The Odyssey as a Classic

Classic literature often provides insight to an ancient society, their values, and their beliefs. Many books that are considered classics today focus on ancient Rome and Greece. Revenge, hubris, and other themes, and the relation of this book to modern life, classifies the poem The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Fitzgerald, as a classic. For this reason, it is still read today. Classic themes of The Odyssey are a reason that it is a timeless tale. The concept of revenge is often shown throughout Odysseus’ journey. The reason Odysseus kills the suitors is to avenge their plunder of his abode. Odysseus kills Antinoos first since he was the leader of the suitors. Not only do mortals believe in revenge, the gods do too. They encourage Odysseus to take revenge, and Zeus even sends a thunderbolt down to signal the right time for Odysseus to strike. Another theme in the Odyssey is hubris. In most classic, the hero or protagonist demonstrates this quality. This was followed up on in The Odyssey, where Odysseus was the character who demonstrated hubris the most. After he blinded Polyphemos and successfully escaped, he screamed out his name to the monster, who did not know his real identity previous to this. This was a mistake caused by his excessive pride, because he wanted the Cyclops to know that he, Odysseus, was powerful enough to blind the son of Poseidon. Polyphemos then prayed to his father that Odysseus would have a long and difficult journey, which of course Poseidon honored. Lastly, the use of the loom in The Odyssey helps to make the poem a timeless classic. The loom is used multiple times by women throughout the story. It often demonstrates hearth and home. Penelope uses it to trick the suitors. She says that she must complete the shroud of Laertes before she chooses a new suitor. This makes the suitors respect Penelope since it displayed her kindness and honor. In reality, Penelope was really avoiding marriage by unweaving the shroud every night. Kirke also used the loom to lure Odysseus’ crew into her house and make it appeal to them. This constant use of the loom is a motif. The use of motifs makes a piece of literature a classic because they create a sense of continuity and security, and they get the reader to react. The themes of revenge and hubris, and the use of motifs allow The Odyssey to be a timeless classic. The relation of The Odyssey to modern life accounts for its continued appeal. The story of Odysseus’ journey can in many ways relate to the typical life of humans today. The story is life, but mythologized. For example, missing a loved one is something that often occurs today. In The Odyssey, Odysseus’ mother dies because she misses her son too much. Her story is told while Odysseus sees her in Hades. Second, individuals intervene in the matters of others. Other people provide their input of a problem today, while in the epic poem it was the gods. This intervening of the gods was a large part of the story. For example, if it wasn’t for Athena â€Å"erasing† the memories of the suitor’s deaths to their families, then the families would have attempted to assassinate Telemakhos and his father. Also, Odysseus’ journey would have been incredibly shorter if it weren’t for Poseidon intervening after Polyphemos prayed to him to make Odysseus’ journey longer. One of The Odyssey’s universal qualities is the relation of it to life today. Themes such as revenge, hubris, motifs, and reader-to-text connections are examples of universal qualities included in the poem The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Fitzgerald. These qualities classify this poem as a classic. 3000 years after it was published, it is still thriving. One of the oldest works of literature is still considered a timeless piece of literature today.

Effect of Csr Activities on Sales Essay

Reasons for this can be multinational corporations’ increasing influence on world economy as well as scandals revealing horrible working conditions in different industries. In spite of the fact that the demand for CSR is growing, there has always been critics. The most influential critic is Noble Prize winner Milton Friedman, who claims CSR to be a waste of stockholders’ money. However, several articles claim, opposite Friedman, that CSR rather increases a company’s financial performance in the long run. These claims have made us curious about in what way CSR is related to a company’s performance. Moreover, it has led to us wanting to find out how CSR can influence customer perceptions on a product or service offering. Conclusions –All the initiatives gave a positive influence on the respondents’ perceptions, but the ones resulting in the most positive changes of the perceptions and willingness to buy were social responsible business practises, cause-related marketing and corporate philanthropy, which are initiatives where the company are doing the largest effort instead of just encouraging others to make an effort. The respondents answered that they trust the companies’ information about CSR to some extent, but also think a third party should scrutinise the companies’ activities and inform. The most favourable channel for CSR information was from environmental organisations, government organisations and the third party web media. Therefore it seems like the respondents value that the companies provide information, but are not too forward and pushing the information on them by for example advertisements. Keywords : CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility, Cause promotion, Cause-related marketing, Corporate social marketing, Corporate philanthropy, Community volunteering, Social responsible business practices. Introduction: CSR is today a frequently used concept, as companies to a larger extent are held accountable for what is happening in the society. The company should also inform the stakeholders about their CSR activities in an appropriate way, in order to capitalise from all possible benefits. In order to make a trustworthy impression and gain the most benefits, the choice of CSR activity and way of communication is crucial for the company, and therefore the perceptions of the consumers are very important to know more about and understand. In the last decade tendencies towards a more social aware community have been strong. In itself these trends are nothing that is particularly new. People have always preached for problems like public health, wildlife protection, prevention of child labor etc. What is different now is that companies to a larger extent are held accountable for what is happening in our society. Companies that engage in CSR activities are likely to have different motives for doing so. Many researches claim that corporate social responsibility originally consists of activities that a company performs out of commitment and duty. However, there are also commercial motives for CSR activities. For example CSR activities may result in advantages when it comes to receiving funding, recruiting new employees, cost reductions etc. To capitalise from all possible advantages it is crucial for the company to communicate their CSR work in an appropriate way. Theoretical Framework: Types of CSR Activities: a) Cause promotion Cause promotion is often done in the way that the company provide funds, contribute financially or with any other resource, with the objective to increase awareness, support fundraising or participation, or to recruit volunteers for a specific cause. In this initiative persuasive communications are important, to create concern and to persuade people to contribute or participate to support the cause. In successful campaigns use of motivating messages and the choice of effective media channels are crucial. They also make use of publicity, printed materials, special events, web sites, advertising, featuring the logo and key message of the company and those who represent the cause. Further methods are employee involvement, messages on product labelling and to provide store space for promotions. Many of the potential benefits are marketing related, like strengthened brand positioning and preference, increased traffic and consumer loyalty.

Interest in Rainwater Essay

The article entitled â€Å"Interest in Rainwater Harvesting Grows in Colorado† written by Paul Day was about a proposal of Brad Lancaster, a rainwater virtuoso and initiator. His entire idea according to the news was that he wanted to use the rainwater for needs of the people and environment just like in Arizona and New Mexico. But the Executive Director of Colorado Waterwise, Paul Lander, prohibited his willingness to pursue this project because according to him it might result in breaking the rights of the people to that water. Lancaster insisted and he even showed two concrete project proposals for this. First, it would legalize the conception in countrysides that were not served by municipal water supplies. Lastly, it would instruct for conducting projects to study whether rainwater harvesting can be used without harming water rights. It interests me a lot because if we’re going to use the water from the sky in some ways, we can get lot of benefits out of it. I consider this as a biological issue because it discusses the precipitation process. This is very important because this is an exact example of learning how to utilize the nature for our advantage. The steps of scientific process: a. The usage of the rainwater purposefully though Colorado water law forbids it? b. Other places like Arizona and New Mexico can do it, why can’t we. c. They show the proposals using diagrams of storage tanks for collecting rainwater that runs off the rooftops home homes and businesses. d. The people who witness the presentation of the project agree that we can get a lot out of it. Scientific Terms: rainwater – water that comes form the sky project proposals – the entire flow or plan of the project and the things that they wanted to do precipitation process – the continuous cycle of water â€Å"Does Diabetes Make the Mind Go to Pieces† written by Mary Brophy Marcus is the second article. It imparted us about the risk of having Alzheimer’s disease and the effects of it are as follows: a. more prone to cognitive decline b. the mind’s ability to evaluate problems and the speed of processing information might suffer because of high rate of insulin or abnormal blood glucose. The experimentation by the researchers from the University of Alberta in Canada verified the people with diabetes and non – diabetic were prone to mental decline according to the American Psychological Association’s January issue of Neuropsychology but the executive function – complex, analytical thinking and speed processing were directed to the diabetic ones. In the journal Neuron published in December found out that if the brain didn’t get enough sugar it produced Alzheimer’s plaques but improving the brain’s blood flow might prevent or cured Alzheimer’s according to Robert Vassar, a professor of cell and molecular biology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and he recommended that doing some exercise, minimizing cholesterol intake and taking care of the hypertension could help a lot. On the contrary, according to Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York that insulin worked in the nerves that went to the liver and it declared stoppage glucose production and healed diabetes but not in the blood. I found it fascinating because it conveyed awareness on how to take good care of our body. I considered this biological issue because it dealt with the health of an individual. The steps of the scientific process: a: Treating Alzheimer’s disease? b. the insulin is a great help c. they observe people with diabetes and non – diabetic individuals d. proper maintenance of insulin/glucose in our body and the habitual exercise and taking care of the body will prevent diseases. Scientific Terms: glucose – a crystalline sugar insulin – secreted by islets of Langerhans for carbohydrate’s metabolism and glucose regulation in the blood and produced diabetes mellitus when insufficient. Alzheimer’s disease – progressive memory loss, impaired thinking, and changes in mood. The last article entitled â€Å"The Big Green Giveaway† by Tony Milney wanted to share about Mr. Miliband’s willingess to save the planet and our benefit out of it. The objective of putting up the household carbon emissions close to zero by 2050, the government decided to plan an environmental makeover. Establishing ground or air-source heat pumps, solar heating, solid wall insulation, or to join a community heating scheme are the suggested ways to lessen the average ? 300 a year of the wasted energy that needed an action or prevention. Based from the principles of this proposal, all the privileges were given to the homeowners to be able to fulfill the energy saving measures in our home. Not only this, but also the 90,000 solar water-heating systems in Britain. Another offer was the installation wind turbines, wood-pellet stoves, ground-source heat pumps and other eco kit by the Energy Saving Trust. And it even mentioned here the different gadgets used to save energy at home. This article caught my attention because it gave us information and ideas on how to save energy and at the same having advantage of it. I considered this as a biological issue because it discussed the environment that we had and the energy that we consumed. It is important because it helped the people saved energy without damaging the ecosystem. The steps of the scientific process: a. How can we avoid wasted energy? b. the misused of the energy and environment can cause this kind of problem c. they mentioned the different ways on how to save energy and the invented gadgets that could be of great help to the people d. there will be no wasted energy if the people would learn how to save energy wisely. Scientific Terms: energy – dynamic exertion of power carbon – a nonmetallic primarily tetravalent element found native gadgets – an often small automatic or electronic device with a sensible use but often thought of as a novelty. Works Cited Day, Paul. â€Å"Interest in Rainwater Harvesting Grows in Colorado. † CBS4Denver. com (Feb 12, 2009): http://cbs4denver. com/local/Rainwater. Harvesting. illegal. 2. 934360. html Marcus, Mary Brophy. â€Å"Does Diabetes Make the Mind Go to Pieces? † USA TODAY (Jan. 28, 2009): http://www. usatoday. com/news/health/2009-01-28-diabetes-alzheimers_n. htm Milne, Tony â€Å"The Big Green Giveaway. † The Sunday Times (February 15, 2009): http://www. timesonline. co. uk/tol/news/environment/article5732920. ece

Adult Educational and Training Opportunities Essay

Adult Educational and Training Opportunities - Essay Example Research has proven that baby boomers who approach the retiring age of 65 often find themselves in good health and willing and able to work (Kelch & Harris, 2000). Hence, there is enormous potential for adult education and training opportunities for them. Keeping in view the above scenario, the dilemma lies in how to steer educational and training efforts of adults towards helping the older adults (baby boomers) maintain their skills at workforce. A training need analysis would reveal that there are three key aspects involved in doing so: preparing the in-service, current pre-professional and paraprofessional educational and training opportunities, training certifications, funding and cultural issues as well as issues in climbing up the corporate ladder (New York State Office for Ageing, 2011). Research also shows that the baby boomers tend to be more ethnically diverse and have higher education level than preceding generations (New York State Office for Ageing, 2011). Shortages in l abor supply are likely to result as people providing ole age care will be simultaneously retiring in large numbers.

Management Communications with Technology Tools Research Paper

Management Communications with Technology Tools - Research Paper Example The supervisors may at times also be abusive; this may cause the subordinates to also act in an abusive manner, especially when they are not of the reason behind the supervisor’s abusive behavior. Therefore, there is a need to find the cause of the supervisor-subordinate problems as well as provide solutions so as to increase productivity.   The content of the paper will mainly be based on previous studies by various scholars who have researched on the issue with a view to provide a solution. Various authors and scholars have addressed supervisor-subordinate problems. Elangovan & Xle carried out a study which demonstrated that perceived power from supervisors was more robustly associated to an increase in motivation and a decrease in stress for subordinates with low self-esteem than for the ones with high self-esteem† (Elangovan & Xle, 1999). In an attempt to solve this problem, Herbert Blake came up with the DIRECT approach (Blake, 2004). In this approach, each letter has a meaning; D-Develop, meaning that supervisors should help their subordinates develop whatever is required of them in carrying out their duty. I-Involve, meaning that supervisors should involve their subordinates in decisions referring to them. ... meaning that supervisors should maintain positive communication with their subordinates and also, the subordinates should feel free to communicate with their supervisors. T-Trust, meaning that supervisors and subordinates should trust each other to ensure smooth running of the organization (Blake, 2004).According to Blake, the DIRECT approach would solve the problems in the communication between subordinates and supervisors if followed. Kutz and Kahn (1978) worked together in an attempt to provide a solution to the communication problem. The pair divided communication into five parts. The first part is job instructions, this where the supervisor gives an explanation on what is expected to be done by the subordinates. This promotes go od relations between supervisors and subordinates as it minimizes possible lack of fulfilling the requirements. The second part of communication is the information rationale; this is where the supervisor explains to the subordinate why a certain job should be done in a particular way. This promotes good understanding to the subordinate and leads to increased productivity in the organization. The third part of communication is procedures and practices; this is where the supervisor informs the subordinates the general manner in which jobs are accomplished within an organization. This promotes good working relations between the supervisors and subordinates and increases their productivity. The fourth part of communication according to Kutz and Kahn is feedback; this is where the supervisor gets back to the subordinates in relations with their performance in the organization. The feedback motivates the subordinates to keep on improving in doing their job and as a result improving the or ganization’s productivity.  Ã‚  

External Analysis for (Lifestyle lift Co.) Essay

External Analysis for (Lifestyle lift Co.) - Essay Example The lift procedure performed by this company involves incision making, usually on sides of the faces and eventually removing excess skin. The company promotes its services by infomercial advertising, usually on television. Nevertheless, it publishes websites such as Life lift.com that describes various face-lift procedures and that contains information regarding the locations of its affiliated offices around US. Various external factors affect performance and competitiveness of Life Lift Company since entering the Sacramento market. The company enjoying a large market share has faced malpractice claims and criticism from the public and its customers. Evidently, a woman died just an hour after undergoing the cosmetic facial surgery in one of its affiliated branches in Maitland, within the state of Florida (Kathy 01). Besides this, some of its competitors are using information from the patients who at some point show up demanding for another operation. Popovich of Folsom had a face-lift neck at the company’s San Mateo but went for another surgery because one of his faces appeared droopy. Public and its esteemed customers deemed it negative for the company to sue two of its competitor’s website. In essence, entry into the industry has associated legal, ethical and financial costs, which act as barriers for new

How effective was the persecution of the Christians for the Romans Essay

How effective was the persecution of the Christians for the Romans - Essay Example Christianity was not begun within the social spheres of the more prominent people of the time period. The beliefs were spread through the impoverished, the lesser citizenry of Rome, and through connecting to the needs of those who were suffering. Therefore, those who believed became a threat to those who were satisfied with the state of society. One of the ways in which to eradicate the belief, or so thought those of prominence within the Roman Empire, was to martyr believers. The problem with creating a martyr is that a rallying point is created. Thus, the martyrdom of Christians within the Roman Empire became an act that helped to promote the beliefs, rather than a way to eradicate them. Because of the persecution of the Christians by the Romans, the religion found power within the martyrdom of its people, thus giving it needed sympathy which allowed for the beliefs to be spread further. The Christians of the first centuries were the anti-establishment group that came up against a goliath of a political system that was defined by its ties to the ritualized worship of the Roman people to the pagan gods. Christians refused to participate, putting their own beliefs above Rome, thus becoming enemies of the state. An example of the persecution of Christians can be found through the experiences of Vibia Perpetua through the firsthand account of Tertullian. Through understanding the sympathy that is created through the terrible events of the persecution, the psychology of martyrdom can help to explain part of the way in which the plight of these early Christians helped to further the expansion of the religion. Christians: The Hippies of Rome Despite the desire to eradicate the Christians, this was not an action that originated because of an objection to that belief. Nero used the Christians as a scapegoat in order to find a plausible criminal element behind the fire in Rome, although Tacitus wrote that Nero had ordered the fire (Cairnes, 1996, p. 27). Tacitus (109 A .C.E.) stated that â€Å"Therefore to stop the rumor, he falsely charged with guilt, and punished with the most fearful tortures, the persons commonly called Christians† (p, 286). Christians were used, according to the belief of Tacitus, which suggests was the common belief of the time period, as a scapegoat in order to alleviate political pressures. The first emperor of Rome to begin widespread persecution of Christians was Domitian (81AD to 95AD), the last emperor of the Flavian Dynasty. Belief was not an issue with the Romans, but the refusal to honor the emperor through sacrifice and to confer to him proclaimed divinity provided a fuel with which to separate the empire from the Christian sect and to begin retribution for this insult (Peters, 2005, p. 246). However, the close association with the Jewish community in Rome did not help the Christian cause. The Jewish community, during Domitian’s time, had refused to pay a tax that was to support the Capitolinus Jupite r. The Christians were the easier target to punish, although why it was effective as punitive to the Jewish community is unclear. One of the most potent uses of the Christian ‘plague’ in Rome was to focus on their participation in the economic difficulties of the age. One of the examples that can be appreciated is that the lucrative idol making business was harmed by the lack of