Patrick White - Down At The Dump Essays - Adaminaby, Patrick White

Patrick White - Down At The Dump Patrick White 'Down at the Dump' Patrick White, most noted for his longer works of fiction, exemplifies his craft of storytelling in his short story 'Down at the Dump'. White has dramatized an event in life, such as a funeral, and given us a very believable insight into our own culture. Some readers will take offence to such a raw and truthful portrait, while others will find humor and hope in the same story. White is a writer who crafts a story with such intensity, that at times it slaps you in the face with the truthful, dirty, honest depiction of his characters. All of whom we can see something, if not the smallest little detail of our selves in them. 'Down at the Dump' counterpoints two families, and their journeys on an afternoon. One of the families is off to the funeral of Mrs. Hogben's sister Daise. The other family the Whalley's, off to the Sarsaparilla dump, for busness and pleasure 'I thought the beer was an excuse for comin'.' (Isba pg.8) 'Down at the Dump' is also a modern day Australian Romeo & Juliet, the forbidden love between Lummy Whalley and Meg Hogben. Both it seems are destined for more then what is expected of them. The story is also a comment on the staid middle-class lifestyle, the petty bourgeois existence of the suburbs. The story is also a comment on the sexually non-conformist such as daise's character represents, more about this later. The story is also a comment on standards, principals, morality, values and judgmental and discriminatory behavior. White pays attention to the dirty, honest characteristics of human beings, Her eyes were that blazing blue, her skin that of a brown peach. But whenever she smiled, something would happen, her mouth opening on watery sockets and the jags of brown, rotting stumps. (pg.1) This serves to give the readers a deeper understanding of the characters right down to the bone. This typical descriptive passage is common in white's writing. It cuts to the core of the character, shedding light on a side rarely taken by an author. A gritty and honest sense of reality is achieved. Down at the Dump is a story revolving around binary oppositions, a set of contrasts. The two main families, 'The Hogben's and Whalley's' are the two main constructs of White's direct opposition. This opposition is nowhere more visible then in white's use of language when giving his characters a voice. Whites characters speak from the heart. Their own use of language reflects directly their class and education. For example - the Whalley's speak from the heart, with a distinctly working-class accent. Ere!?waddaya make me out ter be? A lump of wood. (Isba pg.1) We get a sense very early in the story, by the way the Whalley's speak, a direct reflection of their socio-economic background. White's use of language when describing the Whalley's is derogatory and intentionly off putting. This is contrasted in direct opposition to the Hogben's. Who are described through their slightly more capable use of the English language. This helps enforce them as being worth more in a snobby middle-class way. This direct opposition is again contrasted to another level. For although White uses harsh, dirty, honest language when describing the Whalley's, we cannot help but feel empathy with them for their honesty. The Whalley's seem truthfully real and direct people, yet crass and crude on the outside. This is the opposite for the Hogben's. The Hogben's use of speech is much more educated. Although they are described with nice, fluffy, sensitive language, I am filled with contempt for them. Meg being the exception she is one of white's poetic seers; someone who is destined for more. The domestic abodes of the two families are also a symbolic representative of their different socio-economic position and different way of life. Our story takes its journey to the funeral and the dump respectively where towards the end of the funeral serves daise rises from the grave to relinquish her thoughts and feelings. It is about here in the story that the passage I will be discussing indepth occurs. It is through Daise Morrow that Patrick white chooses to make social commentry through his authorial

Causative Verbs in English for ESL Learners

Causative Verbs in English for ESL Learners Causative verbs express an action which is caused to happen. In other words, when I have something done for me I cause it to happen. In other words, I do not actually do anything, but ask someone else to do it for me. This is the sense of causative verbs. Intermediate to advanced level English learners should study the causative verb as an alternative to the passive voice.  There are three causative verbs in English:  Make, Have  and  Get. Causative Verbs Explained Causative verbs express the idea of someone causing something to take place. Causative verbs can be similar in meaning to passive verbs. Here are some examples for your comparison: My hair was cut. (passive)I had my hair cut. (causative) In this example, the meaning is the same. Because its difficult to cut your own hair, its understood that someone else cut your hair. The car was washed. (passive)I got the car washed. (causative) These two sentences have a slight difference in meaning. In the first, its possible that the speaker washed the car. In the second, its clear that the speaker paid someone to wash the car.   Generally speaking, the passive voice is used to place emphasis on the action taken. Causatives place the stress on the fact that someone causes something to happen. Causative Verb Examples Jack had his house painted brown and gray.The mother made her son do extra chores because of his behavior.  She had Tom write up a report for the end of the week. The first sentence is similar in meaning to:  Someone painted Jacks house  OR  Jacks house was painted by someone.  The second sentence indicates that the mother caused the boy to take an action. In the third, someone told someone to do something. Makeas a Causative Verb Make as a causative verb expresses the idea that the person requires another person to do something. Subject Make Person Base Form of Verb Peter made her do her homework.The teacher made the students stay after class.The supervisor made the workers continue working in order to meet the deadline. Haveas a Causative Verb Have as a causative verb expresses the idea that the person wants something to be done for them. This causative verb is often used when speaking about various services. There are two forms of the causative verb have. Subject Have Person Base Form of Verb This form indicates that someone causes another person to take an action.  Have  someone do something  is often used to management and work relationships.   They had John arrive early.She had her children cook dinner for her.I had Peter pick up the evening newspaper. Subject Have Object Past Participle This form is used with services that are commonly paid for such as car washing, house painting, dog grooming, etc.   I had my hair cut last Saturday.She had the car washed at the weekend.Mary had the dog groomed at the local pet store.   Note: This form is similar in meaning to the passive. Getas a Causative Verb Get is used as a causative verb in a similar way as have is used with the participle. This expresses the idea that the person wants something to be done for them. The causative verb is often used in a more idiomatic manner than have. Subject Get Person Past Participle They got their house painted last week.Tom got his car washed yesterday.Alison got the painting appraised by an art dealer.   This form is also used for difficult tasks we manage to complete. In this case, there is no causative meaning.   I got the report finished last night.  She finally got her taxes done yesterday.I got the lawn done before dinner.   Have done = Get Done Have done  and  get done  have the same meaning when used to refer to paid services in the past. I had my car washed. I got my car washed.  She had her carpet cleaned. She got her carpet cleaned.

Ghost Hunting is Pure Fiction

Ghost Hunting is Pure Fiction It is interesting that in a time of increasing secularism and a renewed interest in rationality and skepticism, many people still believe in ghosts. Even many of the same people who dont believe in other supernatural entities maintain a belief in ghosts. Ghost hunting is still popular today, with reality  television  shows featuring ghost hunters and ghost hunting specialists that people can literally hire in order to inspect their own homes for ghosts. However, there is no evidence that ghosts even exist or that the  techniques  of ghost hunters are more than pure fiction. The popularity of ghost hunting and the belief in ghosts is not evidence of anything other than the desire to believe in ghosts. The Lack of Evidence for Ghosts and Ghost Hunting One of the reasons why the belief in ghosts persists is that ghosts are often considered invisible. Invisible things are harder to disprove. Many of the superstitions that have lasted a long time are invisible. People can simply claim that the thing in question does exist and that people cant prove that it doesnt exist, thus hiding behind the problem of knowing. Its easier to make this argument with entities that are invisible, intangible, and otherwise nearly beyond detection. People end up with functionally no evidence for them or against them, and the believer can simply appeal to the problem of knowing and win the argument on a technicality. Ghosts Manifest as Electromagnetic Radiation Of course, ghost hunters supposedly say that they can locate ghosts, so they do believe that there is something that separates areas that have ghosts from areas that dont have ghosts. They believe that there is evidence for ghosts. However, the evidence that they do choose could very easily be explained by something else. They use devices all the time that supposedly can be used to pinpoint the location of a ghost. However, these devices are usually just detecting electromagnetic radiation. The electromagnetic radiation levels in a building can vary depending on surrounding or distant power sources and not just the ones that the ghost hunters have immediately identified. One of the biggest tricks of their trade is very easily debunked. You will definitely enjoy reading these articles: Is Science Atheistic? Ghostwriting Can Science Go Too Far? Education and  Pursuit of Right Wisdom Environmental Education and Green Citizenship Extraordinary Claims Require High Standards of Evidence The belief in ghosts is an extraordinary claim that requires equally extraordinary evidence. Ghost hunters have electromagnetic radiation and noises. The existence of ghosts would mean that it was possible for a human consciousness to exist outside of the brain. Scientists have a hard time even quantifying human consciousness, and all evidence suggests that it is a product of mental functioning. As such, it could not exist without brain matter. Electromagnetic radiation and noises are insufficient to explain something as unlikely as ghosts. Old houses are often structurally unsound and they will make funny noises. The human brain is primed to look for patterns. Patterns of noises can easily be imagined as being caused by ghosts in the minds of people who believe in ghosts. People who believe in ghosts will look for even the slightest evidence that ghosts exist in a bias known as confirmation bias. The belief in ghosts is popular because ghosts are defined in such a way that it is difficult to completely discredit their existence. The problem of knowing is an unsolved philosophical problem. However, in order to believe in ghosts or ghost hunting, people need to get some evidence that ghosts exist. The idea that it is possible for human consciousness to exist outside of the body seems to contradict all that is known about human neurology. Ghost hunters will use the noises and electromagnetic radiation in old houses to justify the existence of ghosts. However, finding out that ghosts exist would require scientists to revise their entire understanding of the human brain. Electromagnetic radiation and random noises are easily explained away. They cannot be used as evidence for anything other than the complicated nature of the environment that people are trying to understand.

Debt Cancellation and its impact on poverty in developing countries PowerPoint Presentation

Debt Cancellation and its impact on poverty in developing countries - PowerPoint Presentation Example The paper tells that debt relief or debt cancellation is partial or full forgiveness of debt from developed countries to developing or poorest countries. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development noted that debt service payments in hard currency in fact scarce domestic resources from major important investments such as in health and education and thus cause poverty as well. Debt relief is thus an integral part of the efforts taken by international community to reduce poverty worldwide. In 1996, World Bank and International Monetary Fund took initiative for Debt Relief whereby Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) will get faster, deeper and broader debt relief. This agreement was designed with a view to make these countries introduce measures to reduce poverty in these countries. By 2005, The Multilateral Debt Relief initiative was agreed to provide 100 percent cancellation of IMF, World Bank, African Development Bank and Inter American Development Bank for all those co untries that have completed HIPC initiative. The HIPC initiative has been aiming to provide debt relief to 40 most poorest countries, with a condition that all these countries must have high level of poverty and unmanageable levels of debt. In order for a country to be eligible for debt relief, it is required to demonstrate World Bank and IMF that it has plans to reduce poverty in the country. The HIP countries later have shown sincere commitment to put sound macroeconomic policies with a view to reduce poverty. ... 269). The HIP countries later have shown sincere commitment to put sound macroeconomic policies with a view to reduce poverty (IMF and World Bank, 2001). The main purpose of HIPC initiative and debt relief was poverty reduction, and this has been found to be highly effective for many countries. The debt relief or debt cancellation to poorest countries has been found to be an effective way to improve health and education in the country and thus to reduce poverty. Figure given below illustrates that spending on education and health as improved due to the HIPC debt relief. Lala, Ranganathan and Libresco (2006, p. 6) observed that debt relief was becoming an ongoing mechanism for resource transfer so that the country can free up resources for poverty reduction purposes. It is generally agreed that debt relief to poorest countries has caused improvements in health and education spending due to resources transfer and as a result poverty has been reduced in the poorest countries. But, it is also argued that it may not be the same in the case of developing countries. Cancellation of Developing Countries’ debt and poverty problem It is argued that debt relief or debt cancellation owed by developing countries may result to reduce poverty since these countries will be able to adopt domestic policies and strengthen institutions to take advantages of global markets, which in turn help them increase the share of trade in their GDP. As these countries gain debt relief, they can participate in globalization by exporting to or importing from other countries and thus to be able to maintain favorable balance of payments. These countries also would

Business Management and Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business Management and Strategies - Essay Example Some models mean the same thing but are given different names by their creators. With the evolution of the internet, many new models have emerged. At the same time, some do not stay long and have gone. Rappa (no date) identifies nine generic forms of business models, including the brokerage model, advertising model, infomediary model, merchant model, manufacturer model, affiliate model, community model, subscription model, and utility model. Timmers (1998) classifies business models by positioning them along the two dimensions of the degree of innovation and functional integration. In Novak and Hoffman (2001)'s customer-centric framework, for any business model to be successful, it must integrate customer models, value models, and revenue models. In this paper, the customer-centric framework of Novak and Hoffman (2001) will be adopted as each of the three subsidiary model answers questions such as who are the communities or customers served by the firm, how the firm attracts target a udience, and where does the revenue for the firm come from respectively. A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: NOVAK AND HOFFMAN'S CUSTOMER-CENTRIC BUSINESS MODEL According to Novak and Hoffman (2001)'s customer-centric framework, a successful business model consists of customer models, value models, and revenue models. A customer model is a segmentation of the users of the electronic business. The four groups of users are businesses, consumers, agents, and employees. Each customer model consists of two groups of users. The most common type of customer model seen on the internet today would be businesses to consumers. Businesses to businesses and consumers to consumers are not uncommon as well. Therefore, fourteen segmentations of customer models are possible, as shown by Figure 1. Figure 1 Customer Models Business (B) Consumer (C) Agent (A) Employee (E) Business (B) B:B B:C B:A B:E Consumer (C) C:B C:C C:A C:E Agent (A) A:B A:C A:A A:E Employee (E) E:B E:C E:A E:E Novak and Hoffman, 2001 The value model of Novak and Hoffman (2001)'s framework seeks to address how firms can attract target audience by providing them value. The twelve possibilities of how the web can create value are by offering brokerage service, content, search tools, incentives, freeware, communication, control, outsourcing, entertainment, transactions, affiliate opportunities, and communities. Of course, any model would not have commercial feasibility if it does not generate revenue for the firm. The revenue model identifies the revenue stream of the firm conducting electronic business. The seventeen revenue models are transaction fees, hosting fees, referral fees, subscription fees, license fees, pay-per-view, pay-per-performance, micropayment, advertising, sponsorships, ransom model, margin on sales of goods or services, sale of customer data, offline customer response, efficiency and effectiveness gains, value-added services (linux model), and virtual real estate. Various value models and revenu e models can be created

The Central Theme and Symbolism of William Faulkners A Rose for Emily

William Faulkner's central theme in the story "A Rose For Emily" is to let go of the past. The main character in the story, Emily Grierson, has a tendency to cling to the past and has a reluctance to be independent. Faulkner uses symbols throughout the story to cloak an almost allegorical correlation to the reconstruction period of the South. Even these symbols are open to interpretation; they are the heart and soul of the story. With the literal meaning of Faulkner's story implies many different conclusions, it is primarily the psychological and symbolic aspects, which give the story meaning. Miss Emily cannot accept change to any degree. She is unable to ameliorate as the rest of the society does. The Old South is becoming the New South, and yet Emily still has a Negro man helping around the house. Her house "had once been white" and sits on what "had once been" a most select street, however now it is surrounded by cotton gins, garages, and gasoline pumps. This scene creates a sense of the house being "an eyesore among eyesores" (469). Another example of Miss Emily's ability to refuse change is when she does not allow a house number to be placed on her house when the town receives free postal service. Emily's father denies her the freedom to establish relationships with men. In fact, Emily was denied her ?rose.? A rose if often referred to as a symbol of everlasting love between a man and a woman. Since her father denies her the chance to court men, she has no chance to even fall in love. "We had long thought of them as tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the... ...the point where he was inextricable in the bed. ?Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long stand of iron gray hair? (475). Miss Emily has apparently poisoned Homer for fear of him leaving her. She loved him so much, that she would have rather him lay dead in her house than to have a broken-heart. Instead of grieving as a normal person would, Miss Emily turns into a psychotic crazed lover. For many years, Emily must have lain next to him in an embrace. She wanted to preserve her love, and this further proves her unwillingness to change. Work Cited Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." Literature For Composition. 6th Ed. Sylvan Barnet, Burto, Cain, Stubbs, Et. Al. New York: Longman, 2003. 621-631.

Employee Attitude as a Function of Job Satisfaction

EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE AS A FUNCTION OF JOB SATISFACTION Introduction There is confusion and debate among practitioners on the topic of employee attitudes and job satisfaction even at a time when employees are increasingly important for organizational success and competitiveness. â€Å"Happy employees are productive employees. †Ã¢â‚¬Å"Happy employees are not productive employees. † We hear these conflicting statements made by HR professionals and managers in organizations.This research aims at establishing job satisfaction as a basis for employee attitude; whether good or bad and we will do this by answering three questions: â€Å"What are the causes of employee attitudes? †, â€Å"What are the results of positive and negative job reaction? †and â€Å"How can we measure and influence employee attitudes? † Before we begin a description of what we mean by employee attitudes and job satisfaction will suffice. What is job satisfaction? Job satisfaction is how content an individual is with his/her job.In other words, a contentment (or lack of it arising out of interplay of the employees positive or negative feelings towards his/her job. However, there is a distinction between affective job satisfaction and cognitive job satisfaction. Affective job satisfaction is the extent of pleasurable emotional feelings an individual has about his job overall while the cognitive job satisfaction has to do with the extent to which the individual is satisfied with particular facets o his job. The most-used research definition of job satisfaction is by Locke (1976), who defined it as â€Å". . a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences† (p. 1304). Implicit in Locke’s definition is the importance of both affect, or feeling, and cognition, or thinking. When we think, we have feelings about what we think. Conversely, when we have feelings, we think about what we feel. Cognitio n and affect are thus inextricably linked, in our psychology and even in our biology. Thus, when evaluating our jobs, as when we assess most anything important to us, both thinking and feeling are involved.What is employee attitude? In other to have a panoramic understanding of this terminology, a conceptual clarification would suffice. What is an attitude? An attitude can be described as an expression of favor or disfavor towards a person, place, thing or event which is as a result of either a negative or positive evaluation of the object of affect. Employees have viewpoints about many aspect of their job, career, Organization. The above explanation gives us the idea that attitude can either be positive or negative.Thus employee attitude can be described as an employee’s expression either positive or negative towards his/her job, career or organization. How then do we make a distinction between positive and negative employee attitudes? Generally, It is in their promotion of organizational goals. Therefore, positive employee attitudes can be said to be in agreement with organizational goals thereby promoting it while negative employees can be said to be against organizational goals thereby suppressing organizational goals. This explains why employee attitude is easily cited as the number one performance related issue of companies.From the perspective of research and practice, the most focal employee attitude is job satisfaction. Thus, we often refer to employee attitudes broadly in this article, although much of our specific focus will concern job satisfaction. In the midst of all this, one little question crosses the mind; what are the causes of employee attitudes? What are the causes of employee attitudes? In general, HR Practitioners understand the importance of work situation as a cause of work attitude and it is an area that HR can help influence through organizational programs and management practices.However, in the past decades there has been ga inful research in understanding dispositional and cultural influences on job satisfaction which is not yet well understood by HR practitioners. In addition, the work itself is also an area that influences job satisfaction and this is often overlooked by HR practitioners when addressing job satisfaction. Dispositional influences Several innovative studies have shown the influence of a person’s disposition on job satisfaction. Disposition can be described as a tendency to act in a specified way.There are some factors that affect our disposition and they are called dispositional variables. These variables are often viewed as part of the individual’s makeup, character or personality. Personality is defined as a combination of characteristic patterns of thought, feelings and behaviors peculiar to a person. It is said to be both physiological and psychological. On the other hand, character is a combination of mental and ethical traits marking a person. Dispositional variable s are relatively stable across time and difficult to change.They are often used to explain consistency in individual behaviors across time and situations. The theory of dispositional influences is a very general theory that innate dispositions cause people to have tendencies towards a certain level of satisfaction regardless of the job. In 1997, Timothy A. Judge, Edwin A. locke and Cathy C. Durham argued that there are four core self-evaluations that determines ones disposition towards job satisfaction; self esteem, general self efficacy, locus of control and neuroticism.