Discuss the themes of identity explored Essay

Identity is made up of individual characteristics by which a person is recognized individually, as a member of a group, and of a wider society. We can draw this identity from our environment and setting, other individuals, memory, and also by contrast and similarities. Identity is needed to give people the ability to know who they are and to exude their individuality, as a form of existence, upon others. The forms of identity explored in these two plays are; the confirmation of identity and the sense of self. We can then maintain our identity by having physical identification and keeping personal relationships. The search for identity is a theme in Sophocles’ Ancient Greek tragedy, â€Å"King Oedipus†. Oedipus lacks sense of self because of a curse set upon him from birth. Before he was born, a curse stated that he would fulfill the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother. The play focuses on the gradual and delayed revelation of this oracle that he has already fulfilled. Moreover, it specifically focuses on Oedipus’ quest for his inner identity. In â€Å"King Oedipus†, Oedipus has drawn his identity from his surroundings. The setting of the palace, the riches, and the status define Oedipus, which is one reason as to why he is very confident at the beginning of the play. He also exudes confidence because he had previously saved the city of Thebes from the curse of the Sphinx and became king. However, his confidence is ironic, because he begins to question â€Å"who am I?† as his quest for the identity of the murderer of King Laius is eroding his own identity. Therefore, the revelation that Oedipus was the man who killed his real father, King Laius, married his true mother, the Queen, and raised a family through incest, begins to erode his confidence. Further evidence of this loss of identity is presented, when Oedipus goes through this discovery that he has fulfilled the prophecy. After insisting on hearing the truth, again and again, in the face of reluctant tellers, and after calling for an investigation of La ius’s murder, Oedipus says:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Then once more I must bring what is dark to light.† This brave statement is ironic because it is not brave at all. The underlying meaning is that these words foreshadow his future blinding. It is foreshadowing because the investigation will reveal the dark secret of his incest, which metaphorically enlightens him with the truth, therefore giving him back his identity and individuality, but literally blinds him. This foreshadowing comes to the forefront when presented in the desperate tone of the comment: â€Å"Let all come out,  However vile! However base it be,  I must unlock the secret of my birth.†Ã‚  At this point Oedipus realizes he can no longer bear to look at his family, so he blinds himself by extracting his eyes with the Queen’s brooches. He is famed for his clear-sightedness and quick comprehension, which is ironic because he has been blind to the truth and is now physically blind. This blinding symbolizes that he cannot accept his true identity and has therefore lost his sense of self. The search for identity is also a theme in Samuel Beckett’s â€Å"Waiting for Godot†. The character Pozzo is constantly in need of confirmation of his identity, since he does not truly know whether he is recognised as an individual entity by those in his surroundings. The two most frequent characters, Vladimir and Estragon also need confirmation of existence. However, this is due to the fact that they are contemplating whether they truly exist. In complete contrast to these characters, there is Godot. He is a character that never appears, and rather than having his own obscure beliefs about his own identity, it is questioned by Vladimir and Estragon. Although, he does not have a search for identity, Vladimir and Estragon question his identity. A display of the constant need for confirmation of existence is shown through the character Pozzo. He attempts to achieve this confirmation through needing to be witnessed at all times. He demonstrates this in two ways: through material possessions, and through voice. Pozzo owns many material items such as a watch, a slave, and a food basket with wine and chicken, which is in complete contrast to the turnips and carrots consumed daily by Vladimir and Estragon. This contrast between Vladimir and Estragon and Pozzo provide Pozzo with his identity, and because he can compare himself to them, he knows he is Pozzo. He often consults his possessions such as his watch and his slave, he also pretends he has a need to use them like when â€Å"he puts on his glasses†¦he takes off his glasses.†3 Pozzo is lonely and starving for attention, which is why he strives for companionship in Lucky and attempts to stay as long as possible in Vladimir and Estragon’s company. A strong proof for this need of attention is presented in his â€Å"|terrifying voice|†;  Ã¢â‚¬Å"I am Pozzo! Pozzo! Does that name mean nothing to you? I say does that name mean nothing to you? †¦PPPOZZZO!† This authorative language is a faà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ade covering his insecurities with himself, as is his use of power and cruelty over his slave, ironically named Lucky. Pozzo knows who he is, it is evident in the way he informs everyone he is â€Å"PPPOZZZO!† However, he needs confirmation of his identity from other people’s perception, which is why he always consults Vladimir and Estragon, questioning, â€Å"I am perhaps not particularly human, but who cares?†5 In this there is a great lack of self-acceptance, which demonstrates Pozzo’s strongest weakness. Additionally, Pozzo wants to make an impression on whomever he meets so that they can confirm his existence for him.

Evaluate 2 aspects of effect of globalization in India in the last 5 Essay

Evaluate 2 aspects of effect of globalization in India in the last 5 years - Essay Example FDI has tremendous impact in economic development of India. Among the emerging economies, India offers the most liberal and transparent policies on FDI investments. The following table shows how FDI inflows from different countries flew to India. The maximum impact of FDI has taken place in service sector which at 21% includes financial sector, information technology, and travel business. Computer software and hardware businesses are next in the line contributing around 9%. Telecommunication sector has grown rapidly in India due to huge contributions by FDI. There is no surprise that Indian telecom industry which is growing at the rate of 45% has the highest growth rate found in the world. (Chaturvedi, Ila 2011) Indias growth story and FDI has direct linkages. Ratio of FDI Inflow to Gross Capital Formation rose to 9.6 percent in the year 2008, which was found to be only 1.9 percent during 1999-2000. In the same way, ratio of FDI Outflow to Gross Capital Formation went to 4.1 percent in the year 2008 which was ruling at only 0.1 percent during 1999-2000. (Ansari, Shamim 2010) India has been one of the most lucrative destinations for investment in the service sector for its competitive wages and due to huge demand and supply gaps in the sectors like insurance, banking, telecommunication and financial services. India has become a hub for back-office processing, medical transcription services, call centres, knowledge process outsourcing and back office accounting and financial services apart many other services including software and information technology business. The Indias average quarterly Gross Domestic Product Growth rate averaged 8.4 between 2005 and 2010 that reached at its pinnacle in September, 2006. This growth rate should be seen at the back drop of previous growth rates that prevailed around 5.5 percent before 2005. Globalisation means opening up of markets for

Family study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Family study - Essay Example I hated the light as I felt them to be too bright for eyes and causing irritation. I did not like people and voices as I felt them to be too loud. I had a really bad mood accompanied by a lower patience level. Even the jokes came to me as taunts. I could not focus on any of my work whole day. I would feel great displeasure in the start but as I have seen people, it would become a routine for me. The affection and natural feelings for one’s own child might mitigate the negativities associated with sleepless nights. However, I feel the experience would affect my personal and close relationships like with my spouse for not taking the responsibility of the child or helping me out to fight with the stress I would be going through. It sure will call for sharing the duties and responsibilities. Nighttime chores have a lot to do with a person’s following day’s activities, moods and interactions as learnt from the activity. I believe that rationality and mutual understanding would call for the willingness to share this duty. I believe I would be able to convince my spouse on sharing

Marketing Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Marketing Research - Essay Example Due to this, the firm used a third party to come up with an infomercial to raise awareness and recorded sales. However, after a few months 25% of the initial sales have been returned by consumers. Golfers who had tried the Jacket before its debut didn’t show any sign of embarrassment while wearing the device nor did they find it uncomfortable. In addition, during initial stages of development, no problems were identified at all. The problem is that, before initial production, the company did not have requisite consumer information to inform the actual production. In this case, the firm has proposed a study in order to determine the causes of Swing Jacket return rates once purchases have been made. Research Objectives In marketing products, consumer behaviour is always an important aspect (Aaker 1991; Conover, J. N. 1982). According to Perner, L (2010), a market research is often carried out to ensure that what is produced is what customers yearn for and not what the producersà ¢â‚¬â„¢ term as the ideal product. ... t return rates once purchases have been made despite the fact that golfers who had tried the Jacket before its debut didn’t show any sign of embarrassment while wearing the device nor did they find it uncomfortable. In addition, during initial stages of development, no problems were identified at all. Further, it will be of importance to establish whether the information contained in the infomercial is coherent with the product. This as Bettman and Park (1980) puts it goes a long way in maintaining marketing ethics of beneficence, where the benefits and not risks are spread out uniformly between the sellers and buyers. This goes a long way in maintaining consumer trust. Importance/Benefits The study of consumer needs on a Swing Jacket will help Swing Jacket Inc. to improve the Swing Jacket with the understanding of how consumers perceive the product and how they make their selections between different alternatives, if any. The returns are made after several months of using the Swing Jackets. In this regard, the study will help the firm determine the level of influence from their environment e.g. culture, family, the media etc.). Such information will further assist the firm in understanding the behavior of consumers while making shopping and other marketing decisions as well as in gaining understanding on limitations hindering consumer access and processing of information (Perner, L 2010; Brucks, M. (1985). Swing Jacket Inc. is in dire need to cut a market niche and to reduce the return rate of the Swing Jacket which is at nearly 25% of the total sales. In this regard, the information from the study will enable the firm adopt new marketing strategies and campaigns to reach more customers effectively translating to more profits. An understanding of what brand was

Black Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Black - Essay Example The leaders of this organization enjoin to its members following of a strict Islamic code of behavior, which covers such issues as interpersonal relations, dress, and diet (Black Muslims, 1). The origins of Black Muslims are found in two black self-improvement movements initiated before the World War I. One of these organizations was the Moorish Science Temple of America, which was founded by Prophet Drew Ali in 1913. Soon after death of Ali in 1929, the movement has been headed by Wallace D. Fard, who has founded a mosque in Detroit in 1930 and thus has set a beginning of the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims, 1). Wallace Fard was also known as Master Farad Muhammad, and called the Great Mahdi, Allah, or God by Black Muslims (Black Muslims, 1). Fard claimed that he was a member of the Quarish tribe to which Prophet Muhammed belonged and called himself â€Å"Asiatic Black man† (Fishman, Eric, and Soage, 60). The second movement which has set the origin of the Black Muslims, was the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) founded by Marcus Garvey in 1914(Black Muslims, 1). Marcus Garvey was a black nationalist born in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica (Mugleston, n.p.). UNIA for Garvey was an instrument for racial advancement for the rest of his life (Mugleston, n.p.). The slogan of the movement was â€Å"One Aim, One God, One Destiny†, and appealed to the black American soldiers who came back after serving abroad during WWI to the racist society (Mugleston, n.p.). Adherents to Non Christianity were a group of people, some of whom have made their contribution to the birth of Black Islam. By the mid of 1970s, the total number of Non-Christian Religious Adherents in the US was almost 10% of the total population – 20,789,000 people. Black Muslims were a subcategory of this group and comprised 200,000 people in the mid of 1970s (Infoplease.com, n.p.). The share of Black Muslims among the

Essay 3 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

3 - Essay Example Siddhartha Gautama was the pioneer of Buddhism and the religion is based on psychological expressions and representations like yoga. The religion is based on several doctrines. Some of these doctrines are the four noble truths, eight-fold path, and ideas of impermanence and anatman The four noble truths are; life is characterized by suffering, suffering is caused by desire or grasping, cease grasping and follow the eight-fold path. The eight-fold path consists of right view, right intention, right speech, right actions, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Impermanence and anatman relies on the understanding that everything fluctuates and it is dependent upon everything else. During its spread in Asia, Buddhism blended with other cultures in Korea, China and Japan. In China, Buddhists absorbed some sections of Daoism and Confucian religion. In Japan, Buddhism has several denominations like Tendai, Pure Land, Nichiren, Shingon and Zen. In Korea, Buddhism has been absorbed in other religions such as indigenous shamanism, new religions, Christianity, Confucianism and Daoism. Muslims use one sacred book called the Holy Qur’an and the Buddhists use several sacred books. Buddhists concentrate more on the psychological wellbeing than the spiritual wellbeing. In Buddhism, spirituality is attained one when dies and your actions determine what you shall gain. On the other hand, Muslims’ spirituality wellness in the world is the key to attaining eternity. What happens after death is explained differently in each case. Buddhists believe that every being will undergo cycles of transformation according to their actions into other beings. In contrast, Muslims believe that there will be paradise after death, no transformation into other beings will occur. A creator does not exist in Buddhism, existence of such means suffering

Employee Performance Appraisal Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Employee Performance Appraisal Systems - Essay Example This essay declares that there are various benefits of these techniques; however, they are not without some limitations. Below, the paper is going to highlight the importance of employee appraisals, the reason why they are important, the benefits and banes of performance appraisals and more importantly, the legal implication of employee appraisals wrapping up the paper with a conclusive statement. This paper makes a conclusion that there are various researches conducted on the subject of employee performance appraisal. The basic concept is that employee appraisal has always been considered the task of the employer rather than considering in the element of a 360 degree evaluation. A 360 degree appraisal has several benefits that can be summed by saying that the evaluation works on all levels and provides a more comprehensive, well rounded approach to performance appraisals. Some researchers propose that self appraisals be made part of the appraisal process to evaluate work performance. Self appraisals however, are also studied to be more lenient, less variable and less discriminant with less halo effect as well. This is probably because the employee knows the amount of work they have done, how much effort they have put in, but leniency arises when employees consider themselves on an easier scale and project themselves positively than normal. However, problem areas of self appra isals become magnified in areas where decision making capability needs to be evaluated, along with identifying training need and applied criteria of elevation in terms of tasks and processes. (Murphy and Margulies, 1980) The research also points out that employee self appraisal is a method that falls in the same category as employer appraisal as it helps develop the employee's motivation and helps him or her participate in management. Murphy