Nectar in a Sieve Discussion Questions

Nectar in a Sieve Inner/Outer Questions Emily Murphy 1st period 8/30/11 1) What is the main character’s name in the book? A: Rukmani 2) What do you think could have happened if Ira was given the medicine the Rukmani had to bear children for her first husband? A: She would have been severely neglected and abused, for he seems to be not a trustworthy man. 3) What is the underlying theme of the importance of fertility? A: In Hindu society, fertility and the ability to take care of children decides how successful a woman will be in a marriage and whether the marriage will last. So, the central idea of fertility is nothing new to books about Hinduism. 4) Can you provide a definition of the title? A: Nectar is the drink of the gods according to the Hindus because it’s savory and sweet. But when you put it in a sieve, the sweetness is lost and it’s no longer a good drink. 5) What is the symbolic meaning for the tannery? A: The tannery is a symbol of urbanization and the outside world coming into their cultural bubble. The whole village is kind of a town luck in time. 6) Identify the problem with the caste system in the setting of the novel. A: Especially in Rukmani’s case, sometimes a girl of a middle or low caste is forced to marry below her caste simply because her family is not financially ready. 7) What evidence is there to support that Rukmani’s parents are not financially stable? A: Rukmani was the fourth daughter born to her parents, so her oldest sister had a lavish wedding lasting for days, which was very expensive. Consequentially, by the time Ruku got married, her wedding was short and plain. 8) What was the turning point in the novel? A: The turning point was definitely when Nathan and Rukmani had to leave their land because the tannery bought it. This is so because everything important to Nathan was in that land, and everything goes downhill from there. 9) What was the author’s purpose for not specifying the exact time and place? A: Markandaya prevents a lot of work and attention on the subject of location. The reader spends more time focused on the story, and the author does not have to worry about correct facts about the location and time period. 10) How are Nectar in a Sieve and Ishmael alike? A: They both point out some of the flaws in humans and their society.

Language Essay Essay

Introduction Language is universal way to express how a person feels. So of course, it is essential in cultures to express their individuality within life. Most of the time people do not put a lot of speculation on what mental processes may be taking place subconsciously. These mental processes allow a person to think, speak, and express their personal thoughts through language. In order to properly analyze that language, cognition must be a part of the mental processes too. In this essay, we will delve deeper into how language and cognition are associated. Language & Lexicon Language is an efficient and consequential use of information, which can be both comprehended and used by all living things. It is also the communication of thoughts to language. According to Merriam-Webster (2014), cognitive psychology can be defined as, â€Å"a branch of psychology concerned with mental processes (as perception, thinking, learning, and memory) especially with respect to the internal events occurring between sensory stimulation and the overt expression of behavior.† Accordingly, when a person or animal learns to understand through the use of language, and with the capacity of that language, there can be a cognitive process that helps to separate humans from animals. Language is completely generative, dynamic, structured, and communicative. In language, a lexicon is known as the vocabulary or psychological language. A lexicon can hold many different types of words, which can also include how to pronounce a word, and the parts of speech for each word (Galotti, 2014). A lexicon is used to help a person understand words that are spoken, and their meanings. The spoken words are compared to a person’s lexicon, which is how a person can understand what the word is. It could be near impossible to understand a language or vocabulary without lexicons. The use of lexicons are a very important part of a person’s language. Key Features of Language There are many key features that make a language. The following are the main properties: generative, communicative, dynamic, and structured. Language is considered generative because, a person has an unlimited capacity as to how they build their personal languages. Language allows people to communicate with one another, and it also allows other animals to communicate within the same species as well. Language is dynamic because it is forever changing, and also develops people into having larger vocabularies. Lastly, the structure of language plainly shows exactly how convoluted it truly is. The great thing about language, is that it can adapt and expand as a person learns more information. New words can be added to a language or vocabulary, while others can be erased or updated (Galotti, 2014). Language development is different for each person. Some people are able to learn language through their cognitive functions, but sometimes, it takes more time. For an example, with children, they have to learn everything, which includes their own names, how they are feeling, how to express feeling, and objects. But they also have to learn how to use the vocabulary they are learning. Lastly, the feature that influences more cognitive processes, mainly languages that can influence thoughts. It works in a rotating structure, language helps to influence thoughts, and language also helps to regulates thoughts. A person always uses language in order to interpret their own thoughts. The main reason that language influences thought is because thoughts are when a person is consciously speaking to themselves. Levels of Language There are four different levels of language in reference to the structure and processing, phonemes, words, sentences, and texts. Phonemes are the tiniest part of sounds or units that can be used by people in order to form words. Phonemes are a person’s sounds of speech, which is similar to each letter in the alphabet. The main dilemma with phonemes are that each person’s creation of them are different. When a person studies phonetics, they are studying speech sounds and their physical properties. Words help a  person make sense of phonemes. Words are made up of by multiple spoken sounds. A sentence is, of course, a set of words which complete themselves. A sentence will also allow a person to organize their thoughts when they are preparing to speak, or to write something. A text helps a person connect sentences in order to form a small amount of information, or a paragraph. These usually help to explain a specific topic, and always have to be about one topic. All four of these structures are a crucial part of language. To put this more easily, phonemes lead to words, words lead to sentences, and sentences lead to texts (Galotti, 2014). Analyzing the Role: Language Process & Cognitive Psychology In order to properly analyze the role of processing language, a person has to first understand cognitive psychology, to study mental processes. Mental processes give a person the ability to think, believe, perceive, solve problems, make decisions, remember, learn, reason, and adapt. By using these mental processes a person can begin to understand and comprehend language, and with that, the process of the language is used. If a person does not understand the language’s structure, that person will not have the capability to understand texts, sentences, words or phonemes, which all make up a language. With lack of perceptive abilities, a person may not comprehend language, with all of its entirety. Cognitive processes help determine how the language is processed within the brain. When a person begins to learn and understand language, the cognitive process is in use. Conclusion The cognitive process known as language drives a separation in between humans and other beings. The lexicon contains words in which people can use to compare other words or parts of speech. There are multiple key features of language. These key features, as stated above are, generative, communicative, dynamic, and structured. With all of these features, language can become very intricate. If a person were to completely understand each one of these key features, they will be able to understand and comprehend how necessary they are to be used within language. Also, it is crucial for a person to analyze the role that cognitive psychology plays within the process of language. Cognitive psychology is important in many aspects of a  person’s life, but especially in the language process. References: Cognitive Psychology. (2014). In Merriam-Webster. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/cognitive%20psychology Galotti, K. M. (2014). Cognitive Psychology In and Out of the Laboratory (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Proud to be Federal: A System that Money and Rhetoric Cannot Buy Essay

If I were on a bet, I have to choose either my dignity or wealth, as a principled citizen of America, I would choose my dignity. The ego could not be equated to money. The same way as the established principle and system could not be price tagged with million bills and euphemized sales talk. United States of America (US) is globally known the most powerful country in the world. The president of us is known to be the most powerful man in the world, as well. Back from the early times wherein the US colonized several countries. States, and archipelagos in different continents, it already showed its power and leadership among these colonized countries. Their victory in wars exemplified their strength and supremacy among other nation. Up to these days, US is undeniably being revered by other countries considering that it belongs to the first world countries, which are called as capitalists. The US government follows the Federal system by which there is a central government for the whole country of US and there are local government units for each of the 50 states that it has. In matters of decision-making, the state government could decide on its own as long as it could be settled along the state level. The Federal government of course, has its power in decision-making concerning more the US as a whole. Yet, it also involves in decision-making in the state level since it is the central government. In this case, we could see that our government becomes more specific and focus to one state unit than referring one government all over the 50 states that compose our country. In such way, problems and issues in the state level could be easily settled because there are specific state governors whom could address certain issues involving the state and the citizenry. This pattern of system, which has more than one government, is an effective way of ruling the people and the state since the leader of a particular state could focus more in their state problems with less regards with the problems of the other states. If only the central government would address all the issues and concerns of all the 50 states and the citizenry, there could be hard focus and specification of resolutions in the problems arising in different states. We could say that our country has been developed decades ago and has already established an almost stable system of living. This good socio-economic status of our country is being experienced now by most American citizen, if not all. We are ahead of trading with different partner countries in the world. In the version of â€Å"Keeping the Economy Strong† in the President’s FY2008 Budget, new investments and good innovations from outside and inside the country are expected since the â€Å"President’s tax relief† is permanently taking effect. This is to ensure the continuous economic growth of the US. Moreover, the affordable health services, improved quality of education, and security and stability of energy source are more focused by the central government system since it would assure the growth and development of the Americans. These socio-economic per se are the considerations to take to help all American people more productive. However, our country, as it is combating the terrorism act world wide, it lessens its viability in terms of economic role in terms of partnership with other countries. The US government focuses its external relation with other countries in terms of defense and state security. But in ruling the state, the federal system is taking place effectively. Likewise, since the federal government is the main and central ruler of the states of the US, it launches several programs, which entitled as â€Å"Top 10 Federal Benefits and Assistance Programs. † The first three programs mainly focus on the health aspect of the beneficiaries, First of this program is the Medicare, which enables the disabled and 65 and above year old citizen to receive medical insurance. It also includes those people who have permanent kidney disease (End-Stage Renal Disease) and could only be treated by dialysis. The second program is the Medical Prescription Drug Program. This program encompasses the entire citizen, such that, they could buy medicines and drugs with low cost. It could also protect the citizen from the increasing cost of the prescribed drugs. The third program pertains to the Medicaid that provides people with low socio-economic status with medical insurance especially those who are not covered with the first program. The fourth one, which is called the Social Security Retirement, benefits the retired workers and employees in lieu of their service to the company or the government they had been employed. The fifth program is named Stafford Student Loans. This gives opportunity and assistance to those who are in undergraduate study and even those who are in graduate study all over the America. It does not specify that its restriction is for American citizen only, yet, it dos prioritized of course the America people. The sixth one is the Food Stamps that would enable those people who belonged to low-income group to buy their foods. These foods are at low cost and are mainly the needed foods to improve the diets of the American people. On the other hand, the seventh program, which is called Emergency Food Assistance, provides the needy most people and the elders with food without any cost. The eighth one is the Employment and Training Assistance. It helps the citizen to improve their skills to get a good job. It also helps old employees to reemploy or search for new jobs. This program also provides placement assistance and information regarding the labor status, rights, and responsibilities. The ninth one which covers the shelter of the citizen is called Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers is the program that is responsible for provision of decent home and safe settlements for the low-income citizen. If not fully given homes, the program also addresses the housing rental at an affordable cost. The tenth and the last one is the Home Weatherization Assistance. This program is considered the largest assistance program fro those citizen who could not afford high cost of energy. Under the Department of Energy, it provides help to the citizen to conserve the energy they are using to avoid the burden of high-energy utilization. After all these main benefits under the system of Federalism, which mainly focus on the individual and community level of the society, the fiscal policy changed into monetary policy. This falls under the over all economic facade and status of the economy of the US. Under the U. S. Federal reserve System, this agency, commonly known as â€Å"the Fed,† is being comprised by the 12 major federal reserve banks and 25 the same branch branches. The control of fluctuation of the US economy is mainly established to watch out for the trend of the business firms. This is a vigilant watch for the tendencies of falling and rising of the economic status of the people. Another agency has been reformed under the Federal system, which is called Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI), which has been under the White House. It generally focuses on four major aspects such as legal guidance with partnering with the Federal government, accessing private resources, promote volunteerism, outcomes-focused Planning and Evaluation, and grant writing tutorials for five federal programs. This program mainly fights the societal disease in the state. For example, the Violence Free Zone, which entailed that no one should be harmed in the certain area declared as Violence Free Zone. The gangers, which are mostly youths, have given another chance to redirect their path as they are following. The faith-based community was observed to be inadequate, such that, the OFBCI caters most the qualified groups which are lackings of the provision of the social services. These aforementioned issues are just testimonies on how the hand of the Federal system works in the US. The fact that the US has undergone a Federal system, democracy and equal rights of citizen are still taken into considerations. Though, racial discrimination in our country still in its existence, the welfare of the people is still on the top list of the federal that hope to be accomplished in the range of demands of the society. These are to show the pride and honor of being an American and being under the Federal system, which certainly, other countries might be looking up to. The influence of our system could not only be seen here inside the country but also in the country it had been partnered with or colonized. The federal system, as what Robert Longley described in his article entitle â€Å"U. S. Government 101,† the system is perfect, yet it could lead to abuse of power in an instant. But the people and the state governments, which have their own power could mitigate that and prevent such thing to happen. The success and the high status that our country is portraying now could also attributed to the political hands themselves. Like what Alexander Hamilton and James Madison had been said in Federalists 51, â€Å"In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. On how the US is being modified by different leaders and the system as the tool they had used to mold the shape that the US has right now, is an attribution. The system they had been left and the system that was established was priceless. No negotiation could betray the system, such that, it would always impose its rule and law governing the American people. People around the globe look at us differently and powerfully. The supremacy we have gained for years could not be bought by any monetary value.

International Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

International Human Resource Management - Essay Example The HRM policies therefore ran into several bottlenecks caused by these prevailing differences which resulted in a review of some of the policies. Since there was still a need to maintain some kind of general standard of HRM policies that applied across the board, the idea of International HRM came up. This need was further enhanced by the process of globalization which enabled organizations to do business all over the globe, including in places they could not dream of reaching before (Beardwell & Claydon 13). This paper explores the extent to which standardization of HRM policies has taken place across the globe. This will be done by examining the contribution of globalization to HRM policy standardization, the comparison of two different regions of the globe to gauge the extent of this globalization and a projection into the future of HRM practices. Globalization and Standardization of Human Resource Management The management of employees at all levels in a multinational company or conglomerate is referred to as strategic human resource management [SHRM] (K’Obonyo & Dimba 3). ... America is a liberal society that is fully focused on such things as human rights, open market policies, equal opportunities and gender equity among other things. The environment in Saudi Arabia is more religion oriented with a massive influence of Islam on day to day life. Issues such as equal opportunity and equity are just emerging but are not as important as the Islamic influence (K’Obonyo & Dimba 3). Consequently, successful human resource management policies in America may not work so successfully in Saudi Arabia. Emphasis on gender equity in the latter may raise more friction than it would in the former since certain roles are regarded as male roles that women cannot successfully handle. Attitudes are changing very slowly on the role of women as CEOs for example (Delery & Doty 802). SHRM therefore comes in to take into account such disparities in culture so as to enable effective and successful policy frameworks for human resources in diametrically different cultural en vironments. Policies are shaped according to the cultural environment rather that against them. In any case it is not the aim of businesses to change the prevailing political environment but to adapt as much as possible for the smooth running of the business and maximal output in terms of profitability (Delery & Doty 803). SHRM takes into account Cultural Value Dimensions. This term is used to refer to the empirical criteria used to determine the extent to which national cultures differ. There are four such dimensions: power distance paradigms, uncertainty avoidance mechanisms, individualism-collectivism factors and masculity-feminity issues (Hofstede 42). Power distance is the terminology for the extent to which the lower cadre

Apple's climb back from the depths of bankruptcy Essay

Apple's climb back from the depths of bankruptcy - Essay Example To rescue the company from this mess, the marketing manager ought to have used marketing mix appropriately as follow:- Apple should have used the correct promotional mix for their product. This mix concerns how the Apple should have made their product known to the market. This involves the use of advertisements, direct selling, public relations and sales promotion. When an appropriate promotion is used to make the product to be known to the market, it creates a big impact on the sales since customers will be aware of the existence of the product and they will not only buy it but also recommend it to their friends and relatives. The kind of a product that will be produced by Apple creates a very big impact on the sales. For this case, product planning and marketing for Apple should be done appropriately to ensure the concern of the market is addressed. Apple Company should have ensured their products are distributed on time to the market so that they are available at the market when they are needed by the customers. For this case, the distribution channel to be used by the company plays a big impact on the success of the company. Apple Company must have ensured their products were distributed to a wide geographical location to increase the market share. Why do you think companies like Sony, which were already well known for Walkman and Discman technologies did not move into the MP3 player market more quickly Why was it left to Apple to aggressively move into the digital music player and distribution market Before a company can move to a new technology, they must weigh a number of options like the impact the technology would have on the industry. For this case, companies such as Sony which was well known for Walkman and Discman technologies could not move into the MP3 player market without first of all knowing the impact the technology would have on the music industry. By conducting a feasibility study on the impact the new technology would have in the market, it ensured that they were aware what the market needs and wants were and it would also have given them a chance to clear out the stock of their old products. If Sony just moved into the MP3 player market without being sure of the impact, it would have been risky for them since before a technology is accepted in the market, it might take some time and sales would have been low. Having waited for the technology to be accepted in the market, it ensured that their market share and sales would remained high. Question 3 The average cost of an iPOd nano with 8MB memory is 125. The average cost of a Creative Zen Micro with 8MB is 85. Both play digital music and both are equally rated on sound quality and battery duration. So what explains a huge price premium The prices that have been set for the two products seem to be different with a difference of 40 whereas they have the same capacity. For a company to have a high market share for their product, they must ensure that they have a number of brands each having different price with the other. There are customers who associate prices with quality. They believe that the high the price,

Chapter 1-3 questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chapter 1-3 questions - Assignment Example Historians show that immediately after the end of the threat to England, the English nationalists obtained freedom and began growing and enforcing their roots. Accordingly, a section of the Englishmen who liked the queen threw their support for the Church of England but hated Catholics, majority of whom were from Spain. However, later attempts to stop the expansion of the English only served to promote the establishment of the English culture and pride (Brands et al., 2012). The Puritans decided to leave England and migrate to North America because they wanted to settle in a place where they could be free to practice their religion without interference. This is because they were strongly opposed to the liturgy and rituals of the Catholicism that was being imposed on them by the Church of England (Brands et al., 2012). The chaos that was experienced during the New Jersey settlement occurred due to two main factors. Firstly, the chaos emerged due to rivalry between Swedes and the Dutch over the fur trade. Secondly, the chaos erupted during the settlement following the New York governors move to assign lands to many Puritan groups unaware of the existence of Carteret and Berkeley proprietorship (Brands et al., 2012). The Barbadians background as agriculturalists contributed significantly to the development of the Carolinas. The Barbadians introduced the concept of sugarcane plantation to the Carolinas, which not only employed many of the residents, but also acted as a source of livelihood for the Carolinas (Brands et al., 2012). Life for women in the 17th century New England was difficult are required perseverance. Historians show that women of the time lived in deplorable conditions characterized by poor diet, illnesses and that childbearing was constant as women were expected only to bear children., Women of the time were also had to do hard work all day long. At the same time, women of the time had no right to choose a husband for themselves.

Gender and Sexual Violence Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Gender and Sexual Violence - Term Paper Example The issue has also been common in some Asian and African countries especially those, which are Islamic, dominated. They argue that violence against these people has an adverse psychological effect and can lead to one committing suicide. Introduction With the recent efforts to fight against inequalities, gender and sexual violence is a topic, which has drawn scholarly interest in the recent past. In fact, Ussher believes that the exposure of sex into rigors secular stare and scrutiny of the sexual body has drawn both scientific and legal intervention (380). So violence against gender may take different directions, it seems to be more inclined to the female gender. Paludi Michelle, in her publication, Feminism and Women's Rights Worldwide, defines gender violence as any act that will suggest in any way the convention, elimination, and discrimination one gender and that result to any form of physical, sexual, or psychological harm of the same. Actions that deem gender violence are rape, dowry violence, genital mutilation and other tradition practices that do not favor or are harmful to women. Women can also be intimidated at work or in educational institutions (Paludi 12). Women trafficking and forced prostitution are other forms of gender violence. Sexual violence on the other hand is the subjective experience a targeted person undergoes which is against his will. Sexual violence may take forms of rape, forced prostitution, or state-sanction violence against women. This sexual harassment based on gender has hindered or compromised the ability of women to rise to higher levels in the society or authority. Hate violence against LGBTQ people Hate and sexual violence against the lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender rose by more than thirteen per cent in the year 2010 alone. The report released by national coalition of anti-violence indicated that violence against persons tend to be more vicious as compared to other forms of bias-motivated crimes. These groups o f minorities have records of mistreatment in the various regions of the world having violated of their rights through murder, kidnapping, assaulted, or made to undergo other forms of psychological torture (Nelson 169). Despite the reported cases, many of them go unreported because the victims do not actually trust the police or are afraid of reprisal because they fear their identity as having sexual behavior. However, public information campaigns should be introduced in the public oriented zones to counter the homophobia. Law enforcement by officials should also take its course and all people be exposed to equal and fair treatment inconsiderate of their sexual basis. Hate-motivated violence’s against the minorities with queer sexual behaviors have been a common phenomenon in the current society. These persons (the lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, and queer commonly known as LGBTQ) have been undergoing verbal attacks, sexual assailment, and discriminations in the work p laces. The intimate partners are being beaten and tortured, all because of hatred against this group (Ungar 41). The recent report by the Harvard school of public health affirmed that those with sexual abnormalities are two or more times likely to undergo abuse and their rights violated. The public also exhibited high probability of attacking and violating