Breakfast - By John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck was a known writer in the 30’s. He was known for writing about poverty in the 30’s with focus on the life of the exposed working class. His stories takes place around Salinas California where he was born. The short story Breakfast by John Steinbeck deals with the exposed people of the 30’s and their way of managing life with what they are given. The short story features a Narrator, whose name we are not told, however, the narrator is also the protagonist in his own story. The narrator tells us about a memory which brings joy to him when remembering details about it. At first he tells about himself walking along a country road on an early morning, feeling the cold while observing the light growing behind the eastern mountains. As he walks he smells fried bacon and baking bread. He sees a tent where a girl, an older man and a younger man sit. The men bid him a good morning and offers him to sit and eat breakfast with them. The narrator accepts and sits down with them being told that they pick cotton for their own clothes and then they eat and drink as much coffee as they can, refilling and refilling. While they had refreshed themselves with warm food the narrator observed the sun rising above the mountains spraying light upon the valley. The two men and the women offer the narrator to come along and pick cotton with them. However, the narrator declines the offer and separates from the cotton pickers. At the end of the story the reader returns to the narrators present where the he reflects upon the event. The story is located in a valley during the early morning just before dawn. In the beginning the setting is described with the words â€Å"lavender grey† and â€Å"black-blue†. He also feels the touch of the morning temperature as cold, but not painfully cold. All in all the setting we are introduced to at the opening of the story places the protagonist in a sad and colourless environment. Though, while he eats with the cotton pickers, the setting changes from cold and dark to light and red. You could say that the dark-blue and lavender grey colours in the before sunrise represent the lifelessness and sadness, while the red colour mixed with the light, spraying upon the valley, after sunrise represent warmth and joy. The two men and the woman, who the narrator meets, are poor hard working people, who are not wealthy in material. They don’t have chairs, they live in tents and their equipment is described as poor; â€Å"Beside the tent there was a flash of orange fire seeping out of the cracks of an old rusty iron stove. † Even though the cotton pickers have poor conditions they have certain traits that the protagonist remembers them for. Firstly, we are told that they make their own clothes from picking cotton and that they have only been eating well for twelve days. However, they still show generosity towards the protagonist and offer him breakfast. Therefore, we can call them generous. Secondly, they are full of contentment. Even though they live like nomads, finding cotton and food where they can and not living on much, they smile and keep a good vibe. Thirdly they are grateful to god and thank him for what they have; â€Å"The older man filled his mouth and he chewed and chewed and swallowed. Then he said, â€Å"God Almighty, it’s good†Ã¢â‚¬ . Their wealth is not measured in materialism but in attitude towards life. They are not given any names because each of them do not have their own character. This is because they represent a type of people and symbolizes traits. Their simplicity in symbolizing generosity, contentment and being gratefulness to god have a clear affection upon the protagonist. After the protagonist and the cotton pickers part we return to the narrator reflecting on the experience. Here he says; â€Å"That’s all. I know, of course, some of the reasons why it was pleasant. But there was some element of great beauty there that makes the rush of warmth when I think of it. † The sensation the protagonist gets from the experience is from the affection the people had on him with their traits. The details he remembers such as their personality and the sun rising above the mountain spraying a red gleam upon the valley just as he just finished the warm breakfast all culminates into something unique. However, the most significant about the memory is the affection the cotton pickers had and still have on the protagonist. The painting The honeymoon Breakfast from 1887 by Daniel Ridgway Knight contains a newly married couple sitting in the nature preparing their breakfast. All they have is some food and the company of one another, but they seem content about what they have. So in the same way as the cotton pickers the painting expresses their happiness through simplicity and content.

Essay ( stress ) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

( stress ) - Essay Example According to Vrijkotte and others, stress can be defined as the physical or emotional tension. It is a feeling that is experienced when an individual is of the view that the demands are far above the resources that they can mobilize to handle the situation. In their works, Vrijkotte, Van Doornen and De Geus, reasoned that modern life is more stressful than the past, which cause a lot of stress to the person’s health. (Vrijkotte, et. al, 2000). â€Å"The preset world is marked by increased cases of stress that is evident in nearly every activity that we undertake.† as they claimed. This work will show the causes and effects of stress to describe how stress levels have risen over the last three decades. It will expose the some of the underlying factors on stress and its impact on people with focus on China and United Kingdom. Miller said that some work are associated with excessive stress as opposed to the normal work stress. The things within a person’s ability to control include taking personal responsibility for the improvement of a one’s emotional and physical well-being, identifying the pitfalls and avoiding them (Miller, 2013). Others are avoiding negative attitude while at work and learning to communicate effectively with coworkers and other people at work. The WorkStress.net website indicates that work stress is likely to manifest by instability within the family. As a result of the stressing circumstances at the work place, people are likely to extend such at home by being very arrogant to the family members, uncontrolled anger, increased temper and communication barriers (WorkStress.net., 2014). Parents who are stressed at work are likely to abuse their children and unable to understand their needs leading to their poor growth and development. In their book, Vrijkotte and others said that wrong career choices can lead to a lot of stress as well as inability to perform at the work place. One can know if they made wrong career choices when

Industrial Organization Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Industrial Organization Economics - Essay Example Globalization has led to opening up of borders to facilitate trade. Those countries and companies that are ahead in the game realize the benefits compared to the laggards. Some of the strategies that nations have adopted to neutralize the effects of competition arising from globalization include creating barriers to entry, strategic entry deterrence as well as mergers and acquisitions. The rest of the paper will outline how the three factors influence industrial organizations as well as their impacts. It will achieve it by discussing three newspaper articles on the same subject. In an article by Gelles (March 12, 2015) in the New York Times titled, "Uncertainty weighs on Endo’s higher bid for Salix Pharmaceuticals† confirms the competitiveness of merger and acquisition. The article talks about the competition existing between Endo International and Valeant Pharmaceutical over who acquires Salix Pharmaceuticals. Endo has offered $ 175 per share, compared to $ 158 per share that Valeant offers (Gelles2015). It implies that the company that offers a higher bid per share may acquire the parent company and expand the operations. However, many factors hinder the merger and acquisition. These factors are related to policy issues. The board of the parent company has to agree to the offer because the deal will be binding to all the stakeholders including shareholders of the acquired company. In this article, people learn many issues regarding the topic or merger and acquisition. It is contrary to earlier knowledge that acquisition or merger was an arran gement of two companies; this article provides evidence of a third party. Third parties can come in if they offer a higher bid than what others offer. Endo offered a higher bid than what Salix had anticipated, which gives it a greater chance of acquiring the new investment or the company (Gelles 2015). It is a new scenario rarely experienced among accompanies. In the article by

Recruitment and Retention of nurses Research Paper

Recruitment and Retention of nurses - Research Paper Example The nursing profession is an important department in the development of every nation. The profession of nursing is even more important to the United States because the government more particular about the good health care of the citizenry. It is therefore not surprising that the Obama Government has devoted so much into health-care. â€Å"The Obama campaign estimates his health care reform plan will cost between $50 and $65 billion a year when fully phased in† (Laszewski, 2008). THE PROBLEM DEFINED Owning to the importance of the nursing profession and the inevitable situation of employee turnover and retirement, there is the urgent need for research and review into the recruitment of nurses to find workable means of making the recruitment of nurses successful, meaningful and mission-oriented. Closely related to the recruitment of nurses is also the issue of retention of nurses. This is because research has shown that one important factor for ensuring employee retention is thr ough positive and well organized employee recruitment (Fertile Ground Detroit, 2008). To this effect, this write-up is committed to researching and reviewing the shortfalls of recruitment processes and exercises that take place in various nursing organizations and institutions. What is more, the write-up shall critically analyze the failures of recruitment and placement exercises that have been going on in the nursing fraternity in times past. Much attention shall be placed on the duties of human resource managers in various organizations since they form the nucleus of employee recruitment processes in various organizations. Again in this write-up, the researcher shall relate the positive impacts of effective employee recruitment on employee retention. What is more, the employee shall give out personal suggestions on how recruitment of nurses can be made effective. PROBLEM ANALYSIS The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, CIPD (2011) explains that â€Å"recruitment is the process of having the right person, in the right place, at the right time.† From this definition, it is clear that there are certain processes and guidelines that should be followed in recruitment exercises in various nursing organizations. To this end, the major problem that has been linked to poor recruitment is wrong approach towards the recruitment exercise. Wrong approach to Advertisement Firstly, most organizations take the wrong approach in the advertisement and publicity of recruitment vacancies. This is because most often than not, organizations looking for nurses restrict their advertisement to nursing schools and few community newspapers with the view of attracting fewer candidates in order to save money. However, this limits the number of potentially capable candidates for the vacancy. Constitution of Recruitment Team Another problem has to do with the constitution of recruitment team. In some organizations, the recruitment process is left in the hands very few people. This however reduces efficiency because the work becomes tedious for the few people. Inefficiencies are seen when the people have to spend much time undertaking manual processes when those tasks could be

Toyota Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Toyota - Essay Example The company has developed a separate system called Toyota Production System (TPS) in order to manage its production operations. This system gives more focus on avoidance of over production and this strategy may sometimes adversely affect the expansional notions of Toyota. Hence, it is recommendable for the company to engage in more large scale production. Similarly, the Toyota must improve its competitiveness by introducing effective long term promotional strategies as the company economically lags behind Japan’s No.2 Nissan Motor Co Ltd and third ranked Honda Motor Co Ltd. The company must design a well structured employee development program that would establish a balance between an individual’s personal interests and organizational goals. Likewise, it is advisable for the management to make interpersonal relationships with employees so that it can ensure effective information flow between the organization’s top level to bottom level and vice versa. For this pu rpose, the firm may arrange for periodical meetings or appoint unit supervisors.

Web Conferencing Its role in strengthening the business Essay

Web Conferencing Its role in strengthening the business - Essay Example The data for this study was collected and compiled from various literatures like books and journals so that a conclusion could be arrived on advantages and disadvantages of the technology. Qualitative methodology was used for this study so that literature related to the topic only could be used throughout the study underlining the topic of this study. The study reveals that web conferencing is more beneficial when compared to its disadvantages in the long run. The tool completely reduces the costs related to travel, food and accommodation of the team members and also saves time that is consumed during travelling facilitating the employees to communicate with their team members and participate in the conference from their branch office. The present paper will provide information to other researchers about the impact of web conferencing on the business organization and their disadvantages and advantages. The study is compilation of good number of literatures which are not easy to find and will serve the researchers with good information. The development has come a long way in terms of communication. Gone are the days when king used to send his messenger to convey message to his counterpart. Then came the government postal service followed by historic invention of telephone which enabled voice based communication minimizing the time and effort on both sides. But development was not meant to be stopped, only through innovation of telephone, the world wanted more. Internet created a revolution in the world providing effective communication through email and online chatting. Businesses compete in this competitive world of business on the basis of effective communication. Most of the organizations have gone global paving the way for globalization. In view of this, multinational companies opt for better and effective communication regarding the performance of business which was possible through email, online chatting, etc. But, there are times, when the organization wants to communicate through all its managers located at different locations, make some presentation, management briefing, etc., where email and chat tools look inefficient and web conferencing offers which other communication tool don't offer. David Geer (2005, p.14) states that web conferencing reduces the time for making decisions and according to the In-Stat/MDR statistics, web conferencing services have increased by 70% i.e $765 million from $450 million between the years 2002 and 2004 and was expected to reach $1.5 billion by the year 2007. Therefore the present paper is aimed at the importance of web conferencing in the present global scenario in regards to business and to identify its advantages and disadvantages. Web Conferencing - What, Why and How According to IEEE (2010) 'web conferencing' is a technology that allows multiple meeting with participants for effective communication with each other, live over the internet. Web conference requires people to meet in a dedicated online conference center which has the facility to share audio, video and files in real time. It facilitates an individual or group of people scattered from different places to communicate and accomplish common goals without travel expenses or technical hurdles. The technology which is the product of Web 2.0 offers variant support and facilities with regard to communication strategy. In general, web conferencing facilitates elimination of expensive and time consuming business travels; sharing video, audio, viewing

External and Internal Environments Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

External and Internal Environments - Assignment Example The study discussed the different strategies followed by the organization to utilize their strength and opportunities and eliminate their threats and weaknesses. The final discussion of this report is based on the analysis of its value chain with the help of the resource, capabilities and core competencies. The different external environment such as politically-economical, legal, social, technological and environmental factors have an important effect on the business decisions of AT&T. The economic and technological factors play the most influential role in the business decision of AT&T (Crandall, 2000). High inflation and interest rates are affecting the overall growth of the economy of the US. Different players of the telecommunication industry are reporting the decline in the profit margin due to the increase in competition and higher interest rate. The increase in disposable income is allowing the consumers to seek for better telecommunication facilities to match their fast life. The increasing demand of customers is directly affecting competition within the telecommunication leaders of US market. The different economical trends and currency rates of all the partner countries has affected the business decision of the organization. AT&T needs to have different market strategies as per the economical differences of all the outsourced countries (Crandall, 2000). The rapid growth of technology has an extensive impact on the business decisions of the telecommunication industry. Most of the organizations are investing to improve their research and development facilities to offer the latest technologies to their customers. The maturity of the technology is also affecting the business decisions of this industry. Most of the technological developments are facing maturity stage very fast due to the introduction of more innovative facilities. The organisation also needs to focus on the global technological trends to sustain their global customers.