint-ventures are the most efficient alliance form for transferring tacit knowledge, which could certainly human specific skills. As a consequence, experience or performance on one learning task may influence and improve performance on some subsequent learning task (Ellis, 1965). Cohen and Levin thal (1990) make two important assumptions about knowledge, important for diversification strategies. â€Å"Firstly, knowledge is cumulative and secondly, learning performance is greatest when the object of learning is related to what is already known† (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990, p. 131). This implicit that learning is more difficult in novel domains, in other words radical exploration of new ideas, products, technologies and standards. Diversification might offer an advantage, since with diversification comes a wider knowledge base and as a results an increasing probability that the new knowledge is already / partially known to the organization. The absorptive capacity of an organization however, does not only exist off the aggregated absorptive capacity of its individuals, but also on the ability to exploit this knowledge. Cohen and Levinthal (1990) mention there is a trade-off between high levels of absorptive capacity of an organization and the ability to exploit this. They describe this as a trade-off between inward-looking (specialization) versus outward-looking (diversify) trade-off, where excessive dominance by one or the other will be suboptimal. Exploitation can best been seen as specialization of old familiar ideas and certainties in organizational learning, while exploration can best be described as the invention of new technologies, standards, products or ideas in an organization. Cohen and Levinthal (1990) discuss also the importance for innovation of close relationship with both buyers and suppliers, suggesting a vertical relatedness would be beneficial for innovation performance. In the trade-off described, Co hen and Levinthal (1990) suggest that to the keep an effective, creative utilization of new knowledge a portion of prior knowledge should be closely related with a the firm new knowledge, and another part should be fairly diverse, although still related. If this is the case, firm diversification activities should be closely related in terms of skills supporting the resource based view of the firm. Why is it important to have both creative utilization and a portion of prior knowledge is best described by March (1991), who distinguishes between exploration and exploitation. Returns of exploration are systematically less certain than those of exploitation (March, 1991), this might influence the choice for diversification for the long term however, exploration has long run positive return although this outcome is certainly not always the case in the short run. Exploration activities therefore capture much more risk taking, uncertainty, variation, flexibility, discovery and innovation than exploitation. Exploitation is more focused on production, choice, efficiency, marketing, costs and benefits (March, 1991). The importance of exploration is best described in a model of mutual learning in an closed organization and its personnel in it (March, 1991). The organization is regarded as a storage of knowledge (consisting of procedures, norms, rules and tacit assets) and the organization, accumulate knowledge over time by learning from their personnel. â€Å"Individuals (personnel) however, are socializing the organizational beliefs, which are diffused to individuals through various forms of instruction, indoctrination, and exemplification† (March, 1991, p. 74). This mutual learning approach between organizations and individuals has implications for the choice between exploitation and exploration in organizations and has therefore consequences for the short-run and long-run incentives. In this model of mutual learning organizational code is affected by the beliefs of their personnel, the other way around, the individuals are influenced by the organizational code / norm. Important to know is, that individuals can not influence each other, the influence each other through the organizational code. What will happen in this closed model? In this organization, each adjustment in beliefs is served to eliminate the difference between the organizational code and the individual beliefs. If the individuals over time become more knowledgeable about the code, they become also more homogeneous with respect to knowledge and in the end will find an equilibrium. In this equilibrium the individuals beliefs share the same organizational code. It is therefore important to keep a portion of new knowledge in order to increase the organizational code. March (1991) also describes a second model, evaluating the role of personnel turnover in the organization and turbulence environment are considered. The length of service of an individual in an organization has a positive effect on the knowledge of the individual and therefore also a positive effect on the average knowledge of the individuals. A recruit therefore has a negative effect on the average knowledge of the individuals. The role of turnover on the organization knowledge is more complicated and is a problem of learning rates versus turnover rates. As described in model of mutual learning the strength of the recruit is, the diversity in knowledge, since the recruit posses on average less knowledge than the individual it replaces. Long serving individuals, on average know more, but their knowledge is already reflected in the organizational code over time and therefore they are less likely to contribute to the organizations knowledge base. Now consider environmental turbulence t o the organization, this can be the case of processes involving lags in adjustment rates. Consider an organization without personnel turnover, in this organization the beliefs reflected by the individual and these beliefs do not change, although the environment is changing. After some time the organizational code is systematically degraded through changes in reality and a much lower equilibrium is reached. Organizations with a moderate personnel turnover however, are resistant to these environmental shocks and adjust to the new knowledge of the recruits (diversified knowledge). March (1991) extent this model of competitive ecology in a model to compete for scarce resources and opportunities. Assuming the performance of a firm is a measure of the average value (x) and some measure of variability (v), which are normally distributed. An increase in both will increase the probability to gain competitive advantages over competitors. In this part there consist a trade-off between an increase in the mean and the variance. Which supports earlier literature, that diversification is undertaken to gain excess to new knowledge to some extent, but is expected to be related to prior knowledge of the firm. March (1991) conclude that exploration firms compete far more on variance than exploitation firms. 2.4 Implications and differences between the theories discussed The main difference between the management portfolio theory and the resource based view and the transaction costs view is that the management portfolio expect that diversification tends to take place in unrelated industries, while this is not the case for the other two theories, although at different level of relatedness. The resource based view stresses the importance of knowledge gain and the benefits of this new knowledge in diversification. Transaction costs theory however focuses more on the cost side of the transaction.Leaving the transaction costs as basic unit of analysis to determine an appropriate alliance form, which will minimizes the transaction costs of the firm. According to Wang (2007), a firm shoul

Free Glass Menagerie Essays: The Character of Tom Wingfield :: Glass Menagerie essays

The Character of Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie  Ã‚   Tom Wingfield is a determined young man. He has decided against everyone else in his family's wishes that he wants to leave the dismal life of a factory job, to pursue a chance in the Merchant Marines. He realizes that he would be running off like his father and this is probably the only thing that kept him from leaving this long. Amanda, Tom's mother, deep down knows the day is coming that Tom will leave. She says "But not till there's someone to take your place." She wants Laura, if not herself to be taken care of. At that moment in the play Tom is the breadwinner in the family and up to this point Tom is the underpriviledged child that wants to move on. He wants to pursue his dream, a more adventurous life. Tom was a likable character until we find out he didn't pay the electric bill with the intended money. When Jim is over and he says "I paid my dues this month, instead of the light bill". At this point, Tom becomes a more selfish character. There is less sympathy given in his d irection. In fact, this is probably where we feel a little more sorry for Amanda. Amanda has probably not done everything right for her family, but her intentions have always been good. Tom has lost patience and wants to pursue his journey away now. There's no waiting to save the money for the dues. He doesn't stop going to the movies for a week or quit smoking to save money. He takes the money for the light bill. We know this is a painfully big deal and he has intentionally hurt his family at this point. He knows he has put himself in a position of no turning back. Now, he has to go. As if to make it okay in someway, he says, ""I'm like my father. The bastard son of a bastard! See how he grins? And he's been absent going on sixteen years!" Now we know, he doesn't plan to come back. He has justified his not feeling obligated to his family by saying he gets it naturally. He is his father's son. Of course we have to decide if Tom has a choice. Is Tom withering away where he is. His family is full of dysfunction and he wants to help Laura out also.

A Year in the South: Four Lives in 1865 Essay

Prompt: How did the different backgrounds of John, Cornelia, Lou, and Samuel affect their abilities to adjust to the end of the war? How did the end of the war affect their daily lives? Explain, making sure to support your answer with evidence and quotes from the text. A Year in the South: Four Lives in 1865 The background of an individual allows the individual to adapt to new circumstances no matter how radical the change may be. It is very apparent that in the book, A Year in the South: Four Lives in 1865, that people whether they were black or white suffered different hardships, however their background was what enabled them to succeed or fail after the war. There were four people which this book was focused upon: Louis Hughes, who was an educated slave in the Deep South, in Tombigbee, Alabama; Cornelia McDonald, who was the wife of a Confederate soldier, and the mother of 7 children in Lexington, Virginia; Samuel Agnew, who was a priest exempted from military service due to his position in the church, in Tippah County, Mississippi, and John Robertson, who was an ex-confederate soldier looking to settle down and live a religious life accepting defeat as a Confederate soldier, in East Tennessee. Although the backgrounds of each of these individuals were different, their skills gained f rom their background is what led them to be able to adapt or fail to adapt to the end of the war. Louis Hughes was an educated slave who was taught many skills by his master whom he refers to as boss, and skills he learned from various jobs but not limited to nursing, working in the fields, and working the salt works. Louis Hughes was very highly skilled for a slave. â€Å"Nursing was only one of many skills Lou acquired in the McGehee household. He could drive a carriage, cultivate an ornamental garden, and even operate a sewing machine, not to mention serve expertly as butler and body servant.† (Ash 25) This shows how well rounded Lou was as a slave and as an individual. Lou was also of an entrepreneurial mindset and is shown when he was in the salt works, where he borrowed money from the other slaves and bought tobacco plugs to sell. Having discerned that the area could only produce salt, he was highly successful and procured a fifty dollar profit from the sales which granted attention from N.S. Brooks. Brooks then obtained five hundred plugs for Lou  to sell in which he made a huge profit from. Lou had noticed that â€Å"it was all rebel money† but was sharp enough and â€Å"bought up all the silver† he could get his hands on. (Ash 21) This lead to believe that Lou would buy something that will retain its value if the confederacy were to lose or win. That way he could keep his assets safe. As soon as the first sign of invasion was near Madam had sent for all her slaves. Lou had been sent out to the fields for the remainder of the time of the invasion was upon arrival, even though there was hardly a presence in the remote area he was in. During the time he was working in the field he remembered how his master had shown two sides of his master. On one side, his master had been seen as a benevolent and would go out and cure people. On the other hand, there was one where he was seen as temperamental and aggressive. Lou has held much resentment towards this side, and recalls a time where Boss gave him a whipping. This made Lou’s yearning for freedom even greater than it was before. Eventually in the summer, Lou and another slave named George had decided to escape, not knowing that the war had ended and they were granter freedom. The two unknowing freedmen then made their way to Memphis, mostly by foot with fear that they might be caught and sent back. The last bit, after they felt more secure was by train, Lou had purchased using his earnings from the plugs. There they were turned down by the official in charge, found that the war had ended in the Union victory and traveled back Senatobia. On their way there, with a rented wagon and two bottles of whiskey presumably bought with the silver that Lou had obtained by selling plugs, ran into two union soldiers. He bartered to have the Union soldiers go to Madam’s house to announce the confederate defeat in exchange for a whisky bottle. The union soldiers did exactly that. After doing so the freedmen and their wives along with other freedmen headed to Memphis, escorted some of the way by the same soldiers. There they made a living, or idled about enjoying their new freedom. However, Lou and his company had decided to go to Cincinnati to see if they could find Matilda’s mother which eventually they did. Lou was able adapt and succeed in almost any job he was given due to his background of working with similar jobs he had held before. Lou was able to adapt in such a way to where it is believed he was successful after the war in the terms of the new freedom he had attained. Lou was able to supersede adversity of the changing political and economic  crisis of the south after the war. Samuel Agnew was a priest in Tippah County, Mississippi. His family were avid supporters of the Confederate cause, running and hiding at the alarm of Yankee invasion. Sam was exempted from the war because he was a minister, although accosted he was a few times under the presumption that he was avoiding the draft. He had heard of the devastation that the confederate soldiers had endured, and kept a keen interest in news about the war, and the policies that the Confederacy was putting in his free time. He tried to cultivate opium and tobacco, as a hobby and to sell to make money to use to buy provisions. In times of heavy depression, and where prices kept going up and money and supply were scarce. Even though the war was over and Sam had accepted that fact he still had a strong sense of confederacy patriotism which came from his family holding a small plantation, and using slave hands to tend to it. His father, â€Å"Enoch had listed the value of his plantation as $23,500,† whic h he Union via President Johnson had declared that along with the generals and officials of the Confederacy, any citizen with more than twenty thousand dollars in assets. â€Å"That provision was clearly aimed at the planters, a class whom Johnson despised and whom he blamed for the breakup of the Union. This was something the Agnews would have to reckon with†. (Ash 145) This was one of the hardships that could not be avoided by Sam as to see that living with his father and his small plantation would be greatly affected by this. Eventually, Sam had to gather the slaves and announce that they were freedmen, however none of them left immediately, they stayed and did only the necessary work, but did not work as efficiently as they did when they were slaves. Sam dictates that the freedmen were â€Å"‘doing as they please: they go off in daylight on their own business and are not giving their master’s concerns any attention.’ As a consequence, Sam found himself taking on unaccustomed chores around the plantation: making a new rope for the well bucket, gathering and cleaning the loose bits of cotton scattered around the floor of the gin house.† (Ash 151) This shows that even though he had little practice cultivating, he was ill prepared for the jobs that he had his slaves at the time do. Sam could not adapt to the end of the war. He had no experience in the work that the slaves did thus was struggling to meet ends meet, which is also displayed in their dying livestock. Later on  he would hire the freedmen to work in the fields and pay them to do so. Disgusted at the level he was at negotiating with what used to be his family’s property. Eventually this disdain, and losing assets would leave him with no freedmen come New Year’s Day of the following year after the war. This would leave his family in ruins and unable to cope with the post war times ahead. Thus Sam Agnew was not prepared for the end of the war economically, and with the lack of skills seeing as how they were ruined with no workers or livestock that would help them with the plantation that his father had owned. Sam after having lost everything had failed to change with the ending of the war and the new policies of the United States and had suffered economically. John Robertson was a young ex-confederate soldier whom after being captured in the war and forced to surrender to get out of prison, was looking for a religious revival and to have a normal life. He planned to become a minister as he professed to Tennie, and â€Å"John was an old hand† at raising â€Å"wheat during the years John was growing up in Greene County.† (Ash 172) Showing he had some skills to go upon and would have self-sufficiency. Even though he had surrendered and allowed to go back home he remains bitter and still harbors hate towards the union after the confederate loss. As soon as the Unionist established dominance in East Tennessee, he realized that he hated the native unionist more than the Unionist that came from other states. This is mainly due to the fact that he was a Confederate from Tennessee and saw the native unionists as traitors. This played a giant role in making his daily life really difficult especially in the church due to governor Brownlow, who had resented all of the confederates that imprisoned him. Later on, John would pay the price for his war acts. The Lincolnites â€Å"were determined to kill him, there was nothing he could do to stop them—nothing, that is, except go where they could not find him. Through the waning days of August, he agonized over his plight. By September, he had decided he must leave.† (Ash 180) This shows that John’s past would dictate how he would live his future and that he would have to evade the Unionists that were looking for revenge for his past sins, thus pressured him to leave Tennessee and retreat to Springfield. He settled down and immersed himself in education and religion. Although he had settled there with an uncle he was  determined to go back, thus John’s background is preventing him from having a successfully way to cope with the end of the war emotionally due to his inability to see his love, Tennie. Cornelia McDonald was the wife of a wealthy confederate army officer. Cornelia had relied heavily on her husband’s salary thus when she died everything went downhill very fast. She had no basic house skills except for sewing and mending clothes. She lacked basic skill so she â€Å"had to hire someone to do the cooking for the same reason she had to pay for carding, spinning, and weaving: as a well-bred woman who had always had money and slaves, she had never learned those skills because she never had to perform those chores.† (Ash 38) This will play into account when the war comes around as those are necessities and will affect and drain the money from Cornelia in the latter half of the year. She would have to pay someone else for these essential skills. As for the skill she did have was to tutor for painting and foreign languages, these seem more of a luxury than a necessity as will be seen in at the end of the book. She is barely able to support herself and her family after her husband dies and the meager earning she gets goes to food and not enough is left over rent and she engrossed in debt and eventually becomes ruined financially. Cornelia is struggling emotionally as well and claims to see her â€Å"‘noble sons, little daughter, and pretty little boys dragged down so low.’† (Ash 158) This was one of her greater struggles as she could not believe that just a few years ago they were so prosperous and now doing jobs that were so â€Å"beneath them†. This is just a clear indicator that she was not able to adapt to the circumstances of a changing political climate and her lack of ability to adapt is shown very clearly financially and emotional ly. All in all most of the Southerners had a tough time coping with the end of the war because of their inability, and lack of essential self-sustaining skills. Lou and John were the only ones to see progress in their life although not in significant amount but they were better off than those of the rich white plantation and slave owners. The reason was their ability to cope with hardships way before the end of the war and these times of hardships helped them transition into the post war era, whereas Cornelia and  Sam were ruined, because they lived a life where they had enough money to sustain themselves, and did not need to worry about the skills until it was too late. The background of each of the southerner, and their essential skills or lack thereof have left them in in the state they were in either with stability or instability financially, or emotionally. Bibliography Ash, Stephen V. A Year in the South: Four Lives in 1865. New York City: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.

From the details to prolong the service life of rubber joint Essay Example

From the details to prolong the service life of rubber joint Essay Example From the details to prolong the service life of rubber joint Essay From the details to prolong the service life of rubber joint Essay Details determine success or failure, from the details to extend the service life of flexible rubber bellows expansion Joints, reducing costs, flexible rubber Joints in the pipeline construction should pay special attention to these details: 1, pipeline construction, must be allowed in a natural state, not artificial in installation products produced artificially deformed; 2, when the pipeline medium is acid, oil, heat, and other special materials should be chosen higher than the working pressure of a pipeline stall Joints; 3, the normal temperature for the medium is 0-60 0 C ordinary water, special media such as: oil, acid and alkali, high temperature resistance and hard texture, and other circumstances, should be used in relatively resistant materials deserve special rubber Joints, not blindly use string or universal. 4, when the pipe displacement greater than the maximum compensation amount equal joints, should increase the number of Joints parallel displacement, non-tolerance in order to adjust the pipeline, in the limits of the Joint displacement and deflection aviation status, but can not exceed the limits. The common sense of rubber Joint products There are two rubber Joint flange and a sphere composed of forged and cast steel flange has two kinds of forging better than steel. There are two general rubber sphere process: die hard mode gas. Inflatables good number of options when according to their actual situation. : If it is used to pay attention to their own benefit, it is recommended to use steel gas mode, if it is a big project requirements are elatedly high, it is recommended to use forged gas model. A few years ago are made of cast steel die, less demanding time, this can also be used. Flexing synthetic rubber joints have two integral flanges and a rubber ball, the device also comes with a limited bit stopper bolts and nuts. Small diameter rubber Joints require specialized tools such as crowbars and skilled technicians can get on the cover; Large diameter is relatively simple: the rubber sphere flattened into two parallel flanges inside, after the release, automatic bounce sphere.

Prescribed Forest Fires and Controlled Burns

Prescribed Forest Fires and Controlled Burns The very foundation of fire ecology is based on the premise that wildland fire is neither innately destructive nor in the best interest of every forest. Fire in a forest has existed since the evolutionary beginning of forests. Fire causes change and change will have its own value with direct consequences that can be both bad or good. It is a certainty that some fire-dependent  forest biomes benefit more from wildland fire than others. So, change by fire is biologically necessary to maintain many healthy ecosystems in fire-loving plant communities and resource managers have learned to use fire to cause changes in plant and animal communities to meet their objectives. Varying fire timing, frequency, and intensity produce  differing resource responses that create the correct changes for habitat manipulation. A History of Fire Native Americans used fire in virgin pine stands to provide better access, improve hunting, and ridding the land of undesirable plants so they could farm. Early North American settlers observed this and continued the practice of using fire as a beneficial agent. Early 20th Century environmental awareness introduced the notion that the Nations forests not only were a valuable resource but also a place of personal revitalization - a place to visit and live. Forests were again satisfying a human desire long pent-up to return to the forest in peace and in the beginning so wildfire was not a desirable component and prevented. An encroaching modern wildland-urban interface developed on the edges of North American wildlands and millions of acres of new trees being planting to replace harvested timber called attention to the wildfire problem and led foresters to advocate the exclusion of all fire from the woods. This, in part, was due to the wood boom after WWII and the planting of millions of acres of susceptible trees that were vulnerable to fire in the first few years of establishment. But all that changed. The no burn practices of a few park and forestry agencies and some forest owners proved to be, in itself, destructive. Prescribed fire and understory fuel pile burning are now deemed necessary tools for controlling the damaging unbridled wildfire. Foresters found that destructive wildfires were prevented by burning under safer conditions with the necessary tools for control. A controlled burn that you understood and manage would reduce fuels that could feed potentially dangerous fires. Prescribed fire assured that the next fire season would not bring destructive, property-damaging fire. So, This exclusion of fire has not always been an acceptable option. This was dramatically learned in Yellowstone National Park after decades of excluding fire resulted in catastrophic property loss. As our fire knowledge has accumulated, the use of prescribed fire has grown and foresters now include fire as an appropriate tool in managing the forest for many reasons. Using Prescribed Fire Prescribed burning as a practice is well explained in a well-illustrated written report entitled A Guide for Prescribed Fire in Southern Forests. It is a guide to using fire applied in a knowledgeable manner to forest fuels on a specific land area under selected weather conditions to accomplish predetermined, well-defined management objectives. Although written for Southern forests, the concepts are universal to all of North Americas fire driven ecosystems. Few alternative treatments can compete with fire from the standpoint of effectiveness and cost. Chemicals are expensive and have associated environmental risks. Mechanical treatments have the same problems. Prescribed fire is much more affordable with much less risk to the habitat and destruction of site and soil quality - when done properly. Prescribed fire is a complex tool. Only a   state  certified fire prescriptionist  should be allowed to burn larger tracts of forest. Proper diagnosis and detailed written planning should be mandatory before every burn. Experts with hours of experience will have the right tools, have an understanding of fire weather, have communications with fire protection units and know when conditions are not just right. An incomplete assessment of any factor in a plan can lead to serious loss of property and life with serious liability questions to both the landowner and the one responsible for the burn.​

Women & Narrative Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Women & Narrative - Term Paper Example However, what makes American literature during this period remarkable are those written by Latin women authors, who have crossed bravely the boundaries of a well-established masculine culture not only by engaging into the literary world believed worthy only for men, but more so for what they write – â€Å"... their transgressive and contestatorial nature, and their critical reconsideration of hierarchical opposition, that make their texts revolutionary, conflictual, and dialectical...† (xi). Two Latin women authors worth of critical attention are Maria Lusia Bombal (1910-1980) – a Chilean fiction writer, who towed the dangerous literary path of revealing women’s innermost desires and power defiant of the realistic tradition in Latin America (Maria Luisa Bombal, par. 1), and Maria Luisa Bemberg (1922-1995) – an Argentinian self-professed feminist, whose critically acclaimed films had consistently depicted untraditional women, making her one of Latin America’s most significant female filmmakers (Maria Luisa Bemberg, par. 1). Though both writers tackled femininity from entirely different angles, indeed, both have contributed to a better understanding of women, as they have shaped a new consciousness that brings readers to confront long-ignored problems confronting women, such as ‘sexual abuse, abandonment, oppressive marriages, and the pressure of new-found independence’ (Mujica 44). To which Griselda Gambaro remarks, â€Å"... a w ork is feminist insofar as it attempts to explain the mechanics of cruelty, oppression and violence through a story that is developed in a world in which men and women exists† (qtd. in Jehenson xiii). But more than this, they were able â€Å"to change taken-for-granted views† (xiii). Silence is consent to abuse, as the famous saying goes. However, this is not the case in Bombal’s second novel The Shrouded Woman originally titled La