Acquisition Of An Aircraft Manufactory Management Essay

Acquisition Of An Aircraft Manufactory Management Essay In this section, Balogun Hope Hailey (1999) (cited at Johnson and Scholes, 2002) and leadership theory (Handy 1993) will be use to analysis the evaluation of the challenges faced by Rolls Royce acquisition of a competitor. 9 Leadership Analysis 10 Appendix D-Value Chain 19 Introduction Rolls-Royce was established by a small group of employees for engine in 1981; today the brand means more than engineering excellence (Roll Royce website). Simon Robertson was Chairman from 2004 to now (Rolls-Royce Annual Report 2009). By the mid 1980s, a headquarters was set up in London. The company has four different ancestral companies and products in Bristol, Coventry and  Derby. There are several allied group at Hucknall, Leavesden and in Scotland at East Kilbride and Hillington (Roll Royce website). Roll-Royce has four key markets includes civil aerospace, defense aerospace, marine, energy and nuclear more recently. Rolls Royces main rival is GE Engines. Rolls Royce was better position than its competitors as most of its engines are relatively new. Analysts predict that airlines are likely to ground older planes, leaving Rolls Royce with the lucrative spares and maintenance market. (Walker, 2010) Rolls-Royce revenue are increased  ¿Ã‚ ¡916 million from 2008 to 2009. The revenues are grown from three main market, including marine market increasing 17% arrived at  ¿Ã‚ ¡2589 million, defense aerospace add 19% arrived at  ¿Ã‚ ¡2010 million and the most raise at 36% in energy businesses had a strong performance in 2009, which from  ¿Ã‚ ¡755 million to  ¿Ã‚ ¡1028 million with revenues up by 36 per cent to over 1 billion. The revenue from civil aerospace business was decreased 21 million from 2008 to 2009. Because of the group maintains that a number of currency cash balances throughout of the whole year. The significant foreign exchange rates in 2009, and cash balances were reduced  ¿Ã‚ ¡141 million by retranslation at end of the year and hence total cash flow was dropped at  ¿Ã‚ ¡(183) million(Rolls-Royce Annual Report 2009). Analysis of the Current Business Environment Affecting the industry Macro-environment The PESTLE analysis (Appendix A) will forces on civil aerospace engine sector. Under the economic recession that is directly influence on the civil aerospace engine sales and redundant some staffs. But for the future view, the governments supported from RD. Aerospace industry trend is expected to receive large orders for civil aircraft mainly from the emerging Asian countries, such as China, India etc. Much of the regulations are followed by International Civil Aviation Organization. The aerospace industries put the money on new materials finding and using, in order to reduce the climate changes, and innovated to reduce the noise. In future trends, aerospace industry needs to tackle the problems of climate changes and engine noise. Joint venture is the normal way in order to developing industries; hence the revenant laws will be followed. Micro-environment Porters Five Forces analysis (Appendix B) described that the threat of entry in civil aerospace engine is lower, because the industry needs high technology machine and high skills of employees to using and it is quite expensive for entry the industry. Threat of substitution in aerospace engine industry also lower, because finding new materials or new technology to replace is difficult or quite expensive. Aerospace engine industry has several suppliers; they have the choice to find out the best suppliers, such as there has several material suppliers in existing market, the engine industry have higher power to choice the quality and negated with the price. It can be influence on the industry compatibility but not strongly. Hence, there is Low to Medium power of suppliers. The power of buyers is quite strong, which from medium to High power of buyers. It is influence on the industry, for example prices, technology training, and the repair and overhauls expertise of whole industry supply chain system and dedicated support of established worldwide customers. The industries have the large commercial buyers and have huge influences on industry revenues. It is medium to high for the competitive rivalry in aerospace engine industry; there has several existing competitors, such as Hampson Industries; Honeywell International; Safran; and GE etc. Although it is difficult to entry and substituted in this industry, some of these competitors have stronger engineering, manufacturing and marketing capabilities than Rolls-Royce (Datamonitor, 2009). Main opportunities and threats For Aerospace industry, the current threats are financial crisis and the barrier entry. The industry requires high technology and finds new material in order to reduce the noise and climate changes. We expect to grow the market share by exploring new geographic location in 2010 and by increasing the product portfolios (Metal central news 2009) It is difficult and more expensive for the innovation of new technology and finds new material for using within the aerospace industry. More recently, aerospace industry is increasing slowly in Europe countries. But there are still has the opportunity in Asian market, such as China and India etc (ICAO annual report, 2008). The industries are suggested the government to reduce the barrier entry into the market, due to increasing technology and find out the new materials (BBC News, 2009). Technology has the opportunity for industry developing in the future. Current technology was complained by several organizations, such as Greenpeace etc, it has published the second edition of the Energy Revolution scenario, which shows a global plan for a sustainable renewable economic future. It shows where the industries need to be to avoid a climate change disaster (Greenpeace, 2009). Under the pressure of those organizations that effects on the developing new technologies, due to reduce noise and climate changes. It still has the threats in entry barriers; lower barrier can help industry to find other materials or technology innovation, but not sure is the best way. Analysis of Rolls Royce Strategic Capabilities Roll Royce strategic capabilities analysis will be followed by Gerry et al (2009), which states the way of diagnosing organizational capabilities includes analyzing value chain to understanding the value to their customers; and resources to the relative performance of organizations. At the end of this section the summary of strengths and weaknesses will be given. 3.1 Value Chain Analysis (Appendix D) Primary activities The company is a leading supplier of civil, defense, marine, and energy. From the value chain primary activities shows that Rolls Royce has inventory control system, equipment maintenance, for finished engine products will to their inventory, and then distributed to their customers. Customer support, repair service, and training will be given for customers. Qualities service Corporate Care is engine maintenance cost programme available in the market for Rolls-Royce engines because it includes the experience and technical excellence of the engine manufacturer, the repair and overhaul expertise of Rolls-Royce, and the dedicated support of an established worldwide customer support organization. It can reduce the risks and costs maintains, reduce capital investment for fewer spare parts and tools, it is benefit from a world-wide network of support focused on the needs of corporate company operators. The network is always for 24/7. Strong orders The company has recorded increase in its order book. Such as civil aerospace engine total order book increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21%, from  ¿Ã‚ ¡35.9 billion in FY2007 to  ¿Ã‚ ¡45.9 billion in FY2008. Strong order indicates significant demand for the companys products in the market. Rolls-Royce, the engine manufacturer, has won a $2 billion ( £1.2 billion) contract, with United Airlines placing its first new aircraft order in 12 years (The times, 2009). It also assures a stable flow of revenues in the medium term period. Support activities Technology Development For support activities technology development are directly concerned with new technology to reduce noise and new material improvements to reduce climate changes and increase costs efficiency. There are some relevant programmes in some university in order to improve the new technology development and high technology employees training and recruitment. Because of high technology that skills training will be given for their staff. Both GE and Rolls Royce have invested more in research and development. General Electric has announced it will spend six billion dollars between now and 2015 on innovative healthcare technology (BBC News, 2009). Human Resource Management Rolls-Royce has registered comparatively strong revenue per employee. During FY2008, the company recorded revenues of  ¿Ã‚ ¡9,082 million with a total of 39,000 employees. The revenue per employee of the company stood at $432 (Rolls Royce Preliminary Result, 2009), which is higher than that of its close competitors GE. The revenue per employee of GE stood at $331 (GE Annual report, 2009) significantly lowers than that of Rolls-Royce. Relatively strong revenue per employee of the company, as compared to its competitors, indicates stronger productivity. Firm infrastructure The main competitor General Electric (GE) report shows that energy Infrastructure segment revenues decreased 4%, or $1.4 billion, in 2009 as higher prices ($1.3 billion) were more than offset by lower volume ($1.6 billion), the stronger U.S. dollar ($0.7 billion) and lower other income ($0.5 billion), primarily related to lower earnings from associated companies and marks on foreign currency contracts. GE Capital losses seem to have peaked although commercial real estate continues to be challenging said by BBC News (2010). Because of revenue mix and higher RD, Rolls Royce has lower profits (BBC News, 2009). There has challenging for Rolls Royce in RD department underlying economic downturn. Main Strengths and Weaknesses The main weakness for Rolls Royce was lack of inventory. Rolls-Royce has been receiving higher orders in the past few years. Strong order indicates significant demand for the companys products in the market. At the mean time, it puts higher pressure on the companys that controlled inventory. The companys inventory has increased at 19% at compound annual growth rate (CAGR)  ¿Ã‚ ¡1,845 million in FY2006 to  ¿Ã‚ ¡2,750 million in FY2009. The inventory turnover ratio declined from 4.5 to 3.6 from FY2006 to FY 2009. The lower ratio states poor sales and excessive inventory conditions. It describes the company are under the pricing risks from their competitors. It has quality service Engineering and Product Support for after sales, the aim of providing the customer with the right training, includes current service operations, maintenance practices and trouble-shooting procedures. The company has a widely geographic. Rolls-Royce primarily operates across regions, such as Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East and Africa. The diversified and fairly spread revenue ensures that the company does not rely on any one market for a majority of its revenues, at the mean time, it reducing its business risk in the highly variable industry. Investments in research and development are major to take advantage of the expertise on their in-house know, and the constant searching to effects on the capabilities of business partners, also influence on research funds and leverage the applied of needs in each global markets. RD department and plays core competency role lead to the company. The company has high relative for employee productivity. It also assures a stable flow of revenues in the medium/long term period. Quality services provide Rolls Royce has distinctive capability to competitive with competitors. (SWOT analysis summary in appendix C) Evaluate of Rolls Royce possible future strategies There are two future strategies using in the future, one is acquisition of an aircraft manufactory and the other is acquisition of a competitor. Ansoffs matrix (Richardson and Evans, 2007), and Suitability, Feasibility and Acceptability (SFA) (Johnson and Scholes, 2002) analysis will underling in this section. 4.1 Acquisition of an aircraft manufactory Rolls Royce was one of the aircraft suppliers (BBC News, 2007). It describes a related diversification in vertical forward integration strategy with Rolls Royce. It is more suitable for Rolls Royce current position. The company core business is engine service; it will help extending core along the supply chain to improve information based and strengthen competitive position. Due to explore new competence that the company investment in new arena. Because of aircraft suppliers, the company has more necessary resources to supported, such as technology and finance. Aircraft industry more likely to engine industry, which has lower competitive rivalry in aircraft manufactory because of high cost and high technology, it also has high profits for Rolls Royce entry into this area. There is the different area, management styles are different, and it is more risks to facing for the company. Under economic recession in 2008 that aircraft industry market shares are decreased, hence, the writer thinks this acquisition is not as the right time and right cost. 4.2 Acquisition of a competitor Rolls Royce was the famous engine company; acquisition of their competitors strategy the major is market development and market penetration. This strategy is suitable for company current conditions. Through the economic downturn, the shares are decreasing and market declining, in order to maintain market shares, acquisition of competitors is the right time and right costs strategy, which can build on strengths through the innovation and continued investment. It is medium to lower risk by exploiting current strategies. The company tries to range widely market from the same country (market development) or go abroad (market penetration). It will help them to extending their current supply chain lines and improving their market shares without increasing competitive rivalry. Rolls Royce share price is starting to reflect the very long-term visibility of future profits. But the valuation hardly looks over-generous for one of the worlds great manufacturing businesses. Unlike Cadbury, Rolls Royce are lucky, the Government has a golden share in the company (Wighton, 2010). The secret is a long-term strategy that has at last come good Sir Rose, whos Rolls Royce years long-serving chief executive, he states the benefits of expanding after-sales service rather than relying solely on sales of new engines (OConnell, 2009). Although the company faces to change or adoption the culture problems at acquisition, there are more benefits and lower risks than acquisition of aircraft manufactory; the writer is recommendation of company acquisition for competitors. 4.3 Alternative strategy Rolls Royce could be use strategic alliance to compete with their rivalry. The alliance is significance to continue company parent firms of current and anticipated core businesses, markets, and technologies (Parkhe, 1993). They may share the resources of products, distribution channels, manufacturing or inventory capability, new product funding etc. through the alliance, the alliance aimed to get the benefits that will be better than individual efforts. 5. Evaluation of the Challenges Faced by Rolls Royce as it Implements Strategic Change In this section, Balogun Hope Hailey (1999) (cited at Johnson and Scholes, 2002) and leadership theory (Handy 1993) will be use to analysis the evaluation of the challenges faced by Rolls Royce acquisition of a competitor. Changing strategy Followed by Rolls Royce acquisition with their competitors, some of things need to evaluate and implement change. Rolls Royce acquisition with competitors is beneficial for the nature of change in an organization to be incremental. At this way, it will build for skills, routines and beliefs in the organization. Hence, the change is efficient and seems to a winner with their commitment (Johnson and Scholes, 2002). It not needs to fast to change it, because there has several existing rules or aspects of their original organization, and focus on earn the profits with organization. For engine industry, this not goes fast with new technology growth or finds new material to use. This will be aspect their experts has diversity of experiences, views and opinions with an organization, but supposing that organization has followed a strategy with Rolls Royce, and leading to a very homogeneous way of seeing the world. Rolls Royce needs to select the acquisition company system which are better or suitable for Rolls Royce, and improved it. The aim to company acquisition is that they want to produce their product in the world wide, and get more or new markets. At the mean time, supply chain database needs to improved, operational data technology needs to improve. The company also needs to improve their utilizing global support network applying by the industry development. Leadership Analysis Mr. Robertson is Independent Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Rolls-Royce Group PLC in 2005. Robertson was appointed to the Board in 2004 (Rolls Royce website). His appointment comes at an important time for Rolls-Royce with the UK aero-engine maker having just been selected to provide Trent engines to the launch customer for the new Boeing 7E7 Dream liner. Based on his points, Rolls Royce has also won the lions share of orders to power the new Airbus A380 super-jumbo (Harrison and Michael 2004). It is show that he has very knowledgeable in this specific area; he can provide leadership in virtually in the situation. Robertson was a big Tory donor; the Conservatives would work with Rolls-Royce to develop strategies for a manufacturing revival, in a sign of his partys determination to find the corporate vote with business-friendly policies (Eaglesham, 2009). Rolls Royce has initiative new economic strategy based on the foundation stone of the government policies. This is defined by Robertson (2009) What does this mean? It is includes research and innovation; education and skills. This strategy is benefits for Rolls Royce future development; it is supported by government to improve transport, research and innovation, and education and skills (Eaglesham, 2009). It is illustrates the leader has the general style of leadership that is appropriate to the organisation and the context. 6. Conclusion Rolls Royce has a good company performance, although there has some risks facing in the company under the economic recession. Rolls Royce has also expanded its energy and marine businesses in recent years, it also expects a pickup in sales as new aircraft such as Airbuss A380 and Boeings 787 move into full production mode after years of hold-ups (Wilson, 2010). New product and worldwide range decision makes challenging and opportunity for the company. Strong leadership management leads to company to the right direction and make more profits. The author have strong recommend for investors to invest in Rolls Royce. 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Available on: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4429b008-1bd0-11dd-9e58-0000779fd2ac.html European Commission Enterprise and Industry (2009) Regulatory Environment, Available on: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/aerospace/regulatory-environment/index_en.htm European Commission Enterprise and Industry (2009) Research, Available on: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/aerospace/research/index_en.htm GE annual report (2009), Available on: http://www.ge.com/ar2009/pdf/ge_ar_2009.pdf Greenpeace (2008) Energy Revolution Report, Available on: http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/energyrevolutionreport.pdf Gurau, C (2007) Porters generic strategies: a re-interpretation from a relationship marketing perspective, The Marketing Review, Vol: 7(4), pp. 369-383(15), Swetswise [Online], Available on: www.swetswise.com Harrison, M (2004) Rolls-Royce chooses Simon Robertson as its new chairman, The Independent, Available on: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/rollsroyce-chooses-simon-robertson-as-its-new-chairman-532237.html Handy, C (1993) Understanding Organisations, Penguin Books ICAO annual report (2008), Available on http://www.icao.int/icaonet/dcs/9916/9916_en.pdf Mondag Business Briefing (2009) Defense spending and aircraft grows, Available on: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Throttling+Back:+Midyear+Outlook+For+The+Global+Aerospace+And+Defence-a0204500118 Naval technology (2008) Rolls-Royce sets a First in Defence E-Commerce, available on: http://www.naval-technology.com/contractors/propulsion/rolls/press2.html OConnell, D (2009) Rolls-Royce flies high despite airlines nosedive, The Sunday times [Online], Available on: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article6736024.ece Parkhe, A (1993) Strategic alliance structuring: A game theoretic and transaction cost examination of interfirm corporation, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 36, NO. 4, PP.794-829 Parliament UK (2005) The UK aerospace industrys current performance Available on http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmtrdind/151/15106.htm Parliament UK (2005) Conclusions and recommendations, Available on: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmtrdind/151/15109.htm Parliament UK (2009) Aerospace: Research and Development Question Asked by Lord Jones, Available on: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldhansrd/text/100113w0001.htm Pfeifer, S (2008) Rolls-Royce and BAE in recruitment push, FT [Online]. 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Musical Genre Classification of Audio Signals Essay

Musical genres are categorized by human. It depends on human hearing. There are common characteristics shared by categories. These characteristics are related to instrumentation, rhythmic structure, and harmonic content of the music. Currently many music is still classified by manually. Automated system for musical genre classification can assist or replace manual work for classifying musical genre. In this paper, the automatic classification of audio signals into hierarchy of musical genres is explored. Three feature sets for representing timbral texture, rhythmic content and pitch content are proposed. Also propose classification through two-times KNN classification method and show enhancement of accuracy. Using two-time KNN classification method increases accuracy about 5% than one-time –++++KNN classification which two-time KNN classification accuracy is 77.9% and one-time KNN classification accuracy is 73.3%. Index Terms – Music classification, feature extraction, wavelets, KNN classification Table of Contents I. II. Introduction Music Modeling & Genre Segmentation III. Feature Extraction A. Timbral Texture Features i. ii. iii. iv. B. Spectral shape features Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) Texture window Low-Energy features Rhythmic Features C. Pitch Content Features IV. Classification V. Evaluation and Discussion VI. References I. Introduction Musical genres are categorized by human. It depends on human hearing. There are common characteristics shared by categories. These characteristics are related to instrumentation, rhythmic structure, and harmonic content of the music. Genre classification is magnified when music industry moved from CD to web. In web music is distributed in large amount so importance of genre classification is magnified. Currently many music is still classified by manually. Automated system for musical genre classification can assist or replace manual work for classifying musical genre. In era of web, it enabled to access large amount of all kinds of data such as music, movies, news and so on. Music database has been grown exponentially since first perceptual coders early in the 90’s. As database grows it demanded tools that can enable search, retrieve and handle large amount of data. Classifying musical genre was great tool for searching, retrieving and handling large music data base [1-3]. There are several more method such as music emotion classification [4], beat tracking [5], preference recommendation [6], and etc.. Musical genres classification (MGC) are created and used for categorized and describe music. Musical genre has no precise definitions or boundaries because it is categorized by human hearing. Musical genres classification are highly related to public marketing, historical and cultural factors. Different countries and organizations have different genre lists, and they even define the same genre with different definitions. So it is hard to define certain genres precisely. There is not an official specification of music genre until now. There are about 500 to 800 genres in music [7, 8]. Some researchers suggested the definition of musical genres classification [9]. After several attempt to define musical genres researchers figured out that it shares certain characteristics such as instrumentation, rhythmic structure, and pitch content. Genre hierarchies were created by human experts and they are currently used to classify music in the web. Auto MGC can provide automating classifying process and provide important component for complete music information. The most significant proposal to specifically deal with this task was released in 2002 [3]. S everal strategies dealing with related problems have been proposed in research areas. In this paper, automatic musical genre classification is proposed showed in Figure 1. For feature extraction, three sets of features for representing instrumentation (timberal), rhythmic content and pitch content are proposed. Figure 1 Automatic Musical Genre Classification II. Music Modeling & Genre Segmentation An untrained and non-expert person can detect the genre of a song with accuracy of 72% by hearing three-second segmentation of the song [11]. However computer is not design like human brain so it can’t process MGC like human. Despite whole song may somehow influence the representativeness of feature, using whole song can extract most of features that music has. Also to extract short segment of music for automation system is unsuited for the purpose because difficulty of finding exact time of music that represents genre of music. Without research finding certain section of music representing its characteristic using whole song to modeling is proper way to MGC. There are too many music genres used in web [7, 8]. Classification genre has to be simplified and in this paper proposed genres which are popular used in MP3 players in the market. Figure 2 Taxonomy of Music Genre III. Feature Extraction Feature extraction is the process of computing numerical representation that can be used to characterize segment of audio and classify its genre. Digital music file contains data sampled from analog audio signal. It has huge data size compared to its actual information. Features are thus extracted from audio signal to obtain more meaningful information and reduce the over-loading processing. For feature extraction three sets of features for representing instrumentation (timberal), rhythmic content and pitch content will be used [3]. 1. Timbral Texture Features The features used to represent timbre texture are based on the features proposed in  speech recognition. The following specific features are usually used to represent timbre texture. â‘   Spectral shape features [1-3] Spectral shape features are computed directly from the power spectrum of an audio signal frame, describing the shape and characteristics of the power spectrum. The calculated features are based on the short time Fourier transform (STFT) and are calculated for every short-time frame of sound. There are several ways to extract feature with spectral shape feature. 1. Spectral centroid is centroid of the magnitude spectrum of STFT and its measure of spectral brightness.

Precursors to Suicide in Life and Works of Sylvia Plath...

Precursors to Suicide in Life and Works of Sylvia Plath and Sarah Kane Introduction We are going to describe factors associated with the suicidal process in lives of Sarah Kane and Sylvia Plath as reflected in the late works of these two female authors who committed suicide when they were 27 and 30 years old. Antoon Leenaars and Susanne Wenckstern (1998) have written: ?Suicide notes are probably the ultrapersonal documents. They are the unsolicited productions of the suicidal person, usually written minutes before the suicidal death.? Literary works of suicidal authors written in the time before their death can be read as such suicide notes. It is possible that the suicidal process set off before Sarah Kane started to write her best†¦show more content†¦Interpersonal relations, rejection-aggression and identification-egression are then the three of interpsychic factors. Risk Factors for Suicide in Life and Late Works of Sylvia Plath and Sarah Kane Since there have been a lot of biographies of Sylvia Plath written, we may dare to say, that all these risk factors for suicide have occurred during her life with most of them being present also during the last eight months that were full of traumatic and stressful events and psychic suffering. There are no poems left and probably even not written by Sylvia Plath between May 28 and June 30 1962. There are only few poems written during the time before and during the separation from Ted ? 3 in July, only 1 in August and 2 in September ? the month the couple separated. Then, October was the month when she created 25 poems, the most of the poems written during her last 8 months. In November she wrote 10 poems, then only 2 in December, 7 in January and 6 in five days in February. We have analyzed the poems of Plath and the play 4:48 Psychosis of Kane1 using both 8 categories derived from risk factors for suicide as described by Leenaars and the categories that emerged from the works themselves. The most prevalent categories represented both in the works of Plath and Kane were cognitive constriction with its subcategory of tunnel vision and the category of rejection-aggression. 1 See also ?ermï ¿ ½k (2003) and ?ermï ¿ ½k, Kodrlovï ¿ ½

Chemical Structures Starting with the Letter L

The Work Of Suzanne M. Mcdowell - 1153 Words

A teacher who keeps on teaching is a gift that keeps on giving. Retired high school teacher Suzanne M. McDowell was selfless by nature as most educators are. Even after leaving her desk job as an economics and business teacher, she continued to enlighten minds and uplift souls. Bold, beautiful, and beloved Suzan taught more than how to be successful in business but also successful in life. The lessons she taught whether of love or taxes, generosity or inflation, stay with those privileged enough to have met her. At age thirteen, I became one of those lucky souls. Suzanne and her husband Jerry were downgrading from their large two story house to a modest duplex. Restrained by failing hips and an oxygen tank, a single story home was safer†¦show more content†¦We spent the time shopping, packing, and talking. She told me stories of her old school: cantankerous students who got a particularly rewarding attitude check; times her students were able to cajole her out of homework as signments; and instances where they would some to her for advice and guidance. Listening to her reminisce, I was touched by her affection for her students. She had a monstrous bin full of cards, photos, albums, yearbooks, and newspaper clippings all from previous students. Suzanne still remember them all like it was just yesterday that they entered her classroom. By the end of the day, it felt like we had known eachother for years. When the tasks we had set out to accomplish for that day were done, she drove me home. As I was opening the door, she handed me a twenty dollar bill. â€Å"Thank you, but this is way too much. It was only a few hours of work, and you don’t even need to pay me! I enjoyed it,† I said shaking my head and handing her the money back. Suzanne pursed her lips and refused to take it back. â€Å"Oh honey, it was a pleasure. I insist,† she replied, but after I caviled at her a little more she said, â€Å"Dear, I have had cancer three times, a bone marrow transplant, and two husbands. I value people much more than money. Take the darn cash and don’t make me pull the ‘cancer card’ again.† She ended with a smile which made us both bust up in giggle. I bid her farewell and pocketed the money making sure to

Personal Transformation in Times of Dilemma Free Essays

Many wonder what causes one to undergo a change of psyche. It happens in times of struggle and dilemma, when the line between right and wrong is skewed. Yet the cause of one to go against what they previously valued is as unique as the situation itself. We will write a custom essay sample on Personal Transformation in Times of Dilemma or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the story Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, these transformations are seen in characters of all backgrounds. Their Jump from one end of the ideological spectrum to the other is what the story aims to spotlight. Many are put in situations of constant stress and conflict, which seem to bring out a more unfamiliar disposition. This instability brings the possibility of the characters being psychopathic, more prominently seen in the character Jekyll. When faced with moral and ethical dilemma, the characters of Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde experience abnormal personal transformation due to distress and psychopathic episodes. These dilemmas push characters like the restrained and reasonable Jekyll to become beast-like Hyde. Constantly faced with the moral limits of his ambition, Jekyll transformed into a man with none of his prior values. The most prominent personal transformation in the story was faced by Jekyll. Beginning as a man of order, the pursuit of his twisted medical experimentations drove him to become an altered being. The altered being was Hyde, a man without the restraints and gentleman-like qualities that defined Jekyll. Stevenson’s aim was to â€Å"attempt to describe the nature of an anomaly,† (Rosner. ) Whether the King 2 change Jekyll experienced is capable in all people, or Just a special few, is the question the Stevenson raised. The story featured a wide array of characters to show the many forms of transformation that people can face. Characters were given ersonalities and ideologies that were applicable to all people of the Victorian era. Utterson, an â€Å"austere† and honest man, along with Jekyll, represent the conservative side of the moral spectrum. The two men are focused and ethically restrained. While men like them were commonplace in the Victorian era, the generally straitlaced culture would also take a toll on the mind. Although he was a Lawyer, Utterson found that his ambitions were subdued by societal and personal restraints. He however remained on his original path, up until he became a close friend of Jekyll. Jekyll epresents what could be called â€Å"moral insanity,† (Rosner. ) Moral insanity is defined as â€Å"a morbid perversion of the natural feelings, affections, inclinations, temper, habits, moral dispositions, and natural impulses, without any remarkable disorder or defect of the intellect or knowing and reasoning faculties,† (Rosner. ) While initially Jekyll may not fit this description, as he continues down his dark path it becomes ever more prevalent. Moral insanity represents Hyde in Jekyll. Hyde embodies man’s farthest reach from order and restraint; he attacks the innocent on impulse, and uides his life with beast-like aptitude. This savage nature does not abide well with the culture in which ne lives, as his primal ambitions are quelled by society . This side of Jekyll represents the terminal end of ambition, and the wild control it has over those who feed on it. The three main characters of the story each represent distinct dispositions: strong restraint, King 3 strong ambition, and one that is torn between the two. The restrained Utterson is conflicted with the dullness of his everyday life and his ambition to pursue the curious life of Dr. Jekyll. He sees the dark temptations that wait for him along that path, which makes him cautious. Hyde represents the burning ambition within Jekyll. Though his intellect remains, it cannot save him from the â€Å"moral weakness† that Hyde originates from. Hyde seeks to take over his other half by tempting it with wild ambition and exorbitance. From the extremes of the two previous characters, Jekyll’s struggle in emphasized. The stressful dual-life that he lives causes him to drift farther away from the norms of society. The less in touch he got with society, the more he began to pursue his dark experimentations. Hyde gained strength the more this happened, which led to an increase in psychopathic episodes from Jekyll. It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man†¦ ‘ was radically both. I had learned to dwell with separation of these elements. If each, I told myself, could be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable,† (pg. 123. ) Jekyll recalls his history and struggles with the duality of man. He has seen men transformed by the weights of life, which in turn has spurred one of his own. Throughout the story, Jekyll distances himself farther and farther from societal norms. The self-inflicted alienation, combined with his Hyde personality, make him a psychopath. As his transformation into Hyde continues, so does his psychopathic symptoms. One of Jekyll’s more prominent psychopathic events is when he brutally clubbed to death Sir Danvers Carew. Sir Carew was a member of Parliament and a client of Utterson. Jekyll had no connection with the man. Hyde, â€Å"having no moral or social mores that need be followed,† (Sing, King 4 Chakrabarti,) impulsively bludgeons the man then flees. This impetuous act brings to light a ferocious quality looming within Jekyll. He attempts to defend himself, saying â€Å"l cannot say I care what becomes of Hyde. I am quite done with him. I was thinking of my own character,† (pg. 53. ) While Jekyll may believe that the heinous acts Hyde commits distances the two, it actually strengthens their bond. Both Poole and Mr. Guest begin to realize that Jekyll is covering up Hyde’s tracks, which makes Utterson increasingly distraught over his friend. Such a psychotic event brings about a transformation within Jekyll, by not only feeding Hyde’s influence, but getting himself urther entwined with his other self. Jekyll’s transformation takes place as he alienates himself from society in order to find salvation from his condition. Throughout the story, Lanyon recalls Jekyll’s pursuit of â€Å"scientific heresies,† (pg 35. ) Though it was clear that Hyde’s influence was increasing, Jekyll was able to maintain the desire to remain Jekyll. Sadly, that desire contributed to his utter transformation. Focusing on his eccentric studies, he was under constant stress from Hyde and Society. The distress he suffered from caused his mind to weaken. Lanyon saw the consequences ot Jekyll’s research, stating: â€Å"He began to go wrong, wrong in his mind,† (pg. 21 . ) The point at which he went â€Å"wrong† from was the untainted Jekyll, whom Lanyon was proud to be acquainted with. What drove the two apart was their personal involvement in the sciences, as Jekyll has much more of a cause to persevere than Lanyon. Now alone, Jekyll let the sciences overwhelm and define the direction of his life. In his letter to Lanyon at the end of the story, Jekyll describes himself living under a â€Å"blackness of distress,† (pg. 107,) to which Lanyon came to the conclusion that his â€Å"colleague was insane,† (pg 107. ) Jekyll truly crumbled under the weight of his scientific salvation. Not only did it leave him weak enough for Hyde to take over his mind, but it also King 5 contributed to his psychopathic tendencies. Jekyll’s dilemma tested the boundaries of scientific ambition and one’s morals. He showed how those guided by logic and reason can still succumb to ferocious ambition. Stevenson carefully crafted each character of the story to show different ideological standpoints’ reaction to the same dilemma. Jekyll’s psychopathic episodes rought about further transformation into Hyde, as well as increased the overall severity of his psychopathy. He was battling the influence of Hyde while also trying to find a cure for his condition. He was â€Å"different in mental and physical attributes† that were â€Å"constantly at war with each other,† (Sing, Chakrabarti. ) Personal transformation was evident in this story, with distress and psychopathic episodes clearly being the cause. Whether or not such transformation is capable in everyone, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde shows that duality is strengthened by distress and psychopathy. How to cite Personal Transformation in Times of Dilemma, Essays

A Parental Ode to My Son Poem Analysis Essay Example For Students

A Parental Ode to My Son Poem Analysis Essay The poem ‘Aparental Ode to My Son’ tells us of the poet’s son who is 3 years and five months. The poem is split into 6 stanzas, with around 10 lines in each stanza. The poet uses irregular rhyme throughout it. The tone of the poem is cheerful and happy as the poet is talking about his son.  The poem tells us how about his son, by using words like ‘happy elf’, ‘feather-light’, ‘light’ ‘elfin John’ tells us that the child is very small and delicate. The poem tells us that the child is very playful and adventurous by using phrases like ‘Fit playfellow for Fays, by moonlight pale’ the poet is trying to say that his son is a fit playmate for a fairy or elf as they seem to be adventurous and cheerful. The last part ‘by moonlight pale’ could mean that his son is bursting with energy and can play all day till night time when the moon is out.  The poem also suggests that the poet’s son is mischievous but also innocent by using phrases like ‘Thou imp of mirth and joy!’ which suggests the writer is saying his son is a mischievous child of laughter and joy. The phrase ‘untouched by sorrow and unsoiled by sin’ suggests that the child is innocent and has no sin as it is only a small child. ‘Thou cherub but of earth’ also tells us that the child is innocent and sweet. The poem also uses phrases ‘That dog will bite him if he pulls its tail!’ ‘He’ll break the mirror with that skipping-rope!’ ‘He’ll have that jug off, with another shove!’ ‘He’s got a knife!’ and ‘He’s got the scissors, snipping at your gown’ to show that the child is young and playing innocently unaware of the harm that it could cause.  The poem also tells us that the child is a very happy and joyful child by using phrases like ‘happy, happy elf!’, as elves are happy, ‘Thou merry, laughing sprite!’ laughter is a sign of happiness and ‘In harmless sport and mirth’ which is also laughter. The poet uses poetic devices like enjambment ‘From every blossom in the world that blows- Singing in Youth’s Elysium ever sunny’ tells us that the child lives in ideal happiness and perfect bliss it also shows the excitement moving from one line to the next. A metaphor is used: ‘Thou happy, happy elf!’ the poet is comparing the child to an elf as they are cheerful and small which creates the effect of you thinking of images in your head. The simile ‘Light as the singing bird that wings the air’ also creates the image in your head of how a bird flies smoothly which looks effortless and weightless. The poet also uses ambiguity with the phrase ‘No storms, no clouds, in thy blue sky foreseeing’ as what it means is that the child is not troubled but always happy, the use of phrases like this will get you thinking about the different possibilities that it could mean. Another simile is ‘Balmy, and breathing music like the south’ which creates the images of calmness, and another simile is ‘Fresh as the morn, and brilliant as its star’ makes you think that the stars in the morning aren’t that bright so this could also be an allusion. Pathetic fallacy is used in the last stanza ‘Bold as the hawk, yet gentle as the dove’ which emphasises the mood and emotion of the poem.