Role of It in Travel and Tourism Industry

IT in travel ROLE OF IT IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM INDUSTRY GROUP – BK Rajnikant Patel- 111 Dr. Sushant Patel- 112 Rachita Patnaik- 113 Yashasvi Patravali- 114 Navjot Singh- 115 Preview IT has touched every aspect of commerce and turned those industries into gold mines. Travel & tourism industry is also one of those which IT has not spared. And how it has brought about transformation and revolution will be seen in the due course of the presentation. Let me first introduce you to the travel and tourism industry at large, and the focus is particularly on the Indian travel and tourism industry as a subset of the global tourism market. India has been ranked 12th in Asia and 68th in the world as per the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011 by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Tourism in  India  is the largest service industry, with a contribution of 6. 23% to the  national GDP and 8. 78% of the total employment in India. The tourism industry in India generated foreign exchange of about US $ 136 billion in 2008 and that is expected to increase to US $ 275. 5 billion by 2018 at a 9. 4% annual growth rate. Maharashtra,  Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh  and Rajasthan  are the top 5 states to receive inbound tourists. A new growth sector in Indian tourism is Medical  Tourism. Medical tourism is essentially foreign tourist cum patients coming to India and seeking medical treatment. It is currently growing at around 30% per annum. It generated $ 9 Billion in 2010. The reason behind such a rapid growth in medical tourism is the fact that India offers hi tech medical treatments at a very cheap price. Giving you an example, if a bypass surgery here costs around Rs. 2 lac, exactly the same procedure with the same instruments and materials will cost you 30000 dollars in the U. S. , i. e. Rs. 15 lac. The tourism industry in India has also helped growth in other sectors as diverse as horticulture, handicrafts, agriculture and even construction. Coming to IT in tourism, when information technology is used in travel and tourism industry, it leads to the emergence of a whole new parameter called eTourism. eTourism reflects the digitisation of all processes and value chains in the tourism, travel, hospitality & catering industries. eTourism is the leading B2C application, i. e. business to customer application and it comprises of almost 40% of all B2C eCommerce. Gone are the days when you would wait for the customers to come to you. In this era of fierce competition, you have to reach to the customers before someone else does. 60% of all tourists use internet to get information on destinations. So here we realize how essential information and communication technology is in today’s travel and tourism industry. eAirlines Till a few years ago, the basic sources of information in the tourism sector were pamphlets, brochures, directories, guide books, etc. produced and published by different countries. The last few decades witnessed the application of computer and communication technologies in the field of tourism. Two distinct streams of information sources viz, (i) online and (ii) offline came into existence. Core results regarding ICT-related developments in the aviation industry: E-Ticketing: The elimination of traditional paper-based tickets is one of the core elements of the low-cost business model. Yet, e-ticketing is not limited to the so called â€Å"no-frills† airlines. The adoption of e-ticketing is increasingly pursued also by network carriers. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) intends to achieve a 100% penetration of e-ticketing among its members by the end of 2007. Customer self-service: Another measure for cost reduction and the acceleration of passenger flows at airports is to introduce customer self-service check-in solutions. This may be done on the spot by self-service kiosks or in the form of web based check-ins, which may even allow users to check-in from home or their office. Bar-coded boarding passes offer a natural link with e-ticketing and self-service check-in. Most recently, it has become possible not only to print boarding passes at the passenger’s home, but also to place bar codes on the passenger’s cell phone, thus making paper documents obsolete. RFID for luggage handling might replace classical baggage tags in the near future. It might simplify airline luggage management considerably, improve customer service in terms of reductions in mishandled luggage, and provide new security mechanisms. Computer Reservations System (CRS) A computer reservations system (or central reservation system) (CRS) is a computerized system used to store and retrieve information and conduct transactions related to air travel. Originally designed and operated by airlines, CRSes were later extended for the use of travel agencies. Major CRS operations that book and sell tickets for multiple airlines are known as global distribution systems (GDS). Airlines have divested most of their direct holdings to dedicated GDS companies, who make their systems accessible to consumers through Internet gateways. Modern GDSes typically allow users to book hotel rooms and rental cars as well as airline tickets. They also provide access to railway reservations in some markets although these are not always integrated with the main system. Global Distribution Systems (GDS) Major CRS operations that book and sell tickets for multiple airlines are known as global distribution systems (GDS). Modern GDSes typically allow users to book hotel rooms and rental cars as well as airline tickets. GDS distribute more than one CRS to users who are travel agents. GDS require massive investment because they are large computer system that link several airlines and travel principals into complex network of PCs, telecommunications and large mainframe system. Some leading GDS are Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo and WorldSpan are travel agents. eHospitality Hotels use ICTs in order to improve their operations, manage their inventory and maximise their profitability. Their systems facilitate both in-house management and distribution through electronic media. ‘Property management systems (PMSs)’ coordinate front office, sales, planning and operational functions by administrating reservations and managing the hotel inventory. Moreover, PMSs integrate the â€Å"back† and â€Å"front† of the house management and improve general administration functions such as accounting and finance; marketing research and planning; forecasting and yield management; payroll and personnel; and purchasing. Understandably, hotel chains gain more benefits from PMSs, as they can introduce a unified system for planning, budgeting and controlling and coordinating their properties centrally. Hotels also utilise ICTs and the Internet extensively for their distribution and marketing functions. Global presence is essential in order to enable both individual customers and the travel trade to access accurate information on availability and to provide easy, efficient, inexpensive and reliable ways of making and confirming reservations. Although Central Reservation Offices (CROs) introduced central reservations in the 1970s, it was not until the expansion of airline CRSs and the recent ICT developments that forced hotels to develop hotel CRSs in order to expand their distribution, improve efficiency, facilitate control, empower yield management, reduce labour costs and enable rapid response time to both customers and management requests. Following the development of hotel CRSs by most chains, the issue of interconnectivity with other CRSs and the Internet emerged. As a result, ‘switch companies,’ such as THISCO and WIZCOM, emerged to provide an interface between the various systems and enable a certain degree of transparency. This reduces both set-up and reservation costs, whilst facilitates reservations through several distribution channels. eTour Operators Leisure travellers often purchase â€Å"packages,† consisting of charter flights and accommodation, arranged by tour operators. Tour operators tend to pre-book these products and distribute them through brochures displayed in travel agencies. Hence, until recently in northern European countries, where tour operators dominate the leisure market, airline and hotel CRSs were rarely utilised for leisure travel. In the early 1980s, tour operators realised the benefits of ICTs in organising, promoting, distributing and coordinating their packages. Thomson’s Open-line Programme (TOP) was the first real-time computer-based central reservation office in 1976. It introduced direct communication with travel agencies in 1982, and announced that reservations for Thomson Holidays would only be accepted through TOP in 1986. This move was the critical point for altering the communication rocesses between tour operators and travel agencies. Gradually, all major tour operators developed or acquired databases and established electronic links with travel agencies, aiming to reduce their information handling costs and increase the speed of information transfer and retrieval. This improved their productivity and capacity management whil st enhancing their services to agencies and consumers. Tour operators also utilised their CRSs for market intelligence, in order to adjust their supply to demand fluctuations, as well as to monitor the booking progress and productivity of travel agencies. Tour operators have been reluctant to focus on ICTs through their strategic planning. Few realize the major transformation of the marketplace, while the majority regards ICTs exclusively as a facilitator of their current operations, and as a tool to reduce their costs. However, several tour operators in Germany, Scandinavia and the UK have moved towards electronic brochures and developed their online strategies. Successful operators report that up to 25% of their packages are booked directly by consumers online. This enables them to concentrate on niche markets. eTravel Agencies ICTs are irreplaceable tools for travel agencies as they provide information and reservation facilities and support the intermediation between consumers and principals. Travel agencies operate various reservation systems, which mainly enable them to check availability and make reservations for tourism products. Until recently GDSs have been critical for business travel agencies to access information and make reservations on scheduled airlines, hotel chains, car rentals and a variety of ancillary services. However, until recently travel agencies have been reluctant to take full advantage of the ICTs, mainly due to: a limited strategic scope; †¢ deficient ICTs expertise and understanding; †¢ low profit margins which prevents investments; and †¢ focus on human interaction with consumers. There are effectively 5 major groups- 1. Amadus IT group- vacation. com, opodo, travel tainmemt 2. Expedia group- expedia. com, hotels. com, anyway. com 3. Orbitz group- orbitz, cheaptick ets, hotel club 4. Priceline group- priceline. com, booking. com, active hotels 5. Sabre group- travelocity. com, world choice travel CASE STUDY 1: ICT-DEPLOYMENT AT THE LOW-COST CARRIER RYANAIR, IRELAND ABSTRACT The innovative use of information technology for online booking, e-ticketing and internal communications coupled with relentless improvements in cost containment, operating efficiencies, route system expansion and scheduling enables Ryanair to achieve increased passenger traffic and report the best customer service performance in its peer group class. CASE STUDY FACT SHEET Full name of the company: Ryanair Location (HQ/main branches): Dublin, Ireland, with operations in most of Europe Sector (main business activity): Low cost air travel Year of foundation: 1985 Number of employees: about 2,700 Turnover in last financial year: â‚ ¬1. 3 billion Primary customers: Business and Leisure Travelers Most significant geographic market: Europe Focus of case study: e-Ticketing Key words:e-Ticketing, online booking, web check-in, low cost airline OBJECTIVES Ryanair has achieved annual increases in passenger traffic each year since 1995. Projections are for 35 million passengers in 2006, increasing to an estimated 42 million in 2007. Ryanair’s objective is to double passenger volumes and revenue by 2012. It currently (July 2006) operates a fleet of 107 Boeing 737-800’s and will buy 142 more of these aircraft over the next 6 years. This study outlines the currently evolving e-business capabilities in place to address these growth areas and achieve the sought for doubling targets. ONLINE BOOKING Online booking via the internet commenced in earnest after the launch of the www. Ryanair. com website in 2000. Over 98% of the 27. 5 million passenger seats in 2005 were sold via the internet. This percentage figure is consistent year on year, and is expected to continue at this high level. The online booking system gives Ryanair the capability to introduce innovative practices to ensure that the individual customer has greater control over their fare costs. E-TICKETING CHECK’N’GO Officially launched in 2006, Ryanair’s e-Ticketing Check’N’Go service enables passengers to check-in online within three days prior to the proposed flight and up to 4 hours before take-off. Using a pre-printed e-boarding card from their home or office computers, passengers can avoid the airport check-in desk and go directly to the security gates with a maximum of one piece of hand baggage. Encouraging passengers to travel with less checked-in luggage also means faster queues for those who check-in at the airport desk. INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS As Ryanair expanded across Europe, in addition to their well known customer facing web pages, Ryanair has implemented a web-based internal communications system used by flight crews, maintenance staff and ground staff. For instance, a record is kept of the various components in each aircraft and a tickler schedule for their maintenance and/or replacement. The intranet system has also saved on tangible costs, including paper and printing costs. DYNAMIC PACKAGING AND OTHER ANCILLARY REVENUE SOURCES Ryanair drives more sales and increased revenue via the dynamic packaging of flights with discounted hotel rooms and bottom of the range car rentals. In addition after selecting their flights, all travelers are strongly encouraged via the online payment process to take out travel insurance. Another option provided via Ryanair’s homepage at present is to click through to another supplier’s web site such as activitybreaks. com to buy their products. CONCLUSIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED The adoption of e-ticketing and internal e-business systems has enabled this low cost carrier to keep operational running costs well in-check. For the financial year ended March 31, 2005 their share accounted for 16% of total revenues, compared to 15% for the previous year. Ryanair is consistently the European leader in LCC. In addition, due to the minimal in-house administration costs, Ryanair’s low-cost-flights business marketing model includes frequent â€Å"give-away† flights as well: 23% of its tickets were given away in 2005, and half of all flights are slated to be â€Å"free† within the next 4 years. CASE STUDY 2: E-TICKETING AT SN BRUSSELS AIRLINES, BELGIUM This case study highlights the benefits of e-ticketing. After IATA was commitment to discontinue the distribution and processing of paper tickets by December 2007. SN Brussels decided to focus on e-ticketing in order to cut operating costs and generate extra convenience to passengers. Apart from lower cost and increased operation efficiency, e- ticketing allowed the airline to strengthen its market position by a more intensive use of alliances and reduced dependency on intermediaries. BACKGROUND †¢SN Brussels Airlines is a full-service Belgian airline company founded in 2002 by a group of Belgian investors who acquired some assets of the ankrupt Sabena airline. †¢ SN Brussels Airlines is the only full service airline that operates from Brussels and is the market leader at Brussels Airport. †¢It operates around 285 flights per day to various destinations in USA, Africa & Europe and 3. 5 million passengers carried per year. †¢It has around 2000 employees in Belgium & abroad. OBJECTIVES †¢SN Brussels Airlines has dev eloped an interesting business concept of offering fully serviced flights, as offered traditionally by the established airlines, with the lowest possible fare to compete with the low cost carriers. The airline aims to attract both the demanding business travelers with tight schedules but expecting value for money and economy travelers who are sensitive to prices †¢This lead to high airline occupancy and the airline registered profit for 3 years despite unfavorable conditions. ICT INVESTMENTS †¢Expands its ICT use due to customer expectations which gives travelers more convenience and control from the booking stage to the in-flight service. It invested in passenger technologies like e-ticketing, online check in services to reduce the cost. ICT developments like e-ticketing and own website/booking engine enable the airline to strengthen its brand awareness, get direct access to its customers and, consequently, reduce the dependency on Central Reservation Systems (CRS) and Gl obal Distribution Systems (GDS). E-BUSINESS SERVICES †¢SN Brussels' internet site (www. flySN. com) is a major part of the company’s e-ticketing infrastructure it is user-friendly and allows for an easy search and compilation of travel offers. †¢It also provides self check-in possibilities, hotel bookings, insurance and rent-a-car services online. E-tickets are also available through call centre on all routes in the network and through GDS used by travel agents. BENEFITS †¢Online booking, proved to be an efficient channel for the distribution of e-tickets. In May 2002 only 38% tickets were sold online whereas in September 2006, 63% of own sales were conducted via its own booking engine. †¢The e-ticket uses a database to track the sale and use of tickets. All subsequent ticket transactions, including refunds, exchanges, check-in, void and settlement, involve this holding database this reduces chances of fraud and eliminates the problem of lost ticket. It al so reduced the cost of documentations. SN Brussels Airlines’ e-ticketing solution allows for seamless link up with external partners by forming alliances and developing the so-called â€Å"interlining† system that allows passengers to have one ticket for a complete travel itinerary with different travel segments from several airlines. Passengers have then only one set of tickets for a multi-operator trip and benefit from having their luggage checked right through to their destination LESSON LEARNED This case study illustrated the use of e-ticketing at SN Brussels Airlines. The e-ticketing system did not only enable the airline to reduce operation costs and increase efficiency, but also helped to achieve strategic advantages which have further strengthened its market position. In particular, the applied e-ticketing technology facilitates the creation of alliances with other airlines. This, in turn, allows for a more efficient utilization of transportation capacities and access to a larger number of customers. Furthermore, e- ticketing combined with the development of direct online sales channels reduces the dependency on intermediaries and decreases the payments to CRS/GDS. FUTURE OF E-TOURISM †¢The Internet and mobile communication devices are three most significant ePlatforms that will help change the future of tourism. †¢The Internet will allow more people to access high quality information quickly and with minimum inconvenience. It also gave the possibility to purchase travel products on-line. In addition, it generated great service expectations, as consumers anticipate to be served on a 24hours/365days basis and at their own convenience. †¢Not only does the internet help the traveler but also the tourism suppliers like online travel agents, airlines etc. The trend towards the use of mobile communication devices is mostly determined by the commodification of mobile phones in the past few years, coupled with an increasing need to be able to obtain information while ‘on the move’. For example, business travelers can receive information on arrivals and departures as well as check-in through their mobile phone for a number of airlines. †¢On-line Internet provision is not sufficiently developed for those areas conventional telephone can also be used, a traveler may call a call center to confirm their bookings or ask queries. Importance of GDS and CRS in Travel & Tourism Industry: Computer reservations systems (CRS) have become critical instruments in the marketing and distribution of travel and tourism products and services. New systems have recently been developed in Western Europe, while the Asian and Pacific regions are in the process of establishing their own systems. A central reservation system represents a computerized system used for both storing and distribution of information. We could be talking about a hotel, a hotel chain, a resort or any other type of lodging facilities. The CRS can also be used for checking up different details about flights or seat availability. People may tend to confuse CRS with GDS (Global Distribution System) because of their similar functionality. However, there is one important difference between these two applications. Central reservation systems are web applications exclusive for each company or hotel. On the other hand, a global distribution system is used by various travel agents for booking reasons, as they cannot access CRS. CRS contains important information such as hotel accommodations, activity bookings, flight schedules or even holiday packages. There is almost no need for a travel agent as you could simply arrange your reservations over the Internet. Most hotels and travel agencies have their own websites for presenting their rates and offers. Websites can also be used together with various CRM software in order to strengthen the existent client relationships. Reservations are processed within a centralized location that is also responsible with availability management. Rates retrieval and reservations are made as efficiently as possible. Hotels will benefit from better yield management and will also reduce other costs as web bookings will not be done anymore through third parties.

Effect Fast Food Essay

Fast foods have become a common trend amongst many individuals. Most people would always say they don’t have time hence opt for fast foods. With the advancement of modern technology these foods are made in way that leaves questions unanswered. Despite research showing organic food such as meat and poultry serve better nutritious supplements, most people tend to rely on fast foods such as vanilla and, barbecue more so in U. S. A. (Alexander, 22). There are some negative aspects pegged to modern food production techniques in the society. Modern food production techniques are costly hence it is not convenient for poor farmers since it involves scientific knowledge. In spite of its prevalence for about in 13year in U. S. A. the debate about fast foods has taken centre stage in today’s discussion. This paper tries to stipulate the effects of fast foods that are exhibited in our contemporary society. Firstly, Modern methods also make use of machinery which is not available to every farmer in the world hence, it leaves the poor farmers out as they cannot afford the equipments required and, it also involves heavy investment especially when breeding certain crops for the sake of improving their nutritive values. In the process, various elements are introduced into them. It also builds the view in people that, only modern produced foods are good for consumption hence, the foods produced using conventional methods are, viewed to be of lesser value. Traditional farmers are therefore left out with their own produce making them to suffer economically (Schlosser, 112). It also observed that, foods produced using modern productions are also costly. However, the big question is why most people rush for them? Similarly, there is great fear in the world that genetically modified foods have immense negative health Impacts on peoples’ health. Consequently, modern food production is now focusing on safety of foods consumed by customers by introducing new techniques and, state of the art processing methods have been discovered to ensure that valuable nutrients are preserved. There is an immense focus on safety in foods being evident in the area of quality standards and safety. Safety requirements are of global significance along the whole food production line, from harvest of raw materials to storage of processed foods in homes (Wilk, 77). The key concern therefore is suppressing the growth of unwanted organisms that may spoil food. These actions have effects on the health of the society since; they eliminate the chances of food poisoning. Similarly, modern food production methods are also more focused on meeting specific dietary needs for the society. With the increased knowledge on the importance of various nutrients, diets can also be developed to meet specific need as numerous plant ingredients have already been shown to be beneficial in disease prevention. With the increasing knowledge on the importance of various nutrients, diets can be developed to meet specific needs. There is a wide range of food designed to suit the nutritional requirements of various groups such as the old, expectant or breast-feeding mothers, infants, young children and sportspersons. Such foods are characterized by a balanced composition of energy suppliers in the form of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. In addition, they have cocktails of vitamins and minerals composed according to the current state of scientific knowledge. For many elderly, they have an advantage that, the same foods may provide a balanced diet and, a sufficient supply of vitamins. Also, essential amino acids and minerals are provided without changing long standing habits. Application of modern food production methods has also proved to increase the levels of output in farms. Modern methods lead to high turnout of food production. There are several reasons for the causes of negative impacts of modern food production in the contemporary society. It is evident that, due to the high knowledge required in the production, only a few companies will be able to pool the resources and expertise to carry out the studies and production (Brown, 68). Some of these companies are unscrupulous and, will charge so much on their products since there are less competitors in the market hence, being a burden to the society as they are compelled to pay more. Also, there are other researchers who only claim to have improved a certain food in form of its nutritive value yet, it is not just to get easy money. The consumers are not aware of that hence, they end up buying the products not knowing they have been conned. In addition, lack of regulation by governments is another cause of negative impact on the health. This is because, some food producing companies will not carry out enough studies while genetically modifying some foods hence, may end up being lethal to the society’s health. However, modern foods have had numerous positive impacts. With the advancement of scientific knowledge in plants and genetic engineering, it is possible to introduce even produce allergen free plants which are safe for the society. Genetic engineering is used to produce allergens in amounts sufficient for scientific analysis. The main aim is to produce varieties which have no predominant allergens and thus accommodate even hypersensitive consumers. Also with sophisticated technological efforts, it is possible to meet safety standards while maintaining organoleptic quality. Unwanted micro-organisms in foods need moisture, neutral pH values, low salt and sugar concentration and moderate temperatures to grow. This has called for measures to be undertaken to prevent the growth of these micro-organisms even after mild processing conditions, e. g various combinations of heat and acid treatments. The use of technology on the addition of antimicrobials, magnetic field pulses or computer aided design of equipment that is easily cleaned. As heating can destroy sensitive food ingredients, e.g. vitamins, modern pulse heat treatment involves very brief heating interspersed with cooling phases. Another way to combat microbial growth is water extraction, like industrial microwave drying of fruits or spray-drying of milk. Microwave drying offers the advantage of relatively low temperatures combined with the reduction of pre-existing moisture levels resulting in preserving valuable nutrients and flavors. Nowadays, food diagnostic methods are also being employed to determine the condition of foods by checking the temperatures, acid content, presence of certain metabolic products or, the quantity and type of micro organisms in a sample of safety controls. Besides conventional practices such as physiochemical characterizations, state-of-the-art molecular genetics methods are also widely used to identify spoilage bacteria. New tests based on molecular genetics can also be used to investigate a food’s origin. Modern food production methods also act positively by improving the helpful micro organisms which contribute both to flavor and preservation of food stuffs. Low earnings among the people in the society, has led to permeation of fast foods because, low earning people mostly would prefer to purchase the fast foods rather than other foods so as to be able to pay bills. It is evident that, fast foods may at times cost lesser as compared to other healthy foods. Also, the society is not concerned in what they eat but are ready to consume the fast foods not withstanding their effects to their health (Meeks, 122). The fast food industry is experiencing a tremendous growth and success due to the changing lifestyle in the society whereby, people are no longer doing strenuous jobs so they end up preferring fast foods. It is also evident that fast foods are cheaper compared to other foods so people are inclined to buy them due to current economic situations. In conclusion, the society nowadays is a working one where people have no time to prepare food hence; they prefer to walk into fast food outlets and purchase rather than spending time cooking. The society is also experiencing changed eating habits and, people are not too much concerned with their health thus they buy fast foods. There is also a growing demand in fast foods mostly linked to the increasing population growth and also advertisements. Fast foods are also addictive and hence once one is used to them it is hard to leave.

What do you think the significance of the witches is in Macbeth?

The witches within Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ can be interpreted as providing a number of roles within the play which add not only to the plot but also to the atmosphere and fear evoked within the audience. Within the Jacobean period in which ‘Macbeth’ was first performed, witches were the subject of much public hysteria and superstition, with the King’s own beliefs being based on a long history of Christian paranoia about witchcraft. As a result, the witches can be seen as a supernatural influence within the play, linking them to the devil and other dark forces and playing on the real and current fears of what may have been a dominantly Christian audience. In this respect, a modern Gothic reading can be applied to the novel. The supernatural power of the witches is one of the first elements highlighted within the play, as in Scene 3 Banquo states they can ‘look into the seeds of time/And say which grain will grow and which will not. Therefore, from the outset the witches are highlighted as the fortune-tellers within the story, who hold an otherworldly power to see into the future. This gives them a greater level of power than the surrounding humans, and such power in the wrong hands may have created a sense of unease and unpredictability within the audience. Additionally, it is this power to tell the fortune which creates the catalyst for the play and leads to Macbeth’s moral deterioration: ‘Al l hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter! ’ Thus, the witches can be seen to play the role of the typical villains through their manipulation of Macbeth, turning him from a ‘worthy gentleman’ into a brutal murderer. However, there is also contradictory argument that in reality, the witches do not hold any true superiority of power and that it is instead the planting of the idea in Macbeth’s mind which leads him to commit murder through the growth of his own ‘dark desires. This is exemplified further as Banquo suggests ‘oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s in deepest consequence. ’ Following this interpretations, the witches may be interpreted as having less power as they merely suggest an idea, and it is the desire and drive of the human mind which instead leads to Macbeth’s downfall. This interpretation may also be considered particularly frightening both to a Jacobean and a modern audience as it follows the modern Gothic stereotype of playing on the realistic fears of humans, such as the power of our deep and potentially repressed desires. Furthermore, the witches can also be seen to play a part in destabilising the typical gender roles of men and women within Jacobean society. Banquo states: ‘You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so. The ‘beards’ of the witches bring about confusion as to whether the witches are female or male, and deconstruct the opposition between both genders. This ambiguity leads to the witches failing to fall into either category, which further highlights the unnatural nature to them as they do not fit within the realms of human and social convention. Not only does this ambiguity create further unpredictability, but it also reflects the later attempts of Lady Macbeth to be rid of her femininity: ‘Come, you spirits, That end on mortal thoughts, unsex me here. The parallels between the witches and the actions of Lady Macbeth work to similarly convey her as increasingly monstrous, perhaps suggesting a criticism of the lack of social role and responsibility which leads to her own deterioration. Thus, our ability to categorize ourselves and others into gender roles and abide by the social expectations linked to these is seen as a distinctly human attribute and one which Shakespeare may have deemed important for the successful function of a patriarchal society. Lastly, the witches may also be considered significant in adding a grotesque nature to the play which further exemplifies their sinister nature: ‘Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog. ’ The repeated references to mutilated body parts of animals within the witches chants further depicts their unnatural nature as they are interfering with the natural state of animals. Additionally, further reference to ‘Liver of blaspheming Jew†¦Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips’ highlights a taboo element as it plays on racial stereotypes and victimizes groups which contextually may be considered the ‘other’. Perhaps most significantly, however, is the additional parallels which run between the witches and Lady Macbeth, as they incorporate ‘finger of birth-strangled babe’ into their spell. This line instantly incites the previous recognition of Lady Macbeth’s own statement that she would have, whilst breast-feeding, removed a baby and ‘dashed the brains out. ’ A similar taboo element is highlighted through the suggestion of infanticide, as well as the idea of going against nature as breast-feeding is considered a tender and natural human act. Such clear similarity between the witches and Lady Macbeth can thus be seen to suggest an argument which underlies the whole plot of the play – who are really the ‘monstrous’ characters within the play; the witches or the humans? Such ambiguity and deconstruction of the opposition between supposed evil and good as an overarching theme of the novel is one which incites great fear into the plot and the audience, as it implies that, under specific circumstances, even the most moral of us can deteriorate into evil and sin.

FINANCIAL MARKETS AND MONETARY POLICY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

FINANCIAL MARKETS AND MONETARY POLICY - Essay Example Since then it has been varying over the years where the present name ‘official bank rate’ was initiated in 2006 replacing the former ‘Repo Rate’ that existed till 1997. The rate of interest is levied by the nation’s central bank or the Federal bank on lending or advances to regulate the supply of money in the banking sector and overall economy. This is essentially conducted on a quarterly term to regulate the inflation rate and strengthen the nation’s rates of exchange. Any deviation in the bank rates stimulates a ripple-impact as it affects every sector of the economy. For example, the stock prices in the exchange market seem to respond to the changes in the interest rates. A variation in the bank rates has an impact on the customers as it affects the prime rates of interests for individual loans. The Bank rate is the rate at which the Bank of England gives to the commercial bank for the extra reserves being kept in safe custody of the Central Bank (Ciro, 2012, p. 122). Conventionally, the treasury determines the rates of interests. But upon the reforms that occurred in 1992, the policy makers organized several meetings and minutes were published, yet they were not autonomous of the state which resulted into a perception that political forces were overshadowing what was stipulated to be fiscal decisions on the monetary policy. In 1997 there was operational accountability to determine the interest rates which was granted to the autonomous Bank of England by Gordon Brown-the Chancellor of Exchequer. Several principles were set for the establishment of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) that was enacted in the Bank of England Act 1998 (OECD, 2009, p. 31). The Act also spelled out the accountability of the MPC: this include; meeting on monthly basis, the membership consists of the governor, two deputy governors, two executive directors of the bank

Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Essay

Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict - Essay Example Since the end of the first World War, the land known as Palestine had been under British Colonial rule. In the early years of Palestine, there were a much greater amount of Muslims than Jews occupying the land at almost seven to one. (Wikipedia.com, 2006) As further persecution came in the time of the second World War, the aftermath resulted in an even larger influx of Jewish people in Palestine. Instead of the more lopsided difference in Muslims to Jews, it was now a two to one difference. In 1948, Britain pulled out of Palestine, at the same time recognizing the State of Israel and splitting the land between Jews and Arabs. This decision was further agreed upon by the United Nations. However other Arab nations did not agree, thus starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Israel won this war and many other conflicts after that. As a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, however, many Palestinian Arabs lost, or were forced out of, both their homes and livelihoods. The Israeli government, after the war, created the Absentee Property Law which allowed Israel to confiscate the property of the Palestinian Arab refugees who were not in the country at that time. (Nabulsi, L., 2006) With the Palestinian Arab refugees having no home-state, this issue leads us to more current issues that face Israel and Palestinians to this day. Recent Issues Much of the recent conflicts in Israel are due to disagreements between government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority as to the future of a Palestinian state, the fate of the Palestinian refugees and the survival of an Israeli state (Wikipedia.com, 2006). Terrorist activities brought about by the formation of groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah in the area have made life difficult for both Palestinian and Israeli people. Life is a daily struggle between normality and chaos. Peace has been brokered by almost every President of the United States since the late 1970's. "Roadmaps" were written to lead the two sides to an agreement, but a terrorist attack against Israeli people by Palestinian suicide bombers would lead to retaliation by Israeli military forces, so on and so forth. Organizations such as the Palestinian Liberation Organization, now the Palestinian Authority (PA) led at one time by Yasir Arafat, did some good in leading the Palestinians to an agreement with Israel. The Oslo Peace Accords were the most recent attempt to come to agreement. However, due to many Palestinians desire to have no Jewish state, and in turn no Israel, it is with great difficulty that any agreement may ever hold. Solution In the current setting of the Arab-Israeli conflict, it seems there will never be a solution to the problem or an end to the violence. From the street level, with violent attacks at times a daily occurrence, it is clear that an agreement is far off. "The Palestinian street has definitively rejected Oslo [Peace Accords], and top officials of the PA now say that UN resolutions must form the basis for future status talks," (Beinin & Hajjar, 2000).  

The working class of Indian mens working in the field of Fashion Dissertation

The working class of Indian mens working in the field of Fashion - Dissertation Example The study "The working class of Indian mens working in the field of Fashion" talks about The working class of Indian fashion Industry. With industrialization and mass production fashion got a new shape in the western world. Fashion industry has became more popular when combined with visual effects, that is through the art of photography which brings the outcomes of the designers to the doors of common people through different print media forms. on one hand photography makes the dresses and models all the more attractive and famous, while on the other, it makes the conceptual loopholes quite prominent. The 16 page editorial published in the Vogue Issue of August 2008 in India sees the new nation as a place where even the poor class takes to expensive brands and carries it off gracefully. Hence Vogue attempts to make fashion reach out to all classes of people instead of the wealthy ones or celebrities. The magazine published some photos of lower middle class people flaunting expensive branded clothes and accessories. However this kind of portrayal drew lots of controversy because the people modeling in the magazine belonged to the similar class, which witnessed suicides and poverty. What becomes prominent in this discussion is the strong influence of western culture or the cultural dependency witnessed by the Indian fashion industry. Yet, the same fashion trends which has been a pride of the glamour seeking people of the upper middle class and wealthy sections are now imposed upon. those working class people who are merely able to cover their cost of production of labor hours and some who are not even able to do so. They perhaps belong to the class of contractual or casual workers who thrive to make both ends meet. When we think of the designers and fashion photographers a finger might be raised at their sensitivity towards the human dignity. It hurts when one sees the contrast between the social status and the expensive brands. Why would a person thriving for ba re survival want to use a Burberry umbrella? Even if we assume this might one day become an economically viable option, the individual might not decide to flaunt his money through these brands even if he can afford it. The middle class people working in the fashion industry (photographers, designers and editors of fashion magazines) need to be sensitive to the ethical viability of any form of art which represents fashion trends. This prompts us to ask the question: Can Vogue’s way of representing ‘new India’ support Realism or it is an example of Aestheticism in fashion photography? II. LITERATURE REVIEW This section attempts to discuss the theories of Realism and Aestheticism in visual art and how they apply to fashion photography in particular. Reviews of different literatures are covered to learn about the evolution of fashion industry in India and the works of different fashion photographers including the way they portray fashion in the daily lives of the soc iety. The study incorporates details regarding the middle class people working in the fashion industry of India and how they portray culture and economy through their works. How the trends change along with the impact of globalization and economic upgradation. At the end of the review one might raise questions about ethics and priorities while portraying

The Solar System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Solar System - Essay Example Our solar system can be said as the example of the above case [Nebula: Wikipedia]. It is believed that the formation of nebulae is the result of supernova explosions. One example of such is Crab Nebula, in Taurus, which is result of recorded supernova in 1054 AD. Also at the center of a nebula, a neutron star exists. It is also believed that the nebulae are created at the end of star’s life (star greater than 1.4 solar masses), when they become red giant and unable to sustain their entire mass [Nebula: Wikipedia]. In 1734, Emanuel Swedenborg had proposed the current accepted theory of planetary formation, which is know as the nebular hypothesis. Later in 1755, Immanuel Kant having familiar with the theory of Swedenborg developed this theory further. Kant said that nebulae slowly rotate, gradually collapsing and flattering due to gravity and eventually forms stars and planets. In 1796, Pierre-Simon Laplace had proposed similar model for nebulae [Nebular hypothesis: Wikipedia]. The nebular hypothesis states that a planetary system begins as a large (~10,000AU), roughly spherical cloud of very cold interstellar gas, which is a part of larger molecular cloud. This nebula is dense enough so that begins to contract under its own gravity and collapse of this been initiated by a pressure wave from nearby event, shock wave from a supernova, compressing the molecular cloud and thus forming the resulting star and planets. During collapse, three physical processes shape the nebula: it heats up, its spin increases, and it flattens [Nebular hypothesis: Wikipedia]. At the center of the solar nebulas, an increasingly dense protostar created because of gravity. The protostar gradually compacts further (about 10-50 million years) during the process of planet formation in the disk, reaching the conditions of temperature and pressure needed to initiate hydrogen nuclear fusion (star born). Initially microscopic seeds of solid

American Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American Economics - Essay Example It was easily understandable that the situation had worsened far beyond immediate recovery. During this time, the concept of 'free market' prevailed. This idea suggested that the market would effectively balance itself the business could run smoothly without any government intervention. With this belief the government of President Hoover did not take any action believing the market would attain balance soon by itself and prosperity would return. It was assumed that once public regained confidence, business would begin and economy restored; but the business would not resume as there was surplus in the market that was unsold. Later, the government attempted to minimize state spending and increase taxes which in turn reduced the liquid money from market and worsened the situation. Attempts were made later to make this loss good by providing loans to banks in order to pump in money in market by offering relief work, providing loans to industries and expanding public works. No assistance in terms federal help was not provided and the government promoted 'self help' groups to promote self reliance. Decline in world trade and imports reduced because of an increase in import tariff. As an effect, exports also reduced considerably further weakening the state economy. With the onset of President Franklin Roosevelt's government, the

Adrian Frutiger and his fonts and how he influenced typography today Research Paper

Adrian Frutiger and his fonts and how he influenced typography today - Research Paper Example It was not appreciated by teachers who required him to write using formal handwriting fonts. However, his secondary school teachers and his father encouraged Adrians interest in fonts and wanted him to work in printing (Osterer and Stam 14-15). Contrary to peoples expectations, Adrian was interested not only in typing and designing new fonts. He was interested in sculpture when he was a little boy. Despite the life choice of typography as his profession, he did not lose the interest in art, sculpture and music. Education also played an important role in Frutigers development as a designer. When he was 16, he trained to be a compositor. He was educated at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts where he attended courses of the best professors Walter Kà ¤ch and Alfred Willimann (Osterer and Stam 16-17). The course lasted for two years from 1949 to 1951; calligraphy was one of his subjects (Macmillan 87). In 1952 Frutiger began to work for the foundry called Debenry and Peignot. Charles Peignot recruited him when he saw the brochuse called History of Letters created by Frutiger where he used his skills of engraving. According to Weidemann, this brochure consisted of 9 wooden panels with engraved letters of everything starting from Greek capitals up to humanistic cursives and municules (Osterer and Stam 6). Frutiger created his first font in 1953; it was called Phoebus. His next creation called Ondine was released in 1954. One more font called Meridien was released in 1955. According to Weidemann, those fonts rendered the times when they were created and it added value to them. At the same time, all those fonts were just the beginning of Frutigers career. Once, Frutiger was asked by Peignot to adapt Futura for Photon photosetting machine. According to Macmillan, Frutiger found Futura â€Å"too geometric† and wanted to create his family of fonts that would match in heights and weights (87). In this way, he found

How does Shakespeare examine the themes of revenge in Hamlet Essay Example for Free

How does Shakespeare examine the themes of revenge in Hamlet Essay The revenge tragedy established itself within Elizabethan theatre as a tremendously popular genre. The style of the play had gradually evolved from the works of Seneca, an ancient Roman playwright. Once translated these plays performed, steadily rose in popularity, with plays such as Middletons The Changeling, Kids The Spanish Tragedy and Tourneurs The Revengers Tragedy being most popular. The typical revenge tragedy play has several important conventions within it, which are key to the genre. see more:revenge hamlet A five part structure of: Exposition, anticipation, confrontation, partial execution and completion, portray the central character the revenger, discovering the deed he must avenge, wrestling with his conscience over the justification and validity of the act, then planning and eventually executing the act of revenge. Often Jacobean revenge tragedy often questioned the revengers morality. How far does the task of revenge affect the revenger? How far does it taint the person? How can the audience be sure the protagonists madness is not actually real? Is it possible that the conflicting morality suffered by him brings unto the revenger real madness and mental instability? The questions over morality are furthered by the death of the protagonist another generic feature. Elizabethans generally firmly believed in the concepts of heaven and hell, dying without forgiveness from God would mean eternity in perdition like the limbo in which Old Hamlet is in, in Hamlet When I to my sulphrous and tormented flames Must render up myself. As the revenger usually dies at the end of the play after carrying out revenge, he dies without the chance of confession and absolution. This means the act of murder has not been forgiven. Inevitably this leads us to assume the protagonist will spend eternity in hell. We can debate the authenticity of the spirit demanding for revenge. If they were once a loved one of the revenger why would they make them vow to perform a deed, which would lead them to damnation? Could it be that the spirit is not in fact the spirit of the deceased but an evil spirit taking their form, tricking the revenger? After dispensing with some of the generic features, such as narrative by the ghost, it retains many of the conventions of the revenge tragedy. Hamlet is summoned to avenge the murder of his father, by his fathers spirit, the murderer being Hamlets uncle, now stepfather and newly crowned King Claudius. Hamlet feigns madness to disguise his intentions of revenge and has a play entitled The Mousetrap performed, in which the murder of Old Hamlet is re-enacted. On preparing to kill Claudius Hamlet is set back by Claudius asking for forgiveness from God in a moment of prayer. This leads to an inevitable climax, which results in the death of Hamlet, Claudius and Laertes in a typically bloody ending. All of these events are to be expected from a revenge tragedy. Further more, Hamlet contains several scenes, key to its portrayal of the revenge theme. In act one, scene five Hamlet follows the supposed spirit of his father and is informed of his fathers murder I am thy fathers spirit sleeping in mine orchid a serpent stung me. This scene conveys the task of revenge being set, the whole of the play hinges on this event. The imagery within this scene is also telling. Old Hamlet is dressed in battle fatigue, thus symbolizing him as a war-king; the audience having been informed of the war he started against Old Fortinbras. This suggests that Old Hamlets position in hell is right and not solely due to him being unable to confess before his untimely death. This suggests repercussion on whether or not Hamlets soul will actually be damned, having not confessed but essentially living a good life. If the nature of damnation does in fact relay solely on whether or not one has lived a good life, and not whether or not one has confessed ones sins, then it is possible Hamlet has gone to heaven, thus Shakespeare can be seen to be subverting the ideas of religion within the revenge tragedy genre. Young Fortinbras comments Bear Hamlet like a solider, in death Hamlet is viewed as a hero, in this context it is not difficult to assume he has escaped damnation The theme of kingship is continued in Act two, scene two. We are presented with an image of Claudius, which is in direct contrast to the one presented of his predecessor. Talk of Claudius averting war with Young Fortinbras, shows the new king to be one which favours diplomacy to war. Surely such a king is more advantageous for Denmark than a bloodthirsty leader like the image we are presented of Old Hamlet. This furthers the question of whether Hamlet has enough moral justification to take a life, especially one that is so beneficial to the country. This scene is also important as the first signs of Hamlet feigning madness are demonstrated to the audience. In act three, scene two the feature of a play within a play is portrayed. Claudius is outraged by what he sees Give me some light. Away. Hamlet interprets Claudius reaction to the play as unequivocal proof of his guilt. This a crucial turning point in the play. Up to now Hamlet has been unsure of whether or not to perform his duties. That he is assured by Claudius reaction (poor evidence in hindsight) may illustrate Hamlets degradation by the mission he has been set. Ill take the ghosts word for a thousand pound In Act three, scene four the death of Polonius can be seen to serve multiple purposes. In its most insignificant form it leads Ophelia further into the madness, which eventually leads to her death. Also it demonstrates how the revenge plot has affected Hamlet A bloody deed. Almost as bad as kill a king and marry his brother. He has killed, in cold blood and without provocation, the father of his love and yet seems to show little remorse. Can Hamlet still be seen as the hero of the play when he himself is placed in the same situation as Claudius? Polonius death introduces a secondary revenge plot. Laertes now has to avenge his fathers death, inviting the audience to compare Laertes and Hamlet as revenger. The alleged actions of Claudius have provoked a cycle of revenge plots, in which all involved are led to their deaths. The penultimate scene of the play affects the resolution of the three revenge plots. Hamlet and Laertes both achieve revenge, in doing they so they sacrifice their earthly bodies and possibly their eternal souls. Young Fortinbras revenge on Denmark for his country as he and his armies easily occupy, thus turning previous defeats on their head. Both Hamlet and Laertes at the beginning of the play were both well-liked and talented men; Hamlet had the possibilities of becoming king bestowed upon him. Yet at the end each die as a murderer who is damned to Hell. Hamlet in this form can be seen as a severe commentary on the idea of revenge, that it is the role of God to act upon those who have wronged, not the individuals. A modern audience may read Hamlet in ways different to that of a Jacobean counterpart would have viewed it in. Themes of religion are very strong in the play, and while an Elizabethan audience may have had a strong belief in the concepts of divine retribution, a modern audience may be less convinced by this. Religion is not as central to modern life as it was in the era the play was written. Thus issues such as deeds on earth having direct consequences on a persons fate in the afterlife- a crucial part of the genre, lessen in their importance.

Adventure Travel In India Market Study Tourism Essay

Adventure Travel In India Market Study Tourism Essay Adventure sports have seen a tremendous growth is the last six to seven years and the future looks very bright. The government is also doing its bit in order to promote adventure tourism in India. The Indian tourism industry has a lot of myriad players who want to latch on the opportunities that beckon in this field of the industry. But the industry and its players continue to be a house of disorder. This paper looks into the clear and present opportunity that lies ahead of the Indian Tourism Industry in the form of Adventure Travel, and analysis the various aspects that need to be kept in mind as the investors go out in search for the suitable customers to cash in on this multimillion dollar cheque. INTRODUCTION A man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore, were the words of the famous French noble laureate Andre Gide and the increasing demand for the adventure sports indicates that people have entered the 21st century with renewed courage to find enjoyment in the thrills of the adventure filled outdoor activities. Thus, it can be seen like leisure tourism, adventure sports is becoming an integral determinant behind the tourism dynamics. As a subject for academic analysis, tourism can be said has reached a stage of relative maturity. A casual review of journals serving the subject area reveals a number that have been in existence for over 25 years (e.g., Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research), with the Journal of Travel Research publishing its 45th annual volume in 2007. Similarly, the range of journals reveals the diversity of issues considered (e.g., Tourism Geographies, Tourism Economics, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, and Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing). With the evident relative lack of research in the area of Adventure Sports Tourism, it would be sensible to turn to research in the area of promoting the various disciplines of adventure sports by integrating it with operations of tourism management. This research will look into the increasing demand for the adventure sports, breaking with the cultural and geographical conformism of conventional holidays and trips, and will analyse the potential for it to tap effectively. OBJECTIVE Research in the field of sports tourism has burgeoned over the last decade. In a study conducted by a renowned publication, unsurprisingly, the most studied activity was major event sports tourism like Olympics, World Cups, etc.(40% of articles), with outdoor and adventure sports tourism (29%) and skiing and winter sports (15%) being the other two significant areas.1 This being a clear indication of the increasing demand for the adventure sports, the objective of this paper will be to study the feasibility of marketing, conducting and benefitting from such events specifically in India. This market study will broadly consist of two parts which will help the readers decide the readiness and the viability of the adventure sports market. Part-1 discusses the concepts and approaches that might inform an analysis of adventure sports in Indian market. And part-2 will conduct a critical evaluation and the determining factors of investing in this area of business. If youre not living on the edge, youre taking up too much space.Overall, the reader should after considering a personal perspective should be able to determine the likely success of new product or service ideas. PART 1 THE SERVICE Landscape and topography of India lends itself to variety of Adventure Sports activities. Not many people would agree, due to its unexplored avenues, that India is a place where one can indulge in numerous adventure activities, if not all. Definition of adventure is different for different person and best thing about adventure tourism in India is that it provides adventure sports ranging from soft adventure to active and extreme adventure. Soft adventures are ideal for family and kids and require very little or no skill and experience. Extreme adventure in India can be physically and mentally demanding and require good experience. The service which is being discussed here has two aspects to it one being the tourism in India and the other being the adventure sports. These two complement each other in the way that for a customer the need for one of the above may often lead to the demand for the other. For e.g. for someone visiting Manali, in the Northern part of India for a Holiday, a chance visit to the snow capped Rohtang Pass may encourage the trying of skiing which is promoted in the area. Thus it makes sense to look into both of these aspects individually to get a holistic view of the service being provided i.e. Adventure Travel. TOURISM Tourism for long has promised to be a sunrise industry for India. India is blessed with a vast range of practically everything that a successful tourism offer needs from mountains to rivers to history to religion and culture. The economic and political case for investments is also politically attractive. Tourism promises an inflow of hard currency and at the same time also promotes goodwill. It creates demand for a variety of industries like transports, hotels, handicrafts, entertainment and so on. With improved tourism in India the overall quality of life is sure to improve over a period of time. And yet India seems to be remarkably lethargic in making money out of tourism. The situation is rather pitiable and the following statistics emphasise that fact: Indias share of global tourism market 0.67% Number of tourists visiting India 2.6 million against Chinas 37 million. In terms of tourism revenues as share of GDP Indias Rank is 124th The spirit, cohesiveness, and vision that have spurred India to the top of the heap in diverse industries is lacking in this sector. The absence of integrated vision is compounded by a lack of initiative and tardiness in implementing policies. In a study conducted on Indian Tourism, it has been stated that, while there exists an ability to invest there also exists an equal degree of unwillingness to break away from the beaten path and take risks. The country is sitting on a virtual goldmine with a wealth of sights cultural exuberance, diversity of terrain and that special something that only India can deliver. Tourism has the potential to do something bigger than what IT has done for India. Priority should be given for development of tourist infrastructure in selected areas of tourist importance and for those products which are considered to be in demand in the existing and future markets so that limited resources are put to the best use ADVENTURE SPORTS IIndia, one of the most enchanting, incomparable and invigorating travel destinations all over the world, is a true treasure trove for the adventure enthusiasts. India has all the perfect ingredients that enchant its tourists with real fun and excitement. WATER The Himalayas offer you some of the toughest and most exciting river runs in the world. River sports in the rapids are the most popular, throughout the summers and can really get your adrenaline pumping. White Water Rafting, Kayaking, Snorkelling or Scuba Diving if there is a concept of water sport in Adventure you can find it in this country. TREKKING Source : World Tourism Organisation WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?You can trek for one day or one month; backpack all your gear and wonder off in the wild or stroll comfortably with just a shoulder bag, water and camera whilst animals transport your camping gear, heavy baggage and logistic loads. You may set a challenging pace and go over difficult grades and high passes or just amble along, enjoying the wild nature, magnificent scenery, uncomplicated lives of people staying close to nature, stopping when you please, chatting with your companions, forging new relationships and hoarding a fund of fascinating memories to cherish. More extreme ways of trekking are Rock Climbing and Mountaineering. Rock Climbing as a sport it took off only about 15 years ago. Rock climbing uses a minimum of aids and the challenge is to find the toughest route and scale in the least possible time. The availability of good climbing rocks not too far from the city gets greater access and participation from professionals as well as from the amateurs alike. Mountaineering takes place at biggest adventure playground in the world -the Himalayas. Mountaineering is a serious activity undertaken with the primary goal of reaching a mountains summit. It requires a high degree of fitness and experience. Due to its high equipment costs and complexity, it is mostly taken up by foreign tourist coming to India. Himalaya promises every climber their share of adventure, which lures them to the mountains. AERO Experience Just like on the land, there are various adventure opportunities in the air too. Man has for times immemorial, longed to glide and soar like a bird in the sky. Parasailing and Paragliding are indeed, experiences which combine the wonder of smooth sailing in the air and the thrill of soaring high. Once in the air, you experience the ethereal serenity of the sport. It is an experience that is, surprisingly, thrilling as well as becalming. Other Activities Other extreme sports include the likes of skiing which is seasonal in nature and can be only carried out during the winters. Another very popular activity is bungee jumping which can be carried out even in the urban areas with the help of the required infrastructure. The potential MARKET AREAS Popular Destinations HIMACHAL PRADESH Himachal Pradesh is a complex mosaic of hills, lush green valleys and snow-covered peaks. The name itself originates from the ancient Sanskrit hima (snow) and achal (that which cannot be moved). This land of fascination and mystery with its age-old culture kindles deep interest and commands respect. It is replete with dense forests, fast-flowing rivers, terraced fields, snow-covered mountains, small fairyland villages and friendly folk all adding to its charm! Himachal Pradesh is also a treasure trove of ancient arts and crafts and rich traditions. PROs Established tourism Infrastructure like Hotels etc. Abundance of natural resources for conducting activities. Excellent govt. Support in setting up of new ventures. Trained Human resources available. CONs Market filled with unstructured profit making activities. Overcrowding of popular tourist centres. Local resistance present will affect the business. Many areas inaccessible. GOA Goa is a paradise for water sports lovers and has always appealed beach enthusiast and water sports lovers. The long coastal stretches offer loads of opportunities to indulge in all sorts of water-sport activities and also to try on some new watery excitement. Surf the seas or float across the skies, the options of sport enjoyment is never ending in Goa. One can never get tired of scuba diving into the wreckage of the colonial ships. The para-gliding, para-sailing, acquatics sports, water-skiing and wind surfing will be completely thrilling. Source: Ministry of Tourism, GOI PROs 105km of coastline provides ample opportunity for implementing innovative ideas. As shown above, Goa has the largest turnover of tourists in India. Easy accessibility with good road and rail transport and fully functional Intl Airport. CONs Lack of law and order. Poor transport facilities within Goa. Untrained hospitality staff. High costs due to black marketing. Untapped Destinations North-East Region The rich natural beauty, serenity and exotic flora and fauna of the area are invaluable resources for the development of ecotourism. The region is endowed with diverse tourist attractions and each State has its own distinct features. North East India presents some very outstanding and challenging adventure sports in India for the adventure enthusiasts coming from all over. PROs Untapped Market. Ideal Terrain for adventure sports. Readily available human resource which can be trained according to the needs. Government of India attaches great importance to the development of tourist infrastructure in the North Eastern region in view of its immense tourism potential. CONs Lack of infrastructure. Climatic extremities are hard to overcome in some regions. Social unrest can be disturbing. ANDAMAN NICOBAR Islands This UT does not have any other competitive advantage that comes even remotely close to tourism, because of the beauty and abundance of its natural resources. Theres tremendous scope for adventure sports, scuba diving snorkeling, swimming, sun-bathing, trekking and just soaking in nature at its most beautiful. However, till now, in the absence of a specifically stated tourism policy and a strategic implementation plan, and any gains accruing are more through serendipity rather than conscious effort. PROs Popular amongst both local and international tourists. Tourism is the main stay of the region, thus all the development is centred towards the infrastructure for tourists activities. Easy availability of human resources. CONs Not an accessible region as travelling from mainland takes lots of time and money. Dearth of basic infrastructure in areas except for the capital Port Blair. Thus the analysis of the various regions indicates that Indian Tourism has loads of untapped potential. Evident lack of policy or vision from the government has resulted in its inability to scale up infrastructure. If that is taken care of there can a surge in the number of tourist indulging in adventure travel. TARGET CUSTOMERS Over the last ten years, India has witnessed substantial changes in its leisure and travel choices and demands. This can be attributed to the rapidly growing economy, supported by globalisation and privatisation, which has lead to increased spending power and greater leisure time. Now, instead of spending a holiday being herded around in a tour bus, the sophisticated Indian traveller wants experience-oriented vacations. This has made adventure tourism a particularly exciting field to be in. According to Pranav Kukreti, Director, Marketing, of Treks n Rapids, The psychology of the modern Indian traveller has changed completely. Gone are the days when they were happy with simply staying in a resort in Shimla or Nainital. Now, they want excitement and adventure, The tourism industry fetches two million adventure tourists and is growing at over 35 per cent annually. It is estimated that India has the potential to attract another half a million foreign adventure tourists. The domestic market is also set to see a ten-fold growth in the next five years. This rise can be majorly attributed to the changing consumer behaviour of the urban population. It will be appropriate to divide the study of the customers into Domestic and International. Domestic The key socio-economic trends which have contributed to the increase in demand of the adventure sports can be listed as follows: Middle Class The size of the middle class families have stated shrinking with growing industrialization, while their pockets have grown bigger and bigger. With the adoption of concept of nuclear families the size of the families has gone down from 8-4 and 4-2. The leisure time that the members of the family get to spend together is preferably spent on quality holidays. Thus, adventure travel offers an excellent opportunity for the people to make their kids have fun while they rejuvenate themselves from the maddening office schedules. Urban Youth Youths have always had a strong urge to be non-conformist, and this behaviour is evident in their spending decisions too. Now with this urge being supported by ample spending power, Indian youth is raring to enjoy the thrills of adventure sports. Jawaharlal Nehru had talked about Indias Tryst with Destiny at the stroke of midnight hour, Indias latest tryst with destiny, BPO, is equally connected to the midnight hour. This tryst is also about independence: the independence of the Indian youth. To the delight of the marketers, the youth market theyve been chasing all these years finally has a credit card with no supervised spending limit. Corporate Promoted Activities Another windfall for the industry has been created by the corporate sector with almost 70 per cent of the demand for adventure tours originating from here. Tour operators have special two to three day packages for corporate teams. The idea here is to link sports with skills like time and stress management or working under pressure. The exercise is meant to rejuvenate as well as re-skill. Data of Foreign Travellers Source: MoT, GOI, Annual Report Adventurous Kids The kids at present have more self-sufficiency and influencing power in the family. They are well networked (read social networking), well informed and social. The ability of the kids to nag their affluent in making them purchase stuff for them is known as pester power. This pester power is also enabling them to undertake various school trips and adventure camps where they enjoy with their individual social groups. INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS India is emerging very strongly as a brand. With the inquisitiveness about India rising all over the world, more and more foreign tourists are coming to India to experience its vibrant cultures. But while they visit the popular destination it can be a good value addition for their trip if they can be offered an experience of river rafting in the rapids of the Ganges or a paragliding experience may accompany their sun tanning on beaches of the Goa. The foreign tourists have high spending power and if the infrastructure and quality adventure sports facilities are available to their discretion, the promoters can be rest assured of a significant contribution to their balance sheets in dollars. The global meltdown combined with the Mumbai attacks have spelt disaster for the tourism industry with foreign tourist arrivals dropping by 2.1% and foreign exchange earnings down by 12.5%.   Reeling from these statistics, the tourism ministry is considering several sops for the hospitality and travel industry. Amongst these include offering free air travel and accommodation to foreign tourists who visit India for the third time. This move, if approved, will mean encouraging genuine Indophiles and is in line with our effort to encourage repeat travellers, an official from the Ministry of Tourism said while addressing the media. Indicating the Significant growth of the middle class Increasing Spending Power of the Domestic Market PART 2 Now that we have looked into the various characteristics of the adventure travel in India, it will be propitious to look into the various profitability and marketability aspects related to the business of Adventure Travel. Considering Adventure Travel to be a brand, the marketing mix (given in terms of 4Ps by Philip Kotler) of brand Adventure Travel can be: Product Adventure travel should position itself as one of the competitive alternatives when it comes to attracting tourists. Marketing adventure travel needs special focus on influencing the psychology of the perspective customers by influencing them with its core competencies of thrill and adrenaline rush. A synergic attitude between the government agencies and the private parties can take the quality of adventure sports to a world class level and promote a surge of tourists to experience its excitement. Collaborating with Major media houses to promote Adventure Travel in IndiaPrice Hotel prices in the U.S start at around $300 (expedia.com) whereas the average rate for a deluxe room in India is around $100 only. Thus if the facilities for adventure sports are produced at a large scale in India its prices will surely be low, due to the low labour cost and manufacturing costs. Within the sector the competitive pricing of the adventure travel will depend on the collaboration between the service providers and the service facilitator. i.e. the parties which are able to provide a complete package to its customers including, travel, accommodation and the adventure activities will be more in demand as their operations cost will be significantly low and at the same time level of convenience very high. Place Though we have so far talked about the tourist destinations as being the ideal places for providing this service, it may not be a bad decision to have such activities in the areas in the vicinity of the cities. By providing such services at a relatively approachable distances the rate of new customers coming to experience the new and the talked about activities will be more. And it may also be easier for the working executives to take out some time from their schedule, like an excursion on the weekends. This though will be a completely strategic decision keeping in mind the competitors and the various alternatives in hand. While this strategy may not work in a city like Delhi which has various hill-stations in the vicinity but may work quite well in city like Ahmedabad where the people have a significant spending power and not many similar options either. Promotion If adventure travel in India has to be established as a global brand, first the communication needs to go out to the primary audience, i.e. the one billion people of this country. If the government, the media and the trade bodies are able to influence a part of the population, they can spread the word, which in this age of networking will surely spread like fire. Collaborative marketing efforts involving the traders, the media houses, government and a good network of brand ambassadors can provide a structured and a long term approach to brand development of Adventure Travel in India. For e.g. collaborating with the GOIs Incredible India! Campaign and engaging the famous Hindi movies star Akshay Kumar (who is well known for his action and stunts) will go a long way in establishing a brand image in the minds of the Indian customers. CASE STUDY Water Sport Adventure Tourism at Indira Sagar Madhya Pradesh has a wide range of adventure sports such as wildlife sanctuaries, mountains, rivers that make MP an exotic place to visit, which is attracting the domestic as well as the international tourists. Apart from these natural regions the Government of MP is intending to promote other regions such as Indira Sagar water reservoir for tourism. The GoMP has proposed to come-up with the Adventure Tourism Zone at Indira Sagar in Khandwa district. This Zone would have two phases wherein one phase would be developed near the mentioned reservoir and the second phase would be developed on the island formed near the dam. The Zone would have various water sports, trekking, mountaineering facilities along with the traditional accommodation facilities. The project is expected to attract tourists primarily from the State and other parts of the Country. The proposed location is well connected with the major cities of the State through road and rail. Private Players have been invited to undertake the proposed project wherein the Private Player would build, own, maintain and operate the project. PROJECT RATIONALE The prime reason for increase in demand for adventure sports is the growth youth tourism which has been identified as one of the largest segments of global and domestic tourism. The growing number of young travellers is being fuelled by a number of factors such as increased participation in higher education, falling level of youth unemployment, increased travel budget through parental contribution, quest for exciting and unique experiences and cheaper long distance travel. These young travellers form a major contribute to adventure tourism revenue. GOVERNMENT SUPPORT The State Government would assist the private investor in identifying, immediate approval and clearance of the suitable land for the project. Further, the Government would also make basic infrastructure available at the site such as water, electricity, road etc. The State Government has identified adventure/ eco tourism as key segment of tourism and gives some incentives specific to the industry. This case study gives the clear indication that this is an upcoming area of business and has huge potential and the best way forward is collaborating the effort towards successful brand building. MARKET METRICS Threats Entry of multinational agencies to dominate the business. Lack of Govt. Support Low operational cost for the unorganised sector Generic competition with other tourists attractions. Opportunities High growth rate of leisure travel Rising influence of Indian Middle class Holidaying becoming a status symbol. Corporate support to adventure tours and travels More consumption power. WEAKNESS High infrastructural cost. Low level of marketing Psychological resistance to adventure sports in Indian mentality. Lack of collaboration and networking among the existing players. STRENGTH Offering something new and exciting to the huge Indian Population. Success abroad can be emulated domestically by collaboration. Increasing interest of foreign tourists in India. High growth potential The market metrics can be analysed by doing a SWOT analysis of the adventure travel in India. MARKET GROWTH Note: The per capita income of the Indian citizen rose by 12.7 % during the fiscal year 2008-09.(Reserve Bank of India). The foreign tourists arrival in India registered a growth of 5.6% during the year 2008.(Ministry of Tourism, Annual Report 2008-09) Both of the above mentioned statistics indicate an increase in the demand for the adventure travel services. While the domestic travellers will continue to send their ever increasing earnings, the foreign tourists will continue to venture out to the lesser explored countries like India. Thus, it is now in the hands of the industry players to tap the clear and present opportunity and act proactively with or without the collaboration of the government authorities to gain head on advantage in the upcoming field of business in the tourism industry. Conclusion High Price High Quality Low Price Low Quality As their countrys growth and recent success might suggest, Indian consumers are among the most optimistic. A June 2008 Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index among 48 countries found India to be the second most optimistic country behind Norway with an index of 122 (global average was 88). They are also greatly value-driven, with an expectation that values should be customized and adapted to Indian culture-not an easy task when dialects change every 100 kilometres and almost three-quarters of the population lives in hard-to-reach rural areas. Not surprisingly, the companies most likely to succeed with Indian consumers are those with the highest levels of patience, resilience and local understanding. But this confidence surprisingly not enjoyed by the Adventure Travel service currently available in the tourism market as it is being offered to the customers at a quality which is nowhere close to world class and is relative expensive option for the Indian consumer. The industry needs to collaborate amongst itself and with the support of the government try providing highly satisfactory Adventure travel to its customers at an affordable price. Only then will it be able to market its product convincingly and effectively to the customers, ensuring a growth oriented sustainable future.

The Influence Of Martin Luther King Jr Cultural Studies Essay

The Influence Of Martin Luther King Jr Cultural Studies Essay Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist preacher born months before the crash of 1929 that led the Great Depression, is perhaps best known for leading this country to end segregation. After years of nonviolent struggle, including boycotting buses in Montgomery, and a march on Washington, King gave a speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial that changed the world. Many scholars believe that Kings speech was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. I believe the inspiration came from sources much closer to home. The Declaration of Independence, by Abraham Lincoln, and the Bible are the sources that I believe to have fundamentally inspired Martin Luther Kings speech, I Have a Dream. As a child raised in a middle-class neighborhood, King had more privileges than most of his peers. He was heavily influenced by his father, a preacher, and his mother, a teacher. He had mild run-ins with segregation in his childhood. He was forced to attend school separate from his childhood friends and eventually, he and his friends were no longer allowed to play together. From the research of his life, there appears to be one event that made a lasting impression upon King. After a speech competition in Valdosta, Georgia, King had received a second place prize, but his victory was short-lived. During the long bus ride home, the blacks were made to stand so that white riders could sit. It seemed that even though the Civil War ended in 1865, over 80 years later the black man was not much further along than in the days directly following the war. It makes me wonder were Lincolns efforts on the part of the slave all in vain? On August 28, 1963, King began his speech with the same four words as Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address; perhaps this was to remind us of Lincolns shared vision. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. This reference to Lincolns speech is perhaps more meaningful since King was speaking in front of the Lincoln Memorial during this address. History states that Lincolns authority and position were granted to him by the Declaration of Independence. In that document, our founding fathers declared, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. By reminding the listeners, including the millions watching his speech on television, King hoped to jump-start his audiences minds in to agreement with him by joining his argument with those of the founding fathers and Abraham Lincoln. King uses the agreement with the founding fathers and Lincoln to strengthen his civil and legal argument as basis to his premise that things were not yet as they should be. To strengthen his moral argument further, and perhaps most interestingly, King seems to have numerous biblical references within the text of his speech. This should not be that surprising, given that he had been the son of a preacher and preacher himself since the age of 17. However, it seems important that the first opportunity for a black man to address the nation for all of the wrongs done to his people, that King decided to quote from the bible. King chose to take the high road in this speech. He could have ridiculed America for its treatment of black men and women, but instead he reminded us all to relinquish the cup of hostility by saying, Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. This phrase reminds us of Jeremiah 2:13: For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water. He reminds us of our history, our past release from captivity, referring to slavery, but he is encouraging us not to choose hatred and return to bondage. Kings words, It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. refer to the promise of Psalms 30:5: For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. While it seems that the Lord has been angry with us, by allowing our continued oppression, King says to America, he reminds us that we are not finished. That although the chains of captivity may have been lifted by Lincoln, they are not yet removed. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream, refers to Amos 5:24, But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Kings then offers up a vision that all the listeners and viewers by television can grasp, I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together, is almost a direct quote of Isaiah 40:4-5: Every valley shall be exalted, and very mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. King closed his speech by applying the inspiring words of Galations 3:28, And when this happens, . . . we will be able to speed up that day when all of Gods children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, Im free at last. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Martin Luther King, Jr. helped right a nation. Given the chance to cast stones, he chose instead to cast a vision. A vision that one day men and women in America would actually one day be equal and free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. This vision is not new. Our Biblical history tells us that Jesus cast the same vision before us thousands of years ago. Throughout the bible, God gave his people a choice between life and death. By standing on the promises of the Declaration of Independence, the actions of Abraham Lincoln, and the tenets of the bible, Kings speech, I Have a Dream speech simply reminded us to choose life, to appreciate life, and to respect our brothers and sisters no matter their race or creed.

A Critical Review of Putwain, D. W. (2011) Essay -- Education

Putwain (2011) conducted a study that focused on the examination stress experienced by secondary students preparing for their General Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations. This research aimed at understanding the subjectivity of examination stress in students preparing for their GCSE examination and was specifically interested in four key factors identified by Denscombe (2000) and Putwain (2009), namely: aspirations, importance of GCSEs, self-worth and pressures from others. In addition, it also explored the gendered nature of examination stress mentioned by Jackson (2006). The study reveals that consideration of examination as stressful was idiosyncratic among the students. Eight distinct elements of examination stress were identified: the anticipation of failure, valuing academic achievement, poor competence beliefs, a personal predisposition to view events as threatening, workload or the lack of control over it, unfavoured assessment formats, thorough effort and prepara tion for forthcoming examinations, and whether ability was viewed as fixed or incremental. Gendered aspects of examination stress were also highlighted in how examinations were talked about and in subject specific competency beliefs. To the extent that this study is exploratory, findings of this research provide insights into the importance of understanding the subjective nature of examination stress experienced by GCSE candidates. However, several limitations must be considered in interpreting the study findings. The article makes a case for studying this phenomena drawing from a number of convincing sources that include journal articles as well as academic books. But only two of these [Denscombe (2000) and Putwain (2009)] are highlighted as direc... ...son between one male and one female student. These two were interviewed approximately two months apart (female student: beginning of spring term, male student: mid point of autumn term). The time gap might pose an issue with the reliability of such inference as well (Denzin and Lincoln, as in Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2007, p. 148) In summary, it has to be admitted that the current research is far from being conclusive. Future studies should be undertaken utilizing better measures and a well explained sampling procedure to improve our understanding about the examination stress faced by the GCSE student. Despite some deficiencies in the methodology, to the extent this article is exploratory, i.e. trying to investigate an emerging issue, the study has provided some insights to account for the examination stress experienced by students preparing for their GCSEs.

Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo What Happened Before and After NATO Interven

What Happened Before and After NATO Intervened in Kosovo Imagine waking up one day to the thundering of blows given at the door telling you to â€Å"open up or be shot down.† It is the Serb police, and they are telling you that you and your whole family had to leave your home immediately. This is how it went for many Albanian people during what some Serb extremists called â€Å"demographic genocide.† This was the beginning of what many would call the Kosovo War, and it lasted from March to June 1999. After NATO’s intervention in Kosovo, something strange happened. Now the people being victimized were the Serbs and anyone who was â€Å"friendly† to them. In this paper, I will speak about what happened before and after the war in Kosovo. Most war victims during the Kosovo War were considered victims of ethnic cleansing, which is the internationally condemned practice of driving out members of other nationalities from territories that had been part of the SFRY (Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) . All of this began with the presidency of Slobodan Milosevic in 1988 who was president of the Serbian League of Communists and also Serbia a year later. He began a campaign to reassert communist dominance as well as Serb dominance. He purged into countries such as Croatia and transformed its army from one that wanted to preserve Yugoslavia to one that wanted unification of all Serb populated territories and eventually create a Greater Serbia. A way that Milosevic felt he could achieve that task was through a strategy of ethnic cleansing and the expulsion and massacres of the non-Serbs. Milosevic’s main goal in Kosovo was to expel Kosovo Albanians population in an effort to ensure continued Serbian control over the province. Du... ...s to ‘peace’. We see no hope in the ‘peace.’† Bibliography: O’Niell, William G., Kosovo: An Unfinished Peace. Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner Publishers, Inc., 2002 Juka, S.S., Kosova: The Albanians in Yugoslavia in Light of Historical Documents. New York, NY: Waldon Press, Inc., 1984 Hosmer, Stephen T., The Conflict Over Kosovo: Why Milosevic Decided to Settle When He Did. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2001 Doder, D. and Branson L., Slobodan Milosevic. Columbia University Press, 2004. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0833245 The Indictment: â€Å"Kosovo†. 11/16/2004. http://www.un.org/icty/glance/milosevic.htm Yansong, Lu and Rongbin, Xie, Post-War Kosovo Revisited. People’s Daily (Cn), November 2, 1999. http://web4.peopledaily.com.cn/english/199911/02/print19991102F108/html Post War Sufferin. 11/16/04. http://www.kosovo.com/home2.html

“If I Am The Chief Of Sinners, Then I Am The Chief Of Sufferers Also Essay

In terms of this book, I think that it’s difficult for me to place Jekyll as a complete sinner or a complete sufferer due to the varying influences of the other characters, the society of the time and the drug that Jekyll uses. My opinion of him tends to fluctuate throughout the book. Certainly, some of the language used by Stevenson can be rather grotesque at times and at others, heart wrenching. As the storyline progresses, the reader becomes more aware of what has happened to the reputable Dr Henry Jekyll and how his life gets turned upside down. However, our suspicions are only totally confirmed in â€Å"Dr Lanyon’s Narrative† and â€Å"Henry Jekyll’s statement of the case†. Through the story, Jekyll displays acts of recklessness but also kindness and surprising self-control at times. It’s these episodes, mainly in his statement of the case that I will analyze in order to draw a conclusion about his character and to what extent the title quote is true. I believe that the quote â€Å"If I am the chief of sinners than I am the chief of sufferers also† essentially refers to Jekyll transforming into Hyde. By all the pleasures in the lifestyle that this change brings, Jekyll has completely gone against G-d’s will and the laws of nature (being the chief of sinners). This leads to Jekyll also being the â€Å"chief of sufferers† i.e., he’d never forgive himself for the massive sin that he commits. In his eyes and also those of society, he can never be redeemed. It also relates to the physical suffering that he has to endure, such as the â€Å"pangs of transformation†, mentioned five times throughout â€Å"Jekyll’s Statement of the Case†. For me personally, during the time I have been studying this book, one sentence has stuck out in my mind, the very last sentence of the book: â€Å"Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end.† (Pg76, Last 3 Lines) This, moments before Jekyll’s suicide, is his last plea for forgiveness, his last expression of suffering. I think that this crystallises any sense of suffering that has taken place and been felt by Jekyll. However, not always has Jekyll been so remorseful. Many a time he would transform to go and do all the things society wouldn’t have let him do. However, both Jekyll and our sympathy for him come crashing down to earth when we learn that as Hyde, he crushed an innocent little girl under foot and even committed murder on the kind, peaceful Danvers Carew. These two events were the first indication that Hyde’s actions were getting out of Jekyll’s moral control and, particularly in the case of the murder of Sir Danvers Carew, display Jekyll’s recognition that whatever crimes Hyde commits, will have repercussions for him: â€Å"At this moment, however, the rooms bore every mark of having been recently and hurriedly ransacked† (Pg28, Line 22) This describes the scene that greets Utterson and Inspector Newcomen of Scotland Yard as they visit the Home of Mr Hyde. Clear evidence of a rush to overturn the place and destroy Hyde’s chequebook containing evidence of some monetary transfer. In â€Å"The Story Of The Door†, during the incident of the little girl being crushed, a chequebook was also used by Dr Jekyll to provide compensation, this may be a subtle clue that Stevenson gives us in order to provide a link between the two incidents and the use of the chequebook may stand for Hyde’s return to Jekyll who then tries to undo what Hyde has done with money. The use of language here gives the reader a clear impression that the last occupier of this room wanted to leave very quickly; â€Å"ransacked† is a word synonymous with quick careless destruction of a room and this is supported by it having been both â€Å"hurriedly† and â€Å"recently†. I believe therefore, at this point, Jekyll has regained his body and consciousness once again and knowing what he’s done, wants to escape Hyde’s residence as quickly possible, he realises that he’s now â€Å"the chief of sinners† having commited murder. Hyde will have a warrant for his arrest, the result of which would most certainly be the death penalty, something that would clearly affect Jekyll also. I believe that Jekyll didn’t wish to be burdened by the majority of the problems that came with his dual personality. However he didn’t have the willpower to control them, due to his addiction to the potion that he took, and the pressures of society that gave him some sort of pleasure from being able to break free from the bonds of every day life. Certainly, I don’t think he was right to commit some of the atrocities that he did however, had he been in a different time or a different part of society, then some of the attractions that enticed him to Hyde’s life – such as prostitution and violence – may have been more acceptable and this sort of unpredictable transformation may not have been necessary. We, as the reader must constantly ask ourselves whether Jekyll actually has any control over his actions at any given point before we blame him directly for what he does. Our first impression of Jekyll as Hyde appears during the first chapter as Enfield describes the trampling of the little girl to Utterson. The description certainly sets us off on the wrong foot, although at the time, we aren’t well informed as to Hyde’s real identity, it gives us a certain dislike even before the story has begun to properly develop or we have the chance to discover the characters more intimately: â€Å"It wasn’t like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut† (Pg9, Lline 27) The first striking thing here is the use of the word â€Å"damned† to emphasise Enfield’s point. â€Å"Damn†, undoubtedly perceived at the time the book was written, an age without socially acceptable swearing and profanation, as a relatively strong word. Therefore, Stevenson’s use of this word, in Mr Enfield’s description of Hyde, brings across a particular strength of his feelings of dislike towards him. So already, we have a strong sense of shock at this character, simply from the strong language used to describe him. The use of the â€Å"Juggernaut† description is an effective example of personification. One thinks of a large Romanesque ship, famous for using a large pole at the bow to ram the enemy ship and sink it. The context in which this quote is used certainly is appropriate to that. It describes how, who we now know to be Hyde, trampled over a young girl, as if in a trance or â€Å"rammed into her† as a Juggernaut does. The above quote, relating to the trampling event certainly lowers the amount of sympathy the informed reader would feel for Jekyll, this is relatively early on in the book, before, as far as we are aware, that Hyde has started to take control over Jekyll’s actions. Therefore, we can assume that what has taken place has been mainly caused by Jekyll’s consciousness as opposed to Hydes. Jekyll’s lack of remorse, until he has been threatened with losing his reputation certainly loses him sympathy from the reader and the event in general doesn’t make Hyde seem any more angelic at any rate. For the uninformed reader, it’s difficult to state whether we feel sympathy due to our apparent lack of knowledge of the story. However, whoever or whatever this monster is, again, we certainly don’t feel sympathy for him. The fact that Hyde is described as â€Å"not like a man† also dehumanises him. We see, throughout the book, many instances of Hyde being dehumanised, compared to monkeys and other animals: â€Å"Hence the ape-like tricks that he would play me, scrawling in my own hand blasphemies on the pages of my books, burning the letters and destroying the portrait of my father†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Pg75, Lline 11) This has a great effect on the reader’s perception of him as we begin to think that he isn’t civilised at all, the laws of society do not apply to him and therefore he is subhuman, no better than the dirt on our shoe and certainly, we should be glad for him to have any misfortune. It would be unthinkable at the time to write blasphemies in the pages of a bible and from Jekyll’s sentimental point of view, to destroy his letters and his fathers portrait would be a massive sin, certainly one that hurts him all the more because he knows that the only reason Hyde does these things is to cause even more misery and fear for Jekyll; acts which gain sympathy from the reader for Jekyll and increase our hatred towards Edward Hyde. Early on in the book again, during the chapter â€Å"Search For Mr Hyde† the reader is introduced to Hyde, the language Stevenson uses to describe him shapes our response: â€Å"Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish †¦ the man seems hardly human† (Pg19, 2nd Paragraph) The description of somebody as â€Å"pale and dwarfish† could easily be interpreted as one of somebody who is weak however; we know Hyde possesses superhuman strength. In this instance, the description is more sinister than deprecating, it brings to mind an evil hunched being which as a first impression makes the reader feel fear or hatred towards him, no sympathy. We also hear Hyde speak to the first time and react to this. An informed reader would become frustrated with Utterson’s inability to see the link between Hyde and Jekyll, which intrigues us further. Whatever we know, this description of Hyde certainly isn’t that of a man you would particularly like to meet in a dark alleyway. A somewhat deformed and gruesome specimen, again, as I have said, Stevenson dehumanises him as he does throughout the book. In this particular instance, he uses Utterson’s impression of Hyde to get the message across; â€Å"the man seems hardly human.† Stevenson often uses the narrative of other characters in order to describe Jekyll or Hyde. At this stage in the book, it is still difficult for us to tell whether we feel sympathy for Dr Jekyll due to us knowing very little information. However, a connection between Jekyll and Hyde is now forming in our head, the mind runs rampage. By the third chapter, â€Å"Dr Jekyll Was Quite at Ease†, we are getting our suspicions of Dr Jekyll having a connection with Mr Hyde confirmed. Still the other characters in the book can’t see this though. We are now getting the impression of Hyde as Jekyll’s apprentice, a man who is well thought of by the doctor. However, Jekyll is not particularly willing to talk about Hyde: â€Å"‘I do not care to hear more,’ said he. ‘This is a matter I thought we had agreed to drop.'† (Pg22, 3rd Paragraph) This rather short chapter describes a party, hosted by Dr Jekyll in which Mr Utterson brings up the topic of Jekyll’s will. Jekyll is extremely quick to dismiss the topic as taboo almost. This does a lot to heighten the suspicions of the reader as to the secret dealings between Jekyll and Hyde, still we don’t have enough information to understand the entire story however, slowly it is leading us to the correct conclusion, it is merely a matter of time (i.e. the rest of the book) until the would-be detectives discover this conclusion as well. We are certainly suspicious at this point however, not well informed enough to draw a conclusion in terms of sympathy for Jekyll. The chapter â€Å"The Carew Murder Case† describes the savage murder of Sir Danvers Carew, a man held in high regard by those who knew him. What makes this event even more shocking is that it is witnessed by a rather innocent young maid and it’s discovered that the perpetrator is Mr Edward Hyde, a piece of evidence is found linking Hyde directly to Jekyll: â€Å"Mr Utterson had already quailed at the name of Hyde; but when the stick was laid before him†¦ presented many years before to Henry Jekyll† (Pg26, 6th Paragraph) Using the information known from the previous chapters, the reader is beginning to build up a picture of what is going on here. A connection with Jekyll, a murder, we’re feeling a serious lack of sympathy for Jekyll here, one of his associates has committed murder. The more informed reader realises that this is in fact Jekyll in his Hyde guise, in which case even less sympathy is felt, Jekyll has reached a new low in his alter-ego form. As we learn later on, the original objectives of Dr Jekyll were to separate good from evil, it could bring fame and fortune and do a lot of good for humanity, very innocent aims made with a good heart, every person across the planet could show simply their good side to others and the world may at last be at peace. It was due to his selfishness – and I use the term â€Å"selfishness† loosely – however, that led to his demise. Some may argue that Jekyll was simply an addict and that he was hooked onto whatever this potion was and yes, this is easy to see, as with any drug that gets you high, he experienced feelings of pleasure, happiness and freedom. Personally I think we can sympathise with Dr Jekyll in a lot of respects, however, things did go out of hand for him. Once murders were being committed, it did sink in that perhaps the transformations should stop, he managed this for a while, returning to his old self, he noticed it and his friends noticed it. However, despite deep and utter resentment, it wasn’t long though until his hunger for what he had once experienced returned, and he gave in to his desires. Jekyll was addicted and in an act of extreme selfishness carried on taking his doses of potion. He recognised as soon as he took the potion, that he had given in to his addiction and that there was now no going back for him: â€Å"The pangs of transformation had not done tearing him, before Henry Jekyll, with streaming tears of gratitude and remorse, had fallen upon his knees and lifted his clasped hands to G-d† (Pg 70, 13th Line) Jekyll doesn’t strike me as a particularly religious person, by the very nature of the experiments he was conducting and the results he was hoping to achieve, he was going against every moral value of the church, however, he even tried praying for forgiveness to try and make up for what he had done on a spiritual level, what he had done obviously bothered him so much. This act of prayer casts Jekyll in a completely different light to that of the crazed scientist looking for an impossible cure to an equally impossible problem. This is quite a milestone in the book because it is because of this act that the reader realises the desperation of Henry Jekyll and the fact that he is now trying to, through any means possible, prepare himself for anything he might come up against. He isn’t by any means justifying what he’s done but he now knows that he will never again be able to stop himself from taking the potion. It is the catalyst to his eventual demise. Certainly â€Å"pangs† and â€Å"tearing† make this seem like an extremely painful and distressing event, the use of onomatopoeia (â€Å"tearing†) sends a shiver down the spine of the reader and makes us feel sympathy for what Jekyll is going through, it is worse than any injury we could ever have. Eventually, as the potion begins to consume Jekyll, taking over his consciousness, it is realised that he is truly on a slippery slope as predicted from the last quotation. However, there is a point where the potion becomes too weak for his use and the analogy with common modern day drugs continues: â€Å"Once, very early in my career, it [the potion] had totally failed me; since then I had been obliged on more than one occasion to double; and once, with infinite risk of death, to treble the amount;† (Pg 68, 4th Line) He increased his dose, even with risk to his own life, so that the concoction would still be effective. At this point the reader pities Jekyll for the situation that he’s got himself in. The hardest thing for any addict is to give up their drug and although it’s a different situation here, with enough willpower, Henry Jekyll could have summoned up the courage to try and banish Hyde forever however he refused to, taking larger doses of potion and sealing his fate instead. This loses him a lot of sympathy with the reader because of his lack of courage and strength, instead resigning to the fact that he will never escape Hyde and so he better learn to enjoy his alter ego. The last chapter, â€Å"Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case† gives us the greatest insight into the how the mind of Dr Jekyll works and finally gives the reader the full story so that we can finally find out for ourselves what events took place and we can piece together the chain reaction that resulted in the deaths of Dr Jekyll, Dr Lanyon and Sir Danvers Carew. We can also see the changing moods of Dr Jekyll as events unfold from the narrative that he gives us, after all, this chapter is meant to be a letter written by the man himself, one of the rare times we can get an insight into what he did and the fully detailed results of his actions. The fluctuating consciousness of Dr Jekyll while he is Hyde, i.e. the change in control that he has over his actions can easily be seen to change as time goes on from the comments that he makes about his experiences. At the beginning, when he starts taking the potion for the first few, experimental times, he is unsure what to expect. â€Å"There was something strange in my sensations, something indescribably new and, from its very novelty, incredibly sweet.† (Pg 62, 3rd Paragraph) These were the first experiences of Jekyll in the form of Mr Hyde. It was as if it was something completely surreal and, he likes it! At this point he’s completely oblivious of what is about to happen in the future and as far as he knows, he’s made a scientific breakthrough, he’s changed his persona into something completely different. At this point the reader can celebrate with Jekyll; we can wonder in amazement at his achievement, we can join him in his happiness and elation. This all gives us a sense of support, that we are following Jekyll’s progress with a keen eye and certainly wish him well. Certainly we, as the reader, don’t want anything bad to come out of this, no side effects, no evil being taking over his body†¦ Therefore, when we eventually realise the true identity of Hyde, and the problems he has caused Jekyll, it is worse than our greatest nightmares, no one could wish this kind of pain upon anybody, even our greatest enemy. But as I have said, the reader wants Jekyll to succeed in what he’s doing, his intentions are great so, a setback of this scale – to put it mildly – makes us feel very sympathetic for Jekyll, he will never be able to achieve his dreams. Dr Jekyll eventually began to realise that perhaps this new found freedom comes with a side effect: â€Å"I felt younger, lighter, happier in body; within I was conscious of a heady recklessness† (Pg 62, 3rd Paragraph) He feels youth again however, feels along with the physical ease of youth, a sort of care-free existence in which anything is ok. Gradually this freedom gives Jekyll a desire to exploit it, he doesn’t understand it however and he finds it particularly welcoming. When the informed reader takes this quote into account, we start to lose some of our sympathy for Jekyll because he is describing that despite the fact that he feels a lot better than before he took the potion, he knows that he is also feeling somewhat mischievous. Despite knowing that problems may occur for him or others, he decides that this potion is something he is going to want a lot more of in the future. It can be argued however, that he couldn’t possibly know the extent of the mischief that he would get up to yet, in his particular society, any misbehaviour would be frowned upon, if only he had the common sense to realise the potential of his freedom and stopped himself at this early stage. â€Å"I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought, in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine† (Pg 62, 3rd Paragraph – Pg 63) At this point, a lot of the elation and respect we might have had for Jekyll practically disappear, what is this, he enjoys feeling evil inside him, he welcomes it? The key phrase here is that he is â€Å"sold a slave to his original evil† it is like selling his soul to the devil, as if he almost recognises the path that he is taking from there on. I think we lose a lot of sympathy that we may have in the future because of this, he can see that things may go sour but is willing to take the risk and go ahead with his experiments purely because he is enjoying it, it is as if nothing else matters to him. If the reader was at all confused before the final chapter as to the fact that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde could possibly have been the same person, the murder of Danvers Carew gave more than enough clues to confirm this theory: â€Å"when the stick was laid before him, he could doubt no longer; broken and battered as it was, he recognised it for one that he had himself presented many years before to Henry Jekyll† (Pg 26, 5th Paragraph) This is referring to the weapon used to murder Sir Danvers, a stick that had been brought upon Carew’s body with such force, it had split in two. It was one that Mr Utterson had presented to Dr Jekyll many years before and was evidence, if we hadn’t already guessed that Henry Jekyll had an obvious affiliation with Mr Hyde. Once again, sympathy levels for Jekyll drop however, we have to bear in mind, that by this point, Hyde may have been in control of Jekyll’s actions more than he knew, it might not have been possible for Jekyll to stop this murder taking place but the reader is still shocked and disgusted by what has taken place. However, as we can see from Jekyll’s statement of the case, he was disgusted by what had taken place and he realised now that this had to stop once and for all. It was either that or to face the scaffold for the crime that had been committed, there was a witness to it who could identify Hyde as the murderer. Jekyll realises that murder is the final straw, finally his common sense kicks in: â€Å"The problem of my conduct was solved. Hyde was thenceforth impossible; whether I would or not, I was now confined to the better part of my existence; and O, how I rejoiced to think it! With what willing humility, I embraced anew the restrictions of natural life! With what sincere renunciation, I locked the door by which I had so often gone and come, and ground the key under my heel!† (Pg 70, 27th Line) Once and for all, Jekyll had given up becoming Hyde, although he hated having to return to his mundane old self, he simply couldn’t risk ever becoming Hyde again, it was too dangerous. As Jekyll says, becoming Hyde would never again be possible, he hated it but he would have to remain as Jekyll for ever more. With extreme displeasure, he locked the door to his laboratory and ground the key under his feet. This surely would stop him ever wanting to transform again. Now the reader feels proud of his good will, his commitment to giving up his addiction and once again feels sympathy for his situation, at least he’s making a conscious effort to redeem himself. However, this momentary peaceful existence does not continue, Jekyll misses the freedom he experienced too much and gives in to his pang of desire. As himself, I don’t think Dr Jekyll meant to cause the harm that he did, but under the influence of Hyde, he caused great evil, his apparent lack of self control makes him accountable for all the actions that he carried out, it requires a large degree of naivety to carry on with what he was doing, knowing full well that his actions were likely to be more and more serious, even, as the book says, beginning to long for more disruption, more evil to be caused. â€Å"To cast in my lot with Jekyll, was to die to those appetites which I had long secretly indulged and had of late begun to pamper. To cast it in with Hyde, was to die to a thousand interests and aspirations, and to become, at a blow and forever, despised and friendless† (Pg 68, 2nd Paragraph) I think a certain amount of sympathy can be felt for Jekyll and his impossible situation, he was faced with a huge decision, he enjoyed being Hyde so much, he was addicted to it however, if he was to carry on transforming, eventually, there would be no way to reverse the effect, slowly, by this point, Hyde was taking over his mind and body. Either he stopped being Hyde forever and lives a somewhat disturbed life with a constant longing to turn into his alter-ego or, stop being Jekyll and run a life of evil, with no friends and hatred all around him. He chose to continue giving in to his desires until the last traces of the once prominent gentleman Henry Jekyll had disappeared and in an extremely sad final paragraph, in a tone of extreme despair finally recognises that his life is slipping beyond his grasp.